My favourite podcasts from 2014:

I'm sure by know you know what a podcast is. It's one of the best ways to pass time. Podcasts can be listened to in the gym, in the supermakret, before sleeping, or even on the way to work. Basically, podcasts are for everyone.

During 2014, many podcasts have started. It's an awesome way to make money, because the competition is not so great. Because there are so many podcasts, it's difficult to say that I have listened to them all. Out of all the podcasts that I have listened to, these are my favourites from 2014. All of these podcasts can be found in the Apple Podcast Store. 

1) Ear biscuits:

This podcast is brought to you by comedy duo internetainers, Rhett and Link. I prefer listening to podcasts with two people, because they are usually more entertaining, and you don't get sick of hearing only one person's voice. Rhett and Link interview internet celebrities, such as themselves, and go into all the nooks and crannies that are often never brought up by these celebrities. Often, things get quite intense. Their podcasts range from 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours.

2) Good Mythical Morning:

This might sound biased, but Rhett and Link also created this podcast. Their work is extremely entertaining, and I can't stop listening to their podcasts. Every weekday, Rhett and Link release an episode of "GMM". They believe that occasionally the news gets too sad and depressing, so they discuss topics that will brighten your day, for example: World Record Fails. As depressing as this episode might sound, it was hilarious. Their iTunes podcast only features a few of their episodes. To see the daily show, go over to YouTube and subscribe for daily episodes.

3) Hello Internet:

Brady Haran and CGP Grey are responsible for this podcast. Their names might sound familiar, that's because they manage the YouTube channel "Numberphile". They release episodes once every two weeks. They are often quite lengthy, between 1 1/2 and 2 hours. I find their podcasts extremely entertaining. They discuss multiple topics in each episode, so you're bound to not get bored.

4) TLDR:

The creator of this podcast took the common abbreviation of "Too Long, Didn't Read" and turned it into "The Lockergnome Digital Report". His name is Chris Pirillo, and his business is called Lockergnome. For 30 minutes every weekday, he releases an episode featuring geeky news, geeky gadgets and other cool stuff. 

5) Serial:

This is a One-of-a-Kind podcast. A women tells us the story of how she investigated a case in which a schoolgirl went missing. A few weeks later, the schoolgirl's body was found, with signs of manual strangulation. Every episode reveals a new clue that will eventually lead us to who the murderer is. If you want to start off with podcasts, this is one of the best ways to start.

I hope you enjoyed this list of podcasts. Be sure to check them out if you have some time. And if you are just getting started in the world of podcasts, all the best to you. 

Thank you for the supoort this year. It's been hectic keeping up with the deadlines, but in the end, I'm satisfied with the result. This is the last day of 2014, so I decided to go a little off schedule and release a blog post. However things will return to normal after this. If you want to read more posts, a new post will be up on Friday at 17:00 GMT +2. Happy holidays and New Year.

An Introduction to Audiobooks

"Why is everyone promoting it? Why are they so popular? What is an audiobook anyway?"

If you're not really an 'Internet' person, these questions have no doubt slipped through your mind. You're probably wondering what these 'audiobooks' are...

Hear, hear! (See what I did there?)

So audiobooks are, in their simplest form, a recorded version of someone reading a book. It's hard to believe, but there is a big market for audiobooks. Audiobooks resemble a parent reading a bedtime story to their child. Of course, no one is around to read books to adults, therefore we have resorted to audiobooks. 

How do I get started?

All you need is a pair of good-quality headphones or earphones. The last thing you want is to have a crackly voice reading a book to you. You must be able to hear the reader's words. If you have these, you're ready to go.

When and where should I listen to audiobooks? 

The answer is, anywhere that doesn't require a lot of concentration. If you're in a grocery line, there's no need to focus your attention. Whip out your phone and start listening. Going on a ten hour road trip? Listen to an audiobook. Lying on your couch after work? Listen to audiobooks. It's that simple!

Where can I get audiobooks from? 

The bad news is, audiobooks cost money (yes, I'm a cheap person). But some are free. Some authors give their books away for free. For example, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G Wells and Jules Verne have books that can be found online for free.

If you would like to try out an audiobook, there are plenty of sites, such as audible.com

However, you pay a monthly fee. I recommend going to booksshouldbefree.com where all their audiobooks are free, and you don't pay a monthly fee. To start you off, try listening to 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'. It was one of my first audiobooks.

All the best to you and your first audiobook!

The Perfect wish list for a Geek

*DISCLAIMER* Buying the following gifts will not guarantee a better relationship with the person of interest.

Christmas is a time filled with love and joy, but for you, it's a time of stress, worry and panic, because you have to buy the perfect gift for a special someone. Below is a list of things that any geek would appreciate. They can all be found on popular websites, such as amazon.com or ebay.com

1) Ollie

No, it's not a person. It's a super cool robot that looks a bit like a gigantic pill. The best part is, you can control it using your iPhone. It only requires bluetooth, so you can use it anywhere without additional charges.

2) Roomba

No, this isn't a person either. It's a vacuum cleaner that works on its own. All you have to do is turn it on, and watch it vacuum. It learns what your house looks like, and makes sure that every spot is vacuumed, without any human effort.

3) Laser keyboard

While this is a bit pricy, it's totally worth it. This keyboard can be projected onto any surface, and uses lasers to detect where your fingers are in relation to the keys. So you can basically type on your desk, without having a physical keyboard.

4) Astrum headphones

If you know teenagers, you'll know that they always want the best headphones. Astrum headphones are slim, stylish and fancy. They're $49, which is cheaper than Beats headphones, which cost around $200. They also have excellent audio quality.

5) Coffee mug with battery

Every morning, you're bound to have a smile on your face with this mug. It senses the heat from your coffee/tea and this lights up a battery on the side of the mug. As you drink, the battery drains, and when you're done, the battery is dead. You can't go wrong with this one.

6) Hue Light by Phillips

These light bulbs can be controlled with the wifi in your house. They can be switched on or off through your smartphone or mobile device. You can also change the colour of the bulb, just by using your smartphone. These are incredibly convenient, and are perfect for displaying the type of mood you are in.

What would I like to see in the iPhone 7?

Let me put this out there. The iPhone 6 has just come out, and people are already releasing prototypes of the iPhone 7. Now don't get me wrong, these prototypes are epic!

I can't design my own iPhone, because that would take up a lot of time and money. So, I decided to type out everything that I want to see in the new iPhone. Here we go...

NO AUDIO TRIPPING!!!

I have bluetooth headphones that are awesome to use... Except when I put my iPhone in my pocket. The audio keeps tripping and I don't get good sound. This is most annoying when I'm listening to an audiobook.

Bigger Battery

Apple, you've done a mediocre job on the battery of the iPhone 6. There's nothing worse than going to work, and coming home with half a battery. So should I recharge the phone and damage the battery, or have it last half a day tomorrow?

Storage expansion

Please, please, please. All I'm asking for is one, simple slot to put an SD Card. I can either upgrade internally or buy an adaptor, but both alternatives are costly.

Bluetooth file sharing

Sometimes you want to share the 'drop' with your friend (that one with the Samsung phone). But you can't, because there's no bluetooth file sharing. I could just email it, but that would cost money, and I'm a cheap person.

Waterproof that Phone!

Those cases that people make don't actually work. They all say "makes your iPhone waterproof" but really it doesn't. Just save us some money and implement this feature. It what the cool kids want these days (not that I would know).

Alarms when the iPhone is off

Sometimes I like to sleep. And when I do, I turn off the iPhone to save battery life. But when I do, my alarm doesn't go off. If I leave my iPhone in standby overnight, it's bound to lose some battery.  

I hope you enjoyed that post. If you'd like to add to the list, simply comment below. 

New posts come out every Friday at 17:00 (GMT +2)

5 time-lapses you can make with iOS 8

So, the holidays are almost here, and you need to find stuff to do. Below is a list of things you can do with the time-lapse feature on your iPhone:

1) FIND A ROOM WHERE YOU SPEND MOST OF THE DAY

Set up your iOS device in a room that you are going to be in for most of the day. This can be your office or bedroom. For example, I set up my iPhone in my room for about an hour, while I was working on a project. The end result is excellent; you have a video showing the amount of work you have done for the day. It shows the stages you have went through to complete your work, for example, the brainstorming, planning, editing, and finalising.

2) PAINTING

Get out that set of paints that you never use. If you want to, buy one of those canvases that have numbers. The numbers on the canvas comes with an outline, and it tells you which sections should be painted with a certain colour, eg: 1 is red. Then, put your iPhone near you, and start painting! Trust me, you'll love the results.

3) BUY YOURSELF A LEGO SET

Don't tell me you're too old, go out there and buy yourself a LEGO set. Then set up your camera and build the set. You could upload the video to YouTube, and tag me on Google Plus.

4) GO OUTDOORS

If you're an outdoor person, take your iPhone and go outside. Find a nice spot, such as a busy beach or harbour. Then start your time-lapse. If you're on the beach, you can see all the different tourists coming and going. In the harbour you can watch ships coming and going.

5) FILM YOURSELF EATING 

Get a few cupcakes or sandwiches. Then, put the camera in front of you and start recording. The time-lapse will show you the different stages of eating: you start off hungry, then you feel a bit full, then you slow down, then you stop. It's quite interesting, if you have the stomach for it!

Those are the 5 best things I could think of, let me know if you have any other ideas in the comments below. Also, subscribe to the mailing list to know when I put up another post!

Is Apple falling behind?

       

The Samsung Galaxy S5 alongside the iPhone 6

With more than 10 million pre-orders over the first week, Apple has never been doing better. So, you might wonder, why is someone writing about Apple 'regaining their lead'?

Let me first explain to you what I actually mean. You might be thinking, depending on how well you pay attention to the geeks of the Internet, what the heck is this guy writing about? You say, Apple has made a bigger screen with more pixels, faster processor, better camera, custom keyboards, etc. You might say: Apple is clearly in the lead!

But not to some of the geeks. There have been claims stating that what Apple is releasing now, is equivalent to the technology of Samsung 1 year ago. Now, I'm not going to go into all the specs here. I'm just saying that Apple is slowly falling behind. And I'm fairly certain that this can be fixed.

Firstly, from almost two years ago, Sony had made their first waterproof phone, the Experia Z1. Then followed Samsung. Here we are, as Apple fans, still waiting for a waterproof phone. Apple is falling behind, slowly but surely.

Next on the the list, there are custom keyboards. Apple fanboys were overjoyed when they heard that their keyboards could now be customised with the help of iOS 8. Samsung has had this feature in their Android software from way back. In fact, on Android, just about the entire display can be customised, from the layout of apps, to the lock screen.

Branching off from the previous point is customisation. Pretty much everything on Android can be customised. You can change the layout of the apps, change the way the lock screen looks and works, add on custom features through third party apps, etc. With Apple, we're just sitting there, with everyone's iPhone screen layout looking the same.

Then, there is the controversial topic of widgets. Apple had them before, but they were not open to third party apps. Only with the release of iOS 8 could you add widgets to the notification centre. On Android, third party widgets were running around for years. As you can see, Apple was clearly behind.

Then, Samsung devices can be used as remotes for just about everything, including your TV and gaming system. On Apple devices, you can't do anything without buying Apple TV or jailbreaking your devices, something that not everybody wants to do.

Then there is Bluetooth file sharing, something that users have been expecting for years, where you can send files from phone to phone without an Internet connection.

And lastly, an expansion slot. I've been struggling to maintain space for my 16GB iPad. Now, I could either upgrade my iPad, or buy a memory stick that connects to iPad. Both of these alternatives are extremely costly. Come on Apple!

Now, basically what I'm saying is, Apple needs to copy more ideas from other leading companies to get themselves back on track. I know this isn't very fair, but copying ideas happens all the time when it comes to technology. I've always been against it, but it looks like Apple could really use a boost.

For now, we can only hope that Apple will start to listen to consumers during the design process of the next iPhone.

How to Speed-Read on iPad

How do I read eBooks?

For many years, I've avoided reading eBooks, simply because I didn't enjoy the experience. If you feel the same, continue reading, and find out how I conquered this.

I would consider myself a speed reader, but not a professional one. One of the most popular methods of speed reading is dragging your finger below the text, creating a path for your brain to read. With eBooks, you can't do that anymore. If you try following the words with your finger, you will probably accidentally turn the page over. This is a real pain for readers, as it takes away the ability to speed read on eBooks.

So, I decided, I'm going to train myself to speed read the iTunes Book of the Week. So I forced myself to read it. I had to read slowly, because I could not drag my finger below the text. So, I had a bright idea...

I took an old stylus from another iPad, and turned it upside down, so that the metallic part touched the screen. This metallic part does not have any effect on the screen, and does not accidentally turn pages. I decided to use this old stylus as my "speed reading" finger. I dragged the back end of the stylus below the text, and found that I could read so much faster. 

         

Use the metal end of the stylus to read faster.

I believe that this could help tonnes of people who have avoided reading eBooks in the past, for the very same reason as me. So, just give it a try, as silly as it sounds. Take the back end of a pencil, something that won't damage the screen, and drag it beneath the text you are reading. You will read up to twice as fast, hopefully.

If my solution worked, leave a comment below. 

Don't forget to come back next week Saturday for an all new blog post. I'm also hoping to create a new blog, with app reviews, so follow me on Google plus for more information.