tektalkv101

Hi folks, Imtiaz here.

This blog has been abandoned for months for many reasons but in the next couple of weeks, things will change. There is the many-months-in-the-making cord-cutting piece, an update on Living with a Chromebook and with WWDC, Google I/O and E3 2015 all to come in the following month, there is plenty of content to come.

Stay Tuned and thanks for being patient.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

Thank you for reading the blogs, listening to the podcast and following us on social media. It is very much appreciated. To reciprocate, we promise 2015 will be a big year for us with more content and more coverage starting with CES 2015.

For now, check out our best of 2014 round-up here: https://tektalkv101.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/best-of-2014/

And let us know on social media what you think. Agree? Disagree? Let us know on @tektalkv101 or @Tweet_Imty.

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Living with a Chromebook and how he coped…

https://tektalkv101.wordpress.com/2014/11/18/living-with-chromebook/

happy Birthday to us as TekTalk hits one. Yes it may have been quiet over the last few weeks but we will be bouncing back.

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Well not sure if I have just stumbled upon an exclusive but just spoken to O2 and the rep told me that the new iPhone will be available in the UK at the end of October.

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I abseiled, I lived to tell the tale.

So IFA this week and oh what joys will it bring? and, well who cares it’s an Apple event next week. 6 Days to go, not a sniff of a wearable (thank god) and enough spare parts of iPhone 6’s to fill a landfill. I jest obviously as IFA will reveal some interesting gadgetry and, well who am I kidding, who cares. 6 FREAKING DAYS to go!!!!!

Actually, Imtiaz cares and will be tapping away merrily on his thoughts of what IFA will bring. Podcast to come later this week to discuss our thoughts.

Got this email from Sony last night, what can it mean?

So I.F.A is here and here is our take on what we thought we would see and hear http://wp.me/p45rBW-do

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This is probably the least tech related post I will be writing this week, but I’m hoping the abseil down this sheer drop will be using rope far more technical than a shoelace. All in the name of charity you understand and a madness through never having been afraid of heights.

https://www.justgiving.com/Mike-Williams26/

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Spam, the language of the stupid:

http://wp.me/p45rBW-bK

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17/07/2014: The Day Microsoft Wielded an Axe on Everything

Well the expected news of Microsoft cutting a large portion of its workforce has come to be true. According to T3.com, the number is around 18,000 people. Most of the cuts are to the recently purchased Nokia Devices and Services unit, approximately 6000 of the initial 13000 jobs to be cut. It is not cool for anyone to lose their job but considering the size of Microsoft’s existing workforce, it is hard not to have seen this coming. Sure, Microsoft isn’t in a dire financial position where it has to cut jobs in order to stop haemorrhaging money ala Blackberry but with a worldwide workforce of over 120,000 people, it is a very bloated company that desperately needs to streamline itself.

Along with the likely Nokia job losses, there will be cuts in services like the utterly confusing Nokia X Android phone production and the big one being X-Box Entertainment studios closing down, less than a year after promising a swath of new original content.

Personally speaking, I think it is a good move. Aside from the Halo series and the Atari documentary, I don’t see what else Microsoft could have done without looking like it was investing money in an idea which would ultimately have failed in the face of established streaming content providers like Netflix, Amazon and across the pond in the US, TV giants like HBO and Showtime. As for te job losses, as bad as it is, I think it is necessary for Microsoft to become leaner and thus, be in a position to deliver more well thought-out products and services. It seems to finally have an end goal now whereas things looked very rushed under the Balmer regime. Microsoft, as big as it is, simply cannot sustain over 120000 employees and churn out products and services which are months or years late to the market.

What are your opinions on the job losses and the closing down of the Xbox Entertainment Studios? Feel free to share your opinions on social media.

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Sunday 13th July 21.35

So where have we been for the past week or two. Well to be honest the World Cup has coincided with a bit of sun in the UK and like fools we flock to it and the chance of watching a half decent football match. Just a shame Brazil could not produce even a half decent football match as I had high hopes and also had them in the office sweepstakes.

Normal service is to be resumed next week my friends.

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E3 2014

What the hell is going on? In one fell swoop both Sony and Nintendo have made this jaded gamer and lover of mobile gaming fall back in love with consoles. Dammit Sony, thats me now saving for the white PS4, but thanks for the forewarning and giving me enough time to save until the Autumn/Fall release.

Ninety, you rascals! Starfox and an open world Zelda!! So thats another piggy bank heading to the slaughter. I’m shocked, truly shocked as I never expected such announcements coming from E3 this year.

Anyhow, while I go make a cup of tea to steady my nerves have a read of what Imtiaz thought about E3 here”

https://tektalkv101.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/the-big-boys-came-out-to-play-at-e3/

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Seriously, I am hoping a decent DJ remixes the hell out of this track, ‘cos it needs doing – simples

Hey… Imtiaz here.

So fresh out of New York is a Surface. Not the Surface mini but a Surface Pro 3. And not a minor spec bump here and there either.

12 inches of gorgeous screen (2160×1400 if you’re into numbers… how dare they be so naughty and give us such goodness?!), another USB 3.0 port, a kickstand that folds to a 150 degree angle, an option to have a Haswell i7 (!) and many more great details wrapped into a package that is just 9mm thin and weighing 800g. This is essentially a laptop with the most cutting edge specs weighing less than a Macbook Air, people. Think about that.

Check out the following link for more details and pictures on what I think is a MASSIVE statement of intent from Microsoft. For those who have a Pro 2 like myself, I wouldn’t upgrade just yet but original Pro users, go for it! But more on that in a later blog entry. For now, click below at the link from PCPro to get a good look.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/388189/microsoft-surface-pro-3-release-date-specs-confirmed-details-of-the-next-surface-tablet

Check back with you guys soon. Thanks for checking out the site.

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So here I was just thinking we got people from the UK looking at the blog and thats not out of self pity but perhaps a naieve view on how quickly we could reach people. So if you have visited us from far afield a big hello to you and we would love to hear from you, oh and that obviously includes you lovely people from the UK too.

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Ooooops hearing a lot of talk on Facebook about Game of Thrones not working on the NOW TV set top box. Ten minutes in and the feed goes.

__________________________________________________________________________Quick update. Podomatic will only be used as the host for the latest 6 episodes on a rotating basis, but all of the episodes will now be embedded into the podcast page notes. This means that we don’t have to currently change the host and run the risk of messing up the links. Making the move would mean trying to understand what the hell all of this is:

http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/podcasts/specs.html#changing and at the moment even wordpress the missing manual book isn’t helping. Granted it would be dead easy if we were using the .org as opposed to the .com as org has all of those adorable plugins that would be so nice to use. However, this is more than a hobby territory here and it not a business so budget is not there for hosting and properly mucking around with web development so we adapt and change as best we can.

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So the lucky Australians have iTunes radio now. Can the UK be far behind? Cue loads and loads of speculation with still no word from Apple as to when we can expect it here in the UK.

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/itunes-radio-international-roll-out-officially-starts-in-australia-uk-to-follow–1223308

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Happy Birthday to the Mac, no flashy tv ad or huge expense at the Superbowl but here it is their ad to celebrate 30 years of the Mac and it is the ad entirely shot on iPhones, but edited all together using a Mac of course.

And of course if you are going to make an advert with an iPhone it always helps to have a director like Sir Ridley Scott orchestrating the whole affair, oh and really really good rigs too

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We love T3 here, hell we rose from the ashes of their podcast but surely this ? is the most misplaced ? in tech journalism this week. I think its a very very very very very very very very very very very safe bet that YES there indeed will be a new iPhone this year.

Ok Ok they do know what they are doing and here is the proof.

http://www.t3.com/news/apple-to-launch-two-larger-iphone-models-in-june

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Check the pages for our views on CES 2014 (oh to be there) and also look out for the updated excited mobile gamer page for the Nvida announcement of their new processor. if 5 years is a long time in tech then my prediction is that definitely in that time mobiles will be more advanced than the current new consoles and both Sony and Microsoft will have to definitely increase the update rate on their hardware or they will be left way behind.

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Google+ will still remain the place in the new year when we will run a hangout with the TekTalk community but we know some of you love Facebook so we have now created a page there for you all.

Search for Tektalkv1.01

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As the jaded, but excited mobile gamer page has revealed, here at TekTalk Towers we are genuinely excited by the what the future holds for mobile gaming but blimey when a game like Republique comes out to rave reviews you have to sit up and take notice that maybe that future I wish for is not too distant at all

Words by The Verge, but seriously take a look at this video:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/19/5227074/republique-episode-one-iphone-ipad-review

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Come and vote for your Christmas tech dream gifts for 2013. Poll on the Christmas is coming page.

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In the last 24 hours we have created the Twitter account and now we introduce the Google+ feed and community. Come along and join in. In the new year we will set up hangouts for the podcast recording and in the meantime drop any ideas and suggestions you have via twitter or the Google+ page.