This morning was the second of my Mix Tape tracks played by James Hazell on BBC Radio Suffolk. I’ve attached the YouTube playlist again below which will play the interview followed by the track.
This is probably one of my favourite pieces of music ever, I don’t know quite where I first heard it, but it is a very, very, very popular dance track.
I went on holiday with my parents and some friends in Portugal. We had a villa and I brought this CD that someone had lent me, which was free on the front of Ministry Magazine, Hooj Choons.
I took that with me and it was a beautiful Villa and I went in and dragged the stereo system out beside the pool and put this on and had it blasting out sitting by the pool, and it was, it was like being in Ibiza when I was 20. It was fantastic!
Great Tune!
This doesn’t include the abrupt ending broadcast today on air!!
Below is a playlist which includes the track after the interview.
Motor manufacturer, Kia, have today released a report detailing two pieces of customer research in November 2019 and January 2020, speaking to 3000 UK residents between 16 and 60 about their views on moving to Electric from Petrol or Diesel cars.
The research revealed that almost half of those interviewed admitted to over-exaggerating their green credentials to family and friends on subjects such as going ‘plastic-free’ and adopting zero-emission vehicles.
It transpired that 65% of parents make green decisions after pressure from their children, with 46% of parents saying they felt pressured by them to go green.
However, only 60% of Brits say they are ready to make the move to fully electric cars.
Image Credit: Quentin Willson
This morning, I spoke to motoring expert, Quentin Willson, who has been an electric car advocate for over a decade. He spends time lobbying the government to provide greater incentives to move to zero-emission vehicles and also has led way in getting fairer fuel charges for drivers.
You can listen to the interview in full, by clicking the play button above. You can also read the transcript of the interview below.
Matt Porter: Welcome to The Gadget Man Episode 156 – Is Society Ready to Adopt Electric Cars?
This morning I’m going to be speaking to Quinten Wilson, motoring journalist, TV, presenter and parent, and find out what his views on whether we are ready to adopt electric cars. the first question I have is from Maniel. He is concerned that if he buys an electric car, it will be less eco-friendly than his diesel because of the manner in which the electric motor is manufactured.
Quentin Willson: Well, that’s, that’s kind of nonsense really. and there’s a lot of myths surrounding this and, and the, the key research, pick this up that. People don’t know enough about electric cars, and there’s an informational issue here. But if you’re talking about mining in a democratic Republic of Congo, cobalt and things like that, it’s not brilliant, agreed. But electric cars are made usually in green factories. With renewable energy, and your, your diesel car will have been made in a factory that it’s power probably, or was prior, probably by coal and, and, and, and very intensive. Then you’ve got to get the diesel out, the ground, the oil out of the ground.
You’ve got to refine it. You’ve got to then ship it. You’ve got to transport it to the station. So. The idea that that, an old diesel or petrol car can be greener than a, an electric car is just nonsense. I mean, the numbers, it worries me that I possess his information. But over 80,000 miles, a petulant diesel car will emit 32.2 tons of CO2.
And, an electric car over the same mileage age, we’ll do 23 tons of Sierra, and that’s before you cost in all the transportation and refining of petrol and diesel. So, sorry, Maniel, it just, doesn’t apply.
Matt Porter: Yeah. He, what he started is, is as, as is quite common, with, with these kinds of forums is he cited a report which is on a, a website, which is difficult to, confirm.
The validity of it. So he’s talking about German, battery manufacturer, which is being powered by coal. but far as I’m aware, Tesla’s plans, for instance, are to build a Giga-factory in Berlin, which I assume will, their aim is to make it, from using renewable energy.
Quentin Willson: Oh, completely. Yeah. And I mean, look, if Elon Musk knows one thing, he knows how important it is, but you can’t replace, pollution and put it in another place by powering electric cars, by coal-fired power stations, that’s impossible.
Then he’s on the absolute Vanguard of all this with the solar and everything. So, it’s interesting though that we’ve got these myths being almost propagated and there is this kind of. Strange. Now fake news thing about electric cars that, you know, you can’t use them in car washes. That’s just so duff and the fact that, you know, the batteries are going to be a toxic hazard for generations to come. Where does this sort of thing come from? And I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but there’s quite a body of, of, of pushback against the whole, the whole industry. And it, it, it does worry me that this stuff still has credence.
Matt Porter: Yeah. Is a concern. I have been driving and testing electric cars, alternative fuel cars for the last five or so years myself. And I find it difficult to understand where these, where this information comes from as well. So, I’m, I’m with you on that. Chris has asked, “Do you think that the technology such as the autopilot type technology is likely to roll out into, electric cars, as a standard in the next, in the next few years, or will it be restricted to high-end models?”
Quentin Willson: I think it’s all about cost and I think, the autopilots OK, but the idea that we’ll all be driving around in autonomous cars, that’s a long way down the road. And that’s what people really think autopilot is, is, is the precursor for even Musk says, it’s at least 10 years away.
I think everybody, I talk to it all the, all the car companies say it’s probably longer, 15 years, and then you’re going to get the idea, the infrastructure worker, you can’t have rubbish signs and, and poor lines on the ground because the LIDAR and the radars have got to kind of pick all this stuff up.
So, I don’t think we’ll see autonomous cars for a long time yet. And I think, you know, your, your autopilots will, they’ll percolate down. Sure. But I don’t think there’ll be as Musk.
Matt Porter: Thank you. Graham has as asked “He lives in a terraced house with no drive or off-road parking. How is he going to be able to reliably charge his car, on a nightly basis if there is nowhere for him to plug into in his own home?”
Quentin Willson: This is a great question, and it concerns 30% of people in the UK. It’s 70% in London. if you haven’t got off-street parking, or garaging, then, you can’t really have an electric car.
So what we need to do, and again, I’ve been pushing hard, with the government for this is EV hubs that you have, in communities, in schools and supermarkets. These rapid charging hubs that people who don’t have the on-street a charging facility can take their car, plug it in for half an hour, 40 minutes, and then it’s ready to go and they can have batteries, large batteries, the size of shipping containers as well. So, you can modify the demands of all this kind of infrastructure technology. It’s there and it, you can, you can string it all together, but we just need the political will. And here’s the thing, the understanding Matt, from government ministers that we need to do this and that for me and, and, and the care research picked us up as well.
The democratization of the electric car, which is so important. We cannot carry on having them as a middle-class plaything where you’ve got your electric car and then you’ve also got Range Rover for long journeys. Everybody must have the right and the ability to drive a zero-emission car. And I’m absolutely adamant on that, and at the moment it’s skewed.
You know, really, to large income earning people. And we need to bring it right down to communities who want to be, you know, zero mission and help the environment.
Matt Porter: Do you think that that could be achieved by, government, grants or more, generous group government grants? I know there was the plugin grant, which was reduced, wasn’t it? Which was a real shame. but do you think, that needs to happen as well, or do you think it’s not affordable by the government to do that?
Quentin Willson: You can’t have it both ways, Matt, you, if you want, you know, this fantastic electric car revolution, then you’ve got to understand that it’s going to cost a lot, and we may be talking about in hundreds of billions.
Matt Porter: A bridge from Scotland to Ireland perhaps?
Quentin Willson: Yeah. Maybe two!
What we want to certainty the public wants certainty. Comment of fractures wants certainty. I want certainty. I want to know that they are going to build an infrastructure fit for the 21st century. That is future proof for the bigger, larger car batteries that are coming. A 100 kilowatt, 150 maybe even 200-kilowatt batteries and they aren’t marooned with this kind of poor thinking. The biggest problem I have with, with the government is that not enough people drive electric cars. I’ve been in a House of Commons, meeting in the House of Lords when I said, “Right, okay, how many people here actually drive an electric car?” And there’s nobody. It’s just, you know, me and a little Baroness, who, who’s always in the slow lane because she’s afraid of running out of juice!
So. I get that understanding is so important and Kia have really flagged this up in this research, which is 3000 people and it’s robust that, you know, we are anxious about this and we do want to have much more certainty and security from the government and they’re giving us these cliff edges. Choices, you know, no more new cars, petrol, new vans, or, or, or diesel cars by 2035 or maybe even 2032 will give us an option, you know, give us, give us a reason to change our behaviour and then we will.
But the two most significant things in this survey are. Your fear of not having an infrastructure and your fear of running out of batteries. So that proves that despite all the virtue signalling, the government has to do better than this
Matt Porter: There also seems to be, from what I can gather from again, from my questions, is a lack of understanding about what this switchover will be, that people.
I get the impression people tend to think that they’re going to have to suddenly stop driving their existing cars on a particular date. When the, if you like, the band comes in into, In into, into policy. And it, you know, even though when I’ve explained that no, you can carry on keeping your own car.
And then we also have people that are saying, but it’s surely going to drive the price of petrol up. It’s going to be expensive for us to keep our existing cars at that point, but too expensive to buy new ones. So we’re stuck in a rock and a hard place. So there is this kind of the whole mix of concerns.
Quentin Willson: And it’s not being properly explained to people.
Absolutely. Right! The ban, and here, let’s do this for the record, Matt. The ban concerns new Vans and cars powered by diesel and petrol after 2035 or earlier 2032 you will still be able to drive your petrol and diesel car. Nobody’s going to stop you. There may be an increase in fuel due to discourage use, but then that’s another thing I do with my “fair fuel” campaign and that that affects the cost of living and we need to keep the cost of living right down. The thing that worries me is that the government have said that they are not going to permit the sale of hybrids after that cutoff date. And I think that’s wrong-headed, but, what, what do I know?
So, people must feel that, you know, they don’t have to stop driving their cars, that you will be using these petrol and diesel cars for decades to come. Probably. and you may even see a spike in their values. Who knows? Electric car values have certainly gone up secondhand ones because of demand.
Matt Porter: The certainly seem to retain their value.
Quentin Willson: Absolutely. You look at some of the market-leading ones, and they’re up 17% in January, I think. 24% in February so far. So yeah and there’s another myth that they cost more. than petrol and petrol and diesel.
Cause actually if you factor in all the tax breaks, the benefit in kind the fact that you, if you’re a company, you can claim 100% of the cost back against the corporation tax and profits, and salary sacrifice, then the money you’ll save on fuel and, and servicing. I think we passed a watershed moment where an electric car could even be cheaper than a petrol or diesel car. Nobody’s really done the sums cause of that depreciation thing that the way you see these cars hanging on to their value and the replacement cycles are much, much longer. You keep your electric car for four, five, six, seven, eight, nine years. then I think it’s really interesting, some to have done if you look at currently.
Matt Porter: one thing is that my wife, Highlighted to me was that with hybrid cars, that there seems to be this whole mix of hybrids that are now being promoted. So, we have mild hybrids, Plugin hybrids, Self-charging hybrids. Do you not think that in some way that might confuse people that, okay, I want to buy a hybrid in there in the short term, or lease a hybrid, but, hang on a second, I’m being told that there are a whole number of different hybrids that I can have. do you think that that makes it slightly unclear to people when they look into buying a car that, are they buying the right kind of hybrid?
Quentin Willson: Absolutely you’re right, people don’t understand enough and you know, the point of sale of where you buy your electric car isn’t the right place.
Usually, the salesman wants to sell you a diesel. So, we, we really do need, as a society and as a government to start communicating these messages better and getting people to understand which is the best, the best car for you. And everybody’s needs are different and there is no charging infrastructure in certain areas.
So why would you buy a battery-powered car or buy a hybrid? And that makes perfect sense. But getting this stuff across, I think he’s really important. And yeah. Here’s the irony. Kids seem to know much more about this than parents. They really, in this research there, they are, they at the if you’ll pardon the pun, the drivers behind this, this, this moment of change.
And, and parents are reacting to the pressure from their kids. And I get it from mine. that, you know, you’ve got to do something and you’ve got to be as green as possible. And then in a way, that’s that. That’s great. Really, because it comes from innocence and our generation have kind of used up the resources of the world.
So profligately. And, and, and these kids want to change it all. And that’s, I think, a great social force that we mustn’t ignore.
Matt Porter: That’s right. there was one final question I mustn’t miss, which is important to most people, which is, Grant has asked me, “So if we all move to electric cars, how on earth will the infrastructure cope with the demand for electricity?”
Quentin Willson: Well, I, I’ve spoken to the National Grid at length about this because it’s an obvious question. and they say, when you get to say 50% penetration, we will still be okay because we will have grid management. And don’t forget that there are offshore, wind is now. Renewables is probably 55% of electricity generation.
You will need to, rebuild what is known as the ‘local circuits’, which are the wires that come into your house and into your lamppost on the streets. And that’s going cost quite a bit. That’s going to cost about 4 billion quid because they will need to take much more power. They will be able to generate enough because if we spend enough to, to, to have more renewables, more offshore, and a couple more, nuclear power stations, yes, but that’s kind of a long way off.
100% EV utilisation may never happen. Matt, it’s going to be a slow transition just because it is. and I see 30, 40, 50% by maybe 2040 and then as we get to 2050 zero-carbon, you might get 60 70% EV penetration. It just depends how we roll up the infrastructure, but everybody in the electricity generating industry and their district network operators say that we can cope if we kind of just regenerate some of the old wiring, the old substations.
Matt Porter: I think that is really important as well for people to understand, that the responsibility rests on our shoulders as much as it does, government shoulders and the, you know, if by simply looking at installing a solar panels on our homes and battery storage in our homes as well there where we can hold, we can re, we can charge three, we can hold our own power, to charge our vehicles ourselves. Or we can run our households. We’re not putting the strain on the grid at these high peak times ourselves because we’re storing energy ourselves. I think that’s a really big thing that people need to start thinking about is it’s battery storage really in their homes and solar energy.
Quentin Willson: Oh, I agree. My 21-year-old son, he never stops talking about it and showing me pictures of battery walls and, and the fact that we can, we can be completely independent of the utility companies that the big villains. And I think that’s absolutely right. And they’re all people who have these battery walls and the solar and are, are just, you know, completely pairing their house and their car on renewable energy and, Whoa, that’s just such a great goal.
Matt Porter: Quentin, thanks ever so much for your time this morning. It’s extremely interesting and I know my listeners will be happy to hear those answers and yeah, thanks ever so much for your time.
Quentin Willson: Pleasure Matt.
Matt Porter: So that was Quentin Wilson giving us his views on the impending adoption of the electric car in the next 15 years.
So, until next time, this is Matt Porter, The Gadget Man signing off.
This morning was the first of my Mix Tape tracks played by James Hazell on BBC Radio Suffolk. I’ve attached the YouTube playlist below which will play the interview followed by the track.
The transcript of the interview follows below.
Gadget Man Mix Tape – Part 1
James Hazell: The mixed tape all this week features the gadget man himself, Matt Porter of Matt Porter web design, our regular guide. You man. Now choosing tunes for us. Matt, great to see you
Matt Porter: Great to see you as well.
James Hazell: How are you?
Matt Porter: I’m alright, I’m good, very good. Thank you.
James Hazell: Now you’re a man. Of course. We know now is very much involved in the latest technology and all of that. You regularly report for us on the latest by way of gadgetry and all that. Have you always been that “guy”?
Matt Porter: for technology, I suppose I have. Actually, when I was at school, I had a Commodore VIC-20. That was interesting because the budget for that present was the Commodore VIC-20 on its own without the tape drive.
So, I would spend a lot of time programming and writing programs to do things. Either leaving the VIC-20 switched on because if you switched it off, it’s gone forever. So, it was a good way of learning to program because you kind of had to memorize a lot of what you did or write it down.
So, when you wanted to do it again, you had to re-type it all in. It was a painful thing. But, we’re not talking about writing a copy of Microsoft Word, there was a very limited amount of memory in a VIC-20, so the programs were never that long, but it was still a good start.
James Hazell: So, what was it, 10 PRINT “HELLO”, 20 GOTO 10?
Matt Porter: With Commodores, it was POKE 36879,22 or something like that!
James Hazell: Yeah. We’ll talk more about this as the week goes by, but we want to find out more about the man himself. So, Matt Porter, who are you? Are you a local? I get the sense you’re not Suffolk born, are you?
Matt Porter: I was born in Hitchin in Hertfordshire. I lived in that area for around 33 years and then I met a young lady on an online dating site called Udate, which is long gone. I met her on Udate and we got to know each other and fell in love.
I then sold my house in Bedfordshire at the time and moved to Ipswich to be with her. We got married and we had two children and we’re still together.
James Hazell: It’s good to hear of an online success story because they can be frowned upon in use by some people,
Matt Porter: Certainly and as usual, I have to jump into something right at the beginning, it was good.
James Hazell: You were one of the first, I reckon, cause I had no doubt.
Matt Porter: Yeah, it was 2002 or 2003
James Hazell: That’s got to be early days. It’s got to be pioneering!
Matt Porter: So there you go, that’s what brought me here.
James Hazell: So your Missus must’ve been on it as well, so I suspect she’s a bit of a tech-head as well?
Matt Porter: She’s not actually, she’s not massively, almost certainly she’s not a tech head. She’s not as enthusiastic as I am, but we run Matt Porter Web Design together.
James Hazell: She won’t go out and buy a gadget just because it’s just been released by somebody.
Matt Porter: Absolutely not. No, she’s not interested. Her smartphone battery will last for days because she doesn’t use it that much.
James Hazell: When you moved to Suffolk, was there a concern with your technology minds that you’re moving to a place it’s not, shall we say, renowned for technology. It wasn’t at the forefront, I guess?
Matt Porter: I guess not. Yeah, it turns out I ended up having an office on, on the BT campus for a number of years, and it’s a super place, not many people know what a vibrant technology community is there.
But when I came here, actually, I handed my notice in for my full-time job in Hertfordshire and sold my house. I came here and started Matt Porter Web Design when I arrived, which was madness. I didn’t know anybody personally or in business.
James Hazell: So, you’ve come here this week to choose some songs for us. You’re going to start with Satellite by The Beloved.
Matt Porter: This track came out in 1996 and at that time I was house-sitting for somebody in Stevenage. During the time of the housesitting was Euro 96, which was England played absolutely amazingly! It was one of the most fantastic tournaments with classic players.
James Hazell: We were supposed to win that one!
Matt Porter: It was an amazing tournament. But I was house sitting there. So obviously I remember, watching the games and every time we scored, I think we played The Netherlands winning 4–1.
Every time we scored, I kept ringing my mate up and screaming down the phone. At that time, they also had satellite TV with MTV, and I was watching that and hadn’t really watched it before. This particular video for Satellite by The Beloved came on and it’s quite memorable. If you ever watch it on YouTube, it’s quite a memorable video, quite groundbreaking I guess, and the song’s fantastic as well. I actually have contact vaguely with Jon Marsh, who’s the singer with The Beloved by being a member of The Beloved Facebook Group. He regularly posts on there. It’s quite geeky, I guess.
If you’re somewhat of a gadget lover, then the chances are that you most probably have a number of old and unwanted gadgets stashed around your home. It’s always hard to part with a previously used gadget, isn’t it? However, storing them all up around your home will not only leave you with little storage space left, but is also extremely wasteful.
Instead of holding onto your old electronics and letting them go to waste, why not opt to get creative with what you do with them? Think how much better you would feel if you knew that your electronics were actually being put to good use, instead of just sitting there wasting away in a cupboard unused and unloved.
The question is, of course, what can you do with your old electronics? The good news is that there are plenty of ways that you can make use of everything, from your old tablet to your disused camera. Keen for a little inspiration? Have a read of the ideas below!
When it comes to what you should do with your unwanted devices, be it an old toaster or an unwanted iPad, you could opt to sell them. Of course, where you choose to sell them is up to you, and will depend on what the item is, as there are different marketplaces designed for different items.
For instance, are you looking to sell your Apple Watch? If you are, then you could sell this to a company like Mazuma, for example. Whereas, if you are looking to sell a drone, then perhaps you would be better placed selling it on somewhere like Facebook Marketplace or a second-hand selling site like eBay.
Selling your unwanted items is a great way to get rid of them while making a little extra money. Just think, whatever you make you could put towards your next big tech investment.
Recycle your unloved devices
Another option for getting rid of your old, unwanted electronic devices is to recycle them. The fact is that there are programs across the globe that encourage tech lovers to recycle their old technology, allowing it to be revamped and reused. If you’re keen to recycle your old devices, perhaps you could consider looking at the projects that are being run in your local area?
Alternatively, there are a number of global electronic recycling projects that you can find information about online, if you take the time to do some research. You would be surprised about the number of things that old pieces of tech can be turned into, from garden furniture to jeans – there seems to be no limit to what recycled tech can be used for.
While it might be tempting to keep all of your old devices stored in your home, the fact is that they’re just wasted sitting there. So why not opt to do something more productive with them, such as selling or recycling them? There are plenty of options available for each – it’s just a case of finding the one that’s right for you.
There’s a lot of talks around mobile phones these days, and we are all looking for the best mobile phone for our needs. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype and advertising, but when it comes to choosing her phone for yourself, then there are a few things that you need to keep in mind before taking the plunge. Many of us average a fair few hours on our phones every day according to studies, so if we have a phone that doesn’t suit our needs this can be frustrating and reduce our enjoyment of the activities we choose. So try and stick to these simple ideas and make a decision that’s right for you.
Sometimes it can be simple to find the perfect phone for you, and thebigphonestore.co.uk can help you with this, but sometimes we need to draw on our experience and experience of other people to make our decisions. If you have always had an iPhone then it may be difficult for you to make a decision to switch, but if you speak to other people who have experienced the switch before, then you may find you have a better idea of what you are about to decide. Your own experience is also important and something that you need to ensure is taken into account. Also if you have had a bad experience with a brand in the past and this can also alter your opinion. And rightly so. So make sure you take into account your experience and that of others, and even have a look at YouTube videos with people reviewing these phones to see which one you like the look off.
Purpose
The main purpose of your phone is going to help you decide, functionality and exactly what you need to do to be able to get the best out of your mobile phone, it’s something that we should all consider carefully. If you use your phone just for calls and texts, then you aren’t going to necessarily need to have a phone that is all singing and all dancing. It’s not always about having the flashiest phone and taking pictures all the time. Some of us just need a phone that works. So don’t feel as though you need to purchase the latest iPhone if it isn’t going to fit your purpose. However, if you do need something that works well, and has all of the access to apps, and functionality then, of course, go in for a top of the range phone is a good investment for you.
What matters
At the end of the day, what matters to you is the most important thing here, and making sure that people make the right decisions for themselves ultimately prevents any problems. Getting the right phone to the right people can be tricky, but eventually, we all find the right handset for us, and it’s all about trial and error. Some people have great brand loyalty, and some of us are just looking for a phone that works so decided on what is important to you will help you come to the right conclusion.
Dash Cams have become a hugely popular and important piece of in-car technology. Not only do they act as an independent witness in court by recording everything that happens both in front of your car as well as behind (if you have a rear-view camera), in fact, Tesla has recently updated their vehicles to support ‘Sentry’ mode to monitor all around the car using their multiple cameras.
422GW Dash Cam
The increase in Dash Cam use has by recognised by insurance companies and police as an extremely helpful accessory in the event of both accidents and other investigations where individuals have gone missing and have been picked up on dashcam.
In the UK, the law states that a Dash Cam must NOT distract the driver or obscure the view of the road. If you decide to share the footage, faces and number plates should be blurred and unrecognisable. so bear this in mind if you decide to upload some footage to Facebook or YouTube.
422GW Dash Cam
NextBase 422GW with the rear camera module.
I have spent the last couple of weeks reviewing the NextBase 422GW a dashcam bursting with so many features, it would be impossible to list everything here!
Out of the boxes, the main dashcam and the additional rear camera module are both solidly built devices with a comforting amount of weight about them that feels durable. I also had a NextBase MicroSD card to store my footage. You also receive a very long power cable with 12v connector and the option of using either suction or sticky mount to affix the camera to your windscreen.
Nextbase App connected to 422GW Dash Cam
The 422GW’s features rely heavily on the use of an iOS or Android App which connects over both Bluetooth for general communication and WiFi for downloading videos to your device. It also supports Alexa and Handsfree calling which was quite useful as it allows voice instructions to download the recorded video to your mobile device (if that’s your thing!). You can also enter emergency information into the app which allows the device to automatically contact the emergency services if it detects an accident. Don’t worry, it won’t do this immediately, you do get to intervene before Police or Ambulances are summoned.
The most obvious feature of a dashcam is the quality of the video that it takes. The 422GW packs a F1.3 sensor recording at 1440p at 30 FPS or 1080p at 60 FPS. The quality of the video is excellent even in low light and darkness, I was seriously impressed. If you (like I did) installed the additional rear camera, the unit records both videos at the same time and you can set the rear camera to either record inside the cockpit or the rear window. I was unsure how this would turn out, but again I was really impressed with the results.
422GW Dash Cam – what’s in the box
If you are looking for a dashcam with Crash Protection, Emergency Service Alert, Auto-Sync, Intelligent Parking Monitoring, Alexa and the tool for installing the cable in your vehicle, you won’t go far wrong with this device! At £129 it’s great value too.
Each day the average amount of time a person spends on their smartphone increases, and now we have reached a stage in which some young adults spend upwards of 6 hours mindlessly scrolling. Getting involved with this from a business perspective can cause you to gain a considerable amount of profit, as you can join the smartphone revolution with your own unique company concept and become a great hit! Figuring out exactly how you can become a part of the mobile industry doesn’t have to be a difficult task, as there are a few unique ideas that may just be the perfect choice for you. So, if you want to know more about how you can cash in on modern societies smartphone obsession, then read on for some of the greatest pathways that you can take to reach ultimate business bliss in no time at all.
One of the best things about smartphones is that you can download and play a seemingly endless amount of different games that can be tailored to suit your own specific likes and dislikes. You can play anything from fighting games to drift hunters unity games. The App Store contains a wealth of different genres for you to make the most of, whether that means education, socialising or just plain fun and games! If you have some knowledge regarding programming and previous technical experience to base your project on then feel free to dive straight in and code the algorithms yourself, as you will be able to get the most unique application that’s individual to your company. If you struggle with electronics then there’s no need to worry, as you can find bespoke iOS application Development teams that can do all of the hard work for you – simply approach them with your plans and explain your goals for the future so that they can fully understand your requirements.
Repairing & Refurbishing
Despite the seemingly limitless selection of cases on offer today, so many people end up dropping, smashing or generally breaking their smartphones. It’s common to see a young person sporting a cracked screen, as it would seem that smartphone related built-in obsolescence has one of the shortest life cycles ever. As a result of this, getting into the repair business will ensure that you always have a job to do – people are always going to be clumsy, and smartphones will always be made just well enough for you to experience them in their prime for no longer than a couple of months. Sourcing old smartphones that can be refurbished into working models is also a good route to take, as you can buy parts for a very cheap price and make a full phone that can generate a nice profit, especially if you’re working with refurbished iPhones, which can still command a high price. It is, however, worth noting that there are already a lot of people offering this service, so you will need to ensure that your business is competitively priced if you want to be able to compete effectively with the competition.
This weeks review centres on a product that is aimed at safely carrying your gadgets or in particular your laptop computer.
For the past few weeks, I have been testing the STM Myth 18 L Laptop Backpack. STM Goods were founded 20 years ago when the founder Ethan Nyholm realised that carrying his laptop around in a padded envelope whilst hiking wasn’t a lasting solution! He teamed up with Adina Jacobs and together they have been making fashion-conscious tech-carrying gear.
STM Myth Laptop Backpack 18L
The Myth is available in three colour schemes, Granite Black, Slate Blue and Winsdor Wine, min was the latter.
Unlike most laptop bags which are simply foam-padded, the Myth utilises a proprietary technology called ‘SlingTech’ which features extra padding and gapless corners and actually ‘suspend’ your laptop away from the edges of the bag and thus out of harm’s way.
Aside from this ingenious protection, the bag also boasts a ton of features including music-centric CableReady systems, AirPod pocket and Earbud keeper. It also has a PassPort feature which allows you to securely attach other luggage whilst travelling, this is integrated with lumbar support, which made carrying the bag very comfortable. Helped by the Air-Channel back-panel which promotes air-flow and keeps you cool, so no more sweaty backs!
STM Myth Laptop Backpack 18L
Aside from the standard back-carry straps, there is also a TPU coated webbing hand which is riveted in place. This allows you to carry the bag and the solid constructions keep it from banging off your legs.
Inside the bag is a myriad of storage, plenty to carry up to 16″ laptop and associated printed material. There are also several internal pockets for pens, plugs and accessories. It also has a fleece-lined sunglasses pocket!
STM Myth Laptop Backpack 18L
The outside of the back is Water repellent and the outer zippers use reverse-coil zippers to protect the teeth and keep moisture and dirt out.
The bag is made from 100% polyester with dimensions of H 17.7 x D 11.4 x W 5.9 in / H 45.0 x D 29.0 x W 15.0 cm. The bag weighs in a 2.2 lbs / 1.0kg (without the laptop!).
I’ve been using this as my main laptop bag for a few weeks, my 15″ Macbook Pro slides in effortlessly and when fully unzipped the bag doesn’t just fall open, it feels like it is opening on a hinge and means the contents aren’t going to just spew out all over the place.
STM Myth Backpack
The bag feels extremely sturdy and very very comfortable to wear. The added back support is welcome and the flat base means it isn’t falling over when you place it on the floor. I can see many commuters finding a back like this very useful indeed and it has plenty of storage space inside.
If you fancy trying out the bag yourself, you can download STM’s App and use the AR Tag printed here. Once you get it going, it’s quite a bit of fun to play with and you can see how their bags look before purchase. https://www.stmgoods.com/stm-app2/
This morning I spoke to James Hazell on BBC Radio Suffolk about the benefits of Dash Cams in cars.
During the interview, we discussed both the negatives and positives of these devices and how they can be used as an Independent Witness of an accident or other car-related crime.
I’ve been reviewing the Nextbase 422GW Dash Cam over the past two weeks, which will be published soon.
In the meantime, listen into the stream via my podcast link above or by playing the embedded video below.
Enjoy this episode and see you next time!!
Matt
Artificial Intelligence, Technology, News and Gadget Reviews on air, online, in print and in person
