Tag: history

Home Active – Lessons online

With schools closed down and kids spending more time in the house, parents will all have the same concerns. First, we’ve already hit the point where kids simply can’t go to each other’s homes. We’re also at the point where kids are sat all day playing on a …

My gaming history

I remember, when I was a kid, a time before a “console” was even a thing. At Christmas I remember playing records. Proper records. Big vinyl double-albums with pictures of all the bands and singers. It was great. I even had my own record player. Then, one day, …

Coolsmartphone Podcast 239 – 1.21 gigawatts!

In this episode we’re going to turn the clock back. We’re going to do a full Back to the Future show for you this week and, although we don’t have any plutonium and we don’t have a flux capacitor, we do have a car. So, a quick update …

#MWC18 – Have we reached a plateau ?

A number of years ago, I questioned whether mobile phones had stopped evolving. This year, at Mobile World Congress, I think it’s happened. I think we’ve reached a plateau. A point where phones really aren’t going to make any huge leaps any more. Way back when I started …

Telecoms in the modern world – as seen from 1969

I’m sure I’ve posted this video before, but it really is interesting. It was filmed way back in 1969 by the GPO (the General Post Office) and shows some of the ideas and expectations of communications in the 1990’s. The Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill shows …

Yes, there was a time before smartphones

After all the years of writing this site I’ve realised that I’ve not really mentioned how I got into phones. Sure, I can tell you that the phone which kick-started this site was the original Orange SPV, but what was before that? Well, get set for some time-travelling …

Trouble with your 4G? You don’t know you’re born son

Getting your tweets and Facebook updates can be a little infuriating if your signal isn’t up to scratch, but think back 32 years and you’ll suddenly realise how lucky you are. For a moment, let’s pretend you’re back there. Back in 1984. Mobile phones were a pipe dream. …

The story of the mobile phone

Last night I stumbled across an old video from 1979 which showed something that was pretty amazing at the time. A truly portable phone. It started me on a bit of a journey into the history of mobile phones, so here’s what I’ve dug out of the archives. …

Location, Location, Location. Google – We know where you’ve been.

Morning you lovely people. Want to try something? If you’ve not disabled Location History you can have a peek into the Google “Big Brother World” right now. Last night, I browsed around the www.google.com/dashboard and swam through the masses of information that Google has on me. The amount …