Thursday, 5 June 2014
IFTTT 2.0.0 - app
If This Then That is an incredibly impressive app that lets you create connections and commands for different apps on your phone and the web.Â
Tying it all together
IFTTT is based on "If this, then that" conditional statements found in computer coding and applied to your apps. In simpler terms, IFTTT allows you to mash up different programs together. For example, you can can program the app to have your post-exercise Fitbit activity saved to a Google Drive spreadsheet. It's also set up to work with GPS and the Internet of Things (IoT) so that you could have your house lights turn on as your near your home.
Each of these commands are called "recipes". IFTTT makes it incredibly easy to concoct a recipe by using a friendly visual interface and suggesting all sorts of popular apps to use including Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, Etsy, and many more.
There's also user-submitted recipes that are updated and provide a great way to discover new recipes. They are categorized into trending, all time, and featured. There's also "collections" which are themed, such as recipes for music lovers.
Useful or unnecessary?
The idea of linking of programs or web pages using if this, then that statements is nothing new and has been done with Yahoo! Pipes. What separates IFTTT from the rest is its intuitive design and seamless social aspect. Admittedly, many of the recipes now are fairly niche (receive weekly email digests about Madonna's Instagram activity) but IFTTT is wisely looking to the future.
IFTTT has lots of integration built in for IoT meaning that it's poising itself as the go to app for controlling your appliances. It also supports Google Glass with some recipes that send sports scores to your Glass. People who like to stay ahead of the curve with the latest tech should probably get acquainted with IFTTT.
A powerful app with lots of potential
At this point, IFTTT is a handy app that can make your life a bit more convenient. However, it (and apps like it) are very likely going to become more popular in the near future due to the Internet of Things which connects your phone to just about any object.Â
Download IFTTT 2.0.0
YouTube 5.7 - app
The YouTube Android app offers a comfortable and watch clips from the popular online video repository.
What does the YouTube app do?
This official YouTube app makes it very easy to watch videos on your phone. The user interface is intelligently designed to offer all the great features of YouTube without sacrificing screen space.
You can comfortably view YouTube videos in portrait mode while checking out info, related videos and comments at the same time. You can access extra sharing options directly while watching the video.
Rotate your phone to landscape mode and YouTube will automatically resize the movie to full screen and remove all of the rest of the page elements. The player controls are kept perfectly simple. In fact, all you can do is touch the screen to pause and slide your finger along the timeline to fast forward and rewind.
Upload video to YouTube
The YouTube app for Android makes it very easy for you to quickly grab and upload videos to YouTube from your phone. All you do is hit the video camera button, record your footage, then the app will upload it to your YouTube channel in the background. You can also select existing videos to upload from your SD card.
YouTube is generally included by default within the Android operating system. However, it's well worth downloading the official app because it means you can always have the very latest version of the application.
YouTube may be default, but it's still the best video player available.
Download YouTube 5.7
Angry Birds Space 2.0.0 - app
Angry Birds Space is a spin-off of the famous Angry Birds game. Like Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons, it sends the pig-hating birds on a series of new adventures.
The gameplay in Angry Birds Space is different to all the other versions of the game in that the impact of gravity plays a role in your success. The basic principle of Angry Birds Space is the same as ever: catapult birds to break the structures and take out all of the pigs that sit on the various rocks and planets on the other side of the screen.
This time though, you'll need to be more tactical, because the gravitational pull will drag your birds in different directions. It makes for a more intelligent, diverse gaming experience.
There are 70 levels in Angry Birds Space, as well as fun bonus levels that spring up randomly as you play the game. The bonus games allow you to boost your points tally and unlock new items.
Angry Birds Space is the best-looking game of the series so far, with out-of-this-world physics, lots of fun new birds with different super powers, and wonderful space scenes. If you're playing on a device with a high resolution display, you're in for a real treat.
The sound effects are better than ever, and the space-age take on that catchy Angry Birds soundtrack sounds great.
There's very little to fault in Angry Birds Space other than perhaps it's a little easy to get through the first levels. Surely new levels will be added to Angry Birds Space over time, but for now you shouldn't have a problem finishing the game within a couple of hours.
Angry Birds Space is the best version of the game so far, with graphics and gameplay that take casual gaming to a whole new dimension.
Download Angry Birds Space 2.0.0