Tag: android

Now: Go Home

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Since the latest software upgrade on my gorgeous Sony Xperia T, I have been treated to Google Now each time I use the search bar.
It’s a fairly amazing feature – it detects where I am, what’s around me and uses information I have searched for previously to work out what information might help me… well… now. It then displays that information on little ‘cards’ before I’ve even asked for it.
Now is wow.

Thus, I am treated to weather information, local restaurant reviews, even local news. It keeps me up to date with the latest on Sheffield United. It reads my next calendar appointment and offers directions. If I book a flight, it’ll keep me informed of delays, gate numbers, seat numbers and issue a digital boarding card. If I’m at a train station, details of the next trains to pass through will be displayed.

But I’m not often at train stations, so mainly, it just tells me how long it’s going to take for me to get home.

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Yep. Wherever I go, once I have been stationary for about 5 minutes, Now thinks I’ve probably had enough already and tells me how long it’s going to take me to get home. Tap that little blue arrowhead and it’ll even talk me through it turn by turn. Right now, in the middle of the day, things are looking pretty cool for a quick trip back to Chez 6000. Sadly, I have plenty more to do here before I set off.

This could be seen as all somewhat sinister since I’ve never actually told my phone where I live. It has worked that out for itself. It also now knows where I work and warns me of traffic issues along the way as soon as I set off from home each morning. Again, I’ve never actually told it where I work either. The Sheffield United thing was also a bit of a surprise when it first popped up. It’s ever so clever.

The more paranoid among you will now be wailing and gnashing your teeth over privacy concerns, and if I was a secret agent then I too would be wailing and gnashing (quietly though, so as not to attract attention). But I’m not.

And it’s actually rather comforting to constantly know how long it’s going to take me to get home.

Super 15 Android app

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With the new Super Rugby season recently arrived and looking like it’s going to stick around until Christmas (ish), I’ve been looking for a decent app to replace the rather slow and often iffy “Rugby Nut” I used last season.
And it seems that, after trying a couple of other contenders over the weekend, I have found it in the Sportsmate Mobile Super XV app, here.

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Yes, it’s Aussie based (but that makes no difference on matchday) and at 22MB, it’s not small, but it’s free, fast and accurate. It also has live text commentary options, plus loads of stats which will make you look smarter than your average bear at the Saturday afternoon braai.

Go get it.

Digital Clock

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One thing I simply can’t manage without at night is a clock. I’ll readily take the hit of waking up in the middle of the night hoping it’s 1am before finding it’s actually 5am, simply for the reverse of that same situation, and the joy of knowing that you have 4 “extra” hours in your bed. There’s nothing better.

Either way, I need to know what’s going on.

That’s where Digital Clock comes in, turning your Android device into… er… a digital clock. It’s especially huge and rather fun on the tablet.

There are probably a lot of apps out there that  do much the same as this one, but maybe I just got lucky by downloading this one first. It works perfectly.

Learn a language

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As many of you will know, I have family ties to the Isle of Man, that gorgeous little lump of rock ‘twixt England and Ireland. And, on the Isle of Man, they speak Manx Gaelic. Or rather, they did. It’s been dying out now for a long while and the Manx Heritage Foundation have decided to do something about it.

Their latest step in this direction is a free smartphone app to assist people with learning Manx:

The ‘Learn Manx’ app is based on the successful adult language course ran by the Manx Heritage Foundation in the Island and is a fantastic resource for all those who are interested in getting to grips with Manx Gaelic.  ‘Learn Manx’ consists of ten units, each consisting of a variety of activities, whilst two additional revision lessons feature the TT Races as learning tools. The app will eventually cover 30 units in total, providing a fantastic introduction to the language to those unfamiliar with it, as well as a great revision course for those who already know some Manx.

The app development has been supported by a telecommunications company on the island.
Their spokesperson:

It was a pleasure and a privilege to be able to support the Manx Heritage Foundation in a merger between 21st Century technology and our Manx Gaelic language with origins dating back to the 4th Century.
Whether you use the Manx Language App for fun or serious learning it keeps our language very much alive.

And that’s the idea, right?

I’m going to give it a go and see how I get on. There are more gutteral sounds than in Afrikaans, so it might sound like I’m struggling with a nasty cough at first, but pretty soon, I’ll be able to fluently order a pint of Okell’s Ale or fluently find my way to the nearest pub to fluently order a pint of Okell’s Ale.

What could possibly go wrong?

Now all I need is an app to learn isiXhosa as well. Anyone?

Learn Manx (or Ynsee Gaelg) is available FREE from the Google Play store or from iTunes if you’re more Apple than Android.

Android link:

 

Angry Birds Star Wars

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Issues with internet today, so not much from me here except to say that you should go and download the latest chapter in the Angry Birds saga.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Angry Birds Space, but my first impressions of the new Star Wars game are very favourable.

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This isn’t just some Angry Birds gameplay chucked over a Star Wars background; there’s detail, storylines, special character birds and special powers. For example, above, once the Luke Skywalker bird has taken out that Stormtrooper pig shooting the laser, the Obi-Wan birds will “use the force” to destroy the Imperial fortress.

It’s free and Android users can download it directly using this QR code:

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Have fun!

UPDATE: Oh my. Han Solo bird with rebounding laser pistol is fantastic. And you can call in a “Scorched Earth” Airstrike from the Millennium Falcon. I am loving this.