Approximately 1.7 bazillion applications exist for smart phones. Most of the applications that have been written for Android devices have also been written for Apple devices. Many of the applications written for Apple devices have also been written for Android devices. Of those 1.7 bazillion applications, you may find some to be essential while you consider others to be useless. I'm always wary of articles with titles such as Ten Android Applications You Must Have. Your needs are different from mine. So this week I'll share with you some applications that I've found useful or, if not useful, at least interesting.
The screen shots are all from Android devices, some from a phone and others from a tablet. Most, if not all, of these applications are also available for Apple's IOS devices. The applications are in no particular order.
How many times have you parked your car in a large parking lot and then had to spend an inordinate amount of time looking for it? Trust me, as you get older, these things happen.
Where's My Car is an application that uses your phone's GPS functions. Tell the application where you are when you park the car and then, when you're ready to find it, the application will show you where you are (blue dot), where your car is (red dot), and which direction you should take to find it.
Do you need an FTP application? If you don't, ignore this application. I do need an FTP application because it's my preferred way to move books from my home computer to the tablet.
AndFTP is an excellent FTP client that supports FTP, SFTP, SCP, and FTPS so you're not limited to the non-secure protocol. AndFTP includes a device file browser and an FTP file browser so that you can download or upload files from any local or remote location to any local or remote location. It also allows the user to rename, delete, and copy files; modify permissions; and create folders.
The free version is powerful, but the paid version eliminates ads and unlocks a few additional features.
Your tablet or smart phone probably has a file browser and it may be adequate for your needs. If not, there's the Astro File Manager.
The application allows user to organize, view, and retrieve pictures, music, videos, and documents. App backup and task killer functions are included and it can manage files on a phone or tablet or in cloud-based applications such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Facebook, Box, and OneDrive.
Finding "cheap gas" might be considered a fool's errand. I won't go very far out of my way to save a few cents per gallon (after all, the car has only a 10-gallon tank) but I check GasBuddy when the car needs fuel and find the closest location with the best price.
The application can warn when prices are expected to increase and I've found that to be a helpful feature.
GasBuddy.com was founded by Dustin Coupal and Jason Toews as a collection of local websites designed to share gas-pricing information.
Here might be the best mapping and guidance application yet developed because users can download maps to use when they're off-line. Instead of depending on expensive data connections while driving, just download the map for the state(s) you'll be driving in when you're on a Wi-Fi connection.
Here includes interactive 3D maps of shopping centers and airports in 70 countries; a route planner that shows driving, public transit, and walking routes on one screen so you can compare options at a glance; and the ability to tap on any place icon on the map to find out more about it and how to get there. Numerous voices are available to provide turn-by-turn guidance.
Light meters and sound meters are specialized applications, but you might need one someday.
Someone I know was distressed when the company he works for installed new lights that were considerably brighter than the ones they replaced. "Look!" he said, pointing at his Iphone, "this light meter shows the illumination is here is 'very high'!"
I thought back 50 years to the footcandle meter my father owned. I have no idea what it cost, but it was probably an expensive device in those days. Today anyone can measure footcandles or lux and, as an additional free benefit, determine what the color temperature of the light is -- either for free or for a very low cost (if you want to remove the ads).
Light Meter is one of several similar applications available.
And if you want to determine the ambient sound level, Sound Meter will do the job.
At my desktop computer, the ambient sound level is normally about 50dB. My 50dB rating equates to "quiet urban daytime" or "dishwasher in the next room". Continued exposure to high sound levels can injure ears.
Normal human speech, with the speaker standing about 3 feet away, is in the 70dB range. A vacuum cleaner 10 feet away would register about 80dB. A food blender at 3 feet would produce about 90dB, a gas lawn mower at 3 feet would register about 100dB, and a rock band or a jet airplane at 1000 feet would hit about 110dB.
One important point to remember with sound is that every 3dB increase doubles the sound energy. Continuous exposure to 85dB sound levels can harm your ears. According to dangerousdecibels.org, "When listening to a personal music system with stock earphones at a maximum volume, the sound generated can reach a level of over 100 dBA, loud enough to begin causing permanent damage after just 15 minutes per day."
Take care of your ears. Your smart phone can help.
If you like beer or wine, NextGlass may help you select something new that you'll like. Tell the application which beers, ales, or wines you've enjoyed and it will estimate how much you'll like something that you haven't yet tried.
Start with a bottle of the brew you're considering, aim the phone's camera at the label, and wait for a review. If the scanning process doesn't work, you can use the search tool to look for the beer, ale, or wine.
Android devices have a default desktop application, but the Nova Launcher is better because it allows you to be in charge of how the desktop works.
The Nova Launcher can set the number of rows and columns of icons; enable infinite scroll so that you never run into a dead end; create drawer groups for applications; set up a scrollable dock for applications that you always want to have available; enable gestures; and even change the scroll effect.
The launcher, in conjunction with HD Widgets (the time and calendar display shown here), allow for a highly customizable interface.
Microsoft One Note is a desktop application that I would be lost without. I use One Note to organize lots of information, including the upcoming TechByter schedule. One Note files can be viewed and modified on your smart phone, too.
To enable One Note editing or viewing on a smart phone, all you need to do is synchronize one or more notebooks to Microsoft's OneDrive.
Calendars are fine for some functions, but task lists are even more important for activities that you need to attend to, but not at a specific time.
Remember the Milk is an outstanding application that I use on my desktop computer to remind me when I need to do something. This is simply the best application I've found for reminding me to do things and the fact that it's available on my Android phones and tablets just makes the best application even better.
This is another specialized application. Scanner Radio lets you to listen in on local or distant police and fire communications.
The applications provides links to more than 5300 police and fire scanners, weather radios, and amateur radio repeaters from around the world. Most are in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Having spent several decades listening to police and fire dispatchers, one thing I learned is that most police officers and firefighters do their best every day. Sometimes police officers do bad things, but it's important not to tar all officers by the misdeeds of the few and listening illustrates that point.
(Sorry if that seems political.)
Yes, your smart phone already has a camera app, but consider SnapCamera HDR.
A trial version has all the features of the paid app but will start immediately only if the phone is in Airplane mode. Once you've decided to license the full application, it will run normally. Snap Camera has a simple user interface that includes touch to focus, pinch to zoom, and swipe to review. A long press activates the function to adjust photo settings such as color and contrast, silent shutter, burst mode, panorama, and flash.
The HDR app takes two photos at different exposures and combines them to make one HDR photo. By default, the app will save the original exposures and open an HDR editor but this behavior can be changed from the settings menu.
SnapGallery is the viewer application that comes with SnapCamera. The photo editor makes it possible to enhance details and contrast; eliminate noise; add color effects and a border; crop, rotate, mirror, and straighten the image; and add effects and vignettes.
Sunrise Calendar communicates with Google Calendar and provides a better interface. That's good. Microsoft now owns Sunrise and some people may consider that to be bad. (I don't.)
Microsoft says "this is another step forward on our journey to reinvent productivity and empower every person and organization to achieve more. The acquisition of Sunrise, our recent acquisition of Acompli, and our new touch-optimized universal Office apps for Windows 10 all exemplify Microsoft’s ambition to rethink the productivity category. Our goal is to create more meaningful, beautiful experiences in mobile email and calendaring across all platforms."
I read a lot. Perhaps I've mentioned that previously. The ability to carry dozens of books around with me is liberating because, no matter where I am, a book I'd like to read is always at hand.
The UB Reader (Universal Book Reader) is my preferred reader.
The Bookcase view allows users to add new shelves, select multiple books, view by list or grid, and search through the collection. Because I'm in the midst of a reading challenge, I've added a shelf that holds books that are part of the challenge. The UB Reader can work with books that have been stored on removable media and can display EPUB and PDF files.
Every smart phone has a weather app, but my preference is Weather Underground.
All weather information in the United States originates with the National Weather Service, but other organizations can interpret the raw data. Weather Underground's goal "is to make quality weather information available to every person on this planet. No matter where you live in the world or how obscure an activity you require weather information for -- we will provide you with as much relevant, local weather data as we can uncover. We promise to provide weather data for those that are under-served by other weather providers."
Weather Underground has been around since 1995 and now has millions of users worldwide. More than 100,000 personal weather stations feed information to Weather Underground, which the company says allows it to provide "meaningful and reliable weather data to people in real-time." Weather Underground is part of The Weather Company and is based in San Francisco.
WePlan is intended to provide visibility into your smart phone's data plan usage, but it can also provide useful information about Wi-Fi usage.
The Spanish developer of the app says that WePlan's goal is to offer transparency to the complex telecommunications market so that users can find the optimal phone plan and determine how the plan compares to others.
Because the app doesn't explicitly address US-based providers, not all of the features are available. Even so, WePlan will display how much each application installed on your phone or tablet uses, both on the phone's data plan or Wi-Fi.
When you're trying to find which channel your Wi-Fi router should operate on, the Wi-Fi Analyzer will help by displaying which channels are in use.
In some ways, Wi-Fi is a lot like CB radio. If everybody tries to talk on the same channel, the result is not good. A Wi-Fi channel is a range of radio frequencies that an access point or wireless router uses to communicate with devices on that channel. Wi-Fi networks operating on the same channel are forced to share bandwidth. Wi-Fi channels are arranged in an overlapping pattern according to IEEE_802.11, and adjacent channels share a certain range of bandwidth interfering with one another.
A channel graph view shows clearly which signals are on which channels and can recommend channels that will work better in your location. Switching the router's operating channel will require that you open the router control panel. See the router's manual or help screen for that.
Currently, the 5GHz channels are less commonly used. Setting your devices to operate on those frequencies will generally provide better results. The Wi-Fi Analyzer shows both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands if your device supports both bands.
One of the most quoted recommendations for improving the speed of a computer is to add memory. Extra random-access memory (RAM) can make almost any computer faster.
The primary exceptions to this rule are computers that still have 32-bit operating systems. Starting with Windows XP, Microsoft offered 64-bit operating systems and most computers sold in the past 5 years or so are 64-bit systems, so they can take advantage of whatever RAM you install. But 4GB is the most 32-bit operating systems can access.
No, not that kind of ram.
Two kinds of RAM exist and you'll find both in most computers these days: Volatile RAM, usually referred to as dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM) and non-volatile memory such as ROM and Flash. DRAM and SRAM must be be refreshed constantly to maintain the information it holds while ROM and Flash memory can store data even when the system is turned off.
Most of the RAM in a computer is DRAM because it's faster and less expensive, but all information is lost when power is removed. Because non-volatile RAM can store information when it's not powered, it's used in thumb drives and memory cards.
Companies are working on some other technologies that could someday replace one or both of the standard RAM types. One is called phase-change RAM (PCRAM), which uses a special type of glass. The technology dates back to the 1960s. Research conducted in 1969 at Iowa State University showed that the technology would work and Intel's Gordon Moore has published an article on the technology. Power consumption has been the primary roadblock to using PCRAM.
Yes, this kind.
Magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) is the new technology with what appears to be the greatest chance of success. It's non-volatile and technicians have been working on it since the 1990s. MRAM has only a tiny market share now, but it's seen as a possible successor to both volatile and non-volatile memory.
Unlike conventional RAM, data in MRAM is stored magnetically instead of as an electric charge (SRAM) or current flows (DRAM). Two ferromagnetic plates, each of which can hold a magnetization are separated by an insulating layer. Read and write speeds for MRAM are fast enough to position it as a possible contender to replace DRAM. Currently, though, it's more expensive than either of the two primary technologies.
Some computer devices are already using MRAM components, but mainly in specialized applications.
Another technology people are working on is resistive random-access memory (RRAM and sometimes ReRAM) is non-volatile and works by changing resistance across a dielectric solid-state material.
This is another of the newer and less-developed technologies, but it might have a size advantage. Because electrical signals travel at a finite speed, anything that limits the distance the signal must travel has the potential to improve speed.
I've mentioned Adobe from time to time in context of communications. If you read a magazine, newspaper, or book -- Adobe is there. Look at a website or blog? Adobe is there. Photos? Of course Adobe is there. TV and motion pictures? Yep. Adobe is there.
And this week Adobe's Summit 2015, an annual digital marketing conference, brought all the pieces together in the "Adobe Marketing Cloud", which extends beyond the traditional media to the Internet of Things (IoT), product design, and the more traditional ad and marketing technologies.
At the Summit, Adobe unveiled two new Marketing Cloud solutions: Adobe Primetime, a multi-screen TV platform, and Audience Manager, Adobe's data management platform. It also revealed new capabilities in Adobe Campaign and Adobe Analytics -- two programs I hadn't heard of previously.
Adobe's Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital Marketing Business, Brad Rencher, described how the world of marketing communications is being transformed beyond the traditional methods of interacting with customers in new ways that are, as he said, "enabled by a richer view of the customer" so that digital experiences are starting to change how we shop, open hotel room doors, interact with our cars, and buy soda from vending machines.
Adobe Primetime is used by NBC Sports, Comcast, Turner Broadcasting, and Time Warner Cable, among others, to permit marketers and advertisers to import audience data into Audience Manager so that ad campaigns can target specific audience segments. A single user with more than one device doesn't have to watch the same ad multiple times.
Adobe Audience Manager and Adobe Primetime are new parts of the Adobe Marketing Cloud. Audience Manager allows companies to gain greater insight into their customers. Anonymous audience data gives marketers the ability to see overall trends. This part will worry some: Cross-device identification lets marketers take advantage of user authentications to target individuals in a household that share a single device.
And then there's the Internet of Things. Adobe Marketing Cloud allows brands to extend the impact of marketing via IoT devices by displaying personalized messages in locations such as retail stores and hotel rooms.
In other words, if you already thought Adobe was everywhere, prepare to be surprised. You'll find more information about the conference on the Adobe Summit website.
The Best, the Only, and the Unexpected is motto Hammacher Schlemmer uses. The 167-year-old catalog store is now offering a $280 password authenticator that uses an eye scan to unlock your passwords.
"Employing the same biometric technology trusted to verify travelers at international borders," Hammacher Schlemmer says, "the device has a small camera that scans and saves the 240 distinctive pattern points of the iris, converting them into an encrypted ID that cannot be forged or duplicated."
Hammacher Schlemmer's General Manager, Fred Berns, says that the device is unlike standard managers that can still be cracked if stolen. "It's more secure than writing your passwords down on paper and hiding them and it's more convenient because you can't forget the non-forgettable."
Once authenticated, users can link e-mail, social media, banking, utility, and shopping accounts without the need to keep a list of separate passwords. You can see it here.
