[Ask The Readers] Which Google I/O 2013 Product Announcements Excited You The Most?

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Google announced a huge number of new products, services and feature updates at Google I/O two days ago. Maps, Search, Google+, Android, Chrome - no major product line was left untouched. In this week’s Ask The Readers Poll, we summarize the major announcements made at I/O 2013, and let you decide and discuss which one excited you the most. Read More

Popular Twitter & Tumblr Mashup Pheed Comes To Android

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If you’re keeping a tab on the social media sides of things, you might already be aware of Pheed. It’s a social network service launched back in October last year as a web app, followed by an iOS client in November. Since then, has become quite popular, attracting users' attention from around the globe – specifically teens and youngsters. The service is primarily designed for sharing a variety of creative content such as photos, videos, audio and text with other Pheed users . In addition, it allows you to subscribe to a multitude of channels that suit your taste in order to discover content created by other users of the service. Although it was released on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad only, Pheed has now landed on Android as well. Lets take a closer look at the Android app of the service. Read More

Vobok For iOS & Android Is Like Twitter For Short Voice Recordings

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On the surface, Twitter’s 140 character limit might seem like a hindrance, but in reality, this feature has helped make Twitter the social networking giant that it is today. The limit helps keep tweets interesting, and makes sure that people can easily go through their timeline even if they follow a large number of profiles. Vobok is a social network for smartphones that works on the same idea of intentional limitation, but instead of written words or links, Vobok focuses on audio. The app has been designed to let users record short voice messages, and then share them with their friends and followers. Even private messages can only be sent in audio form, making the whole network voice-based. In the past, Audiolip has offered a similar functionality for desktop, while mobile users have had VoiceBo. Vobok still has its own special place in this genre though, owing to the fact that it is a no-frills app, and enjoys integration with Facebook and Twitter. Read More

How To Upload EPUBs & PDFs To Google Play Books And Read On Web, iOS & Android

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Google announced and discussed updates to almost all of their major services yesterday at what is being regarded as one of the biggest Google I/O event yet. Many of you must already be aware of the feature additions in Search, Maps, Play Services etc. by now, but you may have missed one very useful feature update to Play Books in all the chaos that is the technology blogosphere on the day of a new keynote. The latest version has a couple of new features that give it a serious edge over competing products from Apple and Amazon. This includes the ability to upload your own eBooks in EPUB or PDF format to your Play Books account, and keep your reading progress across all your devices in sync! Check out the details after the jump. Read More

Hands-On With Google Hangouts Unified, Cross-Platform IM & Video Chat

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The Google I/O keynote yesterday brought a lot of important announcements, but the revamped Hangouts service seems to have managed to cause the most excitement among them all so far, probably because it has already been rolled out for users all over the world. The iOS app is available in the App Store, while  lot of Android users have managed to get their hands on the Hangouts update for their Google Talk app as well. Google already offered its Google Talk (also called GTalk, Google Chat and Gmail Chat) already enjoyed integration with Google+ and Gmail but compared to the Hangouts feature of Google+, it wasn't too heavy on features. Some of you might have wondered why the plain old chat can’t become as cool as its Google+ variant. Even if you have never thought of that possibility, Google seems to have been thinking along those lines. The new Hangouts can be considered a consolidation of Google Talk and Google+ Hangouts that works on Android, iOS, Google+ and Chrome. The service offers everything from video calling to group chat, and even a huge collection of emoticons. Read More

WeatherSignal Uses Android Device Sensors To Read & Crowdsource Local Weather Info

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Weather can't always be  predicted accurately since it can changes quite fast and unexpectedly. When and where you get your weather report is also important but weather forecasts are for a set period of time. They aren't always updated constantly at every source and often, one of the best ways to get an accurate and live weather report is from social media. WeatherSignal is an Android app that tackles accurate weather predictions by crowd-sourcing them. The app uses the built-in sensors in your device (some features are limited to certain handsets) and allows you to measure the temperature, humidity, air pressure, magnetic flux and more. You can also submit your own weather report. The report will only ask you if it's raining, snowing, hailing, etc. Each one of the reports that WeatherSignal generates can be added as a widget to your screen. Read More

What Is Cydia Substrate For Android & How To Install Winterboard On It

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The Cydia store has always been there for the rescue of many iOS users when their Android-wielding friends start mocking the iPhone for its lack of customization options. Admittedly, even a host of tweaks and themes cannot match the level of modification a custom ROM or root-level tweaks and mods for Android can offer, but having a collection of such root-level tweaks that can be applied to the device without having to flash files from recovery does have its advantages. So, some might find it bit absurd that Saurik has released Cydia Substrate and Winterboard in the Google Play Store, it can potentially take Android customization to a whole new level! In what follows, we'll take a more detailed look at Cydia Substrate, and show you how to install it on your Android device, and get Winterboard (or any other extensions, as they become available) up and running afterwards. Read More

Pinterest For Android & iOS Gets Push Notifications, Mentions & Auto-Suggestions

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Pinterest hasn’t been around for as long as some of the other social networks, but its popularity is evident from the fact that a lot of services have been trying to emulate its concept and interface. The official Pinterest client arrived for Android only last year, but lacked many of the features that are necessary for making such a mobile app successful these days. There were no push notifications, creating new posts was a bit tricky and it wasn't possible to mention your friends in comments on pins. It was a similar story for the iOS variant, as both apps have only minor differences. Finally though, the Pinterest team has rolled out an update for their mobile clients that addresses most of the issues we just mentioned. Read More

[Giveaway] Play PC Racing Games With Your Android Or iPhone Using Tilt Racer

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Though the trusty old keyboard and mouse combo works well for almost all PC games, the avid PC gamer never settles for anything less than what fits each genre the best, like the arcade fighting stick does fighting games and the Sidewinder does the racing genre. However, if your enthusiasm for PC games isn't at the point where you'd want to spend the dough required to buy a separate controller, you can always settle for using your smartphone or tablet as one. There are now more than just a couple virtual gamepad apps available for both Android and iOS; some meant for all genres - such as DroidPad and WiFiPad - and others, like FlyPad for iPhone, that are focused on racing games. New to the market, Tilt Racer for Android and iOS aims to improve upon the latter with a better control scheme. Join us past the break to learn what it has to offer. Read More

Auto-Set Google Now Backgrounds As Android Wallpaper By Time Of Day

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Those of us who often use Google Now on their Android devices running Jelly Bean are bound to be awed by the background images of the app. What makes those wallpapers awesome is the way they automatically change based on your current local time. All of this however is restricted within the the app itself. Enter GoogleNowWallpapers – the wallpaper app that brings Google Now wallpapers to your home screen, from stars lit in the sky to a bright sunny sky. The app also changes them according to times split into Day, Dawn, Dusk, and Night. You can customize the time after which wallpapers will change to reflect the time of the day. Let's take a closer look at this simple but distinct app after the jump. Read More

Easy Finder Is An Android Anti-Theft App With Remote Contacts Backup

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Hop on to Google Play Store and you will find plenty of security apps designed to track your smartphone. Fresh out of the oven in this genre is NQ Mobile Easy Finder. While still being in beta, this Android app does a marvelous job of tracking your device if gets lost or stolen. The app can track your device, wipe any data stored on it, remotely snap a photo from its camera and email it to you, and more. It can also additionally back up your contacts. You can control the lost phone via your web browser by signing up for an NQ Mobile account. Read More

Schedule Text Messages, Emails, Tweets & Facebook Posts On Android With Schemes

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Productivity is all about management and scheduling. And if you’re doing everything on a timely basis, why not have the ability to communicate with friends and family on a planned time? That’s what Schemes aims to address. In short, it is a very simple yet handy Android app that lets you schedule four types of outgoing communications: SMS, emails, Tweets, and Facebook statuses. The best thing is that all of this is done without any unnecessarily complicated steps. By the way, did you know that the name of this app is actually an acronym? Read on to find out what it means! Read More

Earbits Radio Mixes Local Music With Online Recommendations On Android

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Music has been with mankind for as long as the recorded human history itself. Since music industry has grown into an incredible size, so has the ecosystem of apps and related services intertwined with it. For the past few years, services like Last.fm, Spotify, Pandora etc. have become among the top choices of most users for listening to streaming music on almost every mobile and desktop platform. Though that doesn't stop new entrants to hop onto the bandwagon and provide something fresh. Earbits Radio is an engaging music discovery app for Android and web, and lets you listen to music that is stored on your local storage as well as stream it off the internet. The service is aimed at independent artists and labels who want to promote their music without much effort. It allows them to place bids and get discovered by users who use Earbits on the platform of their choice. More details after the jump. Read More

Flayvr Is An Auto Gallery Organizer For Android With Online Sharing Of Interactive Albums

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Android’s native Gallery app has never been disappointing and suffices for most users, but it does leave much to be desired, especially by power users and media enthusiasts. If you want to organize or edit your albums, you have to resort to a third-party app, since the native app offers no such features, being entirely driven by the folders on your device’s storage. Enter Flayvr - an album organizer with dynamic previews for both pictures and videos. Released earlier for iOS, the app has been available on the App Store for quite some time, and has just made its way to Google Play Store as well. Let's take a closer look at how it performs on Android, and the features it brings to the platform. Read More

Player FM Is A Comprehensive Android Podcast Player With Auto Downloads

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Over the past few years, podcasts have become increasingly easier to find, manage and listen to, thanks to several dedicated channels for them available on the web and in form of apps for pretty much every platform out there. We have seen several such apps for Android in the past, a few notable ones being AntennaPod, Volksempfanger and VoAudioPlayer FM is the latest entrant in this genre that supports accounts as well as guest login, complete with support for sharing your own channel, automatic downloads for offline listening and manually downloading any podcast of your choice. With a choice of over 300 topics to choose from and more planned by the developers, you can always find something of interest, and set the ones you like as ‘favorites’ for quick access . With its widget and lockscreen widget (Android 4.2+) support, swipe navigation, and the fact that the app is free, Player FM has all the makings of an app that will make people want to explore and learn about stuff on the go. We take a closer look at the app after the break. Read More

Sync ImageShack Photos Across Windows, Mac, Android & iOS With SkyPath

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There is no shortage of cloud storage services out there, but you will find that a particular niche exists among these services that specialize in photos. And it makes sense, since many of us preserve our dear memories in photos, and don't wanna risk losing them, plus want to have them accessible from all our devices. Also, lost photos aren't documents that can be typed again, or songs and movies that can be bought from anywhere. ImageShack is one such service that gives you 5GB of storage space for your pictures. Developed by the same company, SkyPath is an omni-access solution for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android that allows you to upload images to your ImageShack account and sync them across devices.  Let's take a look at the service and its apps in detail after the jump. Read More

Cloudii: One App To Access & Sync Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive & Box On Android

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Names like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box and SkyDrive have become synonymous to cloud storage. Each with their own appeal and distinct features, these services sport their own dedicated apps for both desktop and mobile platforms. If you happen to use more then just one of these services regularly, it is always more convenient to manage your accounts and data through a single app. Cloudii is just that app that allows you to to setup all four aforementioned cloud storage services on your Android device under one roof, and gives you some powerful settings for synchronizing and managing your files. The app gives users the ability to add multiple accounts for each supported service as well, along with some nifty additional features.The app requires Android 4.0 or above. Right after the jump, we take a look at what it has to offer and what makes it worthy of a mention. Read More

How To Create A Rovio Account & Sync Game Progress Across Devices

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Game Center in iOS has always played the primary role in keeping record of any game achievements, but it does very little beyond that. Sure, you can challenge friends to a fruit slicing competition in Fruit Ninja, see what’s the farthest they've run in Temple Run, or find out who knows more words in Letterpress. As far as saving game progress is concerned though, there are little to no options. In the event that you accidentally (or purposely) wipe an iOS device and restore it from a slightly dated backup, you may lose some or all of your achievements and game data. Having personally gone through such a situation where my game data was lost, I can relate to the sinking feeling of losing so much hard work. Rovio - the makers of the famous Angry Birds game that has spawned a broad line of merchandise and its very own animated series - have announced Rovio accounts that will allow users to sync their game progress across devices. Read More

Splay Launcher Redefines Android Home Screen Replacement With Unique, Pie-Like Navigation

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Let’s face it, single-handed operation on mobile phone with a screen size of over 4.3 inches gets a bit tricky and as you up the screen size further, it almost becomes a challenge. Developed by Else Ltd., the company behind the smartphone 'First Else' that never made it to the shelves, Splay Launcher for Android is another Home Launcher replacement, but what makes it stand out is its distinct interface that focus on single-handed operation. The app's interface may remind some of you of the the much popular Pie feature from the Paranoid Android ROM. Think of it as a semi jog-dial containing three menu levels that are accessible via some intuitive swipe gestures. The app requires Android 4.0 + to work. Read on after the jump, as we take a closer look at the app and its interface. Read More

Create Image & Voice Notes On Android & Export To PDF With ArcNote

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Note taking apps are common but most are limited to saving simple text notes. ArcNote is an audio and image note-taking app for Android from the developers of the famous Perfect365 image editing app for Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Windows. It’s a break from the normal text-based notes apps that you usually come across; you can directly take a camera shot or use one of the images already saved on your device for image notes. A single note can contain multiple images and audio recordings. Images can be edited so that only a particular user-defined area is highlighted. ArcNote isn't for jotting down a quick address, nor is it useful when you want to make a quick grocery list. It’s more suitable when you can take a picture of whatever information you need to save, like a business card, a poster or sign, or even a whiteboard, or quickly capture audio, for example an important part of a lecture, interview, presentation or just some instructions from your significant other before you go out shopping. While notes themselves aren't text based, you can add comments to any image in a note. Images can be edited individually, or even in batch. Read More