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An interesting piece from The Verge suggesting that Google Maps got the boot a year before Apple and Google’s contract was up: Apple apparently felt that the older Google Maps-powered Maps in iOS were falling behind Android — particularly since they didn’t have access to turn-by-turn navigation, which Google has shipped on Android phones for several… [more]
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I reviewed Apple’s iOS 6 this week, and one of the areas I focused on was the new Maps app (the Google one is gone, allegedly because Google were being dicks about their mapping API). It’s an important app, and I set out to see if I could break it. I used a quarter of… [more]
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I’ve written a review of iOS 6, the latest free upgrade for Apple’s iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. Is it good? Yes, but the newer your hardware the better it is. the older the kit the less of iOS 6 you actually get. Some of the big features – Siri, turn-by-turn navigation, panoramic photos and… [more]
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The iPhone 5’s out, but if you’re buying one can you save cash by going SIM-free? The answer’s yes, but the difference isn’t as big as you might expect. Take Orange: the 32GB iPhone 5 is £219, then £36 per month over two years. That’s £864, so the total cost of ownership over two years… [more]
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My friends at Techradar and Tap! have been up all night covering the iPhone 5 announcement – literally all night in the case of Tap! – so if you want to know about the latest iteration of the iPhone then have I got links for you. First up, Tap!’s very excellent iPhone guide [iTunes link], featuring… [more]
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Me on Techradar: This week, Nokia did half an Apple: it made me look at my current phone and think “hmm, it’s getting on a bit. Time for a new one”. But it didn’t do the other half, which is to actually close the sale: where Apple goes “Boom! This date! This price!” Nokia said… [more]
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The closure of any magazine is a sad event, but I’m particularly sad to see the end of PC Plus and What Laptop, Tablet and Smartphone, and not just because they both paid me to write things. What Laptop was a great consumer champion, cutting through the bullshit to tell you what kit was worth… [more]
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Me, going on about the evils of the internet again… A big scandal’s kicked off in the world of books: big-name authors RJ Ellory and Stephen Leather have been writing fake reviews on the internet, bigging up their own titles and damning their rivals’ books. They’re not the only ones – John Locke appears to have forgotten… [more]
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Me, on Techradar, writing about OEM software: Imagine. You’ve saved up for years, and at last you can afford the car of your dreams. You’ve done your homework, chosen the best specs, picked the best colour combinations and haggled for the best deal. It’s tasteful. Subtle. Classy. And when you turn up to collect it… [more]
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An excellent post about apps, but it’s really about any kind of digital content. Making any digital product is actually about making two products: 1.        The product itself. 2.        The reason anyone should care about (1). Because no-one cares. Of course, no-one cares. There’s too much stuff, so no-one cares just because you’ve made something new. [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
