Monthly Archive: May 2016

Quick App

Quick App

Quick is an app that provides amazingly fast editing to all your photos and videos. The app will provide frames, add music to your videos, and even place frames around your selected pictures.

Many apps can be used to get the same effect as Quick, but the difference comes in by the speed at which the app does it. Users will be able to edit pictures manually or use the impressive automatic feature, which can detect faces and other important aspects of your images, meaning it places the frames in the right place and does not over the important parts of the picture.

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Users will find to edit a photo and add frames, and many other objects only take a few seconds. There is no need to edit your picture manually anymore. Just choose the colours you want, the theme you desire and let Quick put it all together for you.

The app also does a great job with video files. Choose the video you would like to edit and let the magic begin. The app will be able to add music, edit the video itself, change the brightness, and many other aspects to your clips.

Once your video is uploaded and you have selected the features required by the app, Quick will do the rest and show you the results within seconds. Should you decide something needs to be moved or the clip needs to be cut just a little more, you can take control of the manual edit mode.

With manual mode, users can expect all of the feature presented by standard video editors. This means you can add or change anything about your pictures and videos with just a few taps on your screen. It’s recommended to use the automatic mode as it will adjust the video to your requirements, and then only take control of manual editing. This will give you a better finish and ensure the best of your pictures and clips are displayed.

The app is currently available for Android devices where users can take advantage of the free app. Many edit tools and options allow all users to create the most amazing frames and video edits.

HBO NOW App Top Rated

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HBO Now have apps that permit users to stream all HBO content to their phones. The cost for this app is reasonable, coming in only at $15usd per month and does not require the combination of a T.V package.

It provides access to all of the popular shows produced by the company including Silicon Valley, True Detective, Girls, Veep and the Wire. It further offers past hits such as Sex in the City, music concerts, and comedy specials.

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The app also allows for access to a far greater selection of movies. Titles include San Andreas, and Mad Max: Fury Road, with new titles being added monthly, it ensures a constant stream of entertainment to your mobile smartphone or table device. Recently added titles saw Jurassic World and Pitch Perfect added in April.

The app includes titles that are friendly for children, and for parents on the go, this is a true benefit as Sesame Street is offered as are movies such as Rio 2, Happy Feet, and Kung Fu Panda. In addition to regular programming offered from HBO, users can access award-winning documentaries such as Jim: The James Foley Story, Going Clear: Scientology, Citizenfour, and The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst. Sports fanatics will enjoy World Boxing event and other sporting events live, as it happens.

The HBO NOW app is a standalone service and that is its real benefit. Those who already subscribe to its TV package can access it at no additional charge but for those who prefer not to order the TV service, simple can choose to order the app and use at their convenience.

The app can be downloaded to any Android device for a 30-day free trial. This is only offered to those in the U.S and requires a 3G connection.

Tiny HopperGo Neatly Stores Large Amounts of Loads of Mobile Entertainment

Dish

It is clear that the Dish Network remains committed in the way we record television programs. The company was instrumental is making shifting location easy through the Sling Technology, a software that allows viewers to stream T.V content via the internet directly through home boxes to P.C’s and mobile devices.

Tiny HopperGo

The Hopper allows its users to transfer anything they recorded to their mobile device and this has made. The Dish Network has released another option that permits recorded content to be viewed almost anywhere through a DVR hard disk drive. It permits viewers to transfer their content from a Hopper 2 or 3 to a unit that is portable. The cost is reasonable, set at $99 usd, and comes with a rechargeable battery that will allow for viewing of up to 100 hours of content.

One thing to note about this, is its small size. Dish Network made its name though the Sling Technology and it’s anytime use, but Dish deserves recognition for its accomplishments in making its devices smaller. They are not at all obtrusive and are sleek enough for most people to not be concerned taking it with them as they travel. Measuring on 2.5×2.5x.5, the one drawback is misplacing it.

The new device shares the same Red and Black casing, just as most of the Dish Network products to, but it is distinctive in relation to its overall size and also as it only comes with two ports, a mini output and a micro one. It includes two indication lights to identify when it is charging or in use.

CareKit on GitHub Dropped by Apple

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Apple announced on Thursday of last week that it will be making its CareKit available via the open source community at GitHub.

This is one of two other frameworks by Apple that is designed to help Healthcare professionals. The purpose behind it is to provide tools to create applications and gives users an increased role in the management of health care. It will allow people to monitor medications and symptoms in order to share that information with their healthcare practitioner in order to improve their overall health.

CareKit

At this time, four applications utilize this framework. The first of those is one that tracks pregnancy for those expecting, log activity, and locate information about what new moms can expect throughout their pregnancy. Glow Baby follows up on this and permits new mothers to maintain and track schedules for feeding and the growth of their infant.

One Drop, a management app for diabetes allows its users to logs food, glucose, activity, and meds. It also lets the monitoring of blood glucose through the use of Bluetooth. Finally, Iodine’s Start is a management symbol that monitors depression to help identify which medications are effective for patients and further allows for the use of a daily log to identify side-effects.

The hope is that the focus on health care will change the way people view and use apps. It is hoped that this will impact the way apps towards health care are developed. It provides the basic tools needed to create apps for this sector and is felt to be a stepping stone towards more digital friendly apps.

PayPal to Close Mobile Apps

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PayPal has chosen to reduce the amount of operating systems it will support for mobile devices. The two that will remain will be iOS and Android, however, apps for Blackberry, Windows and Fire OS from Amazon. These changes will be effective the 30th of June.

This is not an uncommon occurrence when relating to Blackberry and Windows but was surprising to see a company such as PayPal no longer offer an app for Android as it operates on multiple tablets such as Kindle and amazons Fire phone. There has been little mentioned by PayPal for an explanation other than to say it was a difficult choice to make and no longer support these devices. The explanation was posted on the company’s blog and suggested that investments in resources are made to create the best possible customer experience.

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PayPal was fast to note that while some users would be left without an app to access, users still will be able to access the mobile website to manage account transactions and management. Additional options include Blackberry users being able to carry out peer-to-peer money payments using BBM, whereas Window uses have the ability to enable the PayPal add-on in order to send payments instantly from its email app.

PayPal’s Lambert stated “We remain committed to partnering with mobile device providers, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers,” PayPal seems to be focused on putting a larger emphasis on the two remaining apps in the hopes it will permit the company to find new ways to be innovative in their enhancements towards mobile experiences.

Apple to Add Siri Speaker for Home Use

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Apple is getting ready to take its Siri software to new heights in the coming months ahead as it continues to work towards adding it for use in the home via Amazon Echo. It is also reportedly looking to offer Siri to third-party applications and allow for developers to gain access to the voice assisted app.

The recent report states that this is a long-term project and creating a development kit will be the one to hit the market first. It is anticipated this could occur in June of this year and with I being right around the corner, anticipation is high. There are a number of companies who have has access to Siri already, one of those being Yelp, but his was only accomplished after special deals entered into with Apple.

siri

This development has been active for some time, well before Echo became a reality. It is speculated that Siri home will have the ability to turn on/off appliances, and other household tasks. It is further anticipated that this will further become available in Mac app as well, however, this will be later in the year.

If Siri is to be competitive in the home market, it will be competing with some serious completion such as Amazon’s Alexa. Google also announced recently it intends to enter this market via Google Assistant. The advantage of Siri is it is multi-lingual and that is a huge advantage over the others and could allow it to gain a larger market share while the others play catch up.

Any updates to this story will be reported as they become available. The anticipation is high so updates are expected in the coming weeks.

Passwords May be out by Year End with Google Abacus

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At the end of 2016, devices powered by Android will have the capability to use an API trust on the Project Abacus from Google. This news came at the suggestion of Google’s Dan Kaufman, their ATAP director.

The API is in constant running motion in the background and focuses on the removal of passwords. It operates using customer smartphones to verify locations, patterns in typing as well at patterns in voice. It then creates a trust score that is used as an authenticity of the user in order to permit the unlocking of their devices.

Google Abacus

It is expected that Google will approach multiple finical organizations to test this service and if testing goes well, then the API will be released to Android devices by the end of the year. The main issue for many is a lack of trust towards Google in general, who is known for a poor history of things once released. It tends to cause aggravation for customers and institutions and this will be the barrio Google will face going forward.

The main problem is the development of a solid biometric such as a fingerprint scan or one that scans the retina, which both are generally difficult to collect. There are multiple Biometrics that allow for easy collection of information but the more information they collect, the increase for failure also increases. If they fail, standby systems for passwords must be in place and this is where things get more complex. On a positive note, it could also be a more efficient and consistent method as well for accessing secure sites.

How these progresses forward will be seen in the months ahead. It will not be known until large scale testing and the collection of data from that testing has been verified and analyzed.

Betsafe Releases Live Apple T.V App Roulette App

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Betsafe, a subsidiary software developer of gambling group “Betsson AB”, announced today they’ve released what they are calling the first “Live, real money, roulette gambling application”. Players located only in Sweden at this point may play real money roulette through their Apple TV. Placing bets are accomplished via a touch sensitive remote accessed via a companion iPhone application.

Live Apple T.V App Roulette App

One interesting aspect of this application that has yet to bee seen in any other platform is that players who have friends with an iPhone can have they play live roulette simultaneously. This is accomplished by inviting up to five friends to come over & play roulette. All players sync their phones to the Apple TV, upon which new table game boards are displayed on the television. Essentially this app allows for you to have a casino roulette experience in the comfort of your lounge. Betsson has made claim to what could become a new subsidiary online market for gamblers.

At this particular time, this application is only available on the Swedish based Apple store, Betsson CEO Ulrik Bengtsson has said openly that this new form of gambling will be making its roll out to new markets in the future, currently, it depends on permission from local authorities as well as Apple. Bengtsson is taking a huge risk with this new app, going as far as to make the claim that this application will “Most likely set the standard for the entire gambling industry coming forward”. Polls from industry analysts have shown that this statement might be more drawn out then needed and that even though this app proves to be revolutionary, it won’t take over the market anytime soon.

Swedish gamblers can now check out this application on their Apple Store. Bear in mind that to play any roulette games listed on this app, a player account will need to be provided to the casino. Revolutionary experiences await whoever does create that player account, though.

Year End Encryption coming to Facebook’s WhatsApp

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Facebook announced last week that it intended to begin to add end-to-end encryption to its Whatsapp app to add extra privacy protection to users. The one issue is that it may also be a feature that is viewed as attractive by those who participate in spamming.

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While it is well documented that encryption protection is excellent as a safeguard measure against those looking to steal data, it also serves to as a block towards data protectors and its ability to detect activity deemed malicious. Yet it is clear that for advocates, this is a win for those wanting added privacy, however, do not expect the spam to be eliminated and possibly, could become worse. The issue with Whatsapp is its limited control of spam but the new upgrade will make it harder to detect malware with links that are malicious.

The last several years has seen most carries make it harder for spamming to be carried out and the result has had them looking towards other pastures. Spamming services such as MMS, RCS and SMS have seen people moving to the likes of Whatsapp and it is a growing problem. Not only is there a cost savings involved, the targets are easier to locate.

The service simply is friendly to these types of things as it lets them validate numbers in order to check if a WhatsApp account is in place. It allows them to upload a large range of numbers and then send out bulk messaging. As the proposed encryption end-to-end acts to prevents systems from detecting this and alerting to a spam message, it also struggles to guard against malware and hijacking.

How WhatsApp end-to-end encryption will progress is yet to be seen but will be closely monitored, that is a safe bet to suggest. How it will effect users over time is anyone’s guess and only time will tell.

Best iPhone External Storage Device – Leaf iBridge

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iPhone users have always had the disadvantage of not being able to make use of memory cards. However, with the latest devices that use the Lightening cable, you will be able to choose from a massive variety of external devices that have a Lightening plug as well as USB, which can be connected to Windows or Mac PC’s.

These devices can be plugged into your iPhone, allowing you transfer media devices, files, and contacts to your storage device. These external devices come with apps that provide various features and options that become available once the device is connected to your phone.

Leaf iBridge

The Leaf iBridge has one of the best designs we’ve seen. Created with a U shape, users will be able to plug in the device with just about any cover and not have the entire device sticking out beneath the phone. Instead, the biggest part of the device will be curled around to the back of the phone.

leafibridge

These devices range up to 256GB but are available in many smaller sizes. Users will not require any cables to use the iBridge as it has both a Lightening Jack and USB2.0. Once plugged into your iPhone or iPad, the device will automatically open its app and provide sync option that can either be done automatically or users can choose items that need to be saved to the device.

Users can also use the device to watch movies that have been transferred from a PC or Mac. Users will be able to access the camera straight from the device, allowing you to save picture and videos straight to the iBridge. This is a feature well worth using for devices that have lower storage capacity, especially when you use the 4K video option or create some amazing slow motion videos.

The Leaf iBridge is one of the most popular options that provide all the best features of an external device. The iBridge has become widely popular and will be available at most retailers that offer Apple Accessories. As mentioned above, prices will vary depending on storage size.