Audioboo - Now Playing Everywhere

Over three years ago,  I wrote about Audioboo, a delightful new way to post articles to the internet.

YouTube was the visual method, but with Audioboo, it's possible to, quite literally, sound off.

At the time, Audioboo was only released as an app for the iPeople, and also via their own website.  However, this week saw the release of their app to BlackBerry World.



It gets better.  Not only is it released onto BlackBerry 10, but it is a native app.  That's right.
No Android port here.  This is the real deal, and it means a lot to see companies developing and releasing apps to the BlackBerry ecosystem.

With all the negative news around BlackBerry at the moment, you'd be forgiven for thinking that developers would no longer support them; but BlackBerry Jam Asia appears to have confounded everyone, with a great turnout by those looking to increase and improve development on the BB10 OS.

So, thanks to Audioboo for releasing this fantastic new app - which allows me to save recordings as drafts, so I can build on them (currently, it's not possible to edit the recording in app) and then lets me post them for you to hear (or not).

Once recorded, they can be shared across multiple social media sites.

My latest 'boo' is here

You can get AudioBoo in BlackBerry World

Review - ARKick

Here's an app I really like, and one I use quite often

It's called ARKick and it's an augmented reality app - which means it works based on where you are, and by looking around with your phone, it will "see" different kinds of locations.

From restaurants and pubs, to cash machines, wine bars, gyms - in fact, you name it, and it will show you where it is.

There are a two different modes.

This image is the SideKick mode, and displays the places around you, at the current time.  It looks quite busy, so you can filter what you're looking for, by using the Browser mode.

This is a first class app, written specifically for BlackBerry 10, and is definitely worth the small investment.  You can find it in BlackBerry World

Check out the video below.

Living The Online Life

I'm interested in the Chromebook.  I've read lots of articles and reviews, but can't really get my head around not having apps running locally.  On the other hand, most of what I do is "in the cloud".

So, is it really possible to work and play ONLY online, using Chrome OS?

I wrote a post last year about living in the cloud, primarily using just my BlackBerry phone and PlayBook, so this is a slightly different under-taking.

Don't get me wrong, I don't need a Chromebook and won't be buying one anytime soon; but it piqued my interest enough to have a look at what can be achieved.



The Preparation

I use a number of apps, which run locally on my laptop; so I had to get the web alternative readily available.

Enter the Chrome Web Store to set up the apps that I use the most; Dropbox, Evernote and since I already use Google for my email, calendar, and documents (Google Drive), I felt I had everything I needed to live and work only in the cloud.

Anything else, and I would find it as needed.

The Experiment

For the last few days, I have only been using the Chrome browser on my laptop.  I'm running a developer version, not a stable release; but so far I haven't noticed any issues.

I haven't fired up any applications (apart from the ones that start automatically, and sit in the background).

So, my Chrome browser is running, and I've changed the settings so that my new tabs show the apps launcher.  Also running are:

• Evernote Web (I love Evernote),
• Lucidcharts (I'm adept at Visio, but want to learn something new)
• Dropbox (I have 2.88Gb, and used 1Gb.  I also use Google Drive)
• GMail

I also have a number of other sites open, but since they are standard websites, I'll ignore them here.  Obviously, Blogger is open too; for the purposes of writing this post.

I also set up Offline access for Google Drive - so, should there be an internet outage, I can still access, edit and create documents; which will be sync'd when the network is re-established.  In fact, this was my one main concern.

My Observations

The functionality in Evernote is lacking versus the actual Windows app (you can't record audio into a note, or edit tables) but otherwise, I have been creating notes and uploading documents and images without issue.

With regards to Dropbox, should I need to update a document, this will involve me downloading it locally, then re-uploading to Google Drive.  This means I do still need some hard-drive space available - but not gigabytes worth.

Of course, the staples of the internet are available to me.  Let's face it, we all use iPlayer, online banking, catching up with the news, play games, watch films and not forgetting shopping.  It's all there; but only if our connection to the World Wide Web is switched on.

Another area that takes up many column inches (do we still say that, even though it's online?) is that of security.  More and more we are being bombarded with news of the latest breaches, with payment and login details being 'stolen'.

Does this bother me?  I'd be a liar if I didn't admit there is some risk - of course there is; and there has been much mentioned of Google taking over the world and ignoring our privacy.  Facebook also regularly comes in for criticism for constant changes to its policy.

The Conclusion

I don't think there is a conclusion.  This will be an ongoing debate for some years.

However, I think we need to take a chill pill.
Online life is here to stay.
Technology will change (again!) and we'll once again be looking at new and varied ways to spend our online existence.
We can't escape it; but we can do our part to make sure we are as safe and secure as we can be.

This is not a definitive argument.  I can't possibly cover every angle here.  There will be the doom-sayers, who claim that being online means giving up our freedom and privacy.
On the opposite side of the coin; I find it incredible that I can store away some documents, for example, via Dropbox, and then be able to retrieve them either on my phone, or another PC/laptop, anywhere at a time to suit me.

Without internet access, our ability to work and play on the computer becomes severely hampered.  We rely heavily on being connected today; and the moment that is taken away, it's like living in the dark ages. Our fingers tapping on the table, waiting for the connection to be re-established!

My experiment has proven to me that it is entirely possible to live a connected life, and not use any installed applications.  Not only is this good news as there is nothing to slow down the performance of my laptop, but it also means everything I want is in one place.

Why?  Because, I can login to Chrome anywhere; and my apps, documents, email, calendar and more are there...

... online.

Apps - How many?

Ever since the Apple App Store hit the market, people have been obsessed with Apps.

Those little icons with the big ideas - a way in which to improve your life, whether through assistance or through gaming.

The question is - how many apps do you actually need?

The App Store may have hundreds and thousands of apps.  Many of them are of the same vein, others try and fail to achieve their objective.

Don't get me wrong - the app marketplace (whether Apple, Android, BlackBerry or Windows) is an ideal place for a small developer to make some money.  It's also a great place for the large gaming studios to show off their wares.
Apart from the apparent lack of quality from some apps (and the total waste of memory space that entails) we are constantly reminded of the different sizes of the market.


Apple has approved over 1 million apps
Google Play, for Android, has in excess of 700,000
Microsoft has over 20,000 for their Windows 8
BlackBerry has quoted there will be over 100,000 apps in BlackBerry World for their new BlackBerry 10 OS.

I've had a look at my BlackBerry, and at the apps I actually use (the ones that are not pre-installed) on a day-to-day basis.

• gNewsReader as my RSS feeder
• Money Plus is my expense tracker
• Nobex - for podcasts and internet radio
• BeWeather Pro - for weather forecasts
• Dropbox for file management
• CB10 - The CrackBerry app, for all news BlackBerry

The pre-installed apps include BBM, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn and Facebook

There are other apps and games, but if I'm honest, I don't use them that often.

So there you have it - the size of the app store is not important.
It's the quality of the apps that makes the difference, and developers need to listen to their customer base and make the apps we want.

What do you think?

Book Review - The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared

I've become a little bit of a Kindle fiend.... I love it.

I haven't always been keen - see my post from 2 years ago, where I deliberated the pros and cons of e-readers.  Of, course, things have changed quite considerably since then.

I love the small, compact size, and I love that I can have different books to suit different moods, all in one place.
I also love the fact that it's so easy (too easy?) to buy a book; or two.

No waiting for the postman; it's just a question of being connected.

There are also many treasures to be found, which, had I been to a bookshop may not have noticed - and the pricing of some of them is truly remarkable.

Towards the end of last year I read "The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared".

Written by Jonas Jonasson; this is another example of a Scandinavian author making it big in the wider world (Steig Larsson and Jo Nesbo are two others that spring to mind).

The story centres around Allan Karlsson, a young-at-heart centarian, who decided he doesn't want the fuss and bother of a birthday party, to celebrate his 100 years, so he quite literally jumps out of his bedroom window and wanders off.

Triggering a manhunt, what then follows are the many twists and turns of adventure; with much of the book focussing on his past; as well as the current situation.


It's a funny story; heart-warming, and poignant all at the same time.
The detail about his past includes meeting real head of state and personalities from history; and whilst they are real, the stories are undoubtably fiction (I hope!)

This is a man who has no fear, and just likes the simple things in life.  His attitude to living is simple - just get on with it...

At the time of writing, this book is just 20p on Amazon Kindle.... at 400 pages long, it's not a small book; but you won't want to put it down.