Hand Gesture Recognition App CamMe Revolutionizes The Way You Snap Selfies (iOS)

Taking a decent photo of yourself aka “selfie” is no easy feat, more so if your face is naturally not good at it. :p

Kidding aside, here's something you might want to try out that should take your selfie-snapping to the next level.

CamMe is a just another free 'selfie' app available in the wild but with a twist: it exploits the motion-sensing capability of your iPhone/iPad so you can snap better 'selfies' hands-free. And yeah, it really works well.

Turn Your Phone's Screen On/Off By Simply Waving Your Hand In The Air

Hand Gesture Camera App CamMe Lets You Take Selfies Hands-Free (link)

Why Should I Care?

A mobile app that leverages the power of hand gesture recognition technology is always something of an achievement. And CamMe absolutely deserves that mention -- for taking the extra mile making the impossible possible in the field of mobile computing.

Whom Is It For?

If you find joy in taking selfies a lot, then, CamMe is a must-have. It makes your selfie-snapping less awkward & a lot comfortable by giving your hands the control to snap selfies. Put simply, you can take great selfies without actually touching your device.

How It Works?

You just open the CamMe app, prop your iPhone up and stand back at distance of two to 16 feet. Then raise your hand until the app recognizes your hand and close it into a fist. Your fist should activate CamMe's 3-second timer, and it captures a self portrait.

CamMe is also proved useful in taking a group picture when no one is around to take it.

Go check out CamMe [iTunes link]

How To: Add or Set Music Sleep Timer To Spotify iOS App (No Jailbreak Requried)

UPDATE: Sleep timer is already a built-in feature of Spotify on iOS. So no need to use the Clock app nor install additional app.

UPDATE: iOS's latest built-in clock timer is now up and working again. So no need for you to go through the entire process detailed below and download another app. Learn how to Use iOS Clock Timer App As Music Sleep Timer for Spotify, Apple Music, etc

World's finest apps do not always come perfect. And that does not exempt Spotify, our personal favorite music streaming app.

Spotify's latest iOS app is still deprived of the most sought-after functionality as a music app: a sleep timer.

You cannot fall off to sleep while Spotify is playing in the background as it will obviously drain your battery. You don't want to get up in the morning with your phone's battery dead, right?

Enable, Make Spotify Web Player Working on iPhone, iPad, Android

In this post, I'm going to show you how you can easily add that Sleep Timer functionality to your Spotify iOS app so you can still sleep to your favorite tracks without leaving your iPhone/iPad's battery dead empty.

Automatically Shutdown Spotify At Predefined Time With Music Sleep Timer (iPhone/iPad)

As I mentioned above, Spotify's iOS client doesn't have a sleep timer functionality bundled to the app as yet. So we'll be taking refuge to another app called Music Sleep Timer to do job.

Download Audio MP3 Directly to iOS Device Without Using iTunes

Music Sleep Timer is just another FREE iOS app designed to kill any media playback active on your iPhone or iPad. It works exactly like the sleep timer on your TV or airconditioner. Just launch Spotify, set the timer and sleep to your favorite tunes.

Music Sleep Timer is not only useful to Spotify. You can also use it to other music apps like Pandora or any podcast or audiobook apps.

How to use:

1. Download and install Music Sleep Timer [iTunes link]
2. Once installed, open Spotify & begin playing.
3. Press the Home button to send the music player into the background.

4. Launch Music Sleep Timer and start timer, as seen below:

   

You're done.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to leave Music Sleep Timer active in the foreground for the sleep timer to work.

While waiting for Spotify to finally bring the most-coveted sleep timer functionality in their next update, you may try Music Sleep Timer to temporarily do just that.

Got a another way to set sleep timer on your Spotify iOS app? Buzz off in the comments below and I will update this entry :)

Gmail's Addon Streak Lets You Monitor, Track If Emails Are Read, Viewed By Recipients

Remember that feeling when you send your Facebook friend some important, long messages and you sit there waiting and all you've got is that big “Seen by” notification?

Well, you too can get that same message tracking goodness on your emails so you'll know if your boss has actually opened, read your emails you just sent (overdue payments, reminders perhaps :D)

Streak Gives Your Sent Emails “Seen By” Feature of Facebook — Lets You Monitor If Your Emails Are Viewed By Recipients In Real-time

Meet Streak,a tiny Google Chrome add-on that allows you to track your emails if they're viewed by your recipients. Sounds creepy and impossible but yes, you heard it right: you can now see if your emails are being viewed & left unresponded by your recipient.

Kind of NSA thing, right? Well, not really.



Streak email tracking shows the status of all your tracked emails right in your inbox. You'll see a green or gray "eye" icon right next to any email in any inbox list telling you whether the email is being read or not.

Learn How To Automatically Send Email Messages At Later Time

Any active Gmail users can take advantage of Streak's email tracking technology. Aside from it's FREE, there really is no complex installation required to get it running.

The Bonus:

The email recipients you want to monitor don't really have to have the add-on installed in order for you to be notified that it was opened. Trackable emails can be Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, among others. The recipient won’t get any notification that their e-mail activity is being tracked. That's sweet :)

It's Clever!

Being able to track sent emails is absolutely something of an achievement considering that email providers strip off scripts before your email gets sent. So there really is no way for our emails to be tracked. But the guys at Streak absolutely nailed it. Great job guys!

Download: Streak for Chrome

How To: Enable, Make Spotify Web Player Working on iPhone, iPad, Android

I am one of those unhappy, broke and desperate fellow Asians who cannot fully enjoy Spotify Premium because I am in the other side of the world currently unsupported by Spotify. While Spotify Web Player & Spotify Radio are both accessible on my PC in my country using tools like Hola Unblocker, I can't still get through the day without it on my phone which I spent most of my time every day.

How To: Bypass, Remove Restriction On YouTube - Watch Blocked YouTube Videos Anywhere

To those asking why I can't get Spotify Premium, Spotify refused any payments made on any non-US credit cards & PayPal accounts. There's a way out though: purchase Spotify Premium coupons codes which you can redeem anytime,anywhere on Spotify. But the problem with these coupons is that they are priced as high as 150% to 200% from the original price. An that's a big NO way!

So last few days, I embarked into a mission trying to work out the famous Spotify Web Player on my iPhone as my last resort. And thankfully it was successful though I had to tossed $3.99 just to enable, make Spotify Web Player working on my iPhone.

How To Get Spotify Web Player Working on iPhone, iPad & Android

The method is simple: you have to hunt any decent, working mobile web browsers with great Flash support. For iOS, I highly recommend Photon Flash Player. The iPhone version will set you back $3.99 while the iPad version costs you $5.49. But I guess it's all worth your money as you have to make only one-time purchase for this functional app rather than paying Spotify monthly premium subscription.

THE BONUS:

• All Flash-based streaming sites like Hulu, Netflix & Pandora are supported with Photon (provided that you're in a country supported by these services)
• Flash-based games like that on Facebook are fully working!

How To: Stream, Play MP3 & Video Files Embedded On Non-HTML5 Websites From Your Mobile Browser

I hate telling people the good news without telling people the bad. So here's my problem so far with Photon for iPhone: No background playback support! You have to make your browser opened for continuous audio/video playback. I hope they can work it out soon.

How To: Stream, Play MP3 & Video Files Embedded On Non-HTML5 Websites From Your Mobile Browser

If you're wondering about how to activate and get Spotify Web Player working on your iPhone, iPad or Android device or even Hulu & Netflix, then, that should do the trick!

DOWNLOAD:
Photon Flash Player for iPhone (link)
Photon Flash Player for iPad (link)
Photon Flash Player for Android(link)

Some of the Best Tricks and Tweaks in Windows 7 You Might Not Know Yet

Unless you’re a really die-hard fan of XP and Vista and have no plans of upgrading, it’s assumed you’re using the latest Windows 7.

Many professionals and novices alike are finding Windows 7 a real crowd pleaser because of its user-friendly abilities and features. Speaking of features, many people including some IT pros aren’t familiar with Window 7’s hidden secrets that are pure work productivity boosters, and fun, too. We’re not just talking about your usual keyboard shortcuts, but real features such as:

Hidden "Send to" Icons

When you right-click on an icon, the options in “Send to” are actually quite limited. For a full list, just press Shift key before right-clicking. This will save you time rather than doing copy/cut-paste.

Recover Closed Browser Tab

We often close a browser tab accidentally. You can search for it without using the history. For Google Chrome, Firefox, and Explorer, press Ctrl + Shift + T.

Additional Clock and Time Settings

Need to call Uncle Marvin? What time is it in Alaska? Is mom still awake in Brisbane? No one can memorize so many time zones (even Americans still get hung up with their 5 time zones). You can add more clocks when you click on the date and time icon. Click the time and date at the right side of the taskbar and then click Change Date and Time Settings. Look for the Additional Clocks tab and you can add one or two extra clocks with custom time zones and labeling of your choosing. After you click Apply and OK, click the time and date again. The local time should be the big clock, and the ones next to it the custom additions.

Updating the BIOS Revision

When tuning up a slow or troublesome PC, one of the first things to check is whether they have the latest BIOS revision. Most people never update their BIOS, and in the case of hardware or OS upgrades it can often be the key to solving mysterious crashes.

Must-Have: Recover All Items Stored On Your Clipboard with Ditto (Windows)

You can use a search engine to find the latest BIOS release for a particular PC model. To find out what's in the PC you're working with, use the System Information utility. Just click Start and begin typing System Information in the search box. The shortcut should pop to the top of the list within four or five characters. The System Summary page includes a wealth of information, including the manufacturer and model for major-brand PCs, the exact processor, and the BIOS version and date.

Using the Windows Registry Editor

There are a thousand tweaks that you can do only by editing an obscure value in the registry. So you make one of those changes, and then a few weeks or months later you need to do it again. It's easy to find your way back if you leave behind a trail. You can simply save the key in question to Window’s Registry Editor, or the Regedit built-in Favorites menu. At the top of the editing window, click Add to Favorites and the current location is saved, using a name of your choosing. If you need to remove entries from the list, just click Remove Favorites.

Power Settings to Save on Electricity

Part of boosting work productivity is to save on your electric bills and lessen overhead expenses. You can do this by simply making your PC more energy-aware. The biggest change of all is to let your PC go to sleep when they're not being used. That cuts the amount of power they consume by 97%, and they wake up quickly when they're needed again. Just go to Control Panel > System and Security or Hardware and Sound. Click on Power Options and make the necessary power saving settings.

Play Loud Audio Sound, MP3 When Phone's Battery Is Full

Window switching with Alt+Tab

Another useful tool in Windows 7 is Alt + Tab. In the window you can click on any icon including the desktop to open it. Alternatively on pressing tab, it moves to the subsequent icon and after you leave alt, the highlighted window opens. If you want to move the highlighter the other way, press shift while hitting tab.

Chrome Bookmarks On iPhone Not Syncing Properly? Here's How To Make It Work

Ever had a problem syncing your Chrome bookmarks from your Desktop to your iPhone?

Lately, I ran through this trouble trying to sync my Google Chrome bookmarks from my computer to my iPhone (and vice versa). The problem, specifically, was that my newly added Chrome bookmarks on my PC doesn't reflect back to my Chrome on my phone (and even web history, login information, etc). Same is true with my phone's web data; it doesn't appear on my Chrome on my PC.

Access Your Chrome, Firefox Bookmarks On Any Computer Anywhere

From that point I'm sure that Chrome sync is not working. I'm sure as hell synchronizatio" is enabled on my phone. I even tried disconnecting my Gmail account to my phone, reconnecting, and redoing the Chrome syncing process but still no luck! I turned to Google and forums, hunting for possible solution but none of the solutions they offer seemed to work.

And yes it really drives me nuts!

Chrome Bookmarks, Web Data Not Syncing Between Computer and iPhone? Here's the Fix

Until I accidentally disabled Chrome's "Sync Everything" option & selectively turned on the web data that I want to get synced, as seen on the screenshot below. And that did the trick! Pretty neat, huh?

I'm not sure if you're having the same problem as mine but just in case you do, you may want try that out! Hopefully Google will roll out an update for their Chrome for iOS very soon!

Groopic Solves The Group Picture Taking Woe — Includes Photographer In A Group Picture Too (iOS)

Groopic for iOS simply merges the photographer's image to the group picture. Put simply, the photographer gets included too in a group photo. No more setting up of external tripods, using timers and chairs, and no more asking help from a stranger.

Unfortunately, in most group photos, the photographer is always left out. Or, a group photo is never complete because two photographers have to switch so one or the other is always left out. Groopic solves this problem with an app that will show everybody in every group photo. No one needs to be left out.

Take a Group Picture that Includes the Photographer with Groopic (link)

Groopic gives you complete groupie pics in 3 easy steps: Simply take two pictures, use the app to mark the photographers, and the Groopic app does the rest. It automatically combines the two pictures into one complete group picture.

Here's How It Works:

Groopic is the creation of Eyedeus Labs, a company that develops computational photography solutions for smartphones, with over 30 years of experience in innovative imaging solutions. Eyedeus is based in Lahore, Pakistan.

New iPhone App 'Yinztagram' Lets You Add Some Pittsburgh To Your Photos

The Groopic app for iOS is available from the App Store for only a $1.99 download. So far, an Android version is in the making and may be made available soon.

New iPhone App Automatically Captures a Photo of Anyone Who Touches Your iDevice

Ever wanted to catch those nasty itchy fingers trying to grab your iPhone without your permission?

Well, as the popular cling goes, there is always an app for that!

Meet Guardian Cam, the iOS app that spies on anyone who tries to “spy” on your iDevice. Once activated, Guardian Cam automatically takes a picture of anyone who touches your iPhone or iPad.

Discover Who May Be Using Your iPhone Without Permission With Guardian Cam (link)

The Guardian Cam app replaces the home screen with a dummy screen. If the dummy screen is touched the front-facing camera automatically takes a picture — good news for those who want to protect their iPhone’s or iPad’s security and privacy.

Use IFTTT As A Spy App: Secretly Collect iOS Photos Taken on iPhone, iPad (No Jailbreak)

The app even has an upgrade for auto-flash in low light, an icon badge that displays the number of photos captured, and even an optional audio alarm that will not shut off until it runs after one minute. All photos are even dated and saved.

How To: Remotely Spy, Monitor SMS, Text Messages

The Guardian Cam app is useful in order to guard against anyone using someone else’s iPhone or iPad without the owner’s knowledge. It’s also a foolproof way to catch anyone in the act of spying on the contents of any iDevice. The ultimate protection of course is against anyone attempting to steal the device, since the loud alarm will discourage anyone from finishing the attempted thievery. In short, anyone attempting illegally to look at a file, open an app, make a call, or to steal the device, is automatically caught on camera or subjected to a loud alarm.

If hard proof is needed to accuse someone, the outcome from Guardian Cam is all the proof you need.

Guardian Cam supports English and Japanese. It is compatible with iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, and 5; the 3rd to 5th generation of iPod Touch; and iPad. Of course, the iDevice must have a front-facing camera.

Phone As Spy Camera - Turn Your Phone Into Remote Surveillance Camera With Motion Detection

Created by the Masatoshi Higashionna and Masaya Takahashi Co. Ltd. from Japan, Guardian Cam sells for only US$1.99 available worldwide at any App Store in the Utilities category.

Use Mover.io To Copy, Move Files From FTP To Google Drive, DropBox, SkyDrive and Vice Versa

To those looking for a FREE, decent file management web service with support for FTP to copy, backup web files from web server to cloud storage providers (e.g. DropBox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, etc), well, then, this post if for you!

I am sometimes asked, as a web ninja, to create a full site backup of my client's sites and copy it to their cloud storage accounts. Such tasks can actually be a accomplished using the right (premium) tools or plugins. But sometimes, plugins just ain't enough! So you sit with a sheer frustration realizing that the only way out is to 'manually' grab those downloadables and upload them back to their online virtual drive. And yes, it's not an option; it's a waste of time!

Copy Files Between FTP, Dropbox, Google Drive & SkyDrive With Mover.io (link)

Meet Mover.io, yet another awesome web platform to move/transfer files from one cloud storage provider to another. Mover was created to streamline the process of transferring your data to the cloud. The service is sort of like that of Otixo, or the time-saving cloud storage managers we have previously mentioned here, which allows you to conveniently copy/move files between DropBox, Box, Google Drive, etc. 

But, Mover is Unique

What Mover sets apart from the rest is the intuitive support for FTP as your source or destination drive. And that's very useful feature among web guys who might need to backup their web files if BackupBuddy (or the equivalent add-on) is not an option.

Using the App:

It takes just a few clicks to kick off your transfers with Mover — just a one-time signup is required. But you have to complete your registration and login until you're greeted with their neat homepage:

Click to enlarge

All it asks is the source & destination drives, and the authentication required for Mover to basically talk to DropBox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, or Box. If you are copying files between FTP server to DropBox (like my example below), you may need to ask for your FTP host, username & password, and you're good to go!

In my example below, I was trying to backup all my web files under /backupbuddy_backups/ directory and copy it to my DropBox folder named /Backupbuddy/. In this case, FTP is the "source" and DropBox is the "destination". 

Click to enlarge

As soon as you hit that big “Transfer Now” button, your transfer is now being queued and Mover should redirect you to the Activity page detailing the progress of your transfer.

Click to enlarge

Link: Mover.io

Cornell University & Adobe Create An App That Lets You Adjust Your Lighting After Photoshoot

It’s almost routine for commercial and even amateur photographers. After shooting indoors or outdoors without the benefit of studio lighting or just using an attached flash, photographers have to spend hours using Photoshop or other similar photo app to adjust the lighting and brightness of certain portions in the pictures to give them a more “balanced” look.

AfterFocus Lets You Create DSLR-Like Blurred Effects On Your Android & iPhone

Now, there’s a new app that cuts down photo editing time by more than half. The approach is to assist photographers to compose images when viewed under different dynamic lighting. The app introduces a set of basic lighting that combines several of the input images and provides controls to achieve effects photographers typically need such as color accentuating of objects or its edges.

Cornell and Adobe create software that lets you adjust your lighting after the shoot ends

The app is called User-assisted Image Compositing for Photographic Lighting (yes, it has no short name yet). The app is the joint creation of Ivaylo Boyadzhiev and Kavita Bala from Cornell University in partnership with Sylvain Paris from Adobe Research.

Basically, the Image Compositing app allows you to merge multiple shots of your subject, with only the lighting varying between shots, to create a single image. You are also shown multiple images of each shot, but with several changes in lighting. You can either select the best lighting image or merge everything or selected images into one.

Cornell and Adobe's software, demonstrated and explained by its creators.

If you choose to control the lighting for individual images, there are a range of controls types that are controlled by moving a slider:

• Fill Light – creates a flat, evenly lit image with no deep shadows or bright highlights.
• Diffuse Color Light – emphasizes subject color.
• Edge Light – emphasizes high contrast lighting for edges.
• Soft Lighting Modifier – reduces harsh shadows that may have been emphasized by the original image or by Edge Light Control.
• Regional Lighting Modifier and Exposure – adjusts overall contrast and luminance.

You could say that all this can be done on Photoshop. However, while Photoshop is all done manually, the advantage of Image Compositing is that some tasks can be automated or lighting is automatically presented so all you need to do is to either select or merge. While some tasks may need to be done manually, the slider control cuts down manual work. What may take 45 minutes for a single image on Photoshop can be finished with Image Compositing in 5 – 6 minutes.

StillShot: Create High Quality Photos From Any Video On Your iPhone

For details on how to purchase the User-assisted Image Compositing for Photographic Lighting app, visit the Adobe website or the creators at the Cornell University site.