Happy New Year
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Refurbished Nook Tablet - Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet review (16GB) - buyEtail.com
The good: The Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet is
a full-featured tablet with a vibrant 7-inch touch screen, built-in Wi-Fi, 16GB
of built-in storage, and a microSD expansion slot. In addition to a full slate
of books and magazines, it offers more than a thousand apps through its
integrated (and growing) Nook Store and is optimized for Netflix and Hulu Plus
video playback. The built-in Web browser works well and offers Flash support.
The bad: No access to full Android Market; no
Bluetooth, GPS, or camera; no video rental (or purchase) option; side loaded
content beyond 1GB needs to be housed on microSD.
The bottom line: With more storage and a growing app
store, the Nook Tablet is a worthy--albeit slightly more expensive--competitor
to the Kindle Fire.
source: http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/barnes-noble-nook-tablet/4505-3126_7-35059751.htmlhttp://www.buyetail.com
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Friday, December 20, 2013
Refurbished Apple iPhone 5 - Some tricks with new iOS 7, iPhones - buyEtail.com
Apple's new iPhones and iOS 7 operating system for mobile
devices are packed with new features, although not of all them are readily
apparent. I've had a chance to learn a few tricks in the week I spent with both
the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S, which come with iOS 7 installed.
Here are five things to know if you download the software on
one of Apple's older mobile devices starting Wednesday or buy a new iPhone
starting Friday. The update is available for free for the iPhone 4, 4S and 5
models, the iPad 2 and later, the iPad Mini and the iPod Touch released last
year. You'll need about 3 gigabytes of free storage.
___
TIP ONE: CONTROL CENTER AND SWIPES
Many of the improvements added to iOS 7 are delivered after
swiping from various edges of the screen. This redesign is meant to make it
easier to navigate, but there is no guide for knowing when and how to swipe.
Fortunately, you can still use an iPhone the traditional way, by tapping on an
icon or button, even if you don't learn all the new ways to swipe.
As a general rule of thumb, keep swiping from various edges
to see what happens. If you discover something neat, remember it for next time.
Swiping may produce different results if you're in the lock screen, the home
screen or an app.
Here's a guide to the basic swipes:
— From the lock screen, swipe up from the bottom right
corner to access the camera. This is a holdover from iOS 6.
— Whether locked or unlocked, swipe up from anywhere else
along the bottom edge to get the Control Center. It gives you easy access to
frequently accessed settings such as Airplane Mode and Wi-Fi. It also gets you
to key apps such as the flashlight feature and the clock, for timing how long
the turkey needs to be in the oven. There's a volume control, but only for
audio and video playback. You need the volume buttons for the ringer and
alerts.
— Swipe down from the top edge to get the Notification
Center. You'll see the day's highlights, including the weather, appointments
and stock quotes. Tap on "All" or "Missed" near the top to
get recent notifications from Gmail, Facebook and other services.
— Swipe down from anywhere else on the screen to get a
search box.
— From various Apple apps, try swiping from the left or the
right. Not every app will respond, but many will. With the Safari browser, for
instance, you can use the left and right swipes in place of the back and
forward buttons.
TIP TWO: ORGANIZING AND SHARING PHOTOS
The new Photos app organizes your photos into moments, based
on when and where you took the photos. Several moments will be grouped into a
collection, such as a vacation to Europe. Collections will then be grouped by
year. It's all automated, so you can't reorganize shots if you would rather
break a collection into two. But it's better than having hundreds of unorganized
photos.
From any moment, collection or year, click on the header on
top of the photos to pull out a map showing all the places you've been, with
the number of shots taken at each. You can share entire moments, by hitting
"Share" on the right side of that header. A menu should pop out from
the bottom. It's tricky because it's easy to miss and hit "Select"
above it instead.
Once you have the moment or set of photos chosen, another
menu will pop out from the bottom, giving you such choices as sharing by email,
Facebook, Flickr or text messaging.
___
TIP THREE: ASK SIRI
Frustrated with Siri's inability to hear what you're trying
to say? Instead of repeating yourself over and over, you can click "tap to
edit" to make the change manually. You shouldn't have to with voice
search, but fixing one letter is still easier than having to type in the entire
phrase.
Just for fun, you can give Siri a sex change by going to the
settings, choosing "General," then "Siri," then "Voice
Gender." You can now use Siri to change phone settings and return recent
calls. And Siri will speak out turn-by-turn directions when walking. Before,
the vocal instructions were limited to driving directions in Maps.
___
TIP FOUR: FREEBIES
Apple's new streaming music service, iTunes Radio, is easy
to find. Click on the Music icon at the bottom of each home screen, then choose
"Radio" at the bottom. Create music stations by choosing some genres
you like. Then fine-tune your picks by hitting the star when a tune is playing.
You can ask the service to play more songs like it or remove that song from
future playlists entirely. You can also create new stations based on specific
songs or artists. The service will try to find other songs like them.
Best of all, it's free. Just prepare to put up with some
ads, unless you subscribe to Apple's iTunes Match for $25 a year.
Meanwhile, you might qualify for some free apps — Pages for
word processing, Numbers for spreadsheets, Keynote for presentations, iPhoto
for photo editing and iMovie for movie editing. They usually cost $5 or $10
each. To qualify, you need to buy a new iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The offer
is retroactive to Sept. 1. Once a new device is activated, the app can be
downloaded for free to other devices on the same account, as long as the device
is upgraded to iOS 7.
___
TIP FIVE: FINGERPRINTING
With the new fingerprint ID system on the iPhone 5S, there's
no longer a reason to avoid protecting your phone with a passcode. I know
passcodes can be very disruptive. I've often lost my train of thought before I
could get to an app to jot something down. But your fingerprint now bypasses
the need to type in a four-digit code in many situations.
It's easy to set up. The iPhone will walk you through
scanning one finger when you set up the phone. You can scan four more fingers —
yours or someone else's — by going to the settings. Go to "General,"
then "Passcode & Fingerprint."
I'm still confronted with passcode screens, especially when
I need to authenticate an app purchase. It took me a few days to realize that
even though you're asked for a passcode, the fingerprint usually works unless
the phone specifically tells you otherwise.
One more thing: The screen needs to be on for the
fingerprint sensor to work. To save a step, just press on the home button
firmly and let the button pop back up. But keep your finger lightly touching
the button's surface. The hard press will activate the screen, and the light
touch will unlock the phone.
source: http://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2013/09/20/1232501/tech-tips-some-tricks-new-ios-7-iphones
By Anick Jesdanun
Monday, December 16, 2013
Refurbished Apple iPad - Top apps to save Christmas - buyEtail
Top 10 apps to save Christmas
Christmas can be one of the most stressful times of year –
what with all the gifts you need to buy, wrapping you need to do and food you
need to prepare. Give yourself a break and try out these handy apps to help
things run smoothy over the festive season.
Create and send your own handwritten greetings cards
straight from your iPad (or iPhone). Inkly lets you choose your card from
over 1,300 designs. You can then write your message on a piece of paper,
photograph it with your iPad camera, and transfer your handwriting (and
sketches if you so wish) inside your chosen card. Then pinch it, zoom it or
rotate it to suit.
A shopping price comparison app for Android that helps you
find the best bargains available online and on the high street. Users can
search for a product, filter by categories, and create lists of items to
monitor their prices. It also features a barcode scanner, which will instantly
display product information, reviews, and the best web price. Perfect for the
‘oh god, I haven’t finished my Christmas shopping’ phase of the month.
As the office Christmas party season kicks off, this app
takes the stress out of Secret Santa shopping. Simply select the gender of the
gift receiver, pick the type of gift – cheeky, fun or cute – and your budget.
Then spin the tombola to see the recommended gift. Users can then choose to
spin again for another option, or click to instantly buy the gift online.
Apple's festive app lets you download a surprise free gift
from Apple each day, such as a song, app, book or film. Each day’s gift will
only be available for 24 hours and is a surprise, so users will need to check
back every day between the 26 December – 6 January to make sure they don’t miss
out. Previous year’s gifts included music from One Direction, Lady Gaga and
Coldplay, TV shows from the BBC’s Sherlock, Top Gear and House, books from Lee
Child, Jo Nesbo and Ken Follett and apps from Snapseed, Electronic Arts and
Sega.
Christmas is the season of good will, and as the cold
weather kicks in, StreetLink provides a way for members of the public to inform
local authorities about rough sleepers in their area and help get them off the
streets. Over the last year there have been almost 11,000 alerts to local
services, and StreetLink has directly helped 4,000 rough sleepers in the first
year since its launch.
source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-app-reviews/10514336/Top-10-apps-to-save-Christmas.html
by Sophie Curtis
http;//www.buyetail.com
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Refurbished iPad - Best iPad music apps - buyEtail
Having that slightly larger screen on the iPad grants a
lot more space to play with the tablet's music making capabilities. There is
room there for extra sliders, bigger buttons and larger instruments. The result
is a selection of iPad music
apps that really do the most with the extra screen size available.
Some of these apps are so complex that you could quite
easily produce an entire song using only them. Whilst Pocket-lint is yet to try
and turn out its own record using just a tablet, it would most definitely be a
tech first.
MadPad HD
MadPad HD is, at its heart, an audio sequencer; a device to
loop sounds in order to create percussive or musical clips. However, it does so
with miniature video clips recorded from, basically, anything. You can
record 12 individual small clips of unique sounds, store them on your iPad (or in
the cloud) and then play them back by tapping on each thumbnail. A basic
looping function is included, plus you can record a larger sequence. You
can also change the pitch and volume of each clip, effectively turning a person
speaking into a Smurf or Barry White, or making a mundane noise, such as
traffic, much more interesting.
And, if you're completely out of inspiration, you can
download entire sets of clips from Smule and other users. Similarly, you can
upload your own for others to use, and share them through Facebook, Twitter or
via email. As this is predominantly a video application, you will
really need an iPad 2 to get
the most from but you can still use it on a first generation iPad, too - you
just won't be able to record your own video clips.
Vevo
If you like music videos, then Vevo is where it is all at
and is pretty much an essential app for your collection. Land on the
homepage and there is a carousel of several featured artists and videos. It’s
bold, it looks sharp and there is no messing around. Hit the one you want and
the video streams, it’s as simple as that.
It’s clean, simple, direct to the point and easy to use. The
selection of videos seems to cover the most popular current artists, so if you
have specific tastes you might be disappointed.
Sonos Controller
This handy app acts as a free wireless music controller for
your Sonos system. Download the app, install it, press
a button on any one of your Sonos ZonePlayers and away you go. It really is
that easy. IT enables you to manage your library remotely, and stream music to
every room - you can either play different songs in each room or sync all your
ZonePlayers to play the same song. Volume can be controlled via the hardware
buttons on most Android phones.
And voice search can be performed from within the app. Plus,
it also features the ability to press back on your phone rather than having to
press a dedicated icon on screen. In practice, the volume buttons work a
treat making changing volume on the fly really easy, and the voice search saves
you having to tap away at a tiny keyboard. This one's also available for iPhone and iPad.
Guitar World Lick of the Day
This clever app offers a list of available licks for you to
choose from, which you download within the app. You're then presented with a
tutorial video from one of Guitar World's award-winning instructors or celeb
axe-wielders like Zakk Wylde and
Joe Satriani. You'll also get written performance notes explaining how to play
the lick, along with scrolling musical notation. You can choose between a standard
music stave or guitar tab, and there's also a virtual fretboard displayed
beneath the music (which can be inverted for the lefties among you).
There's also a handy practice mode where you can alter the
settings to control various features like music notation tempo, looping and a
metronome. The app is free but if you want to get the full benefit then
you'll need to shell out for a subscription that will guarantee you one new
guitar lick per day.
source: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/112194-best-ipad-music-apps-2011http://www.buyetail.com
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Refurbished iPad Retina Display - Best free iPad games - buyEtail.com
It’s worth keeping in mind that just about all of these
employ in-app purchases of some kind or another. Many gamers would much rather
pay a flat fee up-front, but we’re writing this for the cheapskates. We’re also
trying to avoid “lite” games, since you won’t get a lot of replay value by only
having the first couple of levels and being pestered to upgrade to buy the
rest.
Without further ado, here’s our list. Don’t be shy to sing
out in the comments with your favorite free games for the iPad.
RAD Soldiers quickly replaced Hero Academy as my favorite
turn-based strategy game thanks to its modern feel and deep customization
options. Players build out a squad of deadly mercenaries and fight over missile
crash sites at locales across the globe (for some reason), earn cash, and spend
it on recruiting new members. Game maps are sectioned off as a grid, and are
riddled with low cover and high cover locations which can mitigate incoming
fire. Each character has a certain number of action points they can use in a
turn, a selection of special abilities, and health bar that varies in size by
character. You can chew on single-player challenges for awhile to earn rewards,
or you can take the fight online against other players. Expansion packs can be
bought through in-app purchases, or you can pick up the in-game currency to
fast track your mercenary outfit’s gear.
RAD Soldiers is a fine mix of strategy and action, with
plenty of progression and customizability to boot.
Spaceteam is a decidedly unique local multiplayer game.
Players gather together with their iPads and iPhones and connect over either
Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. They’re then presented with ridiculously-labeled spaceship
consoles, with all manner of sliders, knobs, switches, and buttons. Each player
then has a message flashing telling them which control needs to be tweaked in
order to save their ship from exploding. The thing is, that control could be on
anybody’s device, so what ends up happening is everybody starts barking
ludicrous orders at one another with straight-faced urgency. Random events can
have players in a panic trying to wipe goop off their controls while going
through these episodes.
Spaceteam will be one of the most fun party games you play,
and thanks to cross-platform compatibility, even your Android-toting friends
can join in.
Plants vs. Zombies is a venerable iOS franchise for a good
reason. The bizarre premise of protecting your back lawn from hordes of undead
with sunflowers is certainly part of that, but there’s a lot of tactical
thinking in terms of plant choices before the attack begins, and placement. In
Plants vs. Zombies 2, you’re taken back in time to defend against zombies
dressed in era garb, and try out all sorts of new mechanics. The zombies are
getting smarter, and challenge your reaction speed in a number of ways, though
you also have a whole new complement of plants to use. Stages also have new
terrain features to keep every round fresh. Plant food can be collected to
super-charge any plant when things get especially hairy, plus new gesture-based
powers can help you clear the bigger waves.
All in all, Plants vs. Zombies 2 presents deep strategic
gameplay in a fun, colorful package.
by Simon Sage
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