Posts tagged smartphones

AOTW: Duolingo, An Easy, Free Way To Learn Languages

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11 years
by in AOTWs

Learning a language is always hard. Especially after the age of about 14, you mind hardens, making it harder for other information to make it’s way in. Fortunately, technology has it’s way of making most of life easier, including learning languages. Since you probably grew up only using one language, it is hardwired into your mine. Just the fact that I am writing this right now is amazing, considering how many words I have memorized over time, if you think about it. Everyone does, but how much information you mind has been storing for thousands of years longer than computers have is astonishing.

Enough philosophy. A common program that is bent on helping people learn new languages is the famous Rosetta Stone. It’s a computer program that drills the language into your brain having you fill in sentences, with pictures underneath to give you a hint. It is perfectly fine….besides the fact that it is over $100. Very expensive. So otherwise you wanted to take lessons, it is pretty much your only option. Until now.

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The Duolingo Owl

Duolingo is a free app for iOS and Android that has same objective as Rosetta Stone, yet a slightly different approach. As part of the lessons, Duolingo the picture approach, but only for filling in the word and gender for current languages, German, Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Most of the Duolingo lessons are set in packets, such as basics, plurals, animals, and number. These packets are each set in a way so that you know sufficient information to fill in the rest of the sentence, while also learning the new words. Inside the packets, there are lessons, with each lesson teaching about 5-6 words. Each lesson is made up of a couple of different types of problems such as translating the sentences (with hints), repeating sentences using the microphone, and probably the most common, translating sentences by picking words out of a batch. There are many others, and this variety makes you learn every aspect of the language to move on. There are just enough hints so that if you don’t know it, you don’t pass. In each lesson, there are 20 questions, with which you only have 3 lives. If you lose all your lives, you have to start over again.

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Sample Duolingo Problems

The great thing about Duolingo is that it is very social. Every time you correctly complete a lesson, you earn 10 XP, plus 1 extra for remaining lives. Your XP is tracked by day, week and month so you can track your usage and learn curve, and once you get a certain amount, you go up a level. You level is your rank in Duolingian society, and the higher rank you have in the most languages the better. You can even compete with your friends and see who has the most XP overall, in the week, and the month.

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The Learning Tree Part Of My Home Screen

Even though Duoling is a great app, they also made a computer version for people really into it. It is built right into the browser, and you can complete lessons and packets just like on the mobile version. The only difference is that the online version has many other side-features that can be very useful. For instance, you can go over the words you have mastered and see which ones are overdue for a revisit, which is easily done, and have discussions about Duolingo and give feedback with other users. Another unique feature in Duolingo is that immerse yourself in article in your language, and even translate them. All these features give Duolingo a step ahead of any other language program.

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Duolingo is always growing. Now that Duolingo has started the Incubator, anyone can sign up to contribute to a growing course. Right now, most growing courses are English in another language, such as Russian or Japanese. Sooner or later, though, there will be more languages so that you can try out as many different languages as possible and see how they all connect. But just starting the Incubator shows how much Duolingo cares about the public, and how they get the best experience possible.

TOTW: Adobe’s Project Mighty Stylus

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11 years
by in TOTWs

Styluses have become a popular tool for people who often use tablets, and have trouble touching the buttons. Also, styluses can be used for doodling, drawing, and writing instead of typing. It’s sort of an exclusive tool, and only some people use it and need it, but Adobe still wants to have their one of their first pieces of hardware be one.

Adobe have been known for their software and software only, but they want to change that. Their new project, released at Adobe Max in May, is Project Mighty, the Adobe-integrated stylus. But, it’s not like you can change the world by making a stylus. There’s not much to change to the classic design. It’s the software that Adobe made to go along with it that is new and cool. As usual.

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The Adobe Hardware Set

The actual hardware of Mighty is not much different than any other stylus. The only addition to the hardware is the button on the end at the end of your fingertip. In the app, you can draw and write on a blank page using the standard color, texture and type of pen. But what if you want to change that? That’s what the button is for. You hit that, and a circle of options come up. From there, you can change the color, type of pen/utensil, color, and other variables.

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The Set In Everyday Life

Another interesting feature that they exposed is the Cloud Clipboard. Since Mighty is run by Adobe’s Creative Cloud, they have the ability to use the cloud to their advantage. So they made Cloud Clipboard. Cloud Clipboard allows you to access any of your drawings, on any device. You can just paste any of your previous drawings right into your current drawing. It’s great for working with the device you have on you, then later adding it to your final version.

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Mighty

Adobe decided to go even further, making a second piece of hardware, nicknamed Project Napoleon. Napoleon, because the product is literally “a short ruler”. So they do have a sense of humor. Anyway, when you put Napoleon on your tablet or phone, a exactly straight line appears that you can trace. The line you draw automatically snaps to the line, but you can decide how long it is. Also, Napoleon can do other lines, like curves, triangles, L’s and more. Napoleon is the perfect companion for Mighty, and even if it is not completely needed, for any architect, or mathematician, it could be useful.

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Napoleon

Project Mighty and Napoleon are the perfect pair of tools for anyone who wants a stylus and virtual ruler. They easily integrate with Adobe’s Creative Cloud, making for easy switching between devices. Napoleon adds another dimension to that, making Mighty a unique system and pushing it out into the limelight.  “The hope is that we can finally enable a new generation to finally turn these (tablets) from consumption to creation. There are all sorts of mini hopes that come out of that, the hope that we make better software, the hope that we change the way we make software,” says Dowd. “But at the end of the day, if we can teach a generation of young creators to draw or they can be inspired to draw or feel good about drawing, then perhaps we’ve saved drawing.”

AOTW: Pocket Casts Podcast App

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11 years
by in AOTWs

Music and apps have been the two big advantages of mobile technology (in general). Another basic use of the smartphone has become popular only in the last decade: Podcasts. The ability to record a couple of people discussing a certain topic, such as technology, news, and comedy is relatively new. You can also record programs directly from radio stations, such as NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me or This American Life (with their permission). Podcasts have become a mainstream thing in the last couple years with Apple giving easy access from iOS.

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The App

Even with Podcasts becoming popular, there hasn’t been one single super-amazing podcast app that everyone uses. One of the best is Pocket Casts, which recently updated their app for iOS 7, the first podcast to do so. So, currently, Pocket Casts is the most attractive option for podcast listeners. Pocket Casts easy downloading and subscribing interface is much better than Apple’s app, which appears less functional and stylish by comparison.

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The Pocket Casts Logo

Pocket Casts great iOS 7-like set-up makes it very easy to access tons of podcasts. On the “add podcasts” page, all the podcast album covers are formatted into a nice grid, from which you can get a description of the podcast by tapping on it. Many of the podcasts you may have already heard of because they are sections of a radio station, but most of the are probably new. Once you’ve found a podcast you like and have subscribed (all free, they get their money from advertisements), you automatically get the first cast, and every future one. You can also fill up your time by listening to past ones, which are also free.

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Pocket Casts On A Samsung Device

Easy and free access to podcasts if pretty new for the 21st century. But to do it in a good fashion to is almost irresistible. The elegant design of the home screen, playing screen and adding podcasts screen fits well with the rest of the OS. If you are looking for a Podcast app, I recommend Pocket Casts. If you have never tried podcasts, they are a really cool way to get information on whatever you are interested in.

TOTW: iOS 7

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11 years
by in TOTWs

After all those concepts, leaks, concepts, previews, developer releases, reviews, releases, more reviews, and now finally, the real thing. The software we have aaaaaalllllllll been waiting for, ladies and gentlemen, here is iOS 7!

Ok. If you followed iOS 7 at all, you probably have seen that video before. It was shown at the 2013 WWDC, and was followed up by the introduction videos for both iPhone 5c and 5s in the same style. But, to be honest, the final product was not changed that much since the WWDC. Small details, app icons, that sort of thing. More importantly, it is still iOS 7, the revolutionary operating software that completely changes how you use your phone. It practically makes it a new phone.

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Some New Screens In iOS 7

Apparently, Jony Ive really likes flip down/up bars, because there are now 3 on iOS 7. First of all, the well anticipated Control Center bar was added. To open Control Center, all you have to do is flick up from any screen. The semi-opaque bar comes up, and from that, you can access most of the stuff you actually use in Settings. You can turn on WiFi (but to change the station, you have to go into settings), Airdrop, Airplane Mode, Do Not Disturb, mute, change the brightness and the sound level, and access Airplay and any connected Bluetooth items. Control Center is probably the most useful of the added bars.

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A Comparison Of A Concept iOS 7 and the Real iOS 7

The second bar is actually just the search bar redesigned. In all the previous iOS’, the search is in the far right page. In the new iOS, the search bar is just a flick away. To access it, you just flick down in the middle of the home screen on any page. A little search bar pops up, an you just type whatever you want just like the old search. The last bar, the old notification bar, hasn’t been changed that much. The leathery texture of the old bar has been removed, like the rest of iOS 7, and replaced with a black-ish opaqueness.

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The Classic Home Screen In iOS 7

There couple other small features that weren’t explained very thoroughly in the 2 conferences releasing iOS 7. For instance, a couple swipe gestures have been added. For instance, if you are in an app, and you want to get out, you could either hit the home button, or you could pinch in with all your fingers. The app will close, but it will do so in way that makes it look like a ripple. Very Apple-like.

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Control Center Being Shown Off For The First Time

Overall, iOS 7’s new and insightive design is certainly a great leap up from anything Apple has attempted in the past. Getting rid of the textures and shiny-3D app icons was a big risk, but it will probably pay off. The big features that have been changed are: Notifications, the search bar, the dock, all the app icons, the text, the colors, the lock screen, Siri, and much more. iOS 7 definitely works well with the new iPhones and iPad Mini, but we’ll just have to wait and see what Apple can come up with in their new style.

 

 

FastNews: URGENT – Your Fingers Are Safe From Touch ID’s Security

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11 years
by in FastNews

When Apple announced their new iPhones at the company’s recent September 10th event, a number of innovations were introduced into the new 5s line, led by the “Touch ID” fingerprint scanner. Afterward, Touch ID received some uncertain feedback from podcasters, bloggers and tech fanatics, many of whom questioned its overall security. Of course, Apple wouldn’t (shouldn’t) release it unless they know it works most of the time and is safe (or they just have a good lawyer).

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The Setup Success Screen

One concern was that thieves, for some crazy reason, would want to get into your iPhone so bad they would cut off your finger to get the fingerprint. This concern spread about, prompting Apple to address it:  “The technology is built in a way that the (fingerprint) image has to be taken from a live finger,” says Sebastien Taveau, chief technology officer at Validity Sensors. “No one in biometrics wants to talk about cut fingers and dead bodies, but at the end of the day we are still asked to remove the fears of consumer and make sure that they understand that (a severed finger) will not work.” The way it does that is by using radio frequencies to detect “sub-epidermal” layers in your skin which only work if you are alive. So, if you were worried that someone would cut off your finger to look at your worthless emails and wickedly change your Facebook status, you’re thankfully wrong. In other words, it appears Touch ID is safe after all. Then again, who knows how easily someone could hack into it, but let’s not worry about that right now.

TechSpot: Phonebloks, A Could-Be Everlasting Smartphone

0
11 years
by in TechSpots

When you get a phone, you know it may not last very long. You can easily drop it or leave it somewhere. Many companies offer cases to protect it, but most just don’t look good, and the look is half a phone’s worth. Plus, even if you do make it for a year or two, a new model will come out and you’ll throw yours away. That creates a lot of “electronic waste” that crowds landfills.  This is the problem that Phonebloks is supposed to help fix.

Phonebloks is a interesting concept for a phone that can last a very long time, because it has easily replaceable parts. But before I go into the actual design, remember that it only at concept stage, and is not yet designed to look as slick and as thin as possible. Anyway, the main design for Phonebloks consists of three layers. Of course, the first is the screen. In the middle, there is the motherboard, base, or whatever you prefer to call it. Third is the layer that sets Phonebloks apart from other devices.

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The Three Layers

On the back of the middle layer, there are holes, similar to breadboards for you engineers out there. For the device to work, you have to snap in little blocks that make up the whole of the phone. Each block represents a different part of a smartphone, and when you snap them in, the smartphone works. So whenever your phone slows up, or the screen shatters, you can just replace the block. Also, different companies make their own blocks, so you could (conceivably) get a Apple camera, a Samsung battery, and Nokia form factor.

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All The Capable Blocks

Another great capability of Phonebloks is that you can customize your phone. If you love to take pictures, upgrade your camera block while keeping your processor and storage the same, if you just upload your photos, anyway. Or, if you like to surf the internet or Instagram constantly, improve your antenna and Wifi blocks. You decide for yourself.  Overall, it is an interesting concept/prototype, with good intentions, despite a potentially high cost and questionable implementation.  We can just hope it actually comes to this crazy phone market and sells.

TOTW: Samsung’s First Wearable, Galaxy Gear

0
11 years
by in TOTWs

Wearable tech is the latest fad in the tech industry. The 2 biggest product types that have been thought of, prototyped, and in Samsung’s case, released, are smart glasses and smart watches. Of course, you have probably (hopefully, or you are not worthy of this information) heard of Google Glasses, Google’s very publicized smart Glasses, supposedly coming out in the spring 2014 Apple conference. As far as the smartwatch group, nothing has really happened except iWatch concepts and Apple keeping to themselves like they do. Until now. Samsung has released their out of the blue smartwatch, Galaxy Gear, at their recent event.

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The Galaxy Gear Hardware

 

For starters, the Galaxy Gear, like other Samsung devices, is semi-ugly. People really only wear watches for style nowadays. They use their smartphones for checking the time, which is more convenient, considering they are probably on it at the time. So if you wanted to change that, you would make a snazzy looking watch that has the capabilities of GG. What Samsung came up with is not that bad looking, but again, like most Samsung devices, they messed up on some crucial points of the hardware. For instance, on the right side of the elastic-rubbery band, there is this giant volcano-camera. I mean, having a camera is very good for such a small and new device, but couldn’t they make it more subtle? Also, I don’t know what they were thinking when they added the four visible screws on the steel edges. Other than those semi-big design flaws, the Galaxy Gear isn’t half bad, with a good screen and slick clasp/speaker. Really, design is Apples thing, so lets give Samsung a break.

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Different Colored Systems

As for the software, it’s pretty good. For a watch. It is the classic swipe menu system, a lot like what Google Glasses are using. There is a lot of options, including Notifications, Voice Memos, Photos, and more. Of course, developers are working to make their own apps for the GG that they can add on through their other Samsung device. One of the more special features is the Pedometer, even though it is on most kind of smart watches, and S Voice. S Voice is basically Samsung’s version of Siri. You can tell it to make phone calls, text messages, and probably later on, Tweet or post to Facebook. Unfortunately, when you swipe, the reaction time is not on the dot like on phones. Still, it shows a lot of promise for later year to build off of. Plus, hopefully by then they have hired someone who knows a little bit about design. If you are interested, or is that kind of person who need everything to be the latest thing possible. It will be coming out in October, for a price of $300.

TOTW: iPhone 5S and 5C

0
11 years
by in TOTWs

On September 10th, Apple will be having a big conference, probably to release their new iPhone, the iPhone 5S. The biggest change in the 5S is that they reportedly have added the long-awaited fingerprint scanner in the home button. No more awkwardly hiding your phone when you type in your password, people! Also, like always, the specs, camera and processor will be upgraded. Another interesting change is that you can reportedly (and by leaked photos) buy a champagne /light-gold color iPhone 5S.

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The Champagne iPhone 5S

Apple are going on a streak! If they’re going to change something, they might as well change all of it. They will, along with the 5S, will be coming out with a iPhone 5C, a low-end iPhone. This iPhone will have a plastic cover, but still run the same retina display, specs and processor as the 5S. The 5C will come in many colors to, such as the leaked blue, yellow, pink-ish, white and probably more. This will benefit the younger market whose parents don’t want them breaking a $400 phone. Sort of like a iPod Touch/iPhone hybrid, the iPhone 5C will be an interesting product, for which we will just have wait and see if it is successful or not.

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Four Of The iPhone 5C Colors

And of course, both these devices will be running on the new iOS 7 that will be coming out. The new iOS, released at the latest WWDC, will be the most drastical change ever. All the textures will be completely removed, along with the curve and shine of app icons, and will be replaced by flat colors and thin text. It will go very nicely with the 5C’s colors and design. This will be one of the most interesting conferences ever, so stay tuned for my review of the released products.

TOTW: Nokia Lumia 920

0
12 years
by in TOTWs

Nokia is one of the biggest mobile phone producers in history. You may be more familiar with Apple, Samsung or BlackBerry, but from 1998 to 2011, Nokia topped the charts for most smartphones sold. With their newest Windows 8 bering smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 920, that streak is likely to continue.

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Hardware wise, the Lumia 920 is disappointing. It’s slippery coat and squared shape makes it slightly hard to hold, and the roundness of the body doesn’t help. Still, the flashy design and color scheme will definitely stand out with all those black and white iPhones.

Software wise, the Lumia 920 is pretty much the same as other Windows 8 phones. But incase you’re not familiar with the setup, here are some of the killer built-in apps.

  • Office

Office is one of the most useful apps on the Lumia. Wether you are a student, analyst or CEO, you are most likely always getting sent documents. With Office, you can quickly open up the document, and even edit it. Plus, if you are running late, you can always find time to quickly write whatever you need to do in Office.

  • Nokia City Lens

Nokia City Lens is the closest thing to a augmented reality device that is available right now(besides for Google Glasses).  It allows you to hold up your phone, and through it, see all the restaurants, stores, or whatever kind of building you choose, along with it’s costumer rating. Sometimes it can be unreliable, like showing a restaurant that closed, but most of the time it is pretty good. Unfortunately for all you HTC or Samsung Windows 8 smartphone users, Nokia City Lens is only on Nokia phones.

  • Nokia Music

Nokia Music, Nokia’s version of Apple’s iTunes, is actually very good for music lovers. You can stream any music for free, and even make you own channels like Pandora. So if you are feed up with having to pay $1-$2 for every song on iTunes, Nokia Music will greatly benefit you. And again, like Nokia City Lens, Nokia Music is only available on Nokia phones.

  • Photos

Photos is a place to store your photos taken by Nokia’s PureView, their new point-and-shoot camera. With different lenses like black and white, vintage, fisheye and more, you can get perfectly customized photos in a flash. You can even edit the photos right from the app. And when your done, you can easily share, email, post on Facebook and tag to a contact. With Photos, your smartphone camera is really the best camera you’ll need.

  • Messenger

Messenger is somewhat similar to Apple’s Messages. It doesn’t really have anything special about it, but it does do it’s job of a texting app. It is also integrated into apps like Skype, your contacts and other apps.

 

  • Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is a scrutinized web browser, formerly just on the computer. On the mobile it is a little faster, but not by much. There are some third-party browsers available, but big ones like FireFox or Google Chrome haven’t adapted yet.

  • XBOX

If you have an XBOX at home, you know you can buy games, music, movies and more on the console. With the app, you can get all you pre-bought stuff right on your phone. How cool is that.

  • Outlook

Formerly known as Microsoft Hotmail, Outlook is Microsoft’s new email. And I have to say, it is awesome. It has a formal looking style, with a messaging bar on the side. Just like Messenger, is is also integrated into other apps to get a full experience.

  • People Hub

The People Hub is the ultimate contacts hub. Straight from it, you can make a email, text or send pics to anyone. You can even make a group of people, say “Family”. You can pick which people go in that group, and within that group, you can share notes, pics and calendars. You can even have a group text. “Family” will also show up as an app, so you can easily access it. Brilliant.

  • Store

Just like any other phone, there has to be a app store. It has that. The store has tons of games, lifestyle apps and more. It is also developer friendly, so you can submit apps like on iOS.

  • Games

The games hub is perfect for mobile gamers. It comes with lots of free games, which is also useful when thinking about how much you spent on games on the iOS App Store. But, if you aren’t satisfied with Games’ selection, you can always purchase games in the Store.

 

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The setup of mobile Windows 8 is very interesting and innovative. Instead of the roomy setup of iOS, all the apps on Windows 8 are square and put together like Tetris. It also is just one long scroll of apps instead of pages of app. Some people may think of that as disorienting, but you’ll get the hang of it. But to help you even more, Windows 8 has a solution.

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To customize your phone, all you have to do is hold down the app, and it will pop up. From there, you can do 2 things. One is move the app around. If it is important, you can move it up to the top. The 2nd thing you can is resize the app. There are 3 sizes of apps: rectangular which takes up a row of the screen, a large square and a small square. By moving and resizing apps, you can completely customize your phone. You can even change the color of the apps, to make sure that no 2 phones are the same.

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WiFi charging is another boost to the Lumia 920. When you buy a Lumia, you get a little stand for the phone to charge in. But, you don’t need any cords. It just sitts on or very near the charger, and automatically gets charged. For anyone with an Apple phone, you know that cords can be a big pain, and not having to worry about them is a big relief.

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Overall, the Nokia 920 is a cool phone for someone who wants lots of features and free games and music. The design is a little off, but that’s not that big of a deal. Price wise, the Lumia is very cheap for $0-$20 with a plan. An iPhone is $200-$300, so you’re saving a big amount on not a big downgrade. I mean, the innovativeness of it just stands out from the crowd.

 

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