What is this section all about?

I use a variety of everyday products which I think others will find useful.  I only mention here either items I own or I have used and think would be beneficial.  This is not a difinitive recommended list but a general list of useful items.

This website:
  • Theme – Astra Theme with Pro addons – My design skills may not be top notch but the theme has been a great addition to what I was using before.  Astra Theme with the additional pro addons has been a great purchase and as I purchased a lifetime licence, I can use it on any site and receive support and updates forever!
  • Page Builder – Elementor Pro – Elementor is a page builder that works with pretty much any theme for WordPress.  It is fast and lightweight with plenty of advanced options – most of which I have not even started to use yet.  Elementor Pro includes many features that I would usually have a plugin for, such as forms, buttons, sliders and so on.
Technology
  • Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ100EBK Compact Digital Camera – I just purchased this camera recently for family outings and product shots.  It is really small and lightweight with a superb zoom lens.  I have a blog post on how to allow 30 min 4K videos and 60fps 1080p recording.  I would suggest purchasing a great book called Photographer’s Guide to the Panasonic ZS100/TZ100 which is a great accompaniment and guide to using the camera and its vast array of features and options.
  • DJI Phantom 3 drone – My first real drone that captures fantastic 1080p footage.  Available quite cheap now, this was the cheapest drone DJI had to offer, they now have the DJI Spark which looks very good or the DJI Mavic which is compact and foldable but from experience, this is a very capable drone.
  • Iphone 7 Plus – I am not an Apple geek, I don’t have a Macbook and I am not completely in the Apple ecosystem – but I do love my Iphone.  The phone just works, everything is pretty straightforward, the apps are endless and most apps appear in the Apple AppStore first.  I also own a Doogee X20LAndroid 7.0 smartphone as a spare phone but my primary phone has been an Iphone for the past few years.
  • Ipad Air 2 – Similar to my Iphone, the Ipad is easy to use, I share apps between the two and I find it reliable and efficient.  I also own a few Android tablets.
  • Fire 7″ Tablet (2016) – I bought a few of these for the kids and they are EXCELLENT value!  I purchased with Amazon Prime (free trial here) and I have Fire for Kids, the games and apps in the kids sections including in game purchases are free.  The tablet itself is quite sturdy, low specification hence the low price.  Add a microsd card and away you go, keep the kids busy when travelling.  Amazon have released a new 2017 Fire 7″ tablet with Alexa, dualband wifi and some other bits and bobs but the original is fine.
  • Asus MG28UK 28″ 4K monitor – This is my new monitor and my first 4K screen.  Fabulous bit of tech and great if you constantly have several windows open.  Fitted with speakers so no extra speakers required.
Software
  • Microsoft Office 365 – The legendary office productivity suite.  If you have several users and machines, go for the 5 device licence which is great value.  If you are an old Office user, you will remember having to shell out a large one-time payment to get the updates every year or so, with Office 365, you get the latest version when it is released.  Plus online Onedrive storage and it is the full suite with Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access and Outlook.
  • IPVanish VPN – There are occasions where you want to test scripts, software, services or just shield what you are doing from your nosey ISP.  IPVanish is a great value VPN service with multiple server locations around the world and very high speed.  They do not keep log files – very important for the security conscious.
  • BitDefender Total Security – Very powerful but less resource hungry firewall, antivirus, malware, phishing and all sorts of protection.  I had Kaspersky installed for years on several PCs, I had issues with some of the added features blocking pages, blocking installs and sometimes heavy resource usage.  BitDefender can sometimes block things but it is usually easier to resolve than with Kaspersky.  Both are rated equally highly but my preference at the moment is BitDefender.