Showing posts with label Microsoft: No more keyboards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Microsoft: No more keyboards. Show all posts

Friday, November 25, 2011

At&t Cell Phones: Finding Ways To Provide Iphone For All


A new technique in the cell phone industry to get customers who might otherwise avoid expensive smart phones is through selling refurbished cell phones. AT&T Cell Phones recently did this with the iPhone, giving new customers an excellent smart phone at the cost of a basic phone. This is a great way to reach out to new clients and insure no product is ever wasted.

A refurbished iPhone from ATT cell phones, or any phone from any company for that matter, is essentially a new phone. Basically refurbished means a person is buying a used casing but all the technology within the phone is updated and brand new. So there may be a small blemish here or there but the smart phone itself, for all intents and purposes, is a new cell phone. That is why this is such a great way to reach those on a smaller budget. These people, me included, will not mind a ding here or there (though it is entirely possible that one will get a phone with no blemishes at all) as they know those will come with time anyway. So if the hardware inside works, the stuff that truly matters, why should you care about anything else on the outside?

At AT&T Cell Phones, the iPhones have been returned within the 30 day trial period, the software inside is then checked and updated and then the phones are put back on the market. That means that a refurbished iPhone could have been a gift to someone. Say that someone already had an iPhone but the person giving the gift was unaware. Then that phone will be returned to ATT Cell Phones, it will have its hardware checked, and then it will be sold as refurbished. So it is a new iPhone and for a fraction of the regular cost.

These are deals that even those with the money to buy new should consider. Remember, refurbished is not used. These will come with warranties and guarantees, the software is as good as any new phones software, it is simply that once it was taken out of its original packaging it cannot be sold as "new."

So if there is ever software you are considering but your budget is limited check to see if they offer the item as refurbished. The savings is tremendous, the quality is equal to new and the feeling of getting such a great deal is undeniable. This author is still shocked that it has not become a more popular thing to do, but it should. And maybe after this article, it will
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Sunday, November 20, 2011

5 Awesome Android GPS Apps


As the Android Market grew in popularity, many developers created useful applications. Even until now, they constantly upgrade their versions to keep the users attached to such applications. GPS used to be limited in big-time companies and major institutions, but with certain applications, you can enable your portable gadget to use the amazing GPS technology.
It does not matter if you own a smartphone or a tablet PC, as Android has got the figured out already. For as long as you use Android as your operating system, your choices of downloading the finest GPS application are endless. By using a GPS-enabled gadget, you are able to track a certain person or locate a friend.
What sort of GPS application should you choose, then? There are free applications, and there are those that come with a small price. Surely, you can find hundreds of them in the Android Market, but here are the 5 best:
1. Google Maps Navigation
Internet giant Google has invented many clever technologies, and Google Maps is certainly one of its finest inventions yet. This application is available for Android versions 1.6 and higher. Unlike other GPS applications, Google Maps allows you to take a look at locations using Street View or Satellite View. You can also zoom into the map if you want a clearer and more precise view. Even if you are in the farthest corner of the world, you can never go wrong with Google Maps.
2. Loopt
This portable Android version offers amazing features like receiving notifications when a friend is spotted at a nearby location. You can also toggle between map and satellite modes. With Loopt, it is possible to share information through social media like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
3. Glympse
By using T-Mobile G1's GPS technology, fellow Glympse users can identify your current whereabouts, which they can share to friends, family and colleagues. What makes this application tick is that you need not register or login, so you need not share or add personal information. Adding friends is also not required. Glympse is quite safe, as viewing your location can only be seen for 15 minutes to 4 hours.
4. Locale
Many users are raving about this application, because of its convenience and simplicity. By using your location, your phone settings can be adjusted conveniently. Simple reminders like charging your battery and turning your phone to silent mode in cinemas are actually possible. This is perfect for people who tend to forget little day-to-day things, as you can configure your gadget to do whatever you want.
5. CoPilot
This is the perfect GPS application for the jet setter and the occasional traveler. With CoPilot, you can plan your routes and access maps, which can be downloaded to your gadget. If you have an SD card with a larger memory, you can fit the whole map of North America. Aside from its amazing features, CoPilot has a striking yet user-friendly interface. This application also allows you to use voice alerts, which you can take advantage of even while driving.


Best Verizon iPhone 4 Case - Otterbox Impact


Once you have purchased an iPhone 4, you want to do everything you can to protect it from scratches, dirt, dents and any other damage. One of the best cases you can get for superior damage control is the Otterbox Impact Silicone Case.
This is a tough case, offering maximum protection for your device. It not only protects from scratches and dings, but it can offset the effects of bumps and shocks, as well.
The outside of the case is constructed from a durable silicone material, while the inside offers inner coring to further protect your iPhone from more series damage like bumps and shocks. As an added measure of protection, self-adhesive clear screen protectors are included with the package, offering a total protection system for your iPhone 4.
Although the Impact Case is not as ultra slim as some other cases available today, it still maintains the sleek look of your iPhone and is surprisingly lightweight.
The case is available in six vivid colors to include blue, red, yellow, white, purple and pink. This allows for a fun, great looking case while offering top level protection at the same time.
Installation of your iPhone 4 into the case is quick and easy by simply sliding it right inside. The case snaps back into place and you are ready to go. The silicone surface of the case provides a nice grip to the phone, so you can hold it without it sliding out of your hand and it will stay put when you set it down.
As for using your iPhone 4 features, all buttons and controls work easily and effectively while in the case. The home button is completely covered by the case, but works the same as always. Volume controls are set up this way, too. By keeping the buttons and controls completely covered, they are spared from the effects of dust and dirt. Precise cutouts enable you to use the camera, microphone and jacks. There is a larger cutout located at the bottom of the case for speakers and a dock connector.
The bottom line is that you get all of the features of the Impact Silicone Case at a very affordable price, which makes the decision even easier to choose this case for your iPhone 4. If you want a very high level of quality protection for your phone, the Impact Silicone Case may be right for you.

What Kinds of Cases for the iPhone 4S Are Available?


There are now three major carriers where people can buy Apple's latest communication device. With more people having access to these types of phones there are more of them looking to protect their purchases with cases designed for the iPhone 4S. These communication devices are more and more popular and are one of the forerunners to the smart phones that are becoming more predominate in today's market. They will cost you quite a bit of money to secure one, so you will want to protect it with cases for the iPhone 4S.
Now you have three different carriers to choose. It will depend on which carrier has the features that you want with your particular plan. This of course, will be dependent on what you will be using the services for.
As soon as you decide that you are buying this technological device, you will need to start looking for cases for the iPhone 4S. It is just a smart move to purchase a cover that will be adequate to protect your expensive purchase. Most of these types of protective covers weigh only a few milligrams so it will not make the unit bulky or too heavy to carry. The front and back of the device has some glass on it so the protection is necessary for such delicacies.
The cases for the iPhone 4S comes in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Styles are just as varied as well ranging from conservative to sleek and even to totally absurd. There is certainly a style that will please people with every sort of taste. Colors come in standard blacks, whites and various shades of many colors. There are some that are brightly colored as well as multi-colored. There are over 39 cases for the iPhone 4S.
These specialized covers are made to absorb shock for those drops that can happen no matter how careful you are. Plus they are also impact resistant. Many of them have a flexible grip to help keep you from dropping the device and a few of them come in packs of three and have matching colors. You can even choose one that looks like a manila envelope but it's made out of pure leather.
There are a lot of cases for the iPhone 4S from which customers can choose. It is simply too broad of a choice to list all of them here. Suffice it to say that there is certainly one that will match your taste.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Mobile Android and iOS Game Development


The game industry has experienced a considerable shift in the past few years. Online and social games have emerged as massive markets showing explosive growth. But what has really taken off is mobile gaming. It's highly dynamic nature has influenced not only the structure of the video game business, but consumers' attitude towards gaming as well.
Traditionally, we know people have been playing video games in the bedroom and lounge room. Nowadays due to the mobile industry development, games are delivered anytime, anywhere, and across a wide range of mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. Increasingly, the gamer expects to access his games from any device of his liking, rather than limiting himself to consoles or PCs. Moreover, mobile gaming does suit our busy life style; therefore our appetite for it is growing.
And mobile gaming meets our expectations. The rise of underlying forces such as smartphone sales, tablet sales, mobile internet subscribers and applications downloads point out to a rosy future for the industry.
A few years ago mobile gaming was dominated by two companies: Nintendo with its Nintendo DS handheld and Sony with its PlayStation Portable. However, with growing smartphone and tablet markets and increasing advances in mobile device development, Android and iOS devices are becoming the systems of choice for many handheld gaming enthusiasts. Hundreds of volunteers are working in mobile development.
Android and iOS smartphones, portable media players, and tablets have most of the essential features of portable gaming devices - touch screens, motion sensors, accelerometers, and fast graphics, in addition to functioning as phones, contact managers coupled with wireless interfaces for Internet access. One more advantage is that Android and iOS users don't need to go to a store to get titles they can browse and download games anywhere from either App Store or Android Market.
One may point out that smartphone and tablet games cannot compete with well-designed titles for specific gaming devices. However, it's becoming clear that a large (and growing) portion of the consumer marketplace is satisfied with general-purpose smartphones and tablets.
All the same console gaming still rules nowadays, followed by online and PC gaming. But as hardware continues to evolve, mobile gaming provides a very rich user experience. 3D technology, motion detection and smart gesture recognition are becoming commonplace allowing developers to harness the potential of gaming. In short, the mobile games development has only just begun. The age of new mobile games has started.


Twitter - The Latest Feature Of iPhone iOS 5


It was first Orkut, then Facebook, now it's Twitter. Twitter is the world's foremost social networking site. It is a site that is more lightweight than Facebook and more precise. It is an on-the-go site that is fairly simple to use. Used by stars and celebrities it has gained popularity all through the world for instant updates. The iPhone is definitely not late in catching the Twitter-fever. Thus the Twitter application on iPhone was born thanks to the hard work by iPhone developers.
The Twitter application is integrated in iOS5 and is an extension of the Twitter website, in the form of an iPhone application. Each update put up on the website is called a 'tweet'. A tweet is understood both as a noun as well as a verb. Somebody always tweets a tweet. Since Twitter is incorporated into the operating system of the mobile, it can be invoked from a list of other applications namely safari or YouTube or maps.
Setting Up
In iPhone, a Twitter account is set up in the settings section, just like how email accounts are setup. We can set up any number of Twitter accounts. The important feature here is that we can store the Twitter usernames of our friends, right in their contacts, just like their mobile numbers. This ensures a one-time login and a one-time storage of names. If you have a 3Gs then you can find the Twitter application in the Apple AppStore which you can download and install.
Photo Tweets
Thanks to the iPhone development teams gone are those days, when you have to take your digital camera and your laptop on the go. Here, with this single application on your iPhone, you can make your travel luggage light as well as keep everyone updated about your life. And these updates can contain a photo of the moment that you want to share with your friends. It is a single one step process to tweeting. Take the required photo and touch the screen. There will be a drop up menu with the option tweet. It is as simple and easy as that.
Across Other Applications
This application is one of its kinds in the history of iPhone applications. Though there is a separate icon for Twitter, it can also be invoked from other applications. For example: if we are browsing through the internet on safari and we like the link that we are accessing. We want to tweet it. So what we must do is just click on the tweet option. The link along with our comments (if any) will be posted to the website. The other applications, from where we can tweet, are YouTube and Maps. From YouTube, we can tweet the video that we may have just uploaded. And from Maps we could tweet the location we are in or any distinct location that we want to tweet about.
An All-In-One Application
Hence, an iPhone incorporated with this application, is a digital camera, a laptop and a GPS, all rolled into one and this is due to the pains taken by the iPhone development teams to give us the best.


Friday, November 18, 2011

The iPhone Newsstand - Read All About It

An iPhone Newsstand is an application that has been developed to enable easy searching of information using a map query interface. It has a special store to buy and download magazine and newspaper issues and put them in order on a virtual bookshelf. It basically allows users to easily access magazine and newspapers through an iPhone application. Usually, the iPhone Newsstand looks and function more or less like an iBookstore, which sells e-books and stores them in an iBook application. It also allows the user to get a new place on the App Store for the newspapers and magazines. It actually allows you to skim headlines from a rack of newspapers and magazines thus also called a news rack.
Easy To Read
One good thing about the Newsstand is that it has a clean interface besides having an easy-to-read standard outlook which displays your subject folders and feeds. The entire new edition, once it is published, will be downloaded to you automatically through the iPhone Newsstand, the moment you subscribe to the publication.
It is with no hesitation that the iPhone development teams have created an app for the users, especially the ones that are familiar with the iBook routines though it is obviously designed to make the consumer spend more. If you want to read any publication, then you are only required to double-click the tap and the publication will be opened with all the stories on the left hand side. The headlines of current stories are normally highlighted in yellow. After you are through with the reading, just tap the "X" in the lower right of the screen to return to the Newsstand.
Organizing Your Feeds
Organizing feeds in this iPhone application is simply done by creating the folders and adding feeds with a few taps of the button. The Newsstand app tries to change the overabundance of individual newspaper and magazine apps with a central hub with which all newspaper and magazine subscriptions and purchases are managed on the iPhone.
Features
The key features of an iPhone Newsstand include the ability to share the information via twitter, email or Delicious.com. It also has the ability to organize the feeds into folders and it also allows feeds to be discovered automatically. Besides, the iPhone Newsstand is able to allow the subscriptions to be imported from Bloglines, OPML files or Google Reader. One main advantage of a Newsstand is that it acts as a standalone RSS reader by allowing the user to import feeds data from different sources without synchronizing with any online client or desktop. Moreover, the iPhone Newsstand also can let the user to download the newspaper or magazine and read it later even when offline. The feeds that the user can get covers a variety of topics and includes feeds like the New York Times, BBC news, Engadget, Wired, Lifehacker, and the Dilbert comic site. If the user can just carry on with feeds on the iPhone, then the Newsstand may be a suitable solution but if he or she is a heavy feeds user on a desktop as well, this may be a deal breaker.