Life & Technology – 2GB 24th May, 2014

 

Design is a major part of all of our lives, whether we're aware of it or not. It's an integral part of the devices we use every day. But what goes into designing a radically new tech product? I spoke to Gadi Amit, President of NewDealDesign, a company responsible for some of the most innovative technology devices of the past decade.

For more details about Vivid Sydney visit their website – www.vividsydney.com/

 

Also, big news this week for Telstra as the company announced an ambitious plan to create one of the world’s largest Wi-Fi networks. Telstra aims to offer all Australians, Telstra customers or not, access to two million Wi-Fi hotspots across the nation within five years. Telstra’s Mike Wright spoke to me about the plan.

 

Finally, could smartphone-controlled robots be the future of toys? Ian Bernstein of Orbotix thinks so. His company is a pioneer in the field of connected robots. We discussed his plans to transform play and education.

 

If you’d like to know more, Gadi Amit and Ian Bernstein are speaking at the Vivid festival in Sydney in June.

 

Mick has a number of Apple devices and wanted to know how to sync photos across them.

 

Mick, to do this you’ll need to sign in with your iCloud account on all devices. Once you’re signed in, turn on Photo Stream on all devices. On the iPad this is in the iCloud section of the Settings app, on the Mac it’s in the Preferences section of the iPhoto app. 

 

In iPhoto, check the box ‘Automatic Upload’ to send all new photos to ‘My Photo Stream’. Now, all new photos will be sent to Photo Stream and will be synced across all your devices via WiFi.

 

Alf was looking for a way to simulate a roaring fireplace on his LG TV.

 

Alf, there is a free app that does exactly what you’re looking for on the Apple App Store. Jump on your iPad or iPhone and go to the App Store. The app you’re looking for is called ‘Fireplace for LG Smart TV’ by Zappo TV. It’s a free app that offers optional In-App Purchases.

 

Once you’ve downloaded the app it’s very simple to use. Make sure your iPhone or iPad has WiFi switched on. As soon as you launch the app it will search for any LG TVs connected to your local network. Once it finds your TV simply press the TV icon on the app to start the fire.