At the start of a meeting, the audience response system devices can be used to register attendance – particularly useful for training sessions – and each person present is linked with a specific device, giving them a unique identification when collecting data. What audience response technology also enables is the ability to incorporate off-site audience members (perhaps they are based too far away from the venue to attend) so that they can contribute and get involved using online services – this alone can save time, money and reduce a company’s carbon footprint as the need to travel is eliminated.

The best event technology enables data to be collected, analysed and displayed in real time. The audience can answer multiple choice questions, vote in polls, as well as submit their own questions, comments or feedback. Questions can be answered quickly and data is collected electronically meaning greater accuracy and eliminating the need for paperwork – both being time consuming and costly.

Even after the event, data is retained to be analysed and interpreted so the organisation team can then gauge instantly how effective their presentation is and decide where it can grow and improve. Also, any unanswered questions are saved to be addressed through email or on the company website.

The benefits of audience response systems, and the use of modern event technology, far outweigh the costs ensuring a fluid and flexible discussion.

It’s become a fact of life that our Facebook profiles have a lot of information about who we are and what we like. Halifax Travel Money have created a great Facebook App which harnesses this and matches you to your ideal holiday based on the information in your Facebook profile, it also suggests what you might like to eat, drink and do while on your ideal holiday. Apparently Westfield & Union Sq. is the place to shop in San Francisco!

Halifax Travel Money decided that I was a 92% match to San Francisco, and helpfully also shows how much typical items are, such as how much a nice burger might set you back (£1.32) or how much a Napa Valley Win Tour will take (£23.68).

From a geeky point of view, this app is a great example of how to harness what must be an extensive database of information and then matching that to the wealth of social information from my profile, and it does it pretty damn well!

This isn’t the first time that the Halifax Travel Money app has made an appearance, it was first launched in June 2010 and made a great impression then too, and now it’s back new and improved and is just a fun app to checkout and see what your holiday scrap book might look like!

There are over 17,000 people using the app, and it’s well worth a checkout, even if you’re just curious as to what a tenner will get you – I can get 2.32 loaves of San Francisco Sourdough bread in case you wondered – or just to checkout what the weathers like!

Check out the Halifax Travel Money app!

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Having access to the Internet is no longer just a luxury but has very quickly become an essential part of our culture and lifestyle, from simply keeping in touch with Friends and Family via email, chat and Facebook to those needing access to their information – financial, political or what have you – on a real time basis. With apps like Twitter and micro bloggers around the world, more often than not, “breaking news” is released by amateurs instead of professionals who just happen to be in the right place at the right time. However, choosing how you get online and connected is still something of a question, as depending upon your needs, each of the methods – Smartphone, Tablet PC or Laptop – have advantages and disadvantages.

Smartphone

The smallest in form factor and screen size, the Smartphone is suitable for those needing access to the Internet on an ad-hoc basis. Depending upon how often you are planning on accessing the Net and what you are planning on doing there – these types of devices might meet your needs completely as they have many app’s that tend to simplify the interface between some of the more common websites (Facebook, Twitter etc…) and the user. Choosing the right Smartphone however is almost as difficult as choosing between Smartphones, Tablet PC or Laptops. With so many different companies, price plans and devices to choose from, your choice is next to impossible unless you utilize a comparison website such as Mobile Phone Genie. Smartphones generally access the Mobile Broadband network through the SIM card that you obtain when first purchasing the device.

Tablet PC

The newest option and one that straddles the fence between Smartphones and Laptops is the Tablet PC. Generally found in sizes from 7” to 10”, Tablet PCs and Smartphones share the same operating system and apps meaning that what will work on one will work on the other. However with an increase in screen size also comes an increase in processing power and storage capacity versus a Smartphone and as such you can do quite a bit more on these devices. In addition casual browsing of the Internet with a micro SIM card and data plan is quite a bit easier, simply because you can see everything that you need to without having to pinch your screen!

Laptops

The third part of the triumvirate is the laptop. Depending upon your needs this might be the best option yet, with screen sizes ranging from 10” to 15” (larger screen sizes do exist, but these units are generally considered Desktop replacements as their increased weight makes them a bit too bulky to carry around easily), significantly greater storage capacity and processing power. Laptops are able to access the Mobile Broadband network through the use of a USB dongle. Similar to Tablet PCs you can purchase this on a Pay as You Go (PAYG) basis or on a monthly contract and if you happen to be in the market for both a Smartphone and a Laptop than your luck is really in as quite a few different phone providers will provide you with a free laptop with the purchase of a new monthly phone contract.

About the author: Hutch Morzaria writes on behalf of Mobile Phone Genie, the independent comparison website for mobile phones.

There are some incredible videos of “Extreme Unboxing” of the Samsung Galaxy SII coming out currently, which I just have to share.

Firstly we have the Stunt Flight, in this we see Matt Brian of TheNextWeb.com unboxing while being tossed around like a rag doll in the air at great speeds. This in it’s self is worth a look!

Then we have Basil Knorfli unboxing, in a cloud hanging off a mountain… It’s incredible seeing the device being used and shown off by someone rock climbing. This video in particular shows off how easy to use the Galaxy SII seems to be, particularly the responsiveness of touch, as well as showing off the 8 Megapixel camera with impressive results.

In the next video with Gareth Beavis from Techradar.com unboxing, speeding up the river Thames on a speedboat, and still able to discuss the fantastic features of Samsung’s new Galaxy SII phone. He also shows off the 8 Megapixel camera, the clips shown are of surprisingly good quality and incredible considering the circumstances the phone is being used under.

After seeing these videos it has only enhanced my need for a better phone, still running on a (very crappy) LG Intouch Max, which is limited to a painful Android 1.5 it’s impressive to see both how the Android software which is running Gingerbread on the Galaxy SII has come, particularly when bundled with a fantastic dual core processor and the awesomely vivid screen. This is one of the best phones I have seen one the market and definitely worth checking out… I know I will be!

Image courtesy of Expansys

As Sandy Bridge takes over as the top processor more desktop computers are coming out packing these, one of the latest and most powerful is the Palicomp Phoenix Hydro-X, a big beast aimed squarely at the hard-core gamer. The magic begins with its overclocked i7-2600K, which has been taken from 3.4 GHz up to a ridiculous 4.7 GHz. To give some idea of how fast that is light will have travelled only 4.5 cm in the time it takes this machine to do one clock cycle. That’s fast! It also means this is one of the most powerful desktop computers seen so far. As the name suggests the processor is cooled by a water cooler unit from Corsair, keeping the temperature from the overclocked performance under control.

The processor is only the beginning though, as for gaming, graphical power is the most important thing and again the Hydro-X takes it to the extreme with two AMD Radeon HD 6950 graphics cards twinned with CrossFireX. This kind of graphical power allows the machine to run even the mighty Crysis at 85 frames per second in 1920 by 1080 resolution with the highest settings. The cooling on the two cards is pretty noisy but most users will not notice when blitzing through the latest games.

All of this is backed up with 8 GB of RAM and a 64 GB SSD from Kingston making the machine highly responsive on start up and when loading programs. The SSD also has the advantage of being silent. Bulk data storage is also there in the form of a 1.5 terabyte hard drive. The Hydro-X has good connectivity with all of the standard connectors of desktop PCs – USB 2.0, PS/2 and eSATA along with USB 3.0 for high speed connections such as external hard drives, FireWire also for driving high speed peripherals and S/PDIF for high quality audio output. It also sports a Blu-Ray and DVD drive and full wireless-N data connectivity. The power supply is an impressive 750 watt unit with the machine capable of drawing up to 633 watts at peak power. It is also incredibly noisy compared to other desktop computers with the assorted cooling fans reaching maximum speed as the graphics cards heat up and the processor heads up to a maximum of 84 degrees Celsius.

The Palicomp Phoenix Hydro-X is one of the most powerful desktop PCs available and comes with a very competitive price at £1,499 including VAT. The price is only about one hundred pounds more than buying the parts individually and with the build quality and care that Palicomp have taken over this beast; among desktop PCs it is well worth the price. If you are a hard-core gamer looking for the best machine for upcoming games like Crysis 2 which can really benefit from enormous processing power this is a great choice. Just make sure you wear headphones so you don’t have to hear its fans while you play.

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In recent years, and even the last few months streaming HD content has become so much easier, with the introduction of 40, 50 and soon even 100Mbit home Broadband connections streaming full 1080p HD is easy.

However, we are – for the most part – it’s awkward or just not as enjoyable to watch that HD film, or video on your crappy PC or laptop. Particularly when you have that rather lovely big screen HD TV which has been getting a little neglected since you discovered that you can easily stream video on your pc… Well not any more!

Veebeam seems like a fantastic little product to stream – in full 1080p HD – from your computer to your TV easily.

This clever little device wirelessly puts the Stream on your TV. It also includes optical audio output so you can also enjoy your surround sound system while you watch.

The VeeBeam HD looks like a very cool and easy to use product, with helpful usability features like the “play to” function so (after installing the software) enables you to stream files straight to the TV without it needing to display on your laptop monitor – very helpful when someone else needs to keep using the computer while you lay back and relax.

I can imagine streaming numerous content to my TV with this device, and the flexibility makes it a great solution without the need to worry about cables or configuring some fancy system.

You should check the VeeBeam out, looks like an awesome little gadget for anyone looking for an easy way to stream to their TV from any computer easily. Check it out and learn more on VeeBeem’s site and buy it now on amazon.

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So Comic Relief is coming up soon and as usual BT are doing their part, this seems like a nice idea on their part – basically for every call you make on the 18th Feb, they give comic relief 1p. Which doesn’t sound like much but I am sure the levels of calls BT normally handles it may end up totally a decent figure!

I have been lucky enough to play with Kinect a few times now, most recently at the#UKMSPMeetUp event on the 21st and it really is an incredible bit of kit – If you’re feeling generous, contact me and I’ll send you a postal address to send me one!

Now I am not much of a dancer. At all. Most would say I am horribly bad, I however – when alone in my room with no one home, blinds closed and music blaring – think I am awesome, but there is always room for improvement and among other talents I’d very much like to have (but probably never will) which includes singing, playing guitar, being good at picking up cuties in the bar and having a social life which doesn’t involve social media being a good dancer is pretty near the top – after all… It’s one way to attract your future partner right?

Now I have played a few dance games in my life ranging from the PlayStation with a now archaic dance mat, to exercising/danceish games on the Nintendo Wii, but none of them can touch the awesome combination of XBOX 360 and Kinect.

The Kinect with its cool technology can map many points on your body and detect a huge array of data from your environment add this to a excellently made dance game and you have a winner, with Dance Central for the XBOX 360 you can dance, move, shake you hips, wave your arms, nod your head tap your foot and probably a whole lot more without even touching a the system directly because “You are the controller!”.

So whether you’re working your own moves, trying to get the upper hand on the dance floor, dancing on your own when no one can see (and probably keeping fit too as its a great work out!) or trying not to embarrass yourself with friends, Dance Central is a great game to pick up on boxing day!

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Laptops today are powerful beasts with heaps of functionality and have become full entertainment centres.

With much improved audio and visual capabilities no longer do we need to suffer tinny horrible audio and struggling to angle the monitor just right so you can actually watch a movie we now have HD 3D capable laptop screens, and realistic surround sound creating an immersive entertainment experience without a huge price tag.

As with any technology user (Geek) we expect the best, and then a bit more and while you’re at make it faster. I have had a look at the new Dell XPS and I have say it is very impressive, with Intel i7 processor options 8GB DDR3 RAM and Blu-Ray and a whole host of other features such as:

-       Superb visual experience including performance graphics, and a vibrant HD screen to watch today’s latest movies and videos in high-definition.

-       Immersive sound with high-end integrated speakers. The Dell XPS laptops come with JBL designed and certified speakers as standard.

-       Integrated web cam to support HD video chat.

-       Full internet connectivity capability (Wi-Fi), an HDMI port to connect to a TV or monitor, and the ability to connect TV tuners.

-       Stylish design that reflects the discerning taste of its owner.

It’s a great stylish laptop with a lot of power for pretty much any task you can throw at it, from playing your favourite Blu-Ray  on your 3D TV or chilling with a game the Dell XPS can do so much more than your average boring laptop check out further information and check it out!

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The Open Planet Ideas is an interesting initiative from Sony and the WWF. So what is it? Well I am getting to that bit now.

The challenge is to use your imagination to come up with a great idea for how to use tech to make the most of our world’s resources. To help get you going they have a wealth of technologies which just waiting to re-purposed in interesting and creative ways to help shape a cleaner, more sustainable and brighter future for us and our planet.

I was having a look and came across a great idea re-using books instead of them being resided to the shelf, you set them free. Book Crossing is the idea where you label your books with a unique ID number and simply give them to a friend, stranger or perhaps leave them in your local coffee shop for others to find. With the hope they logon to bookcrossing.com and enter the ID and register the book as “caught”, this is done with the hope that books can be passed on and re-used many times and you can track your books across the world as new people discover and enjoy it.

Now I LOVE this idea and think it’s a very interesting concept, and would love to see this applied to more than just books and it would also be interesting to see technology used in more interesting ways with the tracking and “catching” process of it, for example having the printable labels using the QR barcode scanning and apps for mobile devices so you can have an easy “check-in” style process utilising the app, camera and GPS functionality of many modern mobiles. So you find a book, scan it, read it and pass it on, potentially without even needing to visit a website!

Check out my concept “BookCrossing made Social” based on BookCrossing and comment!

You can Find Out More About Open Planet Ideas in the concepts and inspiration pages, so check them out and Join the challenge – You might be lucky and realise you idea and help make the world a better place…

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