Category: Tech Tuesday

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Tech Tuesday

Too Good To Be True…?

I remember the old days… vaguely… when hard cash was used to purchase items. And if you didn’t have the money, then guess what… you couldn’t really buy it. Yes, you could go ahead and borrow money… but it came down to knowing what you had.

Technology has and has not…. helped.

Fast forward… we had debit/credit cards… now, we can pay via phone/watch and in some instances, we have repeat orders (where we get items delivered and automatically charged to our account!)

The issue here is… with this happening, we become a little lazy.

Not checking accounts. Not doing the due diligence required.

I’ve just been reading an article on the BBC News website – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60464668

Online subscription scams, many using bogus celebrity endorsements, are costing victims tens of millions of pounds a year, 

A fake MailOnline article

And it’s easy to fall victim.

The ‘fraudsters’ have become more clever. Making websites, apps, letters, etc… all look real and authentic!

But there’s some good advice available to help you but be careful when…

  1. It seems too good to be true – for example, a holiday that’s much cheaper than you’d expect. Honestly, you’ll get some good deals but if it’s way cheaper than everyone else… ask yourself, why?! What could be happening here…
  2. Someone you don’t know contacts you unexpectedly – what would you do? – I was always told, don’t speak to strangers (when I was a child)- same rules apply online. Today. As an adult.
  3. When you suspect you’re not dealing with a real company – for example, if there’s no postal address…. Everyone should have an address. Everyone should have an office/unit/etc… search online get some details. Do some research first!
  4. You’ve been asked to transfer money quickly – old trick in the book. Don’t lose out… this offer won’t last long… please, take the time to understanding what and who you are dealing with.
  5. You’ve been asked to pay in an unusual way – for example, by iTunes vouchers or through a transfer service like MoneyGram or Western Union… if this happens, remember the old days of hard cold cash!
  6. You’ve been asked to give away personal information like passwords or PINs… Alarm bells please. Under no circumstances, even if it’s the bank calling you on the phone – NEVER GIVE OUT ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION TO ANYONE! Especially passwords and PIN’s. And Especially if they’ve called you. Now if you ring a bank or a company, find their telephone on their legitimate website – and then they’ll only ask for verification details – they will not ask for your whole personal details!

There’s some great advice available regarding scams, phishing, etc.. – https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-spot-a-scam-alFiz5h8mnJ9

If you’re not sure – ask someone you trust.

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Tech Tuesday

Tech Tuesday… EV!

Yes, I know I’ve spoken about Electric Cars before.

Yes, I understand not everyone is in a position to buy an electric car.

Or are they?

We need to reduce emissions. That’s clear. Are electric cars the answer? – well, they’ll help. What will help more is if we walk, bus, rail, etc… now, these options are not always viable. And we need to jump into the car to go somewhere. So what can we do to be more greener?

Well.. to those saying, Bal… these electric cars are expensive! – Yes, I agree. They are, but many are coming down in price. Many have done over the past few years as they’ve got more popular – supply and demand. So with prices coming down, they are beginning to become more affordable.

If you are petrol/diesel right now – I’d suggest a hybrid. (See previous blog post about this topic).

If you’re moving to electric, there’s some great options…

One of the cheapest new electric cars you can get are Skoda CITIGOe-iV. Around the £15,000 mark – it’s perfect for around town driving!

Now, 135 miles you might be thinking… yes. Ok, it’s not alot – but again, it’s perfect for around town. If you want more miles, you’ll need a little bit more money. Now… for a bit more money, you could get an Hyundai Kona or there’s a Chinese alternative;

The Aiways U5 does 210 miles and is from £28,000. Looks half decent too.

Then you can spend a little more… and when you’re in the £30k+ bracket, there’s alot more to choose from.

Prices will come down. There’s second hand electric cars you can also look at. Take the Renault Zoe for example… which you can pick up used for around the £10k mark.

It’s a roomy car that can easily seat four people, although rear passengers do sit higher than normal because the batteries are tucked away under the back seat.

Older models have a 22kWh battery with a real-world range of around 100 miles. More recent ones have a bigger 41kWh battery for 180 miles of driving between charges.

Something important for you to note – initially, the Zoe was available with a separate battery leasing option, which meant you would pay for the battery each month in addition to the cost of the car. This initiative was dropped in 2019, but keep an eye out for used models that come with an additional battery lease cost.

Versions badged ‘i’ include the battery but are generally more expensive to purchase as a result. There is a benefit to leasing the battery, however; if the condition of the battery reduces below a certain point – in turn reducing how far you can travel per charge – Renault will replace the battery for you.

The key thing to remember is the additional cost savings.

Combustion Engine vehicles need servicing and there’s more parts that could fail compared to an electric car. You don’t necessarily need the yearly or every 10k service. Yes, you need to check tyres and other things – but nothing engine related!

And then finally… if you are looking for a used electric car… but you’re budget is under £5k… I’ve found something for you…

Here’s the full description..

Fully working techx model , No road tax , No congestion charge , Air con and touch screen android radio 6 inch screen , Heated seats , Can charge at home from normal plug socket type 2 takes 6 to 7 hours, DC fast charger also CHAdeMO at station, Takes 40 mins, 75 mile range on full charge , Lowest insurance category, £4,300

To be fair, for £4,300… 75 mile range…. you can’t really go wrong for around town driving!

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Tech Tuesday

Save with Tech

So, we know that food prices are rising, cost of gas is on the increase, etc… and I’ve been asked, what tech is out there that can help!

Well, there’s quite a few things.

But I’ll share two today. One related to food. The other one for gas.

There’s an app I’ve had on my phone for a while. Used it a few times. It’s call, Too Good To Go.

Basically – those food related businesses who have food left over, put it on the app – that there’s food available, and rather than it being the ‘normal’ price, it’s heavily discounted! You just reserve the one you want, and it’s as easy as that!

You can get magic bags (so basically, the business won’t know what they have – but will have something!) or you can get specific items that the business knows are available towards end of the day (as they know they’ll not get all the customers they want and won’t sell out).

I love this app. For two reasons. One – We need to reduce food waste. Every year, one-third of food if thrown away. We can reduce this waste. And Too Good To Go does just that. Helps to reduce the amount of food that is thrown away.

There’s a few other apps similar to this, that help fight food waste. And others that offer discounts etc… but this one is great – feedback is good and it’s one that I’ve kept a close eye on.

Up Next – Heating!

Which is the Best Smart Thermostat? Comparison Table

Gas prices are rising. And to be honest, not alot we can currently do about it. However – what we can do is what control the amount of heating we have on.

Now, if you haven’t already – get a smart thermostat.

Why?

  1. Smart thermostats let you control your heating from your phone/mobile device. In that way, you can set when the heating should come on and when it should be off – that way allowing you to only have heating on when you are at home.
  2. They will learn your behaviours – some can work with weather conditions – so they know when it’s cold, you may want it to be a degree or two higher than normal.
  3. Link this – with a smart meter, you can see how much gas and electricity you are actually using – and then made adaptions as required. For example, switch of lights, unplug devices, be more clever when you charge items…

Data. I’ve spoken about it before – use the data you have to help you. Data such as, how much you are paying per kwh and then see if you can get it cheaper elsewhere. Data such as, how much you’re actually using and how does it compare to others in your area – for example, do others have lower bills and then, find out why? – some may have loft insulation, some cavity wall insulation, etc.. might be worth investing in some of those.

At the end of the day, you can only control what you can control… gas prices, unfortunately you can’t control. However, your thermostat is something you can control – and something (being smart) can help you!

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Tech Tuesday

Tech Tuesday

Yesterday, on the BBC News website, they had an interesting story. It was all about the lack of ‘Digital Skills’.

Here’s a link to the full story – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56479304

Now, I’ve been talking about this for a while. The type of skills that are required for the future need to be started and worked on now!

In September 2019, the Manufacturer shared the below…

Cyber Security – 33%!

Digital Business Transformation – 25%!

Unfortunately, we’ve not really moved the needle on many of these!

So what do we need to do? – Well… as the above illustration shows… Firstly… Training! Train folk in these topics! – then let them learn, experience and grow that skill.

Back in 2018 (early), I started to learn alot about GDPR. I learnt alot about data, privacy, etc… Today, I’m pulled up and asked questions on these topics! – Literally! – Only yesterday someone was asking me about an application and the impact of the data being stored outside of the EU!

Digital Business Transformation – is a skill that many should be learning. Businesses should be able to transform – and this skill is essential! Like the saying goes… ‘it’s not the strongest that survive, but those adaptable to change’.

We’ve seen the devastating impact Covid has had on a number of businesses.

We’ve also seen the growth opportunity Covid has provided a number of businesses.

Which are you? Devastating Impact or Growth Opportunity?

To Grow – you need skills. The right skills. Digital Skills.

We are moving from Physical to Digital. Where are you on the journey?

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Tech Tuesday

Tech Tuesday

Recently, on social media – you may have seen some old photo’s being bought to life. All looks a bit creepy, right? – If you’ve not seen it and thinking, Bal… what’s all this about?! – Then, let me share with you… a company called MyHeritage who provides automatic AI-powered photo enhancements is now offering a new service that can animate people in old photos creating a short video!

The conversion process is completely automated. Users simply need to upload a photograph through the website where it’s first sharpened and enhanced to not only improve the quality of the final animation but to also make it easier for the deep learning algorithm to do its thing.

The results are eerily lifelike, and manage to preserve the aesthetics of the original shot to help sell the effect of this video being recorded when the actual photo was captured.

So the question is – who would you like to see, moving their face again?

As mentioned – it is eerily lifelike – and this technology will only advance, maybe there could be certain body movements – or more than facial expression – wouldn’t it be amazing if there were more movements and maybe voice! (Appreciate that’s going to be difficult, but if many voices were recorded of descendants then I’m sure AI could work some magic).

So head over to the Heritage Website, and let’s see the videos!

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Tech Tuesday

Tech Tuesday!

We are all aware of the main social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…. the younger ones amongst us… Tik Tok, Snapchat, etc… Let’s be honest, there’s a fair few. But there’s one that’s taking the world by storm!

Clubhouse.

So imagine, in the real world, you’re at a conference. It’s a conference that has several rooms, several speakers. You look at the agenda, and highlight what interests you. You then go to the room, sit in the room and listen to the speaker(s). When you want to leave, you leave quietly, and you can join another room – where they may be talking about another interest of yours – and you sit there and listen to the speakers.

Now… Clubhouse, has all this… on an app. You can connect and follow people who you think are interesting, and when they start a room – you’ll be notified. And off course, people can follow you!

You can even create your own room! Have people join. Talk about what you want! You can make it private or keep it open for others to join.

I’ve been using it for a while. And I have to admit. I love it. I think it’s great. I’ve had my own room (where a few of us talked about football – in particular Nottingham Forest). I’ve joined lots of rooms, and listened – and like most things, some were good, some… not so.

On iOS only for the moment – but i’m sure they’ll be bringing it out on Android soon. Oh.. and you need to be invited. That’s right – it’s invite only… But when you sign up and wait – if people on the platform know you, then they can ‘let you in’. In addition, you get two invites to invite your friends!

Why is clubhouse so important?

  1. It’s all audio! – so you can carry on with your normal tasks, plug in your headphones – and off you go. The rise of podcasts has shown that more and more people are wanting to listen.
  2. Clubhouse says they do not record and store. So the room you create, the room you talk in… none of that conversation is stored so you can listen to it later. It’s all ‘real-time’. Like a real conference, where you’d listen to a person live… it’s exactly like that.

There are some watch outs though… whilst Clubhouse say they don’t record anything, some security folk found that they they will capture some of your personal data and information. So like all social media platforms, enjoy… (but be conscious of who’s watching.. or in this case, listening!)

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Tech Tuesday

Tech Tuesday!

So recently, on my Instagram – I shared how I was annoyed about a post that AutoTrader had put up from their Twitter Acount.

AutoTrader – the UK’s largest automotive marketplace. I bought my recent car via AutoTrader! It used to sell it in paper form.. then with the introduction of the internet, it moved online… (app is available via App Store etc…), and promotes itself via social media.

62,000 followers on Twitter (Joined January 2009).

57,000 followers on Instagram (with over 2,211 posts).

359,000 followers on Facebook.

On the social media channels – they review cars, provide advice, etc..

So Bal, what’s your problem with them?

Well… they posted the below on Twitter…

Whilst I love the idea of a poll and seeing which car is better…. my annoyance was around the way to respond.

Firstly… I see the heart. So if I’m an Audi fan, then fine – I click the heart. BUT… if I’m a BMW fan… where’s the thumbs up? – do this mean I have to go into the comments and do a thumbs up? So… all of a sudden, I need to interact with the post, I need to comment, I need to make my vote count… IF I’m a BMW fan.

Facebook is the social media platform that has a ‘thumb’ for liking an image.

Now… this was shared by AutoTrader… but via a platform called Socialbakers. Basically, you can schedule posts and articles – and then platforms such as Socialbakers will publish them out at times when activity is at it’s peak…. allowing more people to view and engage.

It comes down to user experience.

In this day and age – when I can, click twice in amazon and have an item sent to my house, the experience for engagement should be quick, easy and simple!

So, whatever you do… wherever you do it… just think of who’s going to interact with it. Who’s going to do something with it! It’s the value someone will get out of it. There’s so much competition for eyes to be on your post – let’s be honest, firstly, there’s so many social media platforms. Then there’s so many posts… information, etc… how can you cut above everyone and have eyes on your post? – I won’t go into making good content… but key thing is ensuring it’s simple to read, simple to engage with… and simple to react to!