“Coin", The New Credit Card Replacement

A California based start-up has developed "Coin", a small device as the size of a credit card can bring up to eight cards in one, leaving it to the user to change the map to the environment through a single button. The announcement last week has not gone unnoticed by man. The California start-up Coin has finalized the development of his first-born, a device that of the size of a credit card that aims to drastically reduce the volume of your wallet by replacing up to eight credit cards, membership cards, gifts or any other type of cards with a magnetic strip.

Named as “Coin" and also developed map by the young company based in San Francisco leaves his happy owner the opportunity to move from one card to another by pressing a single circular button located on top of the card. Once selected, “Coin" functions as the cards it proposes to replace, either in an ATM or in an electronic payment terminal or any suitable type of player. The secret lies in its Coin tape - whose patent is being filed - a tape whose contents change at will.

The unit comes with a small reader that plugs into the audio port (via a jack ) for scanning the cards information migrate to the mobile application "Coin", which then synchronizes with the card via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE or Wibree). Created by the Finnish Nokia, this protocol allows wireless transmission rate equivalent to Bluetooth (1Mb / s) for 10 times less energy consumption, and is currently the heyday of Smart watches or other activity trackers.

Battery of the Coin lasts at least for a range of almost two years (according to the details provided by the developers), and feeds a small screen that displays the last four digits of the card that you choose to use, and the date of validity and the visual cryptogram . The man behind Coin decided to embark on this adventure by analyzing the critical success of “SquareReader " means a device to convert any Smartphone payment terminal with a card reader and a mobile application.

Rather than working on a system that accepts many payment cards, they chose to play the duality trying to develop a map that meets all. The premise seemed exciting enough to entice some of the brains of Silicon Valley, combining their talents to develop a prototype worthy of the name.

The designers quickly rallied behind the idea of a single button used to activate both the tape to move from one card to another and display the data on the card chosen to avoid any possibility of confusion. They also set eight cards to limit, although the soft underbelly “Coin " is quite able to swallow more. The team took the view that the majority of potential users do not have more than eight cards, and navigation through a higher number of cards would be uncomfortable and would fall within the challenge.

The team itself reassuring regarding the protection of data as sensitive as those stored in a credit card, arguing that many companies already have full access to your bank account without the security of them is threatened. "The copy of the information contained in your credit card is not otherwise illegal , since it is your own information ," says , trying to sweep a backhand doubts about the actual safety of the device and the possibilities for fraud.

The data is encrypted on the Smartphone and the map "Coin" , but become useless if the contact between the phone and the card - via the BLE protocol - is broken more than a few minutes , the exact number of minutes yet to be determined. Finally, the use of the transmission protocol has the advantage of allowing the sending of an alert when the communication between the two devices is interrupted, for example if the user goes to a trade forgetting his card.

3g vs. 4g: Is the Upgrade Worth It?

Claims have been thrown around that 4g speeds in the UK are up to 10 times higher than the old 3g that we’re used to, or possibly even more if there aren’t a lot of other people in your location competing for fast internet. While EE was the first to offer 4g at large to the UK’s public mobile phone owners, Vodafone and O2 have not lost time jumping on board the money making wagon. The purchase of a 4g ready mobile from one of these three providers guarantees you the fastest wireless data connection that has ever existed, that is, depending on how many people in your current location you’re competing with for decent speed.
4g speed - although we know that it will certainly be 5-10 times faster than the third generation of wireless at all times - will vary quite heavily based on where you are. In the city of London, for example, you may find yourself able to get about 10MB per second, while in a smaller city like Manchester your speeds might be up to 30-40MB per second. EE' 4g offering, 4GEE will cover 98% of the UK’s population by the end of next year with their double-speed service, though at the moment they only cover 20 major cities. They advertise that it will take only three minutes to download a movie that might have taken 20 or more in the past.
Those who will find the upgrade to 4g most useful are those who are heavy users of video chats, live streaming apps, large downloads, and long sessions surfing the web. 4g with a good signal and a ready device will speed these activities up remarkably so that your communication and productivity is never again broken by a wireless connection that’s chugging along at snail’s pace. But for those who use their phone primarily for calls and texts and who tend to use their home computer as more of a browsing and downloading device than their smart phone, 4g isn’t bound to make much of a noticeable difference in your life. The upgrade to 4g is typically costing a few extra pounds a month, not to mention the fee if you need to trade-in your old 3g phone for a 4g compatible phone.
The Nokia Lumia 625 is a good choice of value phone that is capable of running 4g and has a decent, all-round performance and tile based interface. At less than half the cost of many phones of its capability, the Lumia is the handset for 4g hunters on a budget, and can be had through O2 for around £17 on contract, or £240 up front. But beware that the mobile is not exactly future-proof, and struggles with its app offerings as it runs Windows Phone 8, a platform for which many apps are still unavailable.
Three is the next provider on the run to get 4g out to its customers, but is now kindly promising to give the upgrade away for free to its users, as long as you are a current phone owner through Three. Some providers are offering discounted handset prices as long as you purchase them with 4g wireless, and there are deals a plenty buzzing around the mobile smartphone world, as 4g is one of the most exciting worldwide releases this year. And with Three offering the highly sought after iPhone 5s for only £99 with a subsidized plan, their deal of free 4g is a very good one indeed. Their 4g LTE network, however, will not be fully functional until December, so if you don’t want to wait you’ll have to choose from EE, O2, or Vodafone instead.

The Flipboard application for Windows 8.1 is available

The Flipboard application to browse online and view the information as a magazine is now available for Windows 8.1. With the official Facebook app, Flipboard was one of the expectations of users of Windows 8 in Modern UI environment .

His arrival was announced by Microsoft in the month of June. It is now offered in the Windows Store for Windows 8.1 and at the same time for tablets like Surface. Flipboard -Windows- 8.1 application is similar to that proposed for iOS and Android, however, with an added bonus for Windows 8.1.

Once pinned to the home screen, the application takes advantage of the live tiles in order to display information directly. The principle of Flipboard is to allow the user to access information from various sources and in various themes like a magazine, turning the pages.

For Windows 8.1, it will be dragging the pages or the mouse wheel. Features of social networks are backed via Facebook and Twitter, and the ability to create his own magazine to share.

Gmail with better integration of Google Drive

With Gmail; Now the user will be able to view attachments and can save the files directly to the Google drive hosted by Google. For Gmail, it is already possible to include files stored in your Google Drive when writing an email.

Now Google will provide an update to allow previewing the message attachments stored in Drive (photos, videos, documents, spreadsheets, PDF). It will be possible to send such files without leaving Gmail. With a click on one of the previews, a full screen view of the image or document will be displayed. “you can read, search for a particular phrase or even browse several attachments" always directly from Gmail.

 In addition, Parts of received message can be directly stored in the Drive area and more can be downloaded to the local disk space. These innovations will be deployed next week to Gmail on your computer. Google also reveals that Drive has 120 million active users.

Buying a Volumetric Concrete Mixer – A Rough Guide

Construction is a tough trade by design and it would be even tougher if you didn't have the right equipment at hand. Perhaps the most indispensable piece of equipment in the construction workers arsenal is the concrete mixer and of all the concrete mixers on the market, volumetric concrete mixers are by a country mile the most reliable, powerful and cost effective, not to mention the best suited to larger scale operations.

What is a Volumetric Concrete Mixer?

A volumetric mixer measures the raw materials used to mix concrete by volume, whereas conventional mixing by hand measures materials by weight. This process results in a more even and consistent blend of materials and it is far more effective as mixing by hand would be far more labour intensive. The rough process uses an auger, a paddle or a drum device to mix the ingredients (cement, gravel and sand) together with water and it starts with a system that measures the volume of the materials before they enter the mixing chamber. The process could involve anything from a simple measured bucket to a highly sophisticated, computerised system of plants depending on the size and complexity of the mixer. These mixers are generally mounted onto the backs of heavy load vehicles for easy transportation between job sites.

First or second hand?

In the construction trade, a man is generally only as good as his tools so using the best and most reliable equipment is absolutely vital. But does that equipment necessarily have to be factory fresh to be useable? Second hand equipment can (if it's been well maintained) be just as effective as new equipment and there are obvious benefits to buying used gear beyond the obvious financial boons. For one, used volumetric concrete mixers will have had a proven track record so you know they have worked in the past and hence should work in the future. More often than not, you won't even be able to notice the difference between brand new and used mixers anyway. Many suppliers will offer services such as sandblasting and repainting, which will give the equipment the veneer of a new mixer. They should also be recalibrated by the supplier itself and they will be checked over thoroughly and given all necessary repairs. Part exchange might also be available and will be reconditioned to each customers exact specifications. There should also be a full 12 month warranty and the competitive pricing of used volumetric concrete mixers means that you might be able to buy or hire two or three for the price of one new mixer. Of course there are also suppliers who won't offer these kind of reliable services so be sure to do adequate research beforehand.

Big or small?

Before you make a decision on the size, style and make of mixer, take into account exactly what you'll be using the mixer for. Which kind of structures will you be building? What kind of locations will you be building in and how much concrete are you going to require on average? If you'll only be using it for relatively small construction jobs or are only buying it for a one off use, a smaller, portable model would obviously be preferable. If you are in the business of building larger, more ambitious structures though, you'll require an industrial mixer that can mix up large amounts of concrete in a relatively short amount of time.

Other factors to consider

Hand pump or electricity? – All concrete mixers will be powered electrically or by a hand pump. Obviously the majority of modern mixers will be powered by electricity but some smaller, more portable used volumetric concrete mixers could still operate via hand pump.
Ask around – Ask those in the know. Talk to other people in the construction business. Particularly civil engineers, who will be the ones responsible for deducing the capacity of each mixer and gauging how much concrete is needed in each job.
Calvin Ford is a freelance copywriter from just outside Birmingham the UK who effectively grew up on a construction site, so knows what he's talking about when it comes to volumetric concrete mixers.