tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-874862736662285312024-10-02T08:27:57.815+01:00Thoughts on technology, finance, fitness and lifeMichael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.comBlogger202125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-66389039375557283862019-08-05T22:54:00.001+01:002019-08-05T22:54:36.384+01:00

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash I'm planning to make this blog honest and not just full of happy happy joy joy type successes. So, with that in mind, how did the last 30-day challenge go? It was a bloody disaster. However, I've actually taken four very useful lessons away from it so I suppose I'll let you decide how successful it was in the end. First, and most obvious, £50

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-53528206750076766212019-07-29T22:12:00.000+01:002019-07-29T22:16:43.996+01:00

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 14.0px} As I’ve mentioned in a previous post my Google WiFi setup sends all its traffic over the wired network rather than mesh. For me I found this to be much faster and more reliable. However, it wasn’t easy to do or find information about

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-27837351927625413712019-07-25T16:21:00.001+01:002019-07-25T16:23:01.035+01:00

From Amazon.co.uk In the second part of this smarthome series I’m looking at the network I have installed, how well it functions day-to-day and if there’s anything I’d want to change moving forward. A solid network is the spine of the smarthome and your experience is going to be driven by it. Choosing the right hardware is therefore critical. You want something that can be easily managed

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-38291929960864621412019-07-23T16:24:00.000+01:002019-07-23T16:36:41.163+01:00

This is the first in a series of posts covering the smarthome setup I've put in place over the last year, some feedback on how it is all working together, living with it and some future plans for making it better. I'll also cover the  So, what have I setup so far? Here's the list: Network:  Google WiFi hardwired over Cat6 25 Port Gigabit Switch Heating: Heatmiser for Underfloor

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-56343956959298411182019-07-09T23:10:00.002+01:002019-07-15T23:36:02.106+01:00

Introduction At the start of 2019 I had absolutely no idea who Ryan Serhant was. By June I’ve watched every season of Million Dollar Listing New York, follow the VLOG (which you can find on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialRyanSerhant and I would highly recommend), watched his Sell It Like Serhant show and have listened to his audiobook of the same name. For those

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-87304633549769569922019-07-05T12:47:00.000+01:002019-07-05T12:48:27.262+01:00

Recently I've been doing a lot of reading into the area of personal development. After a bit of introspection I've come to the shocking conclusion that I may in fact not be....prepare yourselves...perfect. I know. I know. I'll give you a second to come to terms with it. OK, feeling better? Good, let's continue. I've realised that at 36 I need to make a few changes if I'm going to stay fit and

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-28091996395522955282017-07-19T08:19:00.000+01:002017-07-20T07:00:48.584+01:00

On June 9th 2017, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook took to the stage at MIT and addressed this years graduating class. Throughout the speech you can hear echoes to the address the late Steve Jobs gave to the Stanford class of 2005 but make no mistake this feels like it’s personal and coming from the heart and to me it was brilliant. I cannot recommend it enough. If you decide you don’t have time to listen

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-14074766575871505822017-06-04T10:18:00.001+01:002017-06-04T10:21:39.042+01:00

There's no shortage of predictions and leaks around what Apple will announce at WWDC tomorrow. I'm going to add one more. Since this is the developers conference and iPad seems to be getting a renewed focus I'm going to predict/hope for XCode on iOS. I don't expect something that's as powerful as the Mac version but I'm thinking a Swift code editor and potentially the return of Interface Builder

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-37064855690208439272017-04-22T08:54:00.002+01:002017-04-22T08:54:25.298+01:00

During the Back to the Future (BTTF) anniversary celebrations there was a lot of talk about how accurately they represented time travel. The consensus seemed to be that travelling back and appearing at the same physical location but in a different time was how time travel would likely work. This is where I got thinking. The universe is an ever moving beast. Nothing sits still and this leads

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-61508494836116542932015-08-23T11:03:00.001+01:002017-01-31T12:58:29.271+00:00

Council budgets have been and continue to be slashed and perhaps that's the reason why more is not being done to educate people on the risk Radon gas is posing to their health in the area of Newry, Mourne and Down. A recently published Government report includes the below map which starkly highlights the huge areas of the district that are potentially exposed to high levels of this naturally

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-18867245711278692062015-06-30T16:00:00.001+01:002015-06-30T16:00:33.664+01:00

iOS8.4 is here and available to download so head over and grab it from Software Update.

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-69090189621475840662015-05-14T08:01:00.001+01:002015-05-14T08:01:08.800+01:00

This is a short post just to correct reports coming out of some media outlets. The 0.9 km wide 1999 FN53 asteroid is not going to hit us on May 14th. There are no instabilities in its orbit that might send it our way. In fact it will not hit us within the next 8000 years. Its going to miss us by about 7 million miles. Panic over. Check out the link below from NASA JPL for more details: http://

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-39769961368849732982014-03-12T13:18:00.001+00:002014-03-12T13:18:45.549+00:00

I've seen multiple reports on Google from people trying to login to Flickr through iOS 7 Settings and receiving the 'Could not communicate with server' login failure. I changed phones last week and received the same error message this morning. The fix that worked for me is:1. Go to Flickr through a desktop browser. 2. Go to the your profile image in the top right and click Settings.3. In

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-9968849837823555462013-11-05T23:49:00.001+00:002013-11-05T23:49:17.050+00:00

One of the most useful features in the ever expanding tool set that is Google Now is the 'OK Google' Hotwords. Unfortunately many people are discovering that this handy feature is not active outside of the US. With Google releasing an update to their iOS app over the last couple of days this annoyance has spread to Googles iOS users too. However there does appear to be a handy fix.When you go

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-52765056077034925112013-08-20T21:29:00.003+01:002013-08-20T21:39:26.644+01:00

I'm proud to announce that my first iOS app, Team Founder, is now live on the app store! The app lets you quickly and easily split any group of people into teams for sports, games or even classroom activities. Just enter the names of everyone playing along with the number of people you want in each group and hit Create. The app then creates your teams and lets you share them with friends and

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-52688169139886458602013-06-10T08:04:00.001+01:002013-06-10T08:04:24.724+01:00

With WWDC due to start today I thought I'd compile a quick wish list for iOS, OS X and iCloud. 1. Better sharing on iOS. I'm thinking in particular of the share cards in BB10 and Android. A central area that developers can hook into and allow you to share media from across your device.2. Widgets. This is an awkward one. I want a more customisable experience but I don't want the Android

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-78091744915750168482012-04-05T18:09:00.001+01:002012-04-05T18:09:59.128+01:00

UVMF are the first firm to step forward and make a public offer to buy RIM after the RIM CEO, Thorsten Heins, indicated that no option had been taken off the table including the sale of the firm. It is extremely unlikely that such an offer from such a small firm would ever be accepted but I believe that this opens the flood gates. RIM is now very much on the market and I have to believe that a

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-50106790887177770402011-12-30T11:49:00.001+00:002011-12-30T12:05:10.122+00:00

There is a relatively minor bug in Skyrim for the Xbox 360. It turns up in the the room with the iron gate and three statues around the middle of Bleak Falls Temple and initially it seems to completely block your progress. When you enter the room there are three statues on your left. These should rotate between three images which you need to get in the correct order in order to open the gate when

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-680920669550819452011-12-24T13:59:00.001+00:002011-12-24T14:10:08.436+00:00

With the Christmas season upon us and year end approaching I wanted to take this opportunity to recognise what I consider to be the Top 10 Podcasts of 2011. These are the shows that I always make sure I have up-to-date on the iPhone before I get into the car. 1. MacBreak Weekly - TWiT 2. CrackBerry Podcast - Mobile Nations 3. Mobile Nations Podcast - Mobile Nations 4. T3 Podcast - T3.com 5.

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-2912067775772815762011-12-08T13:56:00.001+00:002011-12-24T13:55:13.471+00:00

After using iOS5 on iPhone 4S and iPad 1 since it was available I've been noticing quite a few problems with the mail application. Composing long emails causes crashes but even more concerning at random times it just hangs. Unfortunately it doesn't crash so I don't even know its happened until I notice I haven't received mails in a long times and I try to access the application. At that point the

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-17043083264955346832011-12-01T22:08:00.001+00:002011-12-29T20:35:19.832+00:00

Over recent times I've seen one of my favourite technology companies slip from a position of smartphone leadership to the whipping boy of the technology and business press. While I am a user of Apple products, I own and have owned, a number of BlackBerry smartphones and now a BlackBerry Playbook, which I am actually using to type this post. In recent times it has become harder to recommend people

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-67658078682770658942011-11-02T00:28:00.001+00:002011-11-02T00:28:49.343+00:00

If you're like me then you enthusiastically updated to iOS 5 the second it came out and then happily headed into work once the upgrade, which felt like it took days, was completed. Also if you're like me you have an iPhone charging cable everywhere you go, with good reason. But this time you may have found that your iPhone spent much more time dangling off the charging cable than usual. If so

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-53218046644532049222011-10-13T18:39:00.001+01:002011-10-13T18:39:36.606+01:00

One of the most useful elements of Apple's new iOS 5 is the Reminder app. However, within minutes of getting my 3GS updated and logging into iCloud I realised my Reminders app was useless. This isn't a judgment on the app it's because I couldn't create an item let alone actually be reminded of anything. Only the Completed list displayed and there was no little +. If anyone else finds

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-32272391444029677632011-10-06T10:09:00.001+01:002011-10-06T12:38:31.628+01:00

Goodbye Steve and thank you for all the memories

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87486273666228531.post-48463006456673271562011-10-03T23:49:00.001+01:002011-10-03T23:49:33.589+01:00

We are a only hours away from the launch of the new iPhone and iOS5. We already know most of the iOS features but what about the new iPhone? Well I'm predicting that we will see two iPhones tomorrow. The iPhone 4S will be a minor upgrade of the iPhone 4 with a a global chip, lower cost and most importantly a repaired antenna. The iPhone 5 will be the higher cost model with a design similar to the

Michael McConvillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15837793039604121089noreply@blogger.com0