How to install and set up Swype Beta on Android devices

The Swype Beta is a swipe gesture based keyboard that provides accurate word suggestions based on the user's style.

Using an on-screen full keyboard can be tiring at times and also time consuming. While there are number of input keyboards available in Google Play Store, Swype Beta keyboard offers swipe gesture based input for text. This keyboard learns from your text input style and offers more accurate words once you link it to your email and social network accounts. Besides that, it also integrates Dragon voice recognition for letting you input text using voice.

Last year, Nuance acquired Swype and added more amazing features such Dragon-powered voice input along with XT9 Predictive Text. Here is the tutorial to get the new Swype keyboard with voice input and predictive text input.

Step One:

Register yourself and get the Swype account. Then visit this URL from your Android smartphone - http://beta.swype.com/android/beta/ and download the Swipe Beta Installer .apk file on your PC or Mac.

Step Two:

Go to your Android smartphone's Settings and head to the Application Settings Menu option. Check the box to allow installation of the apps from unknown sources. For Android 4.0 ICS running smartphones, the application settings can be found in security menu.

Step Three:

Head back to the downloaded Swype-beta Installer.apk and install it on your Android phone.

Step Four:

Once installed, open the app and login with your Swype account credentials. Then download the Swype Beta app for your Android. Once done, enable the Swype keyboard for your Android device.

Step Five:

Set up the necessary language for the input and then tap on settings to make changes to the preferences such as vibrate on key press, auto-spacing, auto-capitalisation or choose the input languages you wish to use.

The next time you enter text, you will be asked to choose between your existing keyboard and Swype beta - choose the latter to start using Swype beta.

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Pinterest coming to Android later this week

Virtual Pinboards offering social network - Pinterest is all set to launch its official app for the Android platform at the Google I/O later this week.

Pinterest, the personalised virtual pinboard offering social network, will be releasing for Android at the Google I/O later this week. The Google I/O Conference is set to commence on June 27 at the Moscone Center at San Francisco, USA. The official Android app for this conference lists Pinterest Inc as one of the folks who will be presenting and talking about their upcoming Android app. Indeed, the Pinterest official App will be launched and made available at the conference.

Currently the Pinterest app is available for the iOS devices - iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. This app allows three basic functions - pin an image/video/content taken through a phone's camera, browse pins by other folks and of course, re-pin as well as comment on the pins.

It would be interesting to see if the Pinterest for Android app arrives with anything novel or the same set of features. Not to forget, the browsing pinboards on the Android devices can be quite a data-intensive activity.

The Google I/O app has Pinterest listing in Sandbox activities where the session description talks about Pinterest app. In the end it states 'Now available for Android' but there are no screenshots.

While Google+ has recently gone through a major makeover, everyone's eyes are set on Facebook to fix their Android and Facebook apps to become more responsive and fast. Recently, even Microsoft launched a new social network called So.cl but there have been no updates about any cross platform apps to use that.

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Facebook adds in-apps subscription

This will encourage developers to offer their premium games for free as they can then charge the users to unlock higher levels or for related goods in the games.

Facebook has now allowed developers to offer in app subscription for their Facebook apps. Subscriptions are generally used in games to buy premium stuff like extra levels or virtual goods. This move will not only generate revenue for developers and Facebook, it will also offer users ability to try the game's free version and then upgrade if they like it.

The subscriptions, which will launch in July for Facebook.com and mobile apps, are being tested now by gaming companies like Kixeye and Zynga. Kixeye is charging a $9.95 monthly subscription for one of its game, called Backyard Monsters.

Facebook has also revamped its payments system, removing the requirement that forced developers to use its virtual currency system, called credits. Previously, the company required all developers to switch to credits as an overall currency on Facebook. That was designed to make it easier to buy virtual goods across multiple games.

However, most developers ended up also creating their own virtual currency systems, so that consumers have had to buy Facebook Credits, then exchange them for the developer's "gold coins,” and then exchange those coins for virtual goods. Consumers would have to do this for each developer's game they played making it a very complicated process.

Now Facebook is allowing users to simply purchase virtual currency directly from a developer in their local currency, without having to use credits. This will also make it easier for developers and their users who are not in the same country.

Removing the system of Facebook credit makes the platform open for any payment system, and would be possible to directly buy services like movies (if such an offering were to come in future) or any other service that comes up on Facebook.

Facebook recently also launched its own app store for the mobile platforms.

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HTC to launch Siri-like personal assistant

HTC has put up teasers on its social networks for its upcoming voice based personal assistant service set for launch anytime soon.

Smartphone manufacturer HTC may soon introduce a Smart Personal Assistant, like iPhone 4S's Siri, for its Google Android running One series smartphones.

HTC teased about a 'Top Secret' project feature via its official account on the popular micro-blogging service - Twitter and Facebook. Though no details about the project is now available, but from the picture it can be guessed that HTC is talking about a voice assistant application.

Several clones of the Apple Siri's voice recognition and virtual assistant service exist in the Google Play Store. But the handset makers are driven to create and offer a virtual digital assistant for their product.

Recently, LG introduced Quick Voice after Samsung announced the S-Voice feature with the Galaxy S III. All these voice commands driven personal virtual assistant services are set to compete with the Apple Siri.

Interestingly, the teaser came out just few days before the Google I/O Conference where Google is expected to show its self developed - Project Majel aka Assistant. Google has invested and enough research resources on natural language processing for the Project Majel. It would be interesting to see the arrival of HTC's voice assistant service just alongside Google's Assistant service.

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Voice driven Robin to aid navigation on Android

This virtual assistant mostly helps in location based features and also performs several other functions.

With the rise of demand for Apple's Siri like voice based assistant application, mobile app developer Magnifis has released a new voice based app that works as personal assistant for the drivers on the roads. Named as Robin, the app supports devices with Android 2.1 and higher versions and provides travel based information which varies from the gas prices to navigation. This service is currently in the beta phase.

Most modern day smartphones come with a navigation feature but one has to look at the screen and then figure out the road. Nokia Lumia devices have navigation with voice support and does make the maps experience more simpler and drive-friendly.

Robin brings much more to the Android based smartphone with voice commands based information about places, parking, navigation, traffic, gas prices, weather information, reminders, twitter updates and other things.

Apart from navigation while driving, it also helps in getting information about the surrounding places using the local search function. One needs to keep the GPS active while using this app. The app can speak out user's name and can even read an entire Twitter stream. Currently the developers have added support for US only.

The Robin app in a way competes with Nuance's Dragon Go, Siri, VoiceSearch, Iris and couple of others. Due to different speech patterns and styles for the same language, such voice driver service takes a while to revert with the best possible response. However, one must not forget that this service uses data connection and that could be quite heavy for those with limited data packs.

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Mozilla working on browser for Apple iPad

Mozilla is working on a minimalistic version of its Junior browser for the Apple iPad tablet.

Mozilla is quietly planning to introduce a minimalistic tablet browser for the Apple iPad. The Mozilla Firefox mobile browser codenamed as Junior is currently under development. During a presentation, Mozilla's product designer, Alex Limi showed the prototype of the minimalistic mobile web browser - Junior for the Apple iPad tablet.

Junior though being a prototype shows the direction of design that Firefox is actually aiming at with full screen experience. The Junior has two visible buttons - left arrow for going to the previous page and a plus button that takes the user to a new pane. This new pane has recent pages on the top, bookmarks as dials and unified address bar with on-screen keyboard.

Mozilla has already released the browser for the Android based smartphones and tablets. Now the company is aiming at the Apple's popular tablet.

Recently, Yahoo released its visually engaging web browser for the iOS devices - Axis which has totally different approach for web browsing. As of now, Mozilla did not promise any timeline to release the Junior browser.

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Dolphin browser for Android gets HTML 5

The smart smartphone browser now has better support for websites with the inclusion of all new HTML 5 technology.

Dolphin Browser, a popular third-party browser on Android and iOS, today announced the launch of Dolphin Engine, a technology that makes the new Dolphin Browser Beta one of the highest performing HTML5 browser available today.

The browser is up to 5-10 times faster than other browsers on Android thanks to Android. In fact, according to Dolphin, the browser is 100 per cent faster than Chrome and the default Android browser.

To support this Dolphin beta was tested on HTML5test.com, which is one of industry's leading tools for testing a browser's support of HTML5 functionality. The results also showed that with the new engine Dolphin browser performs significantly better than other mobile browsers. As compared to popular Opera browser which scored 369 points and Chrome Beta scoring 364 points, the dolphin browser with the HTML 5 engine scored over 450 points.

The dolphin browser with HTML 5 functionality is available but currently is in beta phase. It is expected to be made available to users globally soon without any final launch date.

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Gameloft's Asphalt 7 launched on iOS for 99 cents

In the Asphalt 7 Heat, players get to drive 60 different cars in 15 different tracks set in real cities around the world.

Gameloft, which has a number of popular mobile phone games to its credit, has announced the launch of the most anticipated installment of its popular Asphalt series racing game for iOS based devices.

Known as the Asphalt 7 Heat, the game brings in better graphics and much more immersive game play than its predecessors. As a special launch price, Gameloft is currently selling it for just 99 cents or Rs 50 approximately.

The Asphalt 7 heat will be making its appearance for the Android devices as well on the coming 25 of this month and will eventually be made available for devices such as BlackBerry PlayBook and others as well.

In the Asphalt 7 Heat, players get to drive 60 different cars from the world's most prestigious manufacturers, like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and the legendary DeLorean to name a few.

Players get to race against opponents in an action packed game on 15 different tracks set in real cities around the world, including brand new tracks in Hawaii, Paris, London, Miami and Rio.

There is plenty of offline action for the gamers but there is much more online competition as well. The completely revamped multiplayer game play lets players take on up to 5 of your friends locally or online. Keep track of who's the best with the new Asphalt Tracker that lets players compare stats, show off achievements and challenge rivals. Players can also find new online opponents with the matchmaking system and gear on for some new challenge.

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Amazing Spiderman game coming to Android, iOS

The game is based on the upcoming Amazing Spiderman movie.

Popular game developer, Gameloft is teaming up with Marvel to launch the official game of The Amazing Spider-Man movie. Based on the original storyline, the game is claimed to have an immersive game play that stays true to the story line of the upcoming film.

The game will be made available for both the Android and iOS platforms on the coming July 3. Gameloft has also released official trailers of the game.

The Amazing Spider-Man will be a full 3D action game that incorporates familiar characters and environments, and provides players with plenty of missions, rich game play experience and comprehensive battle with the villains which are too based on the movie.

Players will get to explore the city, protect the citizens, develop their skills and discover amazing powers just the way the character does in the movie - giving them a chance to be the hero themselves, though virtually.

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Official WinZip app now available for Android

WinZip is made available for free for Android 2.1 or higher running smartphones and tablets.

Sending several files as one package from an Android operating system based smartphone just turned a bit easier with the official WinZip app. After several clone apps being available in the Google Play Store, WinZip Computing has finally released its official app for Android 2.1 or higher running smartphones and tablets.

It is an equivalent of the WinZip for the computer and can open even encrypted files.

Archiving several files in to one package is the best possible option and is very essential when using a smartphone. Especially when the apps such as Gmail and others don't offer uploading several files at the same time form the phone.

The WinZip app allows reviewing the contents of encrypted files on the move. Once the files are unzipped, the contents can be copied on the clipboard and pasted on to other app or emails.

WinZip app also comes with built-in view support for several document formats, web files, image files, PDF files, and even APK files.

As of now, the app is available in English language only. Get the official WinZip app for free from Google Play store.

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Android's Draw Something app gets a facelift

The game now officially supports to be playable in 13 different languages.

Popular drawing game for the Google Android smartphones and tablets, Draw Something has received a significant update that not only gives a facelift to the interface of the app but also adds a new set of words to choose from. The game now officially supports to be playable in 13 different languages.

This game has got people of several ages engaged in drawing and guessing the correct word. For those who are already done with current set of words, the game developers have added over 30 funny categories to draw from.

The game now extends support for 13 languages so now you can play with your friends in different countries by changing the language. Developers also added Game Expiration feature that gives a notification to the users about the games that are about to expire.

The new Draw Something update can be fetched from the Google Play store.

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4 Smart Facebook Apps (Free) You Should Not Miss!

Smart Facebook Apps Are Intentionally Targeted Towards A Smarter Social Networking Crowd. We Know All Know That, For A Simpler And Quicker Desktop-Social-Networking-Experience, We Needed Better Tools. And What’s Better If The Tools Are Super Small In Size And Made Available For Free! I’ve Compiled A List For You Guys, Containing Some Of The Most Downloaded, Smallest, Free And Known To Be Smart Facebook Apps Around!

If you are an avid Facebook user; i assume you must be in search of the best and free desktop apps available. It’s not an easy task. But, it’s easier and safer to chose from a list that is preferred by thousands of other users. So to make your work easier, i’m sharing a list of 4 Smart Facebook Apps that you must have for better desktop-facebooking-experience. Hang on, the list summons now!

 

Facebook Desktop

This app has been made by a 20 year old web developer. It occupies a very small amount of memory on your computer and provides updates for friend requests, messages, pokes and wall posts.

Size: 464KB
License: Freeware
OS: Windows 7/Vista/2003/XP/2000/98/NT/CE
Requirements: .NET Framework 2.0 or higher
Download Link: Click here

SweetIM for Facebook

SweetIM works for Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo and ICQ Instant Messenger applications. It simply adds an toolbar loaded with winks, smileys, Sound FX, Videos and games. The app is TRUSTe & McAfee certified.

Size: 365KB
License: Freeware
OS: Windows XP/2000/98
Requirements: No special requirements
Download Page: Click here

Facebook Chat

This is a desktop version of Facebook web chat. There isn’t much to say about this app, it’s simple and does what the name suggests.

Size: 2.20MB
License: Freeware
OS: Windows 7/Vista/2003/XP/2000/98/NT/CE
Requirements: No special requirements
Download Link: Click here

FriendsChecker

Let’s face it. We all want to be updated when someone un-friends us. While, this usually is not easy to find out without using special apps and tools. Most of the tools available don’t work as they promise and rather end up spamming your wall. This tiny desktop app helps you do the job, without spam!

A good this is that, with this app, your data is kept on your computer locally, which means your data is safe and secure.

Size: 350KB
License: Freeware
OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP/ Mac OSX
Requirements: No special requirements
Download Link: Click here

So, this end my list recommendation here. If you have your own suggestions for Smart Facebook Apps, share them in the comments section below!

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