Simon Barker
Simon Barker is the founder and editor of Zath who just so happens to be a big technology and gadget fan!Here are all the Zath articles written by Simon Barker...
Here are all the Zath articles written by Simon Barker...
Think Visibility 3 Review (March 2010)
March 17, 2010
This past weekend I packed my bags and headed down to Leeds for the Think Visibility 3 conference, as the name indicates, this is the third such event and the first of two in 2010. The whole idea behind these one-day conferences (organised by Dom Hodgson and his team) is that they cover “the things that usually get left behind in the web design process” and therefore typically covers topics such as SEO, social media, affiliate marketing and branding.
The venue itself remained the same as that used for the Think Visibility 2 conference in Sept 2009; the Alea Casino (near the Royal Armouries museum) in a very smart and clean Clarence Dock area of Leeds. Upon arrival to the event we received our ID badges and just from that you know that you’re in for an event with a bit of character – the organisers had only gone and created our very own “Twitter Top Trumps” from the statistics of our Twitter accounts! These made for a great talking point during the whole event as you met up with different people that you already knew and even more importantly with people you didn’t – this was a great way to break the ice I thought, so well done to the Think Visibility team for coming up with that idea!
Continue reading »Nike+ Running Sensor & iPhone App Review
March 8, 2010
Nike paired up with Apple to produce, what I think, is a great piece of running kit to encourage you to get out and about, walking or running.
What is the Nike+ Sensor for?
The Nike+ sensor and iPhone app track your running progress while you’re out and about through distance, speed and calories. It’s a little like the stats given to you while running on a treadmill. It’s great to have those milestones to help you keep going, even while listening to music. The app gives you stats to take away and feel good about.
Continue reading »Zath’s Technology & Gadget Roundup (08/03/2010)
March 8, 2010
It’s the start of another week here on Zath, wow this year is really flying by, but at least it starting to get sunny here in the UK – anyway let’s have a quick look back at some of the interesting technology and gadget articles in the past week…
LG InTouch Max (GW620) Review – we’ve reviewed quite a few LG mobile phone handsets over the past couple of years and now we’ve had chance to take a proper look at LG’s first Android mobile phone, it’s perhaps not everything that you might have wanted if you’re looking to move from an iPhone, however if you’re looking for a good low priced Android handset, then this could be the one for you!
Google Buzz iPhone App Launched – well it didn’t take a long did it? You can now get an iPhone app that works as a software client for the latest social network; Google Buzz. I have an iPhone and have looked at the Google webpage app, but haven’t really used it. It’s good to see separate clients appearing for Google Buzz as it wasn’t until I started using clients with Twitter that I properly used that.
Continue reading »Tesco Clubcard iPhone App Review
March 5, 2010
Have you seen the new Tesco Clubcard iPhone App? If you’re a loyal Tesco customer like me (well I have a loyalty card, so clearly I must be) and have an iPhone then here’s your chance to get rid of one of those numerous cards from your wallet or purse!
Tesco’s Clubcard app for the iPhone is a pretty simple one in its current form, you enter your clubcard details into it and it then will display a barcode whenever you load up the app.
Therefore all you need to do when you’re next at the Tesco checkout is load up the app and have it scanned at the till instead of plucking out you a card from your wallet or purse or perhaps using one of the keyring barcodes they’ve also sent out to people.
Continue reading »How to Reset/Restore Your iPhone 3G/3GS
March 2, 2010
In the past I’ve written about my experiences of Apple’s big iPhone 3.0 software update in which I’ve had my doubts over useful the update itself was and found that after two months I had to try to restore my (then) iPhone 3G PAYG as I suspected (or hoped) the problems I had were due to some corrupted files and not a hardware fault.
Now as much as I like to do my fair share of Apple-bashing like any decent PC user and coupled with the highly annoying iTunes sluggishness we experience in Windows, I have to admit that they have made managing your iPhone day-to-day in terms of synchronising, backing up and restoring it when needed very simple and effective.
Unfortunately, iPhones are not without their faults, issues and problems like any other mobile phone or mini-computer, the worst one I’ve experienced a few times now is everytime you try to start an app, it would then immediately crash! Handy eh? Suffice to say, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to become familiar with restoring and resetting the two iPhones that I’ve owned so far.
Continue reading »Zath’s Technology & Gadget Roundup (01/03/2010)
March 1, 2010
It’s the start of another week and hopefully you’ve all had a great weekend, I thought we’d begin it with a quite look back at some of the best in hi-tech gadgets and technology blogging that I saw from last week…
Best 10 Free Android Apps For Your Mobile Phone – do you have an Android-based mobile phone? Or are you planning on getting one of the many that are going to be released this year such as Google’s Nexus One, LG GW620, one of the new HTC’s Desire, Legend, HD Mini or one of the many other Android phones that will be released this year? If so, you’ll definitely want to take a look at this list of some of the best free Android apps that are currently out there!
iPhone 4G To Include Front-Facing Camera – another day, another rumour about the upcoming new iPhone 4G mobile phone, this time it surrounds the possibility of a front-facing camera that would allow people to make video calls/conferencing including using Skype. Although that said, these kinds of rumours are just that and nothing might come from them, for instance I wrote about a similar rumour of the 3rd generation iPhone getting a front-facing camera nearly a year ago and then when Apple announced the iPhone 3GS, we were left feeling a little underwhelmed by it all.
Continue reading »Hodge On The Run…For Charity! – Jan 2010 (Video)
February 25, 2010
No we’re not talking about a Prison Break-style fugitive being on the run, no this is Dom “The Hodge” Hodgson who has set himself a challenge for the year 2010, other than working on his various projects such as organising Think Visibility 2010 and much like he set himself one for 2009 (which was to blog everyday on The Hodge blog). However, this year it’s more of a physical challenge, specifically he’ll be doing a series of runs during the course of the year and raising money for charity along the way.
I Want One Of Those – 3 for 2 Gadget Sale
February 24, 2010
As 2010 seems to be rapidly moving forward, Christmas has faded into memory, although I’m sure I’m not alone in still recovering financially from it, so when I saw that I Want One Of Those (IWOOT) are currently running a new 3 for 2 promotional campaign on their site I thought this would be quite useful!
Obviously, here at Zath HQ we like our gadgets so anytime we can save some money when we buy our latest shiny toy, it’s always most welcome and once again IWOOT aren’t letting us down by giving us ways to pick up some cheap bargain gadgets, just like they have in the past in by running IWOOT free delivery promotions.
Continue reading »Google Buzz – Do We Need Another Social Network?
February 21, 2010
Well Google recently released Buzz (didn’t Yahoo do that a few years back?) upon GMail users and anyone else who wants to sign up for a Google account, but the question is will it be the thing to beat Facebook and Twitter? I’m sure Google now hopes so, but I’m yet to be convinced.
Besides, I already use Twitter and Facebook, do I really need another social network? Don’t know what I’m talking about? You can read all about it in this Google Buzz features review.
I’m really not sure about Google Buzz, it seems strange for a company who keeps services in beta for years upon end (like they did with having Google Mail in beta for around 5 years), to release a previously unheard of product onto the world…and one that seemed to care little about your privacy of the contacts that you email regularly, but that perhaps just says more about a bunch of engineers creating and testing Google Buzz and their naivety over how it could be used for more malicious activities, take a look at our most recent technology roundup for more information on that.
Continue reading »Top 10 Free Android Apps For Your Mobile Phone
February 20, 2010
My first Android powered mobile phone was the T-Mobile G1. Gosh I loved it. With its love or hate plastic build, easy to use functional QWERTY keyboard and all the social networking tools I could shake a stick at Android powered phones were definitely for me. Moving over from the likes of the iPhone 3GS, I jumped at the opportunity to go with an OS which was to me, for the customisation alone, better.
I now have a HTC Hero running Android 2.1 and love it – HTC Sense is no longer there, but some of the perks do remain. I can also cross use my apps which I love so much, that if they were to self delete themselves, I would cry – because quite simply I need them all. And so after testing out apps, Android powered phones and the whole shebang, I have drawn up a list of the top ten free Android apps you should have.
Therefore, if you’ve got an Android mobile phone such as the Nexus One, here are the all important apps you should take a look at…
Continue reading »
