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The OnePlus 7 Pro has arrived and here’s what to expect

Dean
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The OnePlus 7 Pro has arrived and here’s what to expect

Looking for the OnePlus 7T release date and rumours?

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.

Can Gardai Seize Electric Scooters in Ireland?

Marty
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Can Gardai Seize Electric Scooters in Ireland?

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.

Scooters have received an understandable showing of support by The Green Party after Ciaran Cuffe highlighted their environmental benefit recently.

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.

 

 

 

Team Redline: Racing SIM Team Blurs Lines Between Sport and eSport

Marty
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Team Redline: Racing SIM Team Blurs Lines Between Sport and eSport

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.

  1. A Formula E driver making the jump up to Formula One
  2. 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.

max verstappen sim racing

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.

Avoid Paying Bank Fees With Ulster Bank Thanks To Revolut

Marty
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Avoid Paying Bank Fees With Ulster Bank Thanks To Revolut

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 Confirms Delay For Galaxy Fold Due To Screen Issues

Marty
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Samsung Confirms Delay For Galaxy Fold Due To Screen Issues

Oh dear. Groundhog day vibes are here. Reports are emerging that there will be a delay to investigate issues with the Samsung Galaxy Fold owing to manufacturing issues which I highlighted last week.

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.

All In Or Fold? Fears Over Build Quality Of Samsung Galaxy Fold

Marty
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All In Or Fold? Fears Over Build Quality Of Samsung Galaxy Fold

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.

Think that’s a silly mistake to make?

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.

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.

Dieter Bohn from The Verge noticed a bulge appearing along the crease of his Galaxy Fold.

How Can This Happen?

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.

 

Introducing the Spotify of news: Newsadoo

Jon
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Introducing the Spotify of news: Newsadoo

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

Image result for newspaper paywall

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.

Disney Plus is officially on the way, and it sounds glorious

Dean
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Disney Plus is officially on the way, and it sounds glorious

A while back, our boy Jon told you about DisneyLife, a new streaming service available in Ireland. Well for a couple of years now, the world has been waiting for Disney’s new highly anticipated streaming service. Some services they will take on are Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, the recently announced Apple TV+ and of course, Netflix.  This week, they announced Disney Plus.

Industry Leaders

When existing services such as Netflix, Amazon and Apple TV+ released their services, one thing they lacked was their own original content. Of course, that has changed now. Netflix now regularly release their own big budget tv shows and movies such as “House of Cards”, “Stranger Things” and “Bird Box”. Amazon, of course, claimed the rights to “The Grand Tour” and the highly anticipated new “Lord of the Rings” series coming out in a couple of years which they have pumped a reported half a billion dollars into. But that is not the case for Disney, seeing as they essentially own the entertainment industry. They own Marvel, Lucasfilm, FOX, Pixar, 20th Century Fox, National Geographic.

What to Expect

Disney has a never-ending supply content for all ages that will be included on Disney Plus.

They will have everything Marvel, including their massive cinematic universe and their tv shows that have been around for decades. They also plan on developing an original series about Loki, with Tom Hiddleston reprising his role.

Disney Plus will also have the Star Wars Universe, which will include the tv shows “Rebels” and “the Clone Wars” along with the currently in production new live action tv show “The Mandalorian” which will be released this November on Disney Plus and is being directed by Jon Favreau and starring Pedro Pascal.

They will have all of Pixar’s creations such as “Toy Story”, “The Incredibles” and “Wall-E”.

And, with their acquisition of FOX a couple of years ago, “The Simpsons” will finally be making its way to online streaming.

And of course, they’ll have their own classics, such as “The Lion King”, “Aladdin”, “The Jungle Book”, “Snow White”, “Tarzan”, “Sleeping Beauty”…. the list goes on. They even have all the content they have been airing for years on the Disney Channel.

They have also announced they will spend $1billion on original streaming in the next year.

The point is, Disney has got no shortage of original content that will be available from the get-go. They have had partnerships with the likes of Netflix over the past few years, however, they announced they will be pulling out of those partnerships, which will make competitors sweat. That means no more Marvel for Amazon, Netflix and others which is a massive loss.

A bargain? Or another bill?

The cost of the service in America will be $6.99 a month, so it likely won’t cost much more when it is released in Ireland. A steal considering the amount of content available.

Disney announced it would be released in Western Europe and Asia by the end of this year.  It’s safe to say that other competitors in the streaming market are going to be sweating upon the release of Disney Plus, but for the rest of us, this is going to be a very much welcomed service to look forward to.

Will you be happy to have another expense added to your monthly bills? because it seems that this one will be worth it, and it’s a bargain at that.

Lime Scooters in Dublin Would Be a Terrible Idea

Marty
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Lime Scooters in Dublin Would Be a Terrible Idea

I ride an electric scooter. Actually, if you’re a regular reader of Goosed.ie, I’m sure you’re sick of hearing that. Which is why I’m going to change my tone a little. Electric scooter sharing companies like Lime and Bird might work in other cities, but they would be a disaster in Dublin and should not be allowed. Here’s why.

Could Lime Scooters Be Coming to Ireland?

There are two massive players in the shared electric scooter game:

  1. Bird – Uber’s electric scooter company
  2. Lime scooters

Bird has come as far as the UK and they’ve hired someone to manage the UK and Ireland. Lime scooters have gone one further and registered their business in Dublin.

bird in dublin

Don’t start panicking just yet as I’m fairly sure this move is to set up in Ireland for the tax benefits and to hire teams who will look after the rest of Lime’s European business.

Still, it’s only a matter of time until a public scooter sharing company hits our shores and I personally think it’ll be a terrible thing to happen. Here’s why.

How Public Scooter Shares Work

Electric scooter sharing works because companies like Bird and Lime flood cities with scooters. By doing so, there’s a scooter at the start and end of most people’s potential journey. By having a scooter on every corner it becomes a no brainer for people to scan the barcode on the scooter, pay €1 to unlock and then pay €0.15 per minute. Based on this model, most journeys around Dublin likely riders less than €3.

While that all sounds great, Dublin City is a very old city. I mean that in terms of infrastructure. The roads, while varying from not great in some areas to an absolute disaster in others, are not the issue here either. The problem is our footpaths.

Marie Kondoing City Streets

In countries where electric scooter sharing has become popular, locals generally take exception to the fact these modern modes of transport and left strewn around the footpaths. In a recent Prime Time special where members of the public were interviewed, an American gentleman described this exact scenario as to why electric scooters, in general, are a bad idea; and this is the crux of my point.

Ride-sharing of personal transport already happens in the city with the likes of Dublin Bikes and Bleeper Bikes. The latter faced stiff opposition from Dublin City Council amid fears the bikes would be dumped around the city causing issues for pedestrians. It’s important to note here that those most vulnerable could potentially suffer most here. Dublin footpaths are already some of the toughest to navigate and even areas like Grafton Street spring up challenges, despite being a perfectly wide pedestrian zone.

Most streets in Dublin aren’t as impressive as Grafton Street. Streets are often bumpy, narrow, broken and uneven. In my mind, I can already see scooters falling over, blocking footpaths and ultimately ending up in the Liffey. Dublin City is simply not built for something like electric scooter sharing.

The Lifespan of an Electric Scooter

I ride a Xiaomi m365. It’s a great scooter and I have no major complaints around build quality etc. I do tell people that you need to be willing to get your hands dirty with an electric scooter. Things need tightening and fixing, largely down to Dublin’s bumpy roads. But this is a scooter which I’m running for about 45 minutes per day.

Bird and Lime use, amongst others, the very same scooter as my own one. They slap some branding on it and bolt on some tech for the payments systems, but other than that it’s the same as a personal scooter. The scooters simply aren’t able to survive with people riding them all day long. In addition to normal wear and tear, there’s the theory that you never drive a rental like your own.

Electric Scooters For All

Now, back to the Marty you all know. Electric scooters are still a fantastic solution to Dublin’s horrendous inner-city congestion. I believe buying and riding an electric scooter yourself is perfectly fine. You’ll ride it carefully because it’s your own. You’ll park it responsibly because it’s your own. Ultimately, because people own electric scooters, they’re not a problem. If they’re borrowing them, it could be a recipe for disaster and the powers that be have already shown they have little patience when it comes to scooters in Dublin.

What’s your take? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Change Donations: Donate Digital Loose Change To Charities

Marty
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Change Donations: Donate Digital Loose Change To Charities

In just a few short years, how we pay for goods and services have changed dramatically.

I can honestly say I rarely have a bank note on me, let alone any loose change. While I find card payments, especially contactless or mobile payments, really convenient, it wasn’t until today I thought about how charities are losing out on the donation of till-side loose change.

Do you know what I mean?

When you used to buy some groceries in the shop and they’d hand you twenty cent change, you probably popped it into the charity box. Well, that’s pretty much a thing of the past thanks to card and mobile payments.

At Dublin Tech Summit 2019, I caught up with Change Donations, a really smart company with a solution to bring donating loose change to charities into the age of digital payments.

Who Are Change Donations?

Change donations is an Irish donations service and the modern answer to popping your twenty cent change from your grocery shop into the charity box beside the till. Say you buy a few bits and bobs worth €19.60. Back in the day, you’d get two twenty cent pieces back and you might have been tempted to pop them into the charity box for a worthy cause. These micro-donations generally make little or no impact on your own pocket, but with thousands of them taking place around Ireland daily, they added up to a significant bit of cash for charities.

Today, you’re much more likely to tap your card and pay the exact amount for your transaction. Sure enough, you’re back up forty cents, but you likely won’t even notice that few cents. Charities, on the other hand, do miss the thousands of these transactions taking place daily and this is the gap Change Donations is trying to close.

Change Donations is a service where you connect your bank account and your bank card. The Change Donations service then looks at your card transactions, rounds up to the nearest euro and donates your digital loose change to a charity of your choice.

Effectively, it’s the exact same as donating the loose change that the shop keeper would have handed back to you.

The example I gave earlier might be a bit rich for some people, so let’s take a closer look at how much control you have over the donations.

Controlling Your Change Donations

In the example I gave, some people might have preferred donating just twenty cents instead of the full forty, which is fair enough. While the platform can’t do this kind of break down you can control your total daily, weekly or monthly donations.

William Conaghan, a co-founder of Change Donations speaking about your donations, explained that “you can cap it at either a daily, weekly or monthly limit, let’s say five euro every month or five euro every day. Or you can turn it off”.

Simply set your limit to a fiver a month and you won’t be able to go over that.

donation limits change donations

If things are particularly tight this month, set your daily limit to zero and when things free up again, either raise your limits or boost your charitable contributions with a once off payment.

boost change donations

For added control over your donations, you can even split your contributions across several charities, choosing exactly which percentage of your digital loose change goes to which charity.

Where Does The Money Go?

Change Donations charge charities a 10% listing fee. This means charities receive 90% of the funds you send them. If your monthly limit is €5, your chose charity will get €4.50. This is a very similar setup to charities who request you donate by texting a keyword to a number to donate a small sum like €4. I looked at Like Charity who runs one of these SMS services and they also charge a 10% fee on donations. The big benefit for charities here is the simple fact that donations will likely be ongoing for months instead of a once off payment. That’s the beauty of microtransaction donations.

Benefits fo Local Clubs

When I met with the Change Donations team at Dublin Tech Summit, I had Jon with me and he quickly spotted the benefit for local clubs. Whether it be grassroots soccer teams or the local GAA club, there’s potential for Change Donations to expand beyond not-for-profits to sports clubs too. I think this is massively exciting for the Change Donations team because I’ve seen local clubs get behind these kinds of initiatives. Through this platform, clubs can mobilise their members, players, friends and families to make constant donations through micro-transactions, adding revenue streams the club can benefit greatly from while the people donating will barely even miss the loose change.

How Does It All Get Set Up?

I just ran through a test set up and it couldn’t be easier. When I chatted with the team behind Change Donations, my immediate concern was linking to bank accounts. Irish banks are notoriously un-digital so how could they possibly get the likes of Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB accounts and cards linked to the Change Donations platform.

Lizzy Hayashida, the co-founder of the service, outlined how it works, stating they “work with two partners. One that lets Change Donations link your bank account and see transactions. That’s ‘read-only’. Then we work with Stripe to make the donation on your behalf to the charity”.

When I set up my Change Donations account this evening, it was remarkably easy and felt very similar to the process which I recently went through while adding a Bank of Ireland account to my KBC account thanks to some PSD2 innovation. While this isn’t a PSD2 integration, it is something the team is looking at down the line.

For the time being, to get set up, you add your online banking credentials into the Change Donations system which allows the system to see your transactions. For the more security conscious of you out there, be rest assured. Change Donations uses 256-bit TLS bank-level encryption. Without getting technical, that’s some serious encryption!

You then add the card you’d like to donate spare change from and voila! You’re ready to go. Quite brilliantly, Change Donations has been cleverly designed that from day one you can use the service with Bank of Ireland, KBC, AIB, Ulster Bank and Permanent TSB.

Change Donations: The Verdict

Being totally honest, Change Donations is one of the most exciting ideas I’ve seen in a long long time. I’m a Revolut customer and I do use a feature they have which rounds up my digital loose change into a savings vault. I’ve racked up over €100 euro, purely from rounding off my transactions. I can personally vouch for the theory that you don’t feel the micro-transactions or micro-transactions leaving your pocket.

With the ability to place a limit on the rounding up of your digital loose change, you can strike a happy balance between donations and savings. Everybody wins.

What makes me most excited about this platform is just how on track it all is to be a success. I can really see GAA clubs and football teams around the country getting their members to sign up. Some might focus on the 10% service fee, but in truth, the 90% of donations that charities or clubs do get will be practically a completely new source of income. More importantly, it’s going to be a fairly regular stream of income.

Watch out for these guys. Change Donations is currently in BETA and will launch fully in Ireland, later this year.

 

 

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