Category: Software and apps

BBC update iPlayer for Windows Phone

The BBC have announced a major update to the iPlayer app for Windows Phone.  This update swiches to and adaptive bitrate player to better handle varing connection speeds. The have added the ability to watch programs with subtitles and at last LIVE TV! You can get the app …

Where am I? Help is at hand thanks to OS Locate

My recent charity cycle ride (feel free to donate) was all “on road”, so a quick check of Google Maps would let me know where the next turning was. Now, if you’re planning to go off road then you’re going to need something a bit better. Finding your …

Virgin Media SmartCall slashes £1.2 million off calls

In October last year Virgin launched Smartcall. The app, which you can download for iPhone or Android handsets let’s you use your home Virgin Phone talk plan on your smartphone. It’s effectively the home phone you can take anywhere and works on pretty much any WiFi hotspot you …

Buying music to download? Oh, that’s so 2010

The world of music and entertainment has changed significantly over the last decade or so. Before that, we saw vinyl getting replaced by CD’s and then MP3’s. In the last decade people have switched from traditional brick-and-mortar shops to downloading tunes online. However, streaming music services like Spotify …

BBC iPlayer Radio downloads coming soon

  For those desperate to catch up on the latest episode of the Archers on BBC Radio 4, but unable to listen to it on the tube because there is no signal, your dreams have finally come true.  Announced via its twitter feed, the BBC have finally revealed that …

UK Transportation now comes to Google Maps

For some time now Google Maps has shown Transportation info for the USA. However, Google has now updated Great Britain too. You can now get directions for travel using public transportation. The app update is available now for iOS and Android, as well as on the web on …

Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed now available for nothing

Love Sonic? Interested in playing Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed but don’t want to pay? Hey, your luck is in my friend. The game is now free, and that’s across all platforms – iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and via Google Play on Android. It’s an exciting and fast …

Exclusivity agreements blocking you from getting that latest game

Just recently the new version of Cut The Rope arrived on Android. Trouble is,  it’d been released months before on iOS. Watching an app or game being used by your mates which you can’t download is difficult and, according to the Wall Street Journal,  it’s due in part …

Google to release Verify Apps security update to Android

Android if full of malware and viruses isn’t it? Well no, not unless you believe the hype. Yes the Android operating system has its weaknesses, but as long as you’re careful and not go around side-loading apps from the less desirable sites things should be OK. This is …

Facebook to separate Messenger from normal app

Facebook looks like it will be separating the messaging and instant chat part of its mobile app and making you use the messenger app.   This screen has been showing for quite a while whenever you access messages via the mobile app. It prompts to install Facebook Messenger. …

Dropbox releases Carousel

Dropbox is an online cloud storage offering that allows you to sync your files to the cloud, and the app is available on computer, tablet and phone varieties. Now Dropbox have a new trick – Carousel.   Carousel allows you to not only save all your pictures to …

The Evolution of Mobile Gaming

It wasn’t too long ago that the bright green screens of our Nokia 3310s were displaying the blockish graphics of Snake. Nowadays, after huge strides in technological advancement and a wave of new and creative developer studios, the game has quite literally changed. Now we can launch the …

CoPilot on test

So just to set my stall out, pre-Lumia and “Here”, I used CoPilot. It was one of the most feature-packed and reasonably-priced navigation products for Windows Mobile at the time. So here we are on a new platform – Windows Phone. It’s the same product and of course …

Tips to speed up the Chrome browser on Android

Are you a Android phones user? Do you use the Google Chrome browser on your device? I do and to be honest there is a lot of functionality but it certainly isn’t the fastest browser out there. I’ve found a couple of tips that you can use on …

Downloads to possibly increase in price?

How many people paid attention to the budget last week? I mean fully because if you didn’t you might have missed this little bit of information, I know I did.   One of the leading accountancy firms in London reported that one of the changes in the budget last …

Threes! Arrives on Android

The smash hit puzzle game that has enraptured iOS users this year has finally found its way into the hands of Android users. Yes, I’m talking about Threes!, the game that appears to have made basic maths cool again. The premise is simple: merge 2 and 1 tiles …

The next Angry Birds game teased

Seriously, I’m really going to struggle to stretch this post out to any more than two paragraphs. It’s a teaser video for the next big Angry Birds game from Rovio. All we know is what is revealed here, which is the fact that it… A) Involves Angry Birds …

FlightRadar24 – Be a clever plane spotter

Waiting for a friend or loved one to return from holiday or a business trip, you’ll no doubt have checked the flight arrivals page on the airport website. However, with FlightRadar24 you can go one further and, with the paid-for version, you get some very clever augmented-reality functionality …

Android App Review – Recent (file manager assistant)

Naming an app must be a difficult task, if I was tasked to do that I’d be there for weeks thinking and thinking what to call it. So I can entirely understand what the confusingly named Recent is all about. Picture the scene, you have taken a load …

Nokia X Rooted – Google Apps installed

Well, we all knew that it was bound to happen, but just days after the announcement? That’s pretty amazing. The new Nokia X has already been rooted and the Google Apps installed, this despite having a locked bootloader. THe X has been cracked by members of the XDA …

Google asks manufacturers to use most recent version of Android

I like Android. It has lots of customisation options, the widgets are great, there are lots of free apps and there are plenty of alternative launchers and even ROMs to use if you get bored of your default settings. However this links to most people’s major bugbear – …

New features added to Google Now

Are you a user of Google Now ? I’ve got to admit I wasn’t but that’s definitely changing. With every update to the app, the functionality just keeps getting better. In the previous update we got the UK voice option to say “OK Google” to launch the search …

The Flappy Bird saga. Why remove it?

Where do I start really? This is a game that got people talking. Sure, it didn’t always gain positive comments, but it lit the social media candle and soon turned into a bonfire. It’s become the most popular app so far this year, but has now been taken …

O2 Match day App Review

During this time of year we all like to snuggle down into our slankets and watch 30 overgrown men (I use the term in the loosest possibe sense) beat each other up on a grassy pitch at the weekend. No I am not talking about a trip to Glasgow …

Facebook Paper app launch for iOS in US

Facebook have launched a new app for their social network today – Facebook Paper. This is a new app, but not an entirely new service – more a reimagining of the Facebook news feed. There have already been some great 3rd apps that have taken the basic content …

Access your PC files using Airstream for Android

Right I’m going out on a limb here, but the chances are dear reader, that if you are a regular visitor to our site you will have heard of one of the many cloud drive services such as Dropbox, Box, Skydrive or Google Drive. In fact I’d wager …

HTC KitKat Update Roadmap Leaked

HTC have been much maligned over the past few years for dropping update support for their handsets almost as soon as they’re released. They have been getting better recently though, and a leaked update schedule shows some good news. As a general rule of thumb, if you own …

Tizen event on Feb 23rd

Right remember Samsung’s own operating system Tizen ? Well if you’re like me I thought that it was dead and buried, but apparently not. According to the Sammobile site, Samsung is still very much committed to showing off where it’s at with the development of Tizen and devices …

Try Sony’s streaming music for £3

There’s a wide selection of streaming music services here in the UK. Some are monthly subscription services and others are free but ad-supported. Now Sony have entered the fight for your listening ears by offering all the music you want for just £1 a month as part of …

Yahoo! buys Aviate, promises continued development

Yahoo! have announced today that they have acquired Aviate, the context-aware smart launcher for Android. The deal was announced by Marissa Mayer during the Yahoo! keynote at CES, and posts were made shortly after on both the Yahoo! and Aviate blogs. Aviate launched their product into closed beta to …

Apple releases 7.1 Beta 3 to Developers

The update draws nearer. Apple today sent out their latest iteration of iOS 7.1 beta. This iteration contains some bug fixes as well as a few UI tweaks. The bug fixes aren’t as visual as the other changes, but they are most definitely there. We can show you …

Apple announce AppStore sales of $10 Billion

Today Apple announced that the AppStore has generated $10 Billion in 2013. Guess what, $1 Billion of that was in December alone. That’s some serious spending on the users part. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services said the following about the whole exciting …

Android App Review – Skiplock

If you’re using today’s super powerful smartphones like me, you are now carrying everything in your pocket, your bank details, your social networks and normally some irreplaceable photo’s of loved ones. So your phone should have some kind of password/PIN/pattern/facelock protection to stop unwanted eyes to getting to the …

Cyanogen now available for existing Oppo N1

Those who purchased the Oppo N1 before the CyanogenMod news (we are talking about you here Ronnie ) will be excited to know that the official CyanogenMod ROM for the device is available to all users. As promised the official package is available for installation on any version of the Oppo …

Android app review – ScreenshotCleaner

ScreenshotCleaner is a handy little app for bloggers and developers alike. As a blogger I take a lot of screenshots on my phone which, obviously, always have the status bar on. This isn’t really a problem, but often it has notifications and icons that are irrelevant and messy, …

Android 4.4.2 coming to UK Moto G’s soon

The 4.4.2 update to the Moto G was originally promised for early 2014, but Motorola says it’s “thrilled to start delivering on that promise early”. The Android 4.4.2 KitKat update is now available to Moto G handsets purchased on Motorola’s website and Amazon in the US. Motorola says the Moto …

Oppo N1 CyanogenMod preview video gives a taster of what to expect

Oppo teased the N1 to death before its recent launch, and now it’s Cyanogen’s turn as the CyanogenMod Edition nears release. The newly launched CM YouTube channel is now sporting a taster video so we can see why we’d want to opt for this non-standard version. Focusing on …

Google Play Music updated on iOS7 with new UI and more

Google Play Music development has always been ahead on Android, unsurprisingly, but the iOS version has taken a big step forward to catching up with the latest update. The first thing you’re likely to notice is the slightly updated user interface. This is to bring it in line …