Amcrest IP2M-841 ProHD 1080P (1920TVL) Wireless WiFi IP Camera, White

We're sorry, but our systems have detected the possible use of an automated program to visit Newegg.com. For more information on appropriate use of the Newegg website, please see the excerpt from Newegg.com's Policy & Agreement below. If you feel you've reached this page in error, please send an email to webmaster@newegg.com with your IP address and the error code listed below.

Error code: 2

Your IP:104.236.35.103

You agree to use Newegg.com website (the "Website") only for purposes that are permitted by this Policy & Agreement and any applicable law, regulation or generally accepted practices or guidelines in the relevant jurisdictions. You agree that you will not access or attempt to access the Website other than through the interface that is provided by Newegg.com, unless you have specifically been permitted to do so in a separate written agreement signed by an authorized representative of Newegg.com. You specifically agree not to access or attempt to access the Website, or any portion thereof, through any automated means, including but not limited to the use of scripts or web crawlers. You agree that you will not engage in any activity that disrupts or otherwise interferes with the Website (or the servers and networks which are connected to the Website). You agree that you will not duplicate, reproduce, copy, sell, trade or resell the Website for any purpose. You agree that you are solely responsible for any breach of your obligations under this Policy & Agreement and for the consequences (including any loss or damage which Newegg.com may suffer) of any such breach.

Source: Amcrest IP2M-841 ProHD 1080P (1920TVL) Wireless WiFi IP Camera, White

Some iPhone 7/7 Plus Users Reporting Camera ‘Black Screen’ Issues

Photographer Andy Seliverstoff over St. Petersburg, Russia, has been working on a heartwarming photo project that will put a smile on your face, particularly if you're a dog lover. It's titled, "Little Kids and Their Big Dogs."

Artists have long used the golden ratio as a guide for creating aesthetically pleasing art, as it's believed that the human brain is hardwired to find the proportions inherently beautiful. Take a look at the work of legendary photographer Ansel Adams, and you may find the golden ratio tracing out many of their notable features.

One woman just received a big lesson on how NOT to treat photographers, and one photographer is being praised for how she handled an extremely difficult client.

My original 52 Week Challenge in 2016 was a huge success, with tens of thousands of photographers participating from around the world. In celebration of those who have completed the first challenge, a new challenge is now here!

We recently shared the story of a photographer who had hard drives containing virtually all her professional work stolen from her home shortly before Christmas. If you don't want this type of devastating data loss to happen to you, look into the 3-2-1 strategy of backups.

I have already seen a few posts about the new addition to the Nikon prime lineup, the Nikon 105mm f/1.4, but don't worry, this isn't just another review with lots of graphs and pictures of brick walls. Just a few thoughts on my first impressions on the new Nikon 105mm f/1.4 from a working event photographer in London.

Brides magazine recently published an advice article titled "Essential Questions You Need to Ask Your Wedding Photographer," and some of the "pro tips" may raise eyebrows among wedding photographers.

Milan-based filmmaker David Drills made this short film titled, "Master of Camera". It's a beautiful 2-minute portrait of Gian Luigi Carminati, a 76-year-old man who has spent his entire working life repairing cameras.

Peter Thoshinsky joined the San Francisco Police Department back in 1982. After serving as a cop for 31 years, his career in the department took a major turn: he became the official "historical photographer" for the SFPD.

Burhan Ozbilici's stunning photo of a gunman moments after assassinating the Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov spread like wildfire over social media. While many within the photojournalism community quickly declared the image as the "photo of the year," and worth of top prizes, one voice offered dissent.

The folks over at the image tracking service Pixsy have released an infographic about the state of photo theft in 2016. As 64% of you have personally experienced, photo theft remains a serious and widespread problem in our digital age.

Magic Lantern may soon release their most popular feature since RAW video. A few of the folks who constantly improve the Canon software add-on have just found a way to generate 14-bit lossless DNG RAW files in-camera!

Back in September 2016, Amazon launched its own photo printing service, instantly sinking Shutterfly stock by undercutting competitors' prices. Now, to celebrate the new year, Amazon is offering a crazy 75% off coupon code to cut its already industry-low prices.

Sphere is a new lens that's designed to turn any DSLR camera into a 360-degree camera. It captures a full 360-degree view horizontally and a 180-degree field of view vertically.

reVision is a simple new web service that lets you share interactive before-and-after views of your photo edits with other people.

Photographers make all kinds of excuses, whether out of lack of experience or just because they thought something to be common knowledge (which it often isn't). Taking ownership of your work and communicating expectations is crucial on the path to success and professionalism.

The U.S. government is now asking certain foreign travelers about their social media accounts prior to entering the country. Among the various services listed in the new "optional" section is Instagram.

At the Toronto Film Festival this year, Shutterstock staff photographer Andrew H. Walker set up a photo booth for a different kind of celebrity portrait. Every time a movie or TV star sat down, Walker asked them to show two different sides of themselves to the camera.

Canon USA has launched a new line of printers called the PIXMA G-Series MegaTank. It's the first line of PIXMA inkjet printers that use built-in refillable tanks rather than cartridges.

House Republicans have put forward a proposal to fine representatives who shoot photos or videos on the floor of the chamber -- a move widely viewed as a response to House Democrats staging a sit-in in June to demand a vote on gun control legislation.

Source: Some iPhone 7/7 Plus Users Reporting Camera 'Black Screen' Issues

The Best gadgets for dog owners: The best tech for your pooch

The right gadgets can help you to keep an eye on your dog, no matter where you may be!

Technology has made life easier for everyone in plenty of small ways, but you may not have considered how it could help you in taking care of your pet. From remotely feeding your dog when you have an early meeting at work, to keeping an eye on them with cameras, to tracking their whereabouts with GPS, there are plenty of awesome gadgets that can make life easier on you and Buddy both. That's why we've put together this list of the 5 best gadgets for Dog owners.

Furbo

While many pet owners wish they could bring their dogs with them everywhere, that isn't always quite feasible. Furbo gives you access to being able to see your dog, talk to it, listen to it, and even toss it treats, all by using an app on your phone. This means that whether you need to check on your dog from work, or when you're stuck in traffic, you'll always know what the rascal is up to.

Furbo is a smart camera with plenty of features that hooks into your home wifi. Once it's connected, all you need to do is download the app onto your phone and you'll be good to go. While it does have a slightly hefty price tag, making sure your dog stays out of trouble when you're at work is probably worth it.

See at Amazon

Whistle

While pet owners might trust their dogs not to run amok, sometimes accidents happen. Your retriever slips her leash because a squirrel takes off, or your husky hops the fence to take himself for a walk. While a microchip can ensure you find your pet if it's picked up, the Whistle GPS collar attachment adds a layer of security.

You can program alerts to let you know any time your dog escapes your designated home zone, check on your dog's activity level, and it's made waterproof and durable to take anything your dog puts it through. The Whistle device attaches to your dog's collar, and uses GPS monitoring to make sure you can always find your pooch when they get away from you.

See at Amazon

Nest Camera

Some dogs don't do well by themselves, or are prone to causing trouble when nobody is at home. If your puppy needs a eye on them while you're at work, then the Nest camera may be your best bet. Using the Nest camera you can make sure that you know if your dog manages to escape their crate, or if they're trying to break into your office.

With 24/7 streaming and recording, you can see everything as it happens, or look over what you've missed. This means you'll never wonder how the dog escaped their confines to tear apart the living room again. With multiple cameras you can even make sure that you have eyes on the entire house, even if you're across the country.

See at Amazon

Petnet

Sometimes our schedules don't quite match up with when you need to be home to feed your dog. Rather than coming home to trash all over the floor, you can employ the Petnet SmartFeeder. This feeder will let you feed your dog even if you get stuck in gridlock traffic, or need to stay at work late to finish up some paperwork.

Using the app on your phone you can precisely measure out meal portions, automate feeding times, and even check on how nutritious your brand of dog food is. You can even cater to how much you feed your dog by inputting their age and activity level. This means that even if you aren't home you can ensure that Fido never goes hungry.

See at Amazon

FitBark

Not all dogs need a lot of activity, but those that do can be destructive in the house if they get bored. That's just one of the reasons that keeping an eye on the activity level of your dog can be beneficial. With FitBark, you can easily keep an eye on your dog's activity. This means knowing if your dog is a bit more lethargic than usual, or if Duke has been running laps through the house for the last three hours.

If you like to go for run's with your dog, then you can connect FitBark to your Google Fit account to keep an eye on all of your dog's information. Using the app, you can get stats on each dog that has a FitBark attachment, and get insights on your dog's activity. This means setting goals for your dog's health so that your best friend is always in the best shape possible.

See at Amazon

That'll get your pooch's tail wagging!

These are just a few of the fantastic gadgets available out there for dog owners. Did we cover one of your favorites, or is there a gadget great for dog owners that we missed this time? Be sure to pop into our comment section and let us know about it!

Source: The Best gadgets for dog owners: The best tech for your pooch

LG V20 Review: The Most Underrated Smartphone of 2016!

LG, the South Korean smartphone vendor, has been struggling a lot in recent times. The company' first valiant attempt in the modular smartphone market with the LG G5 was backfired. Although the G5 has incredible rear cameras and offered stellar performance, it was heavily letdown with its ill-fitted modular design.

Gorgeous Quad HD Display | Decent Performance | Camera App is Tuned Very Well | Complete Day Battery Life | Excellent Audio Capabilities

Design is Boring | Poor Wide-Angle Rear Camera

Previously, LG used to release only flagship smartphones every year in their famous 'G' series. With the flop show of the LG G4, the company switched to two flagship smartphones per year much like what Samsung does with their 'S' series and 'Note' series of smartphones. And, at the IFA 2015, we saw the LG V10 came into limelight with its unique approach of the dual display, dual front-facing cameras, dual stereo speakers, and nearly everything 'dual.' It inspired many, but we never got a chance to test the phone as it did not reach the Indian shores.

Also Read: Why Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and Other Phones Use 2.5D Glass Display

But, that isn't the case with LG V20. With the terrible show of their LG G5 in the country, the firm, earlier this month, announced the V20 in India with a price tag of Rs. 54,999, which was pretty much expected. And, it is worth noticing that the V20 retains all the duals from the V10 and adds one more dual to the list. Yes, we are speaking about the dual rear camera setup. Also, LG has included an exclusive DAC in the phone, which is its USP, probably.

Does the LG V20 justify the asking price? Or is it another flop show from the company? Let's find out in our complete review of the phone.

Design: The Phone Feels Substantially Heavy in Hands

The LG V20 is a larger LG G5 minus the modular mess. However, the phone's chin looks like a removable panel same as the G5. From the first glance itself, we started calling the phone a 'bulky monster,' and yeah, the phone is substantially heavy at 174 grams and easily falls into our list of bulky phones we used this year.

The LG V20 is bigger as well with a 5.7-inch display. The phone comes with dimensions of 159.7 x 78.1 x 7.6 mm, and it is worth noticing that it is taller than the Google Nexus 6 with 159.7mm, thanks to the secondary display present above the primary display. Thankfully, the phone is thinner than the competition at 7.6mm.

Most of the front is dominated by the display and the phone boasts of a 72.4 percent screen-to-body ratio. Both the chin and portion above the secondary display are made up of plastic for better RF (Radio Frequency) signals. Apart from this, the phone is entirely made of metal and LG is one such brand offering removable batteries with every smartphone they release onto the market and the V20 is no exception. The phone's rear panel along with the battery is removable. This removable back panel has some interesting mechanism under it sleeves as it automatically opens up when the phone accidentally slips from your hands and protects the display from shatters.

There's nothing fancy with the button placements, though. LG sticks to their design language as the power button is still present on the rear of the phone. That said, the power button also has the fingerprint sensor embedded into it within reach of your index finger. Unlike the scanner on the LG V10, this is an active scanner, which wakes up the device directly from sleep.

The volume rockers are present on the left side of the phone and the USB Type-C port along with the 3.5mm headphone jack and single speaker are present at the bottom of the phone. Overall, the phone feels good in the hand but too bulky at the same time.

Display: The QHD Panel is Bright, but Not as Bright as the Competition

The LG V20 comes with a 5.7-inch Quad HD display with a resolution of 1440*2560 pixels that further expands to a pixel density of 515 PPI. This Quad HD panel is bright and vivid with punchy colors and deep blacks. Having said that, text appeared crisp, and even the sunlight legibility is far better from the previous iteration of LG phones. On the whole, the display on the V20 is a much improved one but slightly lags behind the Google Pixel XL and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge as they both exhibit better colors than the V20.

Another interesting aspect in the LG V20 is its secondary display which is 2.1 inches in size with a resolution of 160x1040 pixels. This display is present above the primary one and acts an always-on display feature present on the LG G5. It displays the notification icons when a notification arrives and when the screen is on, it shows the quick notification toggles such as the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.

Hardware and Performance: Buttery Smooth!

The LG V20 might be the last phone released in 2016 to come powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset, which is a quad-core chip with two of its cores clocked at 2.15GHz, and two of them are clocked at 1.6GHz. The phone also gets 4GB of RAM and Adreno 530 GPU to handle the system and graphic intensive operations.

The LG V20, much like other Snapdragon 820 phones released this year, performs well enough even with graphic heavy tasks. The phone heats up a lot when the brightness levels are set to maximum, and as a result, we have experienced severe battery drain. With ample gaming, the phone becomes warm on the rear.

The major flaw which we came across the phone is: when the battery is down to below five percent, the power button becomes irresponsive. To overcome this, we need to pull out the battery (thankfully) and reboot the phone to get it function properly. Apart from this, we never faced a single issue.

Audio Performance: Manufactured to Impress Audiophiles

The LG V20 comes with a special 32-bit Quad DAC that delivers superior sound quality. However, the DAC should be enabled manually to get it working, and that's too easy. There's a notification toggle present for the DAC in the notification center. After turning on the DAC, the audio is heavily impressive and interestingly, LG is bundling a B&O (Bang and Olufsen) headphones. We will be making a separate article on the V20's audio capabilities by the end of this week. Stay tuned for that.

Software: The First Android Nougat Laden Phone Apart from Pixels

The LG V20 comes with Android Nougat based LG Optimus UI out-of-the-box. With the LG G5, the company has ditched the app drawer and all the apps are spread across your home screen, but thankfully, LG has added the traditional app feature. Though, you need to enable it manually.

The LG Optimus UX is a heavily customized interface and there are no signs of stock Android anywhere. LG has added some exclusive features such as the profiles that allow you to create a profile of your choice and these profiles will be automatically enabled based on your location. For example, if you are at home and created a profile exclusively for home timings, then that profile will be activated automatically when you reach your home. However, this feature only works when location services are turned on in your phone.

Apart from these, regular features such as the double tap to wake and sleep and a particular theme engine are also present in the phone. The user interface is neatly polished, and we never came across a single issue with the interface.

Camera: The Same Old Dual Camera Setup

The LG V20 retains the same dual-camera setup as the LG G5. The primary camera sensor on the V20 is of 16MP and the secondary one is an 8MP one with a wide angle lens. Out of them, the images captured by the first sensor turned out to be excellent with great clarity and accurate colors. Low light performance was decent with some noise in extremely low light situations.

However, the major letdown is the 8MP wide-angle camera, which captures decent images in bright light conditions but fails to exhibit the same in low light situations. Noticeable noise can be seen on all the images captured with the 8MP camera on the rear. Having said that, we were pretty much disappointed with the secondary camera.

The most impressive thing with the LG V20 is its video recording capabilities. The phone can record Ultra HD videos, and with the help of Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS), there is no distortion in the videos at all.

Speaking of the 5MP front-facing camera, a wide-angle lens is present in it as well. You can quickly toggle between the standard camera and a wide-angle camera easily in the camera app. Selfies captured with this camera in bright light conditions turned out to be good but doesn't inspire confidence in low-light shots.

Battery Life: Lasts Easily for a Day

The LG V20 comes with a 3200mAh battery with support for Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 technology. The phone takes about one and half hours to charge from zero to 100 percent completely and easily lasts for a day with 4G mobile data turned on all the time. With moderate usage involving social messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc., one hour of gaming, and 30 minutes of internet browsing, the phone lasted for one and half days.

However, the battery quickly drains while using the camera app. In our review period, the battery drained about 30 percent for 15 minutes of video recording, which is underwhelming. LG G5 has the same issue, and the same continues with the V20 as well. But, with moderate usage, the phone easily lasts for a day on a single charge.

Verdict: The Most Underrated Smartphone of 2016

LG has been with us for a while now, and we know what their smartphones can offer. With the letdown of LG G5, there were several questions asked by the consumers, but thankfully, LG has answered all those with a decent all-rounder in the form of LG V20.

Although the phone is priced aggressively, it justifies the asking price. The phone delivers excellent performance, non-buggy software, decent cameras, and a whole day of battery life. However, there is a stiff competition in the form of Google Pixel XL and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The Galaxy phone has better aspects than the V20 and is available for a lesser price as well. But, you will miss the wide-angle camera and dual display as well.

The major advantage with the LG V20 is its 32-bit quad DAC that offers superior audio quality, and no other phone matches it regarding audio performance. The loudspeaker is decent as well, whereas we get a below average speaker on the S7 Edge, which is mainly due to its water resistant properties. The LG V20 is clearly a winner if you are looking for a smartphone with incredible audio performance.

Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals

Source: LG V20 Review: The Most Underrated Smartphone of 2016!

Amcrest IP2M-841 ProHD 1080P (1920TVL) Wireless WiFi IP Camera, Black

We're sorry, but our systems have detected the possible use of an automated program to visit Newegg.com. For more information on appropriate use of the Newegg website, please see the excerpt from Newegg.com's Policy & Agreement below. If you feel you've reached this page in error, please send an email to webmaster@newegg.com with your IP address and the error code listed below.

Error code: 2

Your IP:104.236.35.103

You agree to use Newegg.com website (the "Website") only for purposes that are permitted by this Policy & Agreement and any applicable law, regulation or generally accepted practices or guidelines in the relevant jurisdictions. You agree that you will not access or attempt to access the Website other than through the interface that is provided by Newegg.com, unless you have specifically been permitted to do so in a separate written agreement signed by an authorized representative of Newegg.com. You specifically agree not to access or attempt to access the Website, or any portion thereof, through any automated means, including but not limited to the use of scripts or web crawlers. You agree that you will not engage in any activity that disrupts or otherwise interferes with the Website (or the servers and networks which are connected to the Website). You agree that you will not duplicate, reproduce, copy, sell, trade or resell the Website for any purpose. You agree that you are solely responsible for any breach of your obligations under this Policy & Agreement and for the consequences (including any loss or damage which Newegg.com may suffer) of any such breach.

Source: Amcrest IP2M-841 ProHD 1080P (1920TVL) Wireless WiFi IP Camera, Black

Top 10 2016 iOS And Android Apps For Kids: Fun, Engaging And Educational

The holidays are a magical time for kids and if Santa already treated them with tech items such as smartphones and tablets, check out the top iOS and Android apps for kids.

While there's nothing wrong with traditional toy trains, building blocks, and other toys many of us grew up with, today's generation of kids can now enjoy fun and educational games and apps on smartphones and tablets.

There are plenty of good tablets for kids specifically designed with educational purposes in mind, and a slew of apps are also available to round up that experience and offer the best mental exercise while having fun.

If you're not sure which apps to pick for your children, here are the top 10 Android and iOS apps for kids and toddlers.

Best Apps For Kids Aged 5 And Under

1. Sesame Street Alphabet Kitchen

This entertaining app brings the Cookie Monster and Chef Elmo together to create letter cookies, helping kids learn vowels in the process. Kids can have fun coloring the creations and once they finish a letter cookie, they can share it with the two star chefs. The app is available for free on iOS and Android, albeit the full version costs $2.99.

2. Kids Learning Puzzles PUZZLINGO

This app is educational, fun and is also suitable for kids with autism, in speech therapy or with special needs, as it has visual and audio cues to make it more accessible. PUZZLINGO is a puzzle game designed to expand kids' vocabulary and improve their cognitive and memory skills. Supported languages include American and British English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Japanese.

The app is available for both Android and iOS as a free download, but additional puzzles are available at $2.99. A full version with all puzzles available costs $14.99.

3. Storypanda Books

This educational app brings interactive stories with multiple choices, as well as edit and customization options to create new stories, aiming to turn storytelling time into a more engaging and creative experience. The app is available for free on iOS, but offers in-app purchases. An Android version of the app is not available.

4. Artie's World

This drawing app for kids aged 5 and under sparks creativity in a fun manner, offering great visuals and an entertaining adventure. Artie, the main character, goes on a trip across the world and kids have to help him draw various animals and items with his magic pen and connect the dots to make the creation "come to life" with fun animations and great audio. The app is available for free for both Android and iOS and offers in-app purchases.

Best Apps For Kids Aged 6 To 8

1. TeleStory

With TeleStory, kids get to create their own TV shows by putting together background scenes, special costumes, cue cards, special effects and what not. The app sparks creativity and it's a lot of fun, and it even allows recording to save those entertaining TV shows on the camera roll. The app is free, but it's only available on iOS.

2. Wuwu & Co.

This is an interactive story app aiming to provide an immersive storytelling experience that stimulates imagination. Wuwu & Co. allows users to read or listen to a story while the device is facing down, or get a "magical window" into the story world when holding the device upright. The app is available on both Android and iOS at $2.99.

3. Music4Kids

This creative app lets kids compose music, posing 140 "challenges" created by a professional composer. The app can obviously be quite loud, but it should develop creativity and polish your kids' musical abilities, allowing them to write and play music at the same time. Music4Kids costs $2.99 and it's available on both Android and iOS.

4. Toca Lab

This educational game can be useful even for adults, as it makes the periodic table fun. Toca Lab features all 118 elements of the periodic table and turns them into characters, while also allowing users to experiment with virtual lab tools. The app costs $2.99 and it's available for both iOS and Android.

Best Apps For Kids Aged 8 And Up

Lastly, for kids aged 8 or older, two fun apps combine entertainment with educational purposes to quench their thirst for knowledge.

1. Middle School Confidential Series

Appropriate for kids aged 8 to 14, this app actually consists of a collection of graphic novels designed to help kids go through the challenging pre-teen period. The Middle School Confidential is written by teen expert Annie Fox and is available on both iOS and Android either as a three-book bundle priced at $6.99 or at $2.99 per book.

2. Weird But True

Weird but True comes from National Geographic and it makes learning fun, presenting more than 900 facts in an engaging manner. The app is free, but it's only available for iOS.

Such educational and entertaining apps can help kids learn while having fun, and they're a must-have for any child with a smartphone or a tablet. There are many more out there, so if you have other preferences feel free to share your own recommendations in the comments section below.

© 2016 Tech Times, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Source: Top 10 2016 iOS And Android Apps For Kids: Fun, Engaging And Educational

Smartphone Apps Crumbles Cyberspace

In today's world, everyone is using a mobile app. In fact, in many countries, people are skipping the desktop and laptop entirely and moving straight on to mobile services. The main goal of a mobile application is to earn more number of customers and deliver highest quality engagement within a target market. Every successful mobile app either solves a problem or provides a service.

Source: https://bitbillions.com/members/anandrajendran/

A Smartphone app is a software application designed to run on wireless computing devices such as smart phones and tablets. Most prominent mobile software such as iOS, android, windows phone are more improved and requires high scientific capacity. One needs not to spend thousands of dollars or spend months to develop an app. 

The mobile applications are optimal for the people who use any particular service frequently, such as cab booking and mobile recharge. Each app provides more functionality like game, calculator or mobile web browsing. Mobile apps are useful for a wide range of marketing. It is better than social Media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc because they promote better interaction and personalization of communication.

If a customer's objective is to be interactive or to provide an application that needs to work more like a computer program than a mobile website, then obviously a mobile app is the best choice.

Importance of Smartphone Apps

On the view of the enterprise field the mobile phone plays a vital role. These apps provide benefits for the clients and customers also. Users get the notification of special events, launches, navigation information etc.

What is a native mobile app?

A native mobile app is a known application that is programmed in specific language such as C and Java. It provides faster performance and a high degree of accuracy.  But, this type of app is too costly to develop because it is integrated with only one type of operating system.

What is a Hybrid mobile app?

The Hybrid app is a one which is more or less similar to the native mobile app. This app is a web app which is built using HTML5 and JavaScript and they are inflamed by the Company's website. Examples of Hybrid apps are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Mobile banking app etc.   

A Brief Sketch about Mobile Website:

A mobile website is a one which consists of browser based HTML and XML pages that are integrated together. These pages are accessed over the internet (Wi-Fi or 2G or 3G networks). There are two types of websites. They are mobile website and a standard website. This mobile website is designed for the touch screen mobile phones. 

The mobile websites can display texts, data, image and video. There are many features like dial a phone number or location based mapping. Apps can be downloaded and installed on mobile phones rather than being rendered within a browser. There are many portals such as Apple's App Store, Android Market, or Blackberry App World in order to download apps for a specific operating system. The downloaded content can be accessed without an internet connection.

What is a mobile friendly website?

A mobile friendly website is a site that is constructed in a manner to exhibit properly on narrow screens, such as iPhone, Android smartphones and intermediate sized tablets. Standard desktop websites do not restore on these devices, whereas a mobile site adjusts to the microscopic screen size and have a better interface.

If there are more visitors accessing an organization website on mobile devices, it is important to make sure that the inspectors don't give negative reviews. If a website takes too long to download, then automatically an individual moves to another website, so only a website should designed in a well organized manner.

Google favors mobile friendly websites for its mobile search results. In the UK, about eighty four percent of the people use internet through mobile devices, whereas in US, it is only about fifty percent. Many websites are mobile friendly for small enterprises, medium enterprises, larger enterprises and IT professionals.

How to build a responsive website?

A responsive website enables the page layout to automatically adjust across a range of screen sizes. There are is a general way to build a responsive website.

- Construction of a New Site – Does it make sense?

For the functionality upgrade, the older websites are rebuilt completely.

Mainly, the building blocks of the website in other words, we can say that the templates are rebuilt to become responsive and look great across all screen sizes.

Smartphone apps – Connects the world within our hands

In spite of the many advantages of a mobile site, Smartphone apps are still trendy and there is a list of scenarios where an app will be the best choice. For the games like Pokémon Go, Candy Crush, Clash of clans, an app is almost going to be the best choice. Mobile apps are easily accessible and it is more reliable and faster than mobile web.

It plays a vital for the manipulation of data, complex calculations, and generation of reports. If a user is going to use an app in a personalized fashion on a regular basis, then an app provides a procedure to do that.

To perform functions without a network, access a user's camera then an app makes sense.  These factors keep consumers more occupied in each session, something that a cyberspace cannot rival.

According to the Survey:

A recent analysis says that the Americans spend more time in their smartphones; increasingly they are using apps (Productivity apps, traveling apps, social media, and mobile messaging platforms) rather than surfing the mobile web.

The report says that US adults are spending nearly two hours a day using apps on their smartphones, whereas accessing of mobile websites on their mobile phones is nearly twenty minutes a day.

This vast difference shows the importance of mobile phone apps. In other words, we can say that the apps account nearly eighty six percent of the folks spend their time in smartphones, with the mobile web computing for just fourteen percent.

Mobile apps have a greater degree of functionality, integrating with other apps and capabilities such as GPS, camera and contact list. Even though productivity apps, news apps, traveling apps play a vital role, video continues to be a key driver of the mobile phone.

In the traditional days, video time on mobile devices overtook the desktop. But now, video consumption on smartphones exceeds that on tablets. American folks will consume video on their mobile phones for an average of fifteen minutes a day.

Most of the mobile app time is being spent on messaging apps, such as Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and Whatsapp. Most of the people in the USA spend five minutes a day using messaging apps (on smartphones and tablets). This may increase more in future.

The social network usage (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) which does not include mobile messaging app usage, on smartphones will rise slightly later. 

Conclusion:

Smartphones have become essential and on average an individual spends three hours per day on their mobile phone. The e-commerce websites have started to develop apps for their business. People want information on the go. Smartphone helps them in that aspect, it has countered the web time. In the future, it is clear that mobile phone apps going to bring a downside to the web and cyberspace.

Author Bio:

Anand Rajendran is the CEO and co-founder of Rutapp Infosystems, a leading Andriod and iOS app development company in Chennai. He is an expert in mobile apps field who has written various articles. Rutapp is a software platform developed by his company allowing business owners to create an app with AirBnb, Uber and other cloning scripts.

Source: Smartphone Apps Crumbles Cyberspace

Lenovo k6 Power Review- Budget Phone with Long Lasting Battery Life

Lenovo k6 power Review: The Innovation and Technology are moving to next levels, and you can find fresh and latest model of mobile hovering around the market. So, let's jump into the Lenovo k6 power Review.

Lenovo k6 power was the latest model launched by the Lenovo. I don't have to say about the company because you might already know about the Lenovo because it is having a good reputation in both mobile market and laptop market as well.

According to the IDC, Lenovo holds the second place regarding the Smartphone market share in India, which is next to the Samsung. That survey proves that Lenovo holds 9% of total market share in India. This Chinese company has been one of the few smartphone companies that have been launching the 4G enable smartphones in India frequently and for a long time.

In 2015 itself this company has claimed that it has more than 30 percent share of the 4G Smartphone market in India. After that aspect, Lenovo has been challenged by its competitors in bringing 4G Smartphones. However, the mobile market went to peek when the Reliance Jio's 4G network came to the market, and also the other telecom industries partners are making some big investments in 4G as well.

Lenovo K6 power

Lenovo has heavy competition from its own country brands, Especially, Xiaomi. Xiaomi is giving a lot of competition to the Lenovo. Xiaomi was the company which has made into the top five in India for the first time.

Lenovo was expecting more from the recent launch of the Lenovo K6 power as it was one of the 4G enable smartphone which is under average price range. This k6 power price was 9,999, and it has built this with the Lenovo Vibe User interface.

This company has already offered few models in this segment including the smartphone models like Lenovo Vibe K5; Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus and the Lenovo Vibe K4 note. This new K6 Lenovo model has some great features with the fingerprint scanner.

The best and outstanding feature of the Lenovo power k6 was its battery which is one of the highlights of the Lenovo k6 power, and its battery capacity is 4000mAh it also supports the reverse charging features which means you can charge other devices which are connected to it.

You might think about the other models in the same price of Lenovo K6 power. But, let's see whether it gives tough competition to its competitors such as Asus ZenFone Max, Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime, Cool pad Note 5, etc.

So, let's find out the Lenovo K6 capability and judge the phone capacity.

Lenovo K6 Power design:

Lenovo K6 Power comes with the same user interface of the previous models of the Lenovo Vide. By having a glance at the new K6 power design, we can see the metal body Lenovo K6 power. It often looks similar to the Xiaomi Redmi 3S prime in looks, the front of the Lenovo k6 power and Xiaomi Redmi 3s prime has more similarities. But when it comes to the rear camera area it has some minor differences regarding the camera replacement and the antenna bands. Rest all are similar when we have a glance and fingerprint scanner and the LED flash.

Lenovo K6 Power Built:

Lenovo has brought the K6 power to compete with the other phones like Redmi, Cool pad and Asus. Although it has launched to compete with them, it is built as similar to the previous versions of Vide. The Front of the K6 power was coming with the dominated 5-inch screen with the navigation buttons below. You will find a hard time by using the navigation buttons in backlit.

This Model will come in three different colours one is available in Dark Grey, Gold and Silver. This device weight is 145 grams, and it is a bit thicker than the competitors. You can find power and volume buttons on the right same as the vibe, while the left has the SIM slot which isn't available in Vibe K5.

It is having the 3.5mm headphones socket with the micro USB charging port these both will be found at the top of the phone which is similar to the Lenovo Vibe series. It is having the notification light similar to the previous model.

Lenovo fingerprint scanner is faster and sensitive, and it unlocks the phone faster, and it works pretty similar to the Vivo V5. The build in the look of the Lenovo makes you feel like the premium quality, but it is bit slippery.

However the Lenovo K6 has used the same the same user interface, but it has modified it slightly and added few shortcuts which are pretty useful. If you double tap on the volume button, then you can get the camera app running. The special thing is it even works when the phone is locked.

The 5 inches screen fits the hand perfectly and it easy to carry, it is having the full HD and its text are visible clearly, and the colour variant is decent. Main highlights of the K6 power is its display and battery.

Lenovo K6 Power Specifications in the description:

The Lenovo K6 Power and its competitor Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime are fuelled by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Octa-core 1.4 GHz processor. It has 3GB RAM, and the phone model has 32GB of inbuilt storage, and you can expand it up to 128GB by using the MicroSD Card.

K6 Power is supporting the Dual Nano- SIMs, but the bad news about the K6 Power comes with the hybrid slot so that users can either use two sims or you can use Micro SD Card with one SIM.  This was the disappointing factor for the people who strives to use dual SIM on their phones.

Coming to the Android Version, the Lenovo K6 Power runs on the Android 6.0 Marshmallow with the Lenovo vide User Interface on the top. But you can find K6 power is smoother than the Video. The connectivity of the Lenovo K6 comes with the 4G with VoLTE, Bluetooth v4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, FM radio, Micro USB and GPS.

The other main drawback and confusion factor of the Lenovo K6 power is it doesn't show gallery app. Instead of the gallery app, it will show the google photos which is preinstalled but this app isn't set as the default photo viewer, so this makes hard for all those who don't know about that.

It is others apps are working fine, and you can see the drop-down shade offers the quick settings features and along with the notification. It is having fast loading apps, themes and also several customization options for the icons, wallpapers, lock screen settings and more.

Best Features in K6 Power:

The Best features which we have seen in Lenovo K6 Power is the fingerprint sensor. It quickly allows users to lock any app with a fingerprint and along with that, it has the Dual app mode that lets you access the two different accounts on the same phone.

The K6 also has the unique features which can help you take quick snaps, here all you have to do is just double touch on the volume button to open the camera. The camera will launch even when the phone is locked.  Fingerprints act as the door shutter to your phone.

It also has the incorporated VR mode, but to enable this, you have to go to the settings page. Along with these features, Lenovo gives you access to all kind of files through its file manager app.

Camera Performance:

The Lenovo Power has a 13-megapixel rear camera which is good to take images, and its camera comes with a Sony IMX 258 Sensor and the Phase Detection autofocus sensor (PDAF) along with the LED flash. This was the budget-friendly camera, and you can take some best shorts with its rear camera.

It also has an 8 Megapixel front camera with a Sony IMX 219 Sensor, and it also has the wide angle lens which helps to take a clear shot. This camera has the capability to take some good snaps. You can take some great close up shots, and it has the good colour accuracy as well.

The Daunting problem for the Lenovo K6 Power is it will work efficiently only in places which have enough light; its low light shots will have a lot of noise, and you will find it as a low-quality image, in this aspect the competitors has the upper hand.

Key Features and specifications of the Lenovo K6 Power:

Here are the key features of the Lenovo K6 Power. I have mentioned the detailed specification in the above here I want to specify the key specifications in a simple way to along with its pros and cons of Lenovo K6 review.

Features:

Display: 5.00 inches

Resolution: 1920*1080

Storage: 32GB

RAM: 3GB

Processor: 1.4GHz Octa Core.

Rear Camera: 13 Mega Pixel.

Front Camera: 8 Mega Pixel

OS: Android 6.0.1

Battery: 4000mAh.

Lenovo K6 Power Final Verdict:

The Lenovo K6 Power was the perfect smartphone if you are searching for the budget phones. It Price is 9,999, and it is affordable for all users, it has some promising features and so if you are searching for phones under Rs 10,000. The body feels like a premium design, and its fingerprint scanner is one the features which is best for this device.

But if you are Lenovo Vibe users, then you will get used to the user interface. It is easy carry and to use as well. The processor of the Lenovo K6 power is good enough, and its camera can capture some impressive images, but you can't take great pictures when there is low light.

The best features of the Lenovo K6 Power is its battery life and its display, and there is no doubt that Lenovo K6 has some best features. But when you compare with the other competitor's camera then you might find Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime has better camera.

Pro of the Lenovo K6 Power:

It has good looks, and its quality is good.

Decent display.

Comfortable Size.

Long lasting battery Life.

Decent Rear Camera.

Cons of the Lenovo K6 Power:

The camera could have been better.

No fast charging support.

Hybrid SIM Slot (No dedicated Micro SD Card Slot)

Conclusion:

To conclude this Lenovo K6 review, all I have to say is it is a decent and affordable model which has some great features and long lasting battery life. But if you are keen to buy a mobile which can capture low light pictures actually then you should opt for the other alternatives. Although its camera was decent, the photos in low light are little noisy if you are ok with that, then this was a good phone.

This is it; I hope you all like this Lenovo K6 review if you have any doubts or suggestions to make this content better you can always comment us below.

Source: Lenovo k6 Power Review- Budget Phone with Long Lasting Battery Life

Samsung Galaxy S6: Easy Fix For Camera Issue [Guide]

News By Mario Caballero | December 22, 2016

Some owners of the Samsung Galaxy S6 have had issues with the camera on the device and it seems that there is an easy fix for it.

In most of the cases with the camera failed error it is due to a third party app that has been installed on the Samsung Galaxy S6. The way to get around it is to boot the handset into safe more by holding down the power key and when the Samsung logo is seen you should then let go and press the volume down key. The device is then going to start in safe mode.

Test to see if the camera works when in safe mode and this will tell you if you have a firmware of hardware issue. If you are still having issues with the camera failed error you can try doing a factory reset on the handset.

Before doing the factory reset you might want to go into settings –application manager and then swipe to all apps and go down to the camera app and then force stop it. Choose clear cache and clear data to delete the settings of the camera and then reboot your Samsung Galaxy S6.

You might also want to try uninstalling the camera app and installing the Google camera app instead or one of the many other good third party camera apps on the market.

But have you come across the camera fail issue and if so how did you fix it, if you did?

Source: Samsung Galaxy S6: Easy Fix For Camera Issue [Guide]

Best Apple Watch apps for your smartwatch in 2016

Best PlayStation VR games: the best PSVR games around

Garmin Forerunner 35 GPS running watch launched at Rs. 15,990 exclusively at Paytm

Pokémon Go gets a go on Apple watch

Best Fitness Trackers of 2016

Good news for Pebble owners: FitBit to keep services running throughout 2017

Source: Best Apple Watch apps for your smartwatch in 2016

App Development Showdown: Why You Should Care About Revisiting The Native Vs. Hybrid Debate In 2017

Back in 2007, the world met the iPhone for the very first time. After Apple's product debut, it took less than six months for work to begin on PhoneGap, which would become one of the first and most adopted frameworks for hybrid mobile app development — that is, for apps written simultaneously for multiple platforms using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, rather than coded in native languages.

When compared with the prospect of learning an entirely new language and development environment in order to program iOS (and soon Android) apps, the appeal of this type of development to the already huge population of web developers in the world was palpable.

As with many things, however, execution in the real world didn't quite live up to the hype.

It quickly became apparent that giving apps created in hybrid frameworks a "native" feel wasn't always easy. Because these apps were essentially just rendering a web app in a native shell, mobile Internet connections and device hardware speeds at the time caused performance in many hybrid apps to range from "This is loading a little slower than my other apps" to "Apple straight up rejected this from the App Store for not behaving as expected!"

In short: Hybrid hadn't quite delivered, and many would-be hybrid developers bit the bullet and learned to work in native development platforms, or decided to delay their app development ambitions indefinitely. It was kind of a bummer.

1Hybrid app development is vying for your attention again. (View large version2)

As time went on, however, advancements in technology — namely, phone hardware — allowed for enough progress in the performance of hybrid apps to drive some bold new claims. A notable example is the report published by industry research giant Gartner predicting that, by 2016, 50% or more of apps deployed to the App Store and Google Play would be hybrid. The prediction was published way back in 2013, and the figure of 50% was picked up3 and plastered4 on virtually every5 website covering the mobile development industry.

Now, many native frameworks and development tools even boast robust showcase libraries highlighting hybrid apps that have successfully made their way to market. Probably among the most notable are Ionic's6 and Appcelerator's7.

Bringing The Record Current Link

Have hybrid apps hit parity with their native counterparts yet? There have been several indications that we're at least moving in that direction. At any rate, being in the latter half of 2016 warrants a renewed discussion of the hybrid versus native debate — and what opportunities it might hold for current developers.

Native Apps Are Still Faster, But That Statement's Weight Is More Limited Than Before. Link

There's no beating around the bush: In our current development world, there are still situations in which native apps load and move about with more agility than their hybrid counterparts. That being said, the difference in experience is far less noticeable than even just a few years ago. Software development outfit Azoft wrote over a full year ago that, in its experience, hybrid apps were in many cases "just as good as native apps." Additionally, the general consensus has gone from "Native is better" to "Native is better in certain cases." Those certain cases tend to boil down to a few key factors now:

Graphical behaviorApps that need to utilize advanced 3D graphics, particle effects and multilayered animations are still not well suited to hybrid. Additionally, due to the knowledge and work put into such graphics, often used in games, the extent to which hybrid can expedite development (one of its main selling points) is diminished. This is because, where programming in hybrid frameworks can help you accomplish page-building and other app development tasks with less code, creating games and animations in general still requires specific knowledge and intensive work to get right.

Hardware responsivenessApps that require very quick, responsive access to things like a device's accelerometer or similar hardware components are often still better suited to native development as well. This is because the need to call on these components with JavaScript — as is the case with hybrid apps — represents an extra step the device has to execute. That being said, this reality is declining in severity and will only continue to do so as phone hardware becomes more powerful.

CPU requirementsCPU-intensive apps (such as those that intercept camera input in real time to apply live filters, or that quickly render video, or that process large amounts of data simultaneously, etc.) are the other category of native-suited apps, due to the same logic we touched on above. Again, this gap will likely narrow over time.

8A game like Pokemon GO almost certainly falls beyond the limits of hybrid development in 2016. (View large version9) Hybrid Apps Still Have a Shorter Development Cycle and Time-To-Market. Link

Even in an extremely pro-native post on Y Media Labs10, the author concedes that clients are probably better off seeking hybrid development "if the desired time to market is less than six months." His experience is far from exclusive: Most articles11 that explore this debate12 conclude that development cycles can be greatly reduced by opting for hybrid.

Despite a rapidly growing number of developers with native coding skill sets, traditional app development is still a slow and complex process in many cases, and the timeframe within which a company or individual wants to get their app rolling can sometimes rule out native on its own.

Native tools regularly improve to help developers work more efficiently, but they are often outpaced in time savings by their counterparts in the hybrid world. The developers behind Ionic, a barebones framework for developing hybrid apps with raw HTML, CSS and JavaScript, recently launched Ionic Creator13, a product with some drag-and-drop elements for prototyping; newcomer Aquro14 is making waves by combining visual workflows with web coding in its own way; and enterprise-focused companies such as Telerik15 have similar platforms as well.

It's also worth noting that much of this discrepancy in development efficiency between native and hybrid can be attributed to multiplatform projects. Because Android and iOS (and, in some hybrid platforms, Windows and web apps) can be developed simultaneously, the work hours needed to be put into a multiplatform mobile app can be significantly reduced by going hybrid. Plus, every time a client needs to update or add features to an app, again, those changes only have to be written once to be deployed across all of their platforms. That's generally a big advantage for both developers and their clients.

This Shorter Development Cycle Usually Means Lower Costs, as Well. Link

In a Comentum article16 by app developer Bernard Kohan specifically comparing native development with development of hybrid projects in PhoneGap, he concluded that, depending on the size of an app project, businesses could save between 32 and 36% on their bill by opting for hybrid. When app development projects in the business world almost always operate in the five to six digit range, that can mean a difference of a lot of money, and clients will start to take notice and more often request hybrid development if they feel it meets their needs.

The research for Kohan's writeup was conducted in January of 2015, but the same trends have further developed since, and more recent investigations still find differences in the cost associated with the two development strategies.

What This Means For You, And How To Take Advantage Of It Link

The real takeaway from this shifting dynamic is a massive business opportunity for those who bother to take advantage of it.

Hybrid app development is likely to enter a golden era, when more enterprise clients and mid-sized businesses will want apps, but pricing can still be placed at a premium until the market is saturated.

Savvy developers can still charge large development fees to create apps for these clients with hybrid technologies, while undercutting native costs just enough to give these clients a deal they can feel good about. Plus, they can develop these apps at a quicker rate, which means a high hourly income and a client that's going to sing your praises for delivering their company's app in two and a half months, when native-based firms have projected four to five or more.

In a few years, however, the time savings of hybrid development will be better known, the expectations of buyers will be more closely aligned with the actual time involved in the creation of these apps, and the number of developers offering hybrid development will be higher, increasing the need to bid for jobs at competitive prices. Remember that this exact trend has played out in the world of website development over the past couple of decades.

A Hypothetical Example Link

Let's say, today in 2016, ACME Thumbtacks wants to contract a developer for an internal Android and iOS app to link up with its inventory system and let workers submit new orders from within the app when stock is low.

They approach a native development house, which quotes them $80,000 and gives a projected delivery date six months away. Armed with your favorite hybrid framework and development environment, you are approached by the client for a second opinion, and you let them know that you can complete the job in just two to three months, for $50,000.

Huge project savings and half the lead time?! They'd be fools not to go with you, and you pocket one heck of a price for a couple of months' work. Of course, these numbers will vary wildly from project to project, depending on the customer's needs and ability to pay, but you get the idea.

A word of caution: It is still important to be clear about client expectations for their app and the feasibility of those expectations within a hybrid development framework. This ensures you'll avoid embarrassing situations in which you might over-promise on functionality that should really still be executed natively!

This Same Scenario Might Look Different A Few Years From Now. Link

ACME Thumbtacks now knows that their app's requirements aren't intensive enough to necessitate native development, so they explicitly look for hybrid developers. Because so many others have jumped on the trend and are perfectly happy with quoting a client just $20,000 for a few months of work, gone are the days of easy money!

While you'll still have plenty of work as an app developer, your golden goose will have flown away, or at least will have become more of a, uh, bronze pigeon. Plus, as the hybrid market becomes more and more crowded, those early adopters with more satisfied clients, testimonials and connections will be in a good place to maintain a high level of demand.

Much like web development in the late 1990s and early 2000s, hybrid app development will be a skill set that can be sold at a premium over the next few years. That, my friends, is the definition of an opportunity!

Of course, a lingering stigma continues to dog the hybrid development world. Depending on the structure you're working in (freelance or independent, or working in a firm with immediate superiors to report to, etc.), you might need to help more people overcome the perception that clients of hybrid development projects might be left with a subpar product.

One of the best things you can do to address this is to have those skeptics download a few of the apps from the showcase pages linked to earlier (or a few of PhoneGap's17) and consider whether the experiences they encounter would be satisfactory to a client. The truth of the matter is that most of these apps are likely indistinguishable from natively developed ones.

In the end, the decision of whether to jump through the hoops necessary to switch gears and/or start a whole new hybrid venture is up to you. But, hey, those hoops might just end up being made of gold.

Takeaways Link

Hybrid development maintains its speed advantage over native coding, especially for apps that need to run on multiple platforms.

Phone performance has helped hybrid development grow out of its stigma of clunkiness, but it's still far from a perfect solution for some project types.

The hybrid route currently presents a great opportunity for web developers to make a seamless (and lucrative) move into app development.

App development, whether native or hybrid, has an upward trajectory in demand that's probably worthy of your attention over the coming years.

(da, vf, il, al)

1 https://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1-app-development-showdown-large-opt.png

2 https://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1-app-development-showdown-large-opt.png

3 http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/over-50-percent-of-mobile-apps-to-be-html5-native-hybrids-by-2016-gartner-355385

4 http://www.idownloadblog.com/2013/02/04/gartner-mobile-apps-2016/

5 http://memeburn.com/2013/02/gartner-half-of-all-apps-to-be-hybrid-by-2016-expect-a-50-smartphone-this-year/

6 http://showcase.ionicframework.com/

7 http://www.appcelerator.com/customers/app-showcase/

8 https://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/3-app-development-showdown-large-opt.jpg

9 https://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/3-app-development-showdown-large-opt.jpg

10 http://www.ymedialabs.com/hybrid-vs-native-mobile-apps-the-answer-is-clear/

11 http://www.makeit.com/hybrid-app-development-vs-native-better-company/

12 https://www.mobiloud.com/blog/native-web-or-hybrid-apps/

13 http://ionicframework.com/

14 http://www.aquro.com/

15 http://telerik.com/

16 http://www.comentum.com/phonegap-vs-native-app-development.html

17 http://phonegap.com/app/

↑ Back to top Tweet itShare on Facebook

Advertisement

Source: App Development Showdown: Why You Should Care About Revisiting The Native Vs. Hybrid Debate In 2017

11 Apps That Have Replaced Classic Technology

December 19, 2016

Featured article by Erik Winther, Independent Technology Writer

What are the apps that have replaced classic technology? A few years ago, a device known as the VHS player was the trending electrical appliance. Most people watched home movies on these devices. After a while, the DVD player joined the party, and the VHS cassette tape soon became obsolete. Today –the overwhelming popularity of watching series and movies online is threatening the use of the DVD.

The birth of smartphone apps has revolutionized the way we play, communicate, think, and surf the internet. Technology is becoming more efficient, smaller, and better with every new app. Today we'll explore apps that have replaced classic technology:

1. The Analogue Camera

Mobile camera apps have slowly usurped the role of both digital and analogue cameras. The days of point-and-shoot cameras are now numbered. Smartphone users are going crazy over apps like Snapchat and Instagram, and more and more people are choosing goofy filters over plain old cameras.

This disruption was also prompted by the belief that the best camera is one you carry along with you. In this case, smartphone apps won the fight.

2. The Walkman

Try to remember when last you picked up your Walkman or even your iPod. Smartphone apps have taken over the role of music players too, with the last mainstay of music players being tiny fitness-focused devices. Since smartphones are now lighter and durable enough to be used while jogging, the reign of the Sansa Clip or iPod have come to an end.

3. Telescopes for Kids

Today, kids can learn about the galaxy through various mobile apps. They can be taught to identify the stars, the planets and more. However, professional telescopes for kids are among the few technologies that will never be completely replaced by apps.

4. Pocket Calculators

We now have basic calculators on apps, as well as scientific calculators that can handle so much more than push-button calculators. Few people still carry pocket calculators. As a matter of fact, schools represent their last bastions, because smartphones aren't allowed in exam halls.

5. Watches

Smartphones apps tell the time. They are always accurate since they're updated directly from mobile networks – and do not need adjusting for daylight savings. Quite a few individuals have stopped wearing watches. They simply take out their smartphone to check the time.

Non-jewelry watches are like a dying breed today. As if apps weren't enough to endanger the role of watches, wearables are also gaining ground. More and more users are moving away from traditional watches to high-tech smartwatches.

6. Alarm clock

Alarm clocks have also been replaced with native mobile apps that have powerful features such as snooze, sleep cycles, and customized ring tones. Sleep-tracking apps know when to wake us up and when it's time to hit the sack.

7. Satnavs

Satnavs were actually a thing once, but modern mobile apps have become much better at navigating. Even manufacturers such as Garmin, TomTom, and Navigon have realized that the multi-function, the connected tool is the future, and have released satellite navigation apps.

Together with great, free tools such as Apple Maps and Google, complete with live reports, outmoded personal navigation devices have joined the items.

8. Medical EquipmentApps also have medical monitors. Attachments for checking blood glucose levels for diabetic patients and cholesterol for individuals at risk of having heart disease are already replacing the bulky and painful tools.

9. Portable Gaming Machines

Like other classic tech mentioned here, the days of gaming consoles are numbered, as mobile apps are becoming more powerful. The last stronghold for the Game Boy seems to be its physical controls such as buttons, joysticks, and D-pads that are better than touchscreen controls in some games.

10. Wallets

Digital wallets just came into the scene, and they have taken over the market to handling cash. Smartphone apps will be the single device for all loyalty cards, payments, and tickets.Lots of banks already have these mobile apps, and some allow its users to pay other customers as well as a few stores.

Also, smartphones apps can be used to make payments for transport on tubes, buses, and rail. Many countries have already embraced this new technology, and more are joining in the mobile app trend.

11. Taxi meters

Uber's disruption of the cab industry has been extensively documented, and it hinges on smartphone apps being used as the main method for monitoring trips. It'll be a long while before every taxi meter is replaced by smartphone apps, but Uber and some other services have already started pushing at the gate.

These apps that have replaced classic technology make life a lot easier and more apps should be expected in the coming years.

 About the Author

Erik Winther is a video producer that has a great interest in science. Although he enjoys technology, Erik loves the old school gadgets. Camping and hiking are two of his favourite activities.

Image Source: depositphotos.com

APPLICATION INTEGRATION, Featured Articles
Source: 11 Apps That Have Replaced Classic Technology

Thurrott Daily: December 18

Typical weekend at stately Thurrott Manor.

Tech tidbits from around the web.

12/18/2016 10:38:23 AM

Microsoft and Mobile World Congress … Not that big, sorry

I'm seeing some news reports popping up about potentially exciting Microsoft developments at Mobile World Congress in February, including some rather sad ones I will not link to that suggest—or even overtly state—that we can expect a Surface phone announcement at the event. That is not happening. The site referred below is simply the same thing Microsoft has done at MWC each of the past few years, and they are not actually a major part of the show. Point being, you might want to temper your excitement: I'd be surprised if they event provided an update on Windows 10 on ARM, to be honest. Anyway. Here's how Neowin is reporting it. They take a more measured approach to this than some, which is smart.

As the mysterious Walking Cat (@h0x0d) spotted, Microsoft has launched a site – which it set up in the last ten days – for partners and other important visitors to arrange meetings with the company at MWC 2017.

The site invites visitors to "join us at Mobile World Congress 2017", and includes the familiar Windows 10 tagline, "do great things".

What's not yet clear is exactly how Microsoft will present itself at MWC 2017.

They may literally have no formal presence at all. This could literally just be back-door meetings, since everyone is in one place at the same time. And the "great things" Microsoft will do with its partners won't happen for months if not years.

A quick reminder about Photosynth

I answered an email from a reader this morning who reported that Microsoft's Photosynth mobile apps were shutting down as of February 2018. Microsoft actually announced this in mid-2015, but I barely covered it. Which was my mistake. But if this is somehow a surprise to, please read this.

We are retiring the Photosynth mobile apps. We are doing this because the new Photosynth Preview technology and its cloud processing is a more immersive way to capture a place than the spherical panoramas that our apps produce.

If you use the Photosynth Windows Phone App or the Photosynth iOS App you can continue to use it, but it is now officially unsupported, and will not be maintained going forward. Both apps will be withdrawn from their respective stores.

Because the app is now unsupported, we strongly encourage people to upload their panoramas to Photosynth.net. Photosynth.net is still maintained and you will be able to view your panoramas online with or without the Photosynth app. Panoramas can be made public, or kept unlisted to protect your privacy

Google Wallet gets a new web experience

Google announced this past week that it has updated the Google Wallet experience on the web. So. Here you go.

We're excited to introduce the new Google Wallet web experience just in time for the holidays. Available across all browsers, the updated Wallet website has a brand new look and added features, which will make planning that New Year's trip with friends a breeze.

You can send what you owe to your friend's email address or phone number, and they can quickly transfer the money to their bank account – all without installing an app

Ah, right. Google Wallet isn't Google's electronic wallet experience anymore; that's Android Pay. Google Wallet is like a version of PayPal that only works between individuals. Stupid. This should all be one thing.

This is the definition of insanity

Some say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I say it's trying to put Android on a three-year-old Windows phone that was underpowered when it launched. Android Police reports.

A few days ago, XDA developer banmeifyouwant posted a video of his in-progress CyanogenMod 13 port to the Lumia 525. The video shows CM13, based on Android 6.0, booting on the device as well as opening and closing apps.

The developer only demonstrated the 525 booting, but he is currently working on kernel tweaks to allow the 520 to boot as well. He intended on releasing an installer and the source code in the near future, but his Lumia 525's EMMC died, leaving him without a dev device.

Running any form of Android on a Windows Phone device is impressive, and I wish him the best of luck.

It's not impressive, it's futile. And pretending otherwise is, sorry, insane.

Android apps on Chromebook aren't measuring up to expectations so far

So Android on Windows phone makes no sense, but how about Android apps on Chromebook? I am cautiously optimistic that this could be a game changer for Chromebooks, but it's fair to say, too, that getting this working is taking longer than Google promised. And as James Martin from CIO points out, it may be because it just doesn't work very well yet.

At the moment, [only] three different Chromebooks can run Android apps on the Chrome OS. However, that doesn't mean the apps work well.

The ability to install Android apps on a Chromebook is a cool concept … but right now it's a decidedly beta experience.

For example, I downloaded Microsoft Word and Dropbox Android apps from the Google Play Store. It's easy enough to open text files from Dropbox and edit them in the Word app, but saving the edited files back to your Dropbox account isn't intuitive at all. The Chromebook saved files I edited deep in its folder structure, with no easy way to sync them back to their original Dropbox folders.

Using the online version of Word in the Chrome browser, I had no issues opening files from my Dropbox account, editing them, and then saving them back to their original Dropbox folders. That's a much better user experience.

He has more examples. And he's right, this needs to be fixed.

Vine gets a reprieve, of sorts

For me, Vine sits somewhere between Periscope and ornithology on the "it's interesting" spectrum, but I know some people will care about this. Vine reports:

In October we let you know that we're shutting down Vine.

Here's what's coming: in January, we're transitioning the Vine app to a pared-down Vine Camera. With this camera app you'll still be able to make six-second looping videos, and either post them directly to Twitter or save them to your phone.

You can now download your Vines through the app or the website. All of your Vines will continue to live on the vine.co website so you can browse all of the amazing videos you created over the years.

See our FAQ for more details.

Tagged with Thurrott Daily

Source: Thurrott Daily: December 18

New 8 Fabulous iPhone and iPad apps for free limited time

#iOS #App – New 8 Fabulous iPhone and iPad apps for free limited time : Is your bank account balance bumming you out now that we're in the heart of the holiday shopping season? Don't worry, we've got you covered with a great list of paid iPhone and iPad apps that are all on sale for free for a limited time. Hey, every dollar counts, so definitely check them out.

These are paid iPhone and iPad apps that have been made available for free for a limited time by their developers. There is no way to tell how long they will be free.

These sales could end an hour from now or a week from now – obviously, the only thing we can guarantee is that they were free at the time this post was written. If you click on a link and see a price listed next to an app instead of the word "get," it is no longer free. The sale has ended. If you download the app, you will be charged.

Flaregram

▶ LIMITED TIME OFFER Flare Camera – 50% OFF!Flare Camera is the new best Flare Camera iPhone App it's realistic Light Flare Camera • Enjoy amazing Classic real light analog film and real vintage Photo filter with cool enhance tool and amazing light leak effect•

▶ AUTHENTIC
Lens Distortions look real, because they are real. Made from optically-captured elements, including actual sunlight, haze, and fragments of glass.▶ INTUITIVE
Incredibly simple workflow and feature-rich controls make editing easy.▶ FULL RES
High resolution export helps Lens Distortions integrate beautifully into your photo editing workflow.

◉ Flare Camera FEATURES• Take Classic picture with a real-time Classic effect• Apply effects to existing Classic photo• adjust real-time filter Classic filter• Switch between Front Camera and Rear Camera• Switch Flashlight to ON/OFF/Auto/Torch mode• Edit the photo again after shooting• Tap to focus and adjust exposure• Save your work to camera roll in high resolution

◉ Flare Camera Effect• Lomo Effect• Retro sepia Effect• B & W Effect• Analog Film Effect• Light Leak Effect

◉ Flare Camera Filter• Breezy Filter• Warm Filter• Cold Filter• Lucid Filter• Dark Filter

◉ Flare Camera SHARE• Share your Classic Photo via Facebook, Twitter, or email. You can also save your Classic Photo picture directly to your iPhone photo library full hd resolution, copy Classic Photo Poster to your clipboard, or open in other apps.

◉Flare Camera INTENSITY• Adjust the intensity of each Flare Camera in real time.

◉Flare Camera Inspiration• Lightroom Camera• Sun Flare• Lens Flare• Light Streaks• Shimmer• Bw Camera• Iridium Flares

◉FINALLY• If you wish to comment or want more features on Flare Camera please rate and comment in App Store

DONWLOAD

Source: New 8 Fabulous iPhone and iPad apps for free limited time

10 paid iPhone apps on sale for free today

Happy Friday! We've got one last batch of paid iPhone and iPad apps on sale for free for you, and this one is a particularly solid one. Goat Simulator is back one last time before the sale ends, but that's only the beginning. We've got 10 iOS apps in total for you today, and you can check them all out below.

These are paid iPhone and iPad apps that have been made available for free for a limited time by their developers. There is no way to tell how long they will be free. These sales could end an hour from now or a week from now — obviously, the only thing we can guarantee is that they were free at the time this post was written. If you click on a link and see a price listed next to an app instead of the word "get," it is no longer free. The sale has ended. If you download the app, you will be charged.

Blur Bokeh

Normally $2.99.

Create nice social media profile picture with the app.Show to your friend to amaze them.Print and frame as unique gift ideas.Send it to your loved one.User friendly and easy to use!

Create your own Blur Bokeh photos without DSLR camera. You can have bokeh photo instantly with this app. Transforms your photo into various gorgeous effects by adding bokeh to your photo! All beautiful effects are designed together by professional photographers and real artists to provide you the most amazing effect to your photo.

Key Features :1. Instant effects.2. Erase unwanted bokeh on your face.3. Live camera effects.4. Share to INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / TWITTER / WEIBO / LINE / WECHAT.5. Save to photo album.

Contact us at sales@ninecurves.com for any feedback or idea to improve the app.

Some information about Bokeh:Bokeh is originally pronounced in Japanese for blur effect produced in out of focus image by a lens. Different shapes of bokeh can be produced from lens aberrations and aperture shape. Bokeh effects can show depth of field of a photo

Download Blur Bokeh

The Pedestal

Normally $0.99.

Featured by Corona Labs: "The Pedestal – a unique take on a jumping game"

Guide the young ninja Akira through relentless waves of shurikens and sharpened scythes. Help him outsmart the challenge and fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a Sensei. The rules are simple – 1 pedestal, 3 minutes, 1 winner. Sounds easy? Think again!

The Pedestal was inspired by Eastern culture and influenced by the stories of the famous mystery writer Edgar Allan Poe.

BEAUTIFUL ART

A unique experience that takes place in a minimalist colorful world where every particle has its own place.

EASY CONTROLS

Tap anywhere to make Akira jump. Tap a second time for a double jump. The Pedestal was designed to start easy for everyone to pick up and gradually become more challenging but not frustrating.

SOUND EFFECTS

The stunning sounds combined with the art and gameplay create an eerie and enjoyable atmosphere.

OTHER

Endless mode which can be unlocked after completing the game.Global leaderboard.Numerous achievements to complete.Supports iPhone, iPod and iPad.

Download The Pedestal

Word Search – Find Words

Normally $0.99.

Word Search Puzzle is a fun cross word game featuring words from Pop Culture, Music, Movies, and more. Word Search Puzzle is a fun game for all ages that can serve as an educational tool or help keep your mind sharp. You are guaranteed to have a blast playing Word Search Puzzle!

Gameplay is simple. Choose a puzzle from one of 12 interesting categories, plug in your earbuds, and groove to the music as you try to beat the clock while solving each puzzle. There are over 100 puzzles.If you get stuck on a puzzle, you can beat your fastest time by using coins to get hints that will help you along the way.

Try the trophy challenge and collect all 21 trophies. There are 7 trophy challenge levels that will really test your skills!

Download Word Search – Find Words

Feelca Colors

Normally $0.99.

Feelca Colors adds more sense of the colors to your photos. Select between a 24 or 36 exposure film and then take a picture to gain the photo qualities of a film camera.

The app also delivers the full experience of using a film camera from shooting pictures to printing photos. Your films are organized and you can add short titles or captions to your polaroid-like photos for easy sharing with your friends.

• Tap the Shutter button to take a photo ( Long press for timer )• Give the photo a title or leave a short comment• Share your memorable photos with a short message

Download Feelca Colors

Goat Simulator

Normally $4.99.

Goat Simulator is the latest in goat simulation technology, bringing next-gen goat simulation to YOU. You no longer have to fantasize about being a goat, your mobile dreams have finally come true!

Gameplay-wise, Goat Simulator is all about causing as much destruction as you possibly can as a goat. It has been compared to an old-school skating game, except instead of being a skater, you're a goat, and instead of doing tricks, you wreck stuff. more! When it comes to goats, not even the sky is the limit, as you can probably just bug through it and crash the game.

DISCLAIMERGoat Simulator is a completely stupid game and, to be honest, you should probably spend your money on something else, such as a hula hoop, a pile of bricks, or maybe pool your money together with your friends and buy a real goat.

KEY FEATURES* You can be a goat* Get points for wrecking stuff – brag to your friends that you're the alpha goat* MILLIONS OF BUGS! We're only eliminating the crash-bugs, everything else is hilarious and we're keeping it* In-game physics that bug out all the time* Seriously look at that goat's neck* You can be a goat

Download Goat Simulator

Hype Machine

Normally $3.99.

Discover the most talked-about music from publications around the world. This is Hype Machine in your pocket.

Every day, thousands of people write about music they love — and it all ends up on Hype Machine. We track new posts across hundreds of sites and bring them all together for an endless stream of new music.

Each week, we also premiere an album and publish a newsletter of notable tracks, which you can explore in the app as well.——————Hype Machine lets you navigate the vibrant world of blogs in a few ways:

• LATEST: Music being discussed right now, constantly updated• POPULAR: Tracks that are getting the most love on the Hype Machine• FAVORITES: Your favorite tracks on the Hype Machine.• FEED: Customized new posts from your favorite blogs, and friends• FRIENDS: Music your friends are loving right now• GENRES: Newest tracks posted on blogs organized by genre• BLOG DIRECTORY: Every blog we track at http://hypem.com/blogs• STACK: Weekly newsletter with five good tracks and one good read• ALBUM PREMIERE: Preview a new album, in full, every week

Oh yeah, and the app scrobbles to Last.fm. Just enable it in your Hype Machine settings at http://hypem.com

Download Hype Machine

Cleu

Normally $19.99.

Cleu is the connected clock creating immersive experiences throughout the day.

We're all motivated in different ways to start. Some of us need a gentle touch, whereas others desire a sense of urgency. Cleu creates a precise & personalized experience, so we can focus on what's important; the motivation.

Calibrate your world with Cleu.

———————–

Connects with:

Uber- Presets your Uber pickups according to time or your preferred location. "Snooze" the order if you need extra time.

Nest- Makes sure your Nest thermostat is properly adjusted for your next weekend gathering or day out.

Hue- Sets your Philips Hue light to create the perfect ambiance for an evening dinner, or simply to serve as a reminder for a phone call or meeting.

Calendar- Displays your upcoming appointments for easy scheduling.

Weather- Elegant temperature display and animation- perfect for waking up to an experience powered by Cleu.

Cleu Timer- Need a countdown for your next meeting? For the oven? This feature functions as a simple timer or stopwatch for everyday use. Available to use on Apple Watch.

Download Cleu

Alien Cell: Escape

Normally $1.99.

"an electrifying, fiendishly difficult adventure….polished and intuitive, an absolute delight" AppGratis.com

"Deceptively simple sneaking game provides plenty of thrills" macnn.com

"The way each level is incrementally revealed, and the way the world-moves-around-you, make this minimalistic puzzle a really unique and surprisingly intense game!" @schlombie

====

Trapped within a maze of hexagonal cells, you must explore the darkness and collect keys in order to escape without being noticed by your alien captors. Escape is a minimalistic and intense action puzzler that plays like hide and seek. Utilize the darkness and shader cells to hide from your captors. If you're spotted – run!

Survive through 18 levels that will make your heart race and leave you with an irrational fear of red hexagons. Dynamic levels make for limitless gameplay as you race against time and compete on GameCenter Leaderboards.

No advertisements. Single in-app purchase cheat unlocks all unbeaten levels.

Contact us if you have any questions/suggestions. Thank you.

TIP: Use two fingers (e.g. left/right thumbs) for ultimate control.

#FearTheRedHexagon

Download Alien Cell: Escape

Pro Collage Creator Max

Normally $2.99.

Pro Collage Creator It's a very easy way to enhance your photos by adding filters, effects, text, sticker and much more, add artistic filters, beautiful effects and stylish borders to each photo.

◉ 215+ amazing irregular collages & frames.◉ 265+ amazing filters and effects.◉ Add word/caption to photo easily using unique fonts.◉ Move photos between grids by drag and drop.◉ Artistic filters to choose from and apply instantly.◉ Stylish Sticker and fonts for every moment of your life.

Download Pro Collage Creator Max

Vocolo: The Professional Kazoo

Normally $1.99.

Transform your voice into a musical instrument to create and record your own improvised performances.

Imagine playing a kazoo that sounds like an actual flute or sax! Your voice feels like it becomes a musical instrument with the Vocolo. With its sophisticated voice tracker the Vocolo greatly expands the possibilities for making live voice-controlled music.

Features:

• Patented vocal tracking technology is extremely responsive and accurate.• Variety of musical instrument sounds including trombone, tuba, baritone sax, alto sax, vibraphone, and pan flute.• Works with earbuds or headphones (with or without a built-in microphone), or amplified external speakers for live performances.• Special audio effects include echo and reverb.• Control panel allows convenient changing of instruments, effects presets, and octaves during a performance.• Play and record with custom accompaniments from genres such as jazz, R&B, funk and rock.• Record on top of a previous recording for layering performances.• Play along with songs from your music library.• Balance control allows you to mix your voice with any instrument or just create a pure vocal track.• Patented pitch correction algorithm enables playing accurate notes in a natural way.• Microphone level control allows singing in noisy environments or in more relaxed settings.• Sophist icated enough for musicians to create new sounds.

Playing Tips:

• For the best quality sound, adjust the microphone level such that your voice registers mostly in the blue, but sometimes in the red• The sound will come out of the loudspeaker if you are not wearing headphones or earbuds• Sing close to the top microphone if sound is coming out the loudspeaker• Never hum directly into the mic but off to one side slightly (to avoid voice tracking errors)

Download Vocolo: The Professional Kazoo

Source: 10 paid iPhone apps on sale for free today