Gadgets Gizmos Gossip

Rumours about the technical specifications and release date of the iPhone 5 have been flying around the internet for months, but it appears we could now have the strongest indication of the imminent arrival of Apple’s new handset, according to an article by T3.
The article suggests that Apple have stopped all staff holidays for the first fortnight in October, leading many to believe that this will be the period that the iPhone 5 arrives in the United Kindom.

Whether or not this is true remains to be seen, but numerous sources have suggested that Apple will be adopting this ‘holiday blackout’ during October, even asking staff members with holiday already booked to change their plans.

Rumours also continue about the specifications of the new iPhone, with many expecting it to feature the dual-core processor currently utilised in the iPad2. I would also expect a new slimline design and improved levels of storage, RAM and probably a higher quality camera.

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Post by Simon from Swiss Time Machine – the leading online supplier of pre-owned luxury Swiss watches.

What Goes Best With the Meursault Les Narvaux 2007?

Never let it be said that gadget lovers aren’t sophisticated. There was a time when perhaps this was true – if you had the latest tech to hand, you were probably a neck-bearded old techie playing with cutting edge technology that was ultimately inaccessible to anyone without eyes as square as their social standing.  Nowadays, everyone who is anyone has a smartphone, maybe even a tablet. If a gadget is easy to use and it makes our life easier, why not bring it into your life? So Sommeliers everywhere are tooling up with the latest gadgetry, and the wine world looks a lot less stuffy. Wine Appreciation? Of course there’s an app for that. In fact, there’s several, and across multiple platforms too.

Hello Vino – Android and iOS

Currently the most popular and well reviewed wine app on the android store, Hello Vino is a comprehensive wine recommendation app that is also available for the iPhone app store. It allows you to select a wine based on the meal you intend to have, the occasion or recommends wines based on your taste preferences or from certain places of origin. It also allows you to find suitable foods for wines you’ve already bought!

Pair It – iOS

Never sure when to pair what wine with what food? Got a Fantastic Chardonnay Wine you want to share over dinner, but not sure what to put it with? Pair it is a $4.99 wine app available on the Apple App Store that will tell you not only how to pair each major grape type, but the sub-varietals too. With over 1000+ dishes and a course by course breakdown, it’s very comprehensive, even telling you irrelevant facts like how to pronounce each varietal. Shame it’s not multiplatform, mind!

R-Vintage Lookup – Android, Blackberry, iOS

The year a wine is produced can have a profound impact on both its value and its quality. R-Vintage Lookup is a handy app that advises you on the critical opinion and commercial value of a number of high profile wines, so you can make an informed decision about what you purchase, especially if you’re dealing with older wines. It’ll even tell you how long a white wine should be stored for before consumption (though I’ll give you that one for free – drink it after you buy it at the supermarket!) You can even get it on Blackberry devices (remember them?) as well as smartphones that people actually like (oooh, burn).

Google’s Android mobile operating system has become increasingly popular over the last 12 months, with an increasing market share and a growing adoption (and availability) of the Android App Store. Android has been gaining ground on the iPhone for months now, even seeing a higher market share than their old rivals in certain areas of the world.

Add this to Google’s dominance in the search industry and their movement into numerous other areas (shopping, maps, internet browsers, applications, document sharing – the list goes on and on) and you’ve got a company that’s a major competitor to some of the biggest companies in the world (including Apple, Microsoft and numerous others).

However, could the growing popularity and subsequent adoption of the Android mobile OS pose a genuine risk in terms of personal data management and overall security?

Many people are predicting that Android will become the biggest and most widely used mobile platform in the world within 12 months, offering a real incentive for developers of malicious software and criminals to try and attack the network. Whilst this could in theory be levelled at Apple and any other popular service or software, what makes the Android platform a higher risk (in terms of IT security) is the open source nature of the platform. This means that developers worldwide have access to the Android source code, making it easier to develop malware for the plaftorm (with nothing to stop them distributing it on the Android App Store).

Whether or not Google will take steps to reduce this issue remains to be seen, but it’s worth noting that there has already been a 400% increase in malware on the Android mobile operating platform since the same period in 2010.

Post by Phil, who works for a distribution and logistics company in the South West.