5 Android Apps you Need: App 3

This is the second part of a five part series. Read the second post here. Look out for more every Monday and Thursday.


Welcome back to 5 Android Apps you Need. Now that you're reading and chatting, it's time to get some watching done. Netflix, a free app from Netflix.com, allows users to stream thousands of movies and TV shows, with a small monthly fee.


We've talking about Netflix a few times before, but never really in detail. Also, we've never talked about the mobile app, so here goes.


With a $7.99 a month Netflix subscription, users can choose from thousands of movies and TV shows to stream, ad-free, immediately. Although Netflix has a lot of movies for those who like less popular stuff, it also has it's fair share of the more popular content as well, including Mad Men, Super 8, and Secretariat. There's also plenty of stuff for the kids, including, SpongeBob SquarePants, Toy Story 3, and Blue's Clues.


Netflix is also available on, well, almost any device you can think of (Click here for a complete list). A $7.99 subscription gives you access to the Android app, as well as all of the other devices Netflix is available on, and with Netflix's huge collection of content, it's definitely a good deal.


With Netflix's great Android app, huge collection, and free 30 day trial (available at Netflix.com), there's no reason not to try it. The app's free, so give it a download.   

Netflix for XBOX 360 Gains Kinect Support

     Netfllix, the popular video streaming service, recently announced some updates for the Netflix app on the XBOX 360. Netfilix for XBOX 360 will now support Microsoft's Kinect peripheral device, which allows users to control games and multimedia with their movement.
     Netflix users on XBOX 360 will now be able to play, pause, and choose movies with their body and voice. All users have to do to access this feature is launch the Netflix app and download the update. Users can then access the Netflix movies and control them with their body.
     Traditionally, Kinect requires users to stand up when using it. Hopefully this update will not require users to stand, and hopefully will allow you to control Netflix with your body from the couch.
     Kinect has sold very well in it's first year, and the introduction of Netflix will probably sell a few more units. Although Netflix has not yet started using this new development to help sell their service, they probably will start shortly, and this may become another Netflix selling point.

Hulu Plus: Now Available on Android

If you wanted to watch movies or TV shows on your phone, but had an Android device, until recently you were mostly out of luck. Not too long ago, Netflix, the popular paid video streaming service, announced their Android version of their mobile application. Most probably due to issues of video piracy, it was only available on a few Android devices. Now Hulu Plus is following suit.

Hulu.com is a website that allows you to watch clips of movies and TV shows, or even entire movies or TV shows for free. One can also sign up for Hulu Plus, which, at $7.99 per month, brings some more content, as well as allowing users to access Hulu from more devices, instead of just being able to watch from a browser.

Hulu Plus was available for a while on the iPhone, Playstation 3, and XBOX 360, but the latest addition to the app lineup is Hulu Plus for Android. However, like the Netflix app for Android, Hulu Plus for Android is only available on a select six devices, with more devices coming later on. Hulu Plus can be downloaded from the Android Market.

Overall, it's great that Hulu is expanding their application platforms to include Android, but it would be really nice if the app was available on all Android devices, instead of just six. If you are on Android and want to access video content, look into Netflix, as Netflix price is equal to Hulu Plus', and definitely has more content, with no advertising.

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YouTube adds Movie Rentals, Average Price of $3.99

     YouTube, Google's extremely popular video upload and sharing service, has recently added full length movies to it's millions of videos already on the site. However, unlike the other millions of videos, these movies will not be given out for free.
     The average movie costs $3.99 for a 24 hour rental. However, some movies cost $2.99, and a sprinkle of the 3000 new movies are actually free, but contain some ads.
     This puts YouTube in the same movie-streaming boat as iTunes, Netflix, and even the Gadgetator reviewed Alphaline Entertainment. All of these services stream movies on-demand.
     YouTube is different from iTunes, Netflix, and others because, unlike anyone else, YouTube has many free movies. Netflix does not rent movies, but rather uses a subscription model. YouTube also stands out from iTunes, as it doesn't offer downloads of movies, however, rental prices are similar.
     Overall, YouTube seems like a great way to view movies, at 3000 movies, the library is nice sized, but you probably won't find everything you're looking for. However, if you do find what you are looking for, especially if it's an older movie, there's a slight chance that it'll be free. Another plus is that, since the movies are saved on your YouTube account, you can watch a rented movie almost anywhere you go, and switch off between devices during the movie. Check it out. as the chances are likely that you'll at least find one free movie you'll enjoy.

View the YouTube movie library here.

Netflix, iTunes, K Mart?

     Most are aware of the popular video streaming and downloading services. These include Netflix, iTunes, Amazon's Video on Demand, and more. These are all services that let you either buy individual movies or TV shows, or, in Netflix's case, stream an unlimited number of movies and TV shows for a monthly fee.
     Apparently the idea of getting content online as opposed to walking into a shop such as the slowly falling Blockbuster, which has also started getting into the on demand market, became very popular. Popular enough that Sears and K Mart partnered up with a digital media software company called Sonic to create an online movie and TV show download site called Alphaline Entertainment.

Alphaline Entertainment Homepage

     Alphaline Entertainment may have some catch-up to do, because, although this is not a giant difference, movie buying prices are a few dollars more on Alphaline. The rental prices are the same at $2.99, but iTunes has TV rentals for 99 cents, while Alphaline only has TV purchasing.
     When watching a trailer on Alphaline vs. Amazon, Alphaline's video quality was noticeably better, but took longer to load. On Amazon, the trailer played fine in my Google Chrome browser, but on Alphaline, I had to open Internet Explorer (Which crashed on me. Again). Also, to log in, and pretty much to do anything else on Alphaline, you must be using Internet Explorer or Firefox.
      I then purchased an episode of the 1962 show The Jetsons. When I tried downloading it, the Alphaline Website told me to download the RoxioNow Media Player, which is free. After I got the RoxioNow software, I tried to find a way to download the TV episode. I still have not been able to find a way to download the media.
     Until I can get either 1. My download, or 2. My $1.99 back, I don't plan on using Alphaline again, and I don't recommend it for you. Also, how much do you trust Sears and K Mart to know about downloads, web sites, and software programs?
     For now, Alphaline Entertainment seems like a big red flag. Unless you want to watch high quality movie trailers online.

UPDATE: The problem I had with downloading the video was something with Google Chrome. To download the episode, I needed to be using Firefox, not Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. To watch a trailer on the site, I needed to be using Internet Explorer. Strange, huh?

Well, I did get my $1.99 worth of video, but iTunes: better, cheaper, and easier.

iPad applications-You Just Think Beyond These

What makes iPad stand apart in the race of electronic field? Its shape? Size? Or cost? No, it is a sheer ‘Apple Technology.!’ Or the ‘way Apple thinks!’ This attribute of Apple is whirling the world of electronic technology, compelling followers to expect more! The Apple enthusiasts love to connect themselves by owning iPad.! iPad application development has become an unstoppable field.

We thought of updating few features of iPad here, iPad store is brimming up more than 2000 Applications. So, few applications have been introduced here.

E-Books – iPad’s application E-Books is simply the best, having 60,000 books in its belly. And application is free where as e-books are not! This feature can make anybody a voracious reader. You ought to read and updated playfully. The built-in search and dictionary is very user friendly. The font size and brightness could be adjusted accordingly. Pages are bookmarked or highlighted. You can read books vertically as well as horizontally.

Kindle for iPad – Kindle application of iPad matches the iBook application thoroughly. Full-color touch screen app, animated page-turning, adjustable font size and brightness that allows you to change the background color, portrait or landscape mode, and the ability to buy books right from the applications.

Tap Tap Radiation – The game is on line of iPhone only. Few major changes are made to glorify the game play in iPad. This play involves gamers to tap the beats these glowing blobs as they dance across the iPad’s entire screen. Another fabulous feature is many people can play simultaneously on it. You will carry music along with you to enjoy. Aren’t these iPad applications making our life smoother?

Netflix – Netflix: This feature of iPad allows you to watch movies as many as you like. This application allows you to have the access 20,000 + movies and famous T.V. shows. Movies could be browsed and managed your queue from the application. You can start watching movies from where you had left off, promptly!

Loopt Pulse – This feature helps you to see where you are and everything that’s going on around you. You can be highly independent and confident as well. On the left side of the screen you will see a list of places, and on the right, you see each of those places on a map and detailed information about them. A new feature has been introduced to browse local places by pictures.

TweetDeck for iPad – With this feature you can group Twitter and Facebook separately, swipe across to know what’s happening. New feature is a map showing all the geo- tagged Tweets from the people you follow. Isn’t this feature gorgeous?

Captain’s Log – Captain’s Log: In a way it pampers you making you feel like a captain of Starship. You can add your own notes, or use it to post updates to both Twitter and Facebook. Highly futuristic feature has mesmerized the whole world.

SGN’s EXO-Planet – EXO-Planet is trying to give thrilling experience of the shooter game, by allowing the player access to eight camera angles with a single spin of the finger. The eight-camera-perspective creates a very seamless viewing experience; it thrills you by making leap and zooms across the zero-gravity futuristic space, outfitted in “Juggernaut EXO-suits”. It is rally an unforgettable experience when you come across.

Pandora Radio – Rather than having to switch views to see things such as your stations, they can reside on the left hand side of the screen as your album artwork and artist information is on the right hand side. Artist information is a particular area of emphasis with this new application. User friendly access search box makes this feature a hit.

Epicurious Recipes and Shopping Lists – How come iPad lag behind to cater to its customers in recipe? So this application has been dedicated to them. Tabbed digital cookbook makes you access 27,000 recipes from both Gourmet and Bon Appetite. Recipe collections could be browsed search via keyword, and filter your searches seeing what’s in your fridge, seasonal foods, holidays and more. Any home maker will be happy with this! This feature of iPad application development takes the foodies by storm!

Ingredients could be added from your saved recipes to shopping lists and check off items as you buy them. The iPad may breathe new life into cooking and recipe applications. Reading recipes on the iPhone while cooking can be tougher job; so the iPad’s large screen simulates a digital cookbook! It’s a Perfect blend of creativity, technology along with user friendliness.

NYT’s Editor’s Choice – This application offers news, opinion and feature articles of NYT Editors, which could be downloaded easily covering almost all various fields of news.

The Wall Street Journal – It can be called as a version of free articles. The iPad application has the look of the paper.

Source : Fasttrends

Apple TV, Entertainment made Simple

When looking for a device that hooks up to your TV that streams movies and other content to the big screen, there are quite a few choices. These devices are called set-top boxes, and there are at least 10 well know and popular devices, with prices ranging from $55 to $299.

So if you're looking for a good set-top box, one that combines a pretty good price with a slick interface and great content selection, Apple thinks they have the device for you.

The Apple TV is a $99 device that allows you to stream content directly from the Internet. Unlike some of the other options, the Apple TV has no built in storage, so, while you can connect via a network to iTunes on your computer and stream content from there, everything else is just streaming it directly from the "cloud".

The Apple TV can access and stream movies and TV shows from the iTunes store. However, there is no way to purchase movies, only to rent them. An update out today allows users to buy TV shows directly, and stream them on demand from wherever they are. Users can also access and listen to or watch free podcasts, as well as access Apple's "Radio" feature.

Besides for Apple's own iTunes content, users can access content from Netflix, YouTube, and with this latest update, Vimeo. Netflix, which we have mentioned in the past, allows instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows, for a price that, at $7.99 a month, is probably cheaper than consuming all of your content via iTunes. YouTube and Vimeo, however, are free to use, and deliver a seemingly never-ending flow of great (and not so great) content.

And, if you aren't already watching way too much stuff, you can also watch every MLB or NBA game live with a subscription to MLB.tv or NBA.com League Pass Broadband. Both of these services are a little pricey, and you might run into blackout restrictions if the game you are trying to watch is available on "real TV" in your area.

Apple TV's Small Size

But of course, there's more. Connecting your Apple TV to your computer running iTunes over WiFi will allow you to stream your entire music collection through your home theater setup. Pictures from your computer can also be viewed on your big screen TV.

To top it all off, the Apple TV can stream content playing on any iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch). To stream this content on the big screen, all you have to do is tap the "AirPlay" button, and, after initial setup, the content will suddenly be playing on the big screen.

At $99, and a 3.9 inch square size, the Apple TV seems like a great buy, and the recent update that adds Vimeo and TV show purchasing definitely makes it even more compelling. If you're in the market for a set-top box, and you have 100 bucks to spare, the Apple TV is a great choice for you.

Nook Color: An Unexpected Competitor for the iPad

Want an Apple iPad but can't afford the minimum $499 entry fee? Look to Barnes & Noble's Nook Color, which was upgraded recently to offer many tablet features at $249.

The Nook Color, which until May had been marketed primarily as an electronic book reader with extra features, now is being marketed as a tablet specifically made for book lovers.

With the software upgrade introduced just over a month ago, the Nook Color now offers decent Web browsing, email, games, music and video playback. Oh, and it's an e-reader, too.

When looked at as a tablet rather than an e-reader, it turns out the Nook Color is the iPad's biggest competitor, capturing half the non-iPad tablet market with some 3 million units shipped, compared with iPad's 20 million for the last year.

By comparison, the overpriced Motorola Xoom, which captured a lot of press a few months ago as the first serious competitor to the iPad, is a flop: only something more than 100,000 units are estimated to have shipped since its introduction.

The Nook Color is no iPad 2. It has a 7-inch display, to the iPad's 10-inch. Its processor is far less powerful, it has less onboard memory and no cameras, no GPS, no 3G data connectivity and less battery life. The recently opened B&N app store offers fewer than 200 apps, compared with some 5,500 apps for the iPad.

But as a wi-fi tablet running Google's Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, the Nook Color doesn't suck. It surpasses the iPad in some areas. It can run Flash applets that give the Web so much of its interactivity, for instance, including streaming Web video; Apple has chosen not to support Flash.

It has a slot capable of holding a 32-gigabyte SD Card, greatly supplementing its 8-gig internal memory. The iPad doesn't have one. As for its display, the smaller 7-inch form is seen by some as a portability advantage and the color screen is higher resolution than the iPad.

It can run “Angry Birds,” the most popular mobile game around.

Although Netflix isn't yet available to stream movies, with the large installed base I would be surprised not to see a version for Nook Color soon. In fact, tech enthusiasts—who for months have “rooted” the Nook Color and used it as a tablet before B&N offered its upgrade–say the Netflix Android app runs easily on the Nook.

Oh, and it's an e-reader, too. While the iPad was seen at its introduction as offering strong competition to Amazon's Kindle e-reader, it turns out the various versions of the Nook have provided the real competition.

Amazon still dominates the e-book market, with 60 percent to 65 percent of e-books sold, according to publishers at the recent BookExpo America annual conventon in New York. Apple is at about 10 percent of the market, while Barnes & Noble surprised publishers by grabbing 25 percent with the Nook.

The biggest buyers of the Nook Color have been women, who prefer its color display to the black-and-white e-ink display of the Kindle and other e-readers for browsing women's magazines, according to a recent New York Times article. Some of the strongest-selling titles for the Nook Color are digital versions of woman-focused magazines like Cosmopolitan and Women's Health.

And, women like the handbag-friendly smaller size of the Nook Color, making it easy to carry along.

The strong showing by the Nook Color could even help save B&N's ailing print bookstores. Not long after introducing the tablet upgrade, Liberty Media offered to buy 70 percent of B&N at $17 a share. Insiders said Liberty's interest was almost entirely in the potential of B&N's Nooks.

Amazon reportedly has taken notice, and has contracted with a manufacturer to build its own color Android tablets to be introduced for the holiday season this year.

So, should Apple be worried about this iPad competition? Or should Amazon be worried about this Kindle competition?

Who knows, but in the meantime Barnes & Noble is enjoying having the Nook Color stuck squarely in the middle.

Source : lamesapatch

Top 5 Xbox 360 Action Games

The Xbox has a lot of great games, but here are i m sharing the Top 5 Xbox 360 Action Games. Microsoft been able to tie up some great exclusive titles, the company's online gameplay experience can't be matched. Now with bonuses like the ability to stream instant-watch Netflix titles, owning an Xbox 360 has never been sweeter. 

  

1. Halo Reach:

                            

 

Halo: Reach is the culmination of the superlative combat, sensational multiplayer, and seamless online integration that are the hallmarks of this superb series.

1. Every gameplay mode is seamlessly linked together  
2. Exciting campaign draws on the best elements from past Halo campaigns  
3. Armor abilities breathe fresh life into the excellent competitive multiplayer  
4. Fantastic cooperative play  
5. Extensive customization options and powerful creation tools.

Read more »

Top Ten Tech Toys

What holiday gift should you buy for your favorite techie this year? For your active friends, how about a Wii Fit? It provides you with a strenuous workout and keeps track of your weight. Your college student will appreciate the Apple Macbook, with its new aluminum chassis sure to survive any student's abuse. Buy a Netflix Player for your favorite movie enthusiast and make snail mail a thing of the past.

Click here to read about 2008's top 10 tech toys, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Delete Old Accounts from Social Sites

More people are visiting social network sites. This means there are more profiles out there, and more that have been abandoned.

If you have decided not to use a social network site for which you have created an account, here is a handy article by Eric Griffith at PC Magazine that will show you how to delete an account from any website. The author provides step-by-step instructions, phone and fax numbers, links, and tips for how to delete your profile from the most popular sites including Classmates.com, Facebook, MySpace, Amazon.com, eBay, iTunes, Netflix, PayPal, Twitter, Flickr, AOL/AIM, and Yahoo.

[via iLibrarian]