Goggling or Googling

Goggling or Googling

PC Clean Blogger, writer, technician, social media instructor

Brought to you by Niall Mulrine, Pc Clean

Much talk on the tech front over the last week about Google’s new product simply labelled Google Glass Goggles. No, it’s nothing to do with swimming on the net!! When an amazing moment happens, you pull out your mobile phone to take a picture and by the time you are ready to shoot, the moment has passed. Simply annoying and frustrating, I know this from personal experience also. With both our very young children, they pull the funniest of faces, or dare to amaze you by their capabilities exceeding your expectation. These are what Kodak meant by “Kodak moments”. Small snippets of time that you will always remember fondly as time goes by.
Google are still in the prototype of a device called Google Glass, which appear as normal glasses on a person’s face to the unsuspecting. Only these glasses are connected to the internet and have a small film of a screen to give the wearer real time information without distraction. The goal of this device is to remove the need of taking out your Smartphone to make calls, send texts, read emails, check reminders and surf the internet.

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(Image source: dailymail.co.uk)
The team behind this project is Google X, the team of R & D that always vision the unimaginable. Not cheap, these glasses are currently going on market to developers for $1500 and ready for delivery next year to these customers. They have named this project, Project Glass. The team hope to have it available for release in 2014 and no price has been guessed at yet. But the glasses will cost more than the average Smartphone. The cost of producing the glasses is in the region of $3,000 at current stage of beta.
Android software developed by Google will be the driving chassis on the glasses for all applications and responses to work on. A built in camera with microphone will have the ability to record live feed and upload to YouTube or feed it live to a website for your friends to watch a live scenario you are part of at that time, so everyone can share the experience. Similar to Google smartphones and Apps, applications and commands can be sent to the glasses by voice, therefore giving the user a total hands free experience. Integration of other Google Apps including Google Maps will play a creative role in how we live our everyday lives. Imagine having the possibility of a GPS Sat Nav built into a small pair of glasses, so when we are on foot we can have arrows on our lenses to give us signposts to what direction to go. Google Weather alerts popping up to say whether it will be a great day or not, helping us ponder on the indecision of taking a raincoat to work.
Google launched a demo video on YouTube to give us a taste of how it can benefit our lives. From watching this, its amazing how all our computer powered applications, mobile phone apps and online platforms can come together to enable us to be a “Computer Wearer”, having our computers in our vision at all times!! With the upcoming and developing application Google Goggles, the scope of what can be done will be second to none. Already Goggles can be found in Android Play marketplace, the software that brings up online information about the item being held in your hand, the painting you stare at on a wall, author biography of a book you look at in the book store and many more facts surrounding all visuals in our lives.
With the positives, there are surely to be negatives. Some say that it will infringe on other peoples privacy when they don’t know if they are being recorded or it will be a distraction to our normal lives, with too much gadgetry. Like all new concepts, it will take the rough with the smooth. All I can say is, bring it on and let me be as Speccy as possible.


To catch up on any missed articles written by Niall Mulrine of Pc Clean, go to www.PcClean.ie

Saorview, Digital changeover and no more BBC or UTV

Saorview, Digital changeover and no more BBC or UTV

Brought to you by Niall Mulrine, Pc Clean.

Recently the government gave the people of Ireland the deadline for the digital changeover as 24^th October 2012. What does this mean to me at home with my current setup?

This launch of new technology called the “Digital Changeover” is as mind boggling to many people with home televisions as “The Cloud” is as confusing for computer owners. They are buzzwords that are used too sparsely that they remain buzzwords until someone actually sits down to explain to us what it all means. For this week’s article, I brought in the expertise of a local installer of digital and analogue TV systems C Mc Groarty Ltd trading as Digitel.

Clement Mc Groarty, Donegal Town has been installing and repairing TV systems for homes, businesses, hotels, schools and health institutions all over Donegal for the past 20 years. He has seen so many changes in the TV technology in this time and has always put himself and his team in the forefront of the skills required to keep consumers up to date with what equipment they need to enjoy TV. They recently rebranded the company and many of Donegal motorists can see the newly decorated vans with Bart Simpson labelled on it. The vans have raised lots of interest from people and Donal Brennan from Sign Worx in Ballybofey was responsible for the great art work.

All electrical shops, newspapers, websites, magazines and TV adverts are displaying Saorview capabilities as the sole system to enable the Digital Changeover. Saorview is owned by RTÉ Media Company and will carry both RTÉ channels and NON- RTÉ channels such as 3e, TG4 and TV3. All these channels will be given great picture quality as it moves from the old Analogue signal to the new clear picture of Digital. Also, Irish radio channels will be distributed onto our TV sets for high quality sound with none of the interference we get on our old “wireless” radio.

Clement Mc Groarty commented on the amount of confusion regarding the systems the public are having since the government announcement. “Our office has been inundated with phone calls from our customers and members of the public asking what the Digital changeover means and what do they need to do before October 2012? We are informing the people of their situation and asking what current systems they have in place”. What people did not know is that they may lose all their UK terrestrial channels such as BBC, UTV and Channel 4 depending on the area they are located. To get these channels may involve extra systems and cost, especially for those that have more than one TV installed.

To get help and advice on what you need to do, contact Clement or Tania and their team on 074 97 22966 or 087 2250599. If you quote “Donegal News” when placing an order, the first 15 orders will receive a Digital MP3 player. Follow them on facebook.com/digitelireland

Highland Radio breakfast show this week will be running a competition with a prize of converting one TV to Irish Digital using a High Definition Saorview box, along with a full home survey to ensure you are digital ready.

 

To catch up on any missed articles written by Niall Mulrine of Pc Clean, go to www.PcClean.ie

 

 

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Niall Mulrine, Pc Clean, Navenny, Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, Ireland
www.pcclean.ie
sales@pcclean.ie
086-2377033 Pc Clean for Computer repairs, Laptop Repairs, Virus repair and removal service, callout services, network issues, printer problems in the Stranorlar, Letterkenny, Donegal Town, Lifford, Castlefinn, Donegal Area. Computer Training, Social network for your business, online marketing, it security,computer protection, child safety software,restricting websites, internet security, antivirus,microsoft, IT Support Donegal, Laptop Screens repair

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No Space left on my phone?

No space left on my phone??

Brought to you by Niall Mulrine, Pc Clean.

We all know the feeling when we are at a special occasion such as a concert or a party and we want to take a precious memory home with us to keep. How do we take that special moment home? It used to be in the hands of our digital cameras. But, what we all reach for now, whether it’s out of our pockets or handbags; is the mobile phone. Gone are the days of the mighty “brick” that was used commonly to communicate with our friends, whilst away from our stationary landline phone at home. Yes, we thought we were in Doctor Who or Back to the Future with the large Motorola and Ericsson phone, using large buttons and a large LCD screen with the plain black text much like a calculator. Some of us may remember a snipe taken by the creators of “Only fools and Horses” over the so-called ‘mobile phone’. The episode of Del-Boy trying to sell the “Executive mobile phone” to Michael, the owner of Nags Head. They demonstrated the irony of a mobile phone that was too large for a jacket pocket. But it was not only Del-boy who believed that they would be millionaires this time next year. Phone manufacturers such as Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia were the market leaders in mobile phones in the 1990’s. Their products did make them millionaires again! They answered the prayers of mainly business people that were consistently on the road and could only be reached by their employer when they reached a certain appointment. To the employee’s dismay and eagerness to try the new technology, they accepted these large mobile phones and marvelled at how they could communicate while 100’s of miles from any phone line, with the help of the satellite in the sky.

Today, phones are micro slim and come with more complexity than any modern computer system. The ability to make a phone call is the last request on a buyers question list. Has it got music player, Bluetooth, Facebook, Email, video player and camera. If these are not standard, then the buyer will move along to a phone that has all the bells and whistles. Not only must we have call ability (which is used less than the other functions today), but we must have real time access to our online status whether it’s social networks or emails. Can we take photos of our friends and send them to other friends within seconds?? Have we got a mini jukebox in our hands with all our favourite songs? What about some videos of the party last week? All these songs can be transferred from our music library at home onto our phone using a cable from the computer. What happens when the time comes sitting on a bus for 4 hours and the songs on the phone are all overplayed? We used to sit there and either listens to them again until we get home to our computers for different music or turn it off!

With the help of online cloud storage, more products are bringing the concept of having our music come with us from home always. How can I have my 40GB hard drive full of music stored on my mobile phone with storage of 8GB? Most of the storage is taken up with videos recorded on the phone. The hassle of connecting cables and changing the music library seems like a chore and is rarely seen as an enjoyable experience, sitting at a computer not knowing what songs we will listen to, tomorrow or next week. It normally depends on the mood at that particular time.

A San Franciso company called “Popoplug” have come up with a service to give the consumer what they want, when it comes to sorting out instant access to a large music, video and photo library. A small networking device called the “Popoplug Mobile Device” is connected to the owners broadband router at home. This can attach any amount of storage whether is a 1TB external hard drive storage of 1GB SD Memory card with photos and stream directly to the user’s mobile phone via Popoplug software. The customer does not download any music from the Internet or home, but instead streams small amount of data at regular intervals to give video, music or photo slideshows on the phone instantaneously over any 3G network. No disk space on the phone will be full by streaming the files. Some data is stored for short period of time.

The customer has still the same empty space on the phone to take more photos and videos. No law is being broke, as the customer is accessing their own personal music library via an internet signal. Not only has the software this feature, but also, every time a new photo or video is recorded on the phone; it is directly backed up to the “Popoplug” device at home for safe keeping.

This is just an example of how our want of having our homes with us at all times is being achieved in the technology world.

To catch up on any missed articles written by Niall Mulrine of Pc Clean, go to www.PcClean.ie

 

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Niall Mulrine, Pc Clean, Navenny, Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, Ireland
www.pcclean.ie
sales@pcclean.ie
086-2377033 Pc Clean for Computer repairs, Laptop Repairs, Virus repair and removal service, callout services, network issues, printer problems in the Stranorlar, Letterkenny, Donegal Town, Lifford, Castlefinn, Donegal Area. Computer Training, Social network for your business, online marketing, it security,computer protection, child safety software,restricting websites, internet security, antivirus,microsoft, IT Support Donegal, Laptop Screens repair

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I lost my laptop with all the company documents!!

I lost my laptop with all the company documents!!!

Brought to you by Niall Mulrine, Pc Clean.

Some of the reasons why we should use online backup can be emphasised by a few points on safety of mobile computers. We have heard the stories; we have encountered it at work, home and at school. More people are carrying their offices, theses and photo labs under their arm in a small electronic device. This small device, yet so powerful that it may contain so many documents, emails, passwords, photos and work files that we tend to forget just how “big” it can be. It could carry everything that is most important to them at any time. We take it for granted; we could never loose these items. But what happens if the laptop is stolen or lost? Laptops are not the only devices that are carried around in people’s personal belongings. Mobile phones, Smartphones, Tablets, and many more portable devices that store our vast amount of contacts details, phone numbers, text messages, private information, photos and much more.

Remember all the big stories in the past years of government officials, solicitors, business people and employees of semi-state bodies loosing USB drives, laptops and smart phones with all sensitive data in the wrong hands. These devices were not even locked down with a password. The biggest case in the news in Ireland was the 5 laptops that were lost by Department of Social and Family Affairs. But luck was on their side, no leaks were found regarding the private data. It was a wakeup call or was it? It has not changed the mind-sets of computer consumers. Basic protection such as access code or password for opening the devices is never activated. We seem to think that we will never lose our devices and all the data is safe. Is there a solution if our laptop or phone is stolen?

There are solutions to this issue in the realms of software preloaded on the devices and having an internet connection turned on. Some packages can trace the device to within a couple of feet to the correct GPS location.

One such free package called Prey got a lot of coverage from an unknown person in the US called Sean Power. His laptop was stolen in New York, but with the help of Twitter and Prey software, he was able to get back his laptop. The software took a picture of the user and sends it online to Sean’s account and the IP address located to within 200 metres proximity. With the help of Twitter posts, he was able to pinpoint the laptop to a bar owner in Manhattan. He rang the police with these details and they raided the bar and caught the suspect in possession of the laptop. This made an impossible situation possible again with the help of modern technology. What were the chances that he could have otherwise found his laptop in New York city via the old detective work!! The police would have bothered about a minor offence such as this, so the case would have been closed quickly.

Another software package called Druva, which is not free, but worth the money if you consider your laptop files to be sensitive and important is a great market leader for protecting data on stolen or lost laptops. What this can do differently to the previous example is, wipe the laptop hard drive clean of all data from anywhere online or by a method activated when the user inputs the password incorrectly beyond a predetermined limit. An American study carried out on the devastation caused by a lost or stolen business laptop can cause the company on average $49,241 per machine. Also, the survey reported that only 30% of machines were encrypted with a password and 46% of laptops had “sensitive data” stored on them. This is frightening how careless we are when it comes to security. Spend nearly a thousand euros on a great laptop with all the software to start your computing needs, but need skim on basic additions of security software or even encryption methods.

Even if we don’t go for the fancy software packages, at least we can protect our data with a good strong password.

To catch up on any missed articles written by Niall Mulrine of Pc Clean, go to www.PcClean.ie

Online Backup Dilemna

Just about every day we see an advertisement in the paper, on websites and TV for cloud data backup. Files from our local computer get backed up to a site somewhere in the World via internet service. So if our computers crash; we should have good chance of getting back all our documents and photos from the Backup Online service.

Many vendors provide a great service that once we set it; we never have to look at it again. Most of us really get into a good habit of backing up to DVD or external hard drive for a few weeks then we get “too busy” to backup files. This is Russian roulette strategy. The day, the computer crashes and the owner cannot get their important work files, is the day they had wished they backed up. Too late then, the milk is spilled and there will be lots of crying. Why risk that situation. Act now.

There are plenty of choices on the market for getting a backup vendor to do this work for us. I will talk of a few with some points of strength and weaknesses.

SugarSync would be one of the most popular due to the added bonus of allowing the users to share a folder of 5GB free storage of files between multiple computers and mobile devices. Automatic backup of files work in the background on your pc and while changes are detected, a collection of these files are kept with 5 different versions in case you did not like the recent changes with the ability to go back 3 or 4 versions is available. The files are secured on the SugarSync server with 128 bit AES encryption. Anything over 5GB needed can be paid for and a ceiling on the amount of data allowed at the moment is 500GB.

Dropbox similar to SugarSync functionality, including automatic backup, share folders on computers and mobile devices, but only comes with 2GB free online storage. More can be purchased or if you refer people to their service, Dropbox will reward you with extra free storage. They use 256 bit AES encryption to protect the files, with the online file viewer comes the option of checking the storage status and email notifications to remind the user of status also. Dropbox also allows the user to allocate certain bandwidth to the backup, so other internet services are not hindered by the current uploading. Great service, a little more expensive than other leading vendors and only support available is by email.

Mozy backup is a file backup service that is unlike the previous two companies in terms of access to file retrieval. For home users, that want a small online backup storage free or purchase some space in small quantities, the option to retrieve the files can only be done by purchasing a second licence. You cannot share the files like Dropbox or SugarSync. The desktop interface and online setup is easy to use even for the more computer illiterate people. A bonus Mozy has when backing up open files, such as email clients or documents that are currently being worked on, is the ability to back up all files open or close. Other clients do not have this facility. This is unfortunate if using a backup service to back up the email client such as Outlook, as it would be open most of the available computer time online.

These are just a few of the packages available, for better investigation use the free trials that they all offer to assess what is best for your needs.

To catch up on any missed articles written by Niall Mulrine of Pc Clean, go to www.PcClean.ie

AutoPilot Cars!!

Do we have Autopilot on our cars??

Brought to you by Niall Mulrine, Pc Clean.

If you missed the previous articles, please go to www.pclean.ie and check out Blogs.

Car manufacturers around the world are more concerned about the innovative developments of car building than that of the economic saving virtues to the customer. It is believed by many manufacturers, majority of cars are similar in terms of quality, economic to run and environmentally friendly. Competition between big brands in these areas are almost saturated. To nose their product over the line, they focus on what innovations can be brought to the car that will make the customer “want” to own that model. High tech gadgets will be the must in the future cars. People focus on the compatiability of their car with their smartphones, iPhones, iPads, Mp3 players and bluetooth devices. “Can I make calls on my phone without taking the phone out of my pocket?” As we seen Ford are pioneering this to the next level with the Sync system that was described in a recent article of mine.

Mercedes have developed Splitview technology, where the only the passenger can watch media on the display and the driver can just see the naviagtion map. BMW using WLAN technolog to communicate with other similar vehicles in the vicinity to aid communications regarding driving conditions, traffic jams, accidents and sudden change in weather conditions. Example of prevention of accident is, when a car is coming up to a junction with traffic lights and someone is driving through the red light, the car will warn the driver of this and to hit the brakes to prevent collison. Also, the blind spots when trying to pass a car in front when you see nothing coming, you believe it’s safe to pass and you indicate to overtake then the car recieves message that there is car oncoming soon and warns the driver to pull back into your lane before collision.

Elsewhere, MIT students in association with Audi are devising a 3D interactive map that will be displayed on the dashboard of the car. This will show where the driver is with position on the map and show buildings and streets in the vicinity. When the car moves, the map moves to adjust with the drivers view, so both vision out of the windows and interactive map are in sync. It will have locations marked on it as normal satellite navigation systems have points of interest on the map. Even though manufacturers seem more creative towards innovation, in actual fact, the innovation is bringing a new level of safety to the driver’s cabin.

To catch up on any missed articles written by Niall Mulrine of Pc Clean, go to www.PcClean.ie and read the blogs already submitted.

 

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Niall Mulrine, Pc Clean, Navenny, Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, Ireland
www.pcclean.ie
sales@pcclean.ie
086-2377033 Pc Clean for Computer repairs, Laptop Repairs, Virus repair and removal service, callout services, network issues, printer problems in the Stranorlar, Letterkenny, Donegal Town, Lifford, Castlefinn, Donegal Area. Computer Training, Social network for your business, online marketing, it security,computer protection, child safety software,restricting websites, internet security, antivirus,microsoft, IT Support Donegal, Laptop Screens repair

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More control with technology in your car!

 

I’m not drunk, I can drive myself! Can you?

Brought to you by Niall Mulrine, Pc Clean.

 

As is evident from the last few week’s articles, innovations in technology are focusing on family cars. If you missed the previous articles, please go to www.pclean.ie and check out Blogs.

Someone or SOMETHING telling you that you have consumed too much alcohol to drive is a common scenario in Ireland. Friends and family members often attempt to take car keys away from loved ones who are too intoxicated to drive. However this problem is not just local – it is a Worldwide occurrence and it is serious enough to bring groups of people together to try to come up with solutions to prevent the fatalities on our roads due to excessive consumption of alcohol.

Below is a graph showing, percentages of drivers in different countries whom had fatal accidents due to drink driving.

(courtesy of drivingireland.ie)

In the US, scientists have come up with a revolutionary method of testing the alcohol in a drivers system before driving off. It’s like having your own private Garda sitting in the front seat with you. A research facility in Massachusetts called QinetiQ, have devised a system that is located on either the dashboard or the steering wheel to measure the alcohol level. There are numerous sensors embedded into the front of the car that is actively testing the quality of air from the driver area. When alcohol is detected, the engine is locked down directly and cannot be started by the driver no matter what they try. This is still in testing conditions and not ready to be rolled out, but gives us an idea of what is to come. This comes from another closely related device call AlcoLock that is becoming common in certain parts of America and Canada. It works on a similar principle. The driver must blow into a breathalyser every time they put the key into the ignition. The AlcoLock takes a reading before the engine starts and also takes random samples to be sure the driver has not tried to fool the equipment. These are fitted into cars of known DUI offenders. Although there are some teething problems with this system, Sweden have committed to have this rolled out by 2012, in all commercial vehicles and buses. It will be mandatory to be fitted in all new vehicles.

Shock tactics are being used in an attempt to stop drink driving but despite these graphic and grusome ad campaigns some people are still persisting to drive under the influence. Thankfully, with the advances in technology, the number of drivers taking to the road under the influence shall fall rapidly. The Government are planning to take the alcohol level down from 0.8 to 0.6 BAC (Blood Alcohol Content). Although this is a step in the right direction it does not take into account, a person’s weight, age or metabolism – which are all factors in determining how much is too much.

Are all these measures intruding in our privacy? Or is this exactly what we need? Make your own mind up!

Keep reading as next week, there is no need to worry about drinking and driving. A concept that takes all the worry away! To catch up on any missed articles written by Niall Mulrine of Pc Clean, go to www.PcClean.ie and read the blogs already submitted.

 

Created by and uploaded by

Niall Mulrine, Pc Clean, Navenny, Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, Ireland
www.pcclean.ie
sales@pcclean.ie
086-2377033 Pc Clean for Computer repairs, Laptop Repairs, Virus repair and removal service, callout services, network issues, printer problems in the Stranorlar, Letterkenny, Donegal Town, Lifford, Castlefinn, Donegal Area. Computer Training, Social network for your business, online marketing, it security,computer protection, child safety software,restricting websites, internet security, antivirus,microsoft, IT Support Donegal, Laptop Screens repair

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