Apple Music gets quite a lot of stick for its functionality and usability, and I can understand the complaints to a degree. However, I’ve used it constantly these past six months for my weekly album adventure and much more, so I’m listening to more music than I probably have before in my life. I’m comfortable with how it works and I love it being part of my iOS experience. There’s …

Apple's WWDC took place last week, and whilst the keynote speech that kicks the event off was interesting for its new developments introduced, it wasn't my favourite part of the week. Apple have done a great job upping their game in terms of providing coverage of the conference for those who can't make the trip. They stream all the sessions live, and record them all for later watching on demand. …

I've been wondering why I've felt quite tired recently, and then I realised. It's because I've suddenly started focusing on my health and fitness again, ramping up the amount of exercise I actually do. Three years of concentrating on exams can have a detrimental effect on the time available for little things like: joining a gym, going for a walk, dancing around the kitchen, that kind of thing. That's all …

I haven't really used iTunes for its intended purpose in a long time. It's very handy for adding id3 tags to things and it's a nice way of perusing the store for all its many digital wonders, but in terms of syncing devices and storing my stuff, the iCloud has been far more useful. One of the problems with this strategy, however, is that it meant I couldn't get my …

Apple have increasingly upped the comedy in their ads, as well as bringing more and more celebrities on board to cameo. Their latest effort also raises the amount of cuteness and awesome to almost unacceptable levels. Potentially, the best ad ever.

In the previous post I wrote about third-party games on the Apple TV, I talked of how brilliant it was that Just Dance can be played without having to dash about the shops in a fruitless search for the correct controller for the job. That's not the full story though. Whilst the Apple TV remote can be used for all the games that are available, it's not always the ideal …

The long-awaited update to the Apple TV that allowed third-party apps has been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, there are lots of new apps to play with and some of them are fan-flippin-tastic! On the other hand, usability and simplicity has taken a big knock, and there were some pretty serious niggles that are, thankfully, gradually being ironed out. Better to dwell on the good, though, and I've …

I’ve fully embraced the world of Apple Music, far more than I have any other streaming product. It’s not perfect, but considering how many Apple shaped gadgets I have, it fits into my life better than other streaming services do. It’s had quite a big impact on my listening habits, which is perhaps a story for another day, but the bottom line is I’m listening to a lot more music …

I so wanted Newsstand to be the answer. The concept is perfect: digital copies of magazines delivered to my device without me having to a) leave the house/rely on the postal service or b) find space for physical paper. Unfortunately, it's just not that simple. I started my digital magazine explorations with Zinio, and then moved on to Newsstand when Apple kicked off their version of digital newspaper and magazines. …

The connected life. Wearable tech. Automated homes. The internet of things. All these names cover the next wave of technological interest and advancement, and whilst they may all be less than desirable monikers, the actual concepts and gadgets that are being created are absolutely fascinating. I've been a keen gadget hunter for a long time, particularly over the last few years, and having barely scratched the surface of research regarding …

I don't know if you noticed, but this week, Apple announced a new product - their take on the wearable tech phenomenon. Initially, I wasn't that interested in the watch. That's partly because the stream of Tim Cook's keynote address was so bad that I gave up following halfway through and missed all the announcements. It's also because I wasn't too keen on the big, square, bulky look. Having investigated …

The Verge posted a hands on video of the new CarPlay interface from Apple - Siri in your car, basically. It looks good. Well, no, it looks rubbish. But compared to what my current car does (which is nothing) and what other cars look like (which is awful), it's not a bad step up. The crucial thing about this new wave of in-car tech is that they are apps, they …

Apple are celebrating thirty years of putting technology at people's fingertips, and they've come out with a beautifully creative video showing off their gadgets in glorious surroundings or being put to fantastic use. Thankfully, they've toned down the emotion and the smug for this video, and what comes across is just how useful mobile technology can be and what a difference it is making, and will make, to the world. …

One of the things I miss most about running is playing about with Zombies Run. Making exercise fun is a key thing for me, and the game aspect of it helped keep my going when otherwise I would probably have stopped early. I've been keeping an eye on apps and things that made moving about fun, and spotted the new Zumba Dance app. Now, I've never done Zumba - my …

Last year, the iTunes Festival was the awesome tail-end of what had been a fantastic year of sport and general greatness. Mr C watched every single available minute of it, and found a whole host of new acts to like. I even liked some of it, and wrote about my findings. This year, we were excited for the month of September music, although a little disappointed in the line-up when …

One of the appeals of writing books exclusively in a digital format is that if you need to update your book, it should be simple. Whether it be for a mistake, or additional information, or simply a bigger and better second edition, ebooks are perfect for updating. Rather than printing a huge batch of paperback or hard copy books then realising you've made an error, it should be easy to …

The month of September was filled with a nightly music extravaganza courtesy of the iTunes Festival 2012. Each evening, one or more warm-up acts introduced a bigger name, and it was all streamed live on the internet, available as a catchup replay afterwards as well. Mr C watched all of them, I saw some of the main ones, and these are some of my findings. 1) There were a variety …

The iTunes Festival is currently in full swing - 30 days of live music, held at the Camden Roundhouse in London and streamed across the globe via iTunes and its many apps. There's a variety of acts available, with warm up artists appearing before more established names, and the diversity is amazing. So far we've already heard from the pop name that is Olly Murs, through the more acoustic Ed …

I recently wrote about the cyclical nature of my feelings towards podcasting and how I am currently losing interest in many of the subscriptions I used to listen to. (As an aside, after years of listening to Leo Laporte talk about it, I finally signed up to Audible. The new-member special of £3.99 a month is great but when that goes away and it heads up to £7.95, I'm going …

I've had my iPhone for almost two weeks now, and I love it. All those hideous and disgusting phrases like "it just works" and "it makes me want to do more with it" are all true. I've got posts in the pipeline (by that I mean in my mind) regarding the highs and lows of life with Siri and what a revelation the camera is, but a quick summary is... …

After my posts just over a month ago, wherein I decided to give my Android phone one last chance to convince me to replace it with another similar model, I had some fantastic suggestions of apps to use. Dolphin Browser and Fast Reboot were a revelation to me, and made for some more interesting minutes spent browsing. However, the irritations are still there, and after six weeks, I finally made …

For the last eighteen months, I've been using the HTC Desire as my mobile method of contacting the outside world, but my contract is due to expire soon and that leaves me with something of a dilemma. These mobile phone contracts are so long that choosing the next device is quite an important decision. At the moment, it leaves me scratching my head. Just a hunch The iPhone has never …

Or, Why I Want My Leopard Back When Apple released the latest edition of their operating software, Mr C declared we needed a beta tester. Seeing as he was working on some quite finicky pieces of software, and I was more into browsers and word processors, the honour fell to me. I wrote a post about my initial thoughts moving from Snow Leopard to Lion, and now I'm updating that …

The new Apple operating system, Lion, was released last week and I volunteered to be the test pilot for our house. At first, I wasn't that fussed about it but gradually, the more I use it, the more I notice, and there are some bits and bobs that have caught my attention. Here are five of them: Natural scrolling. I turned off the natural scrolling straight away. They can call …

One of Mr C's biggest complaints with the iPod and iPad stems from the idea of touching the screen and your big thumbs getting in the way. Particularly when you are playing games, controlling whatever is on screen with your not-particularly-see-through-hands can be tricky. It's a valid complaint, although I always argue that the ease of the iPad far outweighs a technical little issue like that. We were perusing some …

The iPad 2 Smart Cover is all kinds of genius, yes. The hidden magnets allow it to snap automatically onto the side of the device. How on earth it does that waking up when you lift just one tiny bit, I don't know. It's a cover, that is smart. However, as the owner of one, I realised a pretty serious flaw. You cover the iPad, and then roll back the …

With a reformatted Mac comes the opportunity to start things over, to organise better. I decided that I would try out iPhoto in all it's proper glory - as in attempting to use it as a photo library, instead of as just a way to get pictures out of the iPod. I've sorted everything out into Events, which was pretty dull, and then I took a look at the face …

This weekend, Mr C and I ventured into the outside world, and not only did we escape from the office but we also decided to go to shops. Actual brick and mortar retail establishments. This was never a big pastime for us, and particularly not now the internets is so useful. However, a day away from the screens called, and we headed to Currys. (As an aside, did I ever …

I've been epically busy this week but Apple don't seem to care very much about that. First they released the latest version of their mobile software which meant a dozen gadgets needed updating. The very next day, just as I thought I was going to be getting something done, Garageband became available on the iPad. Productivity = out the window. For an entire evening, I was all about the music. …

In the midst of our studio sort-out, we uncovered this little gem. This is the G3 Lombard from 1999. This was the first gadget that I stole from Mr C, in the early days of our relationship. It was also the first Mac I ever used, and it was a good one. Lovely keyboard, beautiful curviness, and little flaps to cover up all the ports and holes. Plus I do …

I know I am late to the complaining party regarding the latest iOS upgrade on the iPad, but I have to get my rant down in black and white, otherwise it will just swirl around in my head forever more. The iPad used to enjoy the luxury of a volume switch on the side, alongside an on/off toggle that would lock the orientation of the screen. If you're swinging the …

Before today, I had brought my iPad to work with me three times, ready to read some books over lunch. I've been reading the Kindle App on my phone which is great, but it suddenly occurred to me that to other people, it probably looked as though I was staring at my phone for an hour every day. I was torn between being the type of person who stares at …

Recently, we found ourselves meeting up with some F1 fans - families of weary parents and gadget-hungry children - and we managed to sell several iPads to them. The kids just loved the iPad, whereas the parents were keen on the F1 Timing App - and it is pretty revolutionary. Selling the iPad is actually really easy to do. My mother is a notorious technophobe, but I left her alone …

Mr C bought an iPad pretty much the moment he could, and we had fun for a while playing around on it. Mostly, it was in his custody though, and about a week ago, I noticed he really wasn't getting the most out of it. So, I commandeered it. I have an iPad now! I'm still playing around with it, learning things, figuring out how I'll use it and where, …

I've always been an iPod Nano person. I had the first gen Nano, a long, blocky, black thing, with a small and grainy screen, and enormous body. I skipped the second generation in preference for the third, although I was initially wary of the squat little thing. From a taller, more elegant solution, the third gen was a bit of a handful. It's no surprise to me that they returned …

I would like to draw attention to this unusually serious but still excellent episode of The Buzz Report from CNET. I particularly find the conversation about Steve Jobs interesting. Naturally, all anyone wants is for Mr Jobs to get well soon, but it does raise some issues. The medical centre were very, very quick to clarify that Mr Jobs didn't get any preferential treatment and was at the top of …

The first time I saw the MagSafe idea in action, I was impressed. The magnet is fun to play around with, and heaven knows I can be clumsy, so having a safeguard in place can only be a good thing. Mr C has the MacBook with the funky power lead, but unfortunately, the laptop is on the way out. First it needed a new battery. The existing one didn't work. …

Top five reasons the Mac is winning me over Installing things is too easy. Flickr Uploader is a thousand times better than on a PC. The Mac has approved software lists. I'm starting to get used to (and like) the fact that things are open without having an actual window open. It took a long time, but now I'm adjusted, it's a plus. I can make enhanced podcasts. Top five …

You can now buy or rent films on iTunes in the UK, and there’s quite a lot to choose from. Considering how few TV shows there were when that was first introduced on the UK store, I’m quite impressed. There are some questionable decisions on the part of Apple, when you look at the HD side of things. You can’t buy an HD film and you can only rent one …

I was mega happy this afternoon after watching Tim Henman win his match - it had everything you could ever want, a Brit, some diving and some swearing, and a sulky Delta Goodrem, she's famous you know! There was also a little bit of tennis going on as well... Now, I will talk to you about iTunes. I want to recommend it to each and every one of you. I …

I thought it'd just be a sore throat, a bit of a cold but no... has to turn into a full blown bout of flu or something. Today I've been ordered to stay in bed and for once, I'm not actually complaining about that. Right now, we're watching Steve Jobs, the guy from Apple that 'booms' and 'poofs' telling us about the new iTunes stuff, Apple are great! Mr C …