One of the main differences between a phone call, text message and messenger bird is the so-called deadline of reply. That’s in an ideal world. In the real world, people forget their cellphones at home, or are prone to ignore them in favor of some other — more interesting, or more pressing — activity.

That’s one motive behind synchronizing text messages with your computer. The other is the ease of typing with an old-fashioned keyboard. Especially for people who use text messaging frequently and don’t want to spend half their lives hunched over tiny touch screens, this is invaluable.

MightyText – Seamless Google Chrome Integration

MightyText is a twofold application. The MightyText extension goes in your Google Chrome web browser, the MightyText application on your Android phone. With hardly 2 minutes worth of work, your Android messages finds a second home on your computer.

Right now, MightyText is only available on Google Chrome, but support for Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer is in the pipeline.

The MightyText extension button unfolds to show you your inbox, which is constantly kept in sync with your Android text messages. Even the messages that were not sent through MightyText. However, one of the more impressive feats of MightyText is its ability to import all pre-existing messages and contacts from your phone as well.

Although a Google Chrome extension doesn’t sound like the most accessible way to access your text messages, the MightyText message notifications go a long way to proving otherwise. Even when you’re using another application, a small pop-up will inform you of any new messages. This pop-up will not fade away, so there’s no chance of accidentally missing it. Of course, you can always disable this feature to make MightyText less invasive.

MobiTexter – Text from Any Browser, Anywhere

MobiTexter, too, is an Android application that lets you send text messages from your browser. This time, through a webpage instead of a browser extension. This way it’s not bound to any specific browser. Contrary to MightyText, MobiTexter has a very rudimentary interface. Among other things, MobiTexter does not create message threads, but shows all your messages in chronological order.

There’s a flip side to this coin. Having this light interface does wonders for its compatibility. When I say MobiTexter will run in almost any browser, it’s not an empty boast. In the screenshot above, you can see MobiTexter running on Dolphin HD, a third-party iPad browser. Texting with your tablet — even without 3G — is no harder than opening a webpage. With iOS, you could even put a separate icon on your homescreen.

This is what makes MightyText and MobiTexter such a killer team. With MightyText installed, you can manage your messages on your personal computer. MobiTexter, on the other hand, lets you do the same on any computer, or portable device, so you can use a decent keyboard to compose your messages, wherever you are.

Cost and Reliability

Both of these applications are available free of charge. Any SMS will be sent at your usual fee. However, because both applications use a data connection to communicate with your computer, additional 3G bandwidth may have to be taken into account.

If you use these applications for time-sensitive business, there’s another thing you have to take into account. Neither application is infallible, so it might take some time before your text message is actually sent, even though they are normally pushed to your device instantly.

Have you tried any of these apps before? Do you have a different suggestion? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit : nokhoog_buchachon

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You know what’s really fun? Taking photos with your phone, applying effects on the go, and then sharing them with friends. Camera app makers know this, and many camera apps let you take a picture and then apply effects to it: Look at Camera360 and Vignette to see what I mean.

But sometimes separating the camera from the effects can be a good thing. An application that has a wonderful camera interface (Vignette) may not provide the most visual way to apply effects (Vignette, yet again). So, in the spirit of separation and specialization, I wanted to show you Pixel Mixer, a great (and free) application for visually applying effects and frames to your photos.

Picking An Image

The first thing Pixel Mixer asks you to do is pick an image, of course. The camera icon just launches your favorite camera app (in my case, I launched the one built into Resurrection Remix, the Ice Cream Sandwich ROM I’ve been using recently). I then did the obvious thing and took a picture of my cat:

And that’s what we’ll be using for applying effects.

Layering and Applying Effects

To apply an effect, just scroll to it on the horizontal list, and tap it. Pretty simple – but what’s cool is that you can apply up to three effects, or filters, at the same time. Above you can see my cat after I’ve applied Violet, Cartoon 3, and Mosaic 1, in that order. If I want to get rid of one of these, I just need to tap it:

That’s pretty neat, but I wish I could change the order of the filters by just dragging them around. Let’s say I deleted Cartoon 3 and then decide I did want it after all:

If you look closely, you will see that this image is different than the other one which had the exact same three filters, because their order is different. I hope future versions would let us rearrange filters by dragging, but still, even being possible to layer filters in the first place and selectively remove them from the stack is pretty powerful.

Not all filters are on/off affairs: Some filters can be applied with different levels of intensity:

Here you can see the Lomo 2 filter applied at intensity level 2 (out of three possible levels). The list of color effects is long, and applying effects is fun and fast.

Applying Texture Effects

The next tab is used for applying global texture effects, such as film grain, ink spots, and other types of retro-looking effects that can help make your photo feel a bit more organic, and not like it was taken with the cold and flawless gaze of a smartphone. Layering these effects doesn’t make much sense, and indeed, here you can pick just one effect. The list isn’t as long as the color effects, too, but then again – there are only so many texture effects.

Picking a Frame And Reviewing Your Image

Once you’re happy with the color effect and texture you picked, it’s time to pick a frame, which is exactly what you do in this next tab. There are about fifteen different frames from which you can pick and choose.

At any point when you want to see your work without all of the distracting interface elements, just tap the image once:

The interface will fall away, leaving you with just your image. Another tap will bring everything right back.

Randomizing

You may not always have the time to painstakingly go over effects and pick the combination that’s just right. Thankfully, you can always just tap the thunderbolt icon in the bottom-right corner, and Pixel Mixer would randomly apply one or two effects at random. Sometimes, the result may even be beautiful.

Saving Your Work

Once you’re done, tap the Plus icon on the top-right corner. A horizontal menu will pop open, and you can choose to save your work or share it. This is what the final image looks like after I’ve picked a random effect:

The image is not high-res, but it should be fine for most sharing needs.

Is It Too Much Hassle?

This is where I want to hear what you think: Do you prefer your photo effects baked into your camera app? Or is it better to use a dedicated camera app and a separate, dedicated effects app?

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Instagram, the immensely popular photo sharing app for iOS, has been sorely missing from Android devices and is soon to be released. If you can’t wait for Instagram’s Android app, you can now register on the Instagram website, and be “first in line” to know when the app is available. It’s not clear whether registered users will get to try a beta version of Instagram for Android before it even hits the Android Market (or Google Play, if you wish), or if they will simply be notified before anyone else.

Not long ago, Instagram’s developers promised that an Android version of the app is well on its way, but the big question of when remained open. While we don’t yet know when the application is actually going to launch, users who register on the website are told Instagram will “be in touch soon”.

Instagram is one of the most popular apps in the App Store, if not the most popular one, and has garnered millions of users since it first launched. On Android, replacements such as Camera360, Lightbox and Vignette provide a similar experience, but many Android users are still anxiously waiting to try the real thing on their devices.

What about you? Will you register for an early peak on Instagram for Android, or are you happy with the available options?

Source: The Verge

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About two months ago, I shared my thoughts on an Android ROM I really like, MIUI. Judging by the comments, quite a few readers liked that review… so today, I am back with an even more cutting-edge ROM: Resurrection Remix 9.6, based on Android 4.0.3 ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich).

Up until very recently, ICS was only available for users lucky enough to own a Samsung Nexus S. Now, more and more Ice Cream Sandwich ROMs are popping up, and I have finally decided to take the plunge and install ICS on my own device.

This is not an installation guide: Just like with MIUI, you are on your own here — the procedure is well explained in the forum post, and I would hate to see you brick your device because of something I mistyped. That said, it took me about five minutes to install this ROM on my device, so you should be fine. Now, let me show you around!

The Launcher

First of all, and this is pretty disappointing, the launcher in this ROM is not the stock ICS launcher. But it is a very close cousin of it: It’s called Nova Launcher, it’s basic version is free, and it basically looks like an identical twin of the ICS launcher. It requires Android 4.0 and up, so it would only be useful as an alternative launcher if you already have ICS.

Above you can see me dragging the bookmarks widget onto a home screen. You can see the other screen peeping from the left edge, just like in the native launcher. Animations are very fluid. It’s a cool launcher, but you don’t need this specific ROM to use it.

Browser

The stock browser rocks. Above you can see its tabbed interface – tabs are actually large thumbnails. Did you notice the Google thumbnail is off to the side, and slightly transparent? That’s because I wanted to show you a cool gesture introduced in ICS: You can swipe these thumbnails off to the side to close them.

Last Used Apps

Long-pressing the Home button brings up a list of recently used apps. This same gesture works in older Android versions – but wow, what a difference in the interface. Above you can see the same thumbnail-style control, now used to show the list of recently used apps. To switch to an app, just tap its thumbnail. You can also unload an app instantly just by swiping it to the side. And if you want more fine-grained control, the Task Manager is just a single tap away. This is an amazing improvement, really.

Keyboard

The built-in keyboard is available in a wide selection of languages, and uses predictive logic to try and guess what your next word is going to be – just like the Swiftkey X keyboard. Another cool change is the keyboard control interface, which now looks like this:

And yes – this particular ROM also includes Swype, which is a nice touch. Google voice typing, however, is pretty horrible. It’s really not up to par with FlexT9, the golden standard for dictation on Android (at least as far as I can see).

Dialer

What you’re seeing above is the dialer mid-swipe. Like many other native ICS apps, the dialer responds incredibly smoothly to swiping. The only problem I’ve had with it so far is that even though I’ve enabled T9 dialing, it still doesn’t really work. Meaning, I start typing a contact’s name using the dial pad, but their number doesn’t come up. Aesthetically, though, it is absolutely beautiful.

Settings

Above you can see the About Phone screen from the Settings app, with the exact ROM version I’m using. The Settings app itself contains some surprising (and useful) entries, especially in the Developer Options section:

Above you can see the Show CPU Usage option in action. This option puts an overlay of currently CPU use and processes on the top-right corner of the screen, so you can see what’s hogging up the CPU. There are simpler ways to do this (like the aforementioned Task Manager), but this is still pretty fun.

Final Thoughts

We’ve been waiting for Ice Cream Sandwich for several months now. I am glad to tell you, it is ready. If you have an Galaxy S II, you really should try Resurrection Remix. Just make sure to back up your device beforehand, and good luck!

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The Google Earth team have released Google Earth 6.2 for Android and iOS devices, bringing long-awaited support for custom content in the form of .KLM files. While both versions still differ slightly in terms of features, the latest update allows both iOS and Android users to download custom maps and overlays and display them using the app.

There are already a large number of .KLM files available on the Internet and now when users access them from a mobile device the Google Earth app will automatically open and display the custom content. This can range from live earthquake maps to hiking trails or even coverage of the Tour de France.

Google has also added Google Earth Gallery support into this latest release, a resource that makes finding the custom content possible from within the app. The Android version now also includes enhanced sharing options via Google+, Gmail and other applications allowing users to quickly share a screenshot of their current view.

The Android version of Google Earth 6.2 is already available on Google Play (that’s the recently rebranded Android Market) with an iOS version expected to show up in the App Store “soon”.

Download: Google Earth for Android @ Google Play
Download: Google Earth for iOS @ App Store

Source: Google Lat Long Blog

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What do you do when you’ve scored a break from work, are waiting for a bus or have just managed to find a bit of downtime while waiting for something? Do you pull out your phone and pass the time that way? If so, what are you doing? Reading Reddit, RSS feeds or eBooks? Or do you prefer to play games?

For those of you who love to play games in these random idle moments, here’s a list of great games which are entertaining, cheap, casual, silly and easy to pick up and set down. Well okay, easy to set down for some of you. For the rest of you, these games may spell disaster for your productivity. You’ve been warned. Read on!

Mr Legs

Mr Legs is a very silly-sounding game in which a stick figure runs around eating cherries. The artwork is endearing and humorous and the game itself will hook you instantly.

With Mr Legs, you collect cherries by magically growing his legs and running fast while avoiding bombs and birds. The backdrop for this nonsense varies from deserts through handbags and to musical scores.

Where’s My Water?

Where’s My Water is a Disney game designed for kids, but it’s still strangely addictive for all ages. It’s a simple premise: Swampy’s pipes are broken and you need to get them working so he can take a shower with his rubber ducky. The game will throw lots of physics-based puzzles at you in order for you to get the water flowing again.

Cut The Rope

Cut The Rope – It’s a simple idea behind a complicated and silly physics-based game. All you need to do is cut the rope in order to get the candy to Om Nom the monster. To make things difficult, you also have to collect stars and break bubbles. You’ll be frustrated and engrossed in no time at all.

Draw Something

Draw Something is the hottest game in the Android market place right now. It is a turn-based game which you can play against your friends (Android or iOS). It’s a lot like Pictionary and will keep you entertained for hours.

World Of Goo

World of Goo is a brilliant little game, where you use Goo to create structures. It’s strangely beautiful and really has to be tried to be understood.

Plants Versus Zombies

If you’ve ever played the desktop version of Plants Versus Zombies you’ll know how easy it is to play this game casually. PopCap games have a real habit of creating games that are completely addictive. The Android version is just as compelling as the original, so you won’t find yourself bored any time soon!

Angry Birds

Last year’s favourite game, Angry Birds, still hasn’t lost its charm. The physics-based puzzler has you catapulting birds at pigs – again and again and again. No, I don’t mean the game is repetitive. Rather, you’ll be unable to stop!

More Android Games

Don’t think that we’re done letting you know about the best Android games! Check out these:

• 5 Best Addictive Free Multiplayer Android Games
• The Five Best Zombie Games [Android]
• Best Android Apps
• 5 Free Android Games To Help You Lower Your Stress Levels At Work
• 3 Fun Free Racing Games [Android]
• The 5 Best Strategy Games For Android [Gaming]
• Two Fun, Free, Relaxing Android Games For Word Lovers

What are your favorite Android games? Let us know in the comments!

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AV-Test, an independent organization well known for testing PC security suites, put 17 popular Android anti-virus apps to the test. The results were disappointing, to say the least. A majority of apps failed to detect at least 65% of malware samples and six apps failed to detect a single sample.

Mobile operating systems are the undiscovered country of computer security. As hackers discover new ways to infect Android, security researchers are looking for ways to remove or block those infections. The results of the new study suggest that the hackers have the upper hand.

As you can see in the image above, most of the top apps are from well-known security vendors such as Avast!, Kaspersky and F-Secure. The popular Lookout Security app also landed among the top group.

Brand names don’t guarantee excellent results, however. Apps from Norton, AVG and Bitdefender landed in the second tier. McAfee, Comodo and GData scored even worse, detecting less than 65% of the samples used in the study. Despite the poor showing, many of these apps are not free. McAfee, for example, is $29.99 a year after a 7-day trial.

We’ve reported on Android security apps previously, but this study is the largest and most informative yet. As you can see, the security app you choose does matter, at least when it comes to catching malware. Other common features, such as encryption or phone tracking, were not analyzed in this study. An earlier report by AV Comparatives can fill you in about those features.

If you’d like more information, read the full report at AV-Test.

Source: CNET

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There’s nothing cuter than a toddler playing a game on a smartphone. I used to think letting toddlers play with phones is a bad sign of the times, kids playing with screens instead of balls and all that, but there’s something truly unique about the way children enjoy these phone games, and after letting my cats play with my iPad, I can’t very well refuse to let my 17-month-old niece play with my phone.

My niece has been playing with my phone ever since she was 10 months old, and her enjoyment of the games keeps increasing as she gets older. While very small babies may throw the phone on the floor in a fit of frustration, older toddlers are too busy playing to actually hurt the device. There are numerous games out there, and Ryan has written a good list in the past, but the Android market changes quickly, and new and awesome games emerge all the time. Here are the best, most-liked games on my Android device as of today. Way better than TV!

Baby Rattle [2.1-3.2]

Baby Rattle accomplishes two important tasks in one sweet game. It both keeps your toddler entertained, and prevents it from accessing anything else on the device while playing. If you’ve ever let a child play with your phone, you know the latter is a serious problem, both for the child and the device’s owner.

When you first install and launch Baby Rattle, the app will instruct you about enabling the child lock feature. You only have to do this once. Next time you load the app, it will already be locked. You can also decide to forego the child lock option.

The game itself is highly amusing, even for the adults playing along with the children. There are 5 different rattles, each with a different background and different characters. The screen reacts with movement and rattle sounds when the child touches a character, when they shake the phone, when the phone’s buttons are pressed, etc. Since shaking the phone moves things around, it’s hard to take a proper screenshot of the game itself, but this is the general idea.

You can also set the game to force airplane mode every time it’s launched, if you’re worried about radiation and such. In order to exit the game, you’d need to enter the Settings through the menu and enter a code.

Toddler Lock [1.5+]

Toddler Lock is another cute phone locker that keeps kids entertained while protecting the phone. With this game, you can hand over the phone and simply watch the toddler play.

Setting up the lock is similar to Baby Rattle. Once that’s done, every time you launch the app it will immediately lock and start showing shapes and playing musical notes. Touching the screen will create more and more shapes in different colors, and dragging a finger on the screen will draw lines. It’s a very simple app, but surprisingly effective with children, who enjoy the shapes, sounds and colors immensely.

Here, too, you can set it to automatically enable airplane mode. Note that if you use an alternative launcher on your phone, the app may interfere with it. I did not encounter this problem, however. There are donation versions of the app both for $1 and $2.

Kids Piano Lite [1.5+]

For music-loving or duck-loving kids, try out Kids Piano. The free version offers multiple modes, in-app games and skins. Some of the options are great for older kids as well, and others are suitable for younger babies.

To start, you can choose between play mode, song mode and game mode. In play mode, the child can use the mini-piano to play different notes, which then appear on the left side of the screen. This is a great way for young toddlers to enjoy colors and sounds and for older kids to learn more about music.

In song mode there are actual songs the child can listen to and play, and game mode offers 4 different games for older kids, such as this “catch the mouse” game. In each mode, you can enable and disable baby lock through the menu.

There are 4 different piano themes to choose from. The favorite with my niece is the duck, hands down. In fact, for her, the name of the game is the word she uses for a duck, do you see where the priorities lie? A paid version is available for $2.50.

Itsy Bitsy Spider [2.1+]

Itsy Bitsy Spider is the only paid app ($1.99) in the lineup, but boy is it worth it. My niece has an infatuation with the itsy bitsy spider song, so off I went in search of a matching app, and hit the veritable itsy bitsy jackpot.

The game sings out the song of the itsy bitsy spider, but everything is interactive. Every line of the song gets its own screen, in which the toddler can tap on anything to make things happen. The app is also educational, teaching children about numbers, the butterfly’s lifecycle, and animal names. There’s also a fly in every screen that happily starts speaking about scientific facts when tapped.

This is my niece’s all-time favorite game, and she’s learned to tap the spider every time she wants the game to move on, and is fascinated by the squirrel, the snail and the butterfly. There’s also an inner game of collecting Easter eggs on the spider’s head and bringing them to his web. Truly awesome and fun game. I only wish it could be toddler-locked to prevent children from exiting by mistake. As it is, you might want to be holding the phone yourself when playing the game with younger kids.

ZOOLA Free [2.1+]

If there’s something kids love, it’s animal sounds. My niece’s first actual word was the sound a dog makes, and this remained her only word for several months. Zoola is a great animal-sound game, with amazing photos and accurate sounds, and even includes male, female and baby versions of every animal (admit it, you never knew what sound a baby zebra makes!).

There are farm animals and wild animals, and even different breeds of dogs (most of which are locked in the free version, but no matter, they all bark anyway). Tapping on an animal opens a full-size image, and sliding your finger on the image switches from male to female to baby to heart, which is a picture of the animal with a song in the background.

The animal buttons are a bit small for young toddlers to press themselves, but they will happily point at the animal they want to hear, and slide their finger to switch between genders. Great way to learn about animals and the sounds they make. Only thing missing is a baby lock feature. Get the full version for $1.99

Bottom Line

The bottom line is, let your children play with your phones! Maybe not for hours on end, but this can be a fun and educational experience for the both of you. They will grow up using the thing non-stop anyway, so you might as well make it useful as long as you can.

What do you think of the whole concept? Do you let your children play with your phone? Do you know of any awesome games your child simply can’t stop playing? Share in the comments!

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A lot of people can agree that the Android operating system is pretty awesome. Not only is it great to use, but it’s also free as in open source, so that it can be modified by anyone. This is why custom ROMs, like CyanogenMod, can exist. But how the heck can you install those ROMs onto your device? This requires a couple of steps, so read carefully!

What Is a ROM?

Before we begin, what is a ROM anyways? It’s simply the system that your device runs on. If you haven’t done anything to it yet, then you’re running your device’s stock ROM. CyanogenMod, for example, is known as a custom ROM, as it’s Android with lots of neat tweaks that can only be applied with the entire code sitting in front of you. Changing ROMs requires “flashing” them, which can be seen as writing the ROM to your device’s memory.

Check For Support

ROMs need to be made for each specific Android device model, as they all contain different hardware, and must be customized for them. CyanogenMod offers support for plenty of popular devices, but some are still left out because there are so many different Android devices in the market and not all are equally popular or physically capable. So if you’re interested, it’s best to check out their list of devices to see if your device is supported or not.

Generic Instructions

Since each device has a different set of specific instructions, I’ll be generalizing the process from this point onward. If your device is supported by CyanogenMod, you’ll find more specific instructions on what to do on their wiki.

Root Your Device

The first step is to somehow root your device. When you root a device, you are using some sort of workaround to gain administrative powers on your device. Consumer devices only allow the user to have regular user permissions that are unable to touch system files. However, with root/administrative permissions, you can quite literally do whatever you want on your device, even brick it.

There are multiple ways of doing this, such as exploiting a security hole to give root access (or downgrading to then use the security exploit), flashing a new kernel or recovery onto your phone, or using an application called SuperOneClick. Please note that these are not all the different ways for you to root your device, but rather some examples of what is commonly done to root a device. You will probably need to follow a specific path to root your specific device.

Replace The Recovery

Unless the first step automatically includes this, you’ll need to replace your recovery next. The recovery is a little program that you can boot into before the operating system loads so that you can execute recovery-type actions. If this reminds you of Windows’ recovery actions, you’re thinking in the right direction. This step also depends on your device, but usually you’ll end up having ClockworkRecovery installed.

Download All Necessary Files

The next step is to download the necessary files that you’ll need. This will be the appropriate ROM for your device, the gapps package, and other possible packages such as updated radio drivers. This package includes the Google goodies we all love. It’s separate because of some restrictions on the Google apps themselves, but installing them separately is no issue.

Flash All Packages

Finally, you’ll need to boot into your recovery (how do to that depends on the device), and use it to erase your device and then flash .zip files to it. This is the part where you’re actually doing the installation, so it’s very important to follow all instructions. Make sure that you also install everything in the correct order, as not following the suggested order may brick your device. Once all packages have been installed, reboot the device, wait a couple of minutes, and you should now be in CyanogenMod.

Conclusion

I feel that it’s very worthwhile to install CyanogenMod because of the great tweaks that come with it. Additionally, some phones, like the original G1, get much longer support than from the carriers themselves. For example, T-Mobile updated the G1 until Android 1.6, then stopped. With CyanogenMod, I got to go all the way to Android 2.2 before support was finally dropped (and with good reason). If you need any more help with the process, YouTube may be your best resource as you get to see what you need to do.

Have you flashed CyanogenMod on your device? How do you like it? Do you have other ROMs that are noteworthy? Let us know in the comments!

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YouTube for Android had been updated, and can now play HD videos on Gingerbread and Froyo (2.3 and 2.2) devices as well. While the feature is now there, only capable phone will be able to actually play videos in HD.

Many Android users are still using Gingerbread and Froyo, so this update should be relevant and welcome for a fair number of users. If you’re not sure whether you screen has the right resolution, the best option in this case will be to simply get the new YouTube update on your device and see if can stream HD videos.

Don’t confuse HQ (high quality) with HD. Even before this update, your phone was capable of showing YouTube videos in HQ. This new update will hopefully enable HD video streaming, which is quite different. The update should work on devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note, HTC Rezound, Motorola Droid Razr and more (i.e., newer devices). If you can’t see the update on your device, you can head over to the Android Market and download it manually.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve managed to get HD streaming, and on which devices.

Source: Android Central

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/youtube-300.png?323f2c" />YouTube for Android had been href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.youtube">updated, and can now play HD videos on Gingerbread and Froyo (2.3 and 2.2) devices as well. While the feature is now there, only capable phone will be able to actually play videos in HD.

Many Android users are still using Gingerbread and Froyo, so this update should be relevant and welcome for a fair number of users. If you’re not sure whether you screen has the right resolution, the best option in this case will be to simply get the new YouTube update on your device and see if can stream HD videos.

class="aligncenter" title="youtube-hd-update[7]" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/youtube-hd-update7.jpg?323f2c" />

Don’t confuse HQ (high quality) with HD. Even before this update, your phone was capable of showing YouTube videos in HQ. This new update will hopefully enable HD video streaming, which is quite different. The update should work on devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note, HTC Rezound, Motorola Droid Razr and more (i.e., newer devices). If you can’t see the update on your device, you can head over to the Android Market and href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.youtube">download it manually.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve managed to get HD streaming, and on which devices.

Source: href="http://www.androidcentral.com/youtube-app-update-brings-hd-quality-capable-froyo-and-gingerbread-devices">Android Central

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/memoires-thumb.jpg?323f2c" alt="" />One of the surest ways to combat writer’s block is to keep something handy when a sudden inspiration strikes you. Earlier it used to be a scrap of paper in the wallet, but lately it has been my Android phone. Digital diaries are not only for recording off the cuff thoughts and random bolts of ideas, diaries also happen to be better at dealing with memory loss than any brain booster pills.

With that thought in mind, I went in search of a journal-diary application for my Android. I came across cool apps like href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/catch-notes-notetaking-app-android-ios-worth/">Catch Notes and href="https://market.android.com/details?id=de.softxperience.android.noteeverything">Note Everything. And then I bumped into href="https://market.android.com/details?id=net.nakvic.dromoris">Memoires. I am still holding on to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/evernote-the-killer-app-for-the-android-mobile-phone/">Evernote, but Memoires has a few standout features that need mentioning.

Memoires Is Secure & Encrypted

Memoires comes with password protection. All your sensitive notes can be encrypted and kept away from prying eyes. Memoires stores all data in a specific folder on the SD card. The size of your records is thus only limited by the size of the memory card. This also makes it easy to backup all your stored notes to your PC or to an online storage like Dropbox.

Memoires – Key Features

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/memoires01.png?323f2c" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

The above screenshot shows the app interface. The following features are available that can enrich the data specificity of your notes:

• You can take audio recordings and attach them as voice memos. An unlimited number of audio recordings can be stored (again, limited by the size of your data card)
• You can use the camera and attach snapshots to your notes. Conversely, an image file can be described with the help of a note.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/memoires02.png?323f2c" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

• Each individual note can be tagged to better organize them. You can add multiple tags to each note. For instance, you can tag notes as journal entries, shopping lists, to-do lists etc.
• Each note can be better described with “moods” by adding emoticons from the set provided.

class="size-full wp-image-101301 aligncenter" title="memoires03" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/memoires03.png?323f2c" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

• Memoires notes include automatic geo location by default. The altitude and address is either automatically obtained or can be entered manually on the map. The location tagging is especially useful for people on the go and later you can filter notes based on location or address.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/memoires04.png?323f2c" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

• The current weather and the lunar conditions can also be recorded as further points of reference. Though, I haven’t found much use for this so far.
• Memoires enables you to sync your notes with your Google account. You can sync it across to the spreadsheet and upload images to Picasa (into an album labeled as Memoires Photo Album). You can configure the synchronization from the Import/Export options of the app. Filtered or all notes can be exported as RTF documents to the Google Docs account. Read more about it href="https://sites.google.com/site/drodiary/documentation/synchronization-with-google-docs">here.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/memoires05.png?323f2c" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

• Memoires gives you full text search, filter search with tags, address, and date ranges.

class="size-full wp-image-101304 aligncenter" title="memoires06" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/memoires06.png?323f2c" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

• The calendar view shows you all your notes by date plus a few other view options as shown below.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/memoires07.png?323f2c" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

Flow Of Thoughts

The tenth key feature. I didn’t include this feature of Memoires in the above list as it’s an important feature to deserve some space of its own. Flow of thoughts allows you to thread a stream of thoughts. Later, you can refer to these thoughts in the order you created them. Each note in the flow links to the other. For instance, the screen below shows that there are related thoughts to the one recorded. Clicking on the small icon (the speech bubble on the right) takes you to the linked thought or note.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/memoires08.png?323f2c" alt="" width="320" height="244" />

You can create a flow by clicking on a note (the dropdown in the top corner) and selecting Follow up…

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/memoires09.png?323f2c" alt="" width="320" height="480" />

You can go into your flows directly by clicking on the eye icon and choosing the Flows view – as shown in the screenshot under Point 9.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/note-taking/">Note taking gets to be a habit with some of us. It may sound simple, but when the notes start piling up, organization becomes the order of the day. Memoires has a few nifty features that address that need from the very beginning. How did you find it so far? Would you use Memoires as a notes tool on your Android? Tell us if you have a different preference.

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats.png?323f2c" alt="apps for cats"/>

Here at MakeUseOf, we’re huge fans of cats. Not only do we love Nyan Cat (on our href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/add-nyan-cat-progress-bars-awesome/">progress bars and otherwise), but we even let our cats href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-apps-turn-ipad-overpricedyetawesome-cat-toy/">play iPad games.

So today, I would like to present you with a small collection of apps for your Android device that would let you show the world how truly crazy you are about your feline friends. Oh, and Nyan cat is featured, not once, but twice!

Pop Tart Cat Live Wallpaper

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats4.png?323f2c" alt="apps for cats" width="300" height="500"/>

Android developer Existential Fashion Disaster not only has an excellent name, but also an excellent taste in memes, as their href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.custom.lwp.poptartcatlwp">Pop Tart Cat Live Wallpaper app clearly shows. This app delivers exactly what you would expect: It’s Nyan Cat, overjoyed as usual, running to nowhere on your screen. Just finished a phone call? Nyan cat is there. Tapped the Home button after reading your Twitter feed? There’s Nyan cat, running along!

If you feel any shortage of Nyan Cat in your life and/or mobile existence, this is one way to fix it. Fortunately (for your friends and family), live wallpapers don’t have any sound effects, so you’ll have to marvel at Nyan Cat sans soundtrack on this one.

Tickling Cat

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats6.png?323f2c" alt="android apps cats" width="300" height="449"/>

In the words of developer Inline Planning, href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.inline.cotyoneco1">Tickling Cat is “firmly clutchy application to heal your heart like a cat!”. Well, I ask, what can you say to that? This must be one of the least intelligent Android applications to ever grace my device, but over 100,000 enthusiastic Android users can’t be wrong… can they?

Basically, you rub the screen, the cat goes wild, and the meter starts filling up. Once the meter is full, let go of the screen, and the cat will strike a random (usually weird) pose. A bit of purring could do this application a world of good, but  here, again, there are no sound effects. Too bad. A nice application for very young kids, maybe. Even if you’re not going to install it, you should go to its Market page just to read the description, containing gems such as “This cute cat is stroked with a finger belly tickle and be glad!”

SpaceCat

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats8.png?323f2c" alt="android apps cats" width="580" height="348"/>

From the most rudimentary of belly-rubbing games, we now shift into state-of-the-art 3D, sophisticated sound effects, and a realistic physics engine. It’s a cat… in a spaceship! In href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.thepilltree.spacecat">SpaceCat, you get to launch your feline friend across the screen in something that looks like a retro moon lander. Tap the screen to fire the jets, and tilt your device to steer. You need to avoid walls and laser screens, hunt mice floating in air, and bring the cat to a gentle landing at the end of each level.

Quite a fun game, really. The game is listed as “free” on the Market, but is rife with in-app purchases. The free version includes nine “training levels” (which are quite nice), and a single cat and spaceship combo. There are plenty of other levels you can buy once you’re in the game, and most importantly, you can customize the heck out of your cat:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats10.png?323f2c" alt="android apps cats" width="580" height="348"/>

If you’ve ever dreamed of seeing your cat fly around in a colander, this is the game for you. You buy stuff using “pills”, and you buy pills using… money. This colander, for example, costs 400 pills. You can get 10,000 pills for 5 Euros. I’m not a huge fan of games with in-game purchases and so much disabled content, but the basic gameplay is pretty cute. Whether or not you want to invest in pills is up to you, really.

And last but not least… I promised you some more Nyan Cat, didn’t I?

NyanCat Game

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats12.png?323f2c" alt="android apps cat lovers" width="580" height="348"/>

In href="https://market.android.com/details?id=hu.butcher.nyanCat">NyanCat Game, you get to actually be Nyan Cat! You fly around the screen emitting a rainbow tail, eat stars, and try to avoid rocks, clouds, and other baddies. You can pick one of three control schemes:

style="background-image: none; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;" title="cats[14]" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats14.png?323f2c" alt="android apps cat lovers"width="580" height="348" border="0" />

The first lets you drag Nyan Cat around directly, the second offers a pair of d-pads, and the third lets you control Nyan Cat by tilting your device. The one selected above worked best for me, so that’s what I recommend. Here’s a screenshot of  the game itself:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cat.png?323f2c" alt="apps for cats" width="580" height="348"/>

Note the awesome Facebook banner – Looking for Ship Cat? Indeed I am, but I think I already found Mr. Ship Cat right here. The screenshot is a bit choppy due to the animation, but the game plays smoothly. And unlike the Nyan Cat live wallpaper, this game does feature the complete Nyan Cat song – be sure to play this on the bus at full volume with no headphones.

Your Recommendations

Did I miss an essential application for cat lovers? Let me know below!

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats.png?323f2c" alt="apps for cats"/>

Here at MakeUseOf, we’re huge fans of cats. Not only do we love Nyan Cat (on our href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/add-nyan-cat-progress-bars-awesome/">progress bars and otherwise), but we even let our cats href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-apps-turn-ipad-overpricedyetawesome-cat-toy/">play iPad games.

So today, I would like to present you with a small collection of apps for your Android device that would let you show the world how truly crazy you are about your feline friends. Oh, and Nyan cat is featured, not once, but twice!

Pop Tart Cat Live Wallpaper

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats4.png?323f2c" alt="apps for cats" width="300" height="500"/>

Android developer Existential Fashion Disaster not only has an excellent name, but also an excellent taste in memes, as their href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.custom.lwp.poptartcatlwp">Pop Tart Cat Live Wallpaper app clearly shows. This app delivers exactly what you would expect: It’s Nyan Cat, overjoyed as usual, running to nowhere on your screen. Just finished a phone call? Nyan cat is there. Tapped the Home button after reading your Twitter feed? There’s Nyan cat, running along!

If you feel any shortage of Nyan Cat in your life and/or mobile existence, this is one way to fix it. Fortunately (for your friends and family), live wallpapers don’t have any sound effects, so you’ll have to marvel at Nyan Cat sans soundtrack on this one.

Tickling Cat

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats6.png?323f2c" alt="android apps cats" width="300" height="449"/>

In the words of developer Inline Planning, href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.inline.cotyoneco1">Tickling Cat is “firmly clutchy application to heal your heart like a cat!”. Well, I ask, what can you say to that? This must be one of the least intelligent Android applications to ever grace my device, but over 100,000 enthusiastic Android users can’t be wrong… can they?

Basically, you rub the screen, the cat goes wild, and the meter starts filling up. Once the meter is full, let go of the screen, and the cat will strike a random (usually weird) pose. A bit of purring could do this application a world of good, but  here, again, there are no sound effects. Too bad. A nice application for very young kids, maybe. Even if you’re not going to install it, you should go to its Market page just to read the description, containing gems such as “This cute cat is stroked with a finger belly tickle and be glad!”

SpaceCat

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats8.png?323f2c" alt="android apps cats" width="580" height="348"/>

From the most rudimentary of belly-rubbing games, we now shift into state-of-the-art 3D, sophisticated sound effects, and a realistic physics engine. It’s a cat… in a spaceship! In href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.thepilltree.spacecat">SpaceCat, you get to launch your feline friend across the screen in something that looks like a retro moon lander. Tap the screen to fire the jets, and tilt your device to steer. You need to avoid walls and laser screens, hunt mice floating in air, and bring the cat to a gentle landing at the end of each level.

Quite a fun game, really. The game is listed as “free” on the Market, but is rife with in-app purchases. The free version includes nine “training levels” (which are quite nice), and a single cat and spaceship combo. There are plenty of other levels you can buy once you’re in the game, and most importantly, you can customize the heck out of your cat:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats10.png?323f2c" alt="android apps cats" width="580" height="348"/>

If you’ve ever dreamed of seeing your cat fly around in a colander, this is the game for you. You buy stuff using “pills”, and you buy pills using… money. This colander, for example, costs 400 pills. You can get 10,000 pills for 5 Euros. I’m not a huge fan of games with in-game purchases and so much disabled content, but the basic gameplay is pretty cute. Whether or not you want to invest in pills is up to you, really.

And last but not least… I promised you some more Nyan Cat, didn’t I?

NyanCat Game

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats12.png?323f2c" alt="android apps cat lovers" width="580" height="348"/>

In href="https://market.android.com/details?id=hu.butcher.nyanCat">NyanCat Game, you get to actually be Nyan Cat! You fly around the screen emitting a rainbow tail, eat stars, and try to avoid rocks, clouds, and other baddies. You can pick one of three control schemes:

style="background-image: none; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;" title="cats[14]" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cats14.png?323f2c" alt="android apps cat lovers"width="580" height="348" border="0" />

The first lets you drag Nyan Cat around directly, the second offers a pair of d-pads, and the third lets you control Nyan Cat by tilting your device. The one selected above worked best for me, so that’s what I recommend. Here’s a screenshot of  the game itself:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cat.png?323f2c" alt="apps for cats" width="580" height="348"/>

Note the awesome Facebook banner – Looking for Ship Cat? Indeed I am, but I think I already found Mr. Ship Cat right here. The screenshot is a bit choppy due to the animation, but the game plays smoothly. And unlike the Nyan Cat live wallpaper, this game does feature the complete Nyan Cat song – be sure to play this on the bus at full volume with no headphones.

Your Recommendations

Did I miss an essential application for cat lovers? Let me know below!

View full post on MakeUseOf