Tag Archives: Facebook Home

Linux

13 apps that will make you wish you had an Android smartphone

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FP: In most cases, developers prefer to make new smartphone apps for iPhone first, only moving to Android and other platforms once they get some traction.

There are a bunch of great apps that happen to be Android exclusives. Check them out.

AP Photo/Marcio Jose SanchezThere are a bunch of great apps that happen to be Android exclusives. Check them out.

In most cases, developers prefer to make new smartphone apps for iPhone first, only moving to Android and other platforms once they get some traction.

(Android owners who had to wait months for Twitter’s video app Vine know what we’re talking about.)

But there are some outliers. There are a bunch of great apps that happen to be Android exclusives. Check them out.

Ingress is a unique real-world scavenger hunt game.

 

Ingress is a unique real-world scavenger hunt game.

Google

Ingress is a sci-fi game that sends you on a scavenger hunt through the real world to find “hidden” virtual goodies.

Google developed the game. Here’s the plot:

“A mysterious energy has been unearthed by a team of scientists in Europe. The origin and purpose of this force is unknown, but some researchers believe it is influencing the way we think. We must control it or it will control us.”

So, basically, you run around your town trying to find this illusive “energy” before the bad guys do.

Price: Free

Facebook Home turns your home screen into a Facebook photo gallery

Facebook Home turns your home screen into a Facebook photo gallery

William Wei, Business Insider

Facebook Home adds a Facebook-powered wrapper to your Android phone. Instead of seeing your normal lock screen, you get a beautiful slide show of your friends’ Facebook photos and status updates. You can comment and like those updates directly from the lock screen without opening the regular Facebook app.

Price: Free (Only works on select Android phones.)

DeskSMS makes sure you’ll never miss a message again.

DeskSMS makes sure you'll never miss a message again.

DeskSMS is a nifty app that allows you to forward text messages (and picture messages) from your Android smartphone to your desktop via Gmail, Google Talk, and the Chrome Web browser.

Price: Free

WiFi Analyzer lets you determine how strong a wireless network is in your vicinity

WiFi Analyzer lets you determine how strong a wireless network is in your vicinity

Have you ever been stuck on a slow wireless network?

WiFi Analyzer lets you see how strong networks are around you, helping you to pick the fastest, most reliable one.

Price: Free

Weather Bomb gives a data-intensive view of the weather on your Android device

Weather Bomb gives a data-intensive view of the weather on your Android device

Weather Bomb is an extremely detailed weather app that gives users seven days of data.

There are various views, but our favourite is the graph view, which gives the week’s rain, wind, and cloud forecast at a glance.

Other data includes rain, wind, cloud, temperature, pressure humidity and wave height.

Price: Free

Google Skymap lets you know exactly which star you’re staring up at.

Google Skymap is an open sourced app that lets you point your smartphone up at the night sky to decipher constellations, planets, and stars.

Price: Free

Llama Location Profiles uses where you are to change aspects of your phone like ringer and Bluetooth

Llama Location Profiles uses where you are to change aspects of your phone like ringer and Bluetooth

KnowYourMobile

Llama is a nifty app that automatically switches specific phone settings depending on where you are. You can automatically silence your phone when you arrive at your office or turn Bluetooth on at 7 a.m. to pair with your headphones for a morning run.

Best of all, the app doesn’t use your phone’s GPS, which can drain your battery. Instead, it uses cell towers in your area to figure out where you are.

Price: Free

BetterBatteryStats helps you spend more time unplugged.

BetterBatteryStats helps you spend more time unplugged.

BetterBatteryStats lets you analyze your phone’s behavior, pinpointing exactly which applications are causing your battery to drain. Once you know what the culprit is you can specifically fix the issue.

Price: $2.89

APP Lock password protects specific apps.

APP Lock password protects specific apps.

The premise behind APP Lock is simple: password protect installed applications with a password or pattern. Now you don’t have to be nervous when someone else is playing around with your smartphone.

Price: Free

SwiftKey 3 will change how you type on your Android smartphone.

SwiftKey 3 will change how you type on your Android smartphone.

Business Insider / Matthew Lynley

SwiftKey improves your productivity by helping you to type better.

Swiftkey gives much more accurate corrections and predictions than other keyboards. Very sloppy typing will make sense, even if you miss spaces, and SwiftKey 3 also predicts your next words.

Price: $3.99

Tasker lets you automate everything on your smartphone from settings to SMS

Tasker lets you automate everything on your smartphone from settings to SMS

Tasker is an awesome app that lets you tweak specific phone features like turning the flash on for alerts. You can even cancel specific notification pop-ups.

Tasker features more than 200 actions, triggers, and even an app creation section for making your own app.

Price: $6.49

Friday helps you discover new things to do

Friday helps you discover new things to do

Friday’s makers say that the app brings self discovery to your life by introducing the first passive auto journal.

Friday captures your entire life through your phone and builds a timeline of the things you do. You can even filter and search your life to find the exact information you want.

Friday allows you to share and log your favourite activities that you’ve been doing all day.

Price: Free

Robin is a great alternative to Apple’s Siri

Robin is a great alternative to Apple's Siri

Before Google Now, Robin was the first true Siri challenger.

We love the expanded capabilities of the newer virtual assistant. You can ask Robin for directions, local places, real-time parking, traffic info, gas prices, weather, your Twitter news, and much more.

Robin is disrupting the personal assistant arena, and we only hope that her existence pushes developers to make personal assistant apps feel more like true personal assistants.

Price: Free

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Linux Today

Do it yourself

How to Make Your Samsung Galaxy S3 Dynamically Adapt to Whatever Mood You're In

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There’s no shortage of cool customizations for my Samsung Galaxy S3, except when it comes to the launcher. Sure, there a ton of Android launchers out there, like Nova Launcher or Apex Launcher, that allow you to customize app placement, app grouping, infinite scrolling, etc. There’s even Facebook Home for those who are Facbook addicts.

But, to be honest, none of them really appeal to my interests. Moving my apps and creating custom icons for them is great, but ultimately, the apps themselves will always remain the same. Why get a custom launcher if you can’t customize how you launch your apps… more

…read more

Source: Wonder How To

Computers

Facebook readies iOS app update featuring 'Chat Heads' messaging

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Chat Heads, the buzzy messaging feature released as part of Facebook’s Home software for Android-based smartphones, is now coming to the iPhone and iPad.

The app, which is designed to let users chat with their friends even while they are doing other things on their phone, will launch on the iPhone and iPad later on Tuesday as part of an update to Facebook’s apps on those devices, the company said.

Home is a family of apps that Facebook made available for Android-equipped smartphones last week in the Google Play Store. The product isn’t an operating system, but it sits on top of the Android OS and is intended to add a range of social features to people’s phones. Currently, the product works on several different phones made by HTC and Samsung.

Home essentially Facebook-ifies people’s smartphones. One of its most striking features is Cover Feed, which replaces the traditional home and lock screen on the phone with the user’s News Feed, so the first thing people see when they pick up their phone are photos and posts from their friends.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2034839/facebook-readies-ios-app-update-featuring-chat-heads-messaging.html#tk.rss_all

Computers

Google's Eric Schmidt talks Facebook Home, 'phenomenal' new Motorola devices

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Google won’t do anything to thwart Facebook’s recently launched Home software for Android devices if it becomes explosively popular, according to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt.

Home, which became available for download April 1, alters Android’s look and feel but isn’t a full-blown fork of the OS.

Google would not take negative actions toward Home, such as removing it from the Play app store, Schmidt said Tuesday during an onstage interview at the AllThingsD Dive Into Mobile event in New York.

“It would be counter to our public statements, our religion,” he said. “The answer is no. It’s called open source. They read the manual, they read the rules and adhered to them.”

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2034735/googles-eric-schmidt-talks-facebook-home-phenomenal-new-motorola-devices.html#tk.rss_all

Do it yourself

The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly of Facebook Home on Your Samsung Galaxy S3

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Facebook just released its new “home on Android” last Friday, appropriately called Facebook Home. Taking a cue from Amazon’s Kindle, Home serves as an “operating system” that runs over Android.

While the HTC First will be the first smartphone to ship with Home out of the box, Facebook did release the launcher for a select few Android devices, and the Samsung Galaxy S3 is one of those to take part in the launch. NOTE: Smartphones and tablets that are not officially supported (like the Google Nexus 7 by ASUS) can still get Facebook Home by installing the modded app files directly.

At its core… more

From: http://gs3.wonderhowto.com/inspiration/good-bad-ugly-facebook-home-your-samsung-galaxy-s3-0146386/

Science & Technology

Get Facebook Home On Any Android Device Now

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Facebook Home has been the topic du jour since its release on Friday, but it’s still only available for a small handful of devices. Those with Android phones and tablets that aren’t under the roll-out umbrella have been left out in the cold, until now. TechCrunch reports that MoDaCo founder Paul O’Brien has created a patch of Facebook Home that will work on practically any Android device.

Continue reading…

From: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/15/get-facebook-home-on-any-android-device-now

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Is the Google Stock Rally Over for Now?

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By Tim Beyers, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Each week, I endeavor to report the results of the Big Idea Portfolio, a collection of five tech stocks that I believe will crush the market over a three-year period. I’ve done it before; my last tussle with Mr. Market ended with me beating the index’s average return by 13.35%.

Real money was on the line then as it is now, which means any one of the five stocks you see below could cause me a lot of public embarrassment. This time, Google fell slightly in a big week for the market indexes. Facebook and Microsoft deserve most of the blame.

Google stock retreated about 80 basis points last week as thousands awaited Friday’s official release of Facebook Home for Android. That appears to have been an overreaction. As of Sunday, more than 3,000 had downloaded and rated the app at Google’s Play Store. Of those, nearly 1,600 give the app 1 out of 5 stars. Overall, they give it 2.4 stars.

“No widgets, kinda clunky, and pretty much just Facebook with access to your apps drawer. Meh, an unimpressive launcher compared to most others,” wrote reviewer Jeremy Noah, who called the app “good for Facebook-ophiles” after trying the app on his Samsung Galaxy S3.

The message? Facebook has much work to do before Home becomes a suitable substitute for Google’s existing Android interface. In the meantime, Microsoft has allied itself with 16 others to urge European regulators to take action against the search king for what it deems “predatory” efforts to control the market for mobile software and devices.

We don’t yet know how EU officials will respond to Mr. Softy’s urging, or Google’s own efforts to settle existing grievances. The resulting uncertainty appears to be weighing on Google stock.

What’s the Big Idea this week?
Elsewhere, a small move in Apple shares fell short of the market‘s overall rally, costing me  another 135 basis points in my three-year battle with Mr. Market. All four indexes reported strong gains.

This time, the Nasdaq led the way with with a 2.84% surge, followed by the S&P 500’s 2.29% rally, the Russell 2000’s 2.12% jump, and the Dow’s 2.06% gain, according to data supplied by The Wall Street Journal. Here’s a closer look at where I stood through Friday’s close:
 
Company Starting Price* Recent Price Total Return

Apple

$416.26**

$429.80

3.3%

Google

$650.09

$790.05

21.5%

Rackspace Hosting

$41.65

$48.40

16.2%

Riverbed Technology

$25.95

$14.60

(43.7%)

salesforce.com

$100.93

$169.52

67.9%

AVERAGE RETURN

—

—

13.04%

S&P 500 SPDR

$124.39**

$158.80

27.66%

DIFFERENCE

—

—

(14.62%)

Source: Yahoo! Finance.
* Tracking began at market close on Jan. 6, 2012.
** Adjusted for dividends and other returns of capital.

Notable newsmakers
Among the other tech stocks making news last week:

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Is Google's Facebook Nightmare Beginning?

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By Eric Bleeker, CFA, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

In April 2011, Google  CEO Larry Page made a move that left no doubt how serious the company thought of social media as a threat. He sent out a companywide memo announcing that 25% of the bonus for all employees, no matter their department, was based on the company’s success in mobile. 

Google clearly sees social and Facebook  as one of the great threats facing the company. With Facebook launching its Facebook Home user interface, which sits on top Android, how threatened should Google feel? While Facebook Home still operates on Android, it also makes Facebook the center of mobile devices. The scary thought for Google is that early versions of Facebook Home are just examples of “toeing the water,” and future releases could go deeper into minimizing Google’s own services while featuring Facebook’s. 

Facebook Home in action. 

Is Facebook becoming the realization of what Larry Page fears? Is search even the main battleground that will emerge between these companies in the next couple years? Let’s take a look at Facebook Home and the threats facing Google today. 

Google’s best weapon: being the best
Back in 2011, when Page went all hands on deck in the battle against Facebook, Google was scared. It was scared because the identity and user habits provided by all the actions taken within Facebook has the potential to be such a strong determinant of search quality. While many see Google now as an entrenched habit of users — it’s not uncommon to say “just Google it” when referring to broad search — the threat is twofold. 

First, if social search could better tap into user habits to offer more relevant results, the company is more susceptible than ever to competitors. The most common threat mentioned when it comes to Google is Microsoft‘s Bing, but that threat might be too obvious.

Instead, consider the recent reports from The Wall Street Journal that Apple  is in negotiations with Yahoo! to feature its content in more iOS applications. The reports note that Yahoo! has been contemplating ways to strengthen a search alliance with Apple, but one of the major sticking points is that leaving Google would “sacrifice the quality of search results.” Google’s greatest threat right now isn’t necessarily Microsoft; it’s the frayed relationship it has with Apple.

Apple is a company that would love to abandon Google from a strategic standpoint but doesn’t have options to do so. Google’s greatest weapon remains not its brand, but its quality and lead in search. 

The early innings of Facebook and search
A second idea that’s connected to the first is how much time users spend on Facebook. Not only does that allow Facebook to collect excellent data on user habits, but it also means Facebook can offer search or other products without needing to boot Google out of being the default search on a browser. If a user is frequently on Facebook and the company offered a unique search offering, it could display a search box prominently within the content

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/14/is-googles-facebook-nightmare-beginning/

Do it yourself

How to Install the New Facebook Home Launcher on Your Nexus 7 Tablet

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Facebook Home was just released in the Google Play Store a couple days ago, and for those of you eagerly waiting to get it on your Nexus 7, you’ll unfortunately be stuck with this message: The new Facebook Home launcher app is blocked on the Nexus 7, because Facebook only released it for a few select Android phones. Home for tablets probably won’t appear for months, but that’s okay, because you don’t have to wait that long! In this article, I’m going to show you how to get Facebook Home installed and working perfectly on your Nexus 7 tablet.

Before You Begin

Make sure you’ve backed up your… more

From: http://nexus7.wonderhowto.com/how-to/install-new-facebook-home-launcher-your-nexus-7-tablet-0146337/

News, Politics, Government

OK, So This New Facebook Home Ad Is Actually Pretty Funny

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By Robert Hof, Contributor

The first ad for Facebook’s new mobile phone software, Facebook Home, was OK but not riveting. “Airplane,” which was shown at the April 4 launch, featured a guy checking his Facebook feed on a plane, with updates appearing live in front of his eyes.

From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2013/04/13/ok-so-this-new-facebook-home-ad-is-actually-pretty-funny/

Computers

Facebook Home panned by some early users

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Facebook’s new Home launcher for Android phones isn’t getting a lot of love in some circles, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a whirl.

The social networking behemoth released the offering Friday, but early users so far are giving it significantly more one-star ratings on Google Play than five-star ratings.

Usually, when an app is panned by users it’s a sure sign that something is amiss — either it’s poorly designed or offering little functionality unless you ante up for in-app purchases. That doesn’t appear to be the case here. The disenchanted seem to dislike the fact that Facebook Home “takes over” your phone and makes doing non-Facebook things more difficult.

Well, yeah. That’s kind of the point.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2034460/facebook-home-panned-by-some-early-users.html#tk.rss_all

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Will the Facebook Phone Inspire a Twitter Phone?

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By Doug Ehrman, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

On April 4, Facebook introduced Facebook Home to the world, potentially changing the future of the smartphone landscape. Facebook Home is a meta-app that functions somewhere between Google‘s Android OS and the rest of the apps on your phone. CEO Mark Zuckerberg described it as an experience that allows you to make your phone about people, not just apps. Not only does Facebook Home reimagine how you will interact with your device, but it also opens the door for the company to break into mobile advertising in a significant way. If the release is successful, you have to wonder whether Twitter and others will soon follow suit, spawning increasingly customizable user experiences.

What is Facebook Home?
Facebook Home takes over the lock screen and home screen of the Android devices on which it’s installed. As Zuckerberg explained in the release announcement, Facebook Home is possible only because of the extremely open nature of Android. Once it’s installed, you’re able to see Facebook updates on both the home and lock screens; the idea is to make your smartphone a portal to the people in your life rather than just a conduit for information.

Source: Facebook.

Where FB Home has real potential for the company is in all of the real estate it leaves open to place mobile ads in at some later date. The company has prudently decided to release Home without the inclusion of any advertising, but it’s easy to see where they will be easy to integrate. One of the biggest complaints investors have had since the company’s IPO is that it has struggled to monetize its huge user base. If the company is successful in breaking into the mobile ad space, this criticism will rapidly disappear.

The lock screen is key
Another highlight Zuckerberg pointed out in the announcement is that most of us look at the lock screen on our smartphones up to 100 times each day. If that screen can now contain information about the people in our lives, we’re more likely to keep track of them . Likewise, this frequency holds the key for advertising that may give Facebook an advantage over its willing host in Google.

Where does the industry go from here?
While it’s hard to imagine that Apple would ever allow a third party like Facebook to take over the home and lock screen in iOS, the model may affect how Apple and others approach the precious real estate that exists on the small screen. Significant adoption could well cause Apple to consider whether it needs a significant footprint in social media. If the lock screen becomes a significant revenue source for others, that could also prove an important differentiator for Apple.

Likewise, if the Facebook Phone becomes popular, it would seem natural to see others, particularly Twitter, follow suit and release similar meta-apps. As social media becomes more fully integrated into our smartphones, you should expect to see an increasing

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/13/will-the-facebook-phone-inspire-a-twitter-phone/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

2 Smart Tech Investments, According to Teenagers

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By Chris Neiger, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Teenagers may not be the best judges of investments, but when it comes to their preferences, their thoughts can be a good indicator for where trends are headed — especially when it comes to technology. Tapping into the teenage mind can be a scary endeavor, but let’s look briefly at what technology teens prefer right now, and how investors can benefit.

Teens prefer Facebook, for now
According to a recent survey by Piper Jaffray, Facebook is still the preferred social media network among teenagers. The study showed that although teens are starting to move away from Facebook’s website, the social network itself is still very important. The shift away from the website may be due more to the Facebook focusing on mobile offerings, rather than a shift in teenage preferences.

But the social media landscape can change quickly. Facebook’s $1 billion purchase of Instagram last year is a prime example of how even the biggest social network companies can feel threatened by smaller ones — and with good reason. In the survey, teens said that services like Wanelo and SnapChat are at the top of their list, even though they weren’t included in the survey.

Facebook is trying to keep users hooked on its service, most recently with its launch of its Facebook-infused Android program, Facebook Home. If the survey’s representative sample is correct, than it seems Facebook is doing a good job of retaining teens — but it’s not the only one at the top of the list.

Twitter followed behind Facebook for one of the most important teenage social networks, which could be a good indicator for tech investors chomping at the bit for a Twitter IPO. Rumors are still flying that the company will go public late this year or in 2014.

Apple’s stock is down, but teen demand it high
When it comes to devices, the study found that 91% of teens surveyed said the next high-tech device they’ll purchase will be a smartphone. That’s good news for smartphone makers, and especially good for Apple . Out of those who want to purchase a smartphone, 51% said they’d buy an iPhone — compared to just 22% who said they wanted and Android device. Of all the teens surveyed, about half of them already owned an iPhone.

It’s worth noting that only 6.5% of iPhone owners fall into the teenager demographic, 1% higher than Android’s market share in the same demographic. But what’s important to take away from the survey is that the next demographic above survey respondents, those aged 18-24, make up almost 19% of iPhone owners and 16% of Android users. According to a recent comScore study, “iPhone owners tend to think very highly of their devices, and as a result they are likely to remain iPhone users over time. Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of iPhone owners are highly satisfied with their device, and more than 80 percent of them have previously owned an iPhone.”

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/12/2-smart-tech-investments-according-to-teenagers/

Science & Technology

Facebook Home Hands-On: One Size Does Not Fit All

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Facebook’s big push for smartphone dominance begins today with the release of Home, a home screen interface that completely overtakes your Android OS and places posts from friends at the forefront of your device. Available now for the HTC One, HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Samsung Galaxy Note II, Facebook Home isn’t a major, earth-shattering product — it sets up and operates very simply.

…Perhaps too simply.

Continue reading…

From: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/12/facebook-home-hands-on-one-size-does-not-fit-all

Articles of Interest

Facebook Home’s Ultimate Goal: Ingesting Your Messages

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

Mark Zuckerberg has staunchly rejected the notion that Facebook Home, the social network’s new Facebook-ified smartphone software, is a “phone.”

In a sense, he’s right: Home isn’t a phone so much as it’s a three-by-five-inch messaging center designed to get the world hooked on chatting via Facebook.

The social network’s foray into smartphones underscores a push to make every interaction with phones into an interaction with Facebook. But more specifically, Home marks an effort to make Facebook the hub for all conversations. On a phone that puts Facebook front and center, Facebook has put messaging front and center.

Read More…
More on Facebook

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/11/facebook-home-messages_n_3063609.html

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Facebook Home Shows Challenges for Google

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By Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Facebook Home is out, and it’s the latest company to take control of Google‘s open-source Android software. This highlights a challenge for Google, which has lost control of Android in many ways. It may even provide an opportunity for Apple . Erin Miller sat down with Fool contributor Travis Hoium to see why he thinks Facebook Home may be good for Apple. 

There’s no doubt that Apple is at the center of technology’s largest revolution ever, and that longtime shareholders have been handsomely rewarded with over 1,000% gains. However, there is a debate raging as to whether Apple remains a buy. The Motley Fool’s senior technology analyst and managing bureau chief, Eric Bleeker, is prepared to fill you in on both reasons to buy and reasons to sell Apple, and what opportunities are left for the company (and your portfolio) going forward. To get instant access to his latest thinking on Apple, simply click here now.

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/11/facebook-home-shows-challenges-for-google/