Hang With

Hang with is a new social media app with the potential to be the next essential platform.

Facebook and Twitter have cemented themselves as the two most popular blog oriented platforms with incredibly easy to use systems that incorporate all forms of media. There have been many other relative newbies to utilise visual media to offer an alternative on the over saturated text blogging market. You Tube, Skype and U Stream being some of the major players but maybe not being so social media inclined.

Instagram have emerged as champions of photo based blogging and Vine as their video counterpart. Hang With have entered this fiercely competitive realm with an entirely new selling point, which is; hanging out with the people you follow via live broadcast. A great way to harness the technology of a smartphone and connect with people across the world.

Standing on the shoulders of the giants that came before them, Hang With have combined Twitter's following system with Instagram's gallery and U Stream's live broadcasting facility. Already a host of celebrities, actors, musicians, sports personalities and random attention seekers are broadcasting and I've already briefly seen Timbaland hanging live (he was with his kids so I didn't really want to pry, was a bit weird to be honest thought he'd be broadcasting from the studio or something). Apparently you can jump into a text conversation with other people hanging while you watch the broadcast too.

Of course social media is always more fun when you interact with friends and family. 

Hang With makes this easy by allowing you to sign in via Facebook and invite all of your friends, not forgetting the old email and SMS options of sending invites too. Couple that with the ability to share your broadcasts via twitter and Facebook, you can see just how popular this app could get.

I'm salivating at the prospect of seeing Floyd Mayweather Jr. talking trash whilst blowing hundreds of thousands live, or Kevin Hart giving us some live comedy in everyday situations. Of course I'll be coming to you live from the studio real soon myself.

Another thing that will help this app to get closer to the major social media players is their re-invention of tagging. In a similar vein to Twitter's @KalSereousz format Hang With uses w/KalSereousz.

Feel free to follow me and hang out for my next broadcast. I've got the new 2.0 app for iOS and it's great I'd recommend it. Alternatively they have an android app and you can always browse to www.hangwith.com also.

Let's Hang!

Replace your Blackberry Screen (9700)

How many times have you had a dead screen or cracked it?
Loads right? Personally I like to sort things out myself.

I was is a hurry the last time I cracked my screen. It happened on the video shoot for 'One'. All that lifting and closing the boot trying to get the perfect shot. I checked my messages during a break and the director came back in a hurry saying that the battery on the camera would die any minute. I lifted and cosed the boot and heard a crack.... I left my phone resting screen side up in the boot doorway.

Needless to say the screen was messed up. I had a million things to do and needed my phone to work ASAP so the next day I went to a local repair place in Stratford to get the screen fixed. They charged me £35 for the crappest, cheapest screen that didn't fit into the housing properly and had a poor quality faded display. Everything looked high in contrast and I found it hard to see icons properly, let alone read anything. I got ripped off. For £30 I thought I could probably get a new screen from Ebay with much better quality and including the tools to do the job myself.

It turns out I was right. I ordered my screen on a Saturday and it arrived on Tuesday. The packaging was great, the product is well protected and I think it is an original screen not some cheap imitation. This is where I got my screen and tools from: http://r.ebay.com/KyH9vd.

I found a nice little video which walks you through disassembly and reassembly.

You need the two screwdrivers provided in the ebay link, the pry tool and a flat head screwdriver. I used a sim card to do some of the things the tech in the video did with his blue pry tool. I know other techs that use credit cards, just be careful and you'll be fine it is really simple.

When I asked for a refund from the rip off repair shop, the salesman offered to replace my screen with one directly from a phone that they had for sale (what screen would the next sucker be buying then?). I'm glad I refused and got to repair it myself. I've learnt a new skill and I've got the tools to do the job again if I need to. If you're not feeling confident about fitting it yourself holla at your boy and I'll hook you up for a small fee.

Condoms for Computers

The image is a snapshot of the source code from my website kalsereousz.co.uk.

I have no idea where that vb script came from, or where the exe file it calls is, but this is very serious. That script calls a trojan dropper which is malicious software that will download all sorts of programs to your computer. What happens after that? God knows, the point is someone has gained access to your machine.

I was lucky enough to be experimenting with some new anti-virus software and running a scan after a new install. The scan picked up the problem and quarantined my website file which I recently downloaded from the server that hosts my site. I thought I might as well check the online copy on the server, just incase its not a simple local virus I might have got from a usb stick or something. Boy was that a good idea.

The new Antivirus software I trialed was Kaspersky Pure 2.0. I've used other Kaspersky products before and Pure is a typically solid piece of software. Easy to use, full of advanced functions and very very good. It has a 'safe run' mode that allowed me to visit the site and not be in danger of downloading a virus. Before the page loaded, a pop up notified me the website has a trojan downloader. Cracking stuff if you want to trial out a potential dodgy website.

Well I'm off to edit this source code and try to save my site. If you're looking for an anti-virus, Kaspersky will have you well protected. Stay strapped love birds.

Touch Me Tease Me - Tactile Screen

Ever found it difficult to type on a touch screen? The world's first consumer tactile touchscreen is here to solve this.

Tactus Technology have developed a screen that morphs into a tactile keypad. Little lumps are formed on the touchscreen forming a querty keyboard at your command. Another command makes them disappear returning your smooth surface. This will be available for mobile devices and can even be used in cars. We are told the mobile device tactile keyboards will be integrated with the best selling popular brands and on sale late in 2013.

The speaker doing the demonstration at CES 2013 tried not to give away too much concerning their partners but he did let the word Android slip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xhXJWEth18&feature=youtube_gdata_player

British Tech

British Gas have come up with a couple of usb devices that allow customers to top up their home energy from their computer.

Its about time energy companies started to give customers more options in they way they pay for services. Approaching what is reported to be the coldest part of the winter, its great to not need to brave the elements for a topup.

These gadgets ooze convenience and are very simple to install. Utiluzing plug and play technogy, you simply insert your gas card or electricity key into a reader, plug your reader into a usb port and log into the british gas website.

You need to setup an account and can pay via debit/card (and I think paypal but dont quote me on that). I've saved my card details and can topup my device in seconds, if you have a British Gas gas card or electric key system give them a call and order yours for free.

Serve It Up! - PS3 Media Server

This little gem of a free program has been out for a while and with the latest revision: version 1.72, this has become a truly great piece of tech.

So you've got a console. You've probably also got a big screen to use it with. These days if you've got a console you've usually got a computer too and you're probably hoarding all kinds of media on there.

What PS3 Media Server allows you to do is make the most out of your big screen by turning your computer into a media server. PS3 Media Server was originally designed to be able to stream content from your computer over Wifi to your PS3. It does support the Holy Trinity of Operating Systems so whether you have a Mac, Linux, or Windows computer you're covered.

More tech savy people may say 'well I've already got a NAS box that I can stream content from'.  Well good for you. But you could of saved yourself £50+ or even a couple of hundred if you just used your computer's hard drive with PS3 Media Server instead.

PS3 Media Server is really easy to use and adheres to the DLNA and UPnP standards which means it is extremely versatile and not just limited to the PS3. The website has a list of supported devices which include Xbox 360, Android devices, Wifi enabled TV's and more so you could even stream content to your tablet or your smartphone. The Interface is really simple as you can see from the screenshot. It has three big buttons for main operations at the top and tabs with lots of streaming options to fiddle with if you so wish. The main things you may want to do are to disable thumbnails or lower the bit-rate which can help to have a smoother stream.

So far I've installed the Mac version of PS3 Media Server and streamed a Pulp Fiction DVD rip from my external drive connected to the Mac. The whole process couldn't be easier, it took 5 minutes from the moment I started downloading it to begin streaming and the stream was quality. Of course this whole operation will depend on having a good internet connection so make sure you take your bandwidth into consideration before you start trying to stream a blu-ray file! I had no problems with 4.5mbps.

No more connecting my computer to the stereo, fiddling with cables or going to and fro with usb drives for me. PS3 Media Server is the way to go. Download the program and try it for yourself here. Before you get started watch this helpful 'how to' video.

Good Tech.

Melanin 9 Album Launch Party

Melanin 9 launched his new album Magna Carta with a bang.
Lively performances from some of the best in the business brought energy to a night destined for greatness. Loads of artists turned out to support and the venue was packed with fans, probably the busiest Vibe Bar has ever been. M9 dressed in a dramatic looking red boiler suit,  accompanied by long time partners in rhyme Triple Darkness, kept the crowd hungry for more as DJ 279 spun them through classic hits and soon to be classic new joints till the lights came on. The man was dripping in sweat and absolutely shattered at the end of the show, you have to respect an artist that gives you everything. You can cop Magna Carta from Suspect Packages. This was a great night for Hiphop that will live long in the memory, check out the pictures here.