The Big Freeze!

Look at the view from my back window – which despite being very beautiful is also very inconvenient. Thankfully I have a Land Rover so can get around reasonably well but every morning this week I have watched my neighbours struggle to get out of the street, a lot give up and just come back to their homes to make the phone call to their bosses to say they can’t get in today. I am in the very lucky position that all I need to work is a laptop, broadband connection and my mouse (I get too frustrated using the laptop mouse and have been known to stop using my laptop in a strop because of it)

So in honour of the recent weather I thought I would revisit a blog I wrote back in May which spoke about the weather last year and how it cost businesses 124 million working hours. Reports this week are suggesting that they current deep freeze is going to cost the county £1.6 billion per day.

This is set to be one of the coldest winters on records and the snow looks as if it is settling in for the duration so if you have a business that allows a portion of your employees to work from home temporarily then it is certainly worth considering buying them a laptop and setting them up with a VPN connection from home – reasonably cheap and very to achieve.

Blog from Wed 26th May 2010

‘If you’re not there for your customers come rain or shine one of your competitors will find a way to do it for you. Given the really bad weather at the start of the year more and more small business are starting to look now into options which allow their staff to work from home so they are not caught out again next year.

In the UK 124million hours of work were lost due to the heavy snowfall in January. This was not only due to employees being unable to actually get to their work premises but also down to employees having to stay at home because the schools and nurseries were closed and there was no one to look after their kids.

It has been reported only 11% of the people that were unable to get into work had the option to work from home – myself being one of them give me my laptop, broadband and a VPN connection and I am ready to go. How many of your staff can say the same?

There are a number of technologies which can help keep your business running and ensure that you can access your business server wherever you are - which in the current climate is more important than ever for SME’s

Don’t be caught off guard again this coming winter – SME owners should be thinking now about how you can facilitate your employees to work at home in case the big freeze hits again!’

I predicted this back in May – now if only I could get the lottery numbers right!

Festive Cheer

Well folk another week closer to Christmas and until about 48 hours ago I was very excited. My shopping is almost done, our turkey is ordered and I have been excitedly reworking my Christmas playlists which I am going to start listening to on the 1st of December. So, what happened 48 hours ago I hear you all ask?? I caught a nasty bug and now have a stinking cold! They type that makes your ears hurt and you struggle to keep your eyes open all day and then some how at night can never sleep. It would be fair to say that I am not in a happy place at the moment and have decided that for this weeks blog I wanted to find something that would make me laugh and I found a few little funny Technology stories and jokes that brought a smile to my bright red and blotchy face.

The Frog

A man was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog, and put it in his pocket.

The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will tell everyone how smart and brave you are and how you are my hero." The man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it, and returned it to his pocket.

The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will be your loving companion for an entire week." The man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it, and returned it to his pocket.

The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you for a year and do ANYTHING you want." Again the man took the frog out, smiled at it, and put it back into his pocket.

Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, that I'll stay with you for a year and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?"

The man said, "Look, I'm a computer programmer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog is cool."

The Sultan

The Sultan of Brunei was getting a bit cheesed off as he had 6 children, all girls, and therefore had no son and heir. Imagine his joy then,when one of his wives presented him with his only son and heir.

Just before his son's sixth birthday, the Sultan took him to one side and said, "Son, I am very proud of you. Anything you want, I shall get for you."

His son replied, "Daddy, I would like an aeroplane." Not wanting to do anything by halves, his father bought him British Airways.

Just before his son's seventh birthday, the Sultan took him to one side. "Son, you are my pride and joy. Anything you want, I shall get for you."

His son replied, "Daddy, I would like a boat." Not wanting to do anything by halves, his father bought him P&O Ferries.

Just before his son's eighth birthday, the Sultan took him to one side. "Son, you bring so much happiness into my life. Anything you want, I shall get for you."

His son replied, "Daddy, I would like something to watch films on." Not wanting to do anything by halves, his father bought him MGM Studios and their cinemas, where he watched all his favourite Western Movies.

Just before his son's ninth birthday, the Sultan took him to one side. "Son, you are an inspiration to us all. Anything you want, I shall get for you."

His son, who had caught the 'Western' movie bug, replied, "Daddy,I would like a cowboy outfit." Not wanting to do anything by halves, his father went and bought him Microsoft.

App of the Week - Battleship

I am a big fan of traditional games which is why I adore today’s app of the week – Battleship which is a bargain 59p.You can launch strikes with touch-driven precision and witness 3D guns blazing and smoke-billowing carriers sinking to their dooms. A great little 5 minutes to spare game.

Engage in the authentic Classic Mode or fire at will in the intense Salvo Mode.

Employ an array of lethal power in Super Weapons Mode or deploy your secret unlocked weapons for Multiplayer supremacy.

Sink competitor’s battleships with Hotseat, two-player WiFi, Bluetooth, and Pass & Play capabilities.

Demonstrate strategic and tactical skills to earn Super Weapons. Improve your rank from Seaman all the way to fully-fledged Admiral!

Why Alchemist?

We are always asked by potential clients - Why Alchemist? Why Outsource? What makes you special? These are questions that most businesses are asked and I thought I would put down a few of our answers in this week’s blog. Beside the standard answers – ‘we can save you money!’ Which let’s be honest every business in the world claims this, so I thought I would give you a bit more and explain why I believe we are the best IT company around for Small to Medium local business.

Benefit from access to a whole team not just one or two people - When you have in-house IT support you will perhaps get the benefit of one or two IT people – when you outsource your IT to Alchemist you get the benefit of our entire team’s knowledge and skills which total over 50 years of IT experience. We can give you advice on keeping up to date with the break-neck speed which technology moves and ensure you stay ahead of your competition.

Gain access to extremely wide and specialised skills set - With our large team of diverse engineers there are very few IT problems they have not come across during their many years of IT experience this can benefit your business greatly. We can offer you a very high level and large skill set from simply setting up a wireless network or installing a VoIP phone system to extremely complex high-end IT solutions.

One Stop Shop - Our services are so varied now that we can provide you with all your business IT & Communication services - Broadband, Phone System, System Support, Spam Filters, Back-Up and much more meaning that we are the only company you need to deal with for all your business IT & comms needs. If there are any issues and calls need to be made to external companies we will deal with these for you – ensuring your attention is 100% on your business 100% of the time.

We help your business grow - When you have an IT issue it is so problematic and disruptive for all your staff. Your management team will probably have to get involved in trying to fix the problem, they may have to phone several companies and hotlines trying to find a solution to the problem – wasting your time and the time of your staff. With Alchemist you simply pick up the phone and call us, we will respond quickly and do everything to ensure that your team are back up and running again as quickly as possible.

Established Track record - Alchemist was founded in 2003 by 2 well respected local guys and has always had an outstanding reputation in Dumfries and Galloway as one of ‘The’ IT companies in the region to provide your business with a professional, friendly and knowledgeable service. This has continued and grown further since opening our Glasgow office in 2007. We still have many of the same customers today that we had when the business first started almost 8 years ago – which we are very proud of.

Last but by no means least - We're brilliant and can save you money

Did you know we are an Official Acronis Partner?

Earlier this year our technical team became fully certified as Acronis Partners and I would like to share some of the benefits of this powerful backup solution for your business.

The point of the Acronis software is to minimise the recovery time and disruption if the server ever has to be fully recovered. If there was no Acronis backup image and the server completely failed, we would need to rebuild and configure the server from scratch which could take as long as 1 or 2 days. This would involve reinstalling the operating system, installing all the applications, setting up all the email, printers, users and much more.

Just imagine how your business would cope without its systems and data for a day.

Acronis provides a local backup image, this means that the backup is done from the server onto an external hard disk connected directly to the server, this external hard disk can remain connected. The advantage of having this type of backup alongside your existing backup is the recovery time, if the server was to completely fail it can be recovered within minutes from the backup image. This image is a snapshot of the entire server including the operating system, all the applications and most importantly all of the settings.

Acronis works alongside Alchemist Vault to provide you with the best possible Back-Up and Disaster Recovery plan for your business.

The Brilliant Playstation Move

My household has a brilliant new toy – Playstation Move. For those of you who don’t know what this is, PlayStation Move is a motion-sensing game controller platform for the PlayStation 3, based on a handheld motion ‘wand’ and a PlayStation Eye camera used to track the wand's position. We ordered the Playstation Move starter pack (£49.99) which comes with a wand, Playstation Eye and a demo disk of the games which are currently available and a few which are due to be released soon. Within half an hour of trying it we were in the car on the way to our local Game to buy a second controller and a full copy of the brilliant Sports Champions – this has lead to what can only be described as Table Tennis and Disc Golf grudge matches between my husband and I. The System The Move technology has crazy pinpoint accuracy due to the microphone style wands having an accelerometer and a gyrometer to sense motion on three axes, so it'll responded to users simply turning a wrist or moved backwards and forwards and the slightest movement. One of my favourite wand features is the impressive glowing ball, which is powered by a full colour 24bit RGB LED which can change colours – this can either be used so the camera can differentiate between different controllers if you're playing with a friend or to show different game states - it might glow red if your character is injured, for example. Next on our to-buy list is the Move navigation controller which is a one-handed supplementary controller designed for use in conjunction with the wand during game play. Very similar to the Nintendo Wii’s Nunchuk the move controller has a d-pad, an analogue stick, and two shoulder buttons and when held in your left hand, adds extra input possibilities for Move games. Games As you can imagine there are only a hand full of games available at the moment but already for me this is where the Move really excels next to the Wii. The games are for adults, there are a few kids’ games thrown in for family evenings but this definitely a toy for the grown-ups. My favourite games so far are: Sports Champions People will tell you this is like Nintendo’s Wii Sports – it’s not! It has 6 different sports you can play, Beach Volleyball which you will feel like a prat playing but is great fun, Table tennis which is a fantastic two player game, Gold Discus which is a golf style game played with Frisbees, bocce (boules) which is fun and frustrating at the same time, Swords which is a gladiatorial battle game, and my personal favourite archery which I must admit I have become slightly addicted to. Tumble I am a bit of a puzzle freak so this was right up my street! This Jenga style game requires you to build towers out of differently shaped blocks using the Move controller to pick them up and carefully place them. This for me is the game which shows the technology off best the slightest of movements can send your tower crashing to the ground. A bargain at only £7.99 from the Playstation online store. EyePet My 11 year old niece went crazy for this demo – you can get down on the floor and play with your eyepet, giving it showers and tickling its tummy. I would buy this but I have two lovely little cavalier dogs and I don’t think they would be too happy with me tickling a virtual tummy with they have actually tummy’s they like to have tickled! Other games of note are Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 – obviously a golf game and The Shoot - has you blasting your way through a series of movie sets featuring sci-fi, horror and western environments. The one I am most looking forward to getting is Virtua Tennis 4 which is due out next year; reports from those who have tried it are suggesting that the game will be brilliant and a stand out seller for Sony next year. All-in-all a fun addition to the Playstation stable - I would suggest if you are thinking about buying this for Christmas get along to your local shopping centre now because I think this is going to be very difficult to get in December!

7 Tips to stay safe when using public Wi-Fi

Here are some great tips on keeping your computer and data safe when using public Wi-Fi hotspots.

Make sure your firewall is activated

A firewall will help protect your laptop by preventing unauthorized users from getting access to your computer through the Internet or a network. The Firewall will act as a block to protect your data which will check all incoming traffic and then either stop the traffic or allow it through.

Make your folders private and encryption

When you use a public Wi-Fi network encryption will more often than not be out of your control. It is important to make sure the folders on your laptop are private, this can make it harder for hackers to access your files. To further secure your files you should consider encrypting them, which requires a password to open or modify them. You can learn how to encrypt a file here

Don't type in credit card numbers or passwords

Try to avoid typing any sensitive information, such as your passwords, credit card number or any other financial information while you use a public wireless network. If you must enter credit card numbers while using a public wireless network make sure there is a locked padlock icon at the bottom right corner of the browser window, and make sure the Web address begins with https: (the "s" stands for secure).

Try to choose more secure connections

Opt for wireless networks that require a network security key or have some other form of security such as a certificate. The traffic sent over these networks is encrypted which will help to protect your computer data. The security features of different networks appear along with the network name as your PC discovers them.

Disable file and printer sharing

File and printer sharing is a feature that enables other computers on a network to access resources on your computer. When you are using your mobile PC in a hotspot, it's best to disable file and printer sharing—when it's enabled, it leaves your computer vulnerable to hackers. Remember, though, to turn this feature back on when you return to the office.

Consider completely removing sensitive data from your notebook PC

If you're working with extremely sensitive data, it might be worth removing it from your laptop altogether. Instead, save it on a corporate network share and access it only when necessary. This way, you have multiple safeguards in place.

Turn off your wireless network when you're not using it

If you're not surfing the Internet or sending e-mail, but still using your computer in an area where there is a public wireless network, disable your wireless connection.

How good are your Business Passwords?

I had a bit of a nightmare over the weekend, I did something to my laptop and lost all my saved passwords - my laptop is my own so it is okay that I have my passwords saved (don’t do this on any PC’s that anyone else has access too!!) Like most people I use a combination of about 4 different passwords in various different connotations. Long story short it took me the best part of 2 hours to remember/ work out my passwords and get myself back into all my accounts – except Amazon that one has me really baffled!

So I thought I would give you all some advice on your getting your business passwords as good as they can be to ensure your business critical data is as safe as it can be.

1. Make sure that your staff are not using dictionary words as passwords as these are easily guessable and there are lots of software programs for hackers to use to scrawl passwords and they all start with dictionary words.
2. Tell your staff that they should not use words that are personal to them – spouses or children’s names, favourite football team, the street they live in are all bad choices and easily guessed by someone with a little knowledge on the end user or access to their Facebook account.
3. Passwords should be 6-8 characters in length the more characters you have the more secure the password will be. Alphanumeric characters are best - enforce a rule on your network that a combination of letters, numbers and symbols must be used or the password is rejected.
4. It is advisable to set up a maximum duration for each user’s password, forcing users to change their password regularly – this can be done monthly, bi monthly or even 6 monthly.
5. Tell staff not to write down their passwords anywhere.
6. Users should be encouraged not to use the same password for multiple programs / systems
7. Staff should never give their password to anyone, even IT personnel – if someone needs access to their system the End user should log in themselves and stay with the person and monitor what they are doing on their user account.

These are all very basic tips and should be common sense – remember to keep your business data safe it is one of the most valuable assets your business has!

What exactly is Foursquare & Do I need it?

I am a modern woman of the 21st century – I like to think of myself as a bit of a hip chick, I like JLS, I know who Alexa Chung is and every six month I dedicate 4 weeks of my life to pouring over the fashion week shows from New York, London, Paris & Milan. But for the life of me I cannot work out Foursquare - I am reliably informed that it is ‘THE’ new social network but despite reading bits and pieces about it I am still none the wiser is it a game? Is it a facebook style social media to connect with friends or is it a twitter approach of the more the merrier? So I thought this week I would make a concerted effort to find out what it is and if I need it.

What is Foursquare?

Basically it is a location based social network/game. It allows you to tell you friends where you are and in return you can see where your friends are and possibly meet for a cocktail!

How does it work?

The whole game is based around what is known as "checking-in". You check-in with foursquare from bars, restaurants, hotels, cafes, clubs and any other kind of nightspot, add a little message about where you are and what you're doing - all very brief.

You’re friends will then get a message to let them know where you are and the idea is that they can then join you if they fancy or just be pleased that you're not at home watching Eastenders on a Friday night.

From the other side of things, if you're on your own stuck at home and bored you can see where your mates are and pop along and join them at a bar. All pretty simple.

The other two things you can do are create a to-do-list of places you've always wanted to go and add to a Top 12 list of your recommendations for other people.

The Game?

So it is also a game - you get points for checking-in. The idea is that it encourages you to use it, which then gets the system up and running and propagates the idea.

Find a new place in your neighbourhood? +5 points. Making multiple stops in a night? +2 points. Dragging friends along with you? +1. And as you start checking-in to more interesting places with different people, you'll start unlocking badges - this is where the real addiction lies. There are badges for discovering new places and for travelling to faraway places, spending too much time singing karaoke or hitting the gym consistently.

Foursquare points aren't good for anything other than bragging rights with friends and on the online leader board on the site with the top users which can get very competitive. Also, if you check-in from the same place more regularly than anyone else you might find yourself crowned Mayor of that place! - An honour that your friends may try to wrestle from you grasp, that's part of the fun.

Can anyone use it?

Yes and no. The game is city specific so there are different networks for a number of different locations. If there doesn't happen to be one in your location then it's not going to be too much fun for you. You'll also need a mobile phone to check-in from or better still, there's an app for Android, iPhone and Blackberry.

So it is really clever and sounds like great fun for people in the late teens or early 20’s in Uni with tons of friends but for people 30+ with kids and spouses it is unlikely that this is a going to catch on. I know that if I want to see my friends I tend to have to make plans to do so I can’t just drop everything because one of my friends is in a bar I like – Plus I kind of enjoy watching Eastenders on a Friday night!

What to Look for When Buying a Laptop

When checking out new laptops online I found a great little buying guide on the HP website that I thought I would share with you all - some fantastic tips!

1. Portable form factor

Ultraportables excel for frequent fliers who need just the essentials while on the road. Screen sizes are small - usually 10 or 12 inches - and their keyboards are petite. Beware though to make these machines so small, features such as internal optical drives, large and fast hard drives, and extra ports are frequently not included.

Mainstream laptops are like budget desktops: They're good for general tasks but won't win any contests for their performance or features. Though they don't qualify as thin or light, they still offer some portability. With 14-inch or larger screens, a standard selection of ports, and big keyboards, they're suitable for everyday use.

If you want desktop power, you need a desktop replacement. With screen sizes of 15 to 17 inches, travel weights as heavy as six kilos, and average battery life of less than three hours, these behemoths are not for people on the go. They can accommodate a wide range of performance parts, however, and are just right for power users of all kinds.

2. The processor and you

When it comes to processors, go with the fastest you can afford, regardless of the notebook's form factor. You have a lot of options, so here are the basics.

Intel's Pentium M CPU line offers speed while enabling great battery life. These chips, combined with Intel's wireless LAN electronics and either the 915 Express or 855 chipset, make up Intel's Centrino mobile technology. The biggest downside is price -- Pentium Ms are still costly.

AMD's mobile processors are more affordable than Intel's, but they generally lag behind Intel's on our MobileMark tests. AMD's Turion 64 processors may change that, however. AMD says the chips will offer optimisations for high performance, wireless capability, and long battery life.

3. Screen sizes

Wide-screen notebooks, which have an aspect ratio of 16:9, offer larger, sharper, and all-around better images than their 4:3 standard-screen cousins. They're great for allowing you to have two documents or Web pages open side-by-side. A spacious 17-inch wide-screen laptop is a nice luxury if you're not planning on traveling with it.

4. Memory memiors

Having enough memory is vital to system performance, and lots of RAM lets you run more applications simultaneously. Sufficient RAM is also necessary for graphics work, image editing, and video editing, and crucial for 3D gaming. This is especially true in notebooks, because notebook graphics processors frequently have little or no memory of their own and share the main system RAM.

5. Typing and mousing

As notebooks shrink in size, so do their keyboards. If possible, try some simple typing exercises before you buy. Pay particular attention to the spacebar, Shift, Ctrl, and Backspace/Delete keys. Be sure all are in a good location for your hand size and typing style.

Computing today relies a lot on mousing. With a notebook, all you get is a touch pad or pointing stick. Test the notebook's input device for comfort and responsiveness. Some touch pads include extra features, such as a dedicated area for scrolling.

6. Vying for video RAM

If you're not planning on doing much graphics work or playing 3D games, shared memory should be fine. But if you have a choice, aim for a graphics chipset that shares at least 64MB of system memory.

7. A slot for all reasons

Like a PCI slot in a desktop, a PC Card (or PCMCIA) slot in a notebook provides expansion opportunities. Additional USB and FireWire ports, wired and wireless modems, and wireless LAN radios are all available in PC Card form. PC Cards and slots come in three sizes: Type I, II, and III. Type I cards are normally used for memory, Type II for input/output devices, and Type III for mass storage and firewalls.

8. Get connected

Ports, especially USB and FireWire, are necessities, but on notebooks they're usually in short supply. At a minimum, look for two USB ports, and if you have any legacy devices, such as parallel printers, look for those ports, too. If you'd like to use a digital camcorder or iPod with your notebook, make sure the notebook has a FireWire (IEEE 1394) port. Connecting a monitor will require a VGA port. And if you want to output video to a television, find a notebook with an S-Video out.

9. Go wireless

Integrated wireless networking (Wi-Fi) has become an indispensable feature. Most notebooks ship with a choice of 802.11b or 802.11b/g. Capable of data throughput of 11Mbps, 802.11b is fine for ordinary use. Public hotspots typically use 802.11b or 802.11g.

10. Power on the go

Lithium-ion batteries have all but replaced nickel-cadmiums because they're lighter, have a higher energy density, and don't suffer from recharge-inhibiting memory effect.

Also look out for battery capacity (measured in milliamp hours, or mAh), and the number of cells. Typical batteries have a mAh rating between 2,000mAh and 6,000mAh; higher is better. Cells are the actual compartments where power is produced and can range from four to 12; the more the better.

App of the Week - Tiger Woods PGA TOUR

I thought for today’s app of the week I would go for the brilliant Tiger Woods PGA TOUR BY EA SPORTS – now as a woman I must admit that I am not a big Tiger Woods fan after all the revelations last year but my goodness the boy can swing a club (granted not too well recently). Also, I thought with my favourite sporting event coming up – the Ryder Cup, this is a great wee app to get us all in the mood. – FORE!!!

MULTIPLAYER IS HERE!

Play a round of golf or two with a buddy using local WiFi & Bluetooth Multiplayer.

TAKE ON GOLF’S FINEST

Play as or against Tiger Woods or a great line-up of other pro golfers like Annika Sorenstam, Vijay Singh, Natalie Gulbis & Retief Goosen!

CHOOSE YOUR GREEN

Golf over 120 holes across 7 of the most famous courses in the world including Pebble Beach & St. Andrews.

THE REAL DEAL

Hear the crack of the club and the roar of the crowd as each fairway comes to life with realistic sounds, 3D graphics, and dynamic camera angles.

CONTROL YOUR GAME

Master the exclusive Swing Meter and get visual feedback on your moves. Manipulate the direction of your ball spin & watch it soar through the air!

FAMILIAR VOICES

Real-time commentary by former pro-golfer Sam Torrance and The Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman.

TIGER IS 3.0 READY

Hit the green in style. Listen to & control music from your iTunes® Library while you shoot a hole-in-one!

This week’s app of the week is a big favourite of mine it’s the BBC News App. It is my go to app first thing in the morning and several times throughout the day to keep me up to date with the latest goings on. The news stories all include one minute video news summaries to keep you informed on the go.

You can also personalise the app to suit your interests and download content for offline browsing which include - Top Stories, World, UK, Local News, Entertainment, Sport, Business, Politics, Health, Education, Science & Technology and Features. Plenty of stories and categories to keep you up to minute with events and world news.

My favourite feature is the live streaming of the BBC news channel which I am always popping on to during the day to see what is happening.

This is a must have app for news junkies like me and best of all it is Free!!!

Technology on Campus.

This has been a big week for my little niece – it has been her first week at High School. As you can imagine and I am sure sympathies with this seems to be a much bigger deal for the adults in the family than it is for her. All of a sudden our cute little girl that used to put the bows from presents in her hair on Christmas morning is far too cool for us. Her big brother has just started 5^th year and his thoughts are now turned towards university (I think we have successfully now convinced him that International Rock God may not necessarily be the wisest career choice!)

With this on my mind and also the English exam results being received yesterday it got me thinking about kids going off to Uni with their backpacks, text books and pencils.....wait a minute! That was 10 years ago - now they go off surely with a Laptop, EBook and iPod???

The university experience has changed – instead of notebooks and pens in their backpack, students now carry to class the latest laptop with a copy of windows 7 and office 2010 Home and Student edition to help with all those essays and projects. Not only is this technology great for students but it also works well for parents whose kids are leaving home to go and study – just make sure that you install Skype on the laptop and you can talk to your kids while looking at them on screen. Also, this is a great way to ensure that your little cherub doesn’t have pink hair or a new piercing!

Text books you would think would survive technological advances and to a certain extent they do, but so many course text books are being converted to E-Book format. It would be silly to lug around massive heavy books if you could carry them round in a neat little E-book reader like the incredibly popular Amazon Kindle which has (finally!!) being released for sale in the UK at a very reasonable £109.

A lot of universities are also encouraging their lecturers to record and upload their classes as podcasts. I think this is such a fantastic idea - as it gets closer to exam time to be able to actually go back and listen to exactly what your lectures have said 10 months or ever years earlier in a class is invaluable.

Now for the serious part of this blog – with all this technology being used in such a vital way for you or your kid’s education it is absolutely essential that they are backing up their laptop as many ways are possible. As a minimum it should be backed up to an external hard drive every day and if you wanted to be really safe you should be backing up to an online backup facility of which there are many.

This laptop will have all the class notes, essays and projects stored on it, it may possibly have text books and class podcasts so be careful get a good anti-virus and a good backup plan and that way the only thing to worry about is the amount of washing they will bring home at Christmas!

App of the Week – WhatsApp messenger

This week’s app of the week is the brilliant WhatsApp Messanger a must purchase for all you texing nuts out there. This is a brilliant app for busy offices with lots of people on the go - it is a great way to stay in touch!

WhatsApp messenger is a smartphone to smartphone messenger currently available for iPhone, BlackBerry and Nokia phones only. The application utilizes push notifications to instantly get messages from friends, colleagues and family. Switch from SMS to WhatsApp to send and receive messages, pictures, audio notes, and video messages at no cost. All features are included in our base price without the need for extra in-application purchases.

* NO HIDDEN COST: Once you and your friends download the application at a bargin 59p, you can use it to chat as much as you want. Send a million messages a day to your friends for free! WhatsApp uses your Internet connection: 3G/EDGE or Wi-Fi when available.

* SAY NO TO PINS AND USERNAMES: Why even bother having to remember yet another PIN or username? WhatsApp works with your phone number, just like SMS would, and integrates flawlessly with your existing phone address book.

* NO NEED TO ADD BUDDIES: Your Address Book is used to automatically connect you with your contacts. Your contacts who already have WhatsApp Messenger will be automatically displayed under Favorites, similar to a buddy list. (You can of course always edit Favorites any way you like)

* OFFLINE MESSAGES: Even if you miss your push notifications or turn off your iPhone, WhatsApp will save your messages offline until you retrieve them during the next application use.

* STATUS: Use the status feature of WhatsApp to inform your contacts if you are busy, in a meeting, at the gym, or available for a chat.

The Gadgets that Time Forgot

As technology evolves, there are bound to be some bumps in the road; some gadgets which seem like a great idea at the time, but are eventually revealed to be epic flops. This is a list of some of my favourite gadget flops from recent history.

Sega Dreamcast

When I was a young pup Sega used to compete with Nintendo to be the games console of choice in playgrounds all over the country. Then Sony came along and changed all that with the launch of their Playsation. Sega finally gave up the fight just 3 years after its UK launch in 2002, announcing that it was switching its focus from making hardware to just making software.

Sony MiniDisc

I had a Sony MiniDisc when I was in high school for about 5 minutes before I got bored of it. The idea behind the MiniDisc is it was like CD but smaller. It was a pity that the designers at Sony didn’t see the MP3 revolution which was just around the bend. The Sony MiniDisc trudged on for most of the 90’s, however thankfully it seems that Sony let that one finally go to the gadget neverland.

Amstrad E-m@iler

Having the misfortune to look like an early 90s IBM trying to procreate with a telephone, the E-M@iler charged lucky users to check their email, once they'd wrestled their way past a calamitous keyboard and OS. Its USP - that it allowed anyone to email - looked out of date from the moment it hit the shelves in 2000.

Robot Vacuum Cleaner

This is the one I wish the designers and tech bods had got right. It promised so much and delivered so little - What was promised as the gadget to end domestic suffering turned out to be a wheelie bin lid driven by three bickering, blind mice. Not only do these machines take hours to get around your house, they usually fail to pick much up, too.

Segway

We thought we were given legs to walk, it turns out this is not true, or at least that is what Dean Kamen tried to convince us in 2001 which the launch of his Segway. The personal mobility Scooter/bike/ personal green transportation – whatever it is, never really took off with only 50,000 units shifted in 8 years. For the sake of our waist increasing nation let’s be thankful for that!

Zune

Billed by Microsoft as an iPod Killer but by everyone else as the iPods ugly cousin. Zune was criticised for its ugly design, bad sound quality and flawed music sharing interface. Apple never really had anything to fear.