• France awaits Apple’s investigation over slowing down iPhone’s

    In early 2018 a French consumer watchdog brought Apple to court over the accusation that the phone giant are deliberately slowing down old models of it’s iPhone’s. Deliberately doing so has often been thrown at Apple as their iPhone’s do notably seem to slow down after quite some time and this is not to mention the fact that the battery life is also poor. In France deliberately shortening the lifespan of a product is against the law and last year Apple also admitted that new iPhone software updates were in fact slowing down older models of iPhone.

    France is the third country to take Apple to court over such claims and the consumer agency has also brought many other companies to court including HP, a printer giant in the industry. The new software updates are a deliberate push to get people to upgrade their iPhone’s however the opposite seems to be happening. More and more people are getting second hand or refurbished iPhone’s as they are much more affordable from websites like www.refurbishediphones.ie. The price of the newer models of iPhone are staggering so it is no wonder people are turning to the refurbished versions to save money.

    According to the BBC news the new Apple updates are designed to make the batteries of the older models last long but this does not seem to be the case and anybody who owns an iPhone knows this. Apple have now said that a public apology will be made..like that is of any significance. For those of you who are looking to save money on getting an iPhone then the refurbished iPhones are just as good and should come with a warranty. Now that Apple have been caught in the act the older models might be a more viable option in the future.




  • Electric Scooters Are Banned From Sidewalk in France

    The French government have announced that they plan to ban the new wave of adult electric scooters from being used on their sidewalks in France. According to a recent article on the Reuters website: “We cannot let these devices that move at 20 to 30 kilometers an hour jeopardize the security of pedestrians on the sidewalks,” Borne told parliament. This comes after thousands of people have already bought adult electric scooters as a means to commute to work.

    Electric Scooters have become hugely popular in France:

    In 2017 it is reported that a whopping 50,000 electric scooters were sold. 2018 numbers are not yet out but it will more than likely be double that number as they have become more popular as each month passes. Like many other EU countries France have been unsure in how to legislate such electric scooters leading to confusion on where they can be used. This has not stopped people buying them however nor really has it stopped them being used on the roads and in bike lanes where they are also not permitted.

    The French government fails to see how the electric scooter can help relieve congestion in its built up cities and instead shuts down the clearly popular technology. Electric scooters have many benefits and taking cars off of the road which has been a government priority in recent years is one of them so it is quite surprising that they have not embraced the electric scooters as a means to achieve their goals of this and cutting emissions. If a small part of the population choose these as a mode of transportation rather than a car then emissions will be hugely cut down.

    Perhaps in later 2019 this will be reviewed as we believe it will have to be due to the popularity of such electric scooters and the many benefits of them. Let us know what you think in the comments below. Would you use an electric scooter to get to work?


  • Discover Paris on an Electric Scooter

    Paris is one of the most popular cities in the world to visit. It has great food, great wine, fantastic architecture and of course it has the Eiffel Tower. It is only a 1 hour flight from Dublin so it is perfect for a weekend away. Flights can be gotten for cheap on the Ryanair website but the city itself can be quite expensive. As one of the biggest cities in the world that is to be expected but you can do your best to keep the cost down by doing various things.

    The first thing you can do is get a private room in a hostel instead of a hotel. This should save you about €50 per night depending on the hostel. You would be surprised at the quality of some hostels here especially if you have not stayed in a hostel in a while. The next thing you can do is keeping out a minimum. Again the advantage of staying in a hostel is that you can cook in the kitchen there. Go to the supermarket and buy food for cheap, cook it and then head out after to enjoy the city. Food can be expensive on a trip to a city like this so this alone should cut your costs quite a bit.

    The next thing you can do is check out Paris’s new electric scooter rental. This will save money on getting taxis or Ubers. Ryanair now let you take your own electric scooter with you on the plane so if you have one you could always do that. If don’t have one then they can be gotten pretty cheap from here: https://www.it-directory.ie/collections/electric-scooters-ireland. You don’t have to spend any money on fuel and it is a great way to see a city. We would recommend this over getting a tour bus as it is more fun and you get to see parts of the city you never would have before. So if you are looking for a quick trip away check this out and do it on the cheap.

  • What to know before buying a TV box

    The TV box has become a staple of many peoples home entertainment system these days in France and they have really began to shook up the market. Several years ago this was not a possibility as the technology was still not advanced enough but with the explosion in popularity of TV on demand then it was inevitable that a device was needed on which to play these popular apps. At first it was the chromecast which many people used to cast the app on their phone to the TV but this was not ideal. Eventually the TV box came along and was able to solve this problem. Now almost every household has a TV box as more and more people move away from traditional satellite TV to TV on demand services. Even large companies like Sky are hoping on this trend with their popular Skygo app.

    There are literally hundreds of options when it comes to getting a TV box however the difference is not exactly what it seems. The first thing to look at is the operating system. Most boxes will run a version of android and the latest version as we write this post is android 7.1. You should always go with a box that has the latest version of its operating system so it will not become obsolete in the near future as some apps will only work on newer versions of certain operating systems.

    After this the next thing to look at is the hardware. Does it have sufficient hardware to do the task required? Any TV box being looked at should have 2GB of RAM and upwards. After all even your iPhone has 1GB of RAM so a lot of power is needed to run these apps. The newest trend in the world of TV boxes is 4K so this is another thing to look at. Is the box 4K compatible? Soon all TVs will be 4K compatible so having a box that can also play this is a must. According to the Irish website www.androidtvboxes.ie/ all new TV boxes now are 4K so this is another thing checked off of the list. Then it just comes down to a matter of budget! Most of the boxes are around €100 that are worth getting so don’t go too cheap.