The HTC One X gets CyanogenMod 9 ROM! One of the
best Android phones out there right now, the device just got one of the
best ROMs a Android phone could ask for. The Quad Core powered One X, is
ready to take on the AOSP world of ICS ROMs thanks to the efforts of
the TripNDroid Mobile Engineering Team over at Modaco. As in
the case of almost every other CM9 ROM available for various Android
handsets out there, this release for the One X is an experimental build
as well. However, the ROM is pretty much good to go as a daily driver
given the stuff that is already working fine. For further details about
what’s working and what is not, and for instructions on how to install
this ROM on your One X, read on after the break!
Yes, the ROM has no Sense built into it, it is a completely open source project. What is working you ask?
Mobile network (data, calls, sms etc.)
GPS
Bluetooth
Bluetooth tethering
Wifi
Hardware video decoder
Hardware acceleration (2D/3D)
Audio
MIC (recording)
Camera
That said, Wi-Fi hotspot and Mobile Data will give you issues. According to the developers, “Mobile
data will take a lot of time to correctly connect, there’s not much you
can do about it just wait until it correctly connects. I’m
investigating this issue currently. When it is connected is stable, it
will not disconnect this happens only after a reboot or after initial
setup.”
Images courtesy of the developers
A soft menu key has need implemented in the system which will be
available once an application that uses it, is launched. The ROM is as
close to stock CM9 as possible but the developers have compiled a file
manager as well for the users convenience.
Disclaimer: Please attempt this
guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your
device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.
Requirements:
A rooted HTC One X. For instructions on rooting your One X, click here.
ADB installed. Learn more about ADB and how you to install it on your system, here.
ClockworkMod recovery installed. Go here for instructions on flashing ClockworkMod recovery to the One X.
Our guide to making and testing a working Android smartphone app
One
of the strengths of the Android platform compared to iOS, for example,
is that it has an open source basis, which makes it easier to produce
your own applications and distribute them without waiting for a lengthy
approval process.
You can set up your own Android app on your PC
as long as you have the right software installed, and you can even take
it for a test drive using an Android emulator so you can see what it
will look like when it's run on a smartphone.
There are two
techniques that you can use to produce Android applications with a PC.
The first uses the Android Software Development Kit (SDK). This lets you
write raw code and helps you get it working in the Android environment.
The second uses App Inventor, a Google Labs tool that's still in beta.
This
provides you with a simple drag-and-drop environment that you can use
to generate new applications made up of building blocks of code and
media. It's an attempt to make application development possible for
people who aren't hardcore coders, but it's not recommended for
production environments.
Assuming that you'd like to try the full
coded environment, we'll demonstrate how to produce a simple 'hello
world' application. If you'd rather work in a GUI, we'll discuss App
Inventor later on. Android apps are written in Java code, so you'll need
a Java development kit installed on your PC. You also need an
integrated development environment (IDE) so you can write and test the
code. You also need to get your computer ready for the Android SDK. Start by installing a Java Development Kit for your version of Windows.
You also need to install Eclipse IDE for
Java developers. When you install Eclipse it will check for the JDK.
It's best to unzip Eclipse in the same directory as the JDK. If it can't
find the JDK it won't install, but you can always move the required
files to whatever directory the Eclipse installer is examining.
With Eclipse up and running, you can download the Android SDK. Extract it to a safe directory on your PC and make a note of where it is. Back
in Eclipse you need to add the Android Development Tools. To do this,
choose 'Help > Install new software'. Next to 'Work with', enter
https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse and click 'Add'. In the pane
below this, check 'Development tools' and click 'Next'. Select 'Android
DDMS' and 'Android Development Tools'. Click 'Next', accept the terms
and restart.
You need to point the ADT plugin to where you
extracted the Android SDK. In Eclipse choose 'Window > Preferences
> Android'. Next to 'SDK location' click 'Browse' and locate the
folder with the SDK. Click 'Apply' and 'OK'
Android platform
Now
that you've sorted out the programming environment, you also need to
get at least one version of the Android platform. You can do this in the
Android SDK and AVD Manager, which you can launch in Eclipse if you've
set your system up correctly.
Choose 'Window > Android SDK and
AVD Manager' to open it, then select 'Available packages' and tick the
box next to
'https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/repository.xml'.
After
a brief scan of the repository, you'll see the available components.
Tick those that you want to install and clear the rest. The most
important package to install is the latest version of the Android
platform. You'll only need older ones if you plan to release your app
and need to test it in a range of different versions. At this stage you
can also clear the samples, Google APIs and USB driver. If you need any
of these later, you can always go back and install them.
Click
'Install selected' and wait for the components to download. Verify and
accept the new components if prompted and they will be added to your
existing Android SDK folders.
Android virtual devices
Having
downloaded a version of Android, you need to set up an Android Virtual
Device (AVD) to run the computer. You can do this in the Android SDK and
AVD Manager. Choose 'Window > Android SDK and AVD manager' and
select 'Virtual devices'. Click 'New' and provide a name for your new
device. Select the Android platform that you want to use as the target.
Click 'Create AVD'.
If you want to test your application under
different versions of Android, you'll need to create a new virtual
device for each version of the platform. You can also specify other
parameters here, including the presence and size of an SD card. It's
also possible to select a file to use as a virtual SD card.
You
can opt to use the built-in skin (recommended) or specify the resolution
that you want to use. Under 'Hardware', click 'New' and select a device
if you want to add more virtual hardware.
For a simple AVD,
you'll generally be fine sticking with the default options. You can now
close the Android SDK and AVD Manager.
Create and emulate your Android app
Assuming
you now have all the software in place and you've set up a virtual
device in the Android SDK and AVD manager, you can create a new project.
In Eclipse IDE choose 'File > New > Project'. In the New Project
wizard, select the 'Android' folder and choose 'Android project'. Click
'Next'. You now have a new window for your project details.
To
start with, we'll set up a simple 'Hello world' application that just
displays some text when launched. In the field marked 'Project name',
enter HelloAndroid. For 'Application name' enter Hello, Android. For
'Package name' supply com.example.helloandroid and for 'CreateActivity',
enter HelloAndroid. Click 'Finish'. These parameters are used to set up
your project in Eclipse.
The project name is also the name for
the directory in your workspace that will contain your project files.
Eclipse will create it for you. Assuming you accepted the default
Windows workspace of C:\Users\[username]\workspace, you'll find the
above directory at C:\Users\[username]\workspace\HelloAndroid.
If you browse to this in Windows Explorer, you'll see a number of subfolders and files set up as part of the project. The
application name is the title of your app, which will be displayed in
the Android device. Change this to change the name of the app. You need
to be a bit more careful with the package name.
This is the
namespace for the package where your source code resides. It needs to
follow the rules for naming packages in Java. It also needs to be unique
across the Android system, which is why a domain style package is used;
'com.example' is reserved for examples like this.
If you develop
an app that's published, you'll need to use your own namespace. This
usually relates to the organisation publishing the app.
'Create
activity' relates to the class stub generated by the plug-in. An
activity is basically an action. It might need to set up a user
interface if it needs one. We left other project fields at their default
values, but it's useful to know what they do. 'Min SDK version' lets
you set the minimum API required by your application.
If 'Use
default location' is ticked, your project will be saved in your
workspace. You can opt to change this if you want to store the files
elsewhere. 'Build target' is the platform target for your application.
It's the minimum version of Android that it will run on.
If you
develop an app to run on an earlier version of Android, it should run on
a later one too, but one developed for a later version of the platform
probably won't run on an earlier version. For an example like this, the
build target isn't critical as long as you can get your application to
run in the emulator. It's more of a concern when you come to release an
app.
Finally, the option to create the project from an existing
example enables you to select some existing code to modify. You'll find
this of more interest as you move on to greater programming challenges.
Modify the code
You
should now see your project displayed in the Package Explorer, which is
shown in the left-hand pane of Eclipse. Double-click 'HelloAndroid' to
expand it. Also expand 'src' and 'com.example.helloandroid'.
Double-click 'HelloAndroid.java' to see the code that's already been set
up. In the main pane you should see the following text:
package com.example.helloandroid;
import android.app.Activity; import android.os.Bundle;
public class HelloAndroid extends Activity { /** Called when the activity is first created. */ @Override public void onCreate(BundlesavedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.main); } }
If
you can't see all of this, try looking to the left-hand side of the
pane and expanding any plus signs that indicate collapsed code. This
defines your application without actually doing anything at this stage.
To make it do some work, we need to add an object that will contain your
text.
Having done that, we also need to specify the text. Below 'import android. os.Bundle;' add the following line:
import android.widget.TextView;
Also add the following above the two sets of closing curly brackets:
TextView tv = new TextView(this); tv.setText("My First Android App"); setContentView(tv);
You
can replace the text within the quotes to make your app say whatever
you like. Check that the code in its entirety reads as the following,
assuming you kept the displayed text the same:
package com.example.helloandroid;
import android.app.Activity; import android.os.Bundle; import android.widget.TextView;
public class HelloAndroid extends Activity { /** Called when the activity is first created. */ @Override public void onCreate(BundlesavedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); TextView tv = new TextView(this); tv.setText("My First Android App"); setContentView(tv); } }
Save
the changes to your code. You can now try it out in the Android
emulator. In Eclipse, choose 'Run > Run > Android application'.
The emulator launches. It can take a few minutes to boot into Android,
so be patient. Once booted, your app should run automatically and you'll
see a grey title bar with the app name in it. Below this, your chosen
text is displayed.
Press the 'Home' button in the emulator to
return to the Android home screen. Click the 'Applications' button to
see the list of available applications. Among these you should see
'Hello, Android'. Select this to launch your app again.
Test your app on an Android device
Now
you've successfully run your app in the emulator, you can try running
it on a real device. First you need to ensure that the USB driver is
installed in the Android SDK and AVD manager. Choose 'Window >
Android SDK and AVD manager > Available packages'. Select the Android
repository, ensure that the USB driver is ticked and click 'Install
selected'.
Connect your phone to a spare USB port and wait for
Windows to detect it. In the New Hardware wizard, choose 'Locate and
install drivers' and opt to browse your computer for the driver
software. Browse to the 'Android SDK' folder and locate the subfolder
for the USB driver. Windows should find and install it from here.
Now
you need to declare your app as debuggable. In Eclipse, expand your
HelloAndroid application and double-click 'AndroidManifest.xlm'. Move to
the 'Application' tab and select 'True' from the Debuggable dropdown
list. Save the project.
Go to your Android phone and choose
'Menu' from the home screen, then select 'Applications > Development'
and enable USB debugging. Now you can reconnect it to your PC via USB.
If you want to check that the SDK can see your phone, browse to the
'Tools' directory in your 'Android SDK' folder. Launch 'adb.exe' and you
should be able to see your phone listed as 'Device'.
To launch
your application on the connected phone, you need to choose 'Run >
Run > Android application in Eclipse'. Now you have both the emulator
and your phone connected, you need to specify which you want to run it
on. Eclipse presents you with a Device Chooser that lists all the
available devices and emulators. Select your phone from this list to
install and run the app.
Now you've produced and run a very basic
application from raw code in an emulator and on an Android device, you
can begin to learn how to develop your own. It helps to have some
knowledge of Java programming, but you'll also find a number of stepped
tutorials in the Android Developer Resources pages.
These
include introductions to the different views available to apps and how
to implement them. You'll also find ways to use common resources like
location information, and find out how to debug your work.
You
can find a full list of sample code on these pages too. This will help
you to work through example applications that you can modify to your own
ends. These include games such as Snake and Lunar Lander, plus utilities like Note Pad and Wiktionary. You can find even more samples at Apps-for-Android.
Keylogging might have gone somewhat out of
fashion, but there are still plenty of people who want to observe what
goes on in their PC when they are not around. If you wish to be one such
silent observer and own a jailbroken iOS device, we have got the
perfect app for you. SpyKey is a Cydia app that will
let you monitor the activity of any computer’s keyboard right from your
iPhone. You just have to install a discreet server on the target PC, and
SpyKey will let you view every keystroke on it remotely. Using the app
is easy, and you don’t have to be a geek to employ SpyKey. Read on to
know more about this handy and potentially dangerous iPhone app.
In order to use the app, you have to install the SpyKey server to the desired PC (you can download it
here). The server application will run on any Windows PC. Setting it up
is pretty easy and requires almost no steps. Run the file you just
downloaded, allow it to run if firewall interferes, and you are good to
go. The server application just displays the IP address of your computer
along with the port number. Once you have noted those down, you can
hide the server application using the button provided on its main
interface. To make it appear again, press CTRL + ALT + H.
That’s all you need to do on the server end of SpyKey, and now comes
the part which concerns your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Go to the Cydia
store in your iDevice, and install the SpyKey app from the BigBoss
repo. Once installed, the app will appear as a standalone icon on the
Springboard. Launch SpyKey and hit the fourth icon in the top bar, and
that will take you to the Set Up menu of the service. Leave the port number as it is, and enter the IP address you got from the desktop server of SpyKey. Hit Save when you have done that. Now, on the main page of the app, hit the Connect button,
which is the first one in the row of buttons. After that has been done,
you will start receiving keystroke details from the target device, and
that, too, in real time. You can save the logs through the record
button, or disconnect the app at any time by tapping the second button
in the bar.
SpyKey is available as a free download (though it is ad-supported),
and just might be the most easy-to-use keylogger out there. If you are
interested, check it out by heading to the BigBoss repo in the Cydia
store.
(via addictive tips)
iOS devices usually cost quite a lot of
money, and that is why it is natural to worry about losing them. This is
perhaps the reason tha there are many services which help you track
your iPhone in case it gets stolen. The idea of tracking stolen devices
got so popular over time, that now there is even an official service by
Apple named “Find My iPhone”, which makes use of iCloud to help users
view the exact location of all their devices. However, that app has a
few limitations. For example, it is not possible to track devices on
different iCloud accounts, and you cannot see all your devices on a
single map, and have to keep switching between maps to track each
iDevice. Phone Finder is a new Cydia app which
overcomes all these drawbacks, and shows its users how Find my iPhone
should have been in the first place. Read on to know more about this
useful app for jailbroken iOS devices.
Of course, it is necessary that all the target devices are using Find
My iPhone and have an active internet connection. If these conditions
are met, you can access the location of all the devices. First, go to
the Account section of Phone Finder and tap the ‘+’ button in
the top left corner. Enter the iCloud ID and password for the account
set up on the target device, and you are done. Adding one account will
be enough to let you view all the devices associated with it. However,
Phone Finder goes a step further, and you can set up as many accounts as
you want. Once all that has been done, tap the Map and you will see a list of devices associated with all the linked accounts.
To view the location of each device individually, just tap it and you
will be taken to the map just like Find My iPhone. To distinguish
between devices from different accounts, the corresponding ID is
displayed below the device name. The real difference in the app can be
seen when you hit the Map button in the upper right corner of
the main page. The main map in Phone Finder plots all the devices added
to it, and you can view them in any of the three map modes, namely
Standard, Satellite and Hybrid.
Phone Finder is a free Cydia app, albeit ad-supported. If you are
interested, you can download it from the BigBoss repo in the Cydia
store.
Music playback on Android can be controlled in various ways. The
conventional way, of course, is to use the media controls present on
your favorite music player’s interface. Then there are a few music apps
that support controlling playback via your device’s volume keys. The
button on your headset/Bluetooth device proves to be sufficient for most
users as well. We also know of a few apps that allow controlling music
playback through the accelerometer (by giving your device a shake). As
you can see, all aforementioned solutions require you to touch (or tap
buttons on) your device in one way or the other. What if one wishes to
control media playback on their Android without having to touch/unlock
the device at all? Two words: Wave Control. To make
your task of playing, pausing and switching between music tacks totally
touch-free, this app utilizes your device’s proximity sensor. That is,
it lets you control music playback by passing your hand over the sensor,
and through other similar gestures.
The app launches to a screen that displays various instructions about
using the app, and enables its service. As mentioned in said
instructions, music playback on your Android can be controlled using the
following gestures/hand movements over the proximity sensor (located
near the ear-piece) of your device:
1. Stop/hover over the proximity sensor momentarily to play/pause music.
2. Wave across the sensor once to switch to the next track.
3. Wave across the sensor twice to play the previous track.
4. Wave across the sensor thrice to enable/disable the app’s
controls. With this particular gesture, you need to be swift with your
hand/finger movements for the effect to take place. (Hint: Doing a “You Can’t See Me” in John Cena Style will surely help!).
A commendable thing about Wave Control is that it remains active even
if your device’s screen times out, thereby allowing you to control
music playback even while your device is, say, lying on your desk on
standby. If the app repeatedly fails to respond to gestures, try
bringing your hand closer to the proximity sensor. Wave Control runs
with almost all popular music players. We managed to test it
successfully with Android’s stock music player, and PowerAMP. The video
provided below shows the developer demoing the app.
Wave Control has a free and $1 Pro variant in the Google Play Store.
The paid version is Ad-free, and brings several additional features,
such as the option to assign custom actions for supported gestures, an
additional gesture for stopping music playback, disabling certain
unwanted gestures, and support for gesture-control of MX Video Player.
Pranksters have to be really innovative, as
the most fun pranks are those which are completely new and haven’t been
played on the victim before. Fortunately, in this age of smartphones,
there are many apps that can help you if you are a prankster. In recent
days, there has been a flurry of such apps on the Cydia store for
jailbroken iOS devices, and we have even covered SpyKey (review) and AnonySend (review) among them. CrazyPC is
the latest Cydia app which is like a dream come true for pranksters.
Using the app, you will be able to suddenly make scary images pop up on
the screen of any PC, play funny and startling sounds, and even close
opened Windows as well as shutting down the whole system. So, if Eris is
urging you to scare your friends real bad, read on to know more about
CrazyPC.
Just like SpyKey, you will have to install a discreet server to the
target PC. The desktop client for CrazyPC can be downloaded from this link. Once you have installed that program, just set up a Connection Password and hit the Save button.
The server doesn’t need to be open at the time of the prank, and will
work even when it’s in the background (just a small icon in the system
tray). Now, we come to the iOS client of the app. The Cydia app is
available in the BigBoss repo as a free download (the desktop server is
free as well). Once the app has been installed to your iPhone, it will
appear as a new icon on the Springboard.
First of all, users of CrazyPC will have to configure a connection
between the iDevice and PC, and to do that, you will have to go to the Setup menu
and enter the IP address, port number and connection password which
appear on the server. Save the changes and then hit the connection icon
on the main page of the app. Once you are connected to the victim’s PC,
you can begin having your fun. To visually scare your friend, you can
use the screamer button, which will make a scary photo (sound included)
appear on the PC’s screen. A similarly terrifying button exists for
making it seem like the screen of the computer’s monitor has suddenly
been shattered. The close window button will let you terminate
any active Windows. Below these buttons are the two rows of abrupt sound
buttons, followed by sound controls for the PC, using which the
prankster can mute the PC or make any sound being played currently
painfully loud. The restart and shut down buttons round up the joke.
CrazyPC is a fun app, but don’t use it if your friends can’t take a
joke (or have a weak heart). So, looking to get one over your friend?
Get this free app from the Cydia store right now.
Jailbreaking is all about getting complete control over your iOS
device and making changes to every area of your iPhone’s operating
system. Mostly, jailbreak users don’t have to go through too much
trouble to make these changes, thanks to the tweaks available in the
Cydia store. However, you can’t rely on tweaks for everything, and at
times, things have to be done manually. If you are a fan of any search
engine other than Google, Yahoo and Bing (the ones included in Mobile
Safari’s default list), there isn’t any clear and easy way of changing
Safari’s search engine to the one of your choice. Fortunately, thanks to
the steps recently highlighted by our friends over at LifeHacker, you
can add any search source to Safari’s search engine list. Read on to
discover the procedure, which makes use of iFile, and thus, requires a
jailbroken iDevice.
So, if you haven’t got iFile already on your iPhone, install it from
the Cydia store. Once you have done that, you are ready to make the
required addition to Safari.
Disclaimer: Please attempt this
guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your
device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.
Instructions:
Launch iFile and go to this location
/User/Library/Safari
Inside the Safari menu, find the SearchEngines.plist file,
which should be fourth in the list. Tapping the button will bring up a
new menu, and you have to select the second option from it, labelled Property List Viewer.
Select SearchProviderList from the next screen.
Now, you would be in an area with the heading Dictionary. Hit the ‘+’ button in the bottom right corner.
Tap SearchProviderList and choose the Dictionary option
from the resulting directory tree. You will have to repeat this step
again and again, and keep adding the values and fields described below.
Name: ScriptingName; Type: String; Value: DuckDuckGo
Name: SearchURLTemplate; Type: String; Value: http://www.duckduckgo.com/?q={searchTerms}
Name: ShortName; Type: String; Value: DuckDuckGo Name: SuggestionsURLTemplate; Type: String; Value: http://clients1.google.com/complete/search?json=t&nolabels=t&client=iphonesafari&q={searchTerms}(Google's autocomplete service, substitute with another if you wish)
Name: Default; Type: Boolean; Value: On
The above code will give you the DuckDuckGo search engine in
Safari’s search engine list, but it is (theoretically) possible to do
the same for any other search engine simply by replacing the URL and
value. Once all that has been done, exit iFile.
Enter the Settings app, and go to the Safari menu. There, in the
search engine list, you will find the newly added source. Simply select
it.
You will have to first kill Safari from the App Switcher tray, and then you are ready to use the your new default search engine.
(via Addictive tips )
Siri might be good-looking and popular, but
as is generally the case, beauty and brains are rarely found in one
place. You can ask Siri to set reminders for you, and ask her what dress
she is wearing, but when you come to think of it, Siri’s knowledge is
quite limited, and more often than not, it ends up pointing you to web
search. Now imagine if there were some way of making Siri the most
geekiest and knowledgeable bot in existence, won’t it be awesome? There
is no such tweak or app app available just yet, but Voice Answer might
be the next best option available. This newly released iPhone app will
answer every question its users ask, no matter how technical or
complicated. The app’s bot, named Eve, will solve mathematical equations
for you, let you know all about scientific facts and historical
figures, and will prove to be a pleasant companion when you are just
bored and not really looking for some useful information.
There are two ways of posing questions to Voice Answer’s Eve. You can
tap the robot’s face and speak the question, or you can type anything
using the keyboard button provided on the main page. If you want to just
have intelligent conversations with Eve, you can begin using Voice
Answer as it is, but in case you are looking for some fun, turn on the Chatbot mode
from the Settings menu within the app. In the same menu, it is possible
to choose the number of answers which will be stored for offline
viewing. When you are done with these configuration steps, came back to
the main screen by hitting the Done button.
To see Voice Answer working its magic, hit the middle robot icon and
ask any question. If, by chance, Eve does not know the answer to your
question, she will strike a random conversation, but that is rarely the
case, as the app’s database of knowledge is pretty impressive. One thing
which makes Voice Answer all the more useful is its keyboard option,
which lets you use the app just like any other search engine. The data
provided by the app is quite extensive in most instances, and will
include charts, images and references along with the text description.
Voice Answer will cost you $3.99, but the idea is pretty unique and
is totally worth the dime. The app is universal, and optimized for both
iPhone and iPad. Download Voice Answer
A totally revamped WordPress for Android (v2.0) was rolled out in
December last year (2011) with a host of new features and improvements
that resolved some very important issues that users had with it up until
then. The developers have just released a new public beta of v2.1,
which adds a few more sought-after features to the mix, critical updates
and performance improvements. The most noticeable improvement in the
updated version is the auto-save feature that automatically saves your
posts after every 60 seconds. In addition, users can now resize the
width & height of the images added within posts, and edit post
comments. The app’s native WordPress reader to add more efficiency in
navigation through posts and the option to add your own comments . More
on the update after the break.
The new version also brings some small but useful changes in the main
UI. For instance, the reader screen now sports a share button and
the delete button on the preview screen has been reposition at the
bottom-left corner of the screen. This makes sense, as you no longer
have to worry about accidentally pressing the delete button while
looking to share, edit or preview a post.
As mentioned earlier, the auto-save option for posts is, by far, the
biggest change in the update. With your posts being saved automatically
after every single minute, you no longer need to fear losing progress in
case the app crashes, your device reboots or you make a huge error.
Since the app is in beta, the developers are requesting maximum user
response so that they may be able to gauge the effectiveness of all the
features included within the update. WordPress 2.1 for Android is yet to
hit the Google Play Store, however, you can download the beta release
via the official WordPress Blog (links provided below). Download WordPress v2.1 Beta
Even if you are living in a big city since
you were born, it is not possible for an ordinary person to know of all
the good places around town, and every once in a while, you are bound to
be left helpless when you want to find a place to purchase a drill
machine, or new wheels for you car. That’s what yellow pages are made
for, so that people can find businesses with complete ease. With the
advent of smartphones, everything is going digital, and yellow pages are
no exception, for iOS users at least. Yellow Pages is
an iPhone app that will let its users search for any place in their
area. You can find products, restaurants, cinemas, banks and just about
any kind of place you can possibly think of. Although Yellow Pages has
been around for quite a while, the app’s recent update has made it even
more useful by adding turn-by-turn voice directions to any place listed
in the app. Details to follow.
Yellow Pages starts off with its main search screen, from where users
can look for any kind of place in any area of the world. You can let
the app make use of your current location to provide you with optimized
results, or there is the option on set any location manually. Once you
have specified the target area, enter the item genre or name in the Find box.
Doing so will bring up a list of all the relevant places in the defined
locality. If you don’t want the default list view, it is also possible
to view the places plotted on the area’s map.
An alternative way of finding your places of interest is via the Popular menu.
Here, a grid of trending categories is presented, and you can view
places listed under each with a single tap. The paces you come across
while using Yellow Pages will let you call the business right from
within the app. You can also view their website, and save the whole
information as a new contact entry. The latest feature of Yellow Pages
can be used by hitting the car icon at the bottom of the map in the
place’s menu. The route to the opened place will be automatically
plotted for you by Yellow Pages, complete with voice directions for easy
navigation.
Yellow Pages can be used for more than just finding useful places,
and one example of that extra usefulness of the app is highlighted in
the Movies menu. In this section, users can read the reviews of
movies and see other relevant data. If you want, Movies menu will also
let you know of the places where you can watch or rent the title. The
bottom bar of the app can be customized from the More menu, and you can place the icons of your choice there.
Yellow Pages is a free app, and available for both iPhone and iPad.
If you aren’t using it already, give the app a try at the link given
below. Download Yellow Pages
With the recent surge of so many quality online data backup/restore
Android apps that have arrived in the Google Play Store, and with Google
itself working on its very own cloud storage service, Google Drive, it
has become evident that the technology world has begun to realize the
significance of having valuable computer and mobile content backed up on
a secondary storage. The latest to join the likes of Dropbox, Box,
Comodo, Bitdefender, CX, YuuWaa and several other big names is Trend
Micro, that has just announced its own cloud storage solution for
Android users. Like all other aforementioned services, Backup and Restore by
Trend Micro provides users with free online storage space (1GB, in this
case), an attractive and user-friendly interface, and most importantly,
a firm promise to maintain an uncompromised approach towards protecting
the private data of users. The app is currently in beta, but already
looks to be a valuable tool to have on your Android. Details to follow.
Backup and Restore vows to be an all-round solution to all your
mobile data backup needs. Be it your Android contacts, calendar, call or
text history, photos, music or videos, the app has you covered.
However, to begin with, you must log in to the app using a valid Trend
Micro ID. New accounts can be created from within the app for free.
Not only can you manually back up all desired content, but also avail
the app’s auto backup feature to automatically back up required content
at frequent intervals of time. While the app’s features are no
different than most of its counterparts, it’s the interface of the app
that makes it stand out. The main interface comprises a total of three
main tabs. Backup is from where you can select all the content that you
wish to include within your first/next backup instance. In this regard,
all you need to do is tap the backup button at the bottom, select
whatever content you want to back up, and wait for the uploading to
complete. You can create multiple backup instances, and the app
maintains time log of your last backup instance. It must be noted here
that the app does not allow selecting individual entities from within a
supported category. For instance, if you opt to back up your contacts,
you do not get the luxury of selecting a handful of required contacts.
Same is the case with your videos, music files, photos and other
supported items.
To restore data from an already existing backup, tap the Restore tab, select the required backup package, and hit the Restore button. From within the screen that follows, you can pick the contents of the package that you want to restore. The Manage
tab lists the total cloud space that you’ve consumed thus far. It also
shows all the various backup instance that you’ve created with the app.
Tapping a package name lets you view the underlying contents. The
package itself can be deleted from the same screen.
From the app’s main settings screen (Menu > Settings),
you can toggle the automatic backup option on/off, specify the data
backup frequency, set backup conditions (over Wi-Fi only, while the
device is plugged in, while roaming), and select the required contacts
that you wish to include in the backup process.
Backup and Restore by Trend Micro is free in the Google Play Store,
and can be downloaded via the link or QR code provided below. Download Backup and Restore