Sunday, April 19, 2015

TuneIn Radio gets playback & buffering improvements, updated widgets.

TuneIn Radio brings the world's largest collection of radio stations to your Android device, that's over 100,000 stations for your listening pleasure with categories including songs, podcasts, shows and more. The app is also cross-platform, therefore available on Windows Phone, iOS and Windows. TuneIn also has a social touch in that you can share what you're listening with your followers and vice-versa. The Android version of the app is also Android Wear friendly and works with Chromecast too.


TuneIn Radio has an update available in Play store with the following improvements and fixes:

  • playback & buffering improvements.
  • updated homescreen widgets.
  • chromecast improvements and bug fixes.
  • several bluetooth bug fixes.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Google+ updated with material refresh animation and new community page design.

Google+ app for Android got an update today that brings more material design to the interface. Members of various communities on Google's social network will notice after the update the page layout has changed and displays the communities' logo and banner more prominently at the top; so big that it takes about half the screen estate. I'm not sure what Google is up to here, but the image is very pixelated. Something I hope they will change in a future update. Given how other Google apps beautifully implemented the material design, I wonder what the Google+ team is thinking. 

As usual, the update also includes some performance improvements and bug fixes.

The update is available for download now in the Play store. Click here if you haven't already downloaded it yet.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Amazon Kindle for Android updated with Word Wise to quickly understand difficult words without much interruptions.

As a father, I find Word Wise to be a super useful addition to Kindle. With Word Wise enabled, readers will see short and simple definitions automatically appear above difficult words. And Amazon Kindle does that without being too intrusive. Briefly putting it to the test today, I found that Word Wise did indeed offered a clear definition of words that I would have otherwise stopped my reading to get the definition - using the good old press and hold. Again, as a father of a little girl who's main spoken and written language is French, this makes my task of teaching her English so much easier.

The update, which was released two days ago, brings you more info about the book itself and the author. See the full change log below:

  • Read more challenging books with Word Wise.
  • Learn more about the book and author before you start reading.
  • See popular highlights from other Kindle readers.
  • Create flashcards from textbooks to help you study.
  • Look up words with any dictionary.
  • Control Audible playback easily without leaving the page.
  • Navigate manga easily with a table of contents.
  • Bug fixes.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Video Messaging: Get creative with 8 new Skype Qik live effects.


Skype Qik - pronounced quick - is Skype's second app that is cross platform, just like it's big brother Skype. But Skype Qik still plays in the messaging category albeit exclusively video. It can be compared to Instagram in that Qik lets you capture moments by shooting videos, add predefined effects to them and share with friends or groups of friends. Besides being a video messenger app, Skype Qik is really good at making your videos a great piece of art.  And it keeps getting better at that.

In the most recent update, Skype Qik got 8 new live effects. Users will be able to pick the effects they want while shooting the videos, hence the live effects. Simply swipe over the viewfinder to scroll through the fun effects before sharing the masterpiece with friends.

Check out the update in Google Play store