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Digital Grog is Australia’s go‑to tech blog for sharp reviews, digital trends, AI tools, gadgets, cybersecurity updates, and practical how‑tos covering the latest in Aussie technology

Archives for September 2013

The smart-one that charges you gadgets

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Gadgetaustralia.com was lucky enough to trail the “new portable charging device” produced by Smartone.

gadget australia webite with samrter charger

Charge all your devices with back up battery

The little gadget know as “smartercharger” may be something you may browse past when looking at mobile accessories but after having one of these in just a few days the little pocket rocket can really make an impact; proving very useful and a great little lifesaver is certain situations.

Smartone is an all Australian company based in Adelaide, South Australia.

the smarter charger from australia

The smartcharger is a small USB based fuel source for multiple modern day devices. The smartcharger is only 90mm x 20mm and can be very versatile in its use as well as easily and discretely stored in your luggage, handbag or a great tool to keep in your car.

The smartcharger is easily charged via a USB port, this can be on your home/work pc/laptop or even via a 5v “USB wall charger” or even in your car.

The smart little device can hold a full charge for approximately 100 days.

Specifications

Output

5V/1000mA (Max)

Input

5V/600mA

Capacity

2600mAh

Size

90*20mm

Working Temperature

Charging Time

3 Hours

Weight

68 grams

Cell Type

Li-Polymer Battery

First of all when looking at the product its definitely well built, and for the price retailing at $29.95AU it’s a fair investment of your hard earned dollars.

Img from http://eftm.com.au

We trailed the white version of the product and it looks and feel quite classy, the product is also available in a total of seven different colours, so it’s really take your pick.

The power adapter cord is quite versatile in its use; covering a range of new products including the latest apple attachment.

Within having the product just for a few days it really did come in handy and quite the saviour.

While being on the trip home from the office sitting on the train with my addiction to candy crush at max resolution and brightness and forgetting to charge up, smartcharger came to its first use.

The smart charger supported carry on use of the handset while continuing to give a steady charge to the device.

Overall the smartcharger does the job its designed to do while offering consumers great value for money.

Get your own smartcharger at www.smartcharger.com.au and visit www.gadgetaustralia.com for more gadget news  and releases

Talk is cheap – except in Australia

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New cost of living figures reveal the price of a pre-paid mobile phone is nearly 9 times more in Sydney than Los Angeles.

Whether it’s surfing the net, grabbing a bite out with friends after work or going to see the latest blockbuster movie, on average Australians are paying some of the highest prices in the world.

Comparison of a night out in AUSTRALIA Vs UK vsUS

Below is snapshot from the comparison website

The comparison  below is  for a night out  if  you are visiting   any of the cities London , Sydney or New york and the price of the beer, wine or cocktail

numbeo compariosn cost of living by budget direct us uk australia

Comparison tool link url : http://www.budgetdirect.com.au/costofliving/

The tool is quite handy and you can compare living costs, shopping  and getting around costs  in most major cities, though  the comparison is only focussed to a few  cities  and i would much rather have some more cities in the list  to get a better comparison figure (Comparison website  link below)

One of the differences that stood out was the cost of a pre-paid mobile phone tariff. Australians are paying on average nearly four times more for this than the US and nearly three times more than they are in the UK. When comparing the individual cities, LA costs $0.11 per minutes compared to Sydney, which is nearly 9 times more at $1.00 per minute.

It’s not only chatting on the phone that’s more expensive. Surfing the net costs considerably more in “Australia than the US and UK”. Regardless of what politicians future plans are for Australia’s NBN the data shows that Aussies are currently paying on average over 80% more than the UK and over 25% more than the US.

On a more positive note, the data shows Australians do have the highest median monthly disposable salary after tax.

The comparison guide uses data collected primarily from Numbeo, the world’s largest database of user-contributed data, which allows users to compare three cities across a number of key categories including their weekly shop, living and getting around.

To find out more about the data and make your own cost comparisons, please click here to try the tool yourself.

Freelancer Not so good after all

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They are mulling a release on  the stock market (freelancer.com) , and i was also thinking of participating  and buying some of their IPO  stock , but after I checked my email this week and saw that  i got charged $5.89 for nothing from freelancer.com, i  changed my mind. I’m no more buying any Shares in freelancer.com if it lists on  the stock market and just  started looking for alternatives for freelancer to get my freelancing  jobs done . Any company that has a sneaky tactic to charge you more and more fees, even while not providing a service can be termed bit off a rip off IMHO.

the rip off from my paypal account by freelancer

Not PayPal’s fault … just freelancer taking money outta my paypal

I had to  do a bit of further investigation to see why i was charged when i didn’t even use their service in the last month or so. I found out  after their last upgrade they  actually upgraded my account to the  Basic membership rather than the $0 fee account, which is wrong in my opinion , you just cant upgrade an existing  no fee account to basic account which automatically starts to charge your account regularly  for money when  you don’t even use that account. .

basic account versus free account at freelancer

If they were fair dinkum they would  automatically  change all the accounts to the $0  no fees account (rather than basic where users started getting charged suddenly)  and then whoever wanted to upgrade  could do so themselves.

 

i got ripped of by freelancer

 

Result:

I immediately  downgraded my freelancer account to $0 fees

 

why is freelancer charging me fees

and  cancelled freelancer authorisation to my paypal account  so that they cant force bill me anymore. I can see many people going forward  looking for alternatives  other than freelancer who are using these kinds of tactics that  lets down that trust of users and secondly also  increasing and  charging quite a hefty fee rapidly  for doing transactions with them. They are services out there that charge less than 40 % of what they charge and  I will be using them from now on.

I’m not telling that freelancer is not a good service , i have used them for my projects  but when they do this kind of stuff it lets down your trust  and you are forced to look elsewhere . Let me know if you have been a victim of the same predicament.

 

UPDATE : EVEN MORE disturbing

I got this email after downgrading … Even more P*** off now

You have successfully downgraded to a free membership. Your membership will remain active until Oct 21, 2013.

Do u use Wikipedia ! do a good deed – Donate

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Wikipedia needs your help !!

website of wikipedia

 

I  searched  for  a term in Wikipedia today and was surprised  to see a donation message pop up. Without a blink I transferred a small amount  to my favourite free website that I regularly use.

(Edit: Later on I found this)

donate to wikipedia button

One of the most used general information site that everybody uses for free needs help  to keep it alive  and why not , they serve billions off users for free , but they can’t do it forever.

I know i have used them  for information sourced for my blog  and article that i write, and so it was fair that i donate. I know most aussies  are fair dinkum and they will be a fair bit donating, so go to Wikipedia today  and when that pop up  comes up , do your bit and donate a couple of gold coins or  more if you can afford they are not asking for much

My donation  to wikipedia

how to donate to wikipedia or wikimedia website

You can go here  to this—>  official Wikimedia donation page  to donate

The message I recieved after donating

Thank you for your support. Read about why other donors around the world support Wikipedia and its sister projects, or find out if your company has a corporate matching gift program. Tell the world that you support Wikimedia: tweet it with hashtag #keepitfree!

 

Wikipedia is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Questions or comments?

Write to: donate(at)wikimedia.org   Learn more about local chapters and their projects