TechnoBB – Page 68

Sony Playstation 4 and DualShock 4 Controller Announced

The long awaited day finally came. The next generation of Sony gaming system was announced and demonstrated, but not shown yesterday. This was an odd occurrence since they unveiled the performance of the machine, but not the actual system itself. The other thing Sony has been very adamant about is that this is not simply the next console. It is going to be a homes entertainment system as it has attempted to do with the last few PlayStations.

Sony has been on the cutting edge of technology for a while. The PS2 was so successful because it was the cheapest DVD player on the market for a while, and then the PS3 tried to follow suit with BluRay. There’s no telling if the PS4 will harbor some sort of gem like that yet, but the innovation will almost positively be there.

DualShock-4

In terms of specifications, it will house an x86 processor, and 8GB of GDDR5 high speed memory. The controller is also going to be a new central part of this system. It is dubbed the “Dual Shock 4” and has a touch pad, and light bar which will be used to identify players from the systems 3d camera. There is also a headphone jack which will be used for those headsets and in game talking.

All of the power house specs combined with PS Vita integration, and apps to make iOS devices and Android devices possible controllers as well, this system has a ton going for it already. The graphics are going to be stellar, the performance insane, and the games will be along the line of the same titles that have been successful on the systems for years.

With no actual hard release date set it’s hard to predict when it will actually hit shelves, but the sure thing is that it will fly off of them. Surely in time for the 2013 holiday season to get in on that madness we will just have to wait and see.

Memorylage for Windows 8: Memories and Collages all in One

Windows 8 has been heavily publicized as a service which creates dynamic views and better layouts of images and icons than any other system. The thing is, most of these services are only as good as the operating system or app can utilize them effectively. Memorylage for Windows 8 is a great app that allows photo cropping and editing to fit into a new layout. This means making a digital collage of sorts of your memories, hence the app name, “Memorylage”.

Gone are the days of painstakingly cutting out clips of newspapers, magazines and other media for collage making. Nowadays with digital pictures and movie stills, collaging is a matter of cropping and placing, not physically cutting and pasting. Memorylage makes the most of this technique with a great interface that allows this to be done with professional quality by anyone at home.

Allowing the user to scan in images, take new images with a photobooth, or take images from their stock albums, this creates a literally endless array of possible collages and mixes. You’ll be able to get exactly what you want from a funny mixture of odd photos, to a professional and seamless string of high quality images.

As apps go this one for Windows 8 is made very well and flows extremely smoothly with the built in methods. Customization is simple and effective and editing and placing the pictures comes naturally. If you’re someone who edits photos into collages or likes keeping arrays of associated pictures in one place then this app will do just that the best.

Source: Memorylage for Windows Phone

[Image Credit: Windows Store]

The Top 5 Google Chrome Extensions to Make Gmail Perform Better

Almost everyone uses gmail for their email these days. Whether it’s your primary account, or a sub-account you have linked to some service you subscribe to, gmail is pretty inescapable in our everyday lives. Here are the top 5 Google Chrome extensions to close some of those gaps and answer some of those wishes for features they never quite included as defaults.

1. Mail Checker Plus For Gmail :

This is a toolbar extension basically. It will alert you with a notification if you have received an email and allow you to do everything you would in a full Gmail window through a window that expands when clicked. It is a great time saver and space saver rather than always having a tab open specifically for Gmail. There is also a huge amount of customization preferences with the extension which always help out a lot.

2. KeyRocket :

This is kind of a personal cheat sheet extension for using shortcuts and keyboard presses to have specific actions done while in Gmail. This doesn’t actually alter Gmail in any way, but if you do something in Gmail and you have this extension a little pop up will come up telling you what button press you could have done which would have saved you time. It’s pretty useful if you’re a shortcut junkie like myself. In no time you’ll be navigating Gmail through way more shortcuts than you ever knew existed.

3. Boomerang :

This app is a huge time saver, and sometimes a life saver for those of us who sometimes might be forgetful or even a bit uninspired when remembering to do things with email. Boomerang has saved me a few times, to say the least. It basically allows you to write an email and choose to send it at a later date, or send a recurring email at the same time of day for future messages.

4. WiseStamp Email Signatures :

This is a service which you can link to your Gmail signature. It is incredibly useful for those of us that have social media and blogs and want to include those in the signature of our emails without using code or other much more complex methods. After signing into WiseStamp and linking your networks you can set exactly what you want to show up there from social media to blogs to new blog posts and quotes, really anything you can think of.

5. Rapportive :

Rapportive is a great extension for people who are emailing others with social media profiles. It basically opens up a smaller window within the Gmail message of the person who sent the message containing their information, social media profiles, and even their latest Tweets and posts. Clicking on these posts opens up a new window or tab on the relevant social media network.

[Image Credit: Chrome Web Store]

NARR8: The New and Innovative Experience with Motion Comics

It has been a long time since something truly innovative has hit the world of modern media and entertainment. Since forever the two realms of comic books, cartoon series, and gaming have been their own spheres, untouched and uncombined. NARR8 offers an experience which combines each one of those into a single, amazing user journey.

It is somewhat difficult to even describe what NARR8 is because there is legitimately nothing out there like it. It is part E-reader, to read the content of the comics, part game to interact with the text and characters, and part cartoon to see the movement of the characters in each episode. It really is the best of each of those worlds wrapped up into one package.

I had no idea what to expect when I first saw this app and heard about it. It made almost no sense to involve all of those things into one app. It can sort of be compared to hearing about what we have as a modern IMAX movie to someone only familiar with black and white silent movies. Combining sound and color into that realm seemed almost crazy, but once you experience it the effect is undeniable.

NARR8 comes out with new episodes on a very frequent basis. For the quality of animation and illustration that it has that is truly impressive. There are 6 completely different series being run at this point on NARR8 to follow each with their own story lines and unique animations. You’ll find yourself getting lost in all of the excitement of each one and waiting anxiously for the newest episode to be released. Whether you’re a fan of animated comics, movies, or interactive games or not you’ll see the appeal in the motion comics by NARR8.

Google Play: NARR8 App for Android

[Image Credit: Google Play Store]

The Top 5 Best Android eBook Reading Apps from the Google Play Store

E-reading has become a huge area of growth in our society. Books are turning digital and some magazines don’t even publish physical copies anymore. With this shift has come an incredible amount of new sources of apps in which to read this content. Here are our top 5.

1 . Kindle for Android :

kindle_android_app

This name and app is synonymous with ebooks and e-reading. The great thing about this app, which makes it number one is not only all of the features, but the ability to have so many great books for free, and access to literally millions at the palm of your hand. The in book features of dictionary lookup of words, and google searches make this app pretty hard to beat.

2. Moon+ Reader :

moon_reader_app

Fully supportive of online book libraries, Moon+ is another great contender in the world of ebook reading. Thousands of ebooks are available for free through this service as well. This app has a number of features specific to this app which include over ten themes for ease of reading such as day and night. Also ad free and filled with more features and customizations than you could ever go through, this app wins a spot as number 2.

3. Aldiko Book Reader :

aldiko_book_reader

This is currently the top eBook reader for Android platforms and for good reason. Over ten million people choose this as their number 1 e-reader. The customizable settings of text color, theme, and brightness make this e-reader cater to be exactly everything the user wants which is hard to get from other services. It also has the dictionary and internet search built in. It is also preset to read your transferred EPUB and PDF files which can save a huge amount of time.

4. Nook for Android :

nook_app

Once again the other big name for e-reading in the form of an Android app. One of the best features of this app is it allows you to try and subscription to a magazine free for 14 days. This means you can try out paid services for free and see if you like them before having to financially commit. Also, it syncs your reading across each device you have so the last page you read will be the next page that pops up on your tablet, phone or other device. It is also EPUB compatible and allows heavy customization.

5. Mantano Ebook Reader :

mantano_ebook_reader

This Ereader is great since it caters specifically to EPUB and PDF files, allowing the user to annotate and read any of them in the app itself. This is also a very customizable app and allows for a great deal of play within the actual appearance and performance of the app. It has many of te same great features the other e-reading apps have and performs very well.

Weather Wallpapers for Windows Phone: Know What it’s Like Outside at a Glance

One of the first things we do when we wake up in the morning is wonder what the weather is going to be like outside. It dictates some of our very first actions of the day. Usually we need to go into an app or unlock the phone and scroll over to a widget to see this information. With these new Windows Phone wallpapers that allow you to see the weather by just touching the phone it makes checking the weather that much easier.

Allowing you to use either the high definition stock images with the app or to choose your own pictures, this app is very customizable. The app also updates itself twice an hour to always have the most relevant weather conditions at the ready.

The information you get from this app is great without ever even having to unlock the phone. Get current or future weather predictions and information by just lighting up the phone. It’s a very simple app, but the effect is great and it is very well executed.

Given all of the other lackluster and standard weather apps out there today this one is quite good. Anyone with a windows phone should definitely look into getting this app to take care of their weather prediction and information needs.

Source: Weather Wallpaper for Windows Phone

[Image Credit: Windows Phone Store]