Steve Litchfield

I realise this is basic probability theory, but almost no one gets this right, so I thought I'd put it in plain English... The situation. You're expecting a package delivered (and needing signing for), or perhaps it's a repair man. Either way, you know it's happening today, you just don't know when. You may even have taken the day off work to accommodate this. So you're waiting in. It might be 10 minutes. Or it might be 10 hours (a 8am-6pm window). You just don't know. Yet you want to either: nip to the local shops for milk have a shower/toilet/whatever some other task which only takes a few minutes but which will mean you're unavailable When should you do this? Is there a best time according to the laws of probability? Common sense says that it's random when the courier or repair man comes, so it doesn't make any difference when you take your break. But in fact, although the arrival is indeed random, the fact that your own una...

True story. Back in 2006 (ish) era, for a couple of years we used 'Backup Made Simple', a well regarded backup utility for Windows PCs. Multi-CDR-support, selective restore, it all worked a treat. And we still have the backup discs from that era. Except that we needed to access some of these files this week. And have utterly failed. The CDR are fine, it's the software. The app was written for Windows XP/Vista (that era, anyway) and I've had real trouble installing it under modern Windows 10, some 12 years later. Even with all compatibility modes enabled, the best I can get it to do is recognise the backup files - when I try to actually restore anything I get low level and very odd Windows library errors. Now, if we were DESPERATE for the files back then I guess I could reformat an old laptop, try re-installing XP on it and then go from there. It's A solution. But that's multiple tens of hours of work in all. The moral, of course, is obvious. When bac...

In for review for The Phones Show, I couldn't resist reviewing the various case options for the Samsung Galaxy S9+, the 2018 'flagship with everything’, here in its larger form. The cases were supplied by Mobile Fun, see  here for their full Galaxy S9+ case line-up . Spigen Rugged Armor, £18 My favourite design, after having tried everything - Spigen Rugged Armour is my ‘go to’ case for every phone I get in, and with good reason. From thick and protective, yet flexible TPU with lovely texture and detailing, to tough lips and corners, this Spine design is a classic. It fits perfectly - I mean PERFECTLY - and when in place I quickly get so used to its feel in the hand that I forget the phone’s in a case. I was reviewing the Galaxy S9+ recently and it was only after finishing filming that I realised that the Spigen case was still on. It felt that natural! Score: 10 VRS Design Single Fit, £15 Along the same lines as the Spigen but lig...

In for review for The Phones Show, I couldn't resist reviewing the various case options for the Samsung Galaxy S9, the 2018 'flagship with everything'. The cases were supplied by Mobile Fun, see here for their full Galaxy S9 case line-up . Spigen Rugged Armor, £18 I'm starting out with my favourite - the Spigen Rugged Armor (yes, USA spellings) is, hands-down, the best combination of fit, protection and grip, to the extent that, when fitted, you forget that the phone is cased and the Galaxy S9 becomes this rugged, grippy object that's a pleasure to handle. This all sounds like hyperbole, but I'd challenge you to grab this and not be impressed. The fit and finish over the phone's buttons, the fit around the ports, the textured panels, everything's top notch, yet you still get access to the S9's curved front screen edges, thanks to the case's sides being 'lower', yet with protective raised portions at top and bottom, to...

Just in case this helps anyone else, I had a nightmare today with my Bluetooth keyboard and my Android phone - but I used some common sense and found a geeky solution. In my case it was a ZTE Axon 7 running Lineage OS and a Microsoft Universal Folding Keyboard (UFK), but I suspect this cure will work for more general issues. The symptom was that when I tried to connect a previously paired keyboard I first of all got just the raw Bluetooth address shown and not the keyboard name. And then, when I tried connecting, I got an "incorrect PIN or password" error message. No chance to reenter a PIN and no amount of restarting keyboard or phone would fix it. The cure seemed to be to reset something in the phone's Bluetooth system, but what? The keyboard wasn't showing up as paired, so I couldn't 'forget' it. I tracked it down in the end. Settings, Apps, then 'Show system' on the '...' menu. Find and tap on 'Bluetooth extensions'....

In for review for The Phones Show, I couldn't resist reviewing the various case options for the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, a cutting edge 2018 smartphone that's picking up plaudits across the board. The cases were supplied by Mobile Fun, see here for their full Mate 10 Pro case line-up . I should also note that the Mate 10 Pro comes with a simple clear TPU case in the box, so the after-market solutions here are trying to 'best' this free case. In no particular order: Huawei Smart View Flip Case, £25 The most expensive option here, this is also the most premium in terms of using the Mate 10 Pro around the office. Adding only a couple of mm to the thickness, this uses 'synthetic leather' and plastic to excellent effect, foregoing the usual flip case 'card slots' in favour of keeping the affair super-slim. In addition, the back shell portion is thin enough not to impede fingerprint sensor access (a problem below for another case). Really a terrific...