iPhone Insurance

Some people may be interested in your iPhone when you're out, and some may be a little too interested

If you got your handset free on a hefty monthly contract, it's easy to forget that it's an expensive piece of kit that could cost up to £700 to replace. And should your phone go walkabout, if you're only a couple of months into long contract, the depressing fact is that you'll still have to stump up the monthly payments even if you've no longer got an iPhone to show for it. Networks don't give you a shiny new handset because they're nice - they plan to make the cost of the handset back over the course of the contract. This means making you stick to your monthly payments, no matter the excuse. With this in mind, you should always make sure your handset is insured.

Most networks offer insurance, but it's quite expensive. Still cheaper than a whole new handset, but at £10 -£15 per month, it could be an extra £360 over the length of the contract. Specialist third-party insurers will usually offer you a better deal. Protect Your Bubble (uk.protectyourbubble.com), will cover you for just £5.99 per month.

Before you take out dedicated cover, it's worth checking whether your iPhone is covered by your home contents insurance. Most policies include basic cover as standard, but you're probably limited to a maximum claim of £200 - £300 for unnamed items. You can also add your phone as a named item, and some insurers make sure you're insured, in case you're not the one who takes your iPhone from your pocket -will cover this for no additional premium while others will only charge a nominal fee. Some bark accounts also offer mobile phone insurance as a premium option.

There's no replacement for being vigilant, but if the worst comes to worst, it's better off to be covered than face a huge bill for a replacement handset.

How To Remove MalwareWipe/PestTrap

DESCRIPTION: Few malicious software infections are more annoying than adware and spyware. MalwareWipe and PestTrap are classic examples, as they pepper you with urgent instructions to pay money to remove alleged virus and spyware infections. 

These “infections” are actually files that have been falsely flagged as malicious by MalwareWipe and PestTrap. To better drive home these phony sales pitches, both programs have the ability to pester you with false warnings about the malware infections on your machine, sometimes using an “always on top” alert window that you can’t minimize. MalwareWipe and PestTrap are also capable of sneaky background activity, such as monitoring your Internet access, hijacking your Web browser, and changing system files—all without your knowledge or permission.

How To Remove MalwareWipe/PestTrap

You’ll need to use an Internet security suite that offers virus and spyware protection, such as ESET’s Smart Security 5 (price starts at $59.99 per year for one PC; www.eset.com). If you suspect your system has been infected by either of these programs, simply run a scan with ESET Smart Security, which will identify the threat and automatically remove the malicious software from your system.

To launch an antivirus scan with ESET Smart Security 5, go to the ESET Smart Security control panel and select Computer scan. You can select either Smart scan or Custom scan.

If you need to run a scan immediately and don’t have an antivirus program installed, you can use ESET’s Free Online Virus Scan (www.eset.com/online-scanner) that works through your Web browser. Companies experiencing persistent and widespread infection by MalwareWipe, PestTrap, or any other malware may want to consider ESET’s Malware Removal service (www.eset.com/us/business/services).

Essential Things To Know About Vacuum Cleaners

Depending on your cleaning needs, you’ll find a variety of vacuum models built to tackle particular types of grime. They also use different technologies and features to get the job done. Below are the answers to common questions about vacuums.

What are the major kinds of household vacuum cleaners?

A traditional vacuum catches dirt in a disposable bag. A bagless model accumulates debris in a chamber called a dust cup.

What do amp ratings such as 12A mean?

These tell you how much current the vacuum’s motor requires. It’s a general indicator of the vacuum’s suction strength, if not its specific cleaning effectiveness.

What is cyclone or cyclonic filtration?

Many bagless models use this technique to spin the airflow in a chamber. This flings dirt toward the outer walls, where it falls into a dust cup.

What’s a HEPA filter?

It’s a replaceable or permanent (reusable) filter that catches allergens an ordinary vacuum may not, including pet dander, pollen, and mites. HEPA stands for high-efficiency particulate air.

What is a carpet cleaner?

This specialty vac sprays cleaning fluid and/or steam on your carpet, agitates it with a brush, and then vacuums it back up. You’ll sometimes need to buy replacement cleaning fluid. They can also be called steam or deep cleaner vacuums.

What is a garage or shop vacuum?

Also known as a wet/dry vacuum, this type of model typically lets you clean up wet messes as well as dry ones. They’re better able to handle chunky debris than household models, too.

ZipList - Makes grocery shopping and meal planning fun and easy

ZipList

get.ziplist.com

ZipList makes grocery shopping and meal planning fun and easy. Sign up for a free ZipList account to organize your grocery lists, create weekly meal plans, receive coupons, and sort your favorite recipes. Search the database of more than 300,000 recipes and save your favorites to your personal recipe box.

ZipList partners with several popular food and chef sites, letting you save recipes with one click. You can also search recipes added by the ZipList user community, so you’ll have no trouble finding whatever you’re craving.

Once you save a recipe, you can click to add all the ingredients to your shopping list. You can edit the list and remove items you may already have. Free apps for Android and iPhone let you take your grocery lists, checklists, and recipes wherever you go.

WOWee One Portable Speakers

The WOWee One certainly has bass. Sporting a gel coating on its bottom, the speaker - which is roughly the size and weight of an ancient mobile phone (circa 1999) - can render a surface into a large bass transmitter. It essentially vibrates whatever it is on, using that material as an amplifier. Bass speakers are notoriously analog beasts - they want physical space, which is something no digital tomfoolery can replace. Hence this workaround - and it works pretty well. 

Stick the WOWee One on a table or against a window pane for maximum effect. The manufacturer does not recommend the latter, as the gel base is technically not adhesive. But glass does work well, so if you have a glass table at hand it’s even better. A shoebox proved just as potent.

The mid and high-range notes are not that impressive, at times giving a tinny performance. It still sounds better than your laptop speaker and could probably hold ground against other portable speakers. But the bass is quite strong and at times betrays the shortcomings of the other tones. Let me put it this way: the WOWee One gives reasonable bass and somewhat lesser everything else. But that bass counts for a lot - you won’t get as much out of anything this size.

Powered by an internal battery that charges through USB, the box claims 20 hours uptime. I’d put it closer to ten, maybe fifteen. The full twenty is apparent if you don’t actually use the speaker, so take that as the total charge capacity. Fifteen hours is still a lot, but the USB charging makes it tricky if you got this for an iPad or smart phone.

Power is controlled by plugging a 3.5 mm jack into the audio port. It’s a nice touch, but also makes storing the audio cable a problem - you cannot leave it dangling in the audio jack, as it will drain the battery. Had a pouch or something similar been included, it would have added to the appeal. But as long as you have a bag of some sort, the unit and its cable will fit comfortable in anything bigger than a pocket. A mini-USB port handles the charging and it is a standard fit, so your other cables will work as well. 

There are no other plugs or buttons - volume control and such is left completely to the device you will play sound from. So, the golden question: should you get this? The WOWee certainly works well with a cooler box, so it’s a nice fit for a picnic or any other outdoors excursion. It certainly also adds the oomph needed when watching movies on a laptop and the higher-range sounds are easier to hear, so it makes for a nice travel companion. But don’t bother if you want something small for your office. Small speakers that require their own power source still outperform this. But the WOWee ticks most of the boxes for a mobile speaker solution.

Sadly its asking price, which local retailers list at around £79.99, is a lot and at nearly twice what you’d pay for other battery portables, a bit too much.

Verdict:

A good choice if you need a speaker that can travel with you and provide some added bass. But it’s not perfect and won’t match cheap desktop speakers. Also, a pity

PROS:

• Great bass

• Very portable

• Sturdy design

CONS:

• Iffy high range

• No cable storage

• Expensive

Tech specs:

• 16.1 megapixel

• 10x optical zoom

• Face detection

• Smile detection

• 80 – 3200 ASA

• Panoramic shooting

Manufacturer: Wowee

Online: woweeone.com

Price: £79.99