Smartphones News
News: If Apple Made an iOS 6 Maps Commercial, This Is How It Would Look......
If Apple made an honest Apple Maps Commercial it would look exactly like this. This Video is based on true events...
News: Apple Maps Parodies Get the Big-Screen Treatment; Batman, Katniss, and Jack Get Lost
What if the Dark Knight used Apple's state-of-the-art Maps application for turn-by-turn driving directions? Well, let's just say you wouldn't want to be in a shopping mall when Batman is in a hurry. Movieclips posted some hilarious parodies of film characters using Apple's new Maps app for directions. Just see what happens when Batman tries to use his iPhone 5 to navigate Gotham on his way to save Rachel in The Dark Knight.
News: Scan Your Food for E. Coli and Salmonella with This Smartphone-Based Bacteria Detector
As deeply as smartphones are integrated into our daily lives, it's no surprise that people are finding ways to use them to stay healthy. From detecting cancer and radiation to diagnosing STDs, phones have come a long way, baby.
News: iOS 6, Coming This Fall
The next mobile operating system for the iPhone, iOS 6, will be available in fall 2012. The major details and features were released 2 weeks ago a Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). While the goal of these yearly OS updates is to move forward with technology, there are a couple of this to watch for. Keep reading to see the good and the not so good. Do Not Disturb
News: Ditch the Billfold, Grab an Android: Google Wallet Launches on Sprint's Nexus S 4G Smartphone
Gone are the days when you had to carry a clunky DynaTAC to make phone calls, pocket phone book for you contact list, Sony Discman for your tunes, and wallet for you cash and credit cards. Today, all you need is your smartphone. To be specific, Google's Nexus S 4G on Sprint.
News: The "411" Film Production Bible Finally Hits Android Devices (For Free)
If you work in the film industry, are currently in film school, or have aspirations of being involved in the movie making process in some way, shape or form, you're probably very familiar with a certain set of books published by 411 Publishing that are commonly referred to as the "production bibles". If you live in the Los Angeles area, LA 411 is a valuable source of information when it comes to fulfilling your production needs. And if you're in New York, the NY 411 book is just as crucial fo...
News: Amazon's Geek Week Slices Prices on 8 Useful Apps for Android
It may not be your number one spot for finding cool apps for your Android device, but the Amazon Appstore for Android is running a new promotion this week called "Geek Week," where eight of the most popular productivity and utility apps are now on sale for 48 percent off or more.
News: Handheld Gene-Z System Detects Cancer with the Help of iPhones and Android Devices
Mobile devices can do just about anything these days, thanks to third-party developers. iPhones and Android devices have been known to do some pretty wild things. Need a dupe key made? Scan and order one with your iPhone. Want to know if you're hotter than Justin Bieber? Compare your facial features. Are you a policeman who needs to ID a suspect? Scan their fingerprints and irides. Want to control your Canon DSLR remotely? Use your Android phone.
News: Android Smartphones Dominated by 10 Hugely Popular Mobile Apps
There are over 250,000 apps in the Android Market, ranging from free productivity programs to a ridiculous $200 for a vuvuzela horn effect. But chances are you don't have the vuvuzela app on your Android smartphones right now, but you are likely to have one of the ten most popular apps in the Android Market.
News: Sing Along to Your Favorite Songs with the musiXmatch Mobile Lyrics App
You may not do it in public, and you might not admit to it among your friends, but you do it. We all do it... sing. We sing when we're alone in our cars, at home when no one's listening, and when we've had a little too much to drink and don't care anymore, all inhibitions aside. We love to croon and belt out lyrics to our favorite songs because it makes us feel good, no matter how good or how awful we are, or how well we know the words. Well... now you can at least be proud of one of those th...
News: You Don't Need to Be a Hacker to Hack with This Android App
Security awareness seems to be a hot topic these days on the web, with developers making apps and devices that can hack networks and machines with just a few clicks. But these applications aren't only exploiting security flaws in systems and networks, they're being used by amateur and wannabe hackers who want to have a little fun, but don't want to learn how to actually "hack" anything.
News: New Android App Allows Canon DSLR Owners to Remotely Control Their Cameras
If you're the proud owner of a Canon EOS DSLR, then you'll be glad to know that you no longer have to use EOS Utility on your computer to enable remote live view shooting with your camera. Now, all you need is your Android equipped smartphone (sorry iPhone users) and a new mobile app called DSLR Controller from Chainfire.
News: Making Art on Your iOS Device, Part 6: Museum, Gallery & Street Art Guides
This week's 6-part series on Making Art on Your iOS Device comes to a close today with our last segment: a collection of useful apps for touring museums, galleries and street art. The apps below cover some of the world's greatest art meccas, so read on if you're planning an upcoming trip, if you live in one of the destinations listed below, or if you simply want to see what a faraway museum has to offer—from the comfort of your couch.
News: Making Art on Your iOS Device, Part 5: Photography
There are seemingly endless photography apps for the iPhone—it is perhaps one of the most popular arenas for application developers. We've covered a few in Giveaway Tuesdays, but nothing comprehensive.
News: Making Art on Your iOS Device, Part 4: Cool Visual Effects & Tricks
Sometimes an iDevice is best used for idle, pointless fun. Today's segment of Making Art on Your iOS Deviceis a mixed bag of time-wasting cool effects and random, but useful art-making tools. Below, 10 apps for creating anything from erratic hand-shaken digital effects to your very own DIY Andy Warhol prints.
News: Bandito iPhone App Delivers Music News Based on Your iTunes Library
Public Radio Exchange (PRX) has teamed up with music intelligence company The Echo Nest to bring us music lovers Bandito, an easy way to find out what's going on with our favorite artists. Their new mobile app uses the existing iTunes library on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to find your most-played bands and singers, serving up the latest news from around the web on them.
News: Making Art on Your iOS Device, Part 3: 3D Modeling
Today's segment of Making Art on Your iOS Device takes us into the third dimension. The below apps are suitable for beginners looking to venture into the world of 3d modeling, as well as pros who simply want the basics of Maya in their pocket.
News: The Perfect Hack for Enabling NFC Credit Card Payments on Your iPhone 4
Remember the good ol' days when you actually had to swipe your credit or debit card to make a payment at the store? Now all it takes is a flick of the wrist to purchase goods with your card, thanks to RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology from Chase (blink), Visa (payWave) and MasterCard (PayPass). But soon "contactless" payments will be made by an entirely different beast—NFC, which stands for near field communication.
News: Making Art on Your iOS Device, Part 2: Painting
Whereas yesterday's segment of Making Art on Your iOS Device focused on the technical elements of drawing from life, today we enter the painterly realm of David Hockney and Jorge Colombo.
News: Making Art on Your iOS Device, Part 1: Drawing
From the onset of the popularization of apps for the iDevice, users have experimented with creating original artwork on their iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch. And when famed British artist David Hockney christened the iDevice with his painterly digital drawings, the trend exploded even more.
News: Trover Opens Up Their iPhone Social Discovery App to the Masses
Remember last month when we introduced you to Trover? Well, now this great little discovery app for iPhone has completed its beta mode and has officially launched in wide release.
News: Outsource Your Dirty Work with the TaskRabbit App for iPhone
Need to pick up some furniture, but can't find any free time in your busy schedule? What if you're just too lazy to go pick up some cat food? How are you going to feed your pet without getting off the couch? Tired of waiting in lines at the post office to mail out some last minute package?
News: New Android Market Update Lets You Rent Movies and Buy eBooks
Google has been slowly rolling out a new update for the Android Market in the United States, which gives mobile users a new interface and some additional content for their Android-powered smartphones and tablets. The update started a couple weeks ago, taking the Android Market to version 3.0.27 on devices running Android 2.2 or higher. The new Android Market has a Honeycomb feel to it with a more visually pleasing layout and new colorful promotional page which showcases top apps and games, as...
News: Mapping Your Music Collection with Mufin Player for Android
These days, there seems to be an endless amount of music player apps accessible on the web, from Pandora to Cantio, and the amount available in the mobile market is constantly growing. If you have an Android device, you're probably well aware of Jukefox, which lets you listen to your music collection on the go and provides you with a new way to interact with your songs, with 2D and 3D mapping of your albums. But as good as Jukefox is, it has problems (mostly technical).
News: Police Use iPhones to ID Suspects via Face, Iris and Fingerprint Scans
Some cops already have the ability to extract data from your cell phone using handheld forensic devices, but soon police officers will have a new mobile data collection toy to play with—an Apple iPhone. Actually, it's an iPhone-based device that connects directly to the back of an iPhone, which is designed to give law enforcement an accurate and immediate identification of a suspect based on their facial features, fingerprints and even their eyes.
News: 10 Photography Tips for Mastering Your Camera Phone
If you're always taking blurry and underexposed pics with your mobile device, try using some of the tips below to turn your phone into a valuable photography asset. It doesn't matter if you have an iPhone, Android smartphone, or even a first-gen camera phone... you can still take some beautiful, winning photographs.
News: Alfred Knows Where You Want to Eat (iPhone App for Instant Restaurant Recommendations)
Exploring a new city is tough if you're all by your lonesome. But if you have your iPhone on you, you're not alone at all... there's tons of great apps available for discovering the city around you. We've previously featured an app that helps you decide on what bar or club to attend, as well as one that shows you the hidden world unbeknown to most tourists (sometimes even the local population). When it comes to dining out, Yelp helps considerably, but it doesn't provide you with personalized ...
News: Augmented Reality Cinema App Takes You to the Movies—in Real World Locations
The yet-to-be released Augmented Reality Cinema app is sure to make avid movie fans across the world drool. The concept is genius and appears to be quite seamless as well: Simply install the app on your iPhone, take a stroll through your city (supported cities have not yet been released, but the video below shows London), and aim your phone at various locations to view movie scenes that have been previously shot there.
News: ScanMe Makes Social Networking Easy with QR Code T-Shirts
It's called a Quick Response code, but most know it simply as QR code, a matrix barcode dedicated to the world of smartphones. The information contained within the square black modules could be text, a URL, vCard, or some other kind of data. And even though mobile tagging has been around for eight years, it's just now spreading like wildfire across the globe, being incorporated into artistic portraits and wall art. And most recently... "social clothing".
News: Cure Insomnia with the Pzizz Sleep Aid App for Android and iPhone
Dealing with insomnia? Just can't fall asleep at night? Well, there's a few things you can do to escape those restless nights. You can take a hot bath (unless you're a shower person), do some yoga (granted you can do the downward-facing dog), or try a little tapping (if you don't mind smacking yourself in the face). But let's face it—most people who have trouble sleeping use prescription medication or natural remedies like melatonin. If you don't want to be dependent on sleeping pills, then m...
News: Special Film Turns 2D LCD Screens into Glasses-Free 3D Displays
Smartphones have already hit the shelves with glasses-free 3D displays, but now you can enjoy the luxury of a 3D display on your 2D devices, thanks to Japanese company Global Wave. They've developed a special film that allows you to enjoy three-dimensional content on existing two-dimensional products, from laptops to computer monitors, along with iPads and iPhones.
Splitscreen: A Love Story Shot Entirely on the Nokia N8 Mobile Phone
Splitscreen: A Love Story is an elegant short shot entirely on the Nokia N8 mobile phone, created by director JW Griffiths and director of photography Christopher Moon. The cleverly constructed splitscreen film was selected as the official winner of Vimeo's Nokia Shorts 2011 contest, raking in a grand prize of $10K. So how did they do it? Splitscreen: A Love Story was shot using the Steadicam Smoothee, a hand-held dolly designed for the iPhone 3GS, which the team adapted for use with the Noki...
OpenWatch & CopRecorder: Two Covert Apps for Spying on the Cops
Smartphones are impressive devices, to say the least. A smartphone user can consume TV, music & movies; communicate via streaming video; check the weather; record audio; take professional quality video footage; snap high quality photos… The list just continues to grow and grow. With all of these incredible capabilities, why not add surveillance?
HTC EVO 3D: The First Glasses-Free 3D Smartphone in the U.S.
Some speculated that LG's Thrill 4G would be the first 3D smartphone to hit the U.S. marketplace, but HTC's EVO 3D hit shelves first, going on sale last Friday for all Sprint customers. It boasts a slew of high-end features, including a 4.3-inch touchscreen display with 540 x 960 qHD resolution, 1.2Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor, 3G and 4G connectivity, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense. But obviously, the best part about this new device is its three-dimensional capabili...
News: Wake Up! Anti Sleep Pilot for iPhone Helps Curb Tiredness Behind the Wheel
Always falling asleep behind the wheel? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that there are over 56,000 sleep-related accidents each year, resulting in 40,000 injuries and 1,550 deaths annually in the United States. Don't want to be a statistic? Then you may want to try out ASP Technology's mobile application which aims to keep you awake when you're fatigued on the road.
News: Discover the Hidden World Around You with the Trover iPhone App
You're in a new city and you want to explore—what mobile app is best? If you want to know what club is hopping that night, use SceneTap. If you want to know if any friends are at a nearby get-together, use Foursquare. If you want to know what restaurant is best, try Yelp. But if you're looking to get a real feel for the city, skip the more touristy destinations and take to the streets—discover where some great graffiti is located or where the best view of the city is with the Trover iPhone ap...
News: Temporarily Disable Android Lockscreens with DelayedLock App
For those who need security on their Android devices, the standard swipe lock screen just isn't enough, so it's necessary to install applications like GOTO and WidgetLocker to enable either pattern, password or PIN protection. This protection is great overall, but when you're frequently using your smartphone, having to keep unlocking the lock screen becomes quite an annoyance. You could be in a heated text conversation, following directions on a map or compulsively checking the news feed on F...
News: Talk-o-Meter App Identifies Motormouths from the Soft Spoken
How do you fare in a phone conversation? Are you a motormouth or are you constantly dominated by the other person? Or are you both eager to get it all out? If you have an iPhone, there's an application that will reveal just who is the better chatter and which of you is more soft spoken.
News: FaceNiff App Allows Android Users to Hack Facebook
Firesheep caused quite a stir when it was released last October, giving both hackers and non-hackers instant access to people's account information when on a public Wi-Fi connection. When logged into an insecure website on the same network as someone with Firesheep, you're giving them access to the cookies that keep you logged in. This is called session hijacking, and grants them easy access to your accounts, like Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. Now, there's an even easier way to do this—a mobi...
Barhopping with SceneTap: Scope Out Bars Right from Your Smartphone
You've had a hard day at work and need to get out of the house, have a few drinks, but you don't want to go just anywhere—you want the right crowd and the right bar. For those nights, barhopping just isn't the answer, it's SceneTap.