Got anything new to report? - Min's MinIT Update. Friday 21st June 2013

Well hello hello! Or should that be 'not well cough cough'...Been off sick with some flu, cold, chesty fever thing but seeing as it's blog day and that can only be written on the tube...well here I am!

It feels like that movie 'I am legend' on the pic line this morning. There are only 5 people in the whole carriage! 

As I may pass out at any moment, lets get on with the show...

Tube advert: Best Thing Ever. That's what students are saying about the Open University. Nice! It says that their materials are so good that other universities use them too, Wowza! Google has a fight on it's hands...

Gadget: well, gonna give the gadget a rest this week. Did think about doing a piece on the 90" sharp LCD TV I'm thinking of getting and relegating our 65" to the bedroom, but will wait to do that review for a future edition (and obviously if I'm still alive till then).

So in it's place, a new section:

TV programme of the week: So who else watch Airport Live on the BBC this week? No? Just me and my dad then. Watched all 4 episodes and learnt loads...things like 76,000 people work at Heathrow (well done all my Sikh friends in Hounslow), It's the world's busiest hub at 98% capacity with 1,400 take offs and landings each day and one of those fancy fire engines costs £700,000. Yeah ok, it was a bit dull, even though you would have thought they could make a machine in this day and age to cut the 27,000 holes for the stencil thing for the BA logo on the back of the plane, rather than pulling them out individual by hand. Perhaps that's why they have to employ 76,000 people at the airport...anyways, well done Heathrow, and see you on Sunday for my flight to Madrid. Min TV marks out of 10...7.47

App: Citymapper. A must have app for my fellow commuters and yes my friends it is free. It's the app which gives you all the travel info you need in Landan town. (Did you like my accent there?) not only does it combine tube info, including when your next met line will arrive on platform 2, but also bus stops, boris bikes and national train services. You can tell it where you work and live and it can tell you the best way to get there and how long it will take you. Check it out. Min marks out of 10. 9.16

Joke: I've decided to call our new dog '5 miles'. So I can tell everyone I walk 5 miles every day...

Right, time to have a little cough now so have a lovely weekend and a great sleep.

A small man called Min.

Got anything new to report? - Min's MinIT Update. Friday 14th June 2013

Well hello hello. Here we are again and what an exciting week it has been. More later...

Lot to fit in today, so lets not mess about and on with the show!

Tube: Cryptonomicon, that's the book the dude next to me is reading. He is on page 7 and not fallen asleep so far, so looking promising. I guess that's quite an impressive word to remember for the next time you play scrabble!

Shout out: Just to say a massive thank you to all the folks who have given me a like on LinkedIn or downloaded the book. Even had some oversee downloads, but that was probably just the FBI. Big shout out to my favourite recruitment lady who has a clear edge on her competitors with the number of blog likes.

Kawks2009: Just in case the weekly tech blog is not enough for you and you want to see me do some one liners, I now have a video channel on YouTube, called Kawks2009. About 6 videos on there so far and only need another 499,984 views and YouTube will send me a cheque for £10. Come on mum, get clicking....

Gadget: So, nearly took the day off early this week to make sure I could get my self ready for the Apple conference IOS7 launch. Apple are certainly very slick at doing these events, especially when you see what Samsung did recently with their S4 launch. Simple, no nonsense and slick..but enough about me, what can we expect in the fall? (why can't they just say spring or September..expect broken bones perhaps and a 4 hr wait at A&E?)

Really liked the new IOS7 features and finally has some things that should have been available a year or two ago. The control centre for making it much easier for turning on Airplane mode, Bluetooth, flashlight etc by just swiping up rather than messing about going to settings and  3 other menus is very much welcome. The amount of time i will save the next time I'm on a flight and I want to take some pictures of the ground crew playing football with my suitcase is going to be massive... The other features like multitasking and airdrop are also neat. Good to see that finally I don't need to spend all that time whilst I'm on the loo in the morning doing App updates as these will now happen automatically. Hurrah...Overall, good job Mr Cook, you can stay for a while longer. Min marks out of 10: 9.59

Gadget: In this stressful world we live in, where its go, go, go. (And that's just when your playing monopoly at work), when you have a billion email in your inbox by 9:31 and the mrs has also given you a long list of chores for the day. Yes dear, I won't forget your vitamin tablets from Boots, to ring the council about the bins and ringing the Indian high commission about visas for the mother in law (Shame they never pick up). You get the gist right, it's a stressful life we live in and if you want to stayed chilled out, this app can help you monitor yourself. Oy, not like that, get your hands out of your pockets...I meant your heart beat!! What you do is place your finger in front of the camera and it uses the camera light to detect your pulse. Clever huh. I always make sure I do a bit of yoga and some chanting, deep breaths (imagine you are floating in the sky and all round you, there are birds chirping)...My last reading was 72, which is within the boundaries for a human being (60-100), so that's great. Check out Heart Beat pro if you too want to make sure you are alive....Min Marks out of 10...8.72

Joke: Overheard on the tube: 'I think that weird guy sat on his own is listening to our conversation.'...

Right, that's your lot! Have a wonderful weekend and a lovely sleep.

A small man called Min

Got anything new to report? - Min's MinIT Update. Friday 7th June 2013

Well hello hello! How are we all today? Thanks so much to the folks who have downloaded my book from the iBook store. Will keep this blog brief just in case Penguin or Random House are trying to call me to get me to sign a mega million pound deal (and movie rights).

So, lets not mess about. On with the show.

Tube: There is a  bloke to my right in a purple hoodie who is watching one of those Japanese Manga style cartoons on his Samsung Galaxy. Nice. It has English subtitles and he also has his headphones on. Wonder if the narration is in English too? Might ask him in a sec if I can borrow one of the headphones and listen in...

Advert: First direct were going to be offering new customers a family of china piggy banks. But they thought you would prefer £100 instead. Too right Fiirst Direct, what were the Chinese family supposed to put their savings in??

Gadget: Picture the scene..You are in a meeting, it's been over 40 minutes and your getting a bit bored (perhaps a bit sleepy if you've just had lunch), and you've ticked off all the business speak lines such as 'let's talk offline' (when did you turn into a computer, how about you talk after the meeting) or 'our immediate strategic objective is to climb the maturity staircase and along the way pick up the low hanging fruit' (tell you what bud...firstly I'm only 5ft 2 and that fruit still looks quite high and have you thought about just going to Sainsbury's..

Sorry I digress...so you really want to get out your phone to have a quick look to see if anyone has sent you a text or updated their Facebook status (to tell you that they went to the gym for lunch (err hello..what kind of sandwiches do they sell in there?). Well, my dear blog readers, fear not, the pebble watch is here. It uses Bluetooth to connect to your phone and gives you all these kind of alerts. Your watch buzzes when you get a notification and you can just look cool and pretend you are just checking what the time is! The most amazing feature is that you can change the clock face, and it even works in the swimming pool. Wowza is all I can say. It's £125 and if it wasn't for the fact that there are big rumours from apple that they will be announcing their watch (I wonder what they will call it?) I would have brought one for my other hand. Still good effort pebble, not actually seen one in real life so you get a Min marks out of 10...8.19

App: Got more of an update this week as the Phillips hue app is now totally amazing and for those hangers on, worth considering buying. App is free (though kit to make it work like the bulbs and hub costs £180. See my first tech blog for what the lights are all about. So several new features to tell you about. It now has geofencing and so as you approach your house, it knows that daddy is home and turns on the lights for you. Same when you leave. You can set it to small, medium or large so control how far away you want this to happen. But the most amazing feature now is that they have linked up with IFFTT (nope I hadn't heard of this before either) but it means that you can trigger the lights to do something based on specific things happening. So For example, I've connected it to the weather channel so if the forecast is rain in the next few hours, the lights go blue, it's connected to the sports channel, so if Liverpool score a goal, they go red (no jokes about wont be needing that then), or even if someone tags you on Facebook the lights blink twice. Cool huh. Come round if you want a demo...updated Min marks out of 10...9.87

Joke: I really wish I knew who kicked the jack out from under the car I was working on...The suspension is killing me...

Right , that's your lot. Download the book, free for the first 100 downloads and has lots of extra bits in there (including my Facebook updates)

Have a great sleep!

A small man called Min