David Gilson Publications

How to get detailed weather information using Siri

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

In addition to all of the other things that Siri can tell you, you can even use the virtual personal assistant to tell you the weather. That may not sound so remarkable, but there are probably a set of weather command that you didn't know were there too. Join us as we explore the weather. 452 words

Avalon accused of mining with customer ASICs - CoinDesk

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Avalon, a maker of bitcoin ASICs, has been accused, on the Bitcoin Forum, of using its products to mine bitcoins before shipping to customers. The controversy came to light after a customer of the company reported having examined the configuration of his/her mining devices, and described one as being in a dusty condition and configured to contribute to coins to a bitcoin pool. 323 words

Top ten bitcoin tweets - 17th June 2013 - CoinDesk

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to check the price of bitcoins in dollars, then Alternapost can help you. The bespoke page, linked via Reddit, gives a minimalist design with the price in large characters. No fuss, no complicated stats. The page can show the price of Litecoin (LTC) and Peer-to-Peer coin (PPC). You could add this to your browser bookmarks, or if you're on iOS, add it as a shortcut directly to your homescreen. 884 words

Trezor now taking pre-orders for its hardware Bitcoin wallet - CoinDesk

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

It's been a day for reporting hardware incarnations of Bitcoin. First we had Firmcoins, and now we have the more established Trezor team taking pre-orders for its self-named Bitcoin wallet-cum-dongle. 181 words

New prepaid credit card funded by bitcoins - CoinDesk

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Prepaid credit cards are not new. However, a prepaid credit card that can be funded with bitcoins is. We have just discovered TheBitcoinCard (.co.uk), which is a master card that can be funded via BTC. 263 words

Firmcoin - a new physical form of bitcoin - CoinDesk

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

The most notable thing about digital currencies are that they rarely exist in the real world. Instead they are stored as data in computers or smartphones. Firmcoin is a new project that is attempting to create tamper-proof cards that can hold an arbitrary amount of BTC and will be scannable via NFC. 449 words

Feathercoin's Peter Bushnell: There's room for more crypto-currencies - CoinDesk

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Peter Bushnell is the founder and creator of Feathercoin, one of the latest digital currencies. We talked with him to learn more about Feathercoin's origins and how to best mine the currency. 1306 words

Butterfly Labs ship first Bitforce SC 60 bitcoin miner - CoinDesk

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

While we have been reporting on late shipments of Bitcoin miners from Butterfly Labs, hope is on the horizon as the first of the new Single Bitforce SC (Super Computer) 60 GH/s units has been shipped from the Butterfly Labs HQ in Kansas. 370 words

Israeli banks resisting bitcoin exchanges - CoinDesk

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

It's no secret that Bitcoin represents a huge change in the way we exchange money and that this challenges the established financial intuitions. That in turn has created a noticeable amount of push back from banks and governments. While the decentralized nature of bitcoin means that it cannot be shut down by any government of financial institution, they can make it difficult for people to purchase the currency in the first place. That would effectively restrict access to the currency. It appears that is happening to some degree in Israel, as reports from the Israel Army News website and users on the BitTalk forum indicate. 355 words

LibertyBit exchange ceases trading - CoinDesk

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

LibertyBit, a bitcoin exchange registered in Canada has announced its temporary closure. It says that this has come as a result of bank account closures and fraudulent account activity. The exchange had been acclaimed by Reddit users for use of the Google Authenticator for two-factor authentication to increase security. Ultimately, this has not helped the business remain trouble free. 445 words

How to create a brain wallet - CoinDesk

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

For those CoinDesk readers who have started trading with Bitcoin, there is the inevitable concern of how to protect ones' wallet. The so-called wallet is a simple data file that contains a set of Bitcoin (or insert your preferred currency here) addresses. That's all you need to keep your Ecoins with you. The block chain is copied to every single client has a list of every single transaction and balance for your given currency, e.g. Bitcoin. The security of the wallet depends on the security of your computer or smartphone. What if you could embed your money inside your mind? We explain how to create a brain wallet. 833 words

Feathercoin launches eBay-style auction marketplace - CoinDesk

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Feathercoin, an altcurrency based on Litecoin, has today announced that it is opening an auction site to facilitate the trade of physical items between individuals paid for by Feathercoins. The site is at an early phase of development but already has 70 auctions ongoing. It also supports a feedback system so sellers can build a reputation, much like eBay. Feathercoin says that the site will soon implement a shopping cart and a range of merchant tools. 376 words

Bitcoins buys beer in Cambridge - CoinDesk

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Speculating on Bitcoin is all well and good, but what about real world purchasing? Well, there are a few enterprising corners dotted around the United Kingdom where brave business people have begun offering bitcoin payments. Just see Bitcoin Travel for examples, two of which can be found in the venerable city of Cambridge (which has a proud history of computer science). 229 words

Playable Pro plays Xvids and more on your iPhone [Review]

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Watching videos on the iPhone and iPad has never been an easy process. What with having to wait for iTunes to transcode and then copy videos from your desktop to your mobile device. Yawn. It all takes too much time. Playable Pro is a third party video player, which you can add videos to via iFunBox, and happily watch without conversion. Read on to find out more. 446 words

WM-Center bitcoin Exchange Seized by US Government - CoinDesk

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Following the closure of Liberty Reserve, another well-known bitcoin exchange has been closed down by the U.S. Government. The domain has been seized by the United States Global Illicit Financial Team, with a warrant obtained in the district of Southern New York. 275 words

US Federal Reserve investigating online banking potential risks

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

The United States Federal Reserve is studying the impact of online payment options such as PayPal and Bitcoin to determine potential risks associated with them. The Bitcoin community is apprehensive following recent comments of Federal Reserve Vice Chair Janet Yellen, who said, We have been talking at the Fed and with banking organizations, trying to more carefully understand what the concerns are with these new payment mechanisms. 288 words

Top 5 Bitcoin Tweets for May 27 to June 2 - CoinDesk

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

It's been an event-filled week in the world of Bitcoin, as you'll know if you've been following the right Twitter accounts. If, however, you have not kept up to speed with the quick-fire social network, we've compiled the five most interesting links from Twitter about the world of Bitcoin. 800 words

The futility of regulating Bitcoin - CoinDesk

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Historical precedents have shown that whenever the people have a means of obtaining items of currency (effectively) out of the ground, that governments will step in and not only demand a piece of the action, but will eventually shut it down. For example, the US government eventually made it illegal to use gold as currency, despite the gold rush that added so much to the country's wealth. The same may well happen with Bitcoin, as governments become nervous of a currency being created that is beyond their control, regulation may be imposed to prevent Bitcoin mining. 474 words

The best Bitcoin videos, infographics and podcasts - CoinDesk

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Bitcoin is a complicated subject, it really is, that's why it may sound so unfeasible if whenever you try to explain it to someone, or someone tries to explain it to you. As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth 24 pictures per second! With that in mind, we have scoured the web in search of explanatory videos, infographics and podcasts to help you get a better understanding of Bitcoin. 347 words

Protect privacy by scrambling your block chain - CoinDesk

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Bitcoin is anonymous, at least until you try trading for real money; e.g. Verifying with Mt. Gox. However, even when all of ones' transactions are kept in a bitcoin wallet, there are ways for those willing to go data mining, to find patterns and follow trails as we reported on earlier today. There are ways to defeat this tracking, or at least make it a lot harder. 354 words

How to get verified at Mt. Gox - CoinDesk

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Bitcoin is said to be an anonymous currency. While it's true that bitcoin addresses are not linked to any sort of real-world identity, it gets complicated when you try to convert bitcoins into world currency. Mt. Gox recently started requiring real-world identification of its members before they could transfer real-world funds into their accounts, which is a fundamental part of using any currency exchange! Assuming you're not quitting Mt. Gox, here's our guide on how to get verified. 388 words

Exponential leap in Bitcoin hash rates - CoinDesk

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

We have just observed a significant step up in the difficulty of Bitcoin hashes. This has come after a sharp rise in the total number of hashes per second on the Bitcoin network. Over the past 24 hours the hash rate has jumped from 127701 GH/s to 148527GH/s, according to Blockchain.info. This is one of the fastest and biggest changes in the history of the bitcoin protocol and demonstrates a continuing exponential growth in not just the difficulty of the proof-of-work calculations, but in the computing power being brought to bear on generating the currency. 170 words

Watch live TV in the UK on your iPhone and iPad with TVCatchup [Review]

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

In the UK, we have a TV streaming service called TVCatchup. Despite the name, it is not a catch up service, but instead allows the streaming of live broadcasts of free-to-air (known here as Freeview) channels. This means it's possible to watch live UK television on your iPad or iPhone. Here's our review of the iOS app for TVCatchup. 509 words

Create annotated audio recordings on your iPhone with Recordium [Review]

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Using a smartphone, e.g. the iPhone, as a Dictaphone isn't a new trick. I'm sure you have done it from time to time, and there are many times we've seen impromptu press conferences on the TV news with journalists increasingly holding their phone aloft much more often than we see a tape recorder or standalone digital recorder. Besides such glamorous occasions, there's also the increasing trend of students recording their lectures. All of this is great, but leaves the tricky question of in-situ editing and remembering where the most interesting parts of a recording are. Recordium steps in to answer these problems by providing the ability to not just edit, but annotate your audio recordings. Read on to find out more. 836 words

Track the rain in your area with Dark Sky [review]

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Weather apps are a dime a dozen on any smartphone platforms, iOS even has a built-in Weather app. They can try too hard to show you what's going to come from the skies above, though. Sometimes you just want a clear message of what's happening now and in the immediate future, that's what Dark Sky offers. Now that, the application has been updated to give weather forecasts in the UK, we take a look at test it against the English weather. 558 words

Manage business card scanning with CamCard [review]

Fri, 31 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Smartphones have become have replaced our address books and as such inputting information has become a new challenge. For those of us who move in circles where people exchange business cards, the task of input has been reduced to an issue of scanning. CamCard is a popular business card scanner for iOS, here's our review. 804 words

Wake is a new smart alarm clock app for iPhone [review]

Thu, 30 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Whether you're a heavy sleeper or are just bored of the standard iOS apps, you may well be looking for a new alarm clock, of which there are many upon many in the iTunes store. However, you might want to consider an app called Wake. This is a new app for the iPhone which brings an intelligent design, both aesthetically, and dynamically to the humble alarm clock genre. 662 words

Fantastical - a slick replacement to iPhone's stock Calendar app [Review]

Thu, 30 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

The built-in Calendar app on iOS does its job pretty well, but if you feel like having a change there are plenty of options out there. One of these is Fantastical. This app gives a simpler interface than the built-in app but doesn't skimp on functionality. Read on to find out more. 617 words

Dots - a very addictive strategy puzzle game for iOS [Review]

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Dots is a game that takes a stylish new twist on a tried and tested game genre. The objective of the game is to collect dots by connecting like colours in horizontal and vertical lines. It sounds simple, but you are playing against the clock. If you think your brain is up to some fast pattern recognition, read on. 395 words

Scanner Pro: The ultimate document scanning app for iOS [Review]

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

You might not realise, but you've got a document scanner in your pocket. Remember all those spy films where the hero pulls out a tiny camera to take a copy of the villain's plans to take over the world? You too can do that because your iPhone's camera is more than capable enough to take high quality document snaps. While just the built-in camera app alone is fine, it's always difficult to avoid perspective distortions and have shadows get in the way. Scanner Pro is here to help with all of that, read on to find out how. 743 words

Instashare lets you easily transfer files between iOS devices, Macs

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

If you have multiple iOS devices, you've probably noticed that it's quite tricky to share photos from device to device. There's no option to share by Bluetooth, and there are no file management apps for iOS. Sure you can email a photo from device to device, but it can be somewhat wasteful to send something on a round trip halfway around the world just to get a file to the device a few mere inches away from the device you're holding. Instashare is here to change that by bringing drag and drop file transfers between your iOS and Macs. 500 words

How to use Siri to generate strong, unique passwords

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Coming up with unique passwords all the time can be a struggle with you're supposed to be doing a hundred and one other things. If only Siri, your in-phone digital assistant, could help. Fortunately, it can. As you may already know, Siri takes many of its answers from the Wolfram Alpha knowledge engine, and that includes generating random passwords. 420 words

How to enable spoken notifications on your iPhone

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Whether you're an uber busy person or you just like the sounds of Siri's soothing tones, we have a tip today that you'll like. If you don't want to break from what you're doing to check out every single notification noise on your iPhone, then did you know how to make it read out notifications? It's not quite Siri, but it is using Siri's voice bank. Read on to find out, how to configure your device, and things to watch out for. null words

Viber challenges Whatsapp and Skype [Review]

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

If you think Whatsapp is the only Internet based text messaging substitute you'd be wrong. Viber has been around for awhile now, and not only is Viber taking on Whatsapp's Internet routed messages, but it's taking on Skype too with free VoIP based voice calls. Most importantly it now offers a desktop client with free video calling. 691 words

Google Hangouts for iOS review

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Google has long tried to get into the instant messaging and communications market. For around a decade, we've had Google Talk, which relied on the open XMPP standard. While that product has enjoyed support by many third party instant messaging clients, it has not become the mainstream messaging alternative that, say, Facebook has become in a very short time. At yesterday's Google IO 2013 conference, the search giant released a Google Hangouts app for iOS and Android, which is set to become Google's core communication tool. We take a look at what you can expect on your iPhone. 755 words

Pocket Casts podcast client for iOS [Review]

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Pocket Casts from Shift Jelly software received a huge update to its Android client recently, somewhat leaving its iOS counterpart behind. Can the good-old iOS version still meet your podcatching needs? We take a look at Pocket Casts for iOS to find out. 514 words

Feedly, the best replacement for Google Reader [Review]

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Feedly is a modern application built for reading RSS feeds. It grew in popularity as being an alternative client for Google Reader. Since Google announced it would pull the plug on Reader, Feedly has gained more attention for stating that it will provide its own feed aggregation service and provide a seamless transition for Google Reader users. Is this the news app for you? Read on to find out. 548 words

Microsoft enable sign-in by Outlook.com alias

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:01 GMT

When Microsoft announced its Hotmail replacement, Outlook.com, it was confirmed that existing Live.com users would be able to create an outlook.com alias. This had presented users with the dilemma of switching to a brand new Outlook.com account, which would cause them to lose all of their Windows Phone Store purchases, or to simply create an outlook.com alias for contact purposes. The problem, albeit trivial, with an alias is that it could not be used to sign into any Microsoft services. Fortunately, Microsoft have now allowed sign-in by alias for those who want to be identified by their shiny new Outlook.com ID. 232 words

How to install Portico on your Lumia 920, DIY style

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:01 GMT

These days we all take Over The Air (OTA) firmware updates for granted. However, there was a time when firmware updates had to be done manually. It's a useful skill to have, especially when just sometimes even contemporary devices can find themselves left out in the cold when it comes to manufacturers spreading the firmware love. The course of DIY updates never run did smooth though, so not only do we discuss how to apply an upgrade, but we look at how you should approach restoring your device to its former state. 1386 words

How to use Carbon Backup

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Most people neglect backing up their devices. Normally this isn't so much of a problem as contacts and calendar events are automatically stored in the cloud, and Google can backup device settings too. To the other extreme, we have the likes of Titanium Backup that is a comprehensive backup application for power users with root privileges. If you find that the built-in Google Backup isn't comprehensive or reliable enough for you and that Titanium Backup is overkill for you, then Carbon Backup, made by the same team who made ClockWorkMod Recovery, is a new application that provides an excellent intermediate-level solution and doesn't require you to have root access, but it helps. 1788 words