Category: Android

Latest Facebook Beta for Windows Phone

If you’ve not yet checked out the latest beta of the Facebook app for Windows Phone then you might want to look now. In the latest update, the Facebook Beta app sees almost instant notifications and private messaging which is a welcome change from the rather slow, sporadic or simply broken notifications functionality in prior …

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Backing up to the Cloud with CrashPlan

Another quick update this time regarding data backups. At home we run a Windows Home Server which centrally stores our data whilst backing up our computers. I do take periodic backups of the server using standard hard drives which I store offsite but I have been wanting to have a cloud backup solution as well …

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Handling NTLM Proxies on Android Without Rooting

This might be a bit of a bugbear if you’ve tried using your Android tablet on the Wi-Fi at work only to find that the corporate proxy server uses NTLM (NT LAN Manager) authentication instead of basic or plain text authentication. Android doesn’t have native support for NTLM authentication for proxy server which means that …

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Incoming Gadget – Google Chromecast

Another short and sweet update. I missed out on the initial release but I have placed an order for Google’s new Chromecast product. In a nutshell, it’s a dongle that you plug into your television in a spare USB socket for power as well as an HDMI socket to send video and audio to the …

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Android 4.3 Hits the Nexus 7

Well, as fate would have it, after my disappointment with my Nexus 7 and its declining flash memory performance the latest version of Jelly Bean in the form of Android 4.3 actually includes support for TRIM. This capability was lacking in prior versions of the operating system unless your rooted your device and used various …

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The Case of a Laggy Nexus 7

Not too long ago I picked up a Nexus 7 Android tablet so I could test out my Pebble smartwatch (although the Samsung Galaxy Express has primarily taken over that duty) but in the short time that I have had this tablet it has really started to slow down to woeful speeds. Booting up would …

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Samsung Galaxy Express Unboxing

As you may know, I won a new smartphone at work when Samsung recently visited which of course was a great surprise! The smartphone I won was the Samsung Galaxy Express which is likened as being a mini Samsung Galaxy S III albeit with more modest specifications (smaller screen, dual core CPU and 8GB memory). …

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Play Candy Crush Saga Without Waiting For Extra Lives

Here’s a quick tip if you’re addicted to Candy Crush Saga. It can be a pain using up all your lives on a particular level and then having to wait for your lives to replenish before having another crack. This can be frustrating given that these “lives” are essentially virtual goods that cost nothing to …

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Pebble Smartwatch Unboxing

Pebble Smartwatch Colours

Well, it’s taken a year since the initial Kickstarter campaign to raise funds but this week I finally received one of the two Pebble smartwatches. Of course, people have received their Pebbles well before now but only in black with orange, white and grey being delayed. That said, Kickstarter backers were offered the ability to …

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Lync 2010 and Lync 2013 Android APKs

If you use an Android tablet then you may be wondering why you cannot install Lync 2010 or Lync 2013 on it. Unfortunately, it seems that these application have flagged themselves as requiring access to the phone however since tablets don’t typically include the phone component these apps are marked as “incompatible” in the Google …

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