iPhone - How to decline a call when locked

I recently changed my Android phone and decided to move to Apple, there are multiple reasons for doing this, which I might put in another post. One thing that took me sometime to find out was how to decline an incoming call when the phone is locked. Basically it is very simple, just double press the lock button, that is the one on the top of the phone. This is not as intuitive as other functions and I believe Apple could improve on this and make the option available on-screen, but for now this is the only way I know of.

How to move a window that has disappeared off-screen in Windows

I recently had a problem where I had two monitors then I starting working with one monitor. One problem I came across was one of the applications I used was last used in the second monitor area, so when I started the application (a Microsoft application) it appeared off screen in the coordinates it was last used, therefore I could not see it. Here are the steps to fix this annoying problem:

1. Click on the application in the taskbar or 'Alt'+'tab' to the application to give it the focus.
2. Then press 'Alt'+'Spacebar', this should display the popup window menu.
3. Press 'M' to enable the window to move.
4. Press the left arrow key to move the window left onto the first monitor.

New Bloomberg iPad App Review

Yesterday I was forced to update the Bloomberg App on my iPad, which I was a bit reluctant to do as the old one I thought was good, useful and fairly easy to use. The presentation of the old version looked good, maybe a little cluttered, but after a short time I really liked how I could get quickly get a good overview of markets, currencies and the latest news on one page.

After installing the latest version and running it my first impression was how I disliked the presentation, the previous app was dark, and easy on the eye, the new one has a lot of white and feels too bright. The new home screen does not give an overview of stock markets and currencies, which is something I liked in the previous version. Even when you go to the markets page, you cannot get a good overview, you have to select the area of interest from a drop down.

The overall screen layout feels as if it was designed for a phone and not a tablet. The previous version felt like a complete piece of software, this version feels like a basic or lite version.

While using the App it felt a little buggy, the refresh of currencies does not seem to work and I had to go out of the screen and back in for it to refresh correctly. I am not confident the graphs work correctly either (see image below), when looking at the performance of one stock it showed the month being "Feb 2017", with 31 days, the current date was the 1st so it felt the label for the month was incorrect and should have displayed "Jan 2017".

Overall this App feels like it has been rushed and has not go through the QA department correctly. I think they need to employ some UX designers to try to get the usability right, maybe they should also consider doing some end-user testing to get some feedback, the reviews on the app store are appalling, which is understandable. The previous version I would have rated 7/10, this new version I would give 2/10.

Lenovo Tab 2 A10-30 Review

I Recently bought a Lenovo Tab 2 A10-30 because I wanted a budget tablet. I did some research and thought that the Lenovo Tab 2 from Argos for £100 sounded like a good product, I was not disappointed.

My first impression when I unpacked the tablet was it did not feel cheap and was good quality. The back of the tablet is not cheap plastic and is easy to hold and does not slip. The operating system is Android so it was easy to quickly get started and download some apps.

The screen quality is good for the price, however when I used BBC iPlayer and compared it to the iPad Air, there was a clear difference and the iPad is superior, which is expected for 4-5 times the price.

The sound is good and comes from the Multi Dolby Atmos cinematic speakers. It has 2 cameras, a 5MP rear and a 2MP front facing, both seem OK.

The tablet is available in 2 colours, white and midnight blue, which is the one I went for.

The only issue I have with it so far, which is the same for a lot of budget tablets is that the operating system is configured for just 1 user, I would have liked to have setup my son as a user with restricted rights, which is not possible without hacking the OS or using 3rd party parental control software.

Overall the Lenovo Tab 2 A10-30 is a good product, it is not as good as an iPad, but then I would expect an iPad to be significantly better for 3-4 times the price, and maybe because of that I should not compare them. When I look at what else in on the market in the budget tablet category, I think I've done well choosing this product, and would recommend it. If I had to give an overall mark out of 10, I would give it an 8.

Pros

• Good quality.
• Price.
• Allows additional storage.
• Good sound from dual speakers.

Cons

• Operating system has been configured to allow just 1 user.
• Screen gets dirtier quicker compared to an iPad.

Technical Specs

CPU - 1.3GHz 32 Bit Qualcomm Snapdragon
Display - 10.1 inch 1280x800 pixels
Memory - 2Gb (older ones have 1 Gb)
Storage- 16Gb
OS - Android 5.1

Apple AirPods - Nice looking hairdryer

When I saw the launch of the Apple AirPods my first thought was they looked like they could easily fall out and would be lost fairly quickly, my second thought was how the design looked like a hairdryer.

I do think they look well designed, as most of Apple's product are. I imagine there will be products that you can buy that will link them together to make them harder to lose. Also, because they are expensive they look inviting to someone who would want to steal them.

I know one thing, at the current price in the UK I will not be buying them.

WCF Service - Configuration binding extension 'system.serviceModel/bindings/netHttpBinding' could not be found

I've just written a test WCF service for using web sockets.

When I publish the service and try to browse to it shows the following error:

Configuration binding extension 'system.serviceModel/bindings/netHttpBinding' could not be found. Verify that this binding extension is properly registered in system.serviceModel/extensions/bindingExtensions and that it is spelled correctly.

The solution to this is to add the following in the web.config:

<system.web>

    <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.6"/>

    <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.6"/>

</system.web>

Adding the httpRuntime value fixed the issue.

How to print Word document without comments

I am currently using Word 2010 and tried to print a document the other day, but it contained comments that I did not need. One big disadvantage with Word now a days is the amount of options and it's become hard to find options with the tab page menu bar. Eventually I found how to do it.

From 'Review' tag menu, change 'Simple Markup' to 'No Markup' or 'Original'.

GoPro Hero 4 Session not switching off

I recently got a GoPro Hero 4 Session, it seemed to be working fine, but I had some issues with the recording switching off. After a few days I noticed it was only recording a few seconds of film, I tried formatting the SD Card changing the settings, but nothing worked, then it just froze and I could not switch it off. When I tried to restart it (10 second method) it would restart, but I could not access any menu, it would not record and would not switch off.

In the end I sent it back for a replacement. With the new one I received I tried again, but it would only record a few seconds. In the end I found the issue was that the SD card I was using was a SanDisk 32GB Ultra, this card does not work with the GoPro. I ended up buying a SanDisk Extreme card instead and now the GoPro works fine. It is a case of you pay for what you get and the Sandisk Ultra is a cheap card compared with the Extreme version.