BlueStacks (Windows)
- Details
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Sunday, 27 November 2011 23:07
- Written by Christian Dunn
BlueStacks is an Android App Player for Windows.
Ever wanted to play Angry Birds on your laptop?
This is only still in the early stages so features are limited but I can see great potential for this app in the future.
Connectify (Windows XP/Vista/7)
- Details
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Sunday, 27 November 2011 10:46
- Written by Christian Dunn
Connectify is the ultimate mobile wireless hotspot maker.
Create and share a wireless network from your computer in seconds.
Easy to use and it works for all types of devices.
Many devices do not support ad hoc networking. Although the feature is available in Windows 7 it also requires a compatible device. New standards such as wi-fi direct are appearing but it is unlikely your current phone, tablet, laptop, desktop ... will support it yet.
Connectify provides an easy to use wireless hotspot right from your computer, no router required.
So here's how it works..
You need a computer running XP or Vista or Windows 7 which is connected to the internet and has a spare wireless card. If your current computer connects to the internet using wireless then you will need two wireless adaptors in the computer for this to work. Ideally you should have this computer plugged in to your internet connection by a cable. Start it up, name the wireless hotspot and specify a password. Pull out your devices and connect to the wireless network.
If your current internet router doesn't support wireless, why spend money buying a new router when you can plug in a computer with a spare wireless card and instantly provide wireless access for your house. Save money using your mobile devices on wireless and get faster downloads.
FlyScreen (iPhone/Android/Symbian)
- Details
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Sunday, 27 November 2011 10:34
- Written by Christian Dunn
FlyScreen is a mobile app that gives you instant access to your favourite websites and services on your phone.
FlyScreen comes with a full list of built in integrations with social networking, SMS, weather, news feeds and more out of the box. As you can also include other widgets or XML feeds the configuration options are endless.
The best part of FlyScreen for me is the new feature for Android to show your updates on the lock screen of your phone providing instant access to important notifications and the ability to skim facebook or read an SMS without unlocking your phone. This provides even more information than the iPhone 4S does.
This is an application with great potential if it doesn't get swallowed up by Microsoft, Apple or Google.
You can also find FlyScreen in the Apple App Store or Android Market.
SpringPad (iPhone/Android/Web)
- Details
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Thursday, 10 November 2011 17:57
- Written by Christian Dunn
Springpad: a free app that helps you remember
This sums up a very nice app that I can't recommend more highly.
Springpad is a very smart virtual notebook allowing you to create tasks, notes or lists on any device and have them automatically appear on other devices in real time.
For example, I can start creating a list of tasks on my Android phone, open my ipad to action those tasks and mark them off as I complete each one then access the web portal the following day from my laptop to review outstanding tasks. This is an app that moves with you.
It's not just Notes either...
To give you some more bang for your buck... did I mention it's FREE?
Not only that but look at these great features:
- Notes, Tasks, Checklists
- Look up products, places, recipes and movies using the web and your contacts from Facebook and Google
- Save bookmarks direct from Chrome to Springpad while you work
- Discover and save recommendations from your social networks
- Do more on the road with barcode scanning, local searches and photo saving all part of the mobile apps.
and this is what you can do with that information:
- Organise it into notebooks
- Tag it to find later
- Add it to your own digital cork board
- Post it to Facebook, Twitter or send to an email
- Setup alerts and reminders
- Share notes publicly using public pages.
So where do I get it?
- Android - Marketplace download
- iPhone/iPad - App Store download
- Desktop/Laptop/Notebook - Login online
To make it easy you can even use your facebook, twitter or Google account to login.
iOS 5 - The worm in the old apple?
- Details
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Monday, 24 October 2011 09:32
- Written by Christian Dunn
iOS 5 has now been released for iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, iPad 1, iPad 2.
Yes iOS 5 is a much needed and long awaited update to iOS, just be realistic about your expectations, especially for owners of older devices.
Are there problems?
As a warning I have found many 3GS and iPad 1 devices perform very slowly after the upgrade. I would advise against upgrading until the next update is released to resolve these initial issues.
While upgrading devices a large number of users of various versions have found problems with their machine failing half way through, losing up to half of the applications or applications that will no longer work.
I have seen experienced engineers spend 2-4 hours to upgrade their devices to the new operating system.
**UPDATE** Since upgrading my 3GS is now barely usable. It can take over a minute to load the All Inboxes or Messaging windows and i am planning to completely wipe it. Stay Tuned...
Can I avoid it?
Not really. At some point you will have no choice. App heavy users may already experience the pain as many Apps now require iOS 5 to work.
So what do I get?
Notification Center (you will have seen this before in Android or Windows Mobile)
iMessage (text messages over the internet)
Newstand
Reminders
Twitter
Camera (improved)
Gallery (improved)
Safari (improved)
PC Free - Setup and backup using iCloud without a PC.
Mail font formatting improvements
Calendar improvements
Game Center improvements
Wi-Fi Sync (wirelessly sync your device over your network)
Multitasking Gestures for iPad 2
AirPlay mirroring for presentations
Accessibility features.
Need to move your iTunes library?
Members can check out the new Script section in Software.
Joomla 1.5
- Details
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Sunday, 25 September 2011 18:06
- Written by Christian Dunn
Chrisdunn.name is proudly produced with Joomla.
Developing this new site has been an experience in learning and developing in Joomla. With the ease of configuration common to blogging sites such as WordPress, Joomla is easy to get going with a basic template and some simple configuration. This makes it a worthy competitor in it's own right. Where Joomla takes this further is it's ability as a Content Management System and the scope of plugins available. Joomla can be easily modified to add attachments to articles, to run a helpdesk, run a forum, have multiple news feeds, manage mass email marketing and more.
It is worth being aware of the limitations with various web hosts. I am currently limited to version 1.5 because my host does not support PHP 5 so I can't move to version 1.7 yet or take advantage of a large number of plugins.
How would I rate my experience?
3.5 stars (I wish I could upgrade to 1.7)
So how would I choose?
If I was building a blog, especially for a low maintenance site without member logins and advanced customisation then I would use WordPress.
If I was building a site, especially with a long term plan to add retailing, helpdesk services, support forums and member specials and features then I would use Joomla.
And do you know what is best of all?
They are both free.
Check them out here:
http://www.wordpress.org
http://www.joomla.org