Auto upload photos to Flickr–Android app

image

The big news this morning is the flickr is now offering everyone 1 terabyte of FREE photo storage.

With a whopping 1 terabyte you can store an incredible 873,813 4 megapixel photos or 218,453 16 megapixel images. You can not deny that this is impressive.

So with so much storage how to make best use of it?

No doubt you use your Android phone for taking pictures. You may store the photos on the phone memory or an SD card, but do you back them up?

If you do not back them up, or do so at irregular intervals then why not take advantage of auto uploading.

Auto-uploading can backup your pictures to the cloud within minutes of taking picture or video on your phone. Meaning should you loose the phone, delete the image off your phone, there is always a copy online to access at any time.

Such auto-upload services can work over WiFi only or over a mobile data connection too, the choice is yours.

You may have heard that Dropbox offers such a feature, it works well (I use it all the time) but there is limited free storage. This means occasionally you need to go in and delete content.

Naturally flickr now seems the ideal option with so much storage. You will  probably only have to go in and delete or edit photos every year or less!

Flickr offer an Android app but that allows upload but you have to initiate the upload which is frustrating. It works well but you would have to keep doing uploads every so often.

The solution? A £1.99 app from Google Play Store called FlickrFolio.

image

I have got to be honest I have been using it for only a imageshort period of time at the time of writing, but have tested it thoroughly in that time and all is working well.

You can set whether it uploads over WIFi or data connection or whether it uploads when the phone is charging or not.

It automatically uploads images as private so the whole world doesn’t see pictures unless you specifically ask it to.

You can too force it to upload older images you may have on your phone too as well as video.

We have all lost photos or data at some point and realise only after the event how important it was.  With this service there is no excuse and for just £1.99 this is a fantastic price.

I strongly encourage you to try this app and backup your valuable photos and videos now.

A word of warning for Saudi Residents

This post cropped up a couple of days ago which acts specifically as a warning to residents of Saudi Arabia, but is also a reminder as to the vulnerabilities of web-based services and in particular, messaging apps.

Software developer Moxie Marlinspike has posted on his Thought Crime blog to say that he has been approached by the Saudi  Telecoms company Mobily about a surveillance project that they are currently working on.

mobily saudi arabia

[Read more...]

BlackBerry Messenger coming to Android and iOS this summer

BlackBerry has announced that it plans to make its popular messaging service, BBM, available across multiple platforms this summer. The news emerged from BlackBerry live 2013, which kicked off yesterday in Orlando, Florida. 

BlackBerry Messenger for Android

BlackBerry Messenger has long been one of the exclusive selling points of BlackBerry handsets. However, while the service useful initially as a USP, its lack of availability on other platforms has left room for rival services such as WhatsApp to gain considerable market share in the mobile messaging market. 

The first release of BBM for Android and iOS (subject to approval from the Play Store and the App Store respectively) will make the service’s core features available to users, including: 

  • Delivery reports/read notices
  • Multi-person messaging
  • Voice note sharing
  • BlackBerry groups, which can include up to 30 users and share calendar appointments, photos and more

Later on in 2013 BlackBerry expects to add functionality for its newly announced BlackBerry Channels (a Twitter-like service for BBM), voice chat and video chat to its Android/iOS apps, which will be free to download.

BlackBerry is not the only company trying to unify its messaging service at the moment. Facebook recently stepped up its offering with improvements to Facebook Messenger (which now includes free voice calls in some regions), WhatsApp does not yet have voice calling, but is the most widespread cross-platfrom messaging app in many regions, Skype has long offered free voice calls and is being integrated with more of Microsoft’s services, plus Google is expected to announce a massive update to its messaging portfolio at Google I/O this week. 

It’ll be interesting to see which of the above makes it to the top first – a truly unified cross-platform messaging app would only leave room for one or two of these to be prevalent in the long run. 

Google Now Wallpaper app changes based on the time of day

One of the small touches that adds to the impressiveness of Google Now is the collection of graphics that accompanies it. These are displayed behind the search bar on the Google Now homescreen, adding a nice bit of colour to the interface.

The good news is that XDA member Svarion has now taken the Google Now Graphics and turned them into a wallpaper app, called GoogleNowWallpaper HD, which changes the colour scheme of the background based on time.

Google Now Wallpaper Google Now Wallpaper Dusk Google Now Wallpaper Night

There are several locations for you to choose from for the background; the classic Google Now view of the mountains, London, Berlin, Honolulu, New York, Seattle, Austin, Tahoe, Great Plains and San Francisco.

The time at which the background changes (dawn, day, dusk and night) can be configured within the app’s settings, or if you prefer you can just stick to the one background.

Thankfully Google Now wallpaper is not a live wallpaper so there is no need to worry about battery drain. Check them out and let us know what you think.

 

Supercharge your Pocket usage with Android, Chrome and IFTTT

Pocket tips and tricks

Pocket is one of my favourite Android apps. It’s cross-platform for mobile, has extensions for several web browsers and also has a desktop app for Mac. It’s free, so if you haven’t tried it yet it’s certainly worth doing so.

Pocket Android App

In its most basic form, Pocket is an app that lets you save content for reading later, either offline or online. However, there are several other great uses for it that are simple to set up. In this article I’ll mainly look at ways to improve your Pocket experience using with Chrome and Android, but also include some tips that are applicable to all Pocket users.

Pocket for Android

Thanks to Android’s sharing intents, adding items to Pocket from any browser is simple. The developers of Pocket have been clever in naming the sharing intent as ‘Add to Pocket’, causing it to appear at the top of the list when using the stock sharing options.This is great, but using Dolphin Browser can make the process even more efficient.

Dolphin Browser has many extensions that can be installed for it. Once installed, these extensions can be accessed with a swipe inwards from the right-hand-side of the screen. I find it much quicker to swipe to the right in Dolphin and tap the Pocket extension than going to Share > Add to Pocket in other browsers. The other nice thing about the Dolphin extension is that it lets you immediately add tags to saved items. This isn’t possible with the standard sharing intent, which means you either need to switch to the Pocket app to add a tag, or do it at a later date (and possibly forget).

It’s not worth switching to Dolphin purely for this feature unless you’re a Pocket power user, but certainly something worth considering when you’re picking a web browser for Android.

[Read more...]

HTC One: The Zoetrope

What is HTC Zoe?

HTC Zoe is a brand new camera feature from HTC, working alongside the HTC One’s UltraPixel camera. It’s exclusive to the HTC One and takes it’s name from the Zoetrope.

HTC Zoetrope

You will likely have seen a Zoetrope before, without knowing the technical name for it. The Zoetrope has been around a lot longer than you or I – the first record of one dates back to 180AD and would now be regarded as an old-fashioned toy.

For its new flagship, HTC has taken this age-old concept and incorportated it into the latest smartphone technology to create HTC Zoe.

What happens when the HTC One is in Zoe Mode?

Within the HTC One camera interface, there is an on-screen icon that can be pressed to activate Zoe Mode. Once in Zoe Mode, tapping the capture button will record up to 20 photos and a 3-second video. The camera stills and the footage are then combined to create a Zoe.

How are Zoe images displayed within the Gallery?

HTC has completely redesigned its Gallery app for the HTC One. Making full usage of HTC Zoe footage, photo and video collections have a unique look to them that will make you even more eager to share them with friends and family.

With the Gallery app, ‘Events’ are created. These Events contain a collection of videos, photos and Zoes, which are used to make up a 30 second highlight reel at the top of the Event gallery. You are able to customise this highlight reel in remix model, choosing which content to use, the order that it appears in and you can also apply artistic filters to it .  It’s a great way to show someone a quick overview of a special day.

Can Zoe mode be turned off?

Yes Zoe mode can be turned off if you want to take single shots. However, when you record a Zoe several shots are taken. Therefore a better solution may be to shoot in Zoe mode, select the best photo and then remove the other footage.
[Read more...]

All you can eat app–unlimited app downloads for a flat monthly fee

Obtaining all the latest Android apps on your smartphone or tablet can become a really expensive exercise, especially if you want to just trial ‘full’ paid apps for longer than the 15 minute window offered by Google.

You only need to buy 3 or 4 apps a month and you could be easily spending in excess of £10 making app ownership potentially very expensive over the time.

Have you ever used Nexflix, Spotify, LoveFilm or Sony Music Unlimited?

They all work on a monthly subscription fee. You sign up, pay a fee each month and you can cancel your subscription at any point. Whilst you pay the fee you can use their services but cancel and the service access stops.

Mobiroo is a new service that works in exactly the same way; just in this case it is Android apps and not film or music.

Mobiroo can act as both a replacement or compliment to Google Play.

The Mobiroo service is focused on bringing quality apps rather than sheer quantity like the Google Play store, meaning with Mobiroo you see only the best apps based on user ratings, reviews and thorough quality assurance testing.

imageThere is one simple subscription option which is normally $4.99 but there is an introductory rate of $2.49.

The exact price in GBP will be calculated at the time of subscription, but is roughly £1.65 per month whilst at $2.49 per month.

There is a real potential to reduce your on-going costs with this service.

For peace of mind you can benefit form a 100% FREE, unlimited access, no obligation trial of the service for a full 14 days.

Take advantage of your no obligation FREE 14 DAY TRIAL NOW by downloading the Mobiroo .apk file for Android and start saving money on the best apps available for Android smartphones & tablets.

New app: DashClock (Android 4.2+ only)

Easy customisation of the lock screen widget

Since its release last week, DashClock has quickly grown in popularity. It enables you to easily add notifications to the Android lock screen (4.2+ only). Its developer, Google employee Roman Nurik, has made the API available to developers so several extensions for DashClock have emerged already, providing the means to further enhance its functionality.

Dash Clock app

The standard DashClock app provides the ability to add notifications for next calendar appointment, missed calls, next alarm, text message count, falcon pro, gmail and weather. However, a range of extensions mean that you can now add a notification for pretty much any app that you use, especially if you install the AnyDash extension.

For those of you that don’t have an Android 4.2+ device, there is an app called NoLED which is worth a mention. The app was originally developed for the Samsung Galaxy S, which was one of the first headline handsets not to feature an LED notification light. NoLED essentially powers on the screen and then create a coloured icon for different message alerts. Due to this it performs best on AMOLED displays in terms of battery life.

Personally, I am not a big fan of having notifications on my lock screen – they are too much of a distraction and create non-urgent interruptions (good post on that here by Shaun McGill). However, having the next calendar appointment displayed is a useful feature, although this can be achieved with Jelly Bean anyway by adding a Google Calendar widget.

Nokia Drive+ (Beta) is now available on Windows phone 8

Microsoft and Nokia have made Nokia Drive + available to WP8 users in the US, Canada and the UK so everyone can join in on the navigational fun. The download is free, but keep in mind that this is a beta product which is still in development. In the mean time you can still gain full access to full turn-by-turn-voice-guided navigation, offline maps, speed limit warnings, and conveniences such as day and night modes. This beats any standard pre installed satellite navigational system that you’ve been putting up, so get downloading and upgrade now for FREE!

New Android app: PushBullet

push bullet app

PushBullet is an app that solves a minor frustration that you will likely have suffered often as an Android user, but not found a good all-in-one solution to remedy: having data on your desktop that you want to push quickly to your mobile device. PushBullet enables you to easily push notes, addresses, lists and files straight from your computer to your handset and displays an alert in your notification bar for easy access.

This is by no means new in terms of functionality – Chrome to Phone, Pocket or the syncing of the Chrome app can push URLS/save web pages for easy access, Evernote can push notes, Google Drive could push lists and AirDroid/AirDroid 2 (public beta now available here) can be used to wirelessly transfer files – but PushBullet simplifies the process and provides one app for all four functions.

To use PushBullet, you need to download the app from the Play Store and register your device (you can sign up with your Google account), then register on the PushBullet website. It’s a seamless process and it’s only access to your email address that the app needs, not your entire Google account. Once you’ve completed the sign up process, visiting the PushBullet website will take you straight to the web interface, so a bookmarklet in your browser can help to make the process of sending data to your phone even quicker.

Screen Shot 2013 01 21 at 21 24 03Having tested the PushBullet service, it works nicely and lives up to the simplified process that it describes on the website. As with any cloud-based service, we would recommend against pushing any particularly sensitive files that you don’t want others to see.