Connecting Facebook and Twitter accounts with Fuse is free, and you can associate as many of these accounts with the app as you want. For LinkedIn and Instagram though, a one-off in-app purchase of $0.99 is required for each network.

Once you have logged in, Fuse imports all the recent posts from the connected accounts to the feeds section of the app. For Facebook posts, there are options to like and comment. You can even share a post if you really like it, or view it in Safari. Fuse is capable of displaying images in the main feed, which is specially useful for Twitter and Instagram posts. If you want to open a link from a post, you can do so within the app as well.

The second tab in Fuse displays mentions and requests from different accounts. You can respond to these notifications from the app quite easily. For now, sending Twitter and Facebook messages doesn’t work properly in the app, though they are in works, and there is a dedicated messaging menu. You can, however, view all of your messages without any problem.

To create a new post and share it simultaneously on multiple accounts, hit the top-right icon. It is possible to attach images and your location info with each post, and there are buttons for all associated accounts at the bottom of the screen to facilitate quick sharing.

Fuse: Social has a pretty thorough search menu, which is capable of narrowing down results based on your requirements. The app also maintains the history of your queries.

Fuse is a free app, and comes optimized for the iPhone and iPod touch. Give it a go for a genuinely combined social experience.

Download Fuse: Social for iOS

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You have to sign up for an account before you can use Eventiles. Creating a new account just needs your email address and a password. To finalize things though, it is also necessary to click the link sent by the app in the confirmation email.

Eventiles asks for the user’s permission to access their location and photos, but it doesn’t ask for anything else. When the app is launched for the first time, your entire camera roll is arranged into a variety of albums. If you took the photos on a special day, say New Year’s Eve, Eventiles is sure to include a mention of this day in the album’s title. The location where a set of photos is snapped usually shows up in the title as well. If you are not satisfied with the app’s automatic effort, or just want to add more details, tap the small pencil icon below the collection. Not only can albums be renamed in this way, but you can also add a few lines of additional description to them.

Eventiles offers some good album management options. You can merge two albums together, delete a collection altogether, or duplicate it for use elsewhere. To give the photos inside an album a different look, you can shuffle them around, or make use of the available image effects. The filters are applied to all photos that are part of a collection, and there is no way of choosing one for a single photo.

If you want to share an album created by Eventiles via email, choose the ‘Share Privately’ option, or use the Facebook and Twitter sharing buttons to share it over social media. If some of your friends are using the app, there is no need to share albums, as they can view your collection automatically after connecting with you.

Eventiles is a free app, and doesn’t come with any ads. It is optimized for iPhone and iPod touch, and has a decent UI. The app’s intelligence isn’t disappointing at all, and might manage to surprise you at times. Give it a go by heading to the following link.

Download Eventiles for iOS

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To send a video message, just right-click a contact from the contacts list in the column on the left and select ‘Send Video Message…’. If you do not have a webcam connected to your system, this option will appear to be inactive.

Start recording by clicking the record button in the middle. A timer counts down from 3 minutes so you can see how much recording time you have left. Click the same button to end your message.

You can preview the message and when you’re done, click the send button (the little envelope next to the record button) to send your message. Your message will start uploading to Skype’s server, with the time taken depending on how long your message is, and the speed of your internet connection. If your contact is on an older version of Skype, they will be given a link and a PIN code to enter in order to view your message. Those using the latest version will be able to view it within Skype.

To send a video message from your mobile device, open a contact card in Skype and tap the new ‘Video message’ button. By default, the app records with the front facing camera but if you tap the camera button next to the record one, you can switch it to the one the back. Tap the record button to start recording your message.

An on-screen timer counts down the time for you just like on the desktop app. Tapping the record button again will end the recording. You can preview the video you’ve just recorded, and add a title and description to it if you want by tapping the pencil button.

When your message is ready, tap the send button and watch as the video is uploaded and sent to your contact.

It’s great to see this feature come to Skype, especially since it’s a video calling service and the popular free texting service WhatsApp has had this feature for a while now. We hope the same functionality also comes to Viber’s desktop apps for Mac and Windows when the service finally brings video calling to its mobile apps.

This update with video messages support is available for all major platforms except for Windows Phone, which is both strange and ironic since Skype is owned by Microsoft.

Download Skype

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Although Sleep Genius itself is only a little over 20 MB in size, it downloads some additional sound files when you first launch it, which can lead to a considerable wait before you get to use the app. Users are also prompted to sign up for the Sleep Genius newsletter, but it is not mandatory by any means and can be skipped quite easily.

Seep Genius has three audio programs to put users to sleep. One of them, ‘Renewed Universe’, is free while the other two can be unlocked for $2.99 each. There are two ways of using Sleep Genius. You can make it play music continuously until you wake up, or set it to automatically stop after a certain amount of time. With continuous playback, you are more likely to get good results, but your device’s battery life will surely take a hit. Thankfully though, the app is capable of keeping the music playing even when your device’s screen is off.

The ‘Alarm’ feature offered by the app is quite interesting, and might even be called the best part of Sleep Genius. Rather than rudely playing a loud sound to wake you up, Sleep Genius takes a very gradual approach. The app starts playing some very low natural sounds five minutes before the alarm is supposed to go off, and when the actual alarm time arrives, the ‘Revive Cycle’ reaches its peak and wakes you up.

The third menu in Sleep Genius belongs to ‘Power Naps’. The app claims that according to results of scientific research, a power nap of less than 30 minutes is perfect for maximum rejuvenation. In this mode, everything from the background music to alarm sounds is handled by Sleep Genius automatically, and you can go to sleep with an easy mind.

Sleep Genius has an entire section dedicated to sleep-related tips and tricks, which explain the concept and working of the app. Registered users also get new tips in their email. So, if you have trouble falling sleep, or just want to see how it works, give Sleep Genius a go. It is free and display-optimized for iPhone/iPod touch.

Download Sleep Genius for iOS

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After you have downloaded Vox, no further configuration is needed as it springs into action without any external prompting. The tweak has no menu in the Settings app or icon on the SpringBoard. You will know that it is working properly as soon as the stock battery indicator is replaced with a circular one that changes its color and size depending upon the remaining battery percentage.

Whenever the device is on charging, the status bar icon remains white, with a flash sign superimposed on it. As soon as the battery reaches 100%, the icon turns green. When not on charging, the battery icon diminishes in radius with the passage of time, with the diminished part shown faded, until it becomes nothing more than a red dot inside a circle. If you want to view the exact battery percentage, pull down the Notification Center, as the indicator that shows up there has a numeric value written inside it.

For best results, it is better to use Vox after turning off the numerical battery percentage on your iPhone. This can be done by heading to the Settings app and looking for the Usage menu under the ‘General’ section. There is no compulsion for turning the numeric display off, but it will just be rather redundant with Vox.

Vox is a really simple tweak, and doesn’t cost a penny. Those of you who are just tired of the same old battery indicator and want a change in the status bar are gonna love it. It must be noted that the tweak does not alter the lock screen charging icon in any way, and deals solely with the indicator in the top-right corner of the screen. Give Vox a go by heading to the BigBoss repo of the Cydia store.

Read Vox Gives The iPhone Battery Indicator A Minimal, Circular Design by Hamza Khalid on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

#nwplyng can only be used after signing in with your Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare account. Before logging in though, you can also take a tour of the app to get familiar with its usage and features. If any of your friends are already using the app, you can start following them on #nwplyng by heading to the ‘Find Friends’ section. Even if everyone on #nwplyng is a complete stranger to you, it is possible to follow them by using the ‘Search for usernames’ option.

The #nwplyng feed is populated by shared items from everyone you follow, your friends and tracks that are currently popular on the service. To like a post, simply touch the heart icon or double-tap the album art. Users can also leave their comments on each post in their feed by hitting the speech bubble icon.

So, how exactly can you share a post of your own on #nwplyng? There’s not much to it, as you just have to tap the blue button located in the top-right corner. If you want to manually choose the song, hit the search icon and let the app find the track for you on YouTube. You can also use the device’s microphone to identify a song if it is playing in your vicinity. You can associate a location and image with your posts as well.

With the passage of time, as you start sharing posts more frequently, #nwplyng keeps leveling you up. These levels are accompanied by new titles and badges, and are based on particular songs or just general persistence in using the app.

#nwplyng is a free app, and has been around for a few months on iOS, though it has only recently made its way to the Google Play store. You can download it for your OS from the following links.

Download #nwplyng for Android

Download #nwplyng for iOS

Read Identify & Scrobble Music The Social Way On Android & iOS With #nwplyng by Hamza Khalid on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

NCEnough trims down the Notification Center as soon as you install it – no configuration required. That said, there are still plenty of options available that can make the NC even more awesome. To tinker with the tweak, head to the menu it adds to the stock Settings app. There are two ways of using NCEnough; you can choose to keep the area behind the NC functional at all times, even when the Notification Center is dragged down, or you can have the tweak dim down everything that is in the background. If the screen remains active, this means that your full screen apps won’t get temporarily frozen every time you check your notifications – something that can come in handy while playing games. A rather curious option in the first section of the NCEnough settings is labeled ‘Keep status bar at bottom’. If you toggle this option on, the status bar is pushed down every time the NC is invoked. This features is the exact opposite of the previously covered Status Bar Switcher, but not too less useful than that.

NCEnough offers a lot of options that can be used to alter the visual aspects of the Notification Center. Transparency level (or alpha value, in technical terms) and the background color can both the chosen by the users. There is even an option to randomize the background color each time NC is invoked.

The last, and probably rather useless, option in the NCEnough menu is ‘Make NC thinner’. While the tweak takes care of the NC’s height automatically, you can reduce its width using the options provided in this menu. We called it useless because on an iPhone’s rather small screen, the end results of thinning down the NC aren’t very becoming.

NCEnough costs $0.99, which is fair enough for a tweak that offers so much. Give it a go by heading to the BigBoss repo of the Cydia store.

Read NC Enough Sets iPhone NC To Cover Only As Much Screen As Needed by Hamza Khalid on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

It might be possible to achieve the Control Center effect using the SBSettings toggles for NC, but there is a more convenient method available for the jailbreak community.

• NCSettings is a tweak that’s already aimed just at the Notification Center, and even supports themes. It doesn’t cost a thing, and is easy to configure. Grab it for your iPhone.
• To take away the linen background from the Notification Center, install the free BlurriedNCBackground tweak.
• Head to the Cydia store and search for a new theme named ‘iOS 7 Control Toggle Icons’. This theme is aimed at NCSettings and won’t affect any other area of your device. Enable this theme from Winterboard and respring your device. Now you have to head to the NCSettings menu in the Settings app and choose the iOS 7 Control Toggles option under the theme menu.
• To get Control Center-like music controls in the Notification Center, NCMusicGestures is a good choice, although there are some major differences between the looks of the two.
• In order to complete the Control Center effect, disable the Weather widget by going to the Notification section of the Settings app.

Despite all that effort, you still won’t be able to invoke the NC from the bottom of the screen, and there are no square icons at the end of the NC. Still, the look is pretty cool, and all the involved tweaks and widgets are available for free. So go ahead, try out the look, and see if you find it useful or pretty.

Read Get iOS 7 Control Center Toggles & In iOS 6 Notification Center by Hamza Khalid on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

PocketNotify is a really simple tweak, and it is nice to see that the developer hasn’t chosen to make any needless additions to the stock Settings app. Having said that, the tweak does require some very basic configuration. PocketNotify is an Activator-based tweak, so you need to have the gesture platform installed on your device before using it.

So, what exactly is the function performed by this tweak? PocketNotify makes sure that users can perform a gesture of their choice when the device is in lock screen, and whenever this gesture is performed, the tweak checks to see if there are any pending notifications. If there are, the device vibrates, otherwise you won’t feel a thing. Of course, a lot of the tweak’s success depends upon your choice of gesture. For best results, it is better if you go for one of the hardware-related gestures. For example, long-pressing the sleep button or simultaneously pressing both of the volume keys might prove to be good choices, since these gestures can be performed without having to look at the iPhone.

The only improvement in the tweak that we can suggest is that instead of giving just one vibration, the number of vibrations should match the number of pending notifications. Even in its current state though, the tweak is something a lot of people are sure to find themselves using with increasing frequency. You can give it a go for $0.99 by heading to the BigBoss repo.

Read Check Your iPhone For Notifications Without Taking It Out Of Your Pocket by Hamza Khalid on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

This amazingly useful tweak is based on the previously covered FlipSwitch by Ryan Petrich. When FlipSwitch first came out, it was clear that it has a lot of potential, and Auto-Correction Switch realizes some of that potential. You might be a bit confused while trying to find the new options Auto-Correct Switch adds to the Settings app. It is true that finding the newly added action entry is not easy but fortunately, you have to access it only once, which would be during configuration.

In Activator, choose any gesture that can be performed whenever the keyboard shows up. It is advisable to refrain from using gesture that are based on the status bar, as this will render Auto-Correction Switch useless in full screen apps. Inside your chosen gesture’s Activator menu, the Auto-Correction options are available inside the ‘Switches’ list that belong to FlipSwitch. Like all FlipSwitch controls, Auto-Correction can be used as an enable-only action, a disable-only action or a complete (though invisible) switch.

If you choose the switch, which is the recommended course of action, the state of the autocorrect feature is toggled whenever you use the gesture. We tried it while typing in the stock Notes app, and everything worked perfectly. Auto-Correction Switch is a godsend for all users who have to type more than one languages on their iPhone, or whose conversations are a mix of formal and informal typing. The tweak is available for free, just like FlipSwitch itself. While FlipSwitch has to be downloaded from Ryan Petrich’s personal repo, Auto-Correction Switch is publicly available in the ModMyi repo of the Cydia store.

Read Quickly Toggle Autocorrect On iPhone With An Activator Gesture by Hamza Khalid on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

The usage of MobiSpy is dead easy. After downloading and installing it on your phone, simply tap its icon to run the app, upon which it asks you to enter your email address to register a free MobiSpy account. Simply fill the provided fields and hit the Register button right below it. MobiSpy then sends a confirmation email to your inbox, along with an auto-generated password that you will use in the web interface.

MobiSpy acts as a cellphone tracker on your device and automatically goes into hiding. It simply means you can’t access it from your home screen or the app drawer, but it still keeps running in the background. The only caveat is that the app places an entry in the notification drawer on Android, which may blow up your cover. Tapping this icon does nothing at all though, but its still a major nuisance to say the least. A transparent icon and notification text that wouldn’t give away the name and purpose of the app so obviously would have been a better idea.

After setting up the app on your phone, it’s time to turn to the web interface, which looks quite intuitive and minimalistic. You can use the web version on your desktop, tablet or smartphone, whichever platform you prefer. The web control panel requires your login details (email and password). You can also change the auto-generated password to your desired one upon first run.

The web control panel lets you navigate between the supported tracking options from the left pane. As stated earlier, MobiSpy can track and monitor loads of phone activities such as the device’s current location, bookmarks and web browsing history, call logs, messages, calendar events. On the downside, however, most of these features are only available to paying customers. Moreover, users with free accounts are eligible for tracking only a single device. On the flipside, everything that the free account offers works like a charm. For instance, you can access call history for up to 5 calls in a day. Likewise, you can read up to 5 incoming and outgoing SMS. You can even view all the contacts saved on the phone.

The location tracking feature of MobiSpy also works as advertised. During testing, we were able to locate exact location of the device on the integrated Google Maps view.

If one thing that might turn many users away is MobiSpy’s steep pricing scheme. Besides a free account, the service also offers Pro and Pro Plus plans for $32.99 and $44.99 per month respectively. These plans offer additional features and increase or remove limitations from several free features, as shown below.

Testing of the app was carried out on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and Mozilla Firefox 21 running on Windows 8.

Visit MobiSpy

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If you intend to contribute to the Minutely community, there is the option of signing in to the app using Facebook or Twitter. It is possible to use the app anonymously as well though, and you get to access all the features that are available for those who are signed in.

The main page of Minutely displays current weather stats from your area, but you can change the default place by hitting the small search icon located in the top bar. If it is currently raining or expected to rain in the near future, Minutely’s rain meter shows up in the bottom half of the screen. This meter displays the exact time remaining until the rain condition changes. Other displayed data includes hourly forecast, a written description of the upcoming conditions and a temperature graph. If you find any of the shown data to be inaccurate, simply tap the weather icon in the middle of the screen to fix the forecast. Doing so requires you to just choose the icon that most closely resembles the sky outside.

Minutely check-ins are another way of letting the world know how the weather really is in your city right now. You can add a photo and text description to these check-ins, and post them to your favorite social networks as well. The Minutely check-ins for a particular area show up on the app’s weather map. This map is pretty accurate, and offers the option to view the expected condition changes in the next two hours. There is also a 3D view in Minutely maps for U.S, which can come in handy if you want to gauge the true size of a fog bank or an incoming storm.

Minutely is a free app, and is definitely worth a download. The Android versions is slated to arrive soon, but you can grab the iPhone app right now.

Download Minutely for iOS

Read Minutely For iPhone Offers 3D Weather Maps & Per-Minute Crowdsourced Updates by Hamza Khalid on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter