dbrand concrete skin review

A couple weeks back, dbrand unleashed their new skin designed to make your device look like concrete. Initially, I wasn't sold on the idea of the concrete skin because it kinda looked plain, but after seeing a few images of it on twitter, I was somewhat convinced that a concrete skin might just be what I need. The addition of a store-wide 30% discount made the purchase decision easier and after three weeks of patiently waiting, the concrete skin from dbrand finally arrived on my doorstep

Skinning the Surface Pro 4 — "If I were to score the installation on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the easiest. I would give it a 8/10 because the video instruction is pretty useful. It is also nice to know that the 3M paper dbrand is using can be easily removed without leaving any sticky spots behind." Continue reading.

Compared to my previous experience with the dbrand bamboo skin which took about a week and a half to arrive, the fulfilment this time around was truly slow. At some point, I thought that dbrand actually forgot my order because I was checking out twitter and a lot of people were boasting their new concrete skins. I had to contact dbrand through email twice to put my mind to ease. 

The skin did eventually arrive but it comes at a time where I have lost my initial enthusiasm towards the concrete skin. I didn't feel the same excitement unwrapping the mailing envelope that contained my first dbrand skin. So, the question I will be answering today is whether the concrete skin is a solid deal or not?

Experiencing Amazon's A+ customer service

Online shopping is convenient when things work your way but occasionally, slip ups do happen. This is the second time that I have had problems with my online order. The first time was when I bought the Surface Pro 4 through Lazada which is the largest online store in Southeast Asia. You can read all about my experience from that here. My story today revolves around the late delivery of my Amazon Prime order.

Contacting customer service has never been a good experience for me, mostly because talking to these company representatives are often a cumbersome experience because I always end the call with no useful information. To be honest, when I decided to call Amazon's customer service, I was expecting it to be a good experience since they are the parent company of Zappos which is an online shoe store based in America that is well known for their top notch customer service.

After contacting them, I can tell you that this is by far the best customer service I have come across.

Trying Android Pay for the first time

One tap away

Mobile payments is the next evolution when it comes to cashless payments and the market which initially started off with Google Wallet has now turned into a thriving industry. The big push for mobile payments in the recent years is because we are now at a point where mobile payments are actually a feasible option for just about anyone.

Mastercard shows off their new logo for the 21st century — "Most notably is that the "mastercard" font looks subtle and is now lowercase. The font itself is called FF Mark and as you can see in the renders below, the new font blends in with modern day devices." Continue reading.

Smartphones are everywhere and secure elements like an encrypted operating system alongside fingerprint sensors are now widely available on mobile devices. While not everyone is using their smartphones to complete their purchase, there is a need for the mobile payment market because it simplifies the buying experience. With the help of companies like Apple and Samsung, it won't be long before more banks and merchants begin accepting payments from your smartphone.

Right now, all major smartphones have some form of mobile payment service. iPhones have Apple Pay, Galaxy phones have Samsung Pay, Android phones have Android Pay and Windows 10 Mobile phones have Microsoft Wallet. For today, I will be focusing on Android Pay with a little case study on my experience of using it at McDonald's.

Logitech T400 review - the best ambidextrous wireless mouse

Three years late

Three years ago, I bought the Logitech T400 mouse when it was on sale. The mouse also called the Logitech Zone Touch mouse was designed for Windows 8 with customizable gestures that can be configured through Logitech's software. Ever since then, I fell in love with this mouse and I loved it so much that I bought a second one to replace it when the original one got lost.

I don't think Logitech still manufactures this mouse but in my opinion, this is one of the best mouse for my needs. You might be thinking why am I not using the ever popular MX Master by Logitech? Well, a little known fact about me is that I am a left hander and naturally, I use my mouse with my left hand. In the past, I did try using my right hand with the mouse but it didn't seem to work out.

After using the same mouse for about three years, here is my review of the Logitech T400.

Snapchat's intervention in the future of mobile advertising

What ghost?

Yesterday, Google unveiled what would be the next version of Android which was previously only known as Android N (and also Namey McNameface). Android Nougat is the name of the next big Android release that is slated to be released in the coming weeks. But, that's not what this article is about. It's about Snapchat and how it's changing how mobile advertising is done.

You don’t want to miss this. #AndroidNReveal pic.twitter.com/6ivBfkNVCV

— Google (@google) June 30, 2016

What does Snapchat have to do with the next Android release? Well, this time around, Google did things differently and took the opportunity to unveil Android Nougat through their Snapchat account. A first for Google as far as I know. The news about Android Nougat soon spread out but this is just one of the Snapchat exclusives.

In my opinion Google announced Android Nougat through Snapchat mainly because they wanted to use this opportunity to gain more followers. This is not the first time that Snapchat had an exclusive dibs on a new product. Last year, Burberry showed off their new fashion lineup 24 hours before it hit the runway.

So, it's time to talk about Snapchat.