Search here...
Subscribe
Home Blog Page 81

Trending on Twitter: Why Is World War 3 Trending On Twitter?

Marty
-
0
Trending on Twitter: Why Is World War 3 Trending On Twitter?

Congratulations everyone! We made it to the third day of 2020 before the most worrying hashtag in imaginable has started trending. Today, #WorldWar3 and #WWIII have been trending on Twitter. Slightly concerning right? Here’s the lowdown on what’s going on.

Well, surprise surprise, World War 3 is trending because the United States has gone and killed and Iranian Major-General by the name of Qasem Soleimani. The US embassy in Baghdad has issued instructions urging Americans to leave Iraq immediately, leaving everything feeling understandably tense. Iran’s response has added fuel to that fire too, with the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowing “severe revenge” after the attack.

Naturally, neither Iran of the US is using language like World War 3, so why is it trending?

Humans have a fantastically weird sense of humour

With all the tension, people are taking to Twitter to release the tension a little bit. Most of the tweets seem to be from people in the US creating memes showing how they’ll avoid being drafted into a potential war between the US and Iran.

Honestly, I love humans when they go into full on meme mode.

For me, this is the meme that sums it all up. We’re all having a laugh hoping that this Twitter trend comes purely our natural desire to have a bit of craic instead of it being a real threat to our existence.

There’s also a great bonus video after appearing on social too. Here’s Donald Trump saying Barack Obama would do exactly what he’s just done in an attempt to get relected. You couldn’t make it up!

The good news from all of this is the fact that a Twitter trend is a long way away from reality. People are releasing some tension for sure, but a trend like this comes about because people see the chance to joke around online and get some likes on their posts. A war a Twitter trend makes not!

This is very much like the time recently where everyone thought the Queen was dead. That whole story grew legs on social because it came about from a ridiculous screenshot. People see the potential hilarity and as a result, we get a mad Twitter trend.

Don’t go investing in a bunker just yet.

10 Top Tips For Your New Year Digital Detox

Jon
-
0
10 Top Tips For Your New Year Digital Detox

New year, new me right? Well, let’s see about that. It’s that time of year again where we all reset and try to be a better version of ourselves. For most that could mean trying to spend a little less time in front of a screen because let’s be real given the overpowering addictive nature of smartphones, putting our devices down for an extended period of time has become difficult to near impossible. We’ve all done it, 11 pm laying in bed and you quickly go to check that notification that came in and an hour later you still cannot stop yourself scrolling Insta, checking your Tinder matches or worse still have jumped down a YouTube rabbit hole that will only end God knows when. Anyway if your the type who gets twitchy when your phone is low on battery, it may be the time to get some control, reconnect with yourself by disconnecting and try out some of our Top Tips to help you with your digital detox.

Find Out Your Usage

Image result for how to check out your phone usageWhat’s your daily screen time number? Do you even know how many minutes a day you spend mindlessly scrolling? Check it out and then ask yourself seriously if you need to think about digital detox. This is important and a great first step. Once you know exactly how much time you’re spending/wasting in front of the screen you can then start limiting your usage accordingly. This isn’t about banning everything just know where you’re at and where you would like to be…find the sweet spot if you will.

Pretty much every phone nowadays has a feature in the settings that will let you see your screen time and not going to lie when you see it that will probably be enough to force you to make some changes when it comes to your digital detox. If you can’t find your usage in settings then call *#*#4636#*#* and you will be able to see your usage settings there.

Out Of Sight Out Of Mind

This might sound like an easy solution and it is. Run out for a walk and leave the phone behind. Buy an old school alarm clock and charge your phone in the living room at night and the more frequently your phone is out of reach the easier it should be to stay away from, or highlight addictive behaviour. If you find that despite your best intentions you still end up going back to your phone there are a number of other ways to limit your usage.

Firstly in your phone settings under the usage section, you know where you found out your usage? Well in there you can set a timer for each app and when you meet the time then bang the app will be unavailable until the following day. And if all the above is a fail…which in my own personal experience it can be then it could be time to invest in a lockbox, available on Amazon for about €10-20. The phone goes in, time gets set and viola no access to the phone until the time passes. Of course, that’s a bit more of an extreme measure but try the out of sight of mind method first and go from there.

 

Image result for phone lock box

Use the 1:1:1 Method

If going the out of sight out of mind route is off the table, you could also trial run what is called the 1:1:1 method. Essentially go offline, total digital darkness for one hour before bed every day, one full afternoon a week and one full week per year. This is a great time to plan some you time. Having done some research online some people use the hour before bed to read a book, journal or meditate, all good stuff for clearing the noise of the day to day. For the afternoon without, this is a great time to catch up with mates, join a sports team or take up something new. Then when it comes to the week, book a holiday a retreat or something that gives you a good reason to go dark. Essentially if you’re going to digital detox then the best way to understand how much time you spend in front of screens is to use your new-found free time and see what you can learn or achieve in that time.

Turn Off Notifications

Be present, give those in your company 100% of your attention and turn off the notifications. I’m a hoore for it, sitting for lunch with the lads and end up checking your Facebook notifications or some other nonsense that’s irrelevant in the moment. Yes it’s hard to do when you hear the phone beeping or vibrating. The simple solution is to turn off your notifications or turn on do not disturb. That simple step will help you prioritise what’s important in the now and what can wait till later. About a year ago the Oxford University published a paper on digital health and they discovered:

“problematic smartphone use is facilitated by characteristics of the technology including the frequency of alerts and messages. Popular apps, like the Facebook app, are designed in ways that increase the amount of time people spend on them.”

When you think you’re keeping yourself up to date with the world you are really distracted from the people you are with. If you’re being interrupted by notifications two-to-three times in an hour you are never properly focused on the task at hand and will find yourself reaching for your phone time and time again. Simply turning off the notifications or going into do not disturb mode is a simple way to get your digital detox going.

Tech-Free Lunches?

Speaking of turning off the notifications, another useful tip we have discovered is to designate one hour per day where you don’t check your phone. Arrange to go for lunch with your work colleagues, meet with friends to watch a game or whatever you want to do for an hour that will help you go offline for just one hour. A report by Nielsen’s State of the Media: Social Media Report, a third of people between 18 and 24 don’t even go to the bathroom without their smartphone. Ah yes the old stop, drop and scroll.

According to the same article, if you have one hour a day to set yourself a challenge and gamify your detox, you will gradually wean yourself off the need to check your phone so often (we unlock our phones about 100 times a day).

Give Yourself Time

Going totally dark is totally unrealistic and in the modern work cutting out all forms of social media is going to be hard. Instead, use the above tips to limit your time and slowly decrease your daily dose. Set yourself some goals like “I’ll only check each of my social platforms once a day” or use your lock timer to set realistic times that you can manage. The idea is once you know how you’re using each platform it will be easier to take a step back when you need.

Digital addiction is a thing if you feel you’ve gone too far with your addiction fear not you can get help. There’s now an entire industry based around the digital detox and how to help the over-connected turn down their smartphone reliance. Did you ever think a day would come where a digital detox retreat was a thing? Well, now it is.

Go Retro

Turn your screen from colour to grey. I know this may seem like a bit of an odd tip but the less seductive your screen is, the less likely you are to jump in. Only keep tools and necessary items on the home screen, no social apps and when you do decide to go on Facebook, set a timer and see how long you really spend.

Image result for grayscale phone screen

The greyscale trick is actually a tried and tested method to dissociate, if you’ve ever played Candy Crush it’s the bright colours that pull you in. Tristan Harris, a former Design Ethicist in Google agrees that going into your settings and switching the phone from colour to greyscale will help. Granted it won’t cure an addiction to your device, but apps such as Snapchat are suddenly far less appealing in black and white than they are in colour, and this can aid digital detoxing.

Be Realistic

I work in Digital Marketing and Social Media Advertising as a day job so, in reality, a full digital detox without taking the time off work is going to be nigh on impossible. So myself I did a wee detox over the holiday season to reset before doing it all over again. We all need to be realistic, we do live in a digital world so totally going off the grid is just not realistic and let’s be real, setting a goal and failing sucks. But ask yourself the questions and curtail your behaviour accordingly. Like do you really need to check work emails at 9 pm of a Wednesday when you will just be dealing with them in the morning? Probably not. Be practical and be realistic about what apps add to your life and what ones are a time void? Don’t not use Audible to catch your latest audiobook just because it classes as digital, that’s good you’re learning. Long story short, set realistic targets and a timeline around how you will manage your digital detox.

Take your work email off your phone!

Our second last tip is kind of a follow on from the above, but who the hell really needs to have their work emails on their personal phone? Seriously they pay you for the time in work, not the time you spend stressing in the hours when you are not there. I know people who live in a constant state of stress of falling behind at work because they could barely think straight between incoming mail pings. If you have a work phone, turn if of out of hours and if you need to have emails on your personal phone, mute that shit until you get back to work. You’ll be a long time dead, work to live don’t live to work. At the very least set up some email preferences so you get all the emails once an hour or two rather than as they come in. Enjoy that few hours you have at home from one workday to another.

Try an app that could help

And last but not least an app could be the answer to your prayers…counterintuitive I’m aware but hear me out. There are a number of apps like

  • Space App – understand their phone usage, break phone addiction and to find their phone-life balance
  • Moment – track and manage how much time you spend on your phone. You can set time limits, enable reminders, and enable automatic shut-offs.
  • Flipd – limit screen time by locking your phone for a set amount of time. In this case, your social media applications disappear until the timer ends.
  • Goodnight Chrome – Once installed, all you need to do is specify when you want Chrome to close for the day. During the closing period, Chrome prevents you from accessing the web on its platform.
  • Forest App – cut back your habit of excessive phone usage by helping you stay focused on real-world tasks. Set a timer on the app and ‘plant a seed.’ When this happens, your seed will grow into a tree. However, if you unlock your phone before the timer is up, your tree will die. To encourage this behaviour, Forest will send you digital coins every time you grow a full tree. Over time, you can use these rewards to grow a real tree.

There are loads more apps that will lock screens and the likes to help you limit your screen time but at the end of the day it’s up to you. We hope these tips work for you and to we would love to hear how you manage your digital detox. Happy New Year folks.

Is My Flight A Boeing 737 MAX? – How To Avoid The Boeing Plane

Marty
-
0
Is My Flight A Boeing 737 MAX? – How To Avoid The Boeing Plane

The online world has brought a lot of scaremongering into the world. It’s one of my biggest bug bearers from when I browse the internet. With that said, there are times when the news warrants the fear it instils. Within a space of six months, two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft were involved in fatal crashes leading to the planes being grounded worldwide. Boeing is working towards this plane returning to the skies, but given the flakey history, you should maintain your right to avoid this aircraft. Personally, I would pay for a more expensive flight to avoid the Boeing 737 MAX. But just how do you avoid the Boeing plane when the airline doesn’t play ball?

Will Airlines Tell You Which Aircraft You’re Flying On?

Generally speaking today, airlines don’t hide which aircraft you’re flying on. They don’t go out of their way to tell you either but this is simply because most people don’t really care about the model of aircraft they’re flying on. At least they didn’t until one particular model became a household name for the worst reasons.

On 26 October 2018 Lion Air flight 610 killing all 189 crew and passengers. On 10 March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed killing all 157 crew and passengers. Both crashes took place just a few minutes after take-off leading to the aircraft being grounded worldwide amid safety fears. Investigators concluded that a new automated flight control feature, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), repeatedly forced the aircraft to nosedive. Effectively, a software update was causing the issue but this is much more important than your battery dying slightly faster than it used to.

While all that really matters here is the cost of human life, the cost to businesses is calling the shots. Ryanair is waiting on an allocation of Boeing 737 MAXs to be delivered and the leading budget airline said they will not tell passengers that they are booking a flight aboard the 737 Max.

So, given the history of the plane and my desire to avoid it, quite literally at all costs, how can you find out if your booking a flight with Ryanair, or another airline, that will use a Boeing 737-MAX?

Am I Booking A Flight Aboard A Boeing 737 Max?

The easiest way I’ve found the check which plane your booking will be using is to check on a website called Seat Guru. I’ve checked a recent flight that I took from Hamburg, but put the date a few months into the future. The result is a Boeing 737-800, which is unsurprising given this is the only aircraft that Ryanair uses right now. Another way to check is punching your flight number into Flight Radar. This will also tell you the model of aircraft your flight will be using.

According to their website, the Ryanair has over 300 of these 737-800 aircraft in operation with an average age of 5.5 years. Right now, when you fly Ryanair you fly on a 737-800.

The website also confirms that the airline has an additional 183 737-800 aircraft on order, alongside an option for 100 Boeing 737 MAX 200 planes. Ryanair CEO, Michael O Leary, said that the “reality is [if people hope they’ll be able to find out if they’re flying on a Boeing 737 Max or not] the answer is that you won’t.” This is apparently because Ryanair only assigns aircraft to flights the night before. This means my trick here may not work when the Max aircraft comes into circulation.

Only time will tell how all of this plays out. Realistically, I can’t see everyone refusing to fly Ryanair because they might be sat upon a Boeing 737-MAX aircraft. However, when that plane gets assigned to a flight number I can see passengers refusing to board at the gate and Ryanair refusing refunds.

Will you be actively avoiding the Boeing 737-MAX? Or do you believe the spin that this will be the safest aircraft ever if it returns to our skies? Would you spend more with a competing airline to avoid the 737-MAX? Let us know in the comments below.

Help! I Forgot To Buy Someone A Gift: Last Minute Digital Gift Cards

Marty
-
0
Help! I Forgot To Buy Someone A Gift: Last Minute Digital Gift Cards

We’ve all been there. Someone appears at the house for Christmas that you didn’t expect or even worse, someone arrives that you’ve simply forgotten about. Don’t panic! The shops might be closed and online delivery is no longer an option, but you can still buy gift vouchers and gift cards from companies that deliver digitally and instantly. Yeah, you’re welcome! Digital gift cards are immediately delivered through either email or messaging apps like WhatsApp. Just double-check the numbers and emails you type.

Amazon.co.uk

I get vouchers from people every year for Amazon.co.uk. Not once have I thought it was rushed or unthoughtful. In fact, these might very well be my favourite vouchers to get because I’m guaranteed to find something I want. With 32% of Irish shoppers opting for the mega-online-retailer, Amazon vouchers are a great last-minute gift idea.

Once purchased, you can either opt for digital delivery or download a printable version which can be folded into a card. Win-win! Personally, my favourite option is to deliver via messaging. I love creating an animated greeting and sending via WhatsApp. Nice and handy while also adding some personality to what might be considered by some to be an impersonal gift.

Shop for digital Amazon gift cards over on the retailer’s website.

Digital One4All Vouchers

Can you even call it Christmas without either giving or receiving a One4All voucher? One4All vouchers are accepted over 8500 stores around Ireland, both online and offline. Now, you can buy a digital One4All card and send it to someone via an app like WhatsApp. This means if you’re caught out on Christmas morning with a nephew you forgot about, you can recover smoothly with a gift on a platform they use. I must add that I have not tested gifting by messaging over Tik Tok as I have no idea how it works.

digital one4all voucher

You can buy a digital One4All gift card over on their special website which also lets you customise the card with your own pictures and videos. Again, this makes what could be a last-minute gift look much better thought out and planned. Then you can email or WhatsApp the gift card to whoever needs it. Last-minute dot com wins again.

Buy a digital One4All voucher.

GameStop Virtual Gift Voucher

While your customisation options are going to be limited here, GameStop’s virtual gift voucher is a perfect last-minute gift idea for the gamer in your life. All you’ll need is an email address of who you’re gifting to and a short message with your greeting. If you don’t know their email address I guess you could email it to yourself or something, right?

Buy a GameStop gift voucher online.

Steam Gift Voucher

This is a bit more specific for gamers as you’ll need to know for sure that they game through Steam. If you do know that then you’re laughing. Oh, one other catch. You need to be a member of the Steam community and you need to know their Steam ID. Still, if you’re caught short on Christmas Day that’s some worthwhile research to get you out of a bind.

Buy Steam gift vouchers online.

Zara Digital Gift Card

Looks, I know not everyone is a nerd like me. I’ve never in my life bought a digital Zara gift card but I just wanted to tell you the option exists. You can customise the card somewhat and then send it via email. Boom. The voucher can then be redeemed online or in-store and remains valid for three years.

Buy a digital Zara gift card online.

River Island Digital Gift Card

Rinse and repeat what I said for Zara but replace Zara with River Island. Again, while there are limited customisation options the River Island digital gift card is sent immediately which means you can avoid that horrible “damn, I forgot to buy someone a Christmas present”.

Buy a digital River Island voucher.

TK Maxx Digital Gift Card

Here’s an interesting one. Similarly to an Amazon voucher, I don’t think I could be disappointed by a TK Maxx gift card. They always have something worth picking up in-store from casual clothes to work outfits, decent runners or shoes and even gadgets. TK Maxx has also jumped on the digital gift card buzz which means it’s another last-minute option worth keeping in the back pocket.

Buy a digital TK Maxx gift card.

Buy A Digital Press Up Gift Card

WTF is Press Up I hear you say. Well, if you live in Dublin and are partial to a few notions I can almost guarantee you’ve eaten in a Press Up restaurant. Some of Dublin’s favourite eateries are owned by this group including Wowburger, Tomahawk and Elephant and Castle, to name but a few. Strangely, I sometimes hate the idea of these big chains posing as independent styled restaurants but then I eat there and love it.

Best of all, is you have a friend who moved to Dublin a few years ago before completely falling in love with the notions of the place, this is a perfect gift voucher. Better still, you can buy these vouchers online and have them digitally delivered via email.

Let your friends eat notions and buy them a Press Up digital gift card.

 

Rugby World Cup, the Highest Trending Topic of the Year in Ireland’s 2019 Google ‘Year in Search’ Results

Jon
-
0
Rugby World Cup, the Highest Trending Topic of the Year in Ireland’s 2019 Google ‘Year in Search’ Results

Another year is coming to a close and the annual Google Year in Search Results have been released, providing a telling snapshot of what caught Ireland’s interests throughout 2019. As ever, sport, weather and celebrity deaths continue to occupy the top spots with The Rugby World Cup topping the overall results for 2019. Probably unsurprising given the nations high hopes going into the competition and even though we didn’t go all the way, the competition still topped the list as people Google searched the highlights from the matches from the pool games right through to the final to watch winning South African captain Siya Kolisi giving a heart provoking speech.

A New Ireland Emerging?

If you have seen the recent Netflix phenomenon The Game Changers, then it will come as no surprise that the Top 10 recipe searches for 2019 show a big movement towards a Vegan diet, with keto, plant-based, salmon, smoothie and The Happy Pear recipes all featuring in the list. Google Search for healthy recipes show the public interest in whole foods and similar is only growing with every single recipe in the Top 10 this year being health-focused with not a chocolate cake insight. As more and more celebrities both here and abroad, encompassing everyone from Blindboy Boatclub to Lionel Messi embracing plant-based diets, this is a trend we can only see going one direction in 2020.

In other news 2019 was possibly one of the most chaotic years in National, European and global politics with Brexit being possibly one of the hot topics of the year. Google Search Trends for 2019 show terms like, What is the backstop?, What is Brexit? and Boris Johnson ranking in the Top 10 of their respective lists. It seems we are still unsure exactly what is going on with Brexit for the second year in a row with ‘What is the backstop?’ topping the what is list, rising from third place in 2018 and ‘How to vote?’ coming runner up behind the always important question ‘How to boil an egg?’ in the ‘How to’ list.

Have you heard of the social media platform taking Millennial’s by storm? You’d be forgiven if you didn’t, a large proportion of the country turned to Google to answer the question ‘What is Tik Tok?’ and whether they should be keeping up with the trends and creating their own short-form mobile videos. Other great mysteries of life Irish people were looking for answers for in 2019 include ‘how to solve a rubix cube?’ at number five,  ‘how to stop snoring?’ at number 7 and ‘how to get rid of spots?’ at number 10.

This year was a bumper year in Irish sports and a stinker for politics, but it’s not Trump or Boris who top the most searched People’ list in 2019, with golf star Shane Lowry topping the list following his win at The Open Championship in July 2019, becoming the fifth ever Irishman to win the tournament. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the most searched for politician in Ireland in a year which saw him take over from Teresa May as leader of the United Kingdom. Ireland also clearly loves a good celeb scandal… football WAG, Rebekah Vardy makes rounds of the Top 10 most searched for people in 2019 off the back of the Coleen Rooney “Wagatha Christie” incident in September. And sure would it be a Google Search Top 10 without The Kardashians, as they continued to keep people guessing with ‘How to pronounce Psalm?’ trending in the wake of Kim and Kayne welcoming their third child.

Check out the 2019 Google ‘Year in Search’ Results below:

[table id=1 /]

Amazon Echo Show 5 Review: Great Value Echo Device

Marty
-
0
Amazon Echo Show 5 Review: Great Value Echo Device

My gaff is awash with smart assistants. I could never choose between Google or Amazon assistants so I’ve ended up with loads of each. Some stand out as being better than others and some are simply perfect in certain scenarios. The Amazon Echo Show 5 has proven to be an absolute winner in my kitchen. Here’s why I love it so much.

Calling my mum

A couple of years ago, Amazon had a poignantly timed advert for their new Echo Spot. It demonstrated the importance of keeping connected with family and how Amazon Echo devices make this quite simple and straight forward. For lots of reasons I was moved by the ad and so I bought an Echo Spot for me and my mum. The Echo “Drop In” function means there’s no need for my mum to interact with her Echo Spot at all. I simply say I was to drop in and the job’s a good un.

The Echo Spot fit my bedroom perfectly as an alarm clock which left me calling from my phone the whole time instead. That’s until I got my Echo Show 5. As I mentioned, this thing suits the kitchen perfectly so when I’m cooking or washing up, I can have a quick chat with my mum.

echo show 5
Having a quick call with my mum

Once your finished video calling, the Echo Show 5 also has a physical camera cover to ensure no accidental drop-ins catch you off guard.

Getting your cook on

I love a bit of tech in the kitchen. Lately, I’ve been testing out Meater, which incidentally integrates with Amazon Alexa, and also the Drop Smart Scales. I’m definitely adding the Amazon Echo Show 5 to this list of great gadgets for the kitchen. I found myself using the Show 5 for two main reasons in the kitchen.

First of all, asking Alexa to recommend a recipe is quite fun. Your kitchen assistant will then walk you through your recipe and all going well, you’ll have a great non-burned dinner.

Also helping with the limitation of burning in the kitchen is setting timers on your Echo Show 4. Sure, this is technically overkill given any Alexa-powered device will do this, but the screen does offer one distinct advantage. I could set a longer 45-minute timer for something like a tray of chicken and then another time for 20-minutes reminding me to put on the potatoes. You can even name the times and glance at them thanks to the Echo Show 5’s 5-inch screen.

Some TV in the kitchen

When I got my Echo Spot, I was impressed that, while really annoying, you could actually watch Amazon Prime Video on the round screen. Much more practical is the rectangular 5-inch screen of the Echo Show 5. The sound from the device is also quite good which means that you can simply ask Alexa to “Play the latest episodes of The Boys on Prime Video”. Great if you’ve just touched raw chicken and can’t use your hands!

Now, while it’s sound and all, you can’t play Netflix on your Amazon Echo 5. The same can be said for YouTube. Unfortunately, tech companies not getting along leads to this poor experience for users. While on the negatives, I do have to point out the resolution of the screen isn’t anything massively impressive to write home about.

The Verdict: It’s a great value device

Could the screen be better? Yes.

Could the sound be crisper? Of course.

But the Echo Show 5 embodies something very special in the world of gadgets for me. It’s a gateway gadget. Much like the DJI Mavic Mini is a great value drone, the Amazon Echo 5 is a brilliantly priced Echo device and the most logical first if you’re interested in having a screen. It’ll never blow your mind, but it will show you how useful an Echo device with a screen can be.

echo show 5 in the kitchen

The Amazon Echo Show 5 is one of these Amazon products which varies greatly in price. Right now it’s on sale and you can pick one up for €60, give or take a euro or two for the exchange rate.

 

 

DJI Mavic Mini Review: A Somewhat Affordable Gateway Drone

Marty
-
0
DJI Mavic Mini Review: A Somewhat Affordable Gateway Drone

Last week I finally ticked something off my tech bucket list. Well, actually two things.

  1. Fly a drone
  2. Buy a drone

These two things went nice and hand in hand because of the new DJI Mavic Mini being very fairly priced. Wintery weather took a brief break last week and quick as a flash, I was out in Sandymount to take my maiden flight with my shiny new drone.

Meet the DJI Mavic Mini

dji mavic mini

The DJI Mavic Mini is a remarkable piece of kit. Weighing in a 249 grams, the Mavic Mini is a deliberately light drone with the U.S. market firmly in its sights. The giveaway here is that drones from 250 grams and up must be registered in The States. Ireland is in a bit more of a grey area when it comes to drones given that EU directives are forthcoming which should align with the U.S. 250 gram rule. However, if you want to fly above 15 meters in Ireland, you’ll need to register your Mavic Mini with the Irish Aviation Authority.

Now, that little detail aside, let’s start looking at what you really need to know about having fun with the Mavic Mini.

Get flying for just €399

I thought to buy a quality DJI drone for just €400 was going to be a few years away, but here we are. DJI has kept some features locked away for their higher-spec drones, but the Mavic Mini doesn’t disappoint anywhere. Starting off, the price is a winner. There are two options with a base model setting you back €399 and the Fly More Combo costing €499. The latter is a no brainer if you can stretch I beg you to do so. You’ll get extra batteries and props that you’ll almost certainly need down the line. The extra batteries alone turn one trip out flying from being a 30-minute burst to an hour and a half expedition.

For the record, you’ll be able to fly over 500 meters into the sky with a theoretical range of 4 kilometres. I wasn’t going to be testing any of these numbers during my first flight but after seeing some other pilots on YouTube, that 4 kilometres is very ambitious. Regardless, Irish laws dictate that you shouldn’t be flying that far anyway.

It’s so damn easy to fly

I’m not going to lie. I was a little nervous taking flight for the first time. I was out in Sandymount with the amazing Poolbeg stacks in the background. The tide was out and I had the whole beach to myself, more or less. Still, I was a little scared to actually kick the drone off. I downloaded a checklist app to run through making sure everything was good to go and off my little Mavic Mini went.

To start, the drone hovers at about 1.5 meters above the ground while the controller, with your smartphone as a screen, started to bring me through basic flight training.

A few minutes later and the app finished up informing me I was good to go on my own. Straight away, there was a childishness that overcame me. I wanted to go higher and faster, all the time being a little too anxious to fly out over the water. So there’s my first tip. Have your first flight over solid ground and give yourself loads of space.

Lots of tech built-in

Don’t let the tiny size of this drone deceive you.

dji mavic mini size

The last point about the Mavic Mini being remarkably easy to fly largely comes down to the amount of tech that’s built-in. When you start your flight, the app updates your home point. That means if your battery starts to die in the drone or you lose contact, it can still fly back to where your flight started.

Of all the tech built-in, DJI excels in the video side of things.

Mavic Mini video shooting

Without being able to shoot video, your drone would be pretty useless. The Mavic Mini has a gimble built-in offering incredibly stable shots even in windy conditions. While 4K video is reserved for high-end models, the Mavic Mini’s 2k shooting doesn’t disappoint at all. Actually, rather than going on about it, here’s the footage I shot during my first hour or so flying my Mavic Mini.

This is cut together from one run on the beach with my three batteries. I was trying to recharge my first dead battery with a power bank but it just wasn’t fast enough, unfortunately.

Beyond stable shots that look great, the Mavic Mini also has Quick Shot modes built-in. Shots like the “dronie” will fly backwards into the sky while keeping you as the focus. “Rocket” mode is similar where the drone goes straight up rapidly while “circle” keeps the focus on you while spinning around you.

Limitations of the DJI Mavic Mini

As much as I enjoyed the Mavic Mini, there are some limitations from the get-go. First of all, it’s not IP-rated, so if you feel rain you’re going to need to land and get your drone covered as soon as possible.

If it’s windy, you’ll get windy warnings. Due to the weight of the drone, I was getting strong wind warnings once I hit 20 meters. You can fly through it, but I just didn’t have the confidence on my first flight. Also, here’s a great tip that I happened to pick up from YouTube before I took to the skies. Pay attention to the mode your drone is in. Position focuses on GPS steadiness, cinematic focuses on smooth video while sport is all about speed and power. I found my drone struggling to get back through the wind during my flight while in cinematic mode. I popped it into the sport and it whizzed back without further struggle.

Is DJI Care worth it?

DJI also offers an insurance programme for the Mavic Mini. I think it cost me €35 to cover the Mavic Mini and that means if it smashes into a wall or crashes in water, I’ll get my Mavic Mini repaired or replaced for a small fee. It’s important to point out that you can only avail of this if you still have your broken drone so you’ll still need to be wary over water.

The other thing to remember is that if you want DJI Care you can only get it 48 hours after activating your drone for the first time.

DJI Mavic Mini: The Verdict

Short and sweet is this review. For me, that’s very deliberate. I’ve said all there is to say. The DJI Mavic Mini isn’t just a great drone for beginners, but it’s a great drone in general. I has so much fun on my first flight without any previous experience or anyone there to hold my hand that I can hand on heart recommend this to anyone and everyone into photography, flying or gadgets in general.

One catch is that this is looking like the must-have Christmas present of 2019. When I say “this” I mean the Fly More combo too. I picked up mine in Harvey Norman and even though the shop was crazy busy I got some great service so head on over to your local Harvey Norman and get flying. I know I normally shout about Amazon.co.uk but DJI regulate the prices of these drones pretty heavily so this is one of those times you should try shop local when you can.

 

Electric Scooter Rider in Ireland Given Five Penalty Points and €300 Fine

Marty
-
0
Electric Scooter Rider in Ireland Given Five Penalty Points and €300 Fine

It’s safe to say there have been some mad headlines in 2019. Most recently, the approval of the white water rafting facility in the IFSC has been greeted with anger. People are tired of seeing projects like this quickly being approved quickly while transport cycling infrastructure projects like the Liffey Cycle Route are being pushed out to 2024. I’m quite annoyed to say I’m adding another ridiculous headline to the pile as one of the State’s first court cases which saw an electric scooter rider up before a judge took place today. The result? The electric scooter rider was given five penalty points and a €300 fine.

Electric scooters and the law in Ireland

I’ve written in the past about electric scooters and the law in Ireland. Much of what I’ve said in that article was based upon a complete lack of legal precedent and guidelines from the Road Safety Authority of Ireland which has since been updated because it was misleading. However, without legal precedent, it was unfair for me to comment further.

An Garda Siochana have taken a stance that electric scooters do not fall into any grey area. They’re illegal on Irish roads because they are a mechanically propelled vehicle which you cannot insure within the State. Again, until today I would have argued that this was a grey area given the original guidance issued by the RSA combined with the Government’s apparent start to work towards legalising these handy ways of negotiating congested cities.

Unfortunately, electric scooter riders today around the country have taken a massive blow as the first case of an electric scooter whose scooter was seized for driving uninsured has been through the courts. I’ve spoken with the rider asked me not to name them in this article.

Scooter rider gets fine and penalty points in Ireland

Earlier this year, the scooter rider had been pulled over by a member of Garda Traffic who seized the riders scooter and requested they produce proof of insurance. I was actually stopped myself and told to go about my business, despite apparently breaking the exact same law as the defendant I spoke with today.

While I was sent on my way, the other scooter rider had their scooter seized and they were sent into the Irish Court system to await their fate. Today, a judge handed down the ruling that the scooter rider was indeed considered to be driving a mechanically propelled vehicle uninsured and as a result, handed five penalty points and a €300 fine.

The judge said that regardless of many electric scooters including the one in question requiring a push start from a person, the scooter remains a mechanically propelled vehicle. According to the defendant I spoke with, the judge showed no interest in the RSA’s previously misleading information which was also shared online and with me personally by An Garda Siochana, the fact Road Traffic Laws date back to 1961 or that the Government is currently re-evaluating the road traffic laws because of electric scooters.

Instead, the judge handed down the five penalty points and €300 fine.

Verdict on the Verdict

You won’t get any middle of the road journalism from me on this topic. I’m fuming. I, myself, am an electric scooter rider. It’s my main mode of transport in Dublin City, a city which is being suffocated by the sheer volume of cars and the fumes that they generate. Our public transport is creaking under the weight of an entire city needing to get around. Electric scooters and other modern modes of transport could really go a long way towards taking cars off of our roads and relieving some of the pressure on our public transport systems.

But no. Instead, this green and efficient mode of transport is being demonised and the people who opt for it are being put in front of judges to be treated like criminals. There’s a certain logic that fails to click here for me.

To put this into context, this would be the same number of penalty points given to a motorist found to be driving on roads without insurance. Taking a Kia C’eed as an example which weighs 1920kgs, a scooter rider with a scooter weighing 197% less is deemed worthy of the same number of penalty points – the scooter weighing just 12.5kgs.

Technically irrelevant, I feel this point goes some way towards showing why treating an electric scooter the same as a car is massively ridiculous. While government and lawmakers should be bending over backwards to encourage a clearly popular mode of transport, instead resistance at all costs seems to be the order of the day. A more relevant context might be comparing to the recent law introduced to protect cyclists. A recent law introduced to protect cyclists would lead to motorists being given a €120 fine and three penalty points for overtaking a cyclists to closely.

In my experience, cyclists are generally happy to share their lanes with scooters and want to see more scooters and fewer cars.

What happens next?

I’m not sure where we go from here. The defendant I spoke with has a right to appeal so fingers crossed they do and it’s a success. I wouldn’t hold my breath for Shane Ross to get the finger out and actually have the Department of Transport act upon both the report into electric scooters and the public consultation.

Both, to my knowledge, are somewhat favourable towards practical legislation being applied but I have no faith in Government to do anything logical any more. If you want me to go full tinfoil hat, I also feel like this heavy-handed approach to scooters is to try to stem the tide of Christmas purchases. Gardai have been out on the streets with renewed eagerness to seize the scourge that is electric scooters from our streets.

For me, the greatest shame is that this has set a legal precedent I can no longer ignore. The scooter is going to have to be parked up until something changes. I really do hope that something does indeed change, but now only time will tell. Why am I parking the scooter? Motor insurance premiums in Ireland are already also an item making headlines over the past few years. Five points would make my insurance premium go through the roof so I simply can’t risk it. For the record, here’s a video from back when the grey area was greyer and I tried to get electric scooter insurance.

What do you think of that yourself? Let us know in the comments below.

 

Ember Review: Do You Need A Smart Temperature Controling Travel Mug

Marty
-
0
Ember Review: Do You Need A Smart Temperature Controling Travel Mug

There are quite a few gadgets on the market which bring the world “notions” to mind. None have made the term spring into mind quite like the Ember Travel Mug. I’ve been testing one out that Ember sent over and while a little pricy, I’m sold on it being very good indeed.

What is the Ember Travel Mug?

In short, the Ember Travel Mug is a travel mug for coffee and tea. It’ll do that most basic task rather well. The real beauty of the Ember comes from the fact it can also detect the heat of your beverage and keep it at the perfect heat for about three hours.

ember coffee by the river

Traditional travel mugs are generally either just made of simple materials or have some kind of material to retain as much heat as possible. The Ember has smarts inside to actually heat your drink and to keep your drink at the perfect temperature. It’s not about heat retention, but heat regulation and this is the feature I nerded out about most.

What’s the perfect temperature for your drink?

I’m a cappuccino man. I’m not a coffee nerd, but I enjoy a decent cuppa joe. I like knowing a nice bean has been roasted and served to me at the right temperature. The Ember Travel Mug means I can pop into the local coffee shop, order my cappuccino and have my mug actually hold the drink at the right optimal temperature. For this drink, the mug keeps my coffee at 56.5 degrees. You can easily change this in the app or directly on the cup itself and it can reach temperatures from 48.9°C to 62.8°C.

Does the Ember Travel Mug work?

This is nice and simple. Yes. The Ember Travel Mug is amazing at doing exactly what it says on the tin. The perfect example was the day I forgot about my coffee for about an hour after buying it. Thanks to my Ember the coffee was still at the perfect temperature.

There are also some additional benefits with a coffee cup like this. One of my favourite things is that there’s no more burning the mouth off myself when coffee is served too hot. I don’t even think about drinking my coffee until the Ember app tells me it’s at the perfect temperature. I can either trust the app or adjust the temperature regulation myself on the mug.

Another feature I like is rather simple. The lid. The lid promises to be leakproof and lets you drink from every side. The simple things in life make me happy.

While the Ember Travel Mug does have a battery built-in, it also comes with a special charging “saucer”. That means I can pop the Ember onto a spot of my desk where it’ll charge away keeping my coffee warm for even longer.

The downsides of Ember

As much as I love my Ember, it’s not perfect. First of all, when I grab a coffee from the local coffee shop, they nearly always fill it up too high. That’s because the Ember itself isn’t the biggest coffee mug in the world, holding 355ml. I don’t drink Starbucks, but that’s a Tall coffee in Starbucks language. The design of the lid means that you need to leave a lot of space at the top, something baristas seem to have a problem with. As a result, I’ve got to take one or two mouthfuls of scalding coffee to make space.

a full cup of coffee

Let’s be honest though. That’s not exactly Ember’s problem.

A far more pressing barrier to you going out and buying one of these right now is the price. I reviewed the first Ember, which you can buy directly from Apple Ireland for €170. It’s also available from Amazon.co.uk where you’ll also find the newer Ember Travel Mug 2. The newer mug seems to have changed how you manually adjust the temperature with little other changes so if you’re in the market for something like this or want to gift it to the coffee fan in your life, the first version is more than adequate. Yes, it’s very pricey but this is a very new technology. Early adopters always pay a tax.

Ember Travel Mug: The Verdict

It’s a unique product and I love it. Will many see the value with such a price tag? I’d wager not. It’s really cool (pardon the pun) and it works fantastically well but it’s peak notions with that pricetag. I do have to stress that I really love mine and it’s actually got me back into drinking coffee.

While it might not be for everyone, it’s probably the perfect gift for someone and possibly yourself.

YouTube Rewind 2019!

Jon
-
0
YouTube Rewind 2019!

After a bit of abuse this year YouTube decided to take a brand new approach with this years mashup video. Instead of their usual clip, YouTube created montage of the biggest moments and milestones from around the world on YouTube. Funnily enough it comes of the back of last years YouTube Rewind being their most-disliked video ever! Kevin Allocca, head of culture and trends at YouTube had this to say:

“We heard a lot of feedback that the video last year didn’t reflect people’s experience on YouTube. Rewind has always been a moment to celebrate the big things that happened on YouTube and document the end of the year. People feel a real sense of ownership of what they create on the platform.”

This year YouTube Rewind goes about highlighting a range of categories like most viewed creator, most liked overall video, dance video, beauty video, most viewed games, top new creators of the year and of course most watched music videos. You may notice that these categories are really prioritizing the native YouTubers rather than celebs. Well that’s because Rewind 2018 got 17million dislikes vs 2million likes and it was accused of being tone deaf to the YouTube community, highlighting the likes of Trevor Noah over Pewdiepie, despite having more viewers. It was so bad they actually reference and accept their 2018 in the into of this years YouTube Rewind. Anyway give it a gander and let us know what you think.
1...808182...181Page 81 of 181

About Goosed

Welcome to Goosed.ie! We test the latest consumer electronics and tech from around the world to help you find gadgets that make your life just a little bit easier.

Must Read

Amazon Prime Day 2025: Your Complete Guide to the First-Ever Irish Prime Day

Amazon 0
For many years, we've been bringing you the countdown...

Google Gemini VEO 3 Gets Improved Video Generation in Ireland

Google 0
The world of "artificial intelligence" is moving very quickly....

Shokz OpenFit 2 Review: These Are Great

Audio 0
I love some good headphones. From my Sony over...

Subscribe

© 2024 Goosed. All Rights Reserved.