From the same astonishing visual UI carried over for its iOS counterpart, which was released just last week, Google development team has added a nice differentiator to the in-house mobile OS with the ability to initiate a video conference call “Hangout” right from the phone. Prior to this release, mobile users could only join to an on-going hangout session.

“To get started, tap “Hangout” in the new navigation ribbon, add some friends and tap “Start.” We’ll ring their phones (if you want), and if someone misses the hangout, they can ring you back with a single tap”

The new version also allows post editing and download photos from Google+ back to your Android phone and lastly the +1 button is more prominent.

The update 2.1 is available from Google Play

[Source Google]

Both version iPhone and iPad have similar consistent look & feel with a very subtle differences to adapt to the screen size.

The app presents much cleaner interface. Users are greeted with just a white page with the Google Doodle of the day similar to the Web version and a prominent search box.

Note 3 small icons at the bottom, the left icon “Apps” takes you to a full page containing the Google Mobile App Collection; the middle button “Voice” allows issueing search input with your voice and lastly the right icon “Goggles” lets user to input search argument by snapping a photo.

As soon as you enter search argument, the next screen pops up leaving more room at the bottom for predictive search suggestions. Once entered or selected the suggested search arguments, the results are shown rather quickly. The icons located at the bottom of the result page offers choices such everything, images, news, videos,places, etc…

Toggle the arrow located on top right ^ takes user back and forth between the home page and the search results.

Click on any link from the search result will open a very sleek horizontal sliding page. Search image shows an astonishing  full screen with grid pattern photos.

The navigation is intuitive and the transition between pages is beautifully designed with subtle collapsible and expandable fashion. The new design definitely shows a significant improvement over the last version.

The apps for iPhone and iPad are available in the app store.

The long battery life, small form factor and just because it’s an iPad, you certainly win some hearts  from the audience, even before you start.

The free account offers 100MB of storage that you can use to up load your PowerPoint presentation on SlideShark web site. The service then speedily compresses the file that can be downloaded to your iPad for offline use. Note that you might want to upload the files you are about to present and delete when you are done. 100MB should be sufficient.

Below is the presenter mode, which is only seen by you. While the audience sees just the slide.

SlideShark version 1.6 includes the following new features:

• Presenter Mode capabilities – iPad 2 and new iPad users can plug into a projector or TV to simultaneously view slide notes, separate timers for time spent on individual slides and the overall presentation, an animation counter, and current, previous and next slides – all while their audience sees the presentation in full-screen mode. Users can also choose a full-screen mode for both the presenter and the audience. In either mode, animations will display on both screens.
• iPad 1 projector/TV support – First-generation iPad users can now plug in and present to audiences in full-screen mode, a feature that was previously only available on the new iPad and iPad 2.
• Dramatically faster conversions – New processing improvements allow users to upload and convert their presentations three to five times faster than before.

SlideShark Plus, which offers additional storage options with cost.

"SlideShark was the first – and remains the only – app that allows iPad users to dependably view, share and track PowerPoint presentations," said Brainshark CEO Joe Gustafson. "This new version gives users a host of powerful new tools designed to make them stronger, more polished presenters."

For more information about SlideShark or to download the latest version of the app, please visit www.slideshark.com.

Available in Apple’s App Store

Similar to reading contents, Flipboard team curates and make available few well known audio sources such NPR, PRI, TWIT, etc.. Power users can always add the RSS from their favorite Podcasts. Once added, app users can play the audio. If the feed contains a list of mp3, then the audio files will be played sequentially. There is a small pop-up navigation  to control the playback, located at bottom left of the screen.

The most notable addition is the popular SoundCloud social sound network, which is similar to Instagram for photos. Adding SoundCloud permits to playback one’s sound files as well as sound files from  followers, following SoundCloud users, add your stream, like sounds, make comments, etc…

The SoundCloud addition, essentially makes the magazine to a social audio player all within Flipboard to make a powerful platform to consume multi-media contents. Note that SoundCloud has its own iPad and iPhone app for audio discovery and playback.

Another addition for visually impaired users: If Apple’s VoiceOver features are turned on in the settings of an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, the gestures to control Flipboard change and everything on a page is read out aloud. For instance, with one tap on a section a voice reads the title; a double-tap opens it and the voice reads the article.

The app is available for free in the App store

[Source Flipboard]

Once you are happy with your creation, the app lets you share to your popular Social Networking circles and even exporting your raw video to iTunes.

The app is free in the app store with a small watermark, which can be removed via an upgrade to paid version that costs $1.99. Note that SloPro only works with full feature on the iPhone 4S only.

The session will be shareable even after the live session on your YouTube channel.

To initiate a Hangouts on Air broadcast, users just need to select the option to record the session. Up to nine can actively participate to the conversation but the world can view and listen to it.

• Broadcast publicly. By checking "Enable Hangouts On Air," you can broadcast your live hangout—from the Google+ stream, your YouTube channel or your website—to the entire world.
• See how many viewers you’ve got. During your broadcast, you can look inside the hangout to see how many people are watching live.
• Record and re-share. Once you’re off the air, we’ll upload a public recording to your YouTube channel, and to your original Google+ post. This way it’s easy to share and discuss your broadcast after it’s over.

Hangout on air only available to desktop/ laptop.

Daniel Hooper, an iPad user has come up with a concept to simplify the action needed for editing, copying, moving text, etc.. just by swiping with single finger (combing with holding shift key and 2 finger swipe)

Today, Kyle Howells. a jailbreak developer, made this concept into reality  by implementing the hack on its iPad and promises to release SwipeSelection via Cydia, allowing Jailbroken devices including iPad and iPhone to take advantage of the new gestures on the soft keyboard.

[Via iDownloadBlog]

Since you often have to explain many times what this or that shot meant because it is not clear from the photo. And sometimes come across photos you were not going to show but you forgot they were in this folder… So, how to avoid such awkward situations?

The solution is to start using the brand-new slide show maker software. You will see how easily it makes every photo showing session into exciting leisure time. Using this software, you will be able to turn ordinary photos into a fantastic movie with your favorite music, your friends and relatives starring. You will save a lot of time and forget about uploading hundreds of photos to Facebook or Friends Reunited. Instead your friends will enjoy your film and beautiful music.

How to start? First of all, get ready with the photos of an event you would like to cover in the film. It can be summer holiday, your trip to a desert island, birthday party or business presentation, professional portfolio or your child’s first day at school, etc. Every event can be made into a great film! Ready? Now upload them to the slide show maker software, say Bolide Slideshow Creator, the freeware with the full set of all possible options.

Now think about music. As you know, a film’s success depends on the sound track a lot. So, choose the right music to convey the atmosphere and people’s mood at the event. For any film you can add as many sound tracks as you need – with the slide show maker software it as simple as ABC!

The slide show maker software allows you to add text comments as well. It’s saves much of your time – you think of them only once and not repeat every time you show photo collection to somebody.

Now that you have chosen photos, found the right music, added witty text comments – it’s time to choose the transitions effects. They make your slide show coherent and really smooth. You are welcome to choose from hundreds of transition effects available in Bolide Slideshow Creator or, if you like, the program can do everything for you.

The program has a powerful built-in player – any moment you can see the current result and make the necessary changes – the order of the photos, transition effects or whatever you need. The program also allows you to save the output video in various video formats and with different resolution. You may save the video in HD quality and enjoy it on a big screen together with friends.

Well, making a slide show out of photos and music into a single unity is fast, easy and fun with the slide show maker software. Download it now for free and enjoy!

[Bolide Slideshow-Creator]

First and foremost, Pocket lets you save contents you find on the Web, whether text, Web page, image or video. Only the latter can not replay in offline mode. The service formats your save contents beautifully for later reading.

The free Pocket (Read It Later) has extension built-in in popular curator apps such Flipboard, Zite, Pulse, etc.. with a tap on a button, your contents are save to Pocket for you to enjoy across different platforms you own. Pocket also offers an easy email address to save contents, should your reader service does not offer one-button sharing. 

Pocket features many good options for your reading pleasure with text only option, font size change, background color change, etc.. And I find very intuitive on the tablet such the Apple iPad.

The interface on the iPhone is also nicely done for smaller screen real estate. Don’t forget the service also works on Android devices and the Web as well.

When traveling, as a regular news reader, I feel really “naked” without being able to go online for fresh contents nor read articles I bookmarked, when I am on the air. Pocket actually addresses that issue beautifully.

One last thing, Pocket has become a free app and free service. There is nothing for you to lose!

Read more or download HERE!

The free service allows Windows, Mac OS X Lion to sync files from the desktop to SkyDrive using a SkyDrive “local” folder. Windows users can even use the free SkyDrive app to drag and drop file for sync’ing with the cloud and the entire files reside on the desktop now can be accessed  via SkyDrive.com.

The SkypeDrive for iOS now inludes a special version for the iPad with full file management and photos, video uploading.

• SkyDrive for the Windows desktop (preview available now). View and manage your personal SkyDrive directly from Windows Explorer on Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista with this new preview app available in 106 languages worldwide.
• Fetching files through SkyDrive.com. Easily access, browse, and stream files from a remote PC running the preview app to just about anywhere by simply fetching them via SkyDrive.com.
• SkyDrive storage updates. A new, more flexible approach to personal cloud storage that allows power users to get additional paid storage as their needs grow.  
• SkyDrive for other devices. We’ve updated the SkyDrive apps on Windows Phone and iOS devices, bringing better management features and sharing options to those devices. We’re also releasing a new preview client for Mac OS X Lion, letting you manage your SkyDrive right from the Finder.

The amount of free storage has gone down from the enticing 25GB to a reasonable 7GB for new users.

Download and register LiveID at Skydrive.com

[Source MSDN]

The app uses SMS and HTML5 to send a request to a recipient with a link. The recipient then can click on that link if he or she wants to send back the location. Within the app just tap  the “Request Someone’s Location” button, choosing a contact and then sending a text message.

The app is free in the app store.

[Via TNW]

The mobile version allows handwritting signature, while the desktop only support signature image insertion or typing. The annotation feature allows free form comments or form filling.

Rebecca Staley, Marketing Specialist for Adobe Acrobat Solutions, explains in the below video:

Songza is competing with some popular services such Pandora, Spotify, etc.. but what sets the service apart is instead of relying on algorithm to build the playlist or what you song provide, Songza offers playlists that are put together by human curators for any occasions, events, interests, etc.. Some of these people are the music experts that work at Songza, but most of them are users like you and your friends, who want to share their handmade stations with the community.

You can select the most popular, trendy playlists, etc.. or even call the Concierge service that actually takes the surrounding context (time, day of the week, etc..) to propose music playlists that probably fit to your mood at that particular time. (you can eventually override the context as you wish (different date, time, etc..). So the ideas behind is you can just pick a playlist and don’t have to think.. to start enjoying what Songza has to offer.

The iOS version is designed for the iPhone, but a version for the iPad is in the work.

They also built a website where you can easily find music you love, and listen to it for free. There are no ads and the music quality is great.

“Our mission is to help you find the radio station that perfectly fits your mood or whatever you’re doing right now; in other words, to help you find your soundtrack.” Songza

Find out more in the below video, Elias Roman explains to Robert Scoble about Songza.

[Video courtesy of R. Scoble Google+]

1. To start sharing, prepare your computer screen what what you want people to see.
2. Go to screenleap.com and click on the big green button “Sharing Your Screen Now”
3. Grant permission for the Java code to run on your browser
4. On the pop-up windows, select the area you want to share (the entire screen or just what inside a resizable green triangle)
5. Copy the link (or the code) and give to other people
6. Other people will see your screen in their browser in reading mode only

Note that screenleap only provides one-way screen sharing session. Prepare an audio (over phone; VoIP) or another chat session in parallel to make the whole session successful.

[screenleap via TNW]

Once you downloaded the free app, you can take a photo as you normally do, the app then captures few more video frames in the background. You can optionally add filter effects to your photo. (effects are both free and paid). Now the magic sauce of Flixel:  use your finger to rub the area of your photo that you want to animate (example: the candle flame on the birthday cake in the below video); after few seconds, the app will produce an animated GIF that you can share via email; Facebook; Twitter and Tumblr. Note that your email recipient will receive the GIF file in attachment. Tumbr blog supports in-line animated GIF display; while Facebook and Twitter will just post a link pointing back to Flixel server to see the photo.

The app requires a quick sign-up process. Flixel also provides its own photo social network for you to show off your works as well as to follow other member’s works.

A similar app you can try is Glmps, which provides video-in-picture capability.