Category Archives: geekiness

face recognition

25 Friday May 2018

Posted by in gadgets, geekiness, iphone

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I don’t know what took so long for me to do this, but today I finally activated the Face Recognition thingy on my iPhoneX. And hey, it’s great! Doesn’t work so well in low light, but then the number pad comes up for me to put in my passcode. The rest of the time I just look at my phone and it comes to life! I feel all powerful.  😉

With my previous iPhone6S I couldn’t use the fingerprint option because, well, I have no fingerprints. And because using the passcode all the time is a pain, I just never used one. But now I do! And so my phone is safer and I get to feel all powerful. Win-win.

best. present. ever.

09 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by in birthdays, gadgets, geekiness

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An iPhone X!!! This was Peter’s fab combo Christmas-Birthday present, though he couldn’t surprise me with it as he (wisely) said he wouldn’t dare pick one out on his own, you know, in case he got the wrong one. Ha. Anyhow, we went out birthday shopping on Sunday and, at both shops we went to, they only had the 64 GB model. At the time I thought this would be fine, so that’s the one I got, but now I’m having second thoughts and wondering if I should upgrade to the 256 GB model (annoyingly they don’t offer a 128 GB one).

My present iPhone 6S has 64 GBs, and in over two years I’ve never reached more than about 40, though I do have to keep deleting photos after they’ve been uploaded to my computer. So it made sense that I probably wouldn’t ever get close to ever using 256 GBs. But later I started thinking about the main reason I wanted a new iPhone, which was to get a better camera. Also that I would probably be using a higher resolution and be taking more videos, which do take up a lot of space. So now I’m wondering if (before I open the box) I should go with 256 GBs, just in case. Any advice?

iPhone number 5?

11 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by in gadgets, geekiness, work

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It’s here! The iPhone X is now in the shops and I’m finding it very hard not to, ahem, upgrade. I’ve had four different iPhones now, so this would be my fifth. My present 6S is actually working just fine, but I’m keen to have a larger screen and – especially – the new camera. But the price is a bit crazy and so I’m finding it hard to justify this one. Anyone else (other than my friend Victor) have one yet?

recovery

07 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by in gadgets, geekiness, internet, ipad

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ipad reset

If it isn’t one thing it’s ANOTHER THING. Like updating the iOS in Manzana (my very first iPad). Which I did the other day. But suddenly iOS 9.0.2 started asking me to put in all kinds of crap, including a passcode. Well, I didn’t want a passcode. Manzana never leaves the house and these days is mostly used for browsing. So I thought I’d updated everything okay, but when it rebooted I was asked for a passcode. WTF? I tried my usual one. No luck. Tried another one. Uh-uh. Tried those two again a few more times and suddenly I was locked out. The screen said “i-Pad Disabled” and I had no idea what to do. A bit of googling brought me to this page, which seemed to do the trick. After a few tries. But of course I lost all the photos and had to manually upload Apps again.

So it’s making me think twice about updating the latest Pippin and Manzanilla. Has anyone else had similar update issues?

i5 vs i7

24 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by in computers, gadgets, geekiness, work

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hp dilemma (1)

As some of you may recall, I’ve been going through a computer upgrade dilemma all summer, trying to decide whether to go with another 17″ laptop or an all-in-one 23″ desktop. That question has been decided – I’m definitely going with another laptop. But now another techy-geek dilemma has reared its baffling head… which processor should I get?

Behold two lovely laptops by HP. Both have 17.3″ screens, 12 GB Ram, 1 T memory as well as other similarities. The only difference is that the one above has the new Intel Core i7 processor and the one below has an i5. Oh, and the one above costs 300€ more.

My question is… is the i7 processor worth spending an extra 300€? I mean, I almost hope it is because the Envy above is way prettier than the Pavilion below, but I also don’t want to spend an extra 300€ just for a pretty exterior.

Help? If it matters, I do use my laptop every day for many hours, so speed is important. Also, I do a lot of photo editing and hope to be getting into video editing soon. The other thing is that if I don’t decide which one to purchase by Saturday then I’ll have to wait until another special offer comes along. Right now Fnac is offering a 20% discount.

hp dilemma (2)

upgrade dilemma

06 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by in computers, gadgets, geekiness, work

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update dilemmaIt’s computer upgrade time! Not so much for myself, but flatmate Peter has been using trusty six-year-old Shadow since I bought the Greyhound, and it’s looking like Shadow is about to give up the ghost, so if I upgrade then I can pass the Greyhound on to him. But I’m not sure which way to go. I saw an older version of an HP all-in-one desktop (different than the one shown above) awhile ago and thought it might be nice to have a larger screen to work with, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to lose the portability option of a laptop. Though it must be said that the Greyhound has seldom left the desk in the past three years. So I thought I had finally decided on going with this newer desktop version with a 23″ touchscreen, but then I saw this 17″ laptop that is a bit cheaper and seems to have more “stuff” (RAM, memory graphics, etc) so would it be better to go with the laptop instead and keep the portability option? Do I really need 12 GBs of RAM? Help?

hp envy 17

hp envy 23

technology

04 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by in gadgets, geekiness, sevilla

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ss
So this morning I had to head over to the Social Security office to hand in some paperwork and was informed that I don’t have to do that anymore. I was given this pendrive and a password and told that from now on I can just take care of all this stuff from home! Heck yeah. Especially as a couple of years ago they moved the social security office so that it is now a 45 minute walk from my house rather than a 10 minute walk. I do like the new system, but I think I’ll kind of miss the walks…

Do you ever feel like that about technology? That you miss the walks?

more new stuff!

08 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by in geekiness, sevilla, tapas, tapas tours, websites

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sevilla tapas
Sevilla Tapas

Yes, this revamp of Sevilla Tapas looks very similar to my new Azahar Tapas site (all about restaurants and tapas bars in Andalucía) that I showed you the other day. My question is… are the pages too similar or is the continuity good for “brand” recognition?

I’m quite pleased with the new photo slider thingy and, with both sites, I’ve opted to include footer widgets rather than a long sidebar widget, which I think makes the Front Page look neater. Positioning of the widget content is slightly different on each page. For example, the Sevilla Tapas Tour and Trip Advisor info is up on top on Sevilla Tapas, and in the footer widget on Azahar Tapas.

Anyhoooo… when you have a minute some feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!

migration blues

17 Tuesday Jun 2014

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Migrate-WordpressThis should have been the “piece of cake” part, after sorting out the way I was going to structure my new website (with the help of my pal – and SEO guru – @IrlandesnMalaga. I was even quite pleased with myself that I managed to install all the blogs onto the new website myself. The thing is, I have three blogs on one domain that I want to move over to the new one… no problem, right? Everything is on WordPress, I’ve done this many, many times before without a hitch. But they HAVE ALL GONE TERRIBLY WRONG. Like, seriously wrong. I’m at my wits end. So now everything is at a standstill, probably until I get back from Antequera/Archidona. Ah well…

la anchoa

10 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in computers, gadgets, geekiness, retail therapy, shopping

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satellite-nb10Meet the newest member of my ever-growing Toshiba family… Anchoa!

This is my first ever notebook/netbook with an 11.6 inch touchscreen and weighing in at just 1.3 kgs. Plus lots of other cool specs that made me suddenly eschew all reason and splash out on this rather spontaneous purchase. I’d actually spotted her the other day in FNAC (for some reason gadgets are always either clearly male or female to me) and thought what a pretty new toy she’d make, but of course I couldn’t think of a good reason to buy her. But with a trip to Málaga coming up, and a few other trips planned over the next few months, it started to seem like a Good Idea to have a small travel computer. The last few times I’ve gone away I’ve taken Shadow with me, which left flatmate Peter using a now very slow and clunky Sexy Beast (sorry, nobody but me uses the Greyhound). But Shadow, although reliable, is quite heavy to lug around and so the thought of this sleek little number started appealing even more. Then on Thursday morning I got an email from FNAC saying they were offering members 12% off Toshiba products… and well, it was a sign, right? So off I went and bought the wee thing!

I’m still going through the throws of setting up a new ‘puter, which is never without a few glitches – like when I raced back to the store in a huff after spotting a nick where the screen fits into the lid. It was the microphone (duh!). And I’m not sure I like Windows 8.1, though I wasn’t ready to pay twice as much and have to get used to the whole Mac system. Also, since I won’t be needing Shadow anymore, I was able to remove all my files and programmes, which put the C-drive back into the Blue Zone, so that should improve things for Peter too. Win-win!

For awhile I was stuck for a name for the new arrival and then it came to me… small, shiny and silver just like a little fish. Anchoa! I almost went with Boquerón, which would have been very fitting as her first trip will be to Málaga (Malagueños are called boquerones, another name for anchovy) and I also love Málaga so much that my friend Victor calls me a media-boquerón. But to me Boquerón sounds like a boy’s name… so Anchoa it is.

anchovy