Those who know me, know that I like love my tech!

If it’s also groundbreaking, then that always gets my attention. If it’s a good price too, that’s a bonus, but I’m not averse to paying over the odds for a shiny new piece of kit, if ‘it does the job well’.

So, in my research for looking for a travel router (after the c*** hotel speeds during our recent visit to Fuerteventura). I eventually came across the ‘Globlinker‘. Apart from the slightly weird name, was it worth a second look? After all, all travel routers are pretty much the same, aren’t they? (the speeds, the battery life, and not forgetting the ongoing cost of data usage!).

Well, apparently, this gizmo IS a lot different from its competitors! OK, it DOESN’T support 5G, (4G will still ‘do the job’). but beyond that, it ticks a lot of boxes – even boxes that you didn’t think existed!

Let’s get into the detail of this very special piece of technology – and whether it’s worth a place in my travel bag?

Firstly, the price. Normally selling for over £200, at the time of writing, it was being offered for a smidge over £100 – but actually, that’s NOT what grabbed my attention.

First off, it works out of the box in 130 countries. Next (and here’s the clever bit) in any location, as it looks for the provider with the strongest signal and locks onto it. If the signal deteriorates, it moves providers, rather than being tied to a single mobile operator such as (for the UK) Vodafone, Three, EE or O2. So far, so clever…. but there’s more!

Once it’s paid for, there are NO ongoing costs – the connection is always free, and they even offer a regular 2Gb data allowance each month – so there’s no data to buy. Could it get any better? Apparently so! The data rolls over, so if it’s not used, it stacks onto next month’s 2Gb.

Back to the technology on offer, and increasingly for me, every day’s a school day as I learned that this router uses something called CloudSIM technology (nope, I’ve never heard of that!) negating the need for a fiddly SIM card or even the more modern eSIM. I definitely don’t understand the ‘CloudSIM part, but I guess time will reveal all – and I’m a quick learner

Stop salivating at the back (Oh, just ME then!)

Should you need more data, it’s easily purchased from their website and is available on the device immediately.

Should I or shouldn’t I?

To be honest, online, I felt, like many others who were doing what I was doing, this must all be a scam! (simply because there’s nothing else like it on the market). Yes, there are faster routers out there, but free monthly data? and the ability to switch providers for the best signal? Just those two features alone makes it the perfect solution if your hotel wi-fi is patchy or you are in a place where wi-fi isn’t provided at all. And the roll-over feature is very welcome!

Well, as I write this, and after a LOT of indecision, I’ve taken the risk and just placed my order. Whether anything turns up, having parted with my money, is another question. Having carried out some very thorough research online, though, it does all look legitimate. But how does Globlink make any money out of it (especially as, unlike most portable routers, there’s NO ongoing cost for the DATA, unless you need more than 2Gb?) Nope,I’ve absolutely NO IDEA! Perhaps they’ll just rely on the revenue from selling the routers, and that’ll be enough – but that doesn’t sound like a good business model to me.

Could the deal get any better? Oh yes! . For early UK adopters, like me, they’ll throw in an extra 10Gb of data for 30 days to get you started. 10Gb? That’s probably enough to feed even my habit of taking gazillions of photos when I’m abroad and uploading them in real time.

Is this the 2026 equivalent of ‘snake oil’? There are plenty of 4 and 5-star reviews online, where the only negative comment is from a (very) small number of people who have said that the upload and download speeds are disappointingly slow – although there are also plenty of others who find the speeds perfectly acceptable for 4G.

By this time next week, it should have arrived, and I’ll be putting it through its paces. I’ll update this Post with my findings. If it delivers on its promises, then this is MOST DEFINITELY the bargain of the century!

Update: 20 April 2026

Well, today, the device arrived – finally! .

It was well-packaged and fitted through the letterbox. I followed the simple setup instructions – and it FAILED! It just wouldn’t connect, constantly displaying registering on the screen. No amount of reboots seem to sort it out, so it was time to test the emailed-based support team

Their response times were fantastic . One took just 2 minutes to send me an email reply, whilst another took them just under the hour. This was impressive! Then it all went a bit ‘wobbly’. I’m not sure if it was a language issue (despite the very English-sounding names of the Support Team), or something else, but I found myself having to repeat information that they must surely have already known – order number and email address! Anyway, some 10 emails later, after emails pinging emails back and forth, the 2GB monthly allowance was initiated, followed by the 10Gb welcome gift. Initially, a reboot of the router, which should have worked perfectly, did nothing of the sort – and the screen showed the familiar ‘registering’ message.

Then, after a few minutes, the router sprang into life. I rebooted it again just to be sure, and after a bit of a wait whilst it found the strongest network, we were ‘good to go’. Speed tests indicated that (here, on the Vodafone 4G network) I was getting 20 down and 10 up. It was less than I was expecting, but even at that disappointing speed, it gives me another connectivity option if we’re abroad and the local service is poor.

Best news of all? After moaning at them because it wasn’t delivered over the weekend as they had suggested, they gave me ALL my money back AND said I could keep the Router. So, it’s cost me nothing at all! You can’t get better than that, ehh?!?!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Boys and their Toys (Part 984,213) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Technology waits for no man – but I do try and keep up!

Way back in June 2019, we took the plunge and bought our first BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle). At the time, one of the attractions was a sizeable financial subsidy from the State to buy the car AND a Grant to have a Charger fitted on the side of the house. In 2019, there was really only one major player for BEV Home Chargers – ‘BP ChargeMaster’ (who later became BP Pulse). It did the job… just… but became quite temperamental in terms of how it shared its data such as costs and energy delivered. So unreliable, in fact, as of today, we were on our THIRD Unit from BP.

Coincidence (or otherwise), BP withdrew from the Home Charger market a while ago, so it was time to shop around for something better and maybe something smarter. ‘Better’ should be easy, but ‘smarter’??

For a while now, ‘smarter’ Chargers have been a thing. How so? The best ones out there now talk directly to your energy provider rather than relying on the car itself to initiate the communication. Why’s that better? Well, the car industry generally makes reliable EVs but their in-car technology, shall we say ‘varies a bit’. Kia is a perfect example! – our current car. On the one hand, it’s the best we’ve ever owned, but the inbuilt ‘charge manager’, recently, without warning, stopped communicating with our energy provider! Permanently!!

Time for some serious research, and after quite a few hours of online activity, I found that there were a just few contenders out there who ticked all the required boxes for us. In the end, I opted for the ‘Ohme Home Pro‘. (Ohme pronounced, perhaps not how you think… it rhymes with ‘Oh me‘ – who knew? ). £600 lighter, I placed the order online a few days before Christmas, and the package arrived on Christmas Eve. .

Installation

Today was the day for installation. It was mostly straightforward because we already had all the cabling in place from retiring the BP Unit – or so we thought! In theory, it was just a case of removing the BP Pulse Unit, and replacing it with the Ohme plus a bit of configuring. Well, I say ‘straightforward’ especially as I got our local and long-time competent ‘Sparkies’, Mick and Ash, to do the hard work.

Although it mostly went to plan, there was an additional unforeseen cabling challenge. Because we were ‘early adopters’ of home charging, it meant our existing outdoor cabling did NOT have the necessary ‘CT clamp’ wires built-in. Apparently, this is a highly recommended safety feature these days (why?), so it couldn’t be ignored. A temporary fix was put in place, whilst the required length of CT cabling was ordered.

Now, all that was left to do, was to test everything. I’d already set up my new Ohme Account and linked it to our existing Octopus account, so, again, in theory, once the device was powered up, it should live up to its ‘smart’ credentials.

After a couple of false starts – including a visit to ‘Installer mode’ – requiring a few twiddles, it all seemed to be working. Success! …and here’s the proof…

Note how the Charger has worked out the best times to charge the Car (for the Grid) today, and as a result, Octopus has given us various slots at the super cheap rate of just 7p per kWh – and that applies to the electricity FOR THE WHOLE HOUSE, NOT JUST THE CAR! .

Today, I LOVE technology!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Ohme, Sweet Ohme! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Well, it’s a pivotal moment here at ‘Pemberley HQ’. We’re finally, finally, FINALLY getting top-end full-fibre broadband installed.

Regular readers will know that for as long as I can remember, internet speeds here have always been very much ‘behind the curve’ (actually, no sign of the curve AT ALL). During the many years that I ran the business from home, ‘decent’ broadband speeds were never possible and back then, even the big corporations (yes, BT and Virgin, I’m looking at you!) officially confirmed they had no plans to bring faster speeds to the area.

Anyway, fast-forward to a few years back when the rumours began circling locally about a startup called CityFibre who was revolutionising broadband connections, digging up pavements and roads and installing ‘next generation’ full fibre. Even then, I honestly never thought they’d reach Kettering!

Currently, we’re on around 40 Mbps which for the average home would be more than enough. Those who know me, know that we’re not average with our techy stuff and ‘just’ 40 Mbps speed was struggling to keep everything working smoothly. When I first began looking for a faster package, 500 Mbps was about the best you could get – and that, in truth, would have suited us perfectly. Then, just when I thought that was as good as it gets, along came ‘gigafast’ – almost 1000 Mbps (910 actually). A ridiculously fast connection – and no need for it at all here… but I chose it anyway! . Bizarrely, it was CHEAPER than the 500 Mbps option.

Then, just recently, they brought out 2.3 Mbps. Even with my enthusiasm for tech, at £70 per month, it wasn’t for me! Just yet, anyway!!

On the day of the install, we’d prepared ourselves for a bit of upheaval. I was always interested in HOW they we were going to connect us to the main fibre hub as CityFibre had never actually been as far as our place in terms of digging up the pavement/road. I shouldn’t have worried, as apparently, they were going to take advantage of the utility ducts as well as the BT trunking to get the connection right up to the house.

I should make it clear that CityFibre aren’t actually our broadband provider – they just laid the infrastructure (as most Kettering residents will confirm, as huge parts of the town were dug up to bring us into the 21st century!). For the actual supplier, we either went with ‘small and specialist’ or one of the big corporations. In the end, we went for the latter, and selected Vodafone (there was a choice of around a dozen suppliers, all using CityFibre technology).

From what I read online, their customer service gets a bit of a bashing, but they are one of the few that offer the latest router technology (WiFi 6e – thanks for asking!)…

…and a mesh setup (when you can have lots of devices in all corners of the house – that’s us!). Add to that, automatic 4G backup if the fibre connection goes down, and we’re pretty much covered. Oh, and they also ported our home telephone over to run off the router at very little extra cost – and we retained our number too – for the three or four people who ring us on the landline!

8.04am: Well, top marks CityFibre – for punctuality! These days, anyone before 9am means they’re either an ambulance, a doctor or the police!

Jordan and his colleague were straight down to work. First job was to install the ONT (Optical Network Terminal)

That seemed to go smoothly! The next stage took a little longer – getting the fibre optic cable from ‘somewhere up the road’ to the house.

9.45am: Well it all went really smoothly, where a quick test showed some impressive download speeds, although uploading was a bit flaky. I was promised it would all settle down – and it did. By lunchtime, I was getting much more than the ‘minimum speed guarantee’ (455 Mbps). Plenty of homework too for me, as Routers have certainly evolved since I last looked at one in detail. A 2.5G WAN socket and two RJ45 telephone sockets..? OMG!!!!

Time will tell as to whether Vodafone was a wise choice, but for now, I have speeds that I could only have dreamed of (just) a year ago. Now all I need to do is point all our smart plugs and lights to the new connection (see you around Christmas!)

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post At last! Fibre! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Headed off to Toddington in Dunstable this morning to catch up with long-time friend, Angela C.

The journey there took longer than expected – it should have been around an hour, but with the M1 near Flitwick being dug up in both directions, it made my progress VERY slow!

We made good use of time catching up with each other’s news and rolling in some techy problem-solving relating to Angela’s phone and her laptop.

The food offer was ‘simple fare’ and where the service was as good as remember it when we first discovered the place last August for a similar get-together! . It was a very productive morning, where all-but-one of the issues were solved, leaving ‘why no spell checker in Outlook?’, something for me to do some more research on.

At just after 1 o’clock, the final task of the day was successfully bluetooth-ing Angela’s phone to her car – and it worked a treat! Thankfully, it was a much smoother journey heading north for home (even though the roadworks were still slowing things down) and I was home just after 3.

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Job Done in Dunstable! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Well, maybe not QUITE yet, but the latest ULTRA Fast internet technology is officially on its way! Huzzah!

At last! After spending the past 35 years or so, being firmly BEHIND the curve with internet-speed technology, we’re going to get the fastest available! The above leaflet arrived through our letterbox yesterday. I thought something was on the cards when I spotted these guys around a month ago, just opposite our house!

Currently, we’re on around 40 Mbps and up to 900 Mbps is promised when we go FULL Fibre!

Boys and their Toys – I can’t wait!!!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post It’s Official – We’re UltraFast! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

No, not the 1982 movie, but simply some news about my never-ending quest to acquire some top-end internet speeds here! Boys and their toys ehh???? .

Since I last whinged about all of this back in February, when I first saw CityFibre in the area, things have moved on. Again, courtesy of CityFibre, it looks like we’re a step closer to getting FULL Fibre in our actual road! Witness the above scene this morning, not more than five yards from the house – it’s purple sheathing being inserted via the drains (that’ll save digging up part of the road!).

All of this purpleness, together with the three recently installed green junction boxes with their cabinet doors now unlocked and open, ready to be connected, means that all we’re waiting for now is the ‘City Gang’ to install the connection points in front of each property.

Historically, we’ve always been ‘BEHIND the curve’ with broadband connectivity, but looks like it’s about the end and we’ve finally caught up! It’s only taken 35 years!!! Happy days!

Update: 22 September

It’s officially official!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post The Colour Purple appeared first on Steve's Blog.

There was a time when our home town of Kettering always seemed to be the LAST to get any tech innovations. Well, that’s just changed! Why? How?

A few days ago, we learned about something here that’s put us ahead (currently) of any other town in the UK.

And no, for once, I’m not talking about internet speeds!

Step forward, BP Pulse, one of the first providers of non-Tesla public EV charging and currently the UK’s largest EV charge-point provider. In the past week, they’ve proudly opened their shiny new Kettering ‘Hub’, featuring 10 of their most technically advanced 300kW units offering the ability to serve 20 vehicles at 150kW all at once.

Officially, these are known as Ultra-Fast chargers and no doubt, they’ll have ‘ultra’ prices to match. For non-EV peeps, at the time of writing, this news is really ‘quite a thing’! . Realistically though, there aren’t many cars that can take advantage of ‘150kW’ currently. But, if you’re an Audi eTron, a Porsche Taycan or a Kia EV6 owner, and you live in/near Kettering, you’ll be mighty pleased about this news, as it’ll get your pride-and-joy to 80% in around 20 minutes!

Their CEO Akira Kirton commented: “It’s our largest and most powerful EV charging hub yet”

The Hub is located at the intersection of the A14 and the A43 on Cransley Park. Technological advances, as we know, wait for no-one, and BP Pulse are due to open their next one, somewhere in the West Midlands, featuring a whopping 15 double-chargers!

At last, Kettering enters the 21st Century!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post The Pulse of Kettering! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Temptation of the Tech!

After a lot of dithering by me over the past few years, I finally succumbed to the temptation of the tech! Yes, time to upgrade my phone. I didn’t need to, as my current beast, the very reliable Samsung Note10+ 5G (bought back in 2019) has easily been the best phone I’ve ever owned. At the time, it was the fastest Android phone going and even had a stylus, so I could markup work and get creative with my drawing!

Still, 2019 is ancient history these days in terms of phones! Samsung releases a flagship phone every year and more recently they put on a hell of a show online – their ‘UNPACKED’ event – to convince us to part with our cash. This year was no exception and on 1st February at 6pm UK-time we got our first glimpse of Samsung’s latest tech. You can watch it HERE (no YouTube embedding of this year’s one-hour event was allowed/possible) but there was a ‘cut to the chase’ version that’s free of these restrictions below…

I’m in!

With almost 5 years between my two phones, I had a bit of catching up to do. But, shock horror then, when the Note series – Samsung‘s flagship best-of-the-best devices – was spectacularly discontinued last year – and for a brief moment there was almost rioting in the streets from Samsung fanboys and girls because the implication was that the unique stylus would also disappear, because the Note was the only Samsung phone that sported it!

Calm down, calm down! After the dust settled in 2022, Samsung announced they’d introduce an ‘Ultra’ variant into their already successful ‘other’ premium phone – the ‘S series’ – and with it, a stylus. Huzzah! For me then, ‘happy days’! If they hadn’t, it would have been a deal-breaker as once you’ve got used to using one for certain tasks, it’s a must-have!

That Camera!

As a brand, Samsung have always impressed me – and not just for phones! (Well, apart from the debacle with my 4K TV, but that’s another story!). They’re also pretty generous when it comes to direct trade-ins too! This time, I ‘saved’ around £300 (about the price of my second car back in the day!). Yes, an absolutely obscene price for a phone, but I really bought it for its camera features!

In truth, over the past few years ALL phone manufacturers have struggled to bring a truly unique feature to their phones that gives them the competitive edge. Pretty much every mobile phone will do a GREAT job – you can even make and receive calls on them. It’s pretty normal these days for the processors to get a boost as well as the graphics – but this time around, Samsung has raised the bar – and given its new flagship device a 200-megapixel camera! 200 megapixels! . My first proper Digital SLR didn’t have anywhere near that – and that was a dedicated camera! OK megapixels aren’t everything in terms of picture quality, but it’s a sign of how much ‘phones’ have evolved.

Specification – Note 10+ 5G (2019) vs S23 Ultra (2023)

Text in grey: indicates ‘no change’
Text in black: ‘there’s a difference’

Long story short! Everything is faster/ bigger/cleverer than previous Samsung phones (except for the drop in charging capacity – 15W to 10W and there’s no MSD card slot). More especially in the video/photography arena where, as I’ve previously mentioned, there’s a humungous 200 megapixel camera, a 10x optical zoom and where 8K video is possible – yes, 8K! In fact, the whole ‘Samsung Unpacked’ presentation was shot using this latest S23 phone!

Samsung even hired Sir Ridley Scott to create a short film using the S23 rather than a Pro video camera. An impressive marketing exercise as well as the intended impressively shot movie!

On the Day!

With delivery set for ‘before 10.30am’ on the 17th February. I couldn’t wait to get started transferring over the data from my current phone and then putting my new toy through its paces – especially the camera!

Pair that with an upgrade promise of 4 years of OS updates and 5 years of security updates and you’ve got a solid software offering. But some things are NOT meant to be, are they?

Meanwhile, the Gods of Samsung, had other ideas and were beginning to f*** things up behind the scenes… (more about that later!)

That’s when things began to go horribly wrong!

The delivery had already been delayed ONCE, Then a few days before the new delivery date, Samsung postponed the delivery again!!

The new date was now the 31st March. Well, that was just taking the p*** – so I cancelled my order and arranged a full refund!

I wouldn’t have minded, but SOME people had already received theirs, without a problem, including the gazillion of so-called ‘Reviewers’ and ‘Influencers’! Bad show Samsung, and in my view, a PR disaster!

But at least it’s only 11 months to wait until their next one, the S24! Let’s hope they get the delivery side of things sorted by then!!

I feel an online rant coming on!!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Boys and their Toys (Part 23) – Samsung S23 Ultra appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Those that know me, will be very aware that I have an ‘enthusiastic’ (read ‘slightly obsessional’) interest in Internet speeds around these parts!

It probably began just over 30 years ago when I was in the first few years of running my business from home. The Internet was just becoming a thing and the ‘big players’ (that’s BT and Virgin) when asked, shrugged their collective shoulders commenting there was no demand for any form of speedy connections in the immediate area.

And that’s how it has pretty much stayed over the years where our postcode always seems to be BEHIND the curve, destined to always be the last to get up-to-date internet connectivity speeds. Communication about speeds has always been poor too! It was only because I saw a BT van in the road some years back that I found out we had FTTC! Thanks BT!

So, what’s changed? Well, late last year, I spied a couple of Virgin peeps lifting the Utility covers and feeding fibre optic cables into them. A quick conversation with them revealed that ‘Full Fibre’ was coming!

Fast-forward to last week and a company called City Fibre appeared out of nowhere and began digging up nearby footpaths (as above) and laying even more fibre optic cables. At the time of writing, they haven’t made it as far as our road yet, but even the old cynic in me thinks it’s only a matter of time!

At last, Kettering appears to now be at the forefront of the latest connectivity technology! It’s only taken nearly 35 years!!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Fibre is good for you! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Those that know me, know that I love anything techy! For a few years now, I’ve expressed my passion through this Blog. Lately though, it’s been creaking a bit under the bonnet because of the sheer volume of content – mainly down to my photos!

The trouble is, all those pictures had (unbeknown to me) been gradually heading towards my allowed limit for the number of files I can store (as you can see below!). Not quite sure why the limit is exactly 262,144 files, but there you go! . I could have ignored it for a while, but there were signs that all was not well when images refused to upload and the Blog started to become unstable.

A quick call to IONOS revealed that the only route was to ‘upgrade my package’ – at a cost of course! Kerchinnngggg! That wasn’t an option given that the price would have been close to 5 times what I’m now paying per month. The solution was beyond my techy expertise, but I was determined not to use such a big chunk of my State Pension to get it fixed.

The solution? A bit of time spent Googling revealed a very helpful organisation – WebDesign Ltd – based in Colchester, who specialise in sorting out problems like this (amongst their many other tech talents). Huzzah!!!

A few weeks later, and as you can see, I’m sorted! (Thanks Matt, thanks Matthew!) — and at a fraction of the cost that I was originally quoted by my ISP to ‘upgrade my package’! I’ve also now got enough space to outlast me!!

That’s what I call a good result!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Boys and their Toys (Part 221,122!) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Well, after writing to Virgin Media in 1992, asking about the chances of improving my then pathetic Internet speed of about 1Mbps – it’s finally happened! Back then, their reply was ‘there was no demand in your immediate area for our services’. Today, finally, in August 2022, Cable has arrived! — Aw Bless! It only took them 30 years to make the right decision!!!

Today, a number of the Virgin team were popping postcards through everyone’s letterbox in the ‘immediate area’. And not only that, they’re offering (currently) the fastest speeds on the planet – that’s up to 1130Mbps! . The techy name is ‘Gigabit Broadband’ and even I didn’t think it would ever be that fast around here!! Amazing! . But I really could have done with these speeds when I had the business based here ‘back in the day’!!!

That’s quite an improvement compared with the next best speed currently offered by BT and Sky of around 55Mbps max!

So, am I going to switch? Well, I want to, but as Fate would have it, we’ve just signed a new contract with BT for the next two years!

Bugger!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Virgin in our Post Code! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Yes, it’s that time again! Time to source a replacement for my now-ancient ‘Lenovo Ideapad 305‘ Laptop. It’s served me well for well over four years, accompanying me around the world helping me to keep in touch with the mother ship! It’s going to a good home – a TA friend of mine becomes its new keeper!

As you might expect, me being me, choosing the Lenovo’s replacement wasn’t a quick decision! After a few intensive weeks narrowing down the options (more of that later!) I chose an HP device – which wasn’t how I thought things would play out.

So, say hello to my (deep breath!)…

“HP Spectre x360 15-eb0001na 4K OLED
Convertible Laptop with Pen (2020 Edition)”

Phew! Quite a mouthful! And quite a wallet-buster too, at £1949.99!! (best price).

The Shortlist

Well, there nearly wasn’t a shortlist at all – I thought I knew what I wanted – the rather clever and just launched Samsung Galaxy Book 360 Pro. was the front-runner. But, as they say, ‘the devil is in the detail’. I’ve already got a Samsung mobile phone, so what could possibly go wrong?

On closer inspection of the laptop specs, the storage was a bit small for me at (just) 512Gb and more crucially, the display was ‘only’ HD. For the money I planned on spending, I was really looking for a 4K display.

Further reading online by those ahead of me in the buying queue for the Samsung flagship, revealed a disappointing webcam and a distinct lack of sockets (not even a USB3 port!). In fact, the more I read, the more disappointed I became. OK, it had the latest 11th gen Intel chip, the device was super-light to carry and it had a gorgeous AMOLED screen, but there seemed to be some confusion in the marketing materials about its storage expansion capability.

I posted a question to Samsung Support who confirmed that I couldn’t add an additional SSD (even though the online marketing blurb suggested this was possible). When I challenged Support’s reply, I got a vague response – that just added to my confusion!

Enough already! Time to go looking elsewhere. There were only two others that came close to the spec I was after…

The ASUS Zenbook Flip S (but it only came with a 13-inch screen and I wanted a 15-incher at least!! !and the aforementioned HP.

In the end, the screen size was the deal-breaker for me and I plumped for the HP.

The Winner

What’s so special about the Spectre? If you want a detailed specification, take a look here, but for now, here are the headlines…

A gorgeous 4k screen
OLED screen technology
Touch screen technology
A stylus
1Tb of M2 SSD storage
plus
16Gb of RAM
Gorilla glass screen
(Almost) the latest Intel chip

It’s also a ‘2-in-1’, which means it can function as a Tablet too (albeit a very large tablet!). Best of all though is that it sports a special hinge mechanism which allows it to be set up in a tent fashion (as in the photo above) which combined with the touch screen and stylus, makes it easy to use creatively.

Now, all I needed to do was to transfer over all my data! That’s always the boring bit – but it’s necessary!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post HP Source appeared first on Steve's Blog.

As all of us (in the UK, anyway) escape the clutches of the pandemic restrictions, I’m in the mood to re-stimulate my grey cells (cellS?) and get my brain back into gear!

I’m going to dive into the world of the Raspberry Pi! For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, the ‘Pi’ is a tiny computer that’s incredibly cheap and small… and powerful!

My Mentor in all of this, is my long-time mate Chris, who’s got years of experience in this area, so I know I’m in good hands!

The Pi can be built to do a gazillion of things – from replacing a household PC to controlling a robot, the list is almost endless.

My initial aim is more straightforward(ish) though – to build a small unit that monitors our gas and electricity use, and then display upcoming costs. It’ll be a sort of Smart Meter on steroids! And some!

Chris and I are splitting the job into two chunks. Chunk 1 will be to build a basic Pi and get it up and running followed by the second chunk focussing on the capture and display of the energy data.

I’m planning to build the latest Pi version – the ‘4B’ (whatever that means!). It’s got pretty much all the sockets you’d find on a standard PC and although it’s less powerful, in its favour, it’s tiny, measuring just 85.6mm × 56.5mm (that’s about 3½ inches x 2 inches in old money!) – think of it as about the same size as a deck of cards!

Everything you need can be bought online (so no need to even visit a shop!) and I discovered that compared to other computer tech, everything is very cheap – the 8Gb model, the highest spec, only costs around £50. Happy days!!!

OK, I needed to get a case for it, and for my particular project, a screen too, but the low cost and its diminutive size still made it a very convenient piece of kit. Once we’d bolted together all the parts…

…the Raspberry Operating System needed installing – and that’s where Chris’s expertise kicked-in!

We finished the ‘first chunk’ in just under three hours – and it all looked pretty good!

Chunk 2, where we link up all the various data sources, is planned over the next few months. So far, so good.

Cheers for your help Chris!!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post More Pi anyone? appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Yes, it’s that time again! An opportunity to refresh the look and feel of my personal website – StevePalmer.com. With ‘you-know-what‘ giving many of us plenty of time on our hands at the moment, it’s been the perfect opportunity to pick up some new knowledge and skills!

In truth, I could have left it as it is, but the original authoring program – Serif’s WebsiteX8 that I’ve been using for almost 10 years has ceased development and is no longer supported. So, a double challenge in that not only did I have to rebuild my site, I had to learn another software design package too!

Still, it gave my ‘little grey cells’ a thorough workout – so that’s no bad thing! More than I knew! In 2021, the choice of packages that allow you to design from scratch is not that great, as the trend is to offer pre-defined layouts where the user just adds the content. That’s too inflexible for me! In fact, it probably took me longer to find the ideal replacement software than it did to learn to use it!

I first tried using Xara’s Web Designer Premium, but although it is a very (very!) capable package, I didn’t find it particularly intuitive to use. After much head-scratching, I settled for Incomedia’s Website X5. All-in-all, I’d say it’s only taken me a couple of months (on and off) to learn how to use it and during the few occasions I needed some help, the Incomedia Support Team (based in Italy) have always been responsive, knowledgeable and friendly.

This will be the fifth re-design since my site was first launched back in 1991 (June 2010, May 2012, January 2014 and April 2015 were the other re-design milestones). I began work on it back in October, and I was surprised how much needed changing. These days, the priority is how a site will look and feel on portable devices (‘mobile friendly’, to use the techy term) and that’s taken a fair bit of time and experimentation.

Thankfully, this latest software makes the whole process much easier than it used to be!

So, today, I put the finishing touches to my site and uploaded the files. Click on the link below to see it all in its shining glory! Have a look around and enjoy the content – your feedback is always welcome!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Website Makeover (2021) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

No stress at all for ‘the driver’ today as we’re leaving the car at the station and travelling by train to Plymouth! Thanks to ‘Lockdown 2.0’, it’s also our final FULL day here as we’re heading home tomorrow (instead of Saturday). I shan’t miss those narrow, twisty-turny roads at all!

10.05am: It was a quick drive to Totnes station to catch the 10.19 direct to our destination. Our transport was on time and we had Coach C all to ourselves!

10.45am: We arrived in Plymouth in just 20 minutes – easy-peasy! Now, all we had to do was to get into town from the Station. Three choices: Walk it, Taxi it or Bus it. We chose the Bus – and the grumpiest driver we’d met in a while! It’s not as though he was under pressure, but he found it hard to be helpful and raise a smile when faced with our questions about exactly where the Drake Circus Shopping Mall was located.

Luckily for us (or not, depending on your viewpoint), we were befriended by a local drunk who was also on the Bus. He clearly wanted to be our friend as he moved from the back of the Bus to the seat opposite! His slightly slurred speech, hindered by his mask and broad Scottish accent, meant it was almost impossible to work out what he was saying, but we deduced he was trying to do what the driver hadn’t – point us in the right direction! He was a friendly soul who had an air of ‘Special Brew’ about him, and by the end of the journey, I think we were within ‘a nats’ of him becoming our ‘Guide-for-the-day’!

As the Bus pulled into our stop, some nifty footwork by Ann saw us take refuge on the local TK Maxx – and our ‘special friend’ headed into the distance!

More of our shopping experience later, but next, a short history lesson about the ‘high street’ here…

The ‘old’ Shopping experience

These days, the shopping experience in Plymouth is split into two ‘types’. You have the ‘old’ area which still looks like it’s stuck in the 70s and where there are many units that look like they’ve been empty for a long while (even pre-Covid!). The ‘usual suspects’ of Poundland, Subway, Primark and TK Maxx will give you sense of the sort of shoppers it attracts. And, just when you think you’ve got a measure of the place – and its people – bizarrely, there’s the Rolex shop!

In some ways, the area looks frozen in time, just as if someone or something stole most of its trade. And then you realise who the culprit is…

The ‘new’ Shopping experience

Nearby, there are a number of ‘Malls’. The nearest is the sparkly ‘Drake Circus‘ opened in 2006 and boasting 425,000 of covered retail space. It’s easy to see why many might prefer to shop here! Nearby, there is the slightly older Armada Shopping Mall.

Back to our shopping experience today…

10.45am: First stop was TK Maxx – one of its larger offerings. It was enjoying a good trade, but even we didn’t manage to bag any bargains!

11.10am: Then it was onto nearby Debenhams that turned out to be the opposite of TK Maxx – deathly quiet (apart from the cafeteria) and looking like the whole place was on its last legs. A great shame to see a once staple of the high street looking so sorry for itself. It’s never a good sign when a retailer devotes a WHOLE FLOOR to reductions and Debenhams was offering a massive 70% off. Ann bagged a few bargains and we finished our Debenham’s experience by joining the masses in the cafeteria and enjoyed a toasted bacon sandwich!

12.15pm: Our final stop before lunch was good ol’ M&S! It was enjoying a busy period especially the food hall, where they had introduced a very strict queuing and one-way system to manage the numbers! We picked up some Christmas Cards for next year at a really good price.

After saying goodbye to M&S, we discovered Drake Circus – and most of the local population!

It certainly didn’t look 15 years old… very shiny, very bright and in many of its areas – very busy!

It was good to look around the two floors of retail. We could also see that the top floor was devoted to eateries.

1.00pm: Lunchtime, and we decided to support the ‘older’ part of the town and head away from Drake Circus. It wasn’t probably our best move as there wasn’t that many places to choose from, but in the distance, we could see ‘Slug and Lettuce’ (their foods is always fine, but I’ve never been convinced about the name!!! Is it just me or is it weird to have the word ‘lettuce’ in your title??).

We were soon seated – and encouraged to use their App for ordering and paying. It started well and I soon had the App on my phone, but it refused to reveal any menus and the search function always came up with ‘nothing found’. Back to the ‘old school’ method of actually talking to the Waiter then!

Our Waiter was friendly and on-the-ball. We haven’t eaten at a Slug & Lettuce for a while, but when our order arrived (a sharing platter) either the Chef got imperial and metric measures confused, or their portion sizes have become more generous – it was massive, and could easily fed 4-6 people.

1.55pm: Stuffed as staff from Stuffville’s Christmas Party! As we waddled out of the restaurant, our old friend was back – not our ‘special’ one from inbound bus journey, but that (now familiar) wet stuff from the sky! As I checked my phone for the time, we worked out that we had enough time to WALK back to the station and catch the 2.15 back to Totnes.

Something else was immediately noticeable on my mobile too…

Tech-Head Warning!!! Look away now, if you aren’t
remotely interested in data transfer speeds!

It might have been raining, but that didn’t dissuade me from carrying out some data speed tests. After all, this was the first area I’ve been to that had actually got a 5G network!!! This was a very special day!!!

An ‘up’ speed of 23 and a down speed of 168 is none-too-shabby. As a comparison, my fibre-connection at home manages 12 up and 42 down.

Welcome back! With my ‘techy-moment’ over, we followed the signposts back to the Station. Within 20 minutes, we were on the platform, which turned out to be perfect timing for the departure of the 2.15 – first stop, Totnes!

2.45pm: We were soon back at the Cottage, where we started to get packed for our journey home tomorrow.

Back Again?

All-in-all, it’s been a great break. The Cottage has been excellent, very well-equipped and built to an excellent standard. Its only downside was that it was located in the back-of-beyond, requiring nerves of steel and rapid reaction-speeds to get to it by car in one piece. On some days, the weather wasn’t on our side, making the driving even more challenging. Was it worth it? Oh yes! We’ve seen some beautiful sights and eaten well – I’m pretty sure we’ll be back to this area in the future, but most likely during warmer weather. Standout location for me? Buckfast Abbey!

Click on the button below for the photo gallery of the whole holiday

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Holiday: Devon in Seven! (Day 4) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Yes, it’s that time again! – technology marches on, and I’m looking to replace my ageing BT router – the ‘Homehub 4’. It might only be around 6 years old, but that’s a lifetime these days for this sort of tech!

Why change? Well, normally, it would be simply down to more whistles and bells, but this time, things were different! Oh yes! Not only was the replacement going to have to have more whistles and bells, but it needed to be a lot more reliable too! Not that its unreliability was the router’s fault, as I’ll explain later.

As things were to turn out, I got all my whistles and bells, plus a few more AND the total price of our broadband package actually went down!

If I was to prioritise, the promise of a more stable wireless capability was the main aim, as this was desperately in need of improvement, especially for some of the radios and mobile phones here.

Why? Well, not surprisingly, we tend to push the router hard in this house – and that’s what was causing the unreliability. Not content with just the ‘normal’ typical family connections; say, a couple of phones, tablets, laptops etc, we’ve got so much more ‘talking’ the current router – see the list below.

The result being in many cases, devices were randomly losing their connection and the speed-per-device was sometimes horribly slow. And no-one was surprised, not even BT when I told them how many bits of kit were connected!!!

After a lot of research, we simply settled on the latest router from BT – their so-called ‘SmartHub 2.0‘. Additionally, they promised no increase in the price of our contract (apart from RPI) at the end of the contract, but also a free techy visit if needed, and perhaps more importantly, ‘guaranteed strong wifi around the home‘ (using ‘mesh‘ technology). There’s quite a useful comparison between the various BT ‘Hub’s HERE.

Crikey! even Which liked it!

“We had high hopes for the BT Complete Wi-Fi, and it definitely lived up to its bold claims. The Smart Hub 2 on its own is the highest scoring router we’ve tested, and with the added disc it’s one of the best mesh systems we’ve seen. It can give you excellent coverage and fast transfer speeds, even with lots of devices connected”.

Check out their full review HERE.

I must admit, even though the reviews of this replacement were glowing, I tend to treat all the hype with some caution these days – even from Which.

“That’ll be interesting” I thought, “we’ve got close on 40 devices all needing to talk to the router, and I’m sure that’s well in excess of what’s recommended”

Our shiny new toy arrived a few days later. There was now even an app to help you set it up!

Long-story-short: It was a breeze to get up-and-running – and more importantly, after some thorough stress-testing, every device in the house was rock-solid in terms of its connection. I guess this ‘mesh‘ technology-marlarkey does the trick!

And just to be sure, I located a complementary piece of kit known as a ‘disc’ on eBay (half the price than direct from BT) that works with the router to boost the signal even further (some 15% apparently). That now lives upstairs and although not strictly necessary, it could only make things even better.

Time will tell over the coming weeks as to whether it lives up to the hype – we’ll see!!!

Tech Spec:
Supports ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL2, G.FAST
1 x Analogue phone port
2.4GHz 3 x 3 MIMO 11n, 5GHz 4×4 MIMO 11ac
4 x gigabit LAN ports
2 x USB 3.0 ports
Serves as a DECT base station
7 x Wi-Fi, 2 DECT antennas
1 x USB 2.0 port

#CynicalBugger

Update: Well, three weeks later, I’m happy to report that the internet is vastly improved. Downloads are a tad faster (although I wasn’t expecting that!) and every device has enjoyed a 100% connection since the router’s installation. Thanks BT!!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Tech Alert (No. 1211) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

It’s our big holiday-of-the year soon – to China – with our long-time travel companions, Ralph and Karen.

But this trip is going to be a little different from our previous adventures together in terms of how we keep you up to date.

Why? In China, most western-based social media activity is completely blocked or banned, and therefore (officially) we’re not able to post to any of the ‘big’ social media platforms.

Although the situation is pretty fluid, the smart-money suggests the situation isn’t going to change any time soon, and we won’t really know the latest until we get there. Realistically I’m expecting some (very) long periods of radio silence until we finish the holiday in Hong Kong where things are a tad more relaxed!

So it all looks a bit grim!

There is a glimmer of hope though! Whilst Ann has worked on a really interesting itinerary (see below), Ralph and I have been ‘on the case’, looking into the techy side of things – and the legal workarounds (more of which later).
…and just in case PRC’s President, Xi Jinping, and his staff are monitoring this, we’re certainly not going to be doing anything that’s illegal!

What’s so different about China?

Well, as we all know, the Chinese Government already has a tense relationship with the good ol’ US of A. More specifically, ever since Google and the Chinese Government had a falling out a few years ago about censorship, the local ‘tech-landscape’ there has deteriorated. There is now a wider mistrust of the West, where even accessing the BBC is banned!

The State now proactively blocks/bans virtually all undesirable internet traffic both ways (and for ‘undesirable’ read – unsurprisingly – anything provided by Google – Gmail, Maps, Photos, Translate, Search etc etc). If that’s not significant enough, there are other tech-casualties in the shape of social media…

…quite a few more actually, so let me be as specific as I can! From what we’ve read and been advised, the following (as of September 2019) are also on the ‘naughty step’

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Linkedin
• Messenger
• Pinterest
• Quora
• Reddit
• Snapchat
• Tumblr
• Twitter
• WhatsApp (Although some recent reports suggest it works in some locations)
• WordPress (to some degree)

That doesn’t leave an awful lot of choice does it!?

What about that workaround?

As I mentioned, fortunately, there IS a perfectly legal way round all of this, even though the solution sounds like it’s illegal!

And that solution is to use some software on your phone, tablet, laptop etc called a VPN (a Virtual Private Network*). Ralph and I have done our techy-homework and are now all kitted out with all we need (with a Plan B too) – Hurrah!

*VPNs are subscription services that encrypt your internet traffic and route it through an intermediary server outside of China. By installing a VPN app on your computer/phone and connecting to a server, you can bypass the ‘Great Firewall’ and freely access the web.

…but just to keep things interesting, the State monitors these official solutions too, and regularly blocks them. In fact, the past few weeks, leading up to the PRC’s 70th celebrations have been a nightmare, where many VPNs have just stopped working! – Boo!

Oooo, We do love a challenge! …and if we can get it all to work, you’ll be one of the first to know!

See you (virtually) on the other side – or not!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post The Great (Fire)Wall of China! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Our final day in London today!

Ahh, that’s better! I feel a walk down Oxford Street coming on (before midday!)

On our list today…

9.20am: We were out earlier than yesterday, but confident we’d miss the rush on the Tube. How wrong we were! It was nose-to-armpit for the whole of our journey in, and reminded us both of how travelling around the capital used to be when we were based. A sensory experience I thought I’d never have to endure again!!!

The Samsung Shop

9.45am: Our first stop of the day was the Samsung Shop in Oxford Street – aka The Samsung Experience. It’s (apparently) the ‘Mecca’ for Samsung fan-boys and girls, and it looked very upmarket inside. I’m not a fanboy myself – far from it – I simply choose the brand that offers the best techy-spec! However, in theory at least, you can’t do better than this official shop for all your ‘bits and bobs’ for their phones. In my particular case, I’m on the hunt for some very special (and very new) wired chargers. They’ve only been around for about a fortnight, but I felt optimistic!

I already knew these two ‘species’ – Chargus Wattus Maximus Major (and Minor) were like ‘hen’s teeth’, but the official shop was bound to stock them, weren’t they?

Weren’t they????

Well, it turned out to be a completely wasted journey! (apart from helping me to increase my step-count for today!) As I enquired if they stocked the new ’15W super-charger’ and maybe even the ’45W hyper-charger’, the Assistant looked mighty embarrassed as he whispered “No sir, we don’t have either, and we’ve no idea when they’ll be here”.

A bit disappointing considering it’s their flagship store!
So, what’s all the fuss about these chargers? Well, they’re both able to charge the new generation of Samsung phones from completely empty to completely full in… wait for it… just over an hour! Amazing technology, and a real life-saver if you’ve ever need to charge your phone in record time!

To add insult to injury, I was advised by the Samsung Shop to try Currys opposite or Carphone Warehouse down the road. Of course, I did, but of course, they’d not got them either!

On our way to our next stop – St Paul’s Cathedral – we couldn’t help admire how much better Tottenham Court Road station now looked. Very shiny and very spacious too!

St Paul’s Cathedral

10.25am: Time to forget tech for a while and concentrate on something much older. We exited the Tube at St Paul’s and headed for the Cathedral. Neither of us had been here for a good many years, and so we were looking forward to admiring this famous landmark inside and out. Once again, our 2-for-1 tickets saved us a packet – Total admission price? £20 instead of £40!!

It didn’t disappoint..!

Superb architecture that looked like it was decorated yesterday. Beautiful!

The Crypt was just as interesting and included the resting place of two military heavyweights – Nelson and Wellington.

A quick pit-stop next to the Crypt, before heading off to our next stop…

The Bank of England Museum

11.35am: We were a little early for Lunch, so we decided to track-down the location of the Bank of England Museum – especially as it had now started raining. A short walk later (after being re-directed when we mistakenly entered the Bank itself!) we arrived at the Museum, literally just round the corner. No queues and so we were inside in the dry very quickly.

What a find this was! Five separate galleries explaining the history of this famous institution, as well as plenty of interactive exhibits to attract the young (and me too!)

Entry is free, and there’s plenty on show to enjoy. It’s a light and airy space with plenty of emphasis on interactivity. Want to control inflation? Check. Seen a ten-bob note? Check. Wonder how they actually create money? Check.

There is so much to see here, and it’s all presented in a clear and well-constructed fashion.

If you’ve an hour-or-two to kill and you’re in the area, then this is a no-brainer (especially if it’s raining – and it WAS.. still!).

This had been a most delightful of discoveries – and for once, we’re so glad it started raining, otherwise we may never looked for it!

12.35pm: We decided to walk back towards St Paul’s where there was a Café Rouge. There was method in our madness, as I could use the gift voucher that Sally B had bought me for my Birthday! – Thanks Sal!!

1.05pm: I think we arrived just in time! It was already 80% full when we arrived, and after we were seated, they kept on arriving! They’re obviously doing something very right here!

We were soon seated and served (a good start!) and when our food arrived, it was piping hot.

We both chose from the fixed-price two-course menu. Risotto and then Crumble for me, whilst Ann opted for the Chicken and Chips followed by Chocolate Fondant Pudding with ice-cream.

It was all delicious and in spite of how busy they were, our two waiting-staff were a ‘well-oiled machine’. We left, just as the restaurant approached 100% capacity – yep, perfect timing!

2.10pm: We took the short walk back to St Paul’s Tube dodging the showers.

3.05pm: Arriving back at the ibis, there was time for a couple of hours to recharge batteries (phones AND humans) before we’re out again on our way to (for me) highlight of the day – the Theatre.

5.30pm: Fully recharged, we took the now well-trodden path back to Stratford Station – this time heading for Leicester Square Tube. The Theatre is right next door, so that made things easier!

The Theatre

We’re seeing tonight’s performance of The Man in the White Suit at its new home of Wyndham’s Theatre.

Those of you of a certain age will remember the 1951 satirical comedy film of the same name made by Ealing Studios. It starred Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood and Cecil Parker and was directed by Alexander Mackendrick. I love any film out of Ealing and this new Play, was going to be a real treat!

Starring Stephen Mangan, Kara Tointon and Sue Johnston (just until December 6th) it originally opened at the Theatre Royal, Bath in September 2019 before transferring to Wyndham’s Theatre. It’s only been running a few weeks in London, and I was eager to see how it translated to the stage. In fact, I learned later, that the original 1951 film itself was based on a Play so that makes this latest adaptation: ‘the-Play-of-the-film-of-the-Play!’

7.35pm: A slightly delayed ‘curtain up’, but it was worth the wait. I think we were both unsure of how the film version would translate to the stage, but it worked really well. The leads all acted their socks off and although it was possible to recognise certain scenes from the film, it all felt very different – in a good way! In fact, I’d say we both enjoyed it more than the film (and I really like the film!). It was longer too at around two-and-a-bit hours. Comedically, it was much more slapstick than its on-screen equivalent – with the occasional musical break – and it all came together very nicely! The very clever set-design allowed for some extremely sophisticated configurations, and the set-changes were as entertaining to watch as the production! Superb entertainment all-round!

9.45pm: As the actors took their bows, the audience showed their appreciation with very enthusiastic (and well-deserved) applause. Being a small theatre, we were able to exit without any fuss and were soon on the Tube back to the hotel (for the final time).

10.15pm: Luckily, the Tube was much less busy than on our journey in, but a problem at West Ham station meant that we all had to evacuate the carriage whilst the driver investigated ‘an incident’. Someone had helpfully (not!) set fire to a pile of newspapers in another carriage – and then left in a hurry! Luckily, the plucky driver poked the pile with a stick and manoeuvred it onto the platform where it burned out. We were soon back on-board and heading for our next – and final – stop, Stratford.

10.25pm: After leaving the Station, we weren’t sure whether our shortcut through the Stratford Centre would still be open – but it was! As we we walked though, we could see why…
There were quite a few homeless people settling down inside for the night in their makeshift beds – a sad and sorry sign of this modern age!!

As we exited at the other end, the only thing outnumbering the tube passengers at the start of our day, was a gathering of the Met’s finest! We’ve never seen so many boys (and girls) in blue just standing around. I think there was more here than the whole of Northamptonshire’s force put together!

We quickened our pace!

10.40pm: Back in the room! It’s been a long day for us, but it’s all been very worthwhile. We’ve packed a lot in (as we always do!) and even squeezed in some extra stuff too! Another very memorable ‘Birthday break’ – I wonder where we’ll be this time next year?

Home by lunchtime tomorrow!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post London Mini-Break – Day 3 (of 3): Suits you Sir! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Ann and I drove over to Stratford-upon Avon for our regular(ish) get-together with good friends: Alan, Mags, Ian and Ann. Our eatery of choice this time was The Swan’s Nest Hotel opposite the River.

It was the in-house eatery Bistrot Pierre that was our ultimate destination and I thought we’d never been to it before, only to discover immediately on being shown to our table, it was all very familiar! A quick check of this Blog revealed that Ian, Mags and I had been there as part of our regular Trainer ‘get-togethers’ back when we were earning: 30th August 2011!

Weather-wise, it was a glorious day! It would have been perfect for eating outside with a bright blue-sky and a temperature well into the low/mid 20s, but our table was already set inside and that’s where we stayed (although it was right by the big window in the corner, so at least we had a good view!)

Luckily, our table had been designed by King Arthur which meant it was easy to chat with everybody (most of the time). I say most because it was also very busy there, and very noisy too (technical term: ‘had atmosphere’). Still, we had plenty of opportunity to catch-up with everyone’s news, even though at times, we needed to raise our voices and it didn’t spoil the experience!

Food and service were both excellent – and the combination of the friendliest of waiting-staff and a wallet-friendly bill, did the trick! We all left with full bellies (even though none of us had Dessert) and a big smile.

Unusually, we didn’t set a date for our next get-together – more forgetfulness than anything else – but Mags had picked up on it and started the ball rolling by email. Looks like our next jaunt will be next February/March sometime.

Unusually for me, I didn’t take photos of the food! No, I wasn’t asleep! I was without my mobile phone today as it’s new, and whilst I wait for a protective case, it stayed safely at home for fear of me dropping it!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Best Nest! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

A weekend of fun, friends, fine food, F1 and err, a fone!

Friday

Ralph and Karen are joining us for the weekend. We haven’t seen each other for a while and there was plenty to catch-up with! Probably the most important task was to begin finalising details for joint trip to China including understanding the Visa process.

Arriving just after 10am, they’d had a remarkably good journey from theirs – and they’d also managed to not get stuck in all the local mega-roadworks! After a quick natter, whilst Ann and Karen then went into town to sort out some bits-and-bobs, us boys took a closer look at Ralph’s new phone – the rather impressive Huawei P20 Pro. (Pity it wasn’t called the F20 though!

It’s an impressive beast of a phone with a spec to die for… and more!

In other phone-related news, we also fashioned a plan to beat the internet restrictions in China by using a VPN and we’re going to firm-up the specifics nearer the time, after narrowing down the various providers. Given that the Chinese State is pretty active in blocking/restricting use of the internet – especially with social media and blogs – it’s a challenge and a half!

…but we do like a challenge!

11.55am: Just before Noon, the girls arrived back from town and we sat down to a sandwich lunch. A lazy afternoon followed (for some of us!) leaving Ann busy in the kitchen, weaving her magic for tonight’s meal!

6.30pm: David and Valerie arrived bang on time to join us for the Meal – and Ann’s hard work didn’t disappoint…

10.25pm: As expected, it was all delicious – and only David managed to resist NOT having TWO Desserts! It was good to catch-up with everyone’s news and the first time we looked at the clock, it was almost 10.30! Time to say good-bye to David and Valerie, quickly followed by us all calling it a night.

11.00pm: zzzzzzzzz!

Saturday

8.15am: Me, still in bed? Surely some mistake!

10.30am: Next stop? Breakfast!

12.10pm: Following our my long lie-in, after breakfast, we took the short drive to Kirby Hall (where we last visited back in July 2009).

It was good to re-visit the Hall after all these years, I’d quite forgotten how interesting a place it is – and it’s especially quirky given that the roof was err, ‘liberated’ to pay off gambling debts! As expected, nothing much had changed, but we were surprised by the welcoming committee on arrival! We quickly moooooved on!?

2.45pm: After a quick Lunch, Ralph took us through their photographs from their trip to India – all the more impressive as they we beamed wirelessly from his phone to our TV.

3.45pm: Movie time! Courtesy of Amazon Prime, we (re)watched The Imitation Game having originally seen it at the cinema back in November, 2014.

Tonight, to give Ann a break from kitchen duties, we ate out at our fave local Pub/Restaurant… The Tollemache Arms in Harrington.

6.35pm: We were last here for Ann’s Birthday back in March, and it was good to looking over their excellent Menu again! We arrived earlier than our 7pm slot and it was already heaving! (Surely a good sign!) – but they were still able to seat us. Service with a smile was clearly in evidence and we were soon making our foody-choices.

…and then when it came to the Mains, we naturally did our own thing: Karen chose the Salmon with a Lemon Citrus Dressing; Ann munched into the Macaroni Cheese; Ralph, the Pub’s signature Tolly Burger, whilst I managed the truly melt-in-the-mouth Beef Bourguignon.

Each dish proved to be delicious, and combined with their excellent service, this, our latest pub-find is becoming our regular haunt! Room for a Dessert? Well, it would have been rude not to – but I forgot to take any photos, so here’s the Dessert menu instead!

Ann chose to skip the sweet stuff, whilst Karen wrestled the Raspberry Sorbet (I say ‘wrestled’ – it was so cold it caused her some short-term brain-freeze); Ralph, the Sticky Toffee Pudding and me, the Affogato.

9.30pm: By the time we left, the place was (still) pretty much full in the Restaurant – well deserved! All in all then, a great experience (again!) – a habit we could get used to!! We headed for home and spent the rest of the evening listening to Amazon Music via the TV.

10.45pm: Here we go aga…. – we left Ralph watching the recorded F1 Qualifier highlights (I’ll catch it tomorrow!)

Sunday

8.30am: I caught up with the F1 Practice from Barcelona – another good result for Mercedes!

10.30am: We discussed our China holiday itinerary in detail and double-checked the visa requirements. Time well spent, as the visa paperwork is a nightmare with the added complexity of the Chinese State now insists on personal visits to one of their four UK centres where they will also require fingerprints!

12.10pm: Lunch at our other favourite local Pub/Restaurant – The Olde Victoria in Burton Latimer. We haven’t been here for a while but it was good to see that the service and the food was as good as we remember it. By 1 o’clock is was heaving, with only a single empty table for two left in the restaurant.

1.55pm: We said our good-byes to Ralph and Karen and whilst they headed north, we briefly dropped-in to John and Trish’s on the way home

2.30pm: Just time to drop off Karen R’s birthday present before catching up with a few house chores. It’s been a full-on weekend – but a very enjoyable one!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post The Weekend – Sponsored by the letter ‘f’ appeared first on Steve's Blog.