. . . just links from HayYoo.com and DanKostecki.com
Very informative article for Android owners –
Android is under constant attack and older versions are far more vulnerable than new ones. Way too many smartphone vendors still don’t issue Google’s monthly Android security patches in a timely fashion, or at all. And, zero-day attacks still pop up. So, what can you do to protect yourself? A lot actually.
MakeUseOf.com published a list of Halloween themed apps. Get games such as Plants vs Zombies 2, or customize your phone with Halloween Live Wallpaper and Halloween Ringtones, or how about a photo filter app from AMC’s The Walking Dead. Excellent for those who can’t get enough of Halloween.
XnRetro is a quirky little image editor, that I must admit I enjoy using. It seems to be a smart phone filter app that also has a desktop version. On mobile, it is available on Android and iPhone; on the desktop, it is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. I’m reviewing the Windows desktop version. It required no installation, just unzip, open folder, and click XnRetro.exe to launch the program.
The Good – Clean, simple interface. The interface is pleasant enough, and organized with basic color control sliders on the right side, and filters on the bottom. Filters include Retro color presets, Light effects (think lens flare), Vignette, and Frames. Personally, I don’t care for the Retro color filters; I found the Vignette and Frames very useful.
The Bad – The color adjustments seem to be rather slow – move a slider and wait to see the results – not a long wait, but noticeable. Quirks. Quirks aren’t necessarily bugs, but merely unexpected ways of doing things. The program will open with all of the adjustments that were applied to the last image saved. Many users may find this useful, I don’t. The Reset button on the right side only resets the color adjustment sliders; the Reset button on the top tool bar resets everything. The strength of the Light effects is controlled by a slider on the right. If the slider gets adjusted to zero, the Light effects seem to do nothing. Through experimentation, I found that it could open and edit JPG, PNG, and GIF files, but save only as JPG or PNG. Saving JPG quality is a relatively low 75%. This is fine for mobile, but it should be adjustable on the desktop. A Help file would have helped, but I couldn’t find one.
— — — — The Bottom Line — — — —
XnRetro has a number of quirks, probably due to its mobile origins. I found no real issues, and once you get used to it, XnRetro is a very nice, very useful image editor. Try it just for the Vignettes and Frames.
Download XnRetro for desktop HERE
LG Gentle isn’t quite the Motorola Razr of yore. It runs Android 5.1 Lollipop, sports a 1.1 GHz quad-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB of storage space, which is expandable via a microSD slot. Unfortunately, you’re not going to be able to do much with that 3.2-inch 480 x 320 display. Oh and a 3-megapixel camera because why not?
Now the bad news – it’s only available in Korea.
A HuffingtonPost article points out how technology has advanced in the last 23 years, by comparing the products for sale at Radio Shack in 1991 with his smart phone.
So here’s the list of what I’ve replaced with my iPhone.
You’d have spent $3,054.82 in 1991 to buy all the stuff in this ad that you can now do with your phone. That amount is roughly equivalent to about $5,100 in 2012 dollars.
Apparently these little rubber underwears from Bandai are all the rage for smartphone owners in Japan because Japan is Japan and I’m tired of trying to understand. They come in a variety of styles and are sold randomly in plastic capsule machines for 200 yen ($2). Didn’t get the pair you want? Try again! Still didn’t? Now would be a good time to reevaluate just how important having a particular pair of rubber underwear for your smartphone is to you.
Vertu, formerly Nokia’s luxury brand of smartphone, has launched Constellation, one of the world’s most expensive Android smartphones with prices starting at €4,900 ($6,690). The entire face of the 5.1-inch device is covered with a layer of sapphire crystal (pictured) weighing more than 100 carats, according to Vertu. So owners won’t have to worry themselves about marks on the 4.3 inch 720p display — unless a diamond ring brushes it. Its casing is made from polished titanium which, besides being lightweight and tougher than stainless steel, is expensive.
It may well be that the NSA is recording every breath you take, every move you make. But it’s going to take them quite some time to review whether your breaths and moves are, in some way, significant or even troubling. So along comes an Android app that can help you by forewarning the NSA with “Look! It wasn’t me!” Being an Android app, this sprightly invention relies on utter openness. For it takes random shots of your cell phone and sends them to the NSA Careers Twitter account. You can decide how often you wish yourself to be exposed.
DUMMR.com 