Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Denote adds custom search to sites and apps

Looking for a search solution for your website or mobile app? You can take the easy route and install some off-the-shelf code from one of the big search players. Or, do your users a favor and install something like Denote Search.

Denote Search can be customized to suit your content and managed to deliver the performance that users expect. The Denote package includes analytics that will identify key search terms and trends, so you'll know what users are looking for.

Prices range from a free trial to $555 per month for up to 30 search engines. Get full details at the Denote website and follow the Denote news on Twitter.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Mapera adds maps to Android photos

So a friend sends you a photo of a lovely waterfall and you are wondering where she shot it. If she had used Mapera, you would have the answer along with the picture.

Mapera is a free photo editing app for Android that lets you add a map to your photo. You can enter the location yourself or select one of the suggested locations. You can resize the map and move the location marker.

Mapera can be a useful tool if you're photographing buildings or artwork in a city or small town or capturing nature in the back country. Check it out in the Google Play store.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Vpnster routes your Android to blocked websites

I used to work at a company that blocked access to YouTube, Pandora and several other streaming sites. The company's official line was that it wanted us wasting time or bandwidth.

I expect they didn't know how easy it was to get around their roadblocks using apps like Vpnster. Those apps make and end run around the company's network blocks by creating a virtual private network and routing a user's traffic through their own servers.

The new Vpnster Beta gives you a free access to more than 15 servers with a monthly quote of more than 500 MB. There's also a Pro version for unlimited usage. In addition to traffic routing, Vpnster promises to protect your identity and block tracking mechanisms to take the worry out of using public WiFi networks.

Vpnster is available free for Android users in the Google Play store

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Zmartframe turns monitors into touch-screens

Many new computer systems come with a touch-screen monitor. Soon you'll be able to add touch-screen capabilities to an existing monitor.

Hong Kong-based Gowin Technology is in the later stages of development of an adapter that attaches to an ordinary flat-screen monitor to give it fingertip input capability. The Zmartframe is slated to be available in the early fall.

The frame is mounted over an existing monitor and secured using straps. It uses a USB cable to connect to a Windows PC. The frame can also switch Android Mode, turning it into an oversized Android tablet.

Gowin has a fund-raising campaign in progress at Indiegogo where it hopes to raise $200,000. Supporters who contribute $160 or more will receive a Zmartframe starting in September.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Enemy Dawn lets you defend Poland from Nazi attacks

In the fall of 1939, the German army swept into Poland, quickly overwhelming the country's defenses. It wasn't much of a fight. But the results might have been different if the defenders had been armed with the Russian-made Katyusha rocket launcher.

That's the premise of Enemy Dawn, a new combat simulation game scheduled to be released next week for the Apple iPad and iPhone. The game lets you fight the war by commanding a mobile rocket launcher and firing against Nazi Panzer tank assaults, Stuka dive bombers, battalions of infantry and even German warships.

The game includes realistic sites and sounds of combat spread over five levels. It starts with the defense of Warsaw and moves up through four more levels that has you fighting infantry troops, recapturing a Polish airfield and shooting down attacking aircraft over Danzig harbor.

Enemy Dawn will be available in both free and paid versions. You can sign up now at the developers' website for email alerts and follow their news on Twitter.

DIY floral arrangements at Bloominous


Have you ever attended a wedding, admired the floral arrangements and wondered how much they cost? Don't ask, you don't want to know.

But what you might want to know is how to save money the next time you want to add the charm of floral decor to a party or event. That's where Bloominous can help.

The Los Angeles start-up offers do-it-yourself floral kits that provide everything you need to make arrangements that look like what the professionals sell. The kits include fresh flowers that are cut to order along with photo-instruction cards and video.

Check out the designs and prices at Bloominous.com, get tips and ideas at the Bloominous blog and follow the bloomers on Twitter and Facebook

Monday, July 21, 2014

CurrentlyDown knows when websites go dark

We've all been there. You type in a URL and nothing happens, or you get a cryptic message about the site not being available. What's the problem? Is it your computer? Your modem and router? Your Internet provider? Or maybe the website is offline.

Sites go down or blink off and on more often that you might think. If you want proof, check out CurrentlyDown, a free site that keeps a 24/7 eye on popular websites.

And you'd be surprised at how many well-known sites take an occasional nap. For example, the BBC's site was down for almost a half hour earlier this month while Facebook and Instagram each winked off for about a half hour last month.

The site lets you type in a URL and get an instant report on its current status and a snapshot of any recent outages. Check out their Facebook and Twitter feeds to get news on outages when they occur.  

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Tenantify aids verification for renters and landlords

If you have recently rented an apartment or a home, you know there's plenty of paperwork involved. For one thing, the landlord or rental agent typically wants to verify that you are employed and that you have a bank account. And that could mean trips to the bank and your employer's human resources department.

Tenantify is an online service that makes that process as easy as possible for both the tenant and the landlord. The service uses a tenant's electronic statement to verify the banking connection and makes direct contact with a business to verify a tenant's employment status.

The service was developed by Songhua Hu, who thought the traditional way of screening prospective tenants could benefit from a dose of 21st Century technology. His system takes some of  the friction out of the application process and helps reduce the risk of fraud. "Our goal is to reduce friction in the housing market and build trust between landlord and tenant," he said.

The service is free for landlords. Tenants can purchase employment verification for $10, Income verification for $10 or both for $15.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Macros app goes beyond calorie-counting

Counting calories is a time-tested method to lose weight and take control your diet. But all that counting can also be a pain in the, umm, midsection.

Macros is a new Android app that helps take some of the drudgery out of calorie-counting. It also take you a step beyond simple calorie counting and into the realm of macro-nutrient monitoring, and that's where you want to be if your goal is building muscle while balancing your weight.

Macros makes it easy to log food and keep track of the exact macro values in your diet. When you create a food item, it logs and remembers that item. The app features a dynamic database that grows and customizes to match your personal diet. It's not just a bloated database of food you never eat.

The app also has a snappy set of graphics that show your daily intake of protein, carbs and fat per day and over the past seven days.

You can pick up the app for free at the Google Play store.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Textter makes instant messaging even faster

You know, of course, that instant messaging isn't all that instantaneous. Let's say you send a text message to a friend asking "Where shall we meet?" or "Can I bring coffee?"

Your friend is ready to answer. You know she's typing because your phone shows a series of dots. But what is she saying? You need to know now. You're stopped at a red light or maybe standing in line at Starbucks. The people behind you are ready to move on, even if you're not.

When Carlos Cueto found himself in that kind of situation, he was moved to create Textter, the first real-time messaging app. Textter allows users to see what a friend is typing before they hit the Send button. It also has the useful ability to delete a message after it was send. Regret that 3 a.m. text? One swipe and it's gone from your phone' and you friend's phone.

Textter is free and available from the iTunes Store and Google Play.

New app paves the way to a flat belly

Gosh, I would love to have a flat belly like the dude on the cover of last week's People magazine. But where to start? Now there's an app for that.

Flat Belly Abs is an app that lets you keep your exercises close at hand. The app contains a collection of classic and effective exercises that will help you tone and flatten your midsection.

The list includes Ankle Touches, Flutter Kicks, Toe Touch Sit Ups and many more. Each one links to a short demonstration video, so you'll always remember how to do Froggers, Plank Jacks or Russian Twists. The app also lets you create custom playlists or your favorite (or most dreaded) exercises.

Flat Belly Abs costs a mere 99 cents at Google Play or in the Amazon app library.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Vintage concerts come alive in online archives

Somewhere in my house is a box that contains a pile of cassette tapes and a lot of good memories. The cassettes are recordings made at concerts I attended between the late 1960s and the early 1980s. The shows range from folk singers like Joni Mitchell, Phil Ochs and Peter, Paul & Mary to rock bands like Fleetwood Mac, The Doobie Brothers and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
I don't listen to the tapes very often for one very good reason: they sound awful. I made the recordings from my seat in the audience using a cheap recorder and microphone and on many of the tapes, the crowd noise overwhelms the music. Invariably, there's some jerk seated a few feet away talking so loudly that he becomes the recording’s featured vocalist.
But thanks to the Internet, there are now many sources where I can listen to a vintage concert in a high-quality recording that can be downloaded or streamed. These are often recordings that were sanctioned by the artists and captured directly from the concert’s sound equipment or made for a radio broadcast. 

The best and largest collection is at the Concert Vaulta membership website that has an eclectic archive of thousands of live concert recordings. It was built around the master recordings collected by rock promoter Bill Graham who owned the Fillmore and Winterland ballrooms in the 1960s. It's the best place to find performances by rock legends like Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones or Jimi Hendrix. 

The Concert Vault may not have a recording of the same show that I attended, but I can usually find one made about the same time. For example, I saw The Who at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago in 1970. The Concert Vault has a 1970 performance by the band at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass. I found a Fillmore East show by Janis Joplin from 1969, the year before I saw her perform in Boston shortly before her death.


While rock shows are the primary draw at the Concert Vault, the library also includes performances by jazz artists Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, country stars like Maybelle Carter and Merle Travis and blues legends B. B. King and Lightnin' Hopkins. 


Elsewhere on the web, Grateful Dead fans can binge on recordings of more than 9,000 Dead shows at the Internet Archive. The collection includes concerts recorded by fans, a practice  that the band allowed, and recordings made from the band's soundboard. Other artists with shows in the archive include Ryan Adams, John Mayer, Little Feat and Warren Zevon.


The National Jukebox at the Library of Congress website contains digital copies made from 78rpm records produced between 1901 and 1925. The collection includes early ragtime and songs by Irving Berlin and George M. Cohan.


A few of today's popular artists now sell high-quality recordings of their concerts directly from their websites. The website Live Bruce Springsteen posts recordings from his personal archives as well as recordings made from stops on his recent tours.


At Folk Alley, fans of folk and Bluegrass music can hear live recordings by Tony Rice, John Prine, Arlo Guthrie and Nickel Creek.


For fan recordings, the best source is Sugarmegs, where fans have done a much better job of it than me. The lineup there is a mixture of recent shows by artists such as Jeff Beck, James Taylor and The Rolling Stones along with vintage performances by Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd and even a couple of shows by the Beatles.



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