Author: Vibin

Mac, blogging, Android, UI/web design, programming, coffee, engineering. In descending order.

Reach me at vibin.reddy@rtcamp.com.

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Reviews

1Tap Quick Bar- Customize Your Android’s Notification Bar

Notifications bar is one of the best features Android has, which does exist in iOS, but is not so feature filled. For example, whenever you get a notification in Android, a small icon pops up on the status bar and you can swipe to dismiss notifications. 1Tap Quick Bar is an app that allows you to customize the notification bar.

1Tap Quick bar

I keep my home screen as minimal as possible, with only two icons and no clock widgets. But this can prove to be a hassle, as I will need to go to app drawer every time for launching any app.

This can be solved with 1Tap Quick bar, which lets you add a quick bar to the existing notification bar and you can add app shortcuts/settings/system tasks to the quick bar (it’ll be shown as a ‘Ongoing’ task in the notification bar).

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There are many system settings like Wi-Fi, GPS, Auto rotate etc., which can be added to your quick bar with ease. The app is pretty slick with the Holo theme.

As you can see in the image, I’ve added a camera icon to the quick bar which is a much needed feature in Android (i.e. quick access to camera) – so the next time I want to take a snap, I can just pull the notification bar and access the camera app.

The free version of the app lets you add only one quick bar, but that’s enough for me. You got to pay for adding more bars, but that’ll make your notification bar messy.

Link: 1Tap Quick bar

Related: 5 Gorgeous Andoird Apps You Cannot Miss

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News

Windows 8 hits RTM: General Release on 26th October

8Just a few weeks after the Release preview, Microsoft confirms that Windows 8 is released to manufacture (RTM). That apparently means, the final version of Windows 8 is now available for OEMs to make necessary changes to their existing hardware.

It all started with the BUILD conference in September 2011, and now RTM is a big milestone for Microsoft. The good news is that, if you’re a Technet or MSDN subscriber, you can download the official (and final) version of Windows 8 starting from August 15th.

The public release of Windows 8 will take place on October 26th, to which you can upgrade at a price of 39.99$ (much cheaper than Windows 7 upgrade prices) or by buying a all new Windows 8 PC.

Also, if you’re developer, you can access the final version of Visual Studio 2012 to make apps, and put them in the Windows store (which is still not accessible from the web).

With Microsoft going all Metro, including Outlook.com replacing Hotmail (by the way, get your @outlook.com address before it’s too late!), it’ll be interesting to see how customers will like the new Microsoft.

Mean while, you can always download the Release preview from Microsoft’s site.

Link: Building Windows 8 blog

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News

Bit.ly releases Realtime to Show Viral Content

Bit.ly links are everywhere on Twitter, Facebook and what not. Though there are several URL shorteners out there, Bit.ly was one of the first apps in this field. Taking this as an advantage, they have released Realtime – a search engine which helps you find viral content.

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The webapp is pretty straight forward, showing the Bit.ly links with most number of clicks.

That also means links which aren’t using Bit.ly are missing out. You can also filter out the results using search term, topic, country, website and even social network.

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For example, you’ll be able to see what’s trending on Facebook right now. It won’t be that useful for Twitter, as you already have Twitter trends which is now tailored for you.

You can add the shown links to your Bitmarks with a click, which you can share or add notes afterwards. As always, you can add a ‘+’ sign to any Bit.ly link to get deep statistics related to it.

Recently Digg was sold out to Betaworks for a mere half a million dollars, it tried to do pretty much same thing. Reddit on the other hand, is very strong because of its loyal community, though Bit.ly has taken a totally different approach to track viral content.

Realtime is a product of Bit.ly labs, so it’s still in beta and invite-only. But you can always sign up for one with a Bit.ly account, I got mine very quickly and sadly there’s no option to invite other people.

Link: Realtime

Categories
Analysis

5 Great Sites for Beginners To Learn HTML/CSS

Recently, I’m on the verge of learning basic web designing. It all started with the idea of making a landing page for myself from scratch, without using sites like About.me. I ended up discovering sites which can be very handy for beginners who’re trying to code.HTML5

1. Codecademy

This is one of the best things I’ve stumbled upon this year. Codecademy is where you learn code by actually writing it, i.e. by completing exercises which are created by experts of those field. This year, they launched a free initiative named Code Year, calling everyone to learn the basics of coding.

The site lets you track progress, achieve badges and other cool stuff. If you’re stuck at some particular exercise, you can post your doubts in the forums, there are some helpful people out there! You can grab exercises related to Javascript, JQuery and of course CSS3. They also seem to add lessons related to Python, in future. The best thing? All this is free.

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Link: Codecademy

2. Dochub

How about an instantly searchable documentation of all major programming languages? That’s Dochub. You can easily find documentation for various programming languages online, but it’s all scattered, and it’s not fast. Dochub solves this. Also, you can get the local version of the website from the Github page.

Link: Dochub

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3. Mozilla Developer Network

Mozilla Developer Network(MDN) provides a great in-depth documentation for CSS and Javascript. It’s more like Wikipedia for web developers (you can even edit the wiki, and changes will be reviewed). Bonus is that, you can also learn about making Firefox addons and HTML5 apps, which are cross platform.

Link: Mozilla Developer Network

4. 30 days to learn HTML and CSS

If learning coding by reading documentation or books doesn’t work for you, then consider taking this free course. It’s a series of video tutorials by Jeffery Way, of TutsPlus. Of course, the tutorials are really basic, so if you want something more advanced, you should consider paying for Treehouse, a subscription based learning platform for web and and even iOS developers.

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Link: Learn CSS

5. Read Blogs

Blogs related to web designing are in plenty. Starting with the TutsPlus network, till Smashing Magazine, there are so many blogs dedicated to this niche. Most of them will rank well on Google, if you search for anything related to web designing, that’s the best way to find good blogs.

I’m sure there are many more sites which fall under this category, and I’m no web designer. So, do you know any free resources for learning web designing? Write them in the comments.

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News

Hike wants to be the Indian WhatsApp

WhatsApp is very popular among Indians and that’s one of the reason why people who buy blackberries just for BBM, are decreasing. The fact that WhatsApp is cross platform, has hugely contributed to its success. It’s everywhere, even on S40 devices.

But wait, here comes Hike, a new messaging app specially targeting Indians.

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So, how is Hike different from WhatsApp? In WhatsApp, you can send messages to your friend only if he has the app installed, but with Hike, you can send messages to even non-Hike users. That sounds nice, but messages to non-Hike users can be sent only by spending your Hike credits, and you get 100 Hike credits refilled every month (for free).

You can get more credits by referring your friends to the app, and also the app can’t send messages to phones with DND on. As you’ve guessed, Hike-to-Hike messaging is unlimited and international, just like WhatsApp.The app sports a sleek design and the way it links your Hike account to your phone number, instead of tumbling with usernames/pins is nice.

It uses your address book itself as a way to add buddies and they also aim to be spam-free, providing an easier way to block spammers.

The app is now Android-only, but they plan to make it available on all the major platforms – that includes iOS, WP, S60 and Blackberry.

Link: Hike

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Tips

Get Jellybean Keyboard on Your Android ICS Phones

There are plenty of alternate keyboards available on the Playstore and you can install them without rooting, if you’re disappointed with the stock keyboard. I use Swiftkey 3 (and sometimes Swype) myself, which has a powerful prediction engine.

Google has updated the stock keyboard on Jellybean (Android 4.1) which is pretty much like Swiftkey.

Jellybean keyboard

Install Jellybean on Android 4.0.3 or higher

If you’re one of those 10 percent of people who have Ice cream sandwich (4.0.3 or higher) on their devices, you can get the Jellybean keyboard right now. Head on to this XDA thread, and download the beta 1.2 version of the app (of course, you need to send the .apk file to your phone and install there).

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The keyboard’s prediction engine is pretty solid, but I still prefer that of Swiftkey. Though, I like the interface of this keyboard, because it looks much simpler and holo theme is always nice to have. It’s also pretty smooth without any lag, if you’re experiencing any lag, then be sure to turn off ‘Popup on keypress’ in the settings – it will be significantly faster after that (that applies to many Android keyboards).

You can also customize the vibration duration, themes, keyboard layout and all under settings.

According to the developer, the app won’t be put on Playstore and will be under constant development, so keep checking the thread for newer versions of the app.

Link: Jellybean keyboard

Categories
Reviews

MyColorScreen – Show off your beautiful Android and iPhone screens

Customization is one of the best things about Android. You can do so many things to make the device yours, without even rooting it. Sure, iPhone users can customize too, but jailbreaking is too much of a hassle. So, if you have an Android or a jailbroken iPhone (because, you can’t do much with the stock), you got to check MyColorScreen.

Mycolorscreen

MyColorScreen Features

  • MyColorScreen is like a network for smartphone geeks, sharing their beautiful customized homescreens.
  • The site is neatly designed with a Pinterest-like layout, you get to see what the uploader has used to make the screen i.e. widgets, wallpapers, icons and all.
  • You can of course sign up for the site, and upload your screens, who knows you can become popular in no time.
  • You can also follow people with popular screens (or from your Facebook network), and look at trending screens, sorted by OS.

The site can be a great resource for wallpapers (and apps, too), some are really neat. If you follow news with a  feed reader, you can subscribe to respective feeds.

For people who customize their home-screen frequently, this can be great for inspiration. Rather than searching for screens on sites like DeviantArt, it’s great to have a dedicated site.

Link: MyColorScreen

Categories
Tips

How to Transfer Google+ Circles from One Account to Another

If you have ever wanted to transfer your Google+ circles between multiple Google accounts, good news! Google Takeout now lets you do just that. Google Takeout was a service released to let you download all your data stored in your Google account – that includes Picasa albums, Contacts, Docs, +1’s and much more.

Google Takeout

Transfer Your Google+ Circles

  • To transfer Google+ circles between two Google accounts, go to Google Takeout.
  • Click on the link below the ‘Circles’ icon, as shown in the image above.
  • You’ll be asked to login into your Google account once again, this is your ‘source’ account.
  • After that you’ll be asked to sign in to your ‘destination’ account too, that’s where your Circles will land on.
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Google says, it will take over 48 hours for the whole process to complete and both of your Google accounts’ functionality will be limited during this time period (you won’t be able to post to Google+ or add new friends into your Circles). Also, the process will be initiated in 7 days after you request it. Keep in mind that the process cannot be undone.

After the process gets finished, all your following and followers count will be preserved.

While Facebook and Google allow you to download all your data through their website. Twitter does not and they should be introducing such feature.

Link: Google Takeout

Categories
News

Amazing Alex – Rovio releases a new game title for iOS and Android

While I personally didn’t like Angry Birds Space, it did take off with 100 million downloads and now Rovio releases a new physics puzzle based game; Amazing Alex – that’s so good of Rovio to not extend the Angry Birds series, because it was getting really boring, at least for me.

The game, Amazing Alex, introduces a new character named Alex who is a master at creating chain reactions to complete the goal. In short, you got to make pathways using objects given, which completes the task. For example, a ball rolling into a basket.

The graphics are pretty neat and gameplay is good, too. Except that, it’s a bit of pain if you’re playing the game on a small display. The game also allows you to make your own levels and share it with your friends. The iOS app is retina ready, i.e. the game will be more enjoyable on the new iPad.

Amazing Alex Trailer

Here’s the official trailer by Rovio.

There’s a trial version on the Playstore, which is of course free. The full version costs 0.99$, on Playstore as well as Appstore. I think they will port this to Mac and PC too, and as far as Windows Phone is concerned, no one really knows as it did not even get Angry Birds Space till now.

Link: Amazing Alex

Categories
Reviews

Five gorgeous Android apps you can’t miss

Well designed apps on the Playstore, are not so common, compared to iOS apps on the Appstore. That is indeed changing with new design rules imposed by Google, since Android 4.0. Here are a few apps which may or may not follow those rules, but are definitely fun to use.

Android Jellybean

1. Flipboard

This is a no brainer, design is one of the reasons why Flipboard sets itself apart from other RSS/content consumption apps and though late to the Playstore, it still wears almost the same design as its iOS counterpart. For beginners, Flipboard is a visual reading app, integrating and collecting content from blogs, your Twitter feed/Facebook/Instagram/Google+etc., and of course, you navigate through the app by flipping pages.

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Link: Flipboard

2. TED

TED’s official Android app is very minimal in design, and that’s exactly what I liked about it. It has a red-white color combo, following ICS’ defaults of swiping screen from edges to navigate through the app.

Link: TED

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3. Solid Explorer

Solid explorer, as you’d expect, is a file explorer for Android. It’s still in beta, but has a very polished look, having this holo light/dark theme (as you see on an ICS device). The app is really smooth with neat icons, can pretty much be made the default File explorer.

Link: Solid explorer

4. Path

Path, after its redesign i.e. Path 2.0., has released their Android app. The design is very detailed with beautiful typographyand kind of similar to the Facebook timeline. With a limit of 150 friends, it’s for people who like to add only real friends to their social networks.

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Link: Path

5. Chrome

Chrome for Android, which just came out of beta, is ICS-only, but just like the desktop counterpart, it is very well designed. Especially, tab management – where you swipe a tab towards an edge to close the tab, and tabs acting like a deck of cards, is really cool.

Speed dial, too, is nice to have. I found the app to be a bit buggy on my phone, but the sync feature is really solid.

Link: Chrome

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Apps which are worth a mention

So those are the five, but apart from these, there are few other apps worth trying. One such app is Twitter for Android – scrolling tweets in Twitter for Android is bliss, it’s really smooth. In task management apps, I like Any.DO very much, they also have released a Chrome app recently. Google+, after recent update, has got a lot of positive response, especially because Facebook for Android is almost unusable.

If you have used any well designed Android app (which isn’t mentioned here), do drop it in the comments.