Click to download the Gadget Help iPad App

The App is a manual on everything you could need to know about the Apple iPad from turning the device on to setting up an E-mail address, the App gives you clear and concise step by step guides on all the Apple iPad’s features.

Brought to you by Gadgethelpline.com, the highly popular UK Gadget advice club, the information comes direct from one of the most comprehensive ‘how-to’ gadget databases in the world!

The App will cost just £1.79 for a one off purchase and is compatible with all iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices running OS 3.0 or later.

The Gadget Help iPad App gives step by step guide to all your iPad issues

To find out more and download the App to your device, simply search for “iPad Gadget Help” in the Apple App store or click here.

We are launching these apps for a whole range of devices so look out for further Gadget Help products by searching for “Gadget Help” in iTunes or by clicking here.

We are currently working on a range of Apps for the Apple App store that are designed to gives step by step support and help to some of the most common household gadgets.

Click here to download

Today we have released the first of our Apps via the iTunes store for the Nintendo Wii console, the App has over 200 step by step articles on the Nintendo Wii, ranging from Basic Setup to creating your very own Mii on the Nintendo channel.

There are over 200 step by step articles

The App will cost just £0.59 for a one off purchase and is compatible with all iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices running OS 3.0 or later.

Full interactive manual plus pictures

To find out more and download the App to your device, simply search for “Gadget Help” in the Apple App store or click here.

There are so many web browsers to choose from on the Internet, most of them free to download, easy to use and quick to load pages. But the real challenge is finding the one that shines above them all, the best cross-platform browser there is.

Meaning we won’t review Internet Explorer… because it’ll only work on Microsoft operating systems. This is for CROSS-PLATFORM browsers, meaning the ones that run on most current operating systems. The difference between these browsers and Internet Explorer is that they are usually…

• Free
• Based on open source software (Meaning that users are allowed to modify or create their own browser based on the program’s code.)
• Updated regularly
• Customisable with plugins or add-ons
• And in some cases a lot faster

So, let’s begin the reviewing.

Opera 10 – Opera Software ASA

Released in early September 2009, Opera 10 is the latest update of the long-established underdog web browser. Opera has been around since the mid nineties, where Telenor, one of the largest Swedish telecoms companies at the time built it as a research project.

A year later, Opera branched out from Telenor, becoming Opera Software ASA. The company designed the browser to be accessible for everyone, users with visual or motor impairments. As such, the entire program can be controlled via the keyboard, and there are also some nifty mouse gestures, such as the ability to go back a page by holding the right mouse button and moving the mouse to the left, right, and opening a new tab by moving the mouse backward.

Although it contains some cool features, Opera is certainly not for the rookie user, and takes a bit of skill to use and understand many of it’s more advanced features properly.

Chrome 3.0 – Google Inc.

Google’s latest creation in their limitless-ambition fuelled project to topple Microsoft from the top of the software ladder, the Chrome browser boosts some of the easiest to use feature around.

As well as being an open-source production, Chrome includes many different functions and features, all aimed to improve security, speed, and stability when browsing the web, such as periodically downloading a ‘blacklist’ of sites that include phishing and malware, and displaying warnings before a user enters them.

Another security feature is that each open tab in Chrome is like it’s own little browser window, blocking malicious software running in one tab from seeing and entering another tab.

On the speed front, the new engine in Chrome is apparently three times faster than Firefox and Webkit competitors, but since then new engines by both developers have been released, both claiming to be faster then Chrome. In summary, Chrome is a decent browser for just using the Internet safely and quickly.

Safari 4.0 – Apple Inc.

Safari is the current default browser bundled with current generation Apple operating systems, but is also available for many other operating systems.

Safari includes all the regular things a web browser needs, such as tabs, popup blockers, etc. The program also contains some other, more uncommon features such as expandable text boxes, a top 24 section which listed the top 24 sites most visited by the user, a feature that changes the design of the browser to a Windows look rather than an Apple OS theme and an iTunes style cover flow listing recently visited sites.

Safari is fast, simple and pretty stable, includes interesting features and a well-designed look. In short, Safari is a basic, but useful fast browsing application.

Firefox 3.5 – Mozilla Corporation, Mozilla Foundation

Mozilla’s Firefox is an incredibly simple but user-friendly web-browsing environment, being that it is highly customisable and easy to use, compatible with almost every operating system and enjoys the top spot in terms of the most used browser independent of any one operating system.

Firefox’s systems are, while simplistic, amazingly useful, from the feature which lets a user drag and drop the icons on the customisable toolbar atop the window where they want and when they want to the innovative download manager tool which handles all internet downloads and displays their progress accurately.

Firefox also is a very secure browser, so secure in fact it is so popular that during a string of China-based cyber attacks earlier this year, both the French and German governments recommended the use of Firefox as a more secure browser alternative after the discovery of a security hole in Internet Explorer.

Firefox also includes an amazing armoury of add-ons ready to be raided by users, which include a multitude of functions and features to complement the browser. Ever since its release back in 2005, Firefox has soared ahead of its standalone browser competitors, grabbing a 25% market share globally and a 31% share in Europe. Firefox is easy to use, quick to download, unproblematic, lightweight and secure and, most importantly, free.

But ultimately its all about you. Try them and if you like, keep, if not then delete. Its your decision.

Ok, Yes we know that we are just shamelessly self promoting here but, in the recent tech news of Virgin starting up a new Virgin Digital Service similar to our GadgetHelpline service, we thought we would weigh in with our opinions….

Virgin Digital Help is too Expensive too Impersonal

Virgin has launched a digital help service for gadgets but it is expensive and in its basic form impersonal whereas we at the Gadget Helpline are a UK based impartial service with no corporate tie in. We won’t recommend Virgin Media to you unless it’s the best available service for your situation.

On Virgin Digital Help for £2.99 per month you get access to effectively a raft of digital handbooks. You could call the www.Gadgethelpline.com for a £2.99 per month fixed price and get all the bells and whistles on offer at Virgin and talk to a live operator. Gadget Helpline also offer a 30 day free trial to the service so that’s 30 days of free help on the full service. If you don’t like it then fine, its FREE!

Virgin Digital Help’s tech team are based in the Philippines

The free live service is based on a team of people giving advice in the Philippines, and Virgin Digital Help say that they shall only employ 10 people in the UK. Foreign call centres in the technology space have proven to be ineffective to the UK based consumer and there is a general re-focus on UK based technical call centres for the Consumer Electronics industry in the UK.

Now we at the GadgetHelpine pride ourselves in being a UK based company who employ people who love gadgets and offer a completely impartial advice.

Virgin Digital doesn’t cover AV and TV support.

Its a bit of a side note for Virgin Digital Help but we at the GadgetHelpline offer support on all household entertainment goods. In fact we love calls on TVs as we love TV, and who doesn’t like talking about something they love!

We cover MP3 players, flat screen TVs, DVD players, games consoles, satellite receivers, digital cameras, video cameras, mobile phones, Bluetooth headsets, computer printers and scanners, satellite navigation devices, fax machines, answering machines, home audio systems and PCs… phew! I’m out of breath just writing that.

Virgin digitals phone support is £6.99 a month, while home visits start from £90.

So that’s £6.99 just to speak to a real person instead of just using a computer service and its also a minimum contract of 3 months for the phone support. Whats more you get allocated a annual allowance of minutes that start at 20 minutes a month. Now we at the GadgetHelpline offer full one on one support with an agent and free callbacks for serious issues with no timescales and no annual allowance. We also offer free Tips, News and features on our blog.gadgethelpline.com website as well as interactive manuals and self help guides.

Recent statistics posted by the GadgetHelpline.com has pointed out that nearly 28% of people ranged 18-21 were spelling the word gadget without the “D” which has led to us registering in many variations on the GadgetHelpline.com website domain names.

Recent press focusing on these astounding facts have been featured in the Times UK newspaper and the Telegraph online and is highlighting the issues with the misspelling culture that is being erected around us.

We at the GadgetHelpline blame brands like Vodafone, Phones4U and Toys ‘’R’’ Us for encouraging the lack of spelling in big name brands but the with Noughties explosion of TXT and predictive text, topped with better and more efficient spell checking programs for PCs, illiteracy is bound to happen sooner or later.

To view the Telegraph article click here and  scroll down or to visit the Times article click here and scroll down .

Recently lately we at the GadgetHelpline.com have had to take the unusual step of registering incorrect spellings of its brand domain to counteract the problem the UK’s 18-21 age-group have with spelling the word ‘Gadget.’

Crispin Thomas, the GadgetHelpline founder which has over 100,000 members, had it pointed out to him by one of the senior members of staff that their statistics showed 28% of the age range 18-21 were spelling the word gadget without the ‘d.’ Whilst the primary users of the helpline aged 30 – 50 only had 3% misspell the word, they have had to take the unusual step of setting up www.gajithelpline.com and www.gagithelpline.com; www.gagethelpline.com to counter this potentially huge loss in revenue.

“We registered the misspelt domain names a fortnight ago and since then we’ve seen a 5.21 % increase in sign-ups compared with this time last year with 254 more new members than they were projecting which is fantastic news for the Gadget Helpline and the sign ups have been particularly within the 18-21 age demographic.”

“Although search engines do have a default alert which asks online users if they meant to spell a word in a particular way we were finding a huge ‘drop off’ amongst the younger users ,which we calculated could impact on our business annually to the tune of £150,000,” says Crispin Thomas. “According to our research 18-21 year olds misspelt ‘gadget’ 28% of the time; 21-30 year olds were better with around 15% misspelling the word, whilst the 30-50 year old age group relatively rarely misspelt the word with only 3% spelling it incorrectly. As a result we have decided to cater for these groupings by creating misspelt domain names and the results for our company have been fantastic and we highly recommend other businesses in the UK do the same.”

Clearly even when mistyping is taken into account there is a worrying spelling trend amongst the late teens and early twenties to misspell company names that could potentially cost the online economy millions of pounds at a conservative estimate – and with the economy of the UK attempting to crawl out of recession, businesses that trade online need to adapt their trading methods to counter educational shortcoming when it comes to spelling.

As the GadgetHelpline is gearing up for a busy Christmas, these interesting stats highlight the difference in support between the sexes  and means we can offer any support unbiased of gender.

Click the link below to vie the full BBC news article or to see the original GagdgetHelpline article click Here.

www.news.BBC.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8346810

A new buying and selling website for used gadgets launched today.

www.GadgetGadget.com allows users to list gadgets free of charge for sale. Interestingly the software behind the site also collects all gadgets for sale by category listed currently on ebay and Amazon, so information is all in one place if you are a buyer.

The company is part of Crispin Thomas’ group of technical support companies TMTI, or Talk Me Through It, which also owns the brands Gadgethelpline.com and DemoDone.com.