Sunday, November 30, 2014

Get back-end Android tools with Side-by-Side File Manager

With the growing popularity of tablets and Chromebooks, Android devices are poised to replace everyday personal computers for many users. Their application software can do just about anything a user would want, but they still need a little help managing the back end. Side-by-Side File Manager is one of those helpers that every Android user should check out.

The program makes it easy to do everyday chores like copy, move, rename, and delete files and folders. It is especially useful when you're moving or copying files or folders from a device to a memory card, external drive or USB stick. Files are presented side-by-side and you can move them using left or right arrows. Folder transfers are also supported.

A long press on a file name opens a menu of options, including a launch option. This is handy when you find a video file and want to choose which player to use.

You can get Side-by-Side File Manager for free in the Google Play Store. A Pro version available for $2.99 adds the ability to do wireless file transfer between Androids, and between Androids and PCs.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Get an important call from China when you need it

Hold on, I have to take this important call from China.

I don't really have any business in China, but I'm betting you will believe I do after you hear my phone ring and some guy speaking Mandarin on the other end of the connection.

And what if that call came in the middle of a boring meeting at the office, when you're trying to close a deal or right after you hinted to a cute girl that you were involved in international finance?

Whatever the reason - that's your business - the developers at TransitScoop can make it happen. They've developed an iPhone app that will simulate an important call from China. They call it Important Call From China.

The app looks like the standard mobile phone app. But there's a secret button that lets you schedule a call, select a ringtone and choose one of three topics for your conversation: A call from an business executive, a call about politics, or a wrong number from China. There's even a script you can follow to simulate a full conversation.

Important Call From China costs 99 cents in the Apple iTunes Store.

Flitto translates the world

The last time I visited I became intrigued by one of the country's many J-pop girl groups. With a little work, I found the group's website and Twitter feed. But, alas, it was all in Japanese and inaccessible to a Westerner like me.

If we hope to seamlessly explore and appreciate the cultures of other countries, we need an app that will do instant or on-demand translations. That's the the goal of Flitto, a recently-updated app that delivers translations in 17 languages, from Spanish, French and German to Korean, Hindi and Arabic. And, of course, Japanese.

Unlike Google an other machine-base translators, which can deliver spotty and sometime inaccurate results, Flitto relies on millions of users to translate for other users. Translators get to sharpen their language skills and earn points for their work, which they can turn into donations for causes such as schooling for children in Thailand or homes for street kids in Kenya. Points can also be exchanged for cash.

To see how Flitto works, visit the Flitto website and Twitter feed or check out the free app in the Apple iTunes Store or the Google Play Store.

Friday, November 28, 2014

TouchWording site helps you put it into words

You're not 40, you're eighteen with 22 years' experience

You shouldn't have...But I'm so glad you did! The present's wonderful. Thank you.

I often think of you, at least as often as you may have asked yourself whether I have forgotten you. How are you?

I wish I had said that. Or written it. Or even thought it. Truth is, I cribbed those pearls from a website, one where people are apparently far more thoughtful and articulate than me. And they're nice enough to not only record their thoughts and phrases, they have organized them under several topics and made them available to anyone and everyone for free.

The site is Touchwording.com and you might want to bookmark it for the next time you need to write a thank you note, a letter of condolence or an invitation to have dinner or a drink with an old friend. The site was created by London-based GhostWording Ltd.

Olivier Bourdin, Director of GhostWording Ltd., knows that we can be lazy in our personal communication. "There are so many opportunities for people to say the same things in a fun and memorable way, yet we mainly decide to opt for the bland and repetitive phrases."

Bourdin said the company is creating a growing database of phrases for users who want to become more engaging and memorable. Some of those phrases are written by people at GhostWording and some were written by well-known authors. Others will come from average people who enter a writing contest that the company plans to launch.

You can browse the current collection at TouchWording.com. A mobile app will be available soon, to help us improve the quality of those texts and emails we write on the run.

In the meantime, keep in mind this quote from George Bernard Shaw: "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."

Monsters are rampant in Tower Rush for Androids

Knock, knock!

Who's there?

Orcs, flying monsters and toad masters.

What do you want?

We want to burn your homes, eat your food and kill your soldiers. 

Well, what are you going to do? You're in charge of the city tower, the primary point of defense for your entire community, and once again barbarians are at the gate. It's time to sharpen your swords and kick some orc butt.

That's the premise behind Tower Rush, a new battle and strategy game for Androids. The game features a top-down view of the village streets and buildings where the warfare takes place. Players will confront more than 20 different monster designs defending four different towers that you can place for the best defense. And each tower can change its configuration when you score an upgrade.

The game is free and there are no in-app purchases required to move to the next scenario. It's available for download in the Google Play Store.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Choppa Bird recalls the soul of Flappy

What is it about mobile games featuring flying birds tat make them so addictive? First there was Angry Birds, the game everyone had to have on their phone. Then came Flappy Bird, which caused a ruckus earlier this year when developer Nguyen Dong removed the popular game from the app stores.

Now comes Choppa Bird, a game that it's creator says features "the dead soul of Flappy Bird." Like its ancestor, Choppa Bird is a side-scrolling game in which players tap the screen to make Choppa Bird move up or down to avoid increasingly difficult obstacles.

Fans of Nintendo's early Mario Brothers games will appreciate the landscapes and players who liked the difficulty posed by Flappy Bird will find Choppa Bird even more challenging.

The game is currently available for free for iOS devices in the Apple iTunes Store and will be arriving soon for Androids.

Diversiton's calendar marks a world of diversity

When my son was a project manager for a global tech company he would get annoyed when the programmers in London would try to schedule conference calls for Thanksgiving Day. Then he would wonder why coders in the company's Johannesburg office weren't around on April 27. Turns out that was Freedom Day in South Africa.

His company could have used the Outlook Diversity Calendar. It's an company-wide calendar that marks religious days, festivals, holidays and important diversity dates. The calendar was created by Diversiton, a non-profit organization that's dedicated to promoting respect in the workplace.

The calendar can be distributed by email throughout an organization by email and customized by users to include project deadlines and other dates that are special with an organization.

Diversiton is which now selling the 2015 version of the calendar. There are four editions available: for the U.K. £395 (GBP) or U.S. $625 (USD) or Australia $725(AUD) or Canada $695 (CAD).

For more details, visit the Diversiton website and watch the video below that explains how the calendar works.







Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Features YouTube left out are at Replayliste

Everybody has a favorite YouTube video that they like to watch over and over. It might be a Katy Perry song, a silly cat trick, highlights from your wedding or Odell Beckham's one-handed catch in this week's Giants-Cowboys game.

If you watch a video on YouTube's website, you can pause, play, back up or jump ahead. But look closely - YouTube doesn't provide a repeat button. But Replayliste.com does.

At Replayliste's website, you can use the search box to find a favorite video, hit the play button, then click the button in the center of the display to turn a repeat function on or off.

Replayliste.com offers other features such as a real-time playlist. Every video you access goes into the playlist displayed in the right column of the computer screen. You can add or remove videos and move them up or down. The videos can have repeat turned on or off and the playlist will be there every time you visit the site.

Once you get comfortable using Replayliste.com, you may not ever go back to YouTube.

Mobuinet could be Facebook for business

If you are a Facebook member you know how the social network has changed your life. It has put you in touch with people near and far, let you schedule events and share plans, ideas and opinions.

Mobuinet, the Modern Business Network, wants to do all that and more in a business environment. Mobuinet is designed to help professionals and business owners pursue fast-track growth by connecting them with people who have had experience in their chosen fields.

Mobuinet's British creators explain their concept this way: "We harmonize the power of social media and blend it with the right mix of powerful online marketing tools to create a platform where businesses can pitch their ideas and garner valuable feedback from the right crowd."

When Mobuinet launches in mid-2015, that crowd will include business owners, freelancers, NGOs, funding organizations, major corporations and customers. The project is growing its user base through an Indiegogo campaign that hopes to raise £22,000 pounds by Christmas Eve. Anyone who contributes £1 (about $1.55) can join the beta version of Mobuinet. Early members get in position for marketing opportunities and a discount on the membership fee after Mobuinet is launched.

To learn more about the network, visit the Mobuinet website, watch the video below, check out the Indiegogo campaign and sign up for Mobuinet's Twitter feed.



Monday, November 24, 2014

GPS Photo Viewer matches pics with maps

I keep some of my favorite travel photos on my phone: A quiet temple in Kyoto, sea lions on a California beach, a bakery on a Paris street, my kids posing on a rock formation in Colorado. When people ask me where one of the photos was taken, I can't tell them much more than the basics. If they wanted to find that beach temple, I couldn't be much help.

But there's a new Android app called GPS Photo Viewer that could change that. By linking Google Maps and its GPS function to your photos, the app lets you determine and enter the exact latitude and longitude for that French bakery. Google would show them the location on a map and even plot a route to get there.

The app works best if you have enabled the GPS function on your phone's camera application. That makes the image's location accessible on the image's info screen.

To see the app in action, watch the video below. Watch it on your computer to see description capsules.

GPS Photo Viewer is free for Android users and available for download in the Google Play Store.




Sunday, November 23, 2014

Emoji Emoticons brings emotions to Androids

You know about WhatsApp, the mobile messaging app that allows you to send short messages to friends without paying SMS fees, even if those friends use a different phone or network. And you surely know about emoticons, those tiny smiley faces that you can include in messages illustrate and emphasize your emotional state.

Emoticons are what you use to let friends know if you are happy, sad, confused or just thinking about fixing some scrambled eggs.

Emoji Emoticons is an app that makes an enormous collection of emoticons available for Android users. The collection doesn't stop with a few smiles, frowns and hearts. The symbols are grouped under several toopics such as faces, love, animals and characters. For example, there's a whole page of more than 40 different hearts. Some looks like a box of Valentine cands. Others wear glasses and a moustachs.

See if any of them match your state of mind at the Google Play Store.

Rummage finds the needles in your haystack of files

A computer is like a storage bin that never fills up. You can throw in photos, documents, videos, music albums and just about anything else that lives in digital form. If you need more space, just add a larger hard drive.

The hard part comes later when you try to find something. Maybe it's a PDF from a business presentation in 2004 or a letter you wrote when you were in collage. Built-in tools like the Windows search box can take you only so far, and sometimes it takes you down a dead end.

The people who developed Rummage are confident that they've found a better way to help you find the needles in your haystacks. Rummage approaches the mission the way a corporation with a big library of documents might. It indexes all the stuff on your hard drive and Dropbox, noting not only the title, author and date but also the content inside the document. When it finds something important, it generates a tag. You can use those tags to focus your search as Rummage sifts through your labyrinth of folders and subfolders.

When I turned Rummage loose on my computer, it found and examined almost 100,000 files, a process that took almost a full day. When it was finished, I had everything sorted into tags grouped under People, Folders, Dates and File Types. That made it easy to find the spreadsheet I built for Larry, the letter I wrote to Maureen and the photo gallery I built for George in 2006.

Rummage for Windows 7 or 8 is available at getRummage.com. It's free, but the Rummagers will be happy to accept your PayPal donation. Get a close look at Rummage in the video below and keep up with new additiona on Rummage's Twitter feed.

The software is in its Alpha stage, so not everything works as completely or as quickly as you might like. But even at this early stage, Rummage is a very useful utility and one that will clearly keep getting better.


Friday, November 21, 2014

Android app makes it easy to learn personal finance

So, what's the real meaning behind the old proverb A penny saved is a penny earned? Maybe it's time for a quick lesson on the power of compound interest. If you're ready to get your financial house in order, you could spend a few hours teaching yourself the principles of personal finance, or you could download Learn Personal Finance.

The Android app turns the basics of managing your money into an interactive game. The app presents topics such as budgeting, credit, savings and taxes in bite-sized segments using simple language that anyone can understand.

The program lets you learn at your pace and it's available any time, whether you're thinking about joining your employer's 401K plan or just want to make more productive use of your commuting time.  

You can download Learn Personal Finance for $4.99 in the Google Play Store. There's more information on the program at the product's website and on Twitter.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

OLED comes of age with LG TVs at BestBuy

It was around 2003 when I first saw an OLED display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Back then, screens using organic light-emitting diodes were in their infancy. The first one I saw was only about four inches wide on the front of a car stereo system, but it had the remarkable ability to show animated images - in rich color.

Today, when I walk into a Best Buy store and see the latest super-sized OLED TV from LG Electronics, I can't help but recall a line from that classic Van Morrison song: "My, how you have grown!"

Today's OLED screens fulfill the promise of those tiny dashboard displays. They deliver spectacular picture quality with exceptional contrast from blazing white to the deepest blacks, all in a size that would be a welcome centerpiece for any media room.

Although other brands have produced OLED TVs, LG in particular has raised the bar for the technology by investing heavily in production facilities and introducing new sets in ever-larger sized. LG flagship is the curved 55-inch model 55EC9300 which Best Buy sells for $3499.99 - a discount of $500 off the TV's list price.

The set features a curved screen that is only 0.21" thick at its thinnest point. And is uses LG's exclusive 4 Color Pixel technology to produce enhanced and vibrant colors. The set also has LG's Smart TV powered by webOS to connect it to online sources such as Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. To learn more about the set and OLED technology, visit LGOLEDatBestBuy.com.

There was a time when I argued that plasma screens were superior to other display technologies because only plasma could deliver the deep, rich blacks that make all color pop from the screen. But no more. It was a long wait, but now the best of the breed is OLED.

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

A Little Dragon for little fingers

Whenever my five-year-old grandson comes to visit, he want to use my Android tablet to play games. His favorites? Anything with a character that flies, jumps, runs or swoops and collects rewards along the way.

The next time he visits, I plan to show him Little Dragon. It's a cute and simple action game that features a brightly colored flying dragon. He's on a quest that takes him through thick forests, past open meadows, over snowy mountains and through mysterious caves and rocky ledges. The little dragon needs power and strength to keep flying and luckily each level contains floating gold coins that activate artifacts that help him on his journey.

The game is easy enough to tiny fingers to master. Just hold to dive and release to climb. The game is free and available at the Google Play Store.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

MAGcro will be a macro lens for phones and tablets

When I was a kid, I loved using a magnifying glass to get a closer look at ordinary objects. I would study the engineering of an insect's feet, the geometry of veins on a leaf and the art of postage stamps.

Two of doctors in Wellington, New Zealand, discovered that adults still have a lot of that sort of curiosity. Using their shared interest in optics and ophthalmology, Drs. Sheng Hong and Ben O’Keeffe created a lens that could be used to capture close up and macro images of medical conditions. But they soon learned that people were using their prototype device to shoot close-up images of everyday objects.

That discovery led them to develop a consumer version called MAGcro, a macro lens that can be used with the camera on any smartphone or tablet. The doctors formed a partnership they call OphthalmicDocs and launched a campaign on Kickstarter hoping to raise $5,000 to finance development and production of the MAGcro. Backers who pledge $25 will get one of the first units for $5 less that the list price.

To get a close-up look at the the MAGcro, watch the video below, then visit the Kickstarter campaign page or the OphthalmicDocs website. The docs are also on Twitter.



Disk Cleaner for Macs finds and removes the junk

A person's desk can quickly become cluttered with the detritus of a busy person's work week. Memos, sticky notes, even leftover sandwich wrappers pile up because you're just too busy to clean up and reorganize.

If you could see the stuff on your computer's hard drive, you'd find just as much junk: cache files, downloads, application logs and an full trash can. And all of it is taking up valuable storage space that could be put to better use and sometimes causing your computer to work slower and less efficiently.

Disk Cleaner is a Mac utility that finds and removes all that stuff that you don't need, free your computer from litter and leftovers. Disk Cleaner scours hard drives and solid-state drives sorting out the apps and supporting files that you need and separating them from the odds and ends that you don't. After the scan, the program presents a report showing what and and should be deleted.

I ran Disk Cleaner on my little Macbook Air and it found almost 1 GB of stuff I didn't need. And, when you have only 120GB of storage, every gigabyte counts.

You can read more about Disk Cleaner on Power App's website or buy a copy for $2.99 at the Apple iTunes Store.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Malwarebytes is a new weapon to fight digital intruders

Got pop-ups? You know, those ads that come out of nowhere to take over your browser, clutter your computer screen and generally drive you crazy. They might be banner ads, videos or toolbars that you didn't install or ask for.

The uninvited intruders are called malware - malicious software - and sooner or later you'll get them, especially if your computer is running Windows. Now there's new weapon to add to your defense arsenal.

Malwarebytes AntiMalware promises real-time active malware protection. That means is examines and blocks programs that try to set up house in your computer without your permission. Antimalware also promises to protect users from visiting fake websites and find and remove malware, including those buried deep in the computer's rootkit.

Malwarebytes AntiMalware is sold directly through eBay where you can order a licensed copy for $14.99 and read customer reviews.

Fit Mate creates random routes for runners

If you're a runner or biker who does it for pleasure as well as fitness, you probably enjoy an occasional change of scenery. A run through the park one day, through campus on another day, or down museum row.

Fit Mate is a new iOS app that that generates a random route for you based on the distance you want to cover. And, after you do a route that you like, you can save it to your collection of favorites.

Fit Mate has other features as well. It performs real-time location monitoring, it stores your time and other statistics and it has a calendar so you can look up the route you ran last Saturday. There's also a place to add notes and a monitor that lets you know when it might be time for a new pair of shoes.

Fit Mate is free and available for downloading in the Apple iTunes Store.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Meeting Assistant puts your tablet to work at the office

Remember that important project planning meeting you attended early this morning? The one before the three other meetings you had today? Do you remember everyone who was there? How about that new girl in marketing, what was her name? And the guy from IT, was he the one with the long hair and short beard, or the short hair and long beard?

Meeting Assistant is a new app designed for just that kind of situation. It lets you make quick notes from meetings while keeping track of everyone who was there. By using profile cards from social media and your personal contact list, you can put faces to names, titles and responsibilities.

The app includes a nifty graphic that lets you fill in the people who are sitting around a conference table and quietly look up their profile information during the meeting. You can also create an agenda from scratch, from one of several templates, or from the information contained in a meeting invitation.

And, when the meeting's over, you can fire off your notes and a quick summary to your boss or your staff - before you head to the next meeting.

Meeting Assistant is a free app available for Androids in the Google Play Store and for the Kindle Fire in the Amazon's Appstore.

Bobine's charging cable puts a phone at eye level

Is the Bobine a cellphone dock or a charging cable? Actually, it's both.

The unique combo product is built around a 24-inch length of tough but flexible metal tubing, the kind you sometimes see used as a gooseneck shaft to hold a utility light. At one end is a USB plug, at the other is a cradle for a mobile phone.

With a few twists and turns, you can fashion the cable into a rigid snake that keeps your phone in view while it charges or syncs. For a Skype or Facetime video call, the stalk holds the phone steady at eye level. And the Bobine might be the solution for getting your phone in the right position to provide GPS navigation in your car.

The cable comes with a standard USB plug at one end and your choice of plugs for your mobile phone: Android, Apple's Lightning plug for the iPhone 5 or 6, or the classic 30-pin Apple connector for the iPhone 4 or iPods.

All of the Bobine versions sell for $35 at the Fuse Chicken website.

Verizon Connection Day promo offers free mobile data

I almost never sign up for promotional giveaways. Sure, I's love to win a GoPro camera, a Macbook Air or even a case of Dr. Pepper. But the chances of me actually winning anything is about the same as my chances of getting struck by a meteor. Pretty much less than zilch.

But I do plan to register for Verizon Wireless's Connection Day promotion because Verizon guarantees I will get something I can actually use: 1 free gigabyte of data added to my Verizon mobile phone account.

Connection Day is Wednesday, Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving. It's kind of the official launch of the holiday shopping season and it's one of the year's busiest travel days, a day when a lot of people could use some mobile data.

The giveaway is open to customers who use Verizon's More Everything data-sharing program that sells data in incremental blocks. Customers who have an unlimited data plan don't really need another gig. Verizon is also offering some partner deals and those are open to anyone, even people who use a different service. Those deals include:


  • 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi from Boingo Wireless (at airports) and Gogo Technologies (inflight).
  • A free Verizon FiOS mobile app that offers access to popular movies and TV shows from Nov. 26 - Dec. 1.
  • 10 free or discounted apps from Amazon plus two free Audible book downloads for new members and a $10 credit for current Audible members.
  • Free Digital Edition downloads of all 18 Conde Nast Publications, including Wired, Vanity Fair and GQ.
  • Something from iTunes that will be revealed on Nov. 26.

Verizon customers can register starting today, Nov. 12, at www.Verizon.com/connectionday and all wireless customers can sign up beginning that day to get an email reminder to return on the 26th to take advantage of the partner offers. 

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

SmartQuit app helps smokers kick the habit

As a former smoker, I can testify that most smokers are willing to try just about anything to break free of cigarettes. I remember trying everything from nicotine gum to hypnotism, all with varying degrees of success.

Today, smokers can get help from their mobile phones with an app called SmartQuit. The app was developed by Jonathan Bricker, a Ph.D. researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

Bricker takes a new approach to smoking cessation programs. Instead of counting cigarettes, smokers are trained to recognize the urge to smoke and teaches them new ways to deal with those urges - ways that don't involve lighting up.

An article in the Puget Sound Business Journal described the SmartQuit system this way: "SmartQuit has three phases: First, users answer questions about what things are important to them, such as their family and other personal values; Next, they unlock a series of exercises that introduces them to methods to track their urges; Finally, they keep track of all the times they let their urges go."

2Morrow, which licensed Bricker's work, cites research says four out of five smokers prefer the privacy and convenience of an app based program over telephone coaching. 2Morrow's website also points to research that says SmartQuit is the first smoking cessation app that has been scientifically proven to help smokers quit.

Smokers who want to try SmartQuit can download a free trial version of the app in the Apple iTunes Store or the Google Play Store. If they want to continue, they can upgrade to the full version for $50.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Ostrato has a single solution for cloud management

If you have any doubt hat cloud data services are here to stay, think about how many clouds you use for your personal data. Do you have data storage account with a service like Dropbox, iCloud or Mediafire? Do you back up your computer with Carbonite or a similar service? How about storing music files with Google? If you're like me, you have a whole sky full of clouds hovering over your head.

And it's no different in the business world. The 2014 Cloud Computing Adoption Survey, sponsored by Ostrato, found that 65 percent of businesses say they have implemented more than one cloud service and that 88 percent of respondents are planning to increase their usage of cloud computing in the next twelve months.

Providing tools to manage those multiple cloud services is why Ostrato is in business. The company created a cloud management platform that helps customers govern and embrace heterogeneous cloud services through a single user interface.

"It’s critical that enterprises have effective financial visibility and controls in place" to govern cloud usage and costs, said Ostrato CEO Jay Chapel in announcing details of the cloud computing survey.

For more information on Ostrato and its cloud-management products, visit the Ostrato website. You can also read more about the survey in this press release.

Panopreter turns text into human-voice audio

There were times when I was slogging through a long and tedious document when I wished someone read the dang thing to me while I did something else, like put my feet up on the desk or reorganize my files. You could call that lazy, but I like to think of it as multitasking.

The next time I'm in that situation, I think about downloading Panopreter. It's a text-to-speech translation program that will read digital files including plain text, .doc, PDF or even web pages.

Panopreter reads the text out loud in a natural-sounding human voice using the default text to speech voices that are available on Windows. Users of Windows 8 or 8.1 can choose Microsoft David (a US male), Zira (a US female) or Hazel (a UK female). Windows 7 and Vista users Microsoft Anna (a US female).

Another feature of Panopreter will convert text into WAV or MP3 audio files. That means you can take those legal briefs, research reports or magazine articles with you when you go for a walk or to keep you company on long drives.

To try Panopreter free for 30 days, download a 32- or 64-bit version at the company's website. If you decide to buy, the cost is $29.95.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

JookBox speakers work as a team

I'm betting you've been at a party where people were trying to get their groove on with the music from one little Bluetooth speaker. Thomas Condon was at one of those parties when he was a college student. Unlike you and me, Condon did something about it.

"I was frustrated with the little amount of sound that could be produced by a single portable speaker," he said. "I realized if multiple speakers could be linked, the party would be way better."

Condon went to work and came up with the JookBox, an eight-inch-long speaker that can be paired with up to nine siblings to generate enough sound power to fill up a room and most of a house. "It seemed like such a simple solution, I was amazed that nothing like this existed yet."

Using a special app, JookBox speakers can also deliver music from multiple mobile devices. The speaker also supports sound from televisions and video streaming applications like Netflix to create a surround sound effect.

BSX Electronics has launched a Kickstarter campaign with a target goal of $35,000. Early backers who pledge $99 will get one of the first speakers in their choice of colors.

What The Pho is an Android time-killer

What do you do when you're stuck in a doctor's waiting room or a government office and you have a few minutes to kill? Sure, you could do a little research on that report that's due is a few hours or write the email you've been putting off.

But more likely, you fire up a game on your mobile phone, one that you know will be a sure-fire time-killer. It has to be simple, with not much thinking required, and you have to be able to leave it at a moment's notice.

That's the sweet spot targeted by the developers of What The Pho, a new, free and addictive game for Androids. Although pho plays a starring role in the game, you don't have to know anything about the Vietnamese noodle soup or even care care for it.

What you do need is quick reflexes and the ability to tap on items as they float down the screen. And your goal is a simple one: beat your best score.

Think of Tetris, but with linguine and strips of beef.

This tasty diversion if awaiting your order at the Google Play Store. No chopsticks required.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Foxer is building a single source for web media

Every time I go looking for a particular music video, a TV episode or movie clip, it turns into a scavenger hunt. Is it on YouTube or Video? Maybe one of the lesser-known platforms like Deezer or Jamendo? And, what if I want to watch it on my TV rather than my phone?

Foxer just may have the solution. Foxer wants to be the single source for access to entertainment content from all of the major sources. According to Foxer's website, the service plans to provide content from YouTube, SoundCloud, Vimeo, Deezer and Jamendo plus video on demand from Dailymotion, Warner and others.

Foxer plans to give users the option to compile their own personal playlists and display content on whatever platform you choose, from mobile phones and tablets to desktop computers, TV and even in your car.

Foxer isn't quite ready for prime time but you can try the beta version on Foxer's website. It will connect to a user's accounts at YouTube and Deezer. And check out Foxer on Twitter.


Bevy Social is a new drinking companion

The last time I visited one of my favorite bars in Louisville, I was confronted with a massive collection of premium bourbons. Which one to choose? I could ask the bartender, but there was no guarantee that she was a particular fan of Kentucky's signature spirit. A quick consultation with Bevy Social would have been a more productive approach.

While drinking has always been a social experience, Bevy is a new and free Android app that brings it into the digital age. With Bevy, you can share what and with whom you are drinking while it connects you to other people who also enjoy a unique beverage.

Bevy features a Check-In option where you can capture and tag a photo showing where you are, hat you're drinking and who you are with. You can also you Bevy to find your favorite brands and cocktails, see other Bevy users drinking nearby, get personalized drink recommendations and share your favorite recipes.

And, there's the Playlist feature that lets you and your friends remember you favorite summer beers or brunch drinks. It will remind me why I prefer Booker's over Baker bourbon.

Check out Bevy Social in the Google Play Store and watch for the iOS version coming soon.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Tapslayer game puts Alice in Zombieland

You’ve seen the movies, watched the TV shows, read the books and played that special version of Call of Duty. If you still haven’t gotten your fill of zombies, check out Tapslayer: Alice in Zombieland.

Yes, sweet Alice turns out to be quite a lethal zombie-killing machine. In this free Android game, she battles through a variety of challenging maps and reloads with an arsenal of advanced weapons. One is a super bomb that destroys groups of undead attackers.

The game also offers special upgrades and an infinite wave mode that lets you match your zombie killing skills with other players.

Watch the video below, then check the screen shots and reviews and get a free download in the Google Play Store.




Ringtone Droid makes custom audio clips

Just like your mobile phone's home screen wallpaper, you phone’s ringtones are expressions of your personality. Are you Taylor Swift or Nina Simone? John Legend or Blake Shelton? Maroon 5 or Fleetwood Mac?

Ringtone Droid lets users manage and customize sound clips for ringtones, alarms and notifications. The app lets you select, clip and store music segments from a variety of audio formats:  MP3, WAV, AAC, MP4, 3GPP or AMR.

You can make ringtones from captured audio. Maybe a recording of your mom yelling at you to get out of bed would be the perfect alarm tone.

Check out Ringtone Droid in the Google Play Store

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Can't find the right tote bag? You haven't tried iCarryAlls

If I showed up at your office for a business meeting, chances are I’d be carrying my iPad and little Macbook in a beat-up cloth shoulder bag. It has frayed edges, a broken zipper and a big logo on the front that you wouldn’t recognize.

The bag was a promotional gift from a videogame company. I got it more more than 10 years ago and now I can’t seem to part with it. I’ve looked for a nicer, newer replacement, maybe something in leather, but nothing I’ve found can match the size, shape and design that I want.

But that was before I found iCarryAlls, a website that stocks an impressive variety of attractive business cases built for the iPad, MacBook, Galaxy tablet and other popular devices. Their inventory includes Padfolios, conference folders, sleeves and pouch cases, business tote bags, briefcases, duffel bags and a lot more.

Now, here’s the especially cool part: If none of the bags iCarryAlls has in stock meets your needs, they will customize a bag for you. You can add a shoulder strap, move a pocket or have a pocket built just for your oversized phone or for the Apple Newton that you’ve been carrying since 1992.

You can browse iCarryAlls’ designs at their website or shop at Amazon.com and keep up with new designs on Twitter. For a closer look at their bags, watch the video below.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

A simple OCR tool for Androids

Over the years, I’ve written about a variety of tools for turning printed text into computer text. Some worked on a PC with a scanner. One was a cigar-sized wand that slides over a printed page. Some worked better than others, but none were as simple or convenient as OCR Instantly.

The Android app converts a photo of a printed page into standard digital text. Take the photo, adjust the exposure and tap the OCR button. How simple is that?

The app works with languages other than English, though results with Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean can be spotty. One user said he had good results with Hindi.

The basic app is free at the Google Play Store. A Pro version is ad-free and offers several enhancements, including better recognition of text on curved book pages, removal of line breaks, PDF creation and text to speech.

Windows app aids square breathing technique

One of the first things I learned about yoga was that controlled breathing can help you deal with stress and anxiety. With square breathing, you learn to breathe to a count of four in four segments. You hold your breath for four seconds, then exhale slowly through your nose for four seconds.

Yes, the technique requires you to time your breathing and count off the seconds. But, if you have a Windows phone, there’s an app that can help you stay on track.

The Square Breathing Meditation App will guide you step-by-step on the correct Square Breathing technique when you are feeling the most stressed.

The app lets you select and play music or other soothing sounds while a male or female voice counts off the seconds. The app isn't meant to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease. But it does promise to help you chill out when you need to.

The app costs $4.99 and is available in the Windows Phone App Store.

Tapet adds artistic zing to Android screens

Considering how often people look at the home screen of their mobile phones, it’s not surprising that they want to see something pleasant looking back at them. It might be a photo of a spouse, a child, or a bucolic country landscape or maybe an artistic design.

The folks who created Tapet (an archaic word for wallpaper) have developed a unique Android app that generates and delivers a variety of engaging wallpaper designs that are customized specifically for your device.

Users can select a random wallpaper or let the app generate a new one every hour or every day. Each wallpaper is matched to your screen’s size and resolution, so there’s no stretching or resizing. New themes are added with each release and each one can be personalized by adjusting saturation, blur or other effects.

If you have an Android device that could use a little artistic pizzaz, check out Tapet in the Google Play Store.


Sayist promises online classifieds with video

A mini refrigerator that I sold last spring using Craigslist had been listed for more than six months. I posted photos with the listing, but I couldn’t help wondering if a video wouldn’t have been a better way to showcase the fridge.

Craigslist doesn’t support videos but a new form of online classified ads will. It’s called Sayist and it’s scheduled to launch in 2015 starting in Austin, Boston, New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle.

In addition to posting videos, users will also be able to enter a #hashtag with their posts to share their sale items on their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

If you’re interested, sign up on the Sayist website to get a notification when Sayist launches. You can also follow Sayist’s progress on Facebook and Twitter.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Jookbox app lets everybody be the deejay

If you’re old enough to remember when bars and restaurants had jukeboxes, you’ll recall that the music machine was controlled by the guy who had the most quarters. Or the girl who had the best taste in music. Or anyone who knew there was a record on the box that everyone would like.

Today, the jukebox at a party or small gathering is likely to be a portable speaker and the one person in charge will be the one with the lone Bluetooth connection. It doesn’t have to be like that. With the Jookbox app, everybody gets to take a turn and being the deejay.

Jukebox can turn a gathering of friends into a listening party where everyone can contribute to a group playlist. With Jookbox on your device, you can be the host and invite others to log in. Jookbox will also show you if anyone nearby is running Jookbox so you can ask them for access.

Or, get the folks who run your favorite coffee shop to install Jookbox so everyone can contribute their tunes. It will be like having a jukebox, but without all the quarters.

The Jookbox app is available free in the iTunes App Store.

Institute offers training and certification for tech managers

In a previous work life, I spent more than ten years as a webmaster and digital production director for a large media company. Almost everything I learned there came from on-the-job experiences, not through training or interaction with experts in my field. Was I doing it right? Could I have done it better? Did my work meet the standards of my profession? I never knew, because my employer seldom invested in training or certification programs.

I would have valued and appreciated attending some of the training and certification programs offered by the Professional Standards Institute (PSI). The institute offers specialized, vendor-neutral professional certifications covering a variety of managerial roles and skill areas.

In October, the institute launched seven new professional development courses: Leaders as Coaches: Driving Performance Through Dialogue; Engineering Project Management; Accelerated Management Concepts; Professional Programming in HTML5; Web Database Design, Development, and Implementation; Professional Web Applications Development; and Management Engineering Tools and Techniques.

For more details on those and other PSI courses, visit the PSI website and check out the video below. If you find one that’s right for you, use the promo code FV14F6 to get a 30 percent discount for Gizmo Editor readers.



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