Leading real hands on tech review site in Ireland with technology, business news and more. Jim O Brien Tech.
Author: Jim O Brien/CEO
CEO and expert in transport and Mobile tech. A fan 20 years, mobile consultant, Nokia Mobile expert, Former Nokia/Microsoft VIP,Multiple forum tech supporter with worldwide top ranking,Working in the background on mobile technology, Weekly radio show, Featured on the RTE consumer show, Cavan TV and on TRT WORLD. Award winning Technology reviewer and blogger. Security and logisitcs Professional.
There is many music apps available today for smartphone users and perhaps we are spoilt for choice but new apps are always welcome and i guess its healthy for the competition,a new app has landed called Louise App and here is what this app can provide for its users.
Louise is a free mobile app suggesting its users to listen each other’s music in real time. Listening & sharing in real time between users around the world. With Louise, a new community of music fans seeking for new interactive experience is born.
Louise unites music lovers & smartphones users. Combining these 2 trademarks, Louise allows you to unleash your aural curiosity & sneak in unknown listeners’ headphones. Interactivity & discovery have no limits.
Louise’s concept has never been seen before. Louise is the very first genuine interactive social music app in perpetual evolution thanks to the impulse & feed of its user community.
No email adress, no login & no password are required to activate or use Louise. During their first connection, Louise’s users are invited to select their favourite streaming players (among Soundcloud, Spotify, Deezer, Rdio & Qobuz), their avatar (no personal picture) & their favourite music genres. Each genre is represented by a colour. Their selection reveals then their own ” Music Rainbow”.
A simple & intuitive navigation, Louise in 3 key steps
1. When users wish to listen music with Louise, 2 possibilities are offered to them :
Through their own “Music Rainbow”, they select their favourite musical mood of the moment. Louise is allowing them then to have the possibility to listen to others in real time inside of the selected genre. Other users can be around locally or at the other side of the world.
Louise users can simply listen to their music through their integrated favourite streaming player in the app, knowing that their own music will be potentially available to other users.
2. Lets discover the “core” of the app, the “Music Time” : a shared listening session in real time. Thanks to Louise’s instant messaging feature, users connect between each others from anywhere in the world. Louise’s smart geo location system offers additional infos about users’ geographical position.
3. The ultimate experience inside Louise is its “Match Point”. Louise’s users sharing a listening session & being close locally in a range of a few meters, receive a notification & their phone vibrates. Louise empower users to make the bridge between virtual & physical.
You can now download Louise on Android and iOS and its coming soon to Windows Phone,and thanks to Gwenhael for getting in touch with us.. Also check out LouiseApp.Com
Selfie sticks are a craze these days and the also do my head in. Not only do they do my head in they are beginning to annoy the general public too with bans on the apparatus now creeping in everywhere,they are like umbrellas if you will people not minding how and where they use them and at times hit others in the process.
Thankfully now there is a new app for selfies,not a new idea either,example being camera apps such as Lumia selfie app found on Lumia devices which does a good job and no need for the elongated bothering selfie sticks,but there has been instances when people with such phones use the selfie stick too which is stupid and makes you look thick.
Snapi puts an end to uncomfortable Selfies, no more stretching your hand and fingers to trigger the camera to snap a shot. With Snapi you can now capture photos without touching the phone! Simply raise your open palm in front of camera, close it into a fist and open again – the photo will be captured. Snapi works up to 13 feet (4m) away – just put the phone down and get that group shot. So what are you waiting for? Start Snaping!
App Features:
• Touch-free gesture technology engine by eyeSight
• Configurable capture countdown timer – choose how many seconds pass between gesture and capture
• Easily switch between the front and back cameras on your device
• All photos are stored on your device’s native photo gallery for a seamless sync of the photo stream
• Autofocus based on face recognition*
• Helpful sound feedback for photo capture, focus, and countdown
* Subject to phone’s capabilities
Note that the range of operation using the gesture to capture photos may vary based on your phone’s camera.
We are what we eat as the saying goes and today diet and healthy eating is now becoming a trend,Katie and Alex from KickDish got in touch with us about their new app and we discussed about the future too..
KickDish, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is about to revolutionize the way consumers plan meals and grocery shop. For families who have varied taste buds, meal planning can become not only expensive, but also feel like short-order cooking. KickDish’s innovative app lets users indicate taste and diet preferences, and then suggests recipes accordingly. Once a recipe is selected, KickDish will generate a shopping list that can be synced among family members or roommates. As soon as the shopping list is edited, a push notification is received by the other user in order to draw attention to the instantly updated list. KickDish also offers the option to price-compare the customer’s grocery basket across online grocers. Once the customer is ready to checkout, they also have the option for online delivery.
What is KickDish..
In short, an app that is an indispensable tool to fit healthy eating into a busy life. Wouldn’t this help you stay on the right track, once and for all?
What can KickDish do for the consumer.
KickDish app gives you all the tools to support healthy eating: practical, healthy, affordable and enjoyable.
helping when planning meals
taking into account your partner or other family members
allowing composing of personal shopping lists
indicating which fruits and vegetables are in season this month
coming up with new seasonal recipes every month
taking into account your tastes, allergies, and intolerances
always by your side, at work, traveling, and so on.
Why is KickDish unique.
KickDish app is the first plan that facilitates a healthy life, because it has what other approaches lack. Healthy living and staying fit in a structured way, that’s what counts. This idea started the app and gives you all the tools. In addition, the diet plan is made for you, because it takes into account your intolerances.
What about food intolerance or allergies.
…. lactose / gluten / dairy / garlic / onions and much more, is the plan appropriate for me? The plan does not contain gluten, lactose and many other allergens that you would find in processed products. You can simply cross off and customize other allergens with the option “Your Taste/Intolerances”. Then you can see these crossed off items are not reflected in the Online Menu Planner. KickDish has thousands of recipes for the growing number of people who are faced with celiac, diabetes, or another medical condition. The user-friendly interface allows users to identify their, or a family member’s, dietary needs. The recipes pulled and highlighted will have all allergen-safe ingredients.
The Intelligence & Innovation of KickDish
One of the most exciting features of KickDish is the money saving tool it provides consumers. By using KickDish, your grocery bill is reduced since you have the option to price-compare across online grocers. Consumers also save money by reducing trips to the grocery store for the few items typically forgotten. Fewer trips to the store means less gas used, and now you can even have the option to get your groceries delivered.
What is your prime goal.
KickDish’s mission is to make healthy food (almost) as convenient and affordable as fast food is. It’s an audacious goal, but we believe mobile technology, when used wisely, helps people reduce time and money spent on groceries. The more we succeed in doing just that, the bigger the chance that people will manifest their healthiest selves. And that’s a cause worth fighting for!
Below is the video for our crowdfunding campaign that we are launching soon to support this cause:
KickDish App features
On the screen you indicate what your allergies or intolerances are or simply what you just do not like. Then you can find recipes free of your allergens in the Menu Planner! Gives you complete control of your nutrition plan. The app provides you with a hypoallergenic diet plan or just a diet plan to your taste. These customized options increase your chances for sticking with the program!
Mobile Menu Planner with personal shopping list
You get recipe suggestions that reflect your personal taste,Then imagine a quick, personal shopping list. This will save you a lot of headaches, time and money (you can buy in larger quantities and be more aware of offers from the local supermarket). Additionally, the rest. The question: “What should I eat again” is no longer a problem! In the result screen you see exactly which food is used in any recipe. You do not need to print anything, just take your smartphone with you to the store or the kitchen.
Add your own recipes
It may very well be that you have built up some favorite recipes over the years. It’s unlikely that these exact recipes are found in the app recipe database. No worries! Thanks to this option, you can quickly add your recipe(s). Then you get the recipe from the Menu Planner so you also enriched the online Menu Planner with your favorite recipes. The Menu Planner clearly sees what recipes are added by you and which are of KickDish.
A truly collaborative meal planner
For example, sharing your shopping lists is super convenient if you’re not the only one in the family who goes shopping. Or if you want to encourage other family members to do so ;-). Do you have a central shopping list that is always up-to-date? KickDish does. Check off what you’ve bought already in the app and the rest of your family will be informed immediately.
The KickDish App
As an app for your smartphone or tablet! (iOS or Android)
Customize your Taste/Intolerances
Online Menu Planner (with personal shopping list)
The KickDish Weekly Menus (seasonal)
Continuous updates
Add your own recipes
The App will be launching soon in the US and Europe soon after we will have all the details and update accordingly,we will have access to the App in April.
Recently we spoke about stolen phones and its a huge lucrative business and if it happens to you its possible you can end up with a huge bill,new measures are being brought forward by EE, O2, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone in the UK, but is it possible we will see this happen here ? Even having phone insurance and going through the process can be more hassle than its worth,personally i used my insurance once and it was that much hassle i cancelled it and never used it since,so i try to be careful with my devices which to date i have been…
The BBC reports the following.
Mobile phone users will be protected from massive bills when their devices are stolen after five operators agreed to introduce a £100 “liability cap”.
EE, O2, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone have signed up to the measure.
Some customers have faced charges of thousands of pounds because of usage by thieves. The cap will be activated when a phone is reported lost or stolen within 24 hours of going missing.
The government said it had secured a deal with “real benefits”.
The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) said the measures would bring “much-needed relief” to consumers targeted by phone fraudsters.
The CAB said consumers regularly contacted them for help after being hit with five-figure bills, with some as high as £23,000.
“We will be keeping a close eye on the phone providers’ caps to see if they do really protect phone crime victims from the worst bills.”
Gillian GuyChief executive, CAB
Between April last year and February the organisation estimates users have lost as much as £140,000 because of bills on stolen mobiles.
CAB chief executive Gillian Guy said: “Victims of phone crime should not be paying excessive bills run up by thieves.
“A cap on bills from stolen mobile phones will come as much-needed relief to consumers targeted by phone fraudsters.
“We will be keeping a close eye on the phone providers’ caps to see if they do really protect phone crime victims from the worst bills.”
Three introduced the protection for its customers in January and the other four operators have confirmed they will follow suit.
Ed Vaizey, minister for the digital economy, said: “By working with the mobile operators, we have secured an agreement that will provide consumers with real benefits as well as offer peace of mind.”
All five firms have also signed up to a new code of practice.
This obliges them to give clear pricing information and alerts when consumers reach data limits, information on how to avoid roaming charges and a barring function to protect users against unauthorised or inadvertent calls to premium rate services and in-app purchases.
A bezel-less phone,something people have been looking for and here it is and its called the Subor S3 which is not really a well known OEM.
The Subor S3 is currently selling in China in either black or white for the price of CNY 1399, or about €200.
It does look much like several phones on the market today and might suit some folks needs but i would personally give this a miss any how its China bound but it does not mean you cant get your hands on one.
The Subor S3 sports a 5-inch HD display and has a unibody covered by Dual Gorilla Glass 3 on the front and the rear. It is powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT6732 processor coupled with 1Gb of RAM
The device has 8GB of internal storage space which is expandable via a microSD card slot.
The Subor S3 has a 8MP main camera with f/2.0 aperture and a 8MP front camera. It measures 141.5 × 70.3 × 7.8 mm, runs on Android 4.4 Kitkat OS and is backed by a 1700mAh battery.
If you are on the Beta Version of Mix Radio there is an new update Mix Radio 2.2.1907. Check your mail now for the news.
MixRadio Beta Update
Thanks for helping us to test MixRadio on Android
Today we’re releasing an update to the MixRadio app. This has the following new features:
History of created mixes. The Create a Mix page now remembers the last 6 mixes you created. Each of these mixes can be played, taken offline and deleted.
Mix information panel. When you click on a mix in the Themes and Genres pages, a panel appears containing a description of the mix and a list of some of the artists it features. There are also buttons allowing you to play the mix and take it offline.
We’ve also fixed some bugs that have been reported and made other changes to make the app more stable and perform better.
We’d be grateful if you’d install the new version and let us know what you think of it on UserVoice.
Please note that when you install this version you’ll need to sign back in to your account. You’ll also lose any mixes you’d previously taken offline. Sorry about that.
Known Issues
Some translations are not yet complete
Users in some countries may have the same adverts being repeated or experience no adverts at all.
The app may not work correctly on some on Android devices running the Cyanogen mod.
Fancy an App that can be your devices housemate,well here is one called The Cleaner and its Irish made too.Over time our Android devices can become laggy with cached information etc,and we tend to ignore it and just close the running apps to get along with things.
The App is simple and straightforward to use,on first use you will be brought straight to the analyze screen,it then gives you a list of apps/services, you then can check the ones you are not using or do not want to use.
On first try on my Android i got a decent power boost plus some decent memory recovery.You can then move onto the storage option and again repeat the process by checking what you want to keep and what you dont.Here again i saved myself some more space.
Description
The Cleaner is a FREE app that lets you boost your Android’s speed, clean out junk, free up storage and uninstall malicious apps to optimize your device, increase your security and make you the clean master of your mobile domain. With its beautifully designed interface in a lightweight package that won’t clog your phone’s memory, the full-featured phone booster and performance optimizer also lets you clear cache files, delete unwanted phone call or SMS records and batch uninstall unneeded or potentially malicious apps.
MEMORY BOOST
– I free up memory (RAM) and boost your phone’s speed by letting you kill redundant background tasks
FREE UP STORAGE
– I clear out your storage by enabling you to delete junk files such as cache files and downloaded APK files
SMART APP MANAGER
– I make it easy to batch uninstall unused and unwanted apps
CONTROL YOUR PRIVACY
– I let you find and uninstall malicious apps that have unnecessary permissions (Call, SMS, Location, Camera, and Contacts)
CONVERSATION CLEANER
– I’ll help you dispose of old, irrelevant sent and received phone call records cluttering up your phone
TIDY YOUR SMS
– I make it easy to get rid of long inconvenient lists of sent and received SMS records (This feature is not available to devices with Android KitKat and above, due to system restrictions.)
WIDGETS
– Call me to quickly boost your phone’s performance from the home screen with simple widgets
SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE
– Schedule automatic maintenance checks so I’ll always keep your device running fast
THEMES
– Customize my looks with your favorite theme
Finally for those those seeking the Microsoft Band there is good new,With MS having a habit of containing things in certain regions the Band will now go on sale outside the US from the 16th of April.This means buyers from Ireland can have an easier time to purchase it either online or if you are travelling to the UK or have relations living there that can post it over.
Its also available on the Amazon US site now too you can see HERE
Today, Microsoft Band will be available in the UK for pre-order for £169.99***, from Microsoft stores along with key retail partners in the UK, including Amazon, Curry’s PC World, Dixons Travel, Harrods, and O2. It will go on sale beginning April 15th. We are excited to expand to an additional market, and to incorporate the feedback of more customers into our future product and service updates.
On the Microsoft blog.
We’d like to thank our customers for their response to Microsoft Health and Microsoft Band thus far. Our mission is to help them live healthier and be more productive – both through bringing our experiences to new customers, including those in the UK, and through our new partners in the US. We’re excited to continue delivering on our mission, while shaping our product and experiences regularly through customer feedback.
