Remember last year when Netflix took the big leap into interactive television with Bandersnatch? How could you not it took over the world at the time? It was brilliant, innovative, different but the movie was also great, albeit a tad depressing. Following the success of the interactive system, Netflix has decided to take its tech in the other direction strapping survivalist Bear Grylls with a camera and pushing him out into the wild. In You vs Wild, Bear Grylls takes us on a journey through the harsh terrains we have seen from his Discovery series, but now we call the shots. Just keep your expectations low, this is primarily aimed at a younger audience.
Before I get into this, I love how the interaction works, I think it’s a cool gimmick and done right we can have more content at the level of Bandersnatch, that or it can be used for children’s education tv. However, this is neither. Yes, it’s aimed somewhat at children, but it feels totally fabricated and there’s no real sense of danger..probably not surprising when you think he would have to film each physically laborious choice which I can’t imagine is a pile of fun.
It was a great idea, it’s taken me longer than I expected to get through the series and simply the reason is this. It has massive potential, but it just doesn’t work. All of the action shots from various different locations are painfully obvious, and no you can’t kill Bear. I tried.
Right from the start, we can see it’s all a bit meh. In episode one we are given a choice to take a grip hook or a slingshot with you because apparently we one have space for one. For example, we take the slingshot, we stumble upon a croc, fire the slingshot to scare him and he goes into the water. Bear tells us “good job” before then ploughing back into the river, where we saw two seconds beforehand the crocodile has gone into. Logic.
I get they want to make this educational but wow this gets repetitive. Each time you get a choice our guide will explain each choice in great detail, and again while you contemplate your choice and again when you actually pick. You get where I’m going with this, after the 3rd or 4th choice in a row you might be fit to fire the remote at the tv with a sense of “just get on with it”
I feel like this is one I watched so you don’t have too. As I said before you can’t kill Bear, you can just about make him sick or trapped where you go back to your previous selection, not unlike Bandersnatch. Sadly for Bear Grylls this is the only similarity between the two interactive shows. You vs Wild in its defence looks very impressive, each of the locations is stunning but for what this show wanted to be, maybe it’s a bit to clean cut and polished. Initially, I came into this hoping for something along the lines of the old Born Survivor Bear from his earlier Discovery days. As a fan of the Discovery shows my initial plan was to see if I could survive but after 2 episodes of trying to make the right survival decisions boredom set in. It’s more fun to see if you can mess around with Bear, make him eat the wrong thing or take the riskier journey, just to see what would happen.
For me, this would have been much better if he was simply strapped with GoPro and you were made to feel like you had an actual impact on his journey. Instead, we get a boring, Hollywood clean production which sucks the life out of what could have been a cool collaboration of tv and tech. If you’re a Bear Grylls fan, give it a go, make up your own might. But don’t expect to make it to the end without getting bored. It’s more scripted reality tv and less survival but it would keep a curious child entertained…for an episode or two anyway.
Some pretty remarkable news breaking at the moment. Google has announced that the US company will suspend some business with the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei. The immediate impact for consumers will be Huawei’s Android phones no longer having access to the latest Android updates. Down the road, further impacts will include new Huawei phones, including the Mate 30, Mate 30 Pro and Mate X folding phone, will not have access to popular Google apps such as the Google Play Store and Gmail.
While it all sounds pretty dramatic, this could be a storm in a teacup. Then again, it could be massive. The joy of something unprecedented.
Trump Bans Huawei
Last Thursday, U.S. President, Donald Trump, added Huawei to a trading blacklist. What this basically means is Huawei can no longer buy or sell technology into the United States. Directly, this has limited consequences for consumers. For manufacturers like chip company Qualcomm, it was a much bigger deal. Huawei is a considerable buyer for Qualcomm and news immediately hit Qualcomm’s share price as Trump’s ban means they can no longer sell to Huawei.
Huawei themselves tweeted describing the situation as “lose lose” for everyone, but direct impact on consumers is limited.
Lose-lose: Washington’s decision to force U.S. companies to stop doing business with tech giant #Huawei creates losers on both sides. #HuaweiFacts
Huawei has never seen the United States as an important retail space. They have already removed Apple as the world’s second biggest smartphone manufacturer behind Samsung without a supported phone network in the U.S. For Irish consumers, this would have had an even smaller impact. For example, relations between Huawei and the European Union are pretty good, far from the paranoia over the Chinese smartphone manufacturer being seen in the U.S. Another important thing to note is that this could all be very shortlived as President Trump and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, are scheduled to meet next month in an effort to cool the ongoing trade between the United States and China.
With that said, today’s news from Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is a much bigger headline for Huawei and Irish consumers.
Google Suspending Huawei’s Android License
The news breaking today is very interesting. I won’t lie, I have a vested interested in this as I’m currently testing the P30 and P30 Pro. Already I feel like I’m looking at the two best Android phones on the market in 2019. Naturally, news that Google is moving to suspend Huawei’s Android licence pricked my ears a little.
Trump’s ban could have a massive impact on any chances Huawei had to enter The U.S. market, but it would make little difference to the P30 Pro in my pocket. Google’s news, on the other hand, would appear to have a much larger impact.
With Google suspending Huawei’s Android licence, Huawei smartphones immediately lose access to the latest Android updates. This also means that the next range of Huawei phones outside of China will lose access to the Google Play Store, Gmail and YouTube. Whether or not this will include the P30 Lite remains unclear, but it almost certainly will impact the Mate X folding phone, set for a mid-year launch, and the next Mate range due to launch around October later this year.
That is assuming all of this isn’t a gigantic game of chess with the reputation of the U.S. and Huawei being pitted against each other.
What Does This Mean For You – The Consumer?
Right now, the biggest unknown is the real world implications for Irish people who own Huawei phones. First and foremost, right now there’s no impact. Your phone will continue to operate as normal, you still have access to Google services like Gmail, the Play Store and YouTube.
For Huawei users' questions regarding our steps to comply w/ the recent US government actions: We assure you while we are complying with all US gov't requirements, services like Google Play & security from Google Play Protect will keep functioning on your existing Huawei device.
Huawei will retain access to the open source version of Android, so it’s likely the Chinese manufacturer will start customising this to suit their needs. OnePlus is already doing this through their massively popular OxygenOS.
The longer-term consequences do seem to be a little greyer right now.
Potentially, this could see Huawei develop their own operating system altogether. Last year, they already moved their smartwatches over to LiteOS. Moving to a new smartphone OS would be a much bigger move. I’m sweating at the thought of the compatibility issues to be honest, so fingers crossed the much more likely outcome prevails here.
And that is this all blows over. It feels like all of this is two countries with their chests puffed out circling each other much to the detriment of Huawei. I’ll admit that I’m hopeful of this outcome because I quite like Huawei phones. I can see this one playing out in the news over the coming weeks and months, and we’ll be covering every angle of it so be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Sony, they just like to be different, don’t they? Over the years they have intentionally gone left when others went right. We forget Sony was the first Android phone maker to push waterproof, side-placed fingerprint sensors and all-glass designs so it should come as no surprise that they are completely reinventing it’s Xperia lineup again.
This year Sony has swapped the Xperia XA range out for new Xperia 10 and 10 Plus. This new model just doesn’t boast a new name, it brings a new shape with an elongated 21:9 aspect ratio. But is that enough for the Sony Xperia 10 to stand out as the best mid-ranger on the market? Let’s have a look.
Design
The Xperia 10 is a really sharp looking bit of kit. As ever, I find with Sony they really know their style. Boasting a metal unibody it offers solid quality, the curved corners and edges make the phone feel really slick considering its €300 pricing.
Straight out of the box, you will notice how tall the Xperia 10 is, the narrow, slender frame and tall body makes for a form factor that is certainly different from the competition. Sure the 21:9 display won’t be for everyone but it’s perfect for movies, exactly what Sony wanted. At this years CES, it was clear Sony is targeting the entertainment industry with releases of their new 8K TV and 360° audio systems. So it shouldn’t be a surprise their mobiles followed suit. This new shape and aspect ratio means that if you’re watching a movie on your mobile, you will never have the black banners above or below the movie.
Moving onto the rear it’s typically Sony, a raised dual camera housed in a metal surround stands out from the main body. On the front, it’s pretty much all screen apart from the speaker and front camera at the top. Again, I have to say the phone looks and feels a lot more premium than the €300 price suggests.
At the bottom, there is a 3.5mm jack and the USB Type-C at the bottom for charging. The right-hand side contains the power button, volume control and a side-positioned fingerprint sensor. Unlike devices of old, the fingerprint sensor and the power button are separate, which is grand and all but I would have much rather if they combined.
Display
The display is the main selling point on the Xperia range this year, the Xperia 10 contains a 6-inch display, which is 0.5-inches smaller than the Xperia 1 and the Xperia 10 Plus. So it’s a good size and it opts for a full HD+ resolution which means you get a good crisp display.
Why this new longer look? This 21:9 aspect is new to smartphones, though not new in general. It’s the same ratio used for cinema content and Sony claim they film 70% of their content in this ratio. Theoretically, it means watching movies and stuff on the Xperia 10 should be more immersive.
Compatible content looks brilliant. Colours look great and the picture fills the space beautifully. Impressive stuff in my opinion. There is one problem, not a lot of content is filmed in this ratio. Netflix Originals are normally filmed in 16:9, or 18:9 which means those black bars they are trying to avoid still show and a lot of apps aren’t in this format so things can look squeezed, thus defeating the object of the phone’s USP.
Camera
As with any phone of the market now, the camera is one of the phones major USP’s. The Xperia 10 comes a dual camera on the back. At 13mp and 5mp, the rear cameras showcase similar features to it’s bigger brother the Xperia 10 Plus, including bokeh images and 4K video recording, but it misses out on optical zoom.
The camera itself performs well in good light, very well indeed. Anything shot in a good light offers strong colours and balance. Pictures are crisp and not overly processed, the bokeh and portrait modes are solid performers so all in all, I’m happy. Sadly in low light, it all falls apart. This is when the phone starts to show it’s pricing. Sure the pictures are useable but they display a grainy quality and are fairly noisy. Maybe I’m just being picky but the lack of image stabilization showed. You can also shoot images and video in the new 21:9 ratio and they look brilliant of the screen, this is really cool and again shows a willingness from Sony to try to push the boundaries.
At the front, we have the 8mp ‘selfie’ camera that is capable of taking those pro-effect bokeh style photos. It’s solid, not industry leading but solid. Again in regular lighting, the shots can be quite impressive but the performance falls apart in low light.
Battery
Rocking a 2870mAh battery, it’s no surprise the Xperia 10’s battery life is distinctly middle of the road. I would unplug normally about 7:30 most mornings but I would usually be rushing to a charger by 8ish. My regular use consists of all the usuals…checking emails, Sky Sports News, social media, a bit of Spotify and the usual calls and text, nothing too out of the ordinary.
The Xperia 10 supports fast charging, which makes topping it up fairly easily, but I’d normally expect a phone to last at least the full day. It’s not bad by any means but it’s middling at best. Look Sony has concentrated on style and a crisp display at this price point – we can’t have it all.
Hardware
The Sony Xperia 10 comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 platform and 3GB of RAM, a slight downgrade from the Xperia 10 Plus. The storage space is adequate with 64GB of memory- and there is microSD support for storage expansion up to 512GB.
Overall I found the performance to be quite good and the day to day performance was reasonable for the pricing. It also offers some software to help the battery last that little bit longer, including Stamina mode but with the fast charging capability, a quick boost is no big deal.
When it comes to the audio side of things, the Xperia 10 not only has the now retro 3.5mm headphone jack but it also supports Hi-Res audio, it would have been amazing to get the Sony Dynamic Vibration system because I think it would have added another dimension to the movie watching experience. But again that’s just me being picky, overall for €300 it packs a punch for the price.
Software
The Xperia 10 runs Android Pie, with some Sony bloatware thrown in. Over the last few years, Sony has massively reduced its interference with operations, offering a much more refined experience.
Some of these additional software touches from Sony are really clever to be fair. To make use of the new 21:9 aspect ratio display, they have released a new feature call the Multi-Window user interface. This allows users to easily run two apps simultaneously – one at the top of the display and one at the bottom. A nice feature to have, especially for me watching the last day of the EPL while tracking the other results on Live Score.
Since the XZ3, Sony has given us SideSense a feature that allows for easier access to frequent apps and better one-handed operation. It uses AI to show you the apps you use most at specific times and gives you easy access without having to swipe up from the bottom of the display for app access.
Aside from those enhancements, you get a pretty standard Android experience. It’s a good, clean experience with gestures at the button and Google Assistant on board, as you would expect.
Credit where it’s due, the Sony Xperia 10 gives you a lot of phone for about €300. The build quality is good, the new 6″ 21:9 screen is ideal for movies and it’s generally a decent runner.
On the flip side, the battery isn’t brilliant and we get some of the usual performance blips we have become used to from the Sony mid-range over the last few years. However, at the same price point, there is also the Samsung A50 and the Huawei P30 Lite. The competition is fierce.
The Xperia 10 could have been one of the best mid-range phones around, but underpowered hardware stops it from delivering on its opening promise. It won’t steer you wrong if you want something stylish and you like watching tv and movies on your phone, then this could be the one for you.
Earlier today, OnePlus unveiled their newest flagship phone, the OnePlus 7 Pro. And it could very well revive their old title as “The Flagship Killer”. Back when OnePlus entered the handheld device race back in 2014, their main goal was to provide premium handsets at competitive price points. Although they may not be as popular as iPhones, Samsungs and as of the past couple of years, Huawei’s, they haven’t let that stop them from taking on the big boys of the industry.
OnePlus have slowly grown in popularity year on year. And now, with their new edge to edge display, tiny bezels, and a very tempting price point, OnePlus could once again become a flagship killer. Their first three models were advertised as such, however, as technology advanced, setting competitive prices became more and more challenging. This year, it looks like they are going back to their roots.
Let’s talk money
To put it into perspective, the new Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus sim free in Ireland will set you back €909 for a sim free model. The new Huawei P30 Pro will cost an eye-watering €949 for the sim free model. The Apple iPhone XS Max will set you back, a rather scandalous, €1279. And that’s for its cheapest model. The brand new OnePlus 7 Pro with all the works will only cost you (a reported) €700. Now we don’t want to be getting all high and mighty here at Goosed. We appreciate that €700 is still a lot of money, but being over €200 cheaper than its nearest competitor is amazing value for money.
So let’s see what you get for all that cash.
Power
Powering the new model, you’ve got the new Snapdragon 855 under the hood. The same chip Samsung use to power the S10 Plus (aside from their own Exynos chipset). It has a 4000 mAh battery, which is slightly smaller than the 4200mAh you get in the P30 Pro and 4100mAh you get in the S10 Plus. However, the phone comes with “Warp” charging, which will charge the device from 0-50% in 30 minutes. It doesn’t measure up to the P30 pro’s 0-70% in 30 minutes, But still higher than the 34% you’ll get in 30 minutes from the S10 Plus.
Display
The display is the real selling point for the OnePlus 7 Pro. It sports a stunning edge-to-edge 6.67 inch AMOLED display with minuscule bezels on the top and bottom, thanks to the hidden selfie camera (more on that later). For the first time, we now get a QHD+ resolution with a 90Hz refresh rate. So gaming will be even more seamless compared to competitors, all of whom offer 60Hz. It really is something you would need to experience in person to fully appreciate. And thanks to the lack of notch or punch hole to house a camera, you get a tall 19.5:9 aspect ratio. All of this is protecting by Corning Gorilla Glass, as standard on most smartphones these days.
Keeping with the common theme of security this year, you get an in-display fingerprint scanner. Although its reliability has yet to be tested in the real world.
Camera
The OnePlus 7 Pro camera has gotten a big upgrade on its predecessor. Featuring a triple camera, both the 7 and the 7 Pro come kitted out with a Sony IMX586 48MP shooter with optical image stabilisation. Although it comes with a slightly darker aperture of 1.6 versus the 1.7 the 6T came with. But this matches up with the P30 pro’s 1.6 aperture and is brighter than S10 Plus’s 1.5. But the processing works differently to other camera manufacturers. The phone takes the image on a 48MP sensor but produces a 12MP final image.
The second camera offers and Ultra-wide camera rather than a telephoto, but it offers a 2.2 aperture and although it doesn’t have OIS, it does have auto-focus. This Ultra-wide camera provides a 117-degree field of view and has a 3x zoom. Which is decent, but doesn’t measure up to the groundbreaking camera on the P30 Pro which offers 120 degrees.
It also has the option of an 8MP camera on the ultra-wide camera, however, these images come with a considerable amount of noise and just don’t measure up to the competition. But to the average Joe, this would barely be noticeable. And with HDR automatically turned on, you’ll get the best each camera can offer.
Eye-popping selfies?
The selfie camera is unique, in a way most other manufacturers have not yet dabbled with. In order to offer an almost inexistent top bezel, the selfie camera pops up from the top of your device. Due to the number of sensors most smartphones have these days on the top bezel, a lot of companies haven’t opted for this option. The 16 MP camera itself is fairly similar to the 6T in terms of quality. In low light conditions though, it creates a lot of noise. Not ideal for nights out where, let’s be honest, is when most selfie cameras get used. The pop-up mechanism comes with a drop sensor, so if, no… when you drop it, the camera snaps shut so as not to break it.
when you drop it, the camera snaps shut so as not to break it
The video camera on board is impressive. With 4K video shooting at 60 fps, 1080 at up 240 fps and 720 at up to 480 fps, there’s no shortage of options. Unfortunately, it does not offer wide-angle video recording.
How does it measure up
Look, the OnePlus 7 pro isn’t the best smartphone on the market. And at the price you can get it at, you’d be naive to think it could be. But considering it’s half the price of the iPhone XS Max, it’s definitely better value.
Compared to the S10 Max, although it doesn’t measure up camera wise and we have yet to properly test it, for 200 quid cheaper, it’s could definitely go either way.
The Huawei P30 Pro is arguably still the best phone on the market today. If it’s photography you’re after, the P30 Pro wins out. But if it’s the price you’re looking at, you’re still getting an awesome phone in the OnePlus 7 Pro.
And if you’re not into big phones, the processor and camera in the standard 7 are the same as the pro and will likely be 100 bucks cheaper. Is it a flagship killer? Maybe not. But regardless of what you’re after in a smartphone, the OnePlus 7 beats all competition in value for money.
And you can pre-order it here on three.ie. The OnePlus 7 Pro will set you back €219 on Three’s €60 per month plan. You can also pre-order directly from OnePlus and get a SIM-free version for €699.
I’m not sure if the news coverage of electric scooters has ramped up in the past few weeks or if I’m just extra aware because I own one. I’m also not sure if everyone is talking about them or they just get mentioned around me because I own one. I’m pretty sure it’s not just me though. In the past week, electric scooters have featured in the Irish Times, Ray Darcy’s radio show and someone mentioned to me that they featured on Crimecall too.
All of this furore is down to the legal grey area certain scooters sit within and that is whether or not they are MPVs. If you ride a scooter which requires you to push start it, I’m more confident than ever that Gardai should not be able to seize your scooter. That said, they still might, but I’m going to make my case for why you should be fine.
The Xiaomi m365 Electric Scooter
I ride a Xiaomi m365 electric scooter. Top speed 25kmph. Advertised range of 30km. It’s a great way to get around the city. I’ve previously explained why they are not considered mechanically propelled vehicles or MPVs. The Xiaomi m365 requires a scooter to start. This means if you push the throttle from a standing start, nothing happens. You need to be moving first.
The Garda Press office pointed out a set of FAQs issued by the Road Safety Authority which state “if it can be powered by mechanical or electrical power alone (i.e. it can go without you pedalling or scooting it) then it is considered to be a mechanically propelled vehicle (MPV)”.
While that should be a slam dunk, alas it’s not enough for the Gardai who began seizing electric scooters just like mine over the past few weeks. Their reason? Driving an MPV without insurance.
I contacted the Garda Press Office again and got the same boilerplate response which didn’t address the subtleties in defining an MPV. Next up, Garda Traffic.
Garda Traffic Response to Electric Scooters
Garda Traffic is a distinct department of An Garda Siochana responsible for policing our roads. They seemed to be the next natural port of call for my queries so I got in touch with Superintendent Murphy based out of Dublin Castle.
I pointed out why my scooter would not be an MPV, a video of two Gardai on bikes agreeing with a scooter rider they stopped and asked why they were seizing scooters like the m365.
The first response I received stated, “if a vehicle can be powered solely by mechanical or electrical means it is considered an MPV, and must have insurance, tax, licensing etc. if used on a public road. For example, when you stop pedalling or scooting on the vehicle, a motor takes over and powers the vehicle without any further pedalling or scooting. If however, the vehicle is assisted only, it is not classed as an MPV. An example of such is a pedelec”.
The response then also referenced the same RSA FAQs sent by the press office, leaving me once again confused. On the one hand, this email sought to assure me my own scooter was an MPV while referencing the same document which I’m using to show why it’s not.
So I sought additional clarification, which lead to another response:
your electric scooter, it falls under the definition of a mechanically propelled vehicle as defined by Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1961
“In relation to your electric scooter, it falls under the definition of a mechanically propelled vehicle as defined by Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1961. That definition states that an MPV as a vehicle intended or adapted for propulsion by mechanical means including:
A bicycle or tricycle with an attachment for propelling it by mechanical power, whether or not the attachment is being used.
A vehicle the means of propulsion of which is electrical or partly electrical and partly mechanical.
There is no reference to top or maximum speed, power, brake horsepower, minimum speed or the word “scoot” which seems to be causing a lot of confusion.
These e-scooters simply need one push off from a standing start, they are then propelled by electric power alone meaning they are MPV’s and require insurance to be driven in a public place”.
While this all seems very legal, I was left with one very simple question. When defining an assisted vehicle versus an MPV, does the law actually state where the human effort must take place?
And to think people pay to go to law school.
Defining Electric Scooters as Assisted Vehicles
In their efforts to clarify a legal grey area, the Gardai have actually just muddied the waters even more. While scooter seizures appear the continue on a daily basis, the electric scooters appear to be further and further away from being MPVs.
In the last repsonse, I got from Garda Traffic, I was informed that my scooter “simply need[s] one push off from a standing start, they are then propelled by electric power alone”. But should it matter where that human effort takes place?
If it pleases the court I would like to refer to exhibit 2B. Sorry, I always wanted to say that and recently I watched It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia…
In short, I’m putting on my lawyer hat as I reference some precedent.
Kilkenny Man Drunk On A Scooter
You really couldn’t make this up. On April 1st, of all days, back in 2011, a Kilkenny man by the name of Jodie O’Dwyer had a drink driving case thrown out by a Judge William Harnett on the grounds that his peddle scooter was a “mechanically assisted” and not “mechanically propelled” vehicle. While I’m at pains to stress how against riding a scooter drunk, or after any drink at all and that this guy should have been charged with a similar offence for bicycles, this was referred to by barrister Michael Lanigan as a “landmark case”.
After it was thrown out by the judge, speaking outside court, Mr O’Dwyer explained the mechanics of how his scooter was powered: “once you build up the speed by pedalling to 15 miles per hour it runs by itself on a battery until you brake”.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury….sorry, that’s just too much fun. But seriously, that’s the same mechanics as my own scooter. You must manually scoot and get up to 5kmph before pressing the throttle and having the motor kick in. After this the motor keeps you moving until you brake.
my electric scooter is the same as the peddle scooter which a Judge already stated was not an MPV
While the speed thresholds are different, this means my electric scooter is the same as the peddle scooter which a Judge already stated was not an MPV but a mechanically assisted vehicle.
What Does This Mean?
Unfortunately, I don’t see this clarification helping at all. I can’t imagine referencing The State versus O’Dwyer 2011 will do anything more than make me feel like I’m in a court case as a Garda oversees my electric scooter being loaded onto a tow truck. Yes, they use tow trucks for scooters.
I don’t see anything changing for electric scooter riders until there’s a clarification in the law. While the Minister for Transport, Shane Ross, has commissioned the RSA to create a report on what other European cities are doing, I can’t help but feel this is kicking the can down the road. It can’t be that hard to take a quick look at what other cities are doing. It’s a stall technique for some reason or another and nothing will change unless someone takes action.
Scooting To Court
I was chatting with Garry, the founder of Skoot.ie who has reported a 50% loss in business since Garda began seizing scooters. Garry is currently lining up a High Court challenge against An Garda Siochana for theft of scooters from members of the public.
Garry stated: “the scooters we sell are electrically assisted kickscooters, with a maximum speed of 25 kilometres per hour. They are not mechanically propelled vehicles (MPV’s), therefore they are NOT subject to the provisions of the Road Traffic Act. The reason why they aren’t deemed MPV’s is due to the fact that there is no mechanical or electrical propulsion from the outset. Human movement e.g a manual scoot is necessary in order for the electrical power to commence”.
Garry believes An Garda Siochana “are misinterpreting the law, and are wrongfully deeming these eco-friendly, alternative methods of transport as MPV’s, when they are more akin to an electrically assisted bicycle”.
Citing that “Ireland has always been very very slow in responding to trends”, Garry asserted his belief that electric scooters “do not breach any existing legislation, therefore they aren’t illegal”. He concluded by stating he believes the “seizure of these modern cycles constitutes an act of theft by An Garda Siochana”. This will be the crux of his argument in court.
As we chatted Garry also made an interesting comparison between electric scooters and the head shops which appeared around the country years ago. While both are linked with legal grey areas, head shops were not acted on until they were outlawed. Scooters, which are decidedly less harmful to health, reduce congestion and are actually a bit of craic, have immediately landed on Gardai radars for some reason.
An Open Mind On Scooters
A few weeks back when scooters appeared on Prime Time I predicted that things would kick off. It looks like the end might very well be in sight and hopefully, this can all be put to bed well in advance of the RSA report which could take months if not years to be completed.
Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan, stated he is maintaining an open mind on electric scooters. He also plans to speak with Shane Ross on the topic. I’ve reached out to Shane Ross for comment on several occasions but have yet to receive a comment.
I’ve been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of support for electric scooters, yet every day I see reports of these clean green congestion beating machines being seized. Let’s hope the end is nigh for this saga so we can all scoot in peace.
Every year, Formula One goes through a dramatic game of musical chairs where drivers swap teams, join F1 for the first time or get dropped from the sport altogether. There are two big swaps that I’m looking forward to in the coming years.
A Formula E driver making the jump up to Formula One
A sim racer making the transition to Formula One, F2 or Formula E
And it’s all a lot closer than you might think. The lines between sport and eSport have become massively blurred when it comes to motorsport.
Sim Racer Beats Formula E Champion In Real Race
In January of this year, sim racer Enzo Bonito took on Formula E champion Luca di Grassi in a real-world one-on-one race. Bonito had a handful of runs in a real car before the race, but still, this was an astonishing achievement for the sim racer.
While it’s all very impressive, it shouldn’t be too surprising. Simulator time is a crucial part of every F1 driver’s schedule. If you remove the g-forces, admittedly a massive factor, from the racing, real-world F1 racing and sim racing is remarkably close. It gives racing eSports a particularly special place in the world of eSports. I can only compare the accuracy to that of how pilots train in hyperrealistic simulators for airlines.
It’s also interesting to note, it goes both ways.
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris Race For Team Redline
Speaking at the Baku Grand Prix this weekend, Lando Norris was asked which drivers he chats with when the drivers gather for the track parade. He mentioned that he knows Max Verstappen relatively well. Turns out it’s not just because they’re somewhat close in age, but the two actually race for Team Redline.
Team Redline is a sim racing team which has competed around the world for the past twenty years. What’s really impressive is that the team has two full-time F1 racers running for them. McLaren’s Lando Norris and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen line up together for the team and according to Norris in Baku, could line out together next weekend in a race.
What Does This Mean For Motorsport?
GAA fans might know where this is headed. I’m almost certain that it’s only a matter of time until we have dual-stars. F1 has thrown a lot of support behind eSports in general and looks like it plans to maintain that support into the future. Younger F1 drivers are really changing the face of the sport. Lando Norris himself is very active on social media with many social media and motorsport fans loving how he’s using social.
The funny thing is Sebastian Vettel, also interviewed in Baku, described how he can’t relate to the social media generation and doesn’t want to share his whole life on social.
This new generation or racer is almost as interested in what they can achieve online as what they can achieve on the track. What this means for the future is the birth of dual stars, that race and make sponsorship money on track and online.
I used to work in a bank. Banks in Ireland often resist change – no pun intended. I previously wrote about Ireland’s most digital banks and how having a smorgasbord of accounts can actually work out in your favour. This week Ulster Bank did something pretty expected to be honest. They’ve introduced fees to generate some revenue from changing user behaviour. I’m here to show you how adopting a digital bank like Revolut or N26 can help you avoid this.
How Much Do Ulster Bank Charge In Fees?
Until now, Ulster Bank has charged customers a monthly maintenance fee of €4. More importantly, while paying this €4, customers were not paying any additional regular banking fees. Some banks do charge for additional services, including transactions fees, contactless usage and ATM withdrawals.
This is set to change, starting the end of this month. Ulster Bank will reduce the standing monthly account maintenance fee to €2 for all customers. The bank will also start charging fees for day to day account usage. Every time a direct debit is charged to your account or you may a card purchase in a store, you’ll pay 20 cents. Withdrawing cash from an ATM will set you back 35 cents while all contactless transactions, including Google and Apple Pay transactions, will cost you an extra 1 cent.
How To Avoid Banking Fees With Ulster Bank
Now, speaking from a personal standpoint this is of absolutely no use to many people, but if you do maintain a balance of at least €3,000 you can avoid transaction fees. A bit silly really and like I said, not a hope I’d ever be able to maintain that! Also, you’ll never be able to avoid the €2 monthly fee.
There’s also a much more practical way of avoiding the daily banking fees than sitting on three grand.
Digital-only banks like Revolut and N26 have become quite popular in Ireland over the past couple of years. Revolut is particularly popular in Ireland and is believed to have over 200,000 Irish customers. These modern digital banks are doing things very differently which seems to be making their early-adopter customers very happy. While some traditional banking services like credit are yet to appear through these banks, day to day banking works just fine. On top of that then there are some other great benefits. I had a recent trip to New York where I only used my Revolut card to avail of live currency exchange. It’s really handy.
Revolut also has the added benefit of avoiding the charging of fees where possible. On their free tier account, you can withdraw up to €200 from ATMs every month. Transaction fees are nowhere to be seen. You can tap your card, type in your pin or use Google Pay as much as you like without incurring additional costs.
use Revolut’s free tier account for day to day banking and shopping, you’d avoid fees altogether
If you’re an Ulster Bank customer, this means if you were to transfer funds into a Revolut account every month and use Revolut’s free tier account for day to day banking and shopping, you’d avoid fees altogether.
What’s The Catch?
Revolut is a fairly new set up but they’ve just been granted a banking license. The biggest catch with all of these banks is a largely mental one. Because they don’t have branches many people, myself included, are still reluctant to have their wages land into these modern accounts.
Beyond that, if you do withdraw a lot of cash, you might need Revolut Premium which costs €7.99 per month, dwarfing the fees of Ulster Bank altogether. Calling it a subscription is a lot more appealing than “fees” and can make you feel like it’s just another monthly cost, alongside Spotify and Netflix.
As I mentioned to The Sunday Times, having a smorgasbord of options and paying attention to fees and limits means you can save a small fortune with a modern bank account like Revolut.
You can use my own link if you want to sign up to Revolut, I don’t think I get any kickbacks for this, but you’ll get a free Revolut card.
Samsung was set to officially launch the Galaxy Fold this Friday but The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that this has been delayed for at least a month. It would appear this is down to fundamental issues the Galaxy Fold has experienced with tech reviewers including faulty displays, protective screen covers peeling even though these are not to be removed at all, and dust causing bulges around the fold of the screen.
I’ve reached out to the PR contacts we have for Samsung to see if there’s a knock on impact on Ireland and when we can expect to see one of these in the country. I’ll update this article once I know more.
The battle to bring something new to the mobile phone market saw Samsung and Huawei announce folding smartphones at their phone keynotes earlier this year.
Samsung announced the Galaxy Fold while Huawei revealed the Mate X. I’m a big fan of Huawei and while many might consider I’m a fan to the point of being biased, I genuinely believe Huawei nailed the folding phone with the Mate X. The screen size and layouts are more impressive and the hinge system means it’ll actually fold flat.
For me, Samsung was always going to be facing an uphill battle with the Galaxy Fold, but with demo models of the phone landing with some tech reviewers already, it looks like Samsung might have rushed this one to market.
How Long Should A €1700 Phone Last For?
The Samsung Galaxy Fold will cost the guts of two grand if US pricing is anything to go by. For that kind of money, you’d expect to get a lot of phone. The appeal of a phone’s screen size is admittedly down to personal preference. It’s completely subjective. What’s not subjective is that kind of money should get you a phone that lasts. Unfortunately for Samsung, who famously recalled the Galaxy Note 7 because of fire risks, it looks like the Galaxy Fold is causing problems for tech reviewers.
Now, I didn’t get one myself and maybe I won’t, but tech editor with CNBC Steve Kovach, tweeted about how his Galaxy Fold is already faulty after one day of use.
In the tweet, you can see the left half of his screen is flickering and completely unusable.
To make things worse, this is not an isolated incident.
Tech Reviewers Getting Bad Folds
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg hit similar issues although, unlike CNBC’s Kovach, Gurman did try to remove a protective coating, erroneously believing it was a screen protector.
The screen on my Galaxy Fold review unit is completely broken and unusable just two days in. Hard to know if this is widespread or not. pic.twitter.com/G0OHj3DQHw
One of the best known YouTube tech reviewers, Marques Brownlee, did what any normal human does when opening a new toy. You peel that plastic off. Turns out that’s not a screen protector and peeling this protector off broke the phone.
PSA: There's a layer that appears to be a screen protector on the Galaxy Fold's display. It's NOT a screen protector. Do NOT remove it.
I got this far peeling it off before the display spazzed and blacked out. Started over with a replacement. pic.twitter.com/ZhEG2Bqulr
Gurman also tweeted showing the plastic he removed while also making a very good point. If he thought this was supposed to be removed, you can be sure consumers will do the same. Samsung confirmed to him that you are not supposed to remove this film.
The phone comes with this protective layer/film. Samsung says you are not supposed to remove it. I removed it, not knowing you’re not supposed to (consumers won’t know either). It appeared removable in the left corner, so I took it off. I believe this contributed to the problem. pic.twitter.com/fU646D2zpY
Dieter Bohn from The Verge noticed a bulge appearing along the crease of his Galaxy Fold.
SUPER YIKES: something happened to my Galaxy Fold screen and caused a bulge. I don’t know how it happened, and I’m waiting to hear back from Samsung. It’s broken. https://t.co/p1014uB01Dpic.twitter.com/3FZJkWtSKr
I can only opine as to why this is happening, but for me, it’s pretty clear. Samsung has been struggling to keep up with Huawei. Both Apple and Samsung have lost ground to the Chinese smartphone manufacturer but Apple knows it has an audience ring-fenced. Samsung wanted to celebrate the tenth year of Galaxy with something creative and different, but they also heard Huawei wanted to bring a folding phone to the market.
Samsung’s solution was to rush to the market with its foldable phone.
Why do I think it’s rushed?
Well, there’s a crease down the middle of the screen when unfolded and the hinge mechanism doesn’t allow the phone to fold completely flat. At first glance, I felt the design of this whole phone was rushed. Now, with news that review handsets being sent out to tech reviewers are falling apart, it would appear even more corners have been cut.
While it doesn’t look like safety issues are on the menu for Samsung this time around, the fact you can spend two grand on a phone that lasts just a few days is pretty worrying.
Casey Neistat Video
One popular reviewer who has also gotten his hands on a Galaxy Fold is Casey Neistat. I’m a really big fan of Neistat, but be aware that he does a lot of paid work with Samsung. Here’s his first look at the Galaxy Fold.
How do you get the news? Chances are the answer is through social media. This is a big change to the news consumption of the past like tv and newspaper. As a result, we have all gotten used to the news being free. Everyone can access it any time through their smartphone regardless of the quality. Social media is a big part of news these days as we open our phones over 14 times a day to check our favourite platforms. Our behaviour has changed to news accessing permanently, but rarely thoroughly as we create echo chambers for ourselves. Many of us now subscribe to a number of respectable news sites at a cost. But at what time do these subscriptions add up to become more hassle then they are worth? How do you get news that is not only relevant to you but from safe sources and how do you only pay one? Well, that’s where Newsadoo comes in.
Who are Newsadoo
David Böhm started Newsadoo back in 2017 when he decided he had enough of the likes of Google and Facebook conquering the market and dividing up the advertising revenues between them. Alongside his co-founders Alexandra Auböck and Susanna Wurm he linked up with other like-minded parties to create Newsadoo. The service they provide is not unlike Spotify, bundling a bunch of newspapers and news providers together while using AI to analyse your preferences to deliver you best possible experience. At the Dublin Tech Summit, some heralded them as one of the most exciting startups in the Artificial Intelligence space. It’s hard to disagree with them and believe we when I say it’s very similar to Spotify, just swap the tunes with the news and there you go.
Changes in the news
As we mentioned earlier how we consume news has changed dramatically in the last decade or so. While this meant that papers no longer had delays in printing, no longer has distribution costs but it also meant people expected the news for free. This quicker turnover of news meant new players entered the game, sure competition is good but when it’s at the expense of quality and reliability that’s a problem.
Despite spending heavily and earning good viewership numbers on social media, it has not proved possible for these old school news agencies to translate reach into revenue. Sometimes we will see some newpapers offering premium content, where you pay to read that article, now most of the time we just back out and find the story elsewhere. But sure how do we know that source is right? We have gotten used to going onto Facebook, Twitter or Google to find our news for free. But is it free? Well as we have learnt from recent social media scandals, nothing is ever truly free.
Google and Facebook, have benefited from us consuming their news independent of place and time via our phones. As a result of Google now has higher annual advertising revenues that the rest of the publishing industry in the world….combined.
Paywalls, paywalls and more paywalls
This massive generation of capital for the likes of Facebook and Google has traditional media in a pickle. Income from advertisers is not enough to sustain them and that’s in a nutshell why we see those pesky paywalls. Most of us see that pop up to subscribe or pay to continue reading and we bail. Let’s not lie to ourselves here. Other sites have tried another method where you can read 5,10 or 15 articles for free before paying for more, this way only the real fans would pay. Each paywall works differently and the technology is rarely shared, meaning that each paywall is developed from scratch for each media outlet. This just makes things really complicated and they probably aren’t the solution long-term.
Newsadoo believes people are willing to pay for quality content, and they are right just ask either Netflix or Spotify. They also believe the news industry should be no different. So for a price, users can access unlimited content from a range of different sources in exchange for a monthly fee when they launch in Ireland in September.
Essentially, become an online subscriber on one platform and get all the content, job done.
And how does this all work?
The objective is to create a news platform for personalised news, but one that differs from Google News by taking as a basis the collaboration and participation of the publishing companies. It is only by acting together that it is possible to challenge the American giant.
That’s a fairly solid quote from David Böhm, but what he forgets to mention is that Newsadoo is also in accordance with the EU values in relation to data protection. Lot more than could be said about other companies we know about that aren’t exactly in accordance…cough cough, Facebook, cough cough.
Anyway, Newsadoo is very clever. Their team has carefully analysed media use behaviour in Europe and used the findings to create their platform. We no longer consume the news from a single source, e.g. the daily newspaper, but instead, draw information from many different sources. So they bundle all the relevant sources in one space to make that a little easier.
But that’s not all. Your input, bookmarks, likes and all that good stuff are automatically analysed by their inbuilt AI to drive the system according to your wished and behaviour. This ensures that you receive what is relevant and interesting to you all of the time.
Identical or very similar content from different sources is recognised automatically and displayed together – not chronologically, but according to your previous preferences.
At the moment they are currently working on the output mechanics so that regardless of whether you interact through iOS, Android or even the Alexa Skill, Newsadoo will communicate with all of them to bring you your news, any-time, anywhere.
Costs and Release
Ok, so right now there is a Beta version of Newsadoo that is available free of charge that I’m messing around with after meeting David at the Dublin Tech Summit. It’s been available since June last year but we are waiting on the apps and the Alexa skills for the time being. This is why their full roll-out won’t be happening until September, well at least on our shores that is.
The start-up plans to introduce the pay-for function in the autumn. Then it will be possible to consume directly on the platform. While the current, free-of-charge basic subscription includes advertising, the pay-for version will offer users an ad-free option. Pricing we aren’t sure on yet but when we know so will you, but my bet is €7,99 a month.
Is this the only way?
Nope, there is another company offering a new pay as you read system. Blendle from Holland you could almost class as the iTunes of news. They work by offering a wide range of US news outlets and charge you anything from 25 to 50cent per story. If you’re only an occasional reader this could be a worthy alternative.
The Goosed Verdict
When you think about it Newsadoo makes a lot of sense. Imagine having to pay for each tv channel individually through a direct payment, where you can only access it through their platform, with a username and password for each channel? Annoying right. Well, when you think about it that’s exactly what people do online now to access content from reputable sources not unlike digital newspapers. Wouldn’t you rather pay once and get all of your subscriptions in one? That’s essentially Newsadoo in nutshell.
I feel like this is one I watched so you don’t have too. As I said before you can’t kill Bear, you can just about make him sick or trapped where you go back to your previous selection, not unlike Bandersnatch. Sadly for Bear Grylls this is the only similarity between the two interactive shows. You vs Wild in its defence looks very impressive, each of the locations is stunning but for what this show wanted to be, maybe it’s a bit to clean cut and polished. Initially, I came into this hoping for something along the lines of the old Born Survivor Bear from his earlier Discovery days. As a fan of the Discovery shows my initial plan was to see if I could survive but after 2 episodes of trying to make the right survival decisions boredom set in. It’s more fun to see if you can mess around with Bear, make him eat the wrong thing or take the riskier journey, just to see what would happen.
