Chris Brandrick

Why Android Phones Are Doing Much Better Than Android Tablets

Chris Brandrick — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:32:43 +0000

Interesting points on why Android’s traction in the mobile space is much greater than with tablets — carriers are happy to push phones to customers, not so much on tablets.

Quick Tip: Display the Degree / Celsius Symbol on the iPhone

Chris Brandrick — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:04:59 +0000

Everyone loves to talk about the weather. It seemingly bonds us all in a common yet mundane dialog.

Recently I was trying to tell someone via text what the temperature was, and I couldn’t easily find the degree symbol quickly.

It turns out it’s really simple to get it to show up, you just need to know where it is.

All you have to do is hold down your finger on the ’0′ (zero) key and a little alternative degree ‘°’ symbol pops up. Tap it, and you have what you need.

Oh, and for those wondering it’s 4° today.

3D Printers Now Print Human Body Parts

Chris Brandrick — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:39:54 +0000

I wrote about this over at PCWorld – pretty amazing to think that you can have replacement body parts just printed out for you within a couple of hours.

Twelve months of music – My 2011 on Last.fm

Chris Brandrick — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:40:02 +0000

I have been using music scrobbling service Last.fm since 2006 to keep track of the music I listen too, and I always find it interesting to look back over what I listen to the most. The list below shows the top 20 artists that I listened to the most during 2011, along with a few comments on artists I have something to say about:

01. Daft Punk (Plays: 544) – Daft Punk is at the top for 2011 due to the late December 2010 release of their TRON album, and the excellent remix album that soon followed.
02. Digitalism (Plays: 384) - German duo Digitalism released their new album “I Love You, Dude” in 2011, hence the heavy play count.
03. deadmau5 (Plays: 240)
04. Sébastien Tellier (Plays: 172)
05. Justice (Plays: 148) – Justice released their new album titled “Audio, Video, Disco” in 2011, although not as memorable as Cross it had a few decent tracks. Overall though it disappointed me.
06. Lady Gaga (Plays: 126)
07. Cee Lo Green (Plays: 110) – Bright Lights Bigger City is fun.
08. Air (Plays: 108)
09. Jamiroquai (Plays: 95)
10. Metric (Plays: 95)
11. Gorillaz (Plays: 93)
12. Röyksopp (Plays: 89)
13. Calvin Harris (Plays: 86)
14. Boys Noize (Plays: 81)
15. Kanye West (Plays: 78)
16. Electric Light Orchestra (Plays: 76)
17. Fila Brazillia (Plays: 73) – My old University Audio Technology lecturer makes up one half of electronica outfit Fila Brazillia. I’ve listened to their music in the past, but this year I found them on Spotify which is why they charted in 2011.
18. Tinie Tempah (Plays: 72)
19. Phoenix (Plays: 64)
20. N*E*R*D (Plays: 64)

The Anatomy Of An Effective Homepage

Chris Brandrick — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:17:19 +0000

A neat infographic explaining the basics of any good website layout.

PCWorld Posts For January 2010 – Retro TV’s, Flash Chips & The iPad

Chris Brandrick — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:18:34 +0000

In a month which saw PCWorld celebrate 50 Million visitors, Apple finally revealed their tablet device putting an end to the endless rumour mill. During January I wrote about a retro LG CRT TV, Google’s Nexus One phone, CES rumours and of course the iPad.

Check out my posts for the month of January below:

The GeekTech blog is also now on Facebook, so be sure to fan the team up over there!

PCWorld Posts For December 2009 – Safer Laptop Batteries, Dell’s Android Tablet, Insane Memory Kits & more…

Chris Brandrick — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:03:05 +0000

December has passed us by and a new year is with us, so as ever, it’s time to look back over my posts from PCWorld for the last month. Below is just a selection of some of my posts made, including details on Dell’s rumoured upcoming Android-based tablet, and a feature detailing five alternative operating systems to Google’s upcoming Chrome OS. You can find more of my posts from PCWorld on the GeekTech blog or directly via this link.

If you want to read more from GeekTech then be sure to follow the blog’s Twitter account, and of course don’t forget to follow me up on Twitter too! Be sure to check back next month for more posts.

Happy New Year – 2010

Chris Brandrick — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:57:29 +0000

I just wanted to make a short blog post wishing all my readers and subscribers a Happy New Year. May 2010 bring you everything you hope for.

What are your plans for the year, have you made a list of goals for the the next 12 months? If so be sure to link to your blog post in the comments, or just tell us your plans directly here.

Yes, it is the second of January, I’m a day late I know, but it doesn’t matter, my kind warm message still rings true. Have a great 2010!

(Photo by Rob Dray)

Merry Christmas – 2009

Chris Brandrick — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:40:11 +0000

With Christmas now here, I figured now is the perfect time to wish you all a Merry Christmas. I hope you are all having a great day!

Image Via Zellaby on Flickr

iPhone Problem – Any Advice?

Chris Brandrick — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:07:36 +0000

I finally joined the masses and grabbed myself a 32GB iPhone about two weeks ago. Ever since then I have been hunting around for the best apps and downloading a fair few, especially game and utility apps. I will probably do a round-up post detailing the apps I have soon, offering my recommendations.

However, this blog post is to ask the question - Is there a way of running a diagnostic on my iPhone while at home? The reason I’m asking such a question is due to a recent problem I had with my new phone:

I recently took the phone out of my pocket only to find the device was turned off. This struck me as odd, as not only does the iPhone require a button hold in addition to an on-screen action in order to turn it off, but the battery was also showing a 60% charge around two hours prior to this happening.

After several failed attempts to power up the device I was somewhat concerned. Luckily, I was in Liverpool for the weekend visiting family, and an Apple store was close by. I popped in to seek advice and was told by the stores staff that the new phone “looked fine” and that I should try plugging the device into one of the many charging stations in-store. Having done this, and failing an Apple employee repeated the process in another charger, this time to some success. The device powered up, however it took over 3 minutes to reach the home screen, it had worryingly also lost around 30% of it’s charge.

The helpful Apple staff at the Liverpool One branch suggested that a rogue-app may have been the cause of the problem, adding that if this (currently isolated) issue was to happen again that I come in to have the iPhone checked.

So do any of you guys know of a way to run a diagnostic check on the iPhone, at home? I would like to see if any of my apps are sapping away my battery or causing my phone to crash. Any comments or emails on the issue would be highly appreciated.