Samsung Galaxy S3's battery goes BOOOOOOOM!

(Sorry, I'm a little over acting at the title) 

Everyone knows that Samsung's copying Apple's ideas and such for those people who can't afford or just hates Apple's amazing gadgets for no reason. You know how many people expect new stuff on new gadgets right especially geeks? So let's get to the point. Here's the story..

  Meanwhile in Ireland.. some consumer's phone exploded at its butt part. Unfortunately for Samsung, the overwhelmingly positive reception afforded to the S3 may be in danger or souring somewhat. after that being said, the dude from Ireland wrote among other comments that it might not be the fault of the phone itself, instead, he pointed out that maybe it was the combination of his car mount and his car’s heating system. 

Also, a South Korean student reported that his S3's battery exploded while in his pocket. Samsung responded by suggesting that the battery much have been exposed to massive external force to trigger the failure. So far, I believe no one was harmed. But still, this shouldn't be ignored. 

Review: Joby GorillaPod

The Joby GorillaPod is certainly a great tripod if you don't mind the size. It is very sturdy, flexable and most of all, fun! This tripod isn't ment to be used for serious photography as it is very lightweight, but for taking the odd photo or video, this is a great little accessory. There are many colours available for the Joby GorillaPod, these include the following:

• White (as shown on video)
• Yellow
• Red
• Green
• Pink
• Blue 
• Orange

The advantages to this mini tripod is that you can wrap it round more or less everything with it's bendy legs. In the video shown above, I had the tripod wrapped around my monitor (Acer S243HL), lampshade and also my guitar! It is seriously amazing. I also like how cheap the GorillaPod is, on Amazon UK , you can buy this tripod for just £11.70! This is a bargain. The third thing I like about this tripod is the large variety of colours, they look great.

The disadvanteges to the Joby GorillaPod is that it is literally tiny! Also, when you bend the legs, it tends to nip your skin, which is very annoying! But other than that, I can't complain!

Over all, I give this tripod a 9 out of 10!

Buy - "Joby GorillaPod" 

Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel: kieransmithtech

Follow me on Twitter, please! @kiekiesmith

Review: "Dead Fred" Pen Holder

A short review of a pen holder called "Dead Fred". This is really sturdy, fun and creative, I like it! Below you can find a link to purchase this item. Please remember to like this video, as well as comment and subscribe to my new my YouTube Channel: kieransmithtech

Buy - "Dead Fred" 

Social Me:

Twitter: @kiekiesmith
Website I write for: TekSocial.com

My Written Review: 2011 Apple MacBook Air 13"

The new 2011 MacBook Air 13.3" is truly a stunning machine with an awesome 1.7GHz duel-core Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM packed inside this beast. Surely this is the perfect notebook for students who want something which weighs in at just 2.96 pounds and is less than an inch thick!

In this article, I am going to cover the good, the bad and what can be improved, followed by me awarding it a score out of 10.

Starting with the Good - 

Apple's MacBook Air 13.3" LED-backlit widescreen has got to have been the nicest screen I have ever looked at, the resolution of the screen is 1440x900 PPI (Pixels Per Inch). The colours are so vibrant and films look amazing on screen, too.

The MacBook Air 13.3" is as beautifully thin as ever, at it thickest end it measures 17mm thick and it's thinnest point is only 3mm thick which is incredible!

The 2011 MacBook Air 13.3" comes standard with a 1.7GHz, dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with 4GB of RAM. The notebook also built in flash storage tucked inside its aluminium unibody chassis, this is great for students who want tasks completed quick such as word processing and music, photo and video editing. I am able to get roughly 6 and a half hours of battery life out of the MacBook Air and is capable of staying in standby mode for 30 days without dying from loss of battery.

The Bad -

I am a little disappointed that there is still only 2 USB ports on the MacBook Air 2011, even if apple added just one more USB port would be a wonderful add-on. I am also a little unhappy that there is no USB 3.0 port to be found on the notebook, this would be another huge key selling point for the MacBook Air. The third thing I am disappointed about is the low resolution built-in FaceTime camera. Apart from that, the laptop is great.

Room for improvement? - 

As always, nothing is perfect. In the future, I would like to see Apple introduce a FaceTime HD camera (featured in the MacBook Pro's and iMac's). As the MacBook Air's FaceTime Camera performs horribly in when in low-light. I would greatly appreciate more flash storage inside this elegant machine, aswell.

Over all, I give the 2011 Apple MacBook Air 13" a whopping 8 and a half out of 10. If you want to check my new YouTube channel out for plenty of tech coverage, please feel free to do so and don't forget to subscribe! - kieransmithtech 

iLife '11 — the all new iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand

Apple recently announced their latest upgrade to the iLife suite during the “Back to the Mac” event in October. iLife ’11 includes new releases of iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand. Apple did a great job in adding more advanced features while maintaining their trademark simplicity. The upgrade is priced at only $49 USD and is definitely worth the price.

The incredible new iPhoto has added support for Facebook/Flickr and sharing photos through email. The changes to the full-screen mode allow you to utilize every pixel of your display to its fullest. Apple has also improved the slideshows feature with new transitions and themes. Their book/card-printing service has been updated and now allows for more customization of photo albums and holiday cards. iPhoto continues to keep its “Faces” and “Places” features, as well as its great image retouching tools.

The album view in iPhoto's full-screen mode looks amazing.

iPhoto's face recognition automatically recognizes faces in your photos and allows you to tag then.

The biggest change in the suite is in iMovie. Apple has added a “movie trailers” feature that makes producing short teasers for your films a breeze. Choose a series of clips you would like to use, fill in the credits, and choose a theme and iMovie will automatically stitch together a professional-grade trailer for you next movie.

Apple has also included more advanced audio editing tools in iMovie ’11. Audio clips are now color-coded and provide options for adding fades and filters. Another new feature is what Apple calls “one-step effects”. With the dozens of new effects, such as “instant replay” and color correction, your iMovie project will definitely stand out from other home videos.

iMovie ’11 has also included more exporting options, including iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, QuickTime movies, and more. You can also publish your videos directly to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and even CNN’s iReport. You can also create a video podcast and send it directly to Podcast Producer.

iMovie '11 give you more control over your audio.

Making professional trailers has never been easier.

Making great music in GarageBand has never been simpler. The iLife ’11 upgrade introduced Flex Time, a function that fixes timing issues when something sounds a little off.  Flex Time allows you to manually move, stretch, or shorten individual notes without changing the rest of your recording.GarageBand ’11 adds more guitar amps the Apple’s library and allows you to reproduce the sound of foot pedals with new stompbox effects. Apple also included many new instrument lessons with the update.

Flex Time makes it easy to fix timing errors in your music. 

Apple's instrument lessons make learning the piano or guitar fun.

More lessons can be downloaded or purchased from the Lesson Store.

iLife ’11 allows you to do more with your photos, video, and music than ever before. In iPhoto, you can enjoy your photos in the new full-screen modes. You can turn your home videos into professional films with the latest iMovie and create the perfect soundtrack within GarageBand. iLife ’11 is included with every new Mac, but every existing user should consider the upgrade. If you enjoyed this post, please check out MacDesign, a blog centered around graphic design and video production on the Mac platform.