Yes, I’m back posting again. Sorry I haven’t posted for a little while – I decided to take a little summer break. But have no fear, I’m back as of today!
Anyway, last night I came across this very cool application. It’s free and it works with your webcam. It basically replaces your password at Windows logon with a window that shows your webcam. As soon as the app recognises your face using biometric technology, it will automatically log you on with the password you told it.
It doesn’t actually replace your password. It leaves you with the opportunity to use a password, just in case your webcam packs up or you need to get in from Safe Mode.
However, the app does work very well and I was very pleased with how quickly it responded as soon as it recognised me. It also worked very well under various light conditions.
I would have been slightly more impressed if the app had given me the opportunity to register more than one accepted face, but I guess if security is really your thing you probably wouldn’t want that.
Overall, for a free app it is a must have. If you want to keep friends and family away from your personal info, it’s much more secure than a password and doesn’t seem to take any longer than typing a password. Go grab it for free by clicking here. The app works with any Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer.
I’ve always found it really hard to find decent apps for the Nokia 5230. The “Ovi Store” is total rubbish on the device (constantly getting the random error problem) and it’s pretty hard to work around that.
I’ve been looking for a decent IM (instant messaging) client for the device for some time and there’s plenty of choice – eBuddy, Socially, Nokia Messaging IM Beta – but none of them perform very well. Until very late yesterday night, when I came across Nimbuzz.
Nimbuzz is a free client that supports a wide range of phone brands and works as an IM and VoIP client. It supports a wide variety of services including MSN (Windows Live), Yahoo, Facebook, Google Talk and many more. You simply hook up your account details into a Nimbuzz account, log on and off you go.
The interface has really come to my liking – much better than eBuddy’s for touch devices – that’s just unusable. You can also use it in both portrait and landscape modes and best of all, there are no adverts!
An addition to all of that, it also supports VoIP – so you can use either Nimbuzz’s cheap online call rates or you can use SkypeOut (very handy). So if you have a subscription on Skype, as far as I know, you can make use of use of it from Nimbuzz (sadly I haven’t been able to test that yet as currently I don’t get EDGE or 3G where I live – that will soon change).
Overall, it’s a fantastic client. It’s very simple to use and has the best interface I’ve seen yet. You can get it free either from the dreaded “Ovi Store” or by going to nimbuzz.com. If you want to chat on the go with a Nokia 5230 or Nokia 5800 – this is the way to go!
I’ve just been notified by my WordPress system that 3.0 has now officially arrived.
I’ve just installed the update and from what I can see, there’s no major overhaul. However, there are a few minor adjustments that make a big difference. Updating plugins has become much quicker with the new updates page on the Dashboard. In addition, a few cosmetic changes have made browsing the WordPress Dashboard much more straightforward and intuitive.
If you want to grab the new update, either do an automatic upgrade from your WordPress Dashboard, or head to wordpress.org and download it from there!
Giffgaff – the new “people powered” mobile network – has today announced it’s brand new bundles that will come into play very shortly (tomorrow – I believe?). The new plans make calling and texting much more economical.
The new plans (or goodybags, as they are being called) are explained as follows (all last for one month):
For the texter, £5 will give you unlimited texts.
£10 will give you 100 off-net minutes (calls to networks other than giffgaff – all giffgaff calls and texts are free), unlimited texts and unlimited internet (no fair use policy – providing you aren’t tethering)
£15 will give you 300 off-net minutes (calls to networks other than giffgaff – all giffgaff calls and texts are free), unlimited texts and unlimited internet (no fair use policy – providing you aren’t tethering)
£35 will give you unlimited off-net minutes (calls to networks other than giffgaff – all giffgaff calls and texts are free), unlimited texts and unlimited internet (no fair use policy – providing you aren’t tethering).
Here’s a couple of things you may want to know that aren’t in the original forum post:
Voicemail is included in your minutes. On that basis, you won’t be charged 8p per call but presumably you’ll be charged 1 minute out of your allowance.
There is no fair use policy on the unlimited internet – you can use as much as you like. However, tethering is not permitted. Tethering means connecting your phone to your computer to provide a connection to the internet.
Calls and texts to other giffgaff members are still free – they will not come out of your allowance providing you stick to the 60 minute per call limit (hang up and redial).
If you use one part of your allowance (ie you use all your calls), you will need to use all other parts of your allowance before another goodybag can be started. So if you still have unlimited internet for the rest of the month, you’ll be charged 8p per minute on calls until next month, if you have another goodybag queued.
The initial feedback on the forum seems good. A few people are concerned that there is too longer line between the £15 goodybag and the £35 goodybag. I would probably agree, but the £15 goodybag is plenty for me.
Overall, I’m really impressed. I think it will prove popular in time, but we’ll have to see what comes of all this. Bring on my PAC transfer :).
I recently stumbled across this new UK mobile network, and I have to say – it’s a dream come true for me.
They are a very interesting phone network because they are unique in many ways. When you’ve got your SIM card running and you’re using the network, it all seems very standard and basic – but take a look under the hood and you’ll notice a very clever concept.
The basic idea behind giffgaff is very simple. They cut all the expensive marketing and support services and replace them with much cheaper and efficient solutions. By doing this, they can provide a mobile phone service that is considerably cheaper than competitors whilst having happy customers.
For example, they don’t do telephone customer service. Instead, they provide an online community forum that people can submit problems to and members of the network respond with possible solutions. There are also moderators and managers who can help with the slightly more technical problems. And for peace of mind, they also provide an “Ask an Agent” service for the people who need administrative help such as call bars and setup help.
They don’t own any masts – these are provided by O2 and work pretty well. 3G coverage is not brilliant (O2 have always had a bad reputation for 3G coverage) but 2G is coverage is very good for calls and texts. You’ll get 3G in large towns and cities but don’t expect to get it in your rural countryside home.
That brings me nicely onto the subject of costs. They are trying to keep things simple by simply providing one pay as you go tariff. The basic cost of this tariff is as follows:
FREE calls (anytime) to other giffgaff members (as long as you top up £10 per 3 months)
FREE texts (anytime) to other giffgaff members (as long as you top up £10 per 3 months)
8p per minute calls (flat rate, anytime) to any other UK landline or mobile phone
4p per text to any UK phone.
8p per call to voicemail
FREE (100MB per day FUP) internet usage until 25th May 2010 (as long as you top up £10 per 3 months), internet price after that date to be confirmed
FREE calls to any 0800 number (I believe you have to remove the 0 at the beginning – ie 800 not 0800 – no longer true, just dial the number as normal and it’s free), and many other freephone numbers including 0500 and 0808 numbers.
So as you can you see, it’s pretty good value. They haven’t sorted bundles (eg for texts or calls) yet, but as far as I am aware, they are working on that.
If you’d like to give it a try, head over to giffgaff.com and request your free SIM. You’ll have to pay £10 when you get it to activate it (this will give you £10 credit) and you’ll be away within a few minutes of activation.
I really love it and I’m pretty sure 3 will be losing my custom as I’m not impressed by their upcoming price increase. I suggest you give it a try. You’ll need an unlocked phone – that’s it.