Top 20 Android Photography Apps

Top 20 Android Photography Apps

via hongkiat.com by hongkiat on 12/6/10

Android is an amazing mobile platform from Google which has recently created a great amount of buzz in the mobile market. Being completely open, this mobile platform allows application developers to unleash their creativity and in the same time giving end users the privilege to experience freedom of experimenting new possibilities. There has been a plethora of android powered devices in the mobile market lately and that effectively increase the amount of great apps in the marketplace!

Today, we’ll be giving you a complete round up of Best Android Apps for all your photography needs. It doesn’t matter if you’re a pro or just a beginner at photography. These apps combined with creativity will make that tiny-winy camera of your mobile phone, a power-house of amazing photography. So without further ado, here’s then entire list.

Photoshop.com Mobile

Straight from Adobe, with Photoshop mobile app, you can edit and share photos virtually anywhere. Other functions include Touch to crop, rotate, adjust color, and add artistic effects. You can also access all your photos and videos directly from your free Photoshop.com account. and quickly share with family and friends.

Vignette

Vignette app allows you to add extra light flairs to your photographs and make them even more amazing than they already are.

Photoid

An all round photo app with frames, effects, rich hi-res clip-art,high resolution save, stickers, rotation, brushes and mask modes.

PhotoWonder

PhotoWonder is a fun app to edit pics on mobile. With amazing effects like LOMO, BlueTone and Ageing, lovely stickers and frames, this app is a great fun!

PRO Paint Camera

Want to take better pictures? PRO Paint Camera app is what you’ll need. With cliparts, contrast correction, text-fonts, toy-camera and x-ray mode, you can’t ask for more!

Love Photo Frames

This app allows you to make a very special personalized framed picture, save in your album or send to your loved one by email.

Camera 360

Turn your phone into professional camera by aplying filters like LOMO, HDR, axis shift, draft, ghost, etc.

PicSay

Powerful and award winning photo editor. Color-correct your pictures and add word balloons, titles, graphics, and effects like distortion. All in a fun, intuitive, and easy-to-use interface.

Camera Fun Pro

The only Android app to apply LIVE Photoshop lens to your Android camera.

Camera Zoom FX

Camera ZOOM FX gives you the ability to apply 40 effects (vignette, lomo, retro, polaroid, etc.) to your photo.

Fast Camera

The quickest camera ever. Just press the camera button and take pictures instantly, the preview doesn’t even stop.

FX Camera

FxCamera enables you to take a picture with various effects like ToyCam, Polandroid, Fisheye, SymmetriCam, Warhol, Normal etc.

Multi Camera

Take multiple shots with your camera and get a single image.

onSite Photo

OnSite Photo lets you take photos and instantly upload them to a specific project within ConstructionOnline.

Photo Album Organizer

Photo Album Organizer will copy selected pictures on your phone into a new photo album that you create. It also organizes your photos for better viewing.

Photo Mail

With PhotoMail app, you can edit and send photos quickly, copy photos from the gallery, edit photos with text and graphics and also E-mail selected photos.

Pic Bubbler

Pic Bubbler is a simple and fun way to make pics more exciting. Turn pics of your favorite guy or girl into titillating memories. Edit pics of your favorite models. Sometimes it’s what you don’t see that makes all the difference.

Retro Camera

With Retro Camera you’ll take delicious old-school pics your friends will drool over. 5 cameras, 5 sets of vintage vignetting, film scratch, black and white & cross processing effects for that off-the-hip analog look. Inspired by the Lomo, Holga, Polaroid, Diana, the toy cameras and Hipstamatic.

Photo Scrapbook

Create a scrapbook of photos on your homescreen. Tap the widget to display full screen version of pictures of your children, friends, kids, pets, babies, holidays, etc.

Photo Effects

Turn your photos into art with amazing effects, similar to instagram.

Image credits: Appbrain, Androidzoom, Androidpit, Androlib.

How to Verify an Email Address?

How to Verify an Email Address?

via Digital Inspiration Technology Blog by Amit on 11/22/10

How do you verify if a given email address is real or fake? Well an obvious solution is that you send a test mail to that email address and if your message doesn’t bounce, it is safe to assume* that the address is real.

[*] Some web domains may have configured a catch-all email address meaning that messages addressed to a non-existent mailbox will not be returned to the sender but in most cases, such email messages will bounce.

Ping an Email Address to Validate it!

When you send an email to someone, the message goes to an SMTP server which then looks for the MX (Mail Exchange) records of the email recipient’s domain.

For instance, when you send an email to hello@gmail.com, the mail server will try to find the MX records for the gmail.com domain. If the records exist, the next step would be to determine whether that email username (hello in our example) is present or not.

Using a similar logic, we can verify an email address from the computer without actually sending a test message. Here’s how:

Let say that we want to verify if the address billgates@gmail.com exists or not?

Step 1. Enable telnet in Windows.  Or if you already have the PuTTY utility, skip this step.

Step 2. Open the command prompt and type the following command:

nslookup –type=mx gmail.com

This command will extract and list the MX records of a domain as shown below. Replace gmail.com with the domain of the email address that you are trying to verify.

gmail.com MX preference=30, exchanger = alt3.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com gmail.com MX preference=20, exchanger = alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com gmail.com MX preference=5, exchanger = gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com gmail.com MX preference=10, exchanger = alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com gmail.com MX preference=40, exchanger = alt4.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com

Step 3. As you may have noticed, it is not uncommon to have multiple MX records for a domain. Pick any one of the servers mentioned in the MX records, may be the one with the lowest preference level number (in our example, gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com), and “pretend” to send a test message to that server from you computer.

For that, go to command prompt window and type the following commands in the listed sequence:

3a: Connect to the mail server:

telnet gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com 25

3b: Say hello to the other server

HELO

3c: Identify yourself with some fictitious email address

mail from:<labnol@labnol.org>

3d: Type the recipient’s email address that you are trying to verify:

rcpt to:<billgates@gmail.com>

The server response for ‘rcpt to’ command will give you an idea whether an email address is valid or not. You’ll get an “OK” if the address exists else a 550 error like:

• abc@gmail.com -- The email account that you tried to reach does not exist.
• support@gmail.com -- The email account that you tried to reach is disabled.

That’s it! If the address is valid, you may perform reverse email search to find the person behind the address. And if you get stuck somewhere, this step-by-step video should help:

 

Use Your iPhone or iPod Touch to Remotely Control Your PC

 

 

Click to Shop for Mice at Logitech

 

 

Use Your iPhone or iPod Touch to Remotely Control Your PC

via the How-To Geek by Mysticgeek on 9/23/10

Have you ever wanted an easy way to remotely control your PC? Here we take a look at using Touch Mouse from Logitech which works over Wi-Fi so you can control your PC from anywhere in your house.

Installation and Setup

Download Logitech Touch Mouse from the iTunes App Store through iTunes or directly from your iOS device.

After that’s installed, you need to download and install the Touch Mouse Server on your PC or Mac (link below). It is available in 32 & 64-bit versions for XP, Vista, and Windows 7. There’s  a version for Mac OS X as well.

Installation of Touch Mouse Server is easy following the wizard and accepting the defaults. You will need to install the server software on each computer on your network that you want to remotely control.

Then you will find Logitech Touch Mouse Server in All Programs in the Start Menu.

The server icon lives in the system tray. Right-click on the icon to stop the server and close out, or check the server settings.

You can find the IP of your computer and the IP of your iOS device. Also, uncheck Start this application automatically when Windows starts if you don’t want it to run during boot up.

Using Touch Mouse

Now that the server is setup, launch the app and we can start using our iOS device as a remote control for our PC.

Just click on the PC you want to control or enter in the IP address of the machine.

Just move your finger around the black tracking area to move your mouse cursor, then you also have right, left and middle click.

Pull up the Keyboard and you can type on your PC. You’ll see the text on your iOS device and also the computer.

For example we opened up Notepad and began typing in it from our iPod Touch.

You can type in any program that is installed on your PC. Here we’re typing in a search term in the Firefox Google bar. Here is what you’ll see on your iOS device…

Then whatever you type is exactly what is displayed in whatever program you’re in.

You can use it in Landscape mode too which makes typing more quickly easier.

Go into Settings to change the way the way the remote works with your computer. You can change things like Tracking Speed, Clicking Options, Scrolling and more.

If you want to disconnect, tap on the Disconnect icon.

It only takes a few moments to disconnect the signal.

It also includes a nice user guide in case you get stuck or aren’t sure how to control something.

Touch Mouse from Logitech is a basic remote app for your Mac or PC. It doesn’t include advanced features of other commercial remote apps such as HippoRemote, but it’s free and does a decent job. This can really be handy if you have your PC connected to your HDTV or want to kick back at your desk and not have to sit up close with your keyboard and mouse. If you use Windows Media Center, it allows you to control it easily from the comfort of your couch.

Logitech Touch Mouse App for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad

Download Touch Mouse Server

 

 

Click to Shop for Mice at Logitech

 

 

Beginner: Automatically Lock Your Computer When You’re Away

 

 

 

 

Beginner: Automatically Lock Your Computer When You’re Away

via the How-To Geek by Matthew Guay on 9/22/10

Would you like your computer to automatically lock and require you to enter your password when you exit the screensaver?  Here’s how to quickly change your screensaver settings to keep your computer secure when you’re away.

To get started, right-click on your desktop, and click Personalize to open the personalization settings dialog.

Click Screen Saver under the themes to change your screensaver settings.

Alternately, if you’d rather open the screensaver settings without grabbing your mouse, hit the Win key and enter Screen Saver in the search box, and select Change screen saver.

This will open the Screen Saver settings dialog.  Select the screensaver you want, then check the box to display the login screen when you exit the screen saver.  Enter the number of minutes you want to wait before your screensaver starts, then click Ok to save your settings.

Now, after the length of time you selected, you’ll see your screensaver as normal.

Then, when you move the mouse or press a key, you’ll see the normal login screen instead of your desktop.  Enter your password and login as normal to access your computer.

Lock Your Computer Without a Screensaver

If you’re not fond of screensavers, you can lock your computer when you’re away without turning on the screensaver.  Just select None from the screensaver list, then check the box as before.  Now your computer will automatically switch to the Login screen whenever your computer is left for the amount of time you selected.

This trick only works if your coworkers and family doesn’t know your password, of course.  If you want to be sure that people can’t easily guess your password, check out our article on How to Automatically Lock Your Computer When Your Password is Entered Incorrectly.

Acronis Drive Monitor, Monitor Hard Drives For Critical Events

 

 

Click to get Acronis Drive Monitor Free Download

 

 

Acronis Drive Monitor, Monitor Hard Drives For Critical Events

via gHacks Technology News by Martin on 9/24/10

Keeping an eye on the hard drives of a computer system ensures to receive notifications about imminent drive errors or other critical events that may affect the data on those devices. Modern hard drives usually support the SMART technology, which software can use to display information about a drive’s health.

Acronis Drive Monitor is a free hard disk monitoring software that uses SMART information and the Windows event log to display important events to the system user. The program is pretty basic, which is surprising considering its size of nearly 18 Megabytes.

On startup a summary is displayed, which displays disk problems, backup information and critical events. Disk problems are directly linked to SMART parameters, and the program will either report that all disks are working normally, or that problems have been encountered.

acronis drive monitor

Critical events taps right into the Windows event log and displays high risk events of the system’s storage devices. Backup finally has probably been added to distribute or sell Acronis products as it proposes to download Acronis backup software if no backup software is detected on the system.

Links lead to detailed information about each of the information provided by the software. Probably the most interesting feature of the program is the critical events listing which makes use of the Windows Event log. Not many hard drive monitoring applications offer this feature.

Then again, it is possible to create those custom alerts quite easily without third party software.

The page displays all critical events, sorted by date. Included in the listing is the risk evaluation rating, severity, source and event id. A double-click on an event displays detailed information about that specific event, with a link to the Acronis Knowledge Base website for additional information.

critical events

The Disks page lists the usual information about the primary partition of the computer. We did not find an option to make the drive monitor display those information for other connected drives.

Finally, the program can create four types of alerts that are send to an email address that needs to be configured in the program’s options. Alerts can be configured for temperature levels, critical events, disks monitoring errors and backup monitoring errors.

Acronis Drive Monitor does not offer anything that other tools or even Windows first party tools do not offer. Some users may still be inclined to give the program a try, it is free after all. The program supports both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. Downloads are provided at the Acronis website after registration.

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© Martin for gHacks Technology News, 2010.

 

 

Click to get Acronis Drive Monitor Free Download

 

 

 

 

McAfee URL Shortener

McAfee URL Shortener

via gHacks Technology News by Martin on 9/24/10

It is not really clear to me why url shorteners have become that popular on today’s Internet. Sure, Twitter may have an impact on that, considering its 140 word limit per message, but there do not seem to be a lot of other applications for url shortening services.

Despite that, popularity has risen and more and more companies have created services to shorten long urls. The latest to join the ranks is security company McAfee which adds a twist to the game.

One of the biggest problems of nearly every url shortener is that the user does not know what’s behind the link. Some services offer intermediary pages to provide the user with the information, while most do not.

A click can lead to a legit site, or something else. Possibilities range from direct links to viruses and trojans, distasteful sites or other sites that try to attack or exploit.

The McAfee url shortener looks on first glance like any other service of its kind. The main page consists of a form and a shorten button.

mcafee url shortener

Users enter or paste an url into the form and click on shorten to create a short version of the url. This is displayed on the next page. Several sharing options are displayed on that page including the popular choices Twitter, Facebook, Email and Google Buzz.

What makes the service interesting is that the destination will automatically be scanned for malicious contents. By default, a frame is displayed on top of the destination that indicates if a page has been deemed safe by McAfeee.

mcafee

Creators of the shortened link can configure the service to bypass that frame if the site is clean. That’s optional on the other hand. Users who visited the site can close the frame as well.

The web page contents are not displayed if the website has been classified as malicious or otherwise dangerous by the service.

mcafee blocked site

It is possible to still see the page that is blocked by the service, but that requires some manual work. There is no option to bypass by clicking a link. Instead, the link to the destination page is displayed needs to be copied manually and pasted into the address form of the browser.

The url shortening service has a few restrictions regarding the links that can be shortened:

• No links to other url shortening services, including McAf.ee url shortening links
• No links to private IP space
• No links to badly formed domain names
• No domain names with XSS, or tags

Users can access the McAfee url shortening service directly on the page. There is also a Google Chrome extension that can be used to create the shortened links.

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Post tags: google chrome extensions, mcaf.ee, mcafee, mcafee secure url shortner, url shortener