graze

Have you tried graze? If you haven't heard of it graze is a snack delivery service. They can send you healthy snacks to your home or workplace in a handy letterbox shaped box which is posted to you.  When it arrives it will be quite a talking point! The snacks on offer are natural and healthy, but what would make people or them when they are so used to buying food from a shop?

Well graze has reached craze levels in just 4 years (sorry that's an awful pun!), and I believe that it's for two reasons: Firstly they send you four quality and healthy snacks in each box, but its a surprise until you open the box (or get the 'your graze box is on it's way' email). And everybody loves a surprise. Secondly, and most importantly, they market this service with a fantastic website. It all starts with a simple but effective logo:

The graze website has a super easy sign up procedure so you can get straight into exploring their products. They will send you four products in each graze box but you can rate products to govern how often you get particular snacks. There are four levels to rate them and it's really intuitive and interactive. The website splits the products up into handy categories so it's really quick to find products you like and hit "love it"! The service is easy to use and flexible.

If you are on the move and want to access graze from your mobile, then you are in for a treat. Their mobile formatted site work's seamlessly on the iPhone. The page is correctly formatted for a small screen with buttons which are large enough to press comfortably. The clean and clear UI reflects the desktop site, is very responsive, and gives you all the same options. The mobile site is so good that I actually signed up on the mobile site, and started rating the snacks too.

So what's it like to get a graze box? Here's a quick picture of my first graze box:

To get your own FREE graze box head on over to www.graze.com and enter this code: R4L3QVX

Samsung Google Teaser Video

Samsung's smartphone handsets have been using Google's Android system for a while now and are seen as a contender in the smartphone market. This teaser video builds tension for a forthcoming announcement: "Unpacked" on 11/10/11 in San Diego, USA.

 

It's time to join Google+

Google have recently created their own social network: Google+. Google+ is similar to Facebook but with an emphasis on control. You assign contacts into circles and you can post items specific to circles. For example, "I'm off to the pub, anyone fancy joining me?" Could be posted for your friends circle and not your colleagues. People can appear in multiple circles too. When it's time to chat to a couple of people you can use huddle to create an instant messaging group which works across platforms, so your friends might be using an iPhone, iPad, Android mobile or Android tablet, it really doesn't matter.

If you fancy joining Google+ plus there are plenty of invites out there and if you already have a Gmail account you have already registered!

There's apps too:



Android app

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is one of several cross-platform smartphone applications which provides text and multimedia messaging. The difference between your 'normal' SMS and MMS system is two fold. Firstly WhatsApp, and the like, use your smartphones data connection to send and receive messages at no cost other than your data tariff. Secondly, there are several functionality improvements over traditional messaging.

WhatsApp includes group messaging, delivery reports, photo and video messages, all for nothing and extremely quickly. Whatsapp can also be used on tablets running Android or the iPad which can't recieve SMS messages.

The catch is that you need a data connection, something that you may struggle with in some areas. Another catch is that after spending the one off download cost (for the iOS devices the UK price is 59p, US ¢99) you may only have a few contacts to use the service with. WhatsApp uses the mobile numbers of your contacts, which is a great time saver. And auto-adds new users to your 'favourites' tab.

In the next release of iOS, iOS 5, Apple will be including a new App called iMessage. It appears to be largely based on these instant messaging stlye apps, but with the restriction that it will only allow communication between Apple mobile devices running iOS 5. It may be too late by Autumn to get users onboard for iMessage, particularly with WhatsApp gaining users all the time and Facebook's latest 'Message Centre'. Facebook Messages cater's for group conversation over your data contract. Facebook's advantage is not only that it is crossplatform on smartphones like WhatsApp is, but accessible from any desktop or laptop PC as well, allowing the most flexible form of digital contact. Laptop to smartphone - desktop to desktop - smartphone to multiple devices. The icing on the cake for Facebook is that they have over 500 million active users.

For more information on WhatsApp, check out www.whatsapp.com, for iMessage try http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/features.html and everyone knows where Facebook.com is!

iWork for iOS vs QuickOffice

iWork from Apple is a suite of office applications for the Mac, Pages (word processor), Numbers (spreadsheets), and Keynote (presenations). It's also available for iOS devices, now including the iPhone. The concept looks extremely impressive and promises complete integration with the desktop version of iWork application and even Microsoft Office applications. In practice I would be surprised if the compatibility was smooth as formatting and fonts often prove a challenge in these situations.

File transfers are via MobileMe's iDisk (subscription required) or iTunes file sharing (connection required). In order to make the best use of the app, integration with online services is a must, and for Apple to only offer their own premium service is a disappointment. An alternative is QuickOffice. It's a similar price to Pages or Keynote or Numbers but can work with the same Microsoft Office file types for each of the equivalent programs (Word, Excel & Powerpoint). QuickOffice has issues with fonts and formatting but only because it doesn't have the vast number of files that Word, for example, as behind it. For creating documents on the go and working on them later it's great. Particularly as it integrates with cloud storage services such as Google Doc's, Dropbox and Box.net. You can even manage the files on the device via your web browser if you are on the same Wi-Fi network. This flexibility is a preview of the Post-PC era.

More information from Apple about Pages
More information from QuickOffice for iPhone

Web Warp Blog Mobile Version

From today if you access Web Warp Blog via your smart phone you will automatically be redirected to the new mobile version of Web Warp Blog! Here's a link to manually try it today: Click here for Mobile Web Warp Blog.

Orange and T-Mobile Sharing Network Coverage

Following the merger of the managment of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK, Everything Everywhere has kept a low profile. They are going to continue to operate the two brands independently. However this week see's the launch of an advertising campaign in both Orange and T-Mobile brand colours showing off that Orange customers can now use the T-Mobile signal and visa-versa.

The advert features the Everything Everywhere logo in the top left corner with the slogan "Inspired by Everything Everywhere".

This should be a huge advantage to Orange and T-Mobile customers who enevitably should benefit from increased signal coverage and a more reliable service.

Today also see's the launch of 6 new handsets which carry the Windows Phone 7 Operating System. So new Windows Phone owners on Orange or T-Mobile will be very pleased to hear the news that they will have more signal coverage for their social network updates, Outlook access for emails and social gaming via Xbox Live.

UPDATE: Both Orange and T-Mobile customers are experiencing increased network coverage following the above announcement.

Working on the Go

As a an experiment this blog post is being typed using an iPhone on the go. A previous blog post on Web Warp Blog hinted towards using an iPhone (or similar smart phone) as a netbook replacement. In fact it's a netbook that lives in your pocket and not your breifcase.

To maximise the productivity of working on the go it is wise to look into QuickOffice for the iPhone. The premium version of the app allows integration with several online cloud storage services including Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net and Apple's MobileMe iDisk. This app allows editing for Word and Excel files on the go. Some features aren't available such as graphs in the spreadsheet editor. As a basic editting tool for word documents the app performs seamlessly.

To make typing easier the iOS 4 software for the iPhone and iPod Touch allows you to use a bluetooth keyboard (excludes iPhone 3G).

The only issue is getting a decent 3G signal, but that really depends to where you are.

Happy Mobile Computing!

iPhone 4 Available

Apple's iPhone 4 is out today. It was welcomed in with queues of expectant customers at Apple's Regent Street store in London. The demand is so high that Carphone Warehouse are unable to take orders online or on the phone:

"Due to unprecedented demand for the new Apple iPhone 4 we have extremely limited stock. We are sorry for any disappointment this may cause."

Its certainly a very impressive product and demand will be high for a few weeks yet if it follows the same pattern as the release of the iPhone 3G.

Image: Apple Inc.

iOS 4 Available

Apple iOS 4 is now available to download from iTunes. It updates the Operating system on iPhones, iPod Touches and the iPad. The Apple website will take you through which features suit your device. As a quick review all I can say is "wow!".

I love the new features. Apple have added functionality where required, it is just a little better everywhere. It's the little things which make the difference everytime you pick up your phone. For example there is now a spellchecker inbuilt into the keyboard. And speaking of keyboards... my favourite feature has to be the support for Bluetooth keyboards!

Everything Everywhere

Everything Everywhere Ltd is a new company formed by the joining of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK. Everything Everywhere will continue to run both brands. They have approximately 30 million customers. From the press release:
"To customers, Orange and T-Mobile will continue to compete as distinct
brands in the market, each having its own shops, campaigns, propositions
and service centres."