Geek News: Latest Technology, Product Reviews, Gadgets and Tech Podcast News for Geeks



Frequency A Personal Video Cloud

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 12:42 PM on March 29, 2012

FrequencyThe last couple of days I have been trying a new video aggregator called Frequency, which is similar to Plizy and Showyou if you are familiar with those applications. It is available on the iPad and has a corresponding Web site.

You can sign up either using Facebook or through your email address. If you choose to sign up using Facebook it will automatically add the videos shared by the people you follow on Facebook to your grid. If you choose to sign up with your email address you can easily add your Facebook and Twitter account later.

When you sign in the first time you will see the category and channel grid. It is nicely laid out with the categories on the left , the channels in the middle and Frequency Top 25 on the right. At the top is a bar which lets you easily go from the channel and grid guide, to your personal guide or to your preferences. Once you have filled in your guide the channels will also show up across the top. You can easily go to the channel you want to watch by swiping across that bar and taping on the channel when you get to it. You can easily hide or show that bar by flipping the switch off or on in the icon that is on the right side of the bar. To check what channels are available in a category you simply tap on that category. You can then swipe down through the channels within that category. When you find a channel you want to add you simply tap on the follow button. Once you have added all the channels you are interested in you are ready to go into your guide.

The guide is set up beautifully with the videos from each channels in a column which you can easily swipe through. To watch a video you simply tap on it. You can either watch the video in a window or you have the option to go full screen. You can AirPlay to your Apple TV or through XMBC to your computer. You can favorite a video or save it for later. If you want to share a video to Twitter or Facebook you simply tap on the appropriate  icon which is at the bottom screen. You can also email a video to someone.

If you are like me you may have the tendency to add channels that you later realize you have no interest in. If you want to delete a channel  you simply hold your finger on the icon until the X appears and then clicking on the X.

I do like Frequency I think it has a beautiful UI, however there are somethings I don’t like about it. As a big Google Plus users I miss the ability to share to Google Plus. Also when you share to Twitter and Facebook there is no ability to add a comment. Once a video ends the next video will start, this can be both a good thing and a bad thing, there are times when I just want to watch the one video and then stop. I also wish you could add Web sites that aren’t in the Channel Guide directly on the iPad applications; right now the only way to do that is through the Web site, where you can add an RSS feed from a Web site. It will becoming unresponsive at times forcing me to restart it. The freezing problem got so bad that at one point I ended up deleting it and reinstalling it. The final negative thought I have is I am not sure what makes it stand out from the crowd other than the UI, of course for a lot of people that maybe enough. I have to admit the more I use it the more I like it

If you have an iPad and are looking for a beautifully designed video aggregator that lets you watch the videos your friends and followers are sharing on your social networks along with ones from your favorite Web sites then definitely take a look at Frequency. It is free and available through the iTunes store.

Apps That Will Get You Ready for Diablo III

Posted by JenThorpe at 12:39 AM on March 28, 2012

Diablo III will be released on May 15, 2012. My friends and I simply cannot wait to start playing! If you weren’t lucky enough to get into the beta, then you will want to check out a few D3 related apps. These can help prepare you to start playing Diablo III the instant the servers go live.

Diablo III Lore is an app that is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. It requires iOS 4.2 or later. I’ve heard a lot of people asking about how they can quickly learn more about the lore of the Diablo games so that they will understand who the some of the NPC’s are, and the stories behind some of the quests, in D3. This is the app for that. Scroll through, and read to your heart’s desire.

Diablo III Skill Calculator is an app that I found on Google Play. It is compatible with Android devices. In Diablo II, the way you chose skills, and built your character, was a very big deal. Once selected, you couldn’t change anything. In Diablo III, you are going to have more flexibility about changing your skills than you did in Diablo II. This app will show you the skills that each class can use. You can play around with them right now, and get familiar with how it works before release day.

Diablo 3 Handbook is another app I found on Google Play. It is compatible with Android devices. This app is a game guide for Diablo III. You get information about each class, about active and passive skills, items, followers, and the world itself. It also contains a skill calculator.

Countdown For Diablo is available through the iTunes store. It is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. It requires iOS 3.0 or later. Are you dying to know exactly how many days, hours, minutes, and seconds are left before Diablo III is ready? This is the app for that. You can check it as often as you like. Is it ready yet? No? How about now? Still no? How about now?…

It is worth noting that none of these apps are made by Blizzard Entertainment, the company that makes the Diablo III game.

XBMC and AirPlay

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 6:24 PM on March 25, 2012

XMBC I have an Apple TVand iPad. One of my favorite things is the ability to take a video that’s on my iPad and then send it over to the Apple TV by using AirPlay. Let’s face it some videos are better on a bigger screen. Plus everything sounds much better on the Apple TV, which is connected to my sound system than it does on the iPad. The problem is I only have one Apple TV and there are times when I’m sitting up late at night and looking at my iPad and I see a video that I want to see on my large screen TV in the bedroom. To that TV I have attached a Mac Mini which I use as a media center. As part of that media center I installed Banana TV to AirPlay my videos from my iPad to that Mac Mini. However Banana TV no longer works with the iOS 5 update.

My favorite media center application is XBMC. XBMC is a free open source cross-platform media center. It is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Apple TV and many other devices. XBMC is highly customizable thru the many add-ons that are available. As a media center it was great however without Banana TV there was no way to get my video from my iPad to my Mac Mini, until now. XBMC has just gotten an the official update from Dhama to Eden and with this update AirPlay from the iPad to the Mac has become available. If you already have XBMC than go ahead and update to Eden. If you don’t have XBMC you can download it at the website. Once you’ve either updated or downloaded it, you want to go into Systems, then Network and then Services and tap down until you see where it says allow AirPlay and click enable. Now you can AirPlay videos from an iPad to a Mac, PC or Linux machine. There is one caveat it does not work with videos that have DRM installed, despite this caveat I am really glad this update has occurred.

Skifta by Qualcomm

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 11:55 AM on February 26, 2012

Skifta Qualcomm which is known for its silicon and wi-fi technology for handsets and tablets is spreading into software and service. One of the consumer products they are currently developing is called Skifta. It is a media shifting platform which works through  DLNA-certified and UPnP -compatible devices. DLNA protocol has been around for about eight years. Most TVs today which are over 36 inches and Internet enable are DLNA capable. The Web site of your TV’s manufacture should let you know if your TV is DLNA capable. DLNA is a nonprofit trade organization which enables the sharing of digital media between various consumer devices by defining interoperability guidelines. Because DLNA is a nonprofit organization they don’t have the money to spend on advertising and promotion, so its adoption has been slow but steady. The growth of the Smart or Connected TV market has help to increase its popularity over the last 12-18 months. Its biggest rival is Apple’s Air Play.

Qualcomm was showing off its software platform Skifta at CES 2012, which works with the DLNA platform. Think of Skifta as Airplay for Android. Once Skifta is installed on your Android device, it will go out and find any DLNA enabled device including TV’s, computers and the Playstation. You can then sending any media that is available on your network to that device. Skifta also gives you access to various Internet providers including Revision3, Ted Talks, Facebook and others.

Qualcomm is also developing a Skifta audio adapter which you attach to a receiver that is not DLNA enable and enable it. They are also making a DLNA platform that can be installed easily by the manufacture into a receiver. I installed the Skifta application on my Android phone and it almost immediately connected and found the media on my network. Once I set up an account it also let me pick up media from Revision3 and Ted Talks among others. Unfortunately I don’t have a connected TV, so for me its use is limited, but I love its possibilities.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Steve Lee Wave of Tech

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Qubeey

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 9:09 PM on February 24, 2012

Qubeey It happens to all of us, we follow so many people and companies on various social media sites that we miss the things we are really interested in. Let’s face it most of us have a handful of people or business that we are truly interested in, our family and close friends, maybe a company we are interested in or a favorite band. In the flood of social media, those are the things that are so easy to miss. That is the problem that Qubeey is trying to solve.

It is a cube that sits on your desk top. It captures the information from those you are really interested in and saves them for you to view when it’s convenient. Qubeey also has more visual cues, videos and images than other methods have. It allows you to stay connected with out having a web page open. When you get home at the end of the day you can see that your favorite band has released a new album and has one of their songs on YouTube. Click on it and watch it. Maybe you get a kick out of the crazy things your best friend says on Twitter, but you miss half of them because you are at work, well no more. It also allows business to target people who are truly interested in them. You can also use Skype or GoToMeeting with out ever leaving Qubeey. No more having to have an extra window or tab open in a browser and then having to click on it everytime you want to check your updates. Qubeey sits on your desktop and notifies you when something important to you is posted. Qubeey is currently free and still in beta and unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to try it out yet, Have you used Qubeey what do you think of it

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Steve Lee Wave of Tech

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Vitallink Keeping the Elderly Connected

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 9:12 AM on February 23, 2012

VitallinkDid you know that there are 78 million baby boomers in the US and over 1 billion world wide. That the fastest growing age group are adults over the age of 85. Many of these adults are separated from their children and grandchildren and live alone often in isolation. A coalition called AgeTek was created to try to solve this problem. One of the members of this coalition is Vitallink.

Vitallink is a system that is installed on the older persons computer and it allows them to use applications such as Skype, or check the weather or answer email with a touch of a button. To answer email the elderly person can either type the answer as you would normally, or they can speak the reply. The use of video applications such as Skype are important because  they  allow the caregiver or relative to see their parent or grandparent.  Seeing someone can tell you a lot more about their condition then a simple call. Elderly people are often reluctant to bother their off-spring because they don’t want to be a burden. Besides which would be better having grandma read a story over the phone to her grandchild or having grandma read the story through video chat, where the child can see and interact with their grandma. I know which method I would choose. The subscription for Vitallink is only $5.00 a month.

The two hardest groups to sell the product to is the elderly adult who are often computer phobic and the person who does the purchasing for the big box company who often are young and don’t recognize the elderly as an important market. Once the elderly adult uses the Vitallink technology for just a short time they are almost always sold on it. Unfortunately it takes a lot more time and effort to try to convince the young sales person of its necessity.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News and Dave Lee from Waves of Tech

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Catch a Way to Get Organized

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 7:51 PM on February 20, 2012

Catch If you are like me, keeping yourself organize is a never-ending and not always successful process. I have tried a lot organizers, both applications and web-based. One by one I have abandoned them, either because they are too complicated to use or because they don’t sync between my mobile device and my computer. Catch is built for someone like me, it is easy to use and syncs between the mobile and web platform. You can add notes by text, voice or even images. You can organize them by stream or tag. They are also automatically organized by date and location if that is turned on under settings. You can star your most important notes. If you want to collaborate on a stream, you can invite people to join you. Once they have accepted the invitation, they can add notes and comments to the stream. They can edit and delete their own notes and comments. Only the creator of the stream can remove another persons content from the stream.

Catch works on all iOs, most Android devices and through the web. With the free version of Catch you get three streams and 70MB of new content per month. The Pro version is $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year you get 10 streams, 1 GB per month of new content, plus project brainstorm and conversation along with the ability to add office documents. A Premium account offers the same thing as the Pro Version except you get 5 GB of new content per month and up to 50 streams for $19.99 a month or $179.99 a year.

I just started using Catch and so far I like it.  I especially like that you can organize by tags and it syncs between all my devices. Have you tried Catch, if you have what do you like and don’t like about it.

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine.

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