Friday 21 December 2012

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 1 - Waze

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 1
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012.

Waze
Web address: http://www.waze.com/
Platforms: iOS and Android

In a nutshell
Sat Nav with live traffic info

Description
Waze is a fun, community-based traffic & navigation app, 30 million strong. Join forces with other drivers nearby to outsmart traffic, save time & gas money, and improve everyone's daily commute.

With community-generated real-time traffic, you'll always get the best route to your destination. By simply driving around with Waze open, you're already contributing tons real-time traffic & road info to your local driving community. You can also actively report accidents, hazards, police and other events you see on the road, and get road alerts coming up on your route too. Find the cheapest gas station along your route with community-shared gas prices.

Now Waze makes it fun and simple to meet up and coordinate with friends on the road. Easily meet up, pick up friends, share your drive and ETA, and see who's headed to your destination too!

It's all about contributing to, and benefiting from, the 'common good' out there on the road, so hop on board, and get involved in your local driving community today!

✓ Live routing based on community-generated real-time traffic and road info
✓ Community-contributed road alerts including accidents, hazards, police traps, and more.
✓ Complete voice-guided navigation.
✓ Automatic re-routing as conditions on the road change.
✓ Learns your frequent destinations, commuting hours and preferred routes.
✓ Find the cheapest gas station on your route.
✓ Meet-up! Pick up friends, share your drive on a live map, see friends also on the way to your destination.
✓ Join or create groups to share info about your commute.
✓ Earn points and move up the ranks in your community as you contribute road info.
✓ Live maps, constantly updated by Waze community map editors.

Drive safe! Waze is hands-free and voice-operated.

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 2 - Dropbox

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 2
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012.

Dropbox
Web address: http://www.dropbox.com/mobile
Platforms: iOS, Android, and Blackberry

In a nutshell
Your life's work, wherever you are

Description
Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos anywhere. This means that any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, phones and even the Dropbox website. Dropbox also makes it super easy to share with others, whether you're a student or professional, parent or grandparent. Even if you accidentally spill a latte on your laptop, have no fear! You can relax knowing that Dropbox always has you covered, and none of your stuff will ever be lost.

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 3 - Evernote

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 3
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012.

Evernote
Web address: http://evernote.com/evernote/
Platforms: Just about everything!

In a nutshell
Remember everything

Description
Capture anything; Save your ideas, things you like, things you hear, and things you see. Access anywhere; Evernote works with nearly every computer, phone and mobile device out there. Find things fast; Search by keyword, tag or even printed and handwritten text inside images.

Thursday 20 December 2012

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 4 - Skype

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 4
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012.

Skype
Web address: http://skype.com/mobile
Platforms: iOS, Android, and Windows Phone

In a nutshell
Calling, seeing, messaging and sharing with others – wherever they are.

Description
Experience Skype in the palm of your hand. Here’s just a few of the great things you can do with the Skype App:

Free face to face video calls and instant messaging over a 3G or WiFi connection.

Low cost calls and text messages to mobiles and landlines.

Smooth video calling with anti-shake technology.

Take Skype with you today.

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 5 - Find My iPhone

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 5
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012.

Find My iPhone
Web address: http://www.apple.com/iphone/icloud/#find
Platforms: iOS

In a nutshell
Find your iPhone wherever it is

Description
Don’t panic. If one of your Apple devices goes missing, iCloud can help you figure out where you left it. Just sign in at iCloud.com or use the Find My iPhone app to see your missing Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch on a map. And iOS 6 and iCloud offer Lost Mode — making it even easier to find and protect a missing iOS device. With Lost Mode, you can immediately lock your device and send it a message with a contact number. Then whoever finds it can call you from the Lock screen without accessing the rest of the information on your device.

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 6 - Hootsuite

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 6
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012.

Hootsuite
Web address: http://hootsuite.com/mobile
Platforms: iOS, Android, Blackberry

In a nutshell
Social network management

Description
With HootSuite’s Twitter integration, you have all the tools needed to grow, nurture, and engage your audience. Use HootSuite to send and schedule Tweets, listen using search, list and keyword tracking streams, as well as monitor Mentions, Direct Messages, Sent Tweets, Favorited Tweets, and more in dedicated streams.

Simplify your social media with HootSuite's advanced Facebook functionality. Post updates, add images, monitor feeds, and more. Teams can manage complex campaigns – including Profiles, Pages, Events, Groups, and Search.

Connect with clients, broadcast news, amplify recruitment efforts, and monitor industry conversations with HootSuite’s LinkedIn management. HootSuite allows you to post directly to your Company Pages, Groups and Profiles, as well as create job search streams.

HootSuite’s Google+ Pages integration allow brands to use HootSuite's business-focused functionality for account management and publishing targeted messaging to circles. Share and comment on posts, search public posts and updates, see recent user activity, as well as view comments and +1s.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 7 - iPlayer

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 7
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012.

iPlayer
Web address: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/
Platforms: iOS and Android

In a nutshell
Catchup on BBC TV and radio

Description
Watch, listen live and catch up on the last 7 days of BBC TV and radio. Watch or listen over Wi-Fi and 3G networks. Scroll through and find Featured and Most Popular programmes. Browse through the schedule for upcoming programmes.

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 8 - TVCatchup

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 8
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012.

TVcatchup
Web address: http://www.tvcatchup.com/
Platforms: Just about everything!

In a nutshell
Watch live TV on your mobile

Description
Watch live UK TV on demand, with the convenience of an app. Select from a wide selection of freeview channels including, news, sports, movies, music, shopping, and children's TV. Use this app to watch TV on the move, on the bus, in a car, in the office, in your house, in your bed, in the kitchen or anywhere else or just use it to watch TV when somebody else is hogging the main screen.

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 9 - TVGuide

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 9
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012.

TVGuide
Web address: http://www.tvguide.co.uk/
Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone

In a nutshell
TV listings at a glance

Description
TVguide.co.uk, the UK's number one TV listings website, brings you a FREE smart and sexy application that allows you to see what's on now and next, at one glance. If you prefer, there's also the option of a full day's listings on one screen. Check out programmes for all channels on Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, and Freesat.

Tuesday 18 December 2012

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 10 - Remotemouse

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 10
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012.

Remotemouse
Web address: http://www.remotemouse.net/
Platforms: iOS and Android

In a nutshell
Turn your mobile phone or tablet into a wireless mouse and keyboard.

Description
Turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a wireless touchpad and keyboard now! You can take control of your PC or Mac from anywhere in the room.

Features:

1. Fully simulated functions of wireless mouse and keyboard. Main mouse functionalities featured, including click, double-click, right-click, scroll and drag.
2. Both portrait and landscape mode mouse touchpad supported.
3. iOS default keyboards integration with customized function keys.
4. Key Combos supported.
5. Voice-Recognition Input is supported on iPhone 4S.
6. Wireless control of your computer anywhere in your room. Works under WiFi and 3G Network.
7. Intuitive interface and easy to use
8. Compatible with Windows 7, XP, Vista.
9. Compatible with Mac OSX Lion/Snow leopard/Leopard.

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 11 - Metoffice

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 11
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012.

Metoffice
Web address: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/services/iphone
Web address: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/services/android
Web address: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/services/wp8
Platforms: iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8

In a nutshell
What’s the weather forecast?

Description
The app gives you three hourly forecasts for today and up to five days ahead. In addition to the likelihood of rain or snow, sunshine, cloud coverage and temperature, it gives the “feels-like” temperature - ideal if it's 10 °C but will actually feel like 3 °C when you account for the wind chill factor! Accurate, easy to read and simple to use, the app also updates automatically so it's always displaying the latest forecast information (reflecting the hourly updates behind the scenes).

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 12 - Speedtest

The 12 Apps Of Christmas - Number 12
Our countdown from 12 to 1 of our favourite Apps of 2012

Speedtest

Web address: http://www.speedtest.net/mobile.php
Platforms: iOS and Android

In a nutshell
Find out what speed your internet is.

Description
Are you getting the internet speed you pay for? Use Speedtest.net to view the speed that you’re getting for your mobile internet data. You can help too and join over 250 million others like you who want to test or troubleshoot their Internet connection. What's your Speed? You can also share and compare your speed results with friends quickly and easily.

Friday 14 December 2012

iTunes 11: What’s New?

iTunes 11 arrived recently, but what makes it different from the previous iTunes? You don’t have to have an iPhone5 and can download iTunes 11 onto your Mac or Windows machine.

No longer does iTunes look clunky, it is now smooth, sleeker, smarter and more modern with the menu removed from the left side (you can re-enable it if you wish though) and the top bar now shrunk to make everything look so much better, slicker and a lot less fussy.

There is now an "expanded view" and this is said to be the most interesting of changes. You are able to click on a track or song and information will open up showing you the tracks that you can buy individually or as part of an album.

The store itself has grown and there are now lots more ways you can part with your hard earned cash, as more options open up with other songs you may like to purchase.

There is also an "Up Next" feature on iTunes 11, this makes it a lot easier to add tracks and click to see which song is coming up next. If you don’t like the next song then you can swap it around, add others in between or delete them off completely. The choice is yours.

iTunes 11 has also given the Mini Player a much required facelift, which is of much better styling then ever before. It gives you the search function to choose what songs you want to listen to and in which order.

You are also able to see your preview history; this means you can listen to a load of songs then you can backup and purchase them if you choose to. You can link back to them with ease. Preview history can work with films and TV as well as music.

iCloud has also been used with iTunes 11, allowing you to have any songs, film or TV you buy from the iTunes Store available on your Mac,PC, or iOS devices instantly!