Latest app reviews

Our online privacy has never been quite as important as it is these days. There seems to be a new story every week about accounts being hacked or identities stolen and I'm starting to get a bit tired of watching Mark Zuckerberg apologising for various Facebook anomalies every few weeks. WhatsApp claimed to have end-to-end encryption but that seems to have been shot down in flames when it was discovered that hackers can insert people into groups without having to have admin permission and the Android version of the Facebook Messenger app comes with a lengthy list of permissions that must be ...  More

On my commute to work each day it never ceases to amaze me just how many people play games on their smartphone while traveling. Old guys with suits, young schoolkids with backpacks and young females balancing a bottle of water on their knee while they wrestle with Candy Crush, Bejewelled or Gems with Friends. It's impossible not to look over their shoulders while they play and, more often than not, the games of choice are generally Match 3 games. I guess the phenomena started off way back in the 80's with a popular little tile matching puzzler called Tetris. For the last few years though, ...  More

There's been much talk lately about robots and computers taking over the job market in the not too distant future. Some experts believe that half of the jobs available today will be completely redundant by the year 2025. Whether it's self driving cars or carebots for the elderly there's little doubt that there will be less jobs going forward than were available to most of us when we started our work journeys some years back. But don't fear too much because, as Isaac Newton said so eloquently some years back - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.   More

Despite the protestations of printing companies, the paper business card phenomenon is coming to the end of its tenure. That's why organisations like Vistaprint are moving into other areas of commerce like banners, office supplies and work clothing. The fact is, like everything else these days, business cards are going online. Ahh but, you say...that's all very well but how does one collect and manage them. A good question. Well, as usual, it takes a bit of time for the world to catch up with new online concepts but here we have a new app that addresses the collection of  e-business ...  More

Is there anything more important to us than the safety of our family members? Of course there isn't. Whether they are grown up and have left the nest or are still at home it's no different - you want to offer them the best protection possible. Sfara Guardian is a new smartphone app for Android and iOS that provides all round personal safety and an emergency response help if you or your family get themselves into trouble. It delivers the best form of peace-of-mind for people at all stages of their lives and in all professions by wrapping them in what the developers call a 'Sphere of Safety.'  More

If you've ever had a fruitless Google search for a photograph of a particular place or a specific building somewhere in the world you'll appreciate this app. If you are looking for something very specific, you'll often find that the photo you find won't be quite right. Maybe it isn't the right angle or it's slightly out of focus or have unwanted people in it. It may also be under copyright. That's if you can find it at all. Chances are, you'll probably make a decision right there and then that it will just have to do but it doesn't have to be like that. ProxyPics is a new location based ...  More

Real estate agents are getting nervous. In the past, they kept a lot of information pretty close to their chests and spent half their time attempting to keep the buyer and seller apart to maximise their commission. And with rates often at between 5% - 6% that's a significant amount of money that they are trying to protect. But things are changing fast. Gone are the days when it was all down to neat little photos of available properties in the real estate window. These days, according to the National Association of Realtors, 92% of buyers are using the Internet to search for a new home and ...  More

Life used to be so simple didn't it? Back in the early days of the computer generation the only things we really had to worry about were 'spam' and viruses. We seem to have eradicated most of them these days but now we seem to have a much more insidious problem - people cyber hacking into our emails, our bank accounts and our social media networks and causing massive problems. Whether they are cloning our identities or attempting to steal our hard earned bitcoins - it's all bad. According to the American President it could be the Russians, the North Koreans, the Chinese or a 400 lb hacker ...  More

Many years ago there used to be characters called spruikers who stood outside of shops and restaurants extolling the virtues of the goods that were sold inside. You still occasionally see and hear them now but it's a bit of a dying art. They would orate like a town cryer and inform anyone walking by of the great things on offer inside and were an essential part of high street shopping. These days, with virtually every shopper holding a smartphone, there are more effective ways of grabbing the attention of potential customers.  More

I read with sadness this week that, after 66 years as one of the UK's most iconic music papers, the New Musical Express was to cease its weekly print publication. Over the years it has provided music fans all over the world with up to date information about everything that was happening music wide. Personally, it taught me so much about music and turned me on to countless new bands. It's no coincidence then that this week sees the emergence of a new music app that could well end up taking the place of many of the traditional music hubs.  More