Once installed, open the app and it will show you the global App.net news stream. You can scroll through it, and it will load more news as you scroll further. Tap on a news item to open it in the app. A card at the bottom shows who shared the update. The eye button at the top allows you to view the news item as it appears on the web, and the document button lets you view a stripped down, text-only version of it.

To add your App.net account, click the menu button at the top left. Tap the profile icon to sign in to your account, and then tap ‘My Stream’ to view updates from the people you follow. The layout of your personal stream is the same as that of the global stream. Below the profile icon in the slide-out menu, you’ll find the search bar marked by a hash tag. You can search for news or users from here. A hash tag is automatically added to your search, and a search history is maintained. At the very bottom of this slide-out menu is a cog wheel button that opens the app’s settings. You can set a default email address here, and select which languages you should receive updates from.

App.news is reasonably good app for anyone who doesn’t really want to engage in the App.net community but still wants be able to keep up with it. The interface is a little disappointing but then again, it’s not a fully featured App.net app since you can only follow news but cannot post an update yourself.

Download App.news For iOS

[via The Next Web]

Read Follow The Global App.net News Stream Or Your Own On iOS With App.news by Fatima Wahab on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Make sure you’re running the latest version of Chrome. Open the options menu and click ‘About Google Chrome’ to see which version you’re running, and upgrade if it asks you to. Next, head over to Google.com and in the search bar, click the microphone button. The first time you use Chrome voice search, you will have to grant it access to your system’s microphone.

When the page reads ‘Listening’, speak your query. If it isn’t one of the questions that Google Now is tailored to answer, you will be shown simple search results for it.

For questions regarding locations, time, weather, etc., you will see Google Now-style cards in the search results. Additionally, you will hear an audio answer as well. When we searched for a particular location, i.e. China, Chrome announced ‘Here is a map of China’. For searches related to time, Chrome speaks the current local time out loud. Asking ‘What’s the best smartphone?’ garners a list of the search results you would normally see, and tells you that no one phone is right for everyone.

The cards that appear in search results are the same ones you’d normally see in Google Search should you use another browser but with this feature of Chrome, you can now ask your browser for information much like you would do on your smartphone. The end result is that the virtual assistant that was initially only available on Android devices is now available in Chrome as well. It isn’t as powerful as it is on an Android device yet, but you can expect it to improve. Response time and voice recognition are exceptionally good, as per our tests. In future, you will be able to visit the Google Search page, say ‘Ok Google’ and then ask a question. This feature will negate the need to click the microphone button and will truly turn your browser into a smart digital assistant.

Try out the entries in this list of Google Now commands and smart cards. The list was compiled for Android but a lot of the commands should work with Chrome as well.

Read How To Use The New Natural, Google Now-Like Voice Search In Chrome by Fatima Wahab on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

The speed dial feature is no longer the focus of the new tab page. Instead, a clock and the weather forecast take up center stage. Fruumo will not automatically detect your location, therefore the temperature and forecast might not be accurate at start. You can fix this by going to the extension’s settings from the cogwheel button at the bottom of the page. Speed dial will appear as a film strip in the bottom section, and you can move the tiles left or right with the scroll wheel. The RSS button lets you add feeds of your choice, and the grid-like button allows you to launch and manage your Chrome apps.

To set up Fruumo, head over to its settings first. Click the location button and allow the extension to access your location. You can select either Celsius or Fahrenheit as the temperature units. If you want to follow an RSS feed, enter its link in the ‘RSS Settings’ box. Scroll further down the settings popup and you can change the background image of the new tab page as well.

To access one of the Chrome apps you have installed, click the grid button at the bottom of the page. Clicking any of the apps will launch it; click & hold an app, and drag & drop it into the trash bin in order to uninstall it. Click the plus button to add more apps from the Chrome Web Store.

The RSS button will let you view the latest stories from each of the feeds you’ve added to the extension from its settings. You only get a list of titles for the new items, without a preview. The Facebook button is just a shortcut to Facebook.

Fruumo is rather unique in its approach to a new tab page since it puts time and weather at the center of everything. The extension is great not just for desktop users, but also for people who might be running a Surface tablet since it makes your time and weather information, RSS feeds, speed dial shortcuts and Chrome apps easily accessible all from a single page. The only (rather minor) shortcoming we found was that you cannot specify the time format i.e. whether you want it in 12 hours or 24 hours.

Install Fruumo From Chrome Web Store

Read Fruumo Gives Chrome A Gorgeous New Tab Page With RSS Feeds, Clock & Weather by Fatima Wahab on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

After installing the app, sign in using your Facebook account. You can tap the contacts button at the top-right to view which of your friends are using the app, and select any one of them to send a message. It isn’t important for them to be online; any message you send will be delivered to them when they next log in.

You can send both text messages and video messages. To record a message, tap the video recorder button. If your friend is online, the app will inform you that you’re ready to broadcast live. To send a text message, tap the T button and type your message. In-app banners alert you when you receive a new message.

When sending or broadcasting messages, you can send them to one or several friends. The add friends slide-out menu allows you to create groups. You can use either the front facing camera or the back one to record your videos. If you’d like to leave any conversation, tap the menu button in that conversation and select ‘Leave’. This can be very useful if you’ve been included in a group chat but would like to stop receiving the messages shared in it.

The app is still in Beta on Android, and we experienced several crashes during our testing. There are no limits to how long you can broadcast your video, or the length of messages you can record. One shortcoming of the app is that you cannot delete the messages you’ve sent; it seems they will reside on the app’s servers forever. The Android app also collects anonymous user data and there is no way to opt out of it. Needless to say, the quality of the broadcast and any lag in its transmission will also depend significantly on the strength and speed of your internet connection.

Download Glide – Video Walkie Talkie For Android

Download Glide – Video Walkie Talkie For iOS

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On OS X, you can add a reminder either from the column view, or by opening a note separately. A clock button next to the share arrow button opens a small popup, from which you can choose the date and time of the reminder.

When you set up your first reminder from Evernote for OS X, it will ask you if you want to receive email reminders as well. Alternatively, you can go to Evernote’s preferences and enable email reminders from the new ‘Reminders’ tab. The reminder is sent through Mountain Lion’s Notification Center, and you can review reminders or dismiss them like any other notification.

On iOS, tap the alarm clock icon at the bottom of a note to create a reminder. You can select the date and time by tapping ‘Notify me’ on the popup that appears.

The reminder will appear much the same as any other iOS alert, and can be dismissed just the same way. You can enable or disable email notifications for reminders in the iOS app from Account Settings > Reminders Settings.

To set reminders for a note from the web, the process is pretty much the same as that for adding one on OS X; just click the alarm clock button and select the date and time.

These reminders are pretty basic for now. On iOS, you can only select the reminder time in hours, and not down to the minute. The reminders cannot be set as recurring either, not even on OS X. Though hopefully, a future update might fix these issues, as well as bring the feature to Windows and Android.

Download Evernote For Mac

Download Evernote For iOS

Read How To Set Reminders For Notes In Evernote On OS X, iOS & Web by Fatima Wahab on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Once installed, the PowerInbox menu appears in the top bar of your Gmail, Hotmail/Outlook Mail or Yahoo! Mail account. Open it and select ‘Sidebar’.

With the sidebar enabled, you can get started by adding your first apps. For each service that you add, you will have to sign in to it and authorize it to connect with your account. The sidebar can be minimized so that it appears as a single column of buttons, or maximized to view feeds from the apps. You can add more apps by clicking the plus button.

Once you’ve authorized your accounts to connect with the apps you’ve enabled, you can open the sidebar to read your latest feeds, or to share an update to a particular network.

If you enable the ‘Inbox Icons’ option from the PowerInbox menu, you will see emails from services like Facebook accompanied by the the service’s logo, making it easier to identify the email’s source or subject at a glance. It’s only restricted to services, so don’t expect to see profile pictures for your contacts appear in your inbox when you receive an email from them. For now, the number of apps you can add is limited to a bunch of popular services, so for services that aren’t as popular as Facebook and LinkedIn, you will still have to rely on their web interface, other extensions, or their apps to use them.

Using PowerInbox will also be a test of your self restraint, since many of us try to stay away from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to focus on work, and receiving updates from these services while we’re in our mailbox can prove to be distracting, to say the least.

Download PowerInbox For Your Browser

Read Browse & Post To Social Media From Major Email Services With PowerInbox by Fatima Wahab on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Sign in to Twitter, click the cogwheel button at the top-right, and go to ‘Settings’. Next, scroll down to the ‘Account security’. If you haven’t added a phone to your account, the ‘Require a verification code when I sign in’ option will be inactive.

Add a phone first; enter you phone number and select your carrier. Twitter populates a list for you based on your location.

Adding a phone works slightly differently on Twitter than it does on Google or other services. Instead of receiving a message from Twitter, you’re asked to send one to the service instead. Once you’ve sent the message, wait for the following page to refresh. You might have to wait for up to ten minutes, since the service can be a bit slow. If takes too long, resend the message. Once your phone has been added, the page refreshes and allows you to select what events you will receive alerts for.

Return to the Settings page. The ‘Require a verification code when I sign in’ option will now be active. Select it and Twitter will send you a message to verify your phone. Click ‘Yes’ when asked if you’ve received your code, and re-enter your Twitter password to complete the set-up process.

The next time you log in to Twitter, you will receive a six digit code on your phone that you will have enter to sign in, after entering your password.

That’s about all it takes to set up and use two-factor authentication. There is one small downside to this though’; Twitter doesn’t have the option to remember a trusted system. That means you will be repeating the process each time you log in, whether it’s from a public computer, or your own PC at home. Apps that you’re already using with Twitter will not be affected by the new security measure, should you choose to enable it. Needless to say, even with two-factor authentication, make sure you have a strong password.

Read How To Set Up Two-Factor Authentication For Your Twitter Account by Fatima Wahab on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Once you’ve updated the app, the interface will be the first and most obvious change you will notice. You can tap the little ‘i’ button to view file properties. From there, you can also set the file to be viewable offline.

When viewing excel sheets, you can now change the font (type and size) and the cell highlight color. From any file editor, you can view file properties as well; just open the options menu and tap ‘Properties’.

A new ‘scan’ options has been added to the add file menu with this update. This option lets you take pictures with your camera and provided the images contain legible text, it uses OCR to convert them into PDFs with searchable text.

The quality of the scan will depend on the condition of whatever it is you’re scanning, and also on the amount of light in the room when scanning. The files are converted to PDF automatically. For some reason, the app scanned receipts upside down in our testing. This might just be specific to the device used to test the app, and can easily be fixed by turning the document upside down.

The update may not have been announced ceremoniously, but it’s definitely a big one. The file editors are getting smarter and perhaps we will soon be able to take pictures directly from within the Google Drive app and save it as part of the document itself. For now, the Scan option will let you take a picture of just about anything, but it’s always saved as a PDF. Other updates include file previews within the app, and some bug fixes. One small caveat with the update and its new features is that files can be downloaded for offline viewing in Android Honeycomb or higher only.

Download Google Drive For Android

Read Google Drive For Android Gets Card UI, OCR, Selective Offline Sync & More by Fatima Wahab on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Let’s say you’re in the mood for some Italian food. Go to Google Maps and enter ‘Italian food’ in the search bar. Make sure you do not zoom in or select your area. After a preliminary search, a card will appear below the search bar asking you to narrow your results down to ‘Top reviewers’ or ‘Your circles’. Selecting either one of the options will add a search operand at the end of your query.

Naturally, this will give you results for Italian restaurants all over the world, so add your city name after your search query separated by a comma and then select whether or not you want the results to be recommended by top reviewers or people in your circles.

The new Google Maps interface features no sidebar and fills up the whole tab, with the search results appearing in bold text on the map itself. If you would like to see the list that would normally appear on the left side, click ‘Go to list of top results’ and you’ll be able to view detailed listings in a new tab. The new Google Maps is still in preview stage and may have a few bugs before a final release, so if you don’t see the ‘Top reviewers’ and ‘Your circles’ options, just refresh the page.

This new feature will not only make it easier to find the best places and businesses, it will also be an incentive for them to get better and positive reviews. The social aspect can be somewhat less useful for some, since it involves your friends actually visiting a business’s page and recommending it there. Though for the places where they have done so, the idea of personalized reviews from the people you actually know can be a major plus.

Read Find Places Recommended By Top Reviewers & Your Circles In The New Google Maps by Fatima Wahab on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

There’s two ways to delete TextEdit documents from iCloud. The first one is as simple as opening TextEdit, clicking the iCloud button in the top left corner, right-clicking a file, and selecting the ‘Move to Trash’ option. Though do make sure first that the file is not in the process of syncing or uploading.

The alternate method is slightly longer, but works for TextEdit as well as other apps that have saved files to iCloud, and works quicker if you want to delete multiple files. Open System Preferences and click ‘iCloud’, followed by the ‘Manage’ button next to the bar indicating how much storage space you have left, and wait for it to load all the data it’s saved from each app. This might take time, especially if you have iPhoto installed and it regularly backs up your photostream. Once the data has been loaded, find and select TextEdit, and all files saved by the app to iCloud will be listed. Now simply select the one(s) you want to remove, and click the delete button at the bottom.

Neither of these methods are overly complicated but they aren’t obvious to everyone. To the ordinary user, it might seem that there is no way to access files in the iCloud outside of an app, and that’s mostly true. OS X should really integrate iCloud with Finder, or make it so that it can work more like Dropbox, though the chances of Apple doing that are slim. If you’re still interested in using iCloud like Dropbox, you can always give iCloudrive a try; it’s a free Mac app that is made for precisely that.

Read How To Easily Access Or Delete Any TextEdit Document Saved To iCloud by Fatima Wahab on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Start by adding an image to Clipping Magic. It will take a little while to upload, depending on the size. While the image is uploading, a helpful popup will open on the right showing you how to use the app.

Once the image is uploaded, the green tool that outlines the foreground is selected by default. The red tool right next to it marks the background, and the blue eraser tools will let you remove markings from both the green and red tools.

Now that you know what the tools do, let’s put them to use. Start by defining the foreground and then move on to the red background tool. You will find that that tool picks up areas that you haven’t even selected simply because it isn’t included in the foreground. In many areas, it’s really great at picking up edges with precision. If there’s a slip up anywhere, just use the erase tool to fix it. The app shows the original image that you’re marking and a preview of the final output that refreshes as you mark the image.  Once you’re done, hit the ‘Download’ button to save the final file to your computer.

Clipping Magic works pretty well but the lack of shape and size controls for the selection brush makes it difficult to really get the perfect image. Corners formed by diagonal lines are impossible to mark; the background tool detects some of them, but not all. The only workaround to this is to zoom in on the image (the brush size remains the same) and then mark it. It will take a little longer, but that’s what it takes to get the perfect result.

Visit Clipping Magic

[via Cult of Mac]

Read Easily Remove Background From Images Online With Clipping Magic by Fatima Wahab on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

The app can snap windows to the top, bottom, left, right, or one of the four quadrants of the screen, and even center an app or maximize it. You can set exceptions i.e. apps that Arranger will ignore, and define margins that the app should leave on each side when windows are snapped to it. Lastly, the app has an ‘Arrange Windows’ option that will position all windows on your screen as best as it can, to make them all easier to work with. The feature isn’t all that impressive though, and the productivity value of the arrangement can be considered inversely proportional to the number of windows you have open.

Arranger supports shortcuts for snapping and arranging windows, but none of them are configured by default. You can start using Arranger from its Menu Bar if you don’t want to use or record keyboard shortcuts. From the Menu Bar icon, select what you want to arrange. You will see that Finder windows can be arranged in many more ways than app windows.

To enter margins, define exceptions, and record shortcuts, go to the app’s preferences. The ‘General’ tab lets you define margins,  though they are relative to the scale and cannot be defined in units like pixels or inches. It additionally lets you define the width of a ‘centered’ window.

The ‘Hotkeys’ tab is wholly dedicated to shortcuts. There are quite a number of them that you can record, and it’s likely going to be hard to remember them all. Just like the menu options, there are different sections here for Finder and app windows.

Lastly, the ‘Applications’ tab lets you add apps to Arranger that it should ignore when arranging apps. To add one, just click the plus sign and double-click the selected line that’s added to enter the app’s name.

That’s all there is to fully setting up Arranger. It requires Mountain Lion, works well and comes without a price tag, though the developer asks you make a donation if you like it. The shortcuts take a little time to respond to when you first record them but, work smoothly after awhile.

Download Arranger For Mac

Read Easily Arrange Mac App & Finder Windows In Multiple Ways Via Hotkeys by Fatima Wahab on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter