10 of the Best Android Apps from November 2014. November sure was a busy month for new apps and notable updates; from photo recognition, to launchers, to Biz Stone’s new app for sharing random thoughts. Here are 10 of the essential new apps and updates that you should know about from November. Yummly If you’re an Android owning foodie, there’s a good chance you’ve been hankering for a slice of Yummly’s recipe search and discovery app for a long while now. And now you can. The core package of recipes and recommendations is delivered alongside additional features and slick imagery designed to get you slavering. While iOS owners have been able to get in on the action since September 2013, it was only last month that the first Android version arrived.
. ➤ Yummly Microsoft Office While it might not be the most exciting app in the world, it’s hard to deny the usefulness people seem to find in having a suite of document editing tools on their phone. ➤ Microsoft Office Mobile Milk Video ➤ Milk Video Z Launcher Now, however, it’s open to all. . ➤ Z Launcher. The Best Video-Editing App for Android. Smartphones are getting bigger and more powerful, and the lines between ‘PC’ and ‘phone’ are very much blurred.
While everyone now has the potential to be a one-man film crew, you’re only as good as your tools permit, which is why I’ve been on the hunt for the best video-editing app Android has to offer. And it’s been a tough old slog. In my quest to find the ultimate video-editing app, I tried pretty much everything there is out there. And if I’m being honest, there is a lot of trash. There are a number of pretty good social-focused apps that help you mash clips together with soundtracks and spit out a Facebook-friendly cacophony, but that wasn’t what I was looking for. What I was ultimately looking for was a user-friendly, good-looking, Adobe Premiere or iMovie-esque application that gives me very granular control of my clips and edits, with full effects and publishing features. Here’s a quick look under the hood. Video Gaga You’ll also no doubt be curious about the costs. . ➤ Kinemaster. Google Introduces New Security Dashboard and Wizard for Google Apps Users.
Google has introduced a couple of new security-focused features for Google Apps users today that are designed to help people keep better control over the devices that can access their account. Although hardly revolutionary, Google’s new Devices and Activity dashboard allows Google Apps users to quickly identify and revoke access for any device that has been used to access an account and its data. This could be potentially useful if you ever lost your phone or laptop, for example, as well as if an attacker ever managed to add your account on their own device. The second addition is a new security wizard to guide users through setting up security features, like providing contact info for account recovery and how to review account activity and permissions. ➤ New security tools to help improve online security [Google]
Google Introduces New Security Dashboard and Wizard for Google Apps Users. Report: Anonymous messaging app Yik Yak raises $62 million. Citymapper Quietly Launches In Mexico City, Previews Tokyo. Office for Android gets Dropbox support and easier OneDrive sharing. A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft announced a surprise partnership with Dropbox to increase Office’s cloud storage options.
At the time, however, the updates only benefited iOS users. Today, Office Mobile for Android users are getting a shot at the new integration. Now when you use Office Mobile on Android, you’ll see Dropbox added as a storage location and be able to browse, edit and share your Dropbox files right within the App. Of course, the app already featured OneDrive integration, but today’s update lets you finally create shareable links for your OneDrive documents too. You can grab the update from the Google Play Store now. ➤ Office Mobile for Android Smartphones update available with OneDrive sharing and Dropbox support [Office Blogs] Chinese Developers Can Now Launch Paid Android Apps via Google Play. Google announced that it will now allow developers from China to release paid apps for Android users in over 130 countries via its Google Play store. This gives Chinese devs a chance to share their apps with millions of Android users worldwide by either charging upfront or building in in-app purchases and subscriptions.
In the past, displaying ads within their apps was the only way to get a financial return, as they were only allowed to release free apps to the public via Google’s store. While this is great news for mobile developers in China, TechCrunch reports that it doesn’t yet allow them to release paid apps for the Chinese market via Google Play, owing to censorship issues in the country. Devs will have to resort to deploying their apps on third-party app stores to reach Chinese users until that works out. ➤ Developers In China Can Now Make Money Via Google Play Apps (But Not In China) [TechCrunch] Image credit: See-ming Lee.
Sainsbury's New App Is Sat-Nav For Your Shopping. Sainsbury’s has announced its trialing a slightly bizarre new app that will guide you to the items you’re seeking as you slouch around its stores. The supermarket revealed today that it’s working on the as-yet-unnamed new app, which will allow you to fill your basket on the phone, then guide you to the products in the shop. The shopping sat-nav will then let you scan and pay for your shopping in the app, skipping the checkout entirely. Jon Rudoe, Sainsbury’s Digital and Technology Director, says: “We know that customers’ weekly shop doesn’t start at our front door. They know what they like and they also like that search for a bargain. They still want to come into store – but with limited time, they want to get their shop done quickly.”
Sainsbury’s says it is testing the new system with its own teams over the next few weeks before rolling it out to Nectar card holders later in 2015. The question is: will it be any less irritating than self-service checkouts? Google Offers Free Udacity Course for Android Development. IMDb's App Hits 100 Million Downloads on Eve of Major Upgrade. IMDb was one of those online pioneers that made the early Internet approachable. When it was founded in 1990, years before Google or Yahoo or even Bill Gates' "Internet Tidal Wave” memo at Microsoft, founder Col Needham understood that people were would want handy access to information about movies. Now those users are mobile — and IMDb still gets it. IMDb's movies and TV apps for iOS and Android have now been downloaded more than 100 million times, the company tells Mashable exclusively, which puts it in rarified air that includes Facebook, Instagram, Angry Birds and others still counted in the dozens.
“We launched our first app in December of 2009, and here we are,” Needham, a former programmer and now IMDb's ebullient CEO, told Mashable. “It’s all part of our vision to engage of our customers wherever they happen to be.” On Tuesday, those apps are getting a significant upgrade, Mashable can also reveal, with some cool new features. But there's a reason for that. 16 of the Best New Android Apps From May (2014) From Foursquare spin-offs to whistle-powered selfies, we covered a lot of ground with new Android apps in May. So by way of a quick recap, here’s our pick of the newbies from the past month. Sunrise Sunrise finally opened its uber-popular calendar app to Android users this month, as well as a version for desktop Web browsers.
Sunrise for Android offers a clean, simple design and useful hooks into third-party services such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare. It currently supports Google and iCloud calendars, though Exchange support will be added in the future. ➤ Sunrise Swarm (Foursquare) Foursquare was founded upon the concept of ‘checking in’, letting you announce your location to friends and strangers alike. In May, the company launched a new standalone app called Swarm, as it seeks to redefine the Foursquare check-in to help you meet friends nearby. ➤ Swarm PingTune It’s similar to something like Snapchat or WhatsApp – PingTune wants to be the go-to music-messaging platform. ➤ PingTune Waygo.
Microsoft to Release Real-Time Skype Translation. Mashable. Between Microsoft unveiling its new Surface Pro 3 and the latest eBay hack, you may have overlooked some of this week's best new apps. Luckily, Mashable creates a roundup each weekend of our favorite new and updated apps, so you won't miss out. This week's list includes a social music-discovery app, an Instagram viewer for iPad and an app that puts iOS notifications on your Mac's desktop.
Check out the gallery, above, to see all the apps that made our list of top picks. And if you're looking for more, check out last week's edition of can't-miss apps. Have something to add to this story? Google+ for Android Revamped with New Features and Refreshed UI. Google has updated its standalone Google+ app for Android devices to introduce a number of new features as well as a revamped UI designed to make the experience more streamlined. Announced today, there are nine new features according to a post from Googler Dave Besbris. On that list are new Auto Awesome features for your images and the introduction of Auto Awesome Stories, which combine your images and videos with the places you visit to create automatic travelogues. Besbris said that the Android app also now supports creating animated GIFs and photobooth-style images on-demand, and that “really big photo libraries” will no longer be a problem.
Libraries can now also be browsed by date by dragging the scroll bar backwards or forwards. Rounding off the list of notable changes is a new navigation menu for easier jumping between sections, and new sharing options. ➤ 9 new features in Google+ for Android [Google+ - Dave Bresbis] AllCast Now Beams Content to Other Android Devices. If you’re an Android device owner who is into streaming, then AllCast is probably an app you know well… or at least you should. The service lets you beam an array of content from your smartphone to set-top boxes and smart TVs.
Now it has a companion app (AllCast Receiver for Android) which, as the name suggests, lets you send the aforementioned mix of media to other Android smartphones or tablets. That could be useful for watching a video taken on a smartphone on a tablet, walking a friend through issues or new apps, or just sharing media. The regular AllCast app now also offers support for Google Play Music, although it requires the host device to be rooted — that’s something that may not appeal to all users. Regardless, you can grab the updated app and its companion at the links below. ➤ AllCast | All Cast Receiver [Via Koush/Google+] Image via etnyk / Flickr. Whistle Camera for Android: Take Photos with Your Mouth. The term “hands-free” will never be the same. Imagine that you don’t have to fiddle with the touchscreen to take a picture on your Android device. Imagine that you don’t even have to hit a physical button to take a selfie. Imagine just whistling. Okay, now stop imagining and check out Whistle Camera for Android.
The app lets you whistle to take a picture. We tested it ourselves and we can say with confidence that it works exactly as promised. Here’s the official feature list: Whistle detecting camera.High quality pictures.Auto focus.Easy holding and taking pictures just with one hand.Using the volume up button for more easy way to take a picture.Picture sites hands free while driving using the whistle.Selfie pictures using cam countdown.Both landscape and portrait orientation supported.A very useful and fast picture gallery.Share your photos.Easily edit your photos.
The app also has ads and regularly prompts you to upgrade to the Pro version. . ➤ Whistle Camera | Auto Answer (Google Play) Google Acquires Divide in Bid to Make Android Enterprise-Friendly. Google has snapped up Divide, the team behind a mobile app that offers a secure means of separating personal and work-related data on company-owned devices. As Recode reports, the team was formerly called Enterproid and the terms of the deal were not disclosed. Divide confirmed the deal on its site. Although the team will be joining the folks Google – presumably to work on new projects – it said the Divide app “will work as it always has” for existing customers. Although the app isn’t being shut down for now, there’s still every possibility it’ll happen in the future. “The company was founded with a simple mission: Give people the best mobile experience at work,” the Divide site reads. “As part of the Android team, we’re excited to continue developing solutions that our users love.”
The acquisition of Divide is timely, given that Google is reportedly working on new business-specific features for the next version of Android. . ➤ Divide | Google Play | App Store (via Recode) Mashable. Microsoft Will Ship A Kinect-Free Xbox One For $399 On June 9th. Microsoft has just announced that they will begin shipping a $399 version of the Xbox One console that doesn’t include the Kinect. When the Xbox One was first announced, Microsoft casually mentioned that the Kinect would not just be included… but required. As you might expect, many a gamer flipped at the idea of being required to have a camera/microphone plugged into their console at all times just to play their games. Eventually, and while cleaning up many other missteps of the Xbox One launch, Microsoft backed down. The Kinect would still be included in the box, but you wouldn’t have to plug it in if you didn’t want to. Now, they’re taking it one step further: if you don’t want a Kinect, you don’t ever have to own one.
Beginning on June 9th, Microsoft will be shipping a $399 Xbox One with no Kinect included. This is a pretty huge course change for Microsoft. Could matching the PS4 on price help Microsoft close that gap? Google Debuts Free Tool Classroom for Teachers. Google today launched a new free tool called Classroom as part of its Google Apps for Education suite.
In short, Classroom helps teachers create and organize assignments, provide feedback to their students, and communicate with their classes. Google says Classroom, which is still in preview, is based on the principle that “educational tools should be simple and easy to use” and is designed “to give teachers more time to teach and students more time to learn.” Here is what the company is promising the tool will offer: Create and collect assignments: Classroom weaves together Google Docs, Drive and Gmail to help teachers create and collect assignments paperlessly. Teachers and professors can apply for a preview of Classroom over at classroom.google.com/signup. Google says that based on the requests it receives, the company will invite a limited number of educators to try Classroom “in about a month.”
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