Watch the Samsung Unpacked 2016 live stream here from 6pm on Sunday. Throughout this live event at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, we can expect to see the latest Samsung twin flagships announced in the shape of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. With plenty of rumours knocking about, we’re excited to get everything confirmed. Keep up with our emerging opinions over on the Goos3D liveblog.
The live event kicks off on Sunday from 6pm (Irish time). For now, you can watch last years Samsung Unpacked 2016 event to get a feel for what’s ahead…
For the third time, the Irish Cricket Team have proved they should be underestimated at the peril of their opponents. Last night, they defeated the West Indies (yes the team that had Brian Lara..the only cricket player you know) in their opening game of the ICC Cricket World Cup. Much like everyone has of course been following the UFC’s Cathal Pendred and Conor McGregor for donkey’s years, the island of Ireland has now realised that we are die hard cricket fans, so we need to get up to speed for the Cricket World Cup and quick.
If you are like us here at Goos3d and don’t know the difference between your creases and wickets, below is a handy video to explain the ins and outs of cricket. It’s introduction stuff, but should be a good foundation for you ahead of Ireland’s next game on February 25th versus the United Arab Emirates.
Now that you have an idea, here’s the highlights of that famous win over the West Indies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0JVhwGH7tE
To track the progress of the Irish Cricket Team, check out their website and download the Official ICC Cricket World Cup app for Android and Apple for all the latest fuel you’ll need for band wagon banter!
We’ve all experienced the irritation that follows randomly ordering something we didn’t really need, but then somehow never being home when the delivery man arrives with that shoehorn-back scratcher. Companies such as Parcel Motel offer banks where your package can be delivered, but now there is an alternative.
The Concept of Parcel Wizard
Dynamic Parcel Distribution (aka DPD or the guys who deliver UPC stuff) have today launched Parcel Wizard, a completely free service. Parcel Wizard allows customers to have a package delivered at a time that suits them. The users online portal has a calender which they can fill in to show takes they are unavailable for. The user inserts their Parcel Wizard unique ID number in the first line of their delivery address when shopping online. When DPD are the delivery company being used by the online store, they will only attempt to deliver at a time that suits the customer, verifying by a message. Alternatively, the customer can choose to collect their package from a DPD depot.
Does Parcel Wizard work?
First of all, a quick reminder. DPD’s Parcel Wizard is a completely free service. Unfortunately, your online store has to offer delivery via DPD or else the service will not work. Still, DPD handles over 50,000 packages to homes every day! Another download side however. Even if your online store does offer DPD as a delivery method, if you are using a service such as this because you work Monday to Friday, once again, the service is of no use to you.
Even though Parcel Motel has recently experienced a slight price hike, it still provides a more practical answer to the overall problem of not being home for your delivery. What DPD really offers is another option, which is not to be frowned upon! So often with these services, they start small and eventually develop due to a loyal following. With online shopping growing from strength to strength, we can expect to see a flood of services like Parcel Wizard emerging.
Today FM’s, Ian Dempsey, DPD’s Maeve Dwyer and the Parcel Wizard
Check out “Guess What’s In The Parcel?” on Today FM from 9th February to be in with a chance of winning up to €5000.
…and Applause Store, the company responsible for the distribution of tickets, probably haven’t taken the best stance to endear themselves to the public.
You may remember the technical issues and the rush for Ed Sheeran tickets earlier this month. Well things have gotten a lot worse for Applause Store, the self proclaimed world best for distributing free television tickets. Whelans of Dublin was the venue chosen for Ed Sheeran’s VH1 Storytellers live show. Whelans’ capacity tops out at 400, leading to quite the rush on tickets, which initially crashed the Applause Store website.
Over 100 people were left disappointed and out in the cold while the show ran on without them. Today, Applause Store issued a heartfelt response to those who have complained…
The Applause Store website does clearly state in their Terms and Conditions that:
“Sadly not everyone we send our eTickets to, use them, so we have to over-issue more tickets by a percentage to compensate for these no-shows to ensure a full venue/studio/location.”
The conditions continue by stating:
“Entrance is subject to seating/venue capacity & served on a first come, first served basis. All eTickets do not guarantee entrance.”
So they have legally covered themselves, although through the excitement of getting one of 400 (well 500) tickets, led people to miss the old T’s and C’s, which can hardly be considered prominent on the Applause Store site.
So what do you think? We’re the competition winners foolish in not reading the Terms and Conditions? Have Applause Store been a little ruthless in their response? Leave your comments below!
BONUS
If you need some Sheering up today, just watch the video below! Ed Sheerchin….brilliant!
The gaming industry moves forward with such pace, many games fall from grace to become “abandon-ware”, aka a free download. The best part is, that some of these games are absolutely timeless and can today still take days from your life while making you laugh. Few games achieve this better than Bullfrogs, “Theme Hospital”
What’s Theme Hospital All About?
Theme Hospital see’s you take over the reigns of an empty shell of a hospital. You start out by hiring your basic staff and treatment clinics, before patients start arriving with hilarious afflictions, such as Slack Tongue or Broken Wind (caused by using a treadmill after a meal).
Your goal in Theme Hospital is to treat patients, keep them happy, innovate and fend off your rival, neighboring hospitals.
So how much does this cost?
Honestly, Theme Hospital is now available on free download. Yep, completely free, won’t cost you a penny. You will have to sign up for an EA Origin Account, but that’s it. Also, as it was originally released in 1997, Theme Hospital will most likely work on any machine you have.
And the catch?
The only catch is, if your Research Department in Theme Hospital is discovered, the pubic reaction will be significant.
We love solutions to real world problems, and one such solution is coming by way of INDIEGOGO.
iPhone Memory Issue
With the launch of this year’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, many were a little put back by the capacity range released. Customers now had to choose between 16GB 64GB and 128GB, removing the much loved 32GB model. A recent iOS update which required a large amount of memory to install brought doubt to many that 16GB was enough memory. Further doubt came by the hefty price tag dangling from the 64GB models.
iPhone Memory Solution
Necessity being the mother of invention ensured a solution would not be far away. With 19 days currently remaining of it’s INDIEGOGO campaign, iPocket Drive seems like a ridiculously simple solution to a frustrating problem. On many handsets, a MicroSD card solves the memory problem. While this is not an option on Apple, the iPocket Drive acts as a workaround to increase iPhone memory capacity.
How iPocket Drive Works
The double sided device can be plugged into an iPhone 5 and above, and the USB port of a computer. This allows for easy transfer between devices. Of course, in the below video, the security of the cloud is berated, with the iPocket Drive offering a more “old fashioned” physical memory solution to the iPhone capacity “problem”.
Price
We can almost guarantee that in a few years time there will be various copies of this device available for a fraction of the cost. For now, the iPocket Drive can be considered to be a little on the pricey side. A 16GB iPhone 6 would set you back €699, directly from Apple, while the 64GB and 128GB model weigh in at €799 and €899 respectively.
To get your hands on a 16GB iPocket Drive, you will be parting with around €80 and €130 for the 128GB model, going by INDIEGOGO campaign pricing.
The Verdict
With almost 4000% of it’s original INDIEGOGO target smashed, the public outcry for a device such as the iPocket Drive has been phenomenal. Whether or not this device will reignite the public’s love of the 16GB handset, or instead shine as an alternative to iCloud, remains to be seen, but the device is destined for success.
We can’t help but feel that an opportunity was missed not to develop this into a phone case rather than a completely external accessory. This is often the difference between brilliance and a device that’s found in EuroGiant after a year. Simply put, always be weary of Apple devices that don’t have an Apple logo.
You can follow the development of the iPocket Drive and get on board yourself over at their INDIEGOGO page.
Some people say, “why bother with the lottery? Sure I’ll never win that.” These same people are currently refreshing their screens like crazy trying to get in line for Ed Sheeran tickets.
Last month it was announced that Ed Sheeran would be recording an episode of VH1: Storytellers in the famous venue that is Whelans, Dublin. While many got excited, others noted the venue capacity of 400. The mayhem as begun people…
The bad news. The ticket site, Applause Store, which is “handling” the distribution of Ed Sheeran tickets has crashed. It didn’t take long either, with reports on Twitter stating it took less than 5 minutes for the site to become non-responsive.
The good news. The site is back up, though currently not accepting registrations. The better news is that your chances of going to see Ed Sheeran in Whelans this month, haven’t changed in the slightest. They are still extremely slim, but you still have the same chance as everyone else. Whether you get in line today or on Friday, it will still be decided in a lottery.
So go on…go eat something. You can try get those Ed Sheeran tickets tomorrow…waiting won’t help…we promise. (As we wait for you to leave and take your place…only joking)
Pre-registration for Ed Sheeran tickets is now open on the Applause Store website. You can register for both dress rehearsal and live show.
Are you ever slightly upset upon learning there is a cold snap and a shower heading your way? Yeah we wouldn’t word it like that either!
If you are more than a little bit sick and tired of crappy weather, why not have a laugh about it and download the Authentic Weather App We’re not going to go into too much detail on what the Authentic Weather App does, because it’s a little NSFW and to be honest, it’s best when you just open it and enjoy!
If you could imagine an app that describes the weather like that drunk guy in the pub…well this is it.
Download the Authentic Weather app now for Apple and Android.
From the outset, this article discusses the opening episodes of TV3’s Red Rock. There may be spoilers.
This week saw TV3 launch their new drama, Red Rock. With gritty crime dramas being the hot ticket in town at the moment, we take a look at Red Rock to see if TV3 hit the mark or made a hash of it.
Red Rock Promos and Intro
As soon as were heard that harmonica come in, the fear overcame us. The Red Rock intro music is awful and monotonous, while the video clip does little to inspire us either. The video also looks like it was edited on Windows Vista Movie Maker or something. For the past month, we have been swamped with Red Rock adverts on TV and (for the Dublin audience) on buses.
TV3 caught everyone’s attention with a great tune and single shot promotional video for their new season of television, which ended with a creepy shot of Vincent Brown. Ridiculously, the exact same concept was recycled by TV3 to promote Red Rock. As impressive as it was, they really should have just picked it for one.
The Story Line
With Red Rock’s episodes weighing in at 22 minutes, the first two episodes were jam packed with all sorts of controversy. The highlight was perhaps the laugh of one Garda celebrating is 2 seconds of fame on a crime report. Besides that, the storylines feel a little forced and overly dramatic. Perhaps the show is trying to get by on shock and awe, suggested by the possibly paedophile Garda storyline. The biggest dissapointment is reserved for those who, like us, watched the above clip and thought this could be really juicy. The teaser creates an itch the show just doesn’t scratch.
The Acting
This lad’s accent…enough said
Oh lord. The acting… or is it over acting…, or is it the lack of acting? The mother from the Hennessy’s family was, after 30 seconds, the most annoying character of Red Rock, but then again, hating characters isn’t necessarily a tick against the show. We were left wondering if TV3 has pumped some of that promotional money into getting one or decent actors that maybe, just maybe we could have had a nice little show on our hands. The most unsettling aspect of Red Rock just has to be the unusual array of accents to be found on display.
Along similar lines is the scripting. Sure enough, we had to watch the second episode and we’ll be watching the next one too. The cliff-hangers the show leaves and its short 22 minute time frame, means it’s easy to fit Red Rock into your life. However, there would appear to be little or no research gone into the real world lingo and actions that give these style of crime show their edge. This leads nicely onto the concluding points.
Is it as good as Love/Hate?
Nidge is and co are still top of gritty crime drama
This comparison was always going to be drawn. Love/Hate bounded to success in recent times and with the RTÉ/TV3 rivalry, it was obvious that this would be the latter fighting back. Strangely enough, the two shows shouldn’t be compared at all. Love/Hate succeeded in getting the finer points right, owing hugely to the real world police, criminals and travellers used in the show. If this were a medical series, it would be more Shortland Street than ER. Effectively, it’s a soap, rather than a gritty crime drama.
Don’t let us sway you too much though, as the show itself is getting a mixed bag of reviews. Give it 22 minutes and see if it justifies the second 22 minutes!
Do you remember Ren and Stimpy being on continuous loop prior to the launch of TV3?
Pat Kenny was one of UTV Ireland’s big signings. Image courtesy of Photocall Ireland
Today marks the launch of UTV Ireland, a brand new channel dedicated to the island of Ireland. Try and look past the anti-climactic launch show that is Emmerdale and see the though potential of UTV Ireland launching. TV3 may lose the rights to mid-week European football and we never have to listen to their god awful commentators.
With all this in mind, it’s not much good unless you can tune your TV to show UTV Ireland! Fortunately, tuning in modern Saorview TVs is rather straight forward. The video below explains in detail, exactly how to tune your TV or Saorview box in to receive UTV Ireland, or any channel for that matter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5–EgkBE73A
Things kick off over on UTV Ireland at 7.25pm, with a five minute intro prior to Emmerdale. For Sky viewers, tune to channel 116, UPC viewers, channel 110, eVision viewers, channel 108 and Saorview viewers will find UTV Ireland on channel 6 after following the above videos instructions.
