Apps and Gadgets

It's 30 years of Mac! Happy birthday, Mac!!! Apple's official website has this image plastered all over its homepage to celebrate 30 years of Apple innovation.

Cloud storage is now becoming the way to store one's files so you can take it everywhere. Dropbox initially offered 2GB free storage with increasing storage for every new user you bring in. iCloud started with 5GB. My son told me about Box some time back so I registered for an account just as a backup cloud storage but never used it. You will want to download Box on your iPhone or iPad as soon as possible though because for a limited time, all users who download the iOS app get 50GB cloud storage FOR LIFE. Yes, it is never going away!

The holidays are a good time as any to indulge yourself after months of hard work. Or give the gift of love to someone who works just as hard. Smart, through its subsidiary Smart Broadband (SmartBro) is now offering the iPad Air and iPad Mini Retina in different affordable data plans that allow subscribers to connect to Smart's LTE network with speeds up to 42 MBPS. iPad Air Holding the iPad Air, I was really impressed with how much lighter it was. But of course, I was still the owner of the original iPad 1 (haha). But really, my hubby has the iPad 4 and the iPad Air was definitely lighter. Featuring a 9.7-inch retina display, it is 20% thinner than the iPad 4 and at just one pound, it is 28% lighter as well. Its borders also feature a narrower bezel.

Smart will be offering exclusively the first Android phone running KitKat (Android 4.4) - the LG Nexus 5 .

Okay, everyone. Just a few more weeks and it will be 2014. While most of you may be into the Christmas rush, it might be good to set aside a few hours to check all your passwords and maybe change them, at the same time ensuring they are fairly strong this time. Why? Because I just recently came across a Spiderlabs blog article that said that as many as two million accounts were compromised . Yikes! Of all the stats about credentials stolen, the ones that would affect you and I more are the following: 1,580,000 website login credentials 320,000 email account credentials The article also said that on website login credentials, the more common ones were Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, etc. So as you can see, many social media networks are in this list. The article also stated that there were over 90 countries affected, making this a global scheme. Actually, whether this article came out or not, it is always prudent practice to regularly change one's passwords...

It's no longer a novelty to be able to carry music around with you. We see it everywhere. All smartphones have music players that let us carry our entire music collection around with us. But the quality of sound leaves so much to be desired, especially if you want to share your music with others. Enter Samsung's DA-F61 bluetooth speaker which was introduced recently.   Weighing in at 1.1kg, this bluetooth speaker is a powerhouse. It's only 225 x 131 x 46.5mm in dimension. It's a bit bulky for a bag or laptop bag but it will fit well as a boom box in your car or atop a cabinet at home. 

Around this time last year, Smart Communications, Inc. launched Smart Music which allowed subscribers to purchase music tracks from MCA at very reasonable prices and download full, licensed versions into one's device. However, the tastes and habits of music lovers always evolve as technology and access to the internet changes and expands. A Smart executive I was talking to said that they saw more Pinoys spending greater amounts of time on their mobile phones. While there were some who liked to own music tracks, others wanted to listen to music other than what they had in their playlists. The trend towards music streaming is what SPINNR is all about -- an application powered by Smart Music which is accessible via web and mobile browser as well as through an Android app.