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  • World Lens Language Translator App For Android Review

    The Translation App For Travel Junkies

    Adventure and travelling are any travel junky’s passion and life. Remote exotic locations and no understanding of the local language can not keep a travel junky away from the adventure of a lifetime.
    Technology has become part of life and one depends on it to accomplish daily tasks. To make life easier for a travel junky a company has developed a translation app which uses the principles of computer vision and image processing to translate text which is brought into the camera view of the device.
    World Lens Language Translator translates the words and replaces the translated words and places them right on the screen. This is quite interesting as the user just has to select the language and hold up the phone towards the target text which he wants to translate.

    Built-in Language Translations Supported

    Following language translations are supported:

    • English to Spanish
    • Spanish to English
    • English to French
    • French to English
    • English to Italian
    • Italian to English
    • English to German
    • German to English
    • English to Portuguese
    • Portuguese to English
    • English to Russian
    • Russian to English

     

    World Lens provides a selection of built in language translations which you can use.

    World Lens provides a selection of built in language translations which you can use.

    There are two other features which i feel are bells and whistles and do not provide any useful use to the user.

    • Reverse the words
    • Erase the words
    The reverse the words feature displays the target text it in a reverse order.
    World Lens also provides a reverse words feature where you can reverse the words of the text.

    World Lens also provides a reverse words feature where you can reverse the words of the text.

    The erase the words feature erases the text by displaying the color of the background on the screen where the text was originally.
    World Lens also can remove text from the screen.

    World Lens also can remove text from the screen.

    UX, Design, and Ease of Use

    World Lens is quite easy to use. Select the language to translate from the menu at the top of the screen and all you have to do is to point the camera towards the text to the text that you want to translate.

    As mentioned earlier the translated text is displayed over the text and shown on the screen of the device.

    I really like this as i do not need to change screens to get the translation. Due to this the app becomes really easy to use, however you do have to keep the camera still or the translation won’t work properly.

    Usefulness

    The app is really useful as it translates in real time. Suppose you are travelling and find a road side board in the local language (the app must support the language) and you hold up the device to the road side board you will be able to see what the board says.

    You can also translate text by typing in the word by pressing the book button at the bottom of the screen and typing in the word manually. A list of translations will be shown as a result.

    You can also type in the text which you want translated.

    You can also type in the text which you want translated.

    You can also freeze the frame by pressing the pause button at the bottom of the screen. When the translation has been done you can translate that text to another language using the language settings.

    Furthermore the translation is all offline, which means you do not need an internet connection to translate. This feature makes the app quite useful as this app will most probably be used in locations where there will be little or no internet connection.

     

    World Lens allows you to freeze the frame for easier reading.

    World Lens allows you to freeze the frame for easier reading.

    Problems That I Found

    The quality of the app is quite good, but it does have some problems.

    Firstly, the number of languages supported is quite low. It would have been better if more languages would have been supported.

    Secondly, you have to keep the phone still while translating the text which can get a bit difficult, but you can use the freeze frame feature as explained above.

    Conclusion

    World Lens offers a limited selection of languages to choose from, but if the travel junky is travelling to a country whose language is supported then this app can be quite useful, but for other countries it won’t be of much use.

    • World Lens provides a selection of built in language translations which you can use.
      World Lens provides a selection of built in language translations which you can use.

    December 28, 2014 • Android, Utility Apps • Views: 5520

  • Merchoo Collectables Shopping Store

    Introduction

    Getting collectables designed and made for your company/website is a creative and an exciting event. However, if gone wrong it can end in a disaster. If you want a free option and also make some money you can set up Merchoo on your website.

    Merchoo is a collectables manufacturing company which provides you an online shop which you can integrate into your website which will contain products/collectables offered by them with your logos and(or) text which you design on the collectables. When a user purchases you get money in return. Is this not a good deal?

    Merchoo shopping button integrated seamlessly into your website

    Merchoo shopping button integrated seamlessly into your website

     

    The store opens from the left of the window

    The store opens from the left of the window

    UX, Design and Ease of Use

    Integrating Merchoo is very easy. For WordPress websites you can download a plugin by the same name as Merchoo. For non-WordPress sites, you can add the code provided by Merchoo. For WordPress plugin all you have to do is to install the plugin and enter the merchant id which you can get from the “My Account” section of the Merchoo website.

    In case for the non-WordPress website you just have to write the merchant id in the code itself and use that code. Integrating the shopping store is extremely easy. Setting up the store from the Merchoo website is easy as well.

    Designing your collectables is even easier, as Merchoo provides the software where you can upload your images or add text and drag and drop them on to the designated area.

    Design your own shirt art

    Design your own shirt art

    Usefulness

    Merchoo at the moment provides the following products which you can design (you can design what is to be printed on the front of the products):

    • T-Shirt for Men
    • Tote Bag
    • Hoodies,
    • Long Sleeve Shirts,
    • T-Shirts for Women

    You can design what is to be printed on to the front of the collectables. Merchoo provides an easy to use software which allows you to upload a number of images and add a number of text with different font styles and color. You can even resize the text. Furthermore you can decide where you want to place the image(s) and(or) text onto the shirt. There is an area defined within which you can place anywhere.

    You can also decide whether you want your earnings to either be paid to your PayPal account or it be sent to you via cheque.

    As discussed above integrating the store into your website is as easy as either installing a WordPress plugin or copying and pasting a piece of code into your non-WordPress website. Once that is done your website will be showing a button labeled, “Merchendise” and upon pressing it will open the store from where you users will be able to purchase products with your logos and text.

    The best thing about this is that you do not have to pay a dime, but instead you get money in return in the form of commission. Merchoo handles manufacturing and shipping the products to the buyer.

    Conclusion

    This idea seems good and novel, and useful for those who want to sell collectables with their logos and(or) text for free, but also make some money on the side.Watch Full Movie Streaming Online and Download

    Update 12:39 am 8th December 2014: I missed the link to merchoo in the opening paragraph. I have added that.

    Update 3:35 am 9th December 2014: I have updated the link of the article and the content to improve SEO.

    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Cart Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
    • Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin
      Merchoo Shopping Store Plugin

    var metaslider_514 = function($) {
    $(‘#metaslider_514’).addClass(‘flexslider’); // theme/plugin conflict avoidance
    $(‘#metaslider_514’).flexslider({
    slideshowSpeed:3000,
    animation:”fade”,
    controlNav:true,
    directionNav:true,
    pauseOnHover:true,
    direction:”horizontal”,
    reverse:false,
    animationSpeed:600,
    prevText:”<“,
    nextText:”>”,
    slideshow:true
    });
    };
    var timer_metaslider_514 = function() {
    var slider = !window.jQuery ? window.setTimeout(timer_metaslider_514, 100) : !jQuery.isReady ? window.setTimeout(timer_metaslider_514, 1) : metaslider_514(window.jQuery);
    };
    timer_metaslider_514();

    December 7, 2014 • Utility Apps, Web Apps • Views: 5611

  • Reep.io P2P File Sharing Service

    There are many file sharing services available for one to use such as the all famous yousendit.com (now hightail.com) or the infamous megaupload.com. These services allowed the user to upload their files on to the service’s server so that the uploader can share the file with who ever they want.berryjam.ru

    If you just want to transfer your file and not store on some server there are other niche services such as the peer to peer (p2p) file sharing services. Reep.io is one such app which Connects the two parties via a p2p connection.
    A p2p file sharing connection does not require an intermediary server to transfer the data. It is only needed for service discovery. After that the two parties communicate directly with each other. The two parties are both the client and server.

    The p2p file sharing technique has been made popular by torrent software and Skype which was originally a peer to peer service before it got acquired by Microsoft.

    Reep.io connects the sender and the receiver are connected with each other directly. One thing which really attracts me to such projects is that Reep.io is an open source project and you can download the source code from github. I myself am a developer, and i have an interest to see how different software work.

    The user experience is very simple and minimal. The user can either select files by dragging them onto the website’s page, or press the “Add or drop files” button and open a file browser.

    If the user decides to upload more files then they will all be shown on the same screen ordered vertically. Do note that it is key that the browser(or tab) is not closed if the file upload is in progress, else the file transfer will fail.

    The website is easy to use, and the process of uploading the file is the same as it has been so there is nothing new here. The user knows exactly what to do. The instructions are given clearly in the page of the website.

    The theme itself is dark and red which gives of a professional feel.

    When the user uploads a file, a link is generated by the service which identifies the connection. The link is given to the other user and he loads it up on his browser. Then two browsers connect with each other and the file transfer begins.

    Both the sender and the receiver are shown both the speed of transfer and how much the file to be transferred is left. This is a good addition and a requirement in such type of apps.

    Another thing that i notice is that if both the sender and the receiver are on the same WiFi network, then the data is transferred over the local network, and not over the Internet. Such a scenario took place with me, and the transfer speed that i got was just above 1MB/second.

    This fact was further reassured when my Internet connection got disconnected but the file transfer continued as it was.

    The file transfer did not work for me on Mozilla Firefox, but it worked on Google Chrome. The developer will have to make this app cross platform, or it will not be of much use to the users.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)

    Reep io is session based, so once the session is disconnected the transaction is lost and the file transfer will have to be done from scratch. This is a pain if you are uploading a large file. Just today while testing service I asked my friend to send me a large file which uploaded till 45 percent but then the connection disconnected and all of the progress was lost.

    Other file transfer techniques such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol), HTTP file upload, Skype file upload are all session based, but if the developer finds a way to cache the data downloaded and keeps a track of what part of the data has been uploaded and what is remaining, i am pretty sure that this will surely make the app more appealing and more useful for the users. I think the developer should do what torrent software or download managers do.

    I also noticed that if i upload a video file, the file type(in the name) is not changed back to the original type. Maybe this was an edge case, but the developer should look into this.

    The idea of the app is quite good, but not novel. There are many peer to peer file transfer websites available out there, and this feature is already integrated in other software such as Skype.

    I recommend that if the development team work on the problems given above, they can rise above the competition and have a hit on their hands. Just because the file transfer is peer to peer it does not mean that caching of the file can not be done. This is one feature which i really want. I do not want to start the file transfer all over again if my session has been disconnected. I have had this problem with many file transfer services. I would like this particular problem to be solved as soon as possible. I believe this is one reason why torrents and file download managers are so popular that they cache the data, and continue the download from the place where they were interrupted.

    Update: 6:49 am 6th December 2014. I made some spelling corrections.

    Update 3:35 am 9th December 2014: I have updated the link of the article and the content to improve SEO.

    December 5, 2014 • Utility Apps, Web Apps • Views: 8162

  • Kia Scene Hai Event Finder Website

    Introduction

    This particular review is for our Pakistani readers. There must have been times, when you ask your friend “kia scene hai“, which translates to “what is the plan”, when you are lazing around nothing to do. This particular service tells you of happening in your city. At moment the website is offering its services for Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad.

    UX, Design and Ease of Use

    The design of the website is simple, with filters at the top in the body, then featured events are right below them, and then further more filters are given where the user can filter the events by what is happening today, tomorrow, this week, and this month.

    Then below that are the categories along with the number of events being held in that category. Further more the best events in your selected city are also shown. The design does its job to get your attention and inform you of the events that are happening in your city.

    The user experience is a bit too overwhelming for the first time user as every thing is shown right there on the home page. It does take a while to take into the experience. Once the user gets over this then the site is pretty self explanatory and easy to use. The learning curve is quite shallow.

    Usefulness

    I for one like to attend meetups and events related to entrepreneurship and business where i can meet fellow entrepreneurs in my city. I was surprised to find that the website did have events which catered to my needs. Kia Scene Hai consists of a large number of event types from which you can choose from.

    The categories are as follows:

    • Art/Literature
    • Conference
    • Festivals
    • Music/Concert
    • Meetup/Talk
    • Exhibition/Launch
    • Sports
    • Theater/Film
    • Trips
    • Competition
    • Workshops

    The website also offers weekly updates via email and SMS keeping you updated what is happening in your city.

    The usefulness of the website is quite obvious as it does its jobs quite well.

    If you are organizing your event you can even sell your tickets through the website and also conduct promotion for your event through the website.

    I am also happy that the events that are in the system are quite new and interesting and not outdated or expired. This shows that the team at Kia Scene Hai is hard at work in maintaining the system and adding more events as they come.

    The website also offers an Android app which you can download from the Google Play Store.

    You can also find reviews of restaurants in your city and also search for restaurants based on the type of food they sell.

    Conclusion

    I highly recommend Kia Scene Hai if you like going out and having fun. I will surely be using this service to find near by events so that i can have a great time.

    Update 4:29 am 9th December 2014: I have updated the link of the article and the content to improve SEO.

     

    • Kia Scene Hai Events Happening Website
      Kia Scene Hai Events Happening Website

    December 1, 2014 • Utility Apps, Web Apps • Views: 5523

  • Sticher Radio for Podcasts Android App

    This post originally appeared on the blog Mustafa Neguib and has been reprinted here with permission.

    Introduction to Podcasting

    Podcasting is where people record their voices and then launch them into the internet hoping for someone to listen, and follow intently.
    Think of podcasting as the audio version of blogging. There are many benefits of being a podcast creator and a podcast listener. One of the biggest benefits that a podcast contains is feelings and emotions which just plain blogs do not contain and can not contain. A podcast is personal to the listener. The listener can load up his podcast and continue to what ever he does while listening to the podcast. I think these benefits have further encouraged people to start to listen to audio books.
    Being a podcast listener, i use an app which i dearly love.  Sticher is a podcast reader of sorts, where you can find a number of different podcasts available ranging from a number of different genres/categories.
    Via Sticher i found my all time favorite podcasts, Entrepreneur on Fire hosted by John Lee Dumas and Security Now by Steve Gibson. There are many other podcasts available as well as mentioned above.
    Following genres are from which the listener can follow:
    • Popular & Trending
    • New & Noteworthy
    • Comedy
    • Business & Industry
    • News & Politics
    • Education
    • Society & Culture
    • Entertainment
    • Games & Hobbies
    • Lifestyle & Health
    • Local
    • Music Commentary
    • Parenting, Kids & Family
    • Science & Medicine
    • Spirituality & Religion
    • Sports
    • Technology
    • International

    UX, Design and Ease of Use

    Sticher has been designed well, but it might be a bit too much for a beginner user of Android devices. The app does need a little bit of exploration to be done in order to find out what the features of the app are.

    Usefulness

    Sticher is essentially an on demand podcast service, where you can download the podcast that you want to when ever you want to. You can also add podcasts to listen later list after which the selected podcast will be downloaded to your device.

    This functionality is quite useful for those listeners who are in a hurry to reach their destination, but want to listen to podcasts on the way. Users can also add stations (a station is the source of podcasts where the podcast author publishes his podcasts) to the read later list, which will download podcasts from those stations as well.

    You can call Sticher is to podcasts as RSS readers are to websites and blogs. Sticher also provides with searching functionality where you can search for your favorite topics, stations, or podcast authors, etc…

    Sticher provides a number of different settings which allows you to personalize your experience. You can even set what to show on the start screen.

    You can also create multiple play lists into which you can add your favorite stations. Maybe you want to create playlist which will just contains technology related stations, while another playlist contains business related stations.

    Conclusion

    I highly recommend Sticher for podcast enthusiasts, as this app truly brings a great collection of stations and podcasts. I surely continue to use it in the future to listen to podcasts.

    • Sticher Podcast Reader Android App
      Sticher Podcast Reader Android App

    November 10, 2014 • Business Apps, Utility Apps • Views: 4600