Tablet Report

If you’re into CNN and you’re also into wise spending and playful with stocks, you may want to install the new CNNMoney iPad app on your Apple slate. This way you can keep an eye on your stock portofolio while slacking and doing something else.

The app allows users to be up to speed with the latest financial news, market overviews and stock alerts. CNNMoney is available as a free download and comes with a clean and simple to use interface, that allows one to easily sort and prioritize content based on preferences. You can also login into your CNNMoney account and use the app to manage stock watchlists. Users will also be able to search for specific stocks and view recent market trends. You’ll be able to access business news, technology info, personal finance and small business matters.

Video content is available and the latest from Fortune and Money will be found here. CNN also partnered with Gravity to deliver a way to learn what kind of news you prefer, so it will select the news in the stream based on your interests, making the app learn as you use it. You can download it from here.

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It can be stressful to look after a household (not to mention your housemates), so whether it’s with running errands or getting the laundry done, any sort of assistance is a blessing.

Fortunately, there are many Android apps built for just this type of help – let’s take a look!

Recipe Search

Though design isn’t my top concern when looking for a worthwhile food app, Recipe Search impressed me with its intuitive interface. All the recipes are well categorized and easy to navigate through, and there are neat extras like ‘Top recipes of the day’ and cook-off competitions between users. But the thing that really sets it apart from the rest is its very active forum accessible right from within the app.

The only downside is that you need to be connected to the Internet to browse through or find recipes – though at least this is better than having to download every single recipe at once, as some apps insist on doing.

Price: Free
Requires: Android 1.5 or above
Market Link: Recipe Search
Developer: allthecooks.com

Timer

Now you’ve got your recipes, it’s time to get cooking! However, with you being busy handling the rest of the house, it becomes easy to forget your cake in the oven – at least until you start smelling it burning. This app will help you remember to check how your baking’s going.

Start a new timer by tapping in a name, turning the knob and hitting the start button; you can also run multiple timers at the same time. That’s pretty much it for functionality, but then what else would you want it to do?

Price: Free
Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Market Link: Timer
Developer: Intuitit

Chore Master

In contrast to Recipe Search, this is not the most beautiful app to work with. Nevertheless, it definitely earned its place here, with its great task management features. It’s especially good at tracking time spent on different chores or errands.

To get started, create a profile, at the ‘Newbie’ Level, and start recording the time you spend on chores. For every chore you complete, you earn a point. Get the necessary number of points, and you’ll level up! Chore Master can chart the number of minutes you’ve spent on housework over the week, and display pie-charts showing how you’ve split your time.

Price: Free
Requires: Android 1.5 or above
Market Link: Chore Master
Developer: mindbeach

DressCARE

DressCARE makes it easy and straightforward to decipher those strange symbols on your clothing tags. You scroll dials to match the symbols on the screen to the ones on your tag, and the app tells you what they mean: “Do not tumble dry” or “Machine wash normal”, for instance.

You can filter your search according to criteria like the type of laundry (washing, bleaching, ironing, and so on) and feature (like temperature to wash at, and things not to do). I didn’t even know so many laundry symbols even existed, but now dealing with them has become a breeze.

Price: Free
Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Market Link: DressCARE
Developer: Lyubozar Dimitrov

Baby Monitor & Alarm

The first thing you’ll notice when you load Baby Monitor and Alarm is the design. It’s definitely designed for babies although I don’t know why, because it’s not like they will be using it.

The app listens for sound activity, with the sensitivity being adjustable. If it hears any sound, like that of a baby crying, it has three different options on what to do. The first is to call a predefined ‘Alert Phone Number’, which of course is of the baby’s caretaker. The second option plays the mother’s prerecorded voice in an attempt to calm the crying baby. The third option allows you to play any sound, which could be a lullaby or Coldplay’s Paradise.

Price: $2.99
Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Market Link: Baby Monitor & Alarm
Developer: TappyTaps

MORF

I’ve saved the best for last. MORF is my favorite of these apps, and one of my favorite apps ever. Its tagline is “extraordinary uses for everyday things”, which sums it up nicely. The app offers all sorts of awesome MacGuyver-style tips and tricks for many, many objects, arranged into five sections:

• What can I do with… – Objects listed along with their uses
• How can I… – Possible problems listed with their solution
• Search – Search the use of an object, or for a How To
• Make a MORF – Add a MORF to the database
• MORF of the day – The most voted MORF of the day

MORF also has social features that allow you to Like a MORF on Facebook, tweet it, or just vote it up for MORF of the day.
Price: $1.08
Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Market Link: MORF
Developer: Inochi Ventures

Got any other apps or tips for how you can get more out of your handset around the home? I’d love to hear them!

Pod2g made a big announcement one day before the Hack In The Box security conference in Amsterdam is set to kick off. The iOS hacker announced that it's only a matter of days until an untethered iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak is released.

Previously pod2g tweeted "something big’s going to happen at HITB related to jailbreaking." He also linked to the Chronic Dev Team's Twitter page in the same tweet. The Dev Team will be creating the bundled tool for the jailbreak when it's released.

Read on for the complete list of supported devices. iPhone 3GS and iPod 3G owners should be happy to notice that both devices have been added to the supported section.

read more

This week’s weekend iPad wallpapers come from the always excellent Pimp Your Screen app, easily the best iPad wallpapers app I’ve ever seen.

The app was just updated this week with retina display support and now includes a number of retina quality wallpapers for the iPad.

The first of the two walls that caught my eye this weekend is the baseball bats and balls image shown above. This one is not a standard 2048X2048 iPad retina wallpaper size because it’s an icon shelf. It’s sized at 2048X1536 and works very nicely as an icon shelf when the iPad is in landscape mode.

(...)
Read the rest of Weekend iPad Wallpapers – Couple New Ones from Pimp Your Screen (74 words)

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Post tags: iPad wallpapers

Order & Chaos Online for iPad (and iPhone) is currently on sale for 85% off – down from $6.99 to just 99 cents, for a limited time.

Here’s a little bit about the game, via its App Store page:

Finally a true real-time, full-3D MMORPG comes to the App Store: Explore a vast heroic fantasy world and join thousands of players in this massively multiplayer online experience that pushes the boundaries of epic!

** FREE 3-MONTH SUBSCRIPTION GRANTED at your first log in! Then you can renew your allegiance for only $0.99/month, $1.99 for 3 months or $2.99 for 6 months! **
** IMPORTANT: Please make sure your device is compatible with this app. Compatible devices include: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 3G & 4G and iPad 1 & 2.
A Wi-Fi connection and a Gameloft LIVE! account are required to play the game. **

My colleague Beth did a review of Order & Chaos Online for iPad a few weeks ago and described it as the WoW of mobile gaming. She enjoyed the game a lot and also had this to say about it:

As long as WoW hasn’t brought itself into the mobile market, Order & Chaos Online is a fantastic substitute. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to give MMORPGs a try, especially those who don’t want to shelf out the $10 monthly fee plus four to six hours of time per day to a game that requires too much of its players.

Here’s an App Store link for Order & Chaos Online; it’s a universal app designed for both iPad and iPhone.

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Post tags: iPad Games

Apple WWDC 2012 Coming on June 11, Tickets Sold Out in 2 Hours

iphone news

It appears that the Android 4.0 ICS update for the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101 tablet brought not only new features, but also new bugs, since now ASUS had to push a fix for those. They also added Face Unlock with the new update and improved the email and System Bar Unlock.

The update version is 9.2.1.24 and it’s available via Over the Air. It appears that ASUS tried 4 times to fix the problems of its first update and let’s hope that this is the last time they need to push a fix. If you own the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101, try the latest Android 4.0 fix and tell us if your problems are solved. I have to say that ever since the first Android version launched, Android 4.0 has been the version that was hardest to update on devices and it gave users the most problems, when provided incorrectly.

Let’s hope that the wave of Android 4.0 updates coming to Samsung tablets won’t have to face such problems… if only they came faster. Any other tablet owners here with problems caused by ICS?

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1. ASUS Transformer Prime Gets Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Caught Running the OS Today
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3. ASUS Transformer Updated to Firmware Version 8.6.5.21, Still Waiting for Android 4.0

Android tablets are so widespread nowadays, that they come in all shapes and sizes. However, there are times when their interfaces aren’t satisfying, so custom ROMs come in. Today we’re going to detail a launcher, the Chameleon, that you can see pictured below.

Chamelon is a very customizable home screen for Android, that runs only on tablets and requires Android 3.2 or higher. It offers full featured widgets, that look very pretty and gets rid of all the clutter from the screen. Just like other custom UIs, Chameleon allows the user to arrange and set unlimited numbers of home screens with varied widgets. You can make a custom home screen for the office, one for fun and one for home use. You can also make the launcher switch your home screen when you change your GPS location and leave the office to go home.

An example given by the maker of this launcher is the Morning Home screen, that’s created based on a time range specified by the user. During that time frame the tablet will display news, social feeds, the weather and your schedule for the day. Then there’s the Office mode, where Chameleon will recognize when you’re at the office and display a Work screen. That organization in vertical columns reminds me a bit of MeeGo, that’s not a bad thing, since MeeGo is a cool OS.

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The Samsung Galaxy S3 is about the most anticipated device of 2012, and it was only a matter of time before someone got a hold of all the new features it comes with. The guys at XDA Developers have managed to get the device’s full stock firmware, and it is now up for grabs.

Simply put, this is a gold mine for custom ROM developers. They will be able to take advantage of all software features, like Smart Stay and S-Voice. Devs are working on it as we speak, so let the fun begin.

We will also be able to extract all those .apk files. People have already extracted S-Voice and it is working with other devices. It does seem to have its fair share of issues, though. It should mostly work with other Samsung smartphones. Users can download it here if they are feeling adventurous.

If you want to download all 786 MB of Galaxy S3 glory, just head over to the XDA Developers thread and have at it! At least to look around until we start seeing it being ported to all other devices.

[Source: XDA Developers Via: Android Police]

A while ago, Amazon was rumored to be preparing an 8.9 inch tablet to follow-up the well selling 7 inch Kindle Fire. Now, it appears that those rumors were not true, as the new device is expected to be a 10.1 inch unit. It’s a pretty strange choice since companies that so far made big tablets are focused on smaller models.

We’ve got Motorola, that moved from the 10 inch Xoom to a 8.2 inch tablet, Apple that’s rumored to be making a 7.85 inch iPad and ASUS supposedly preparing the cheap Nexus 7 inch tablet. Now, Amazon does the opposite thing and it’s actually preparing a bigger slate. The new 10.1 inch Kindle Fire is supposed to debut in Q3, if rumors are in fact true. Sources say that Amazon expects to ship 30-40 million tablets this year alone. It will be interesting to see if this model ends up being a quad core tablet, since when the first Kindle Fire was launched everyone was expecting both a dual core and quad core slate.

Also, I wonder what the OS on it will look like. It will probably be Android 4.0 all wrapped up in the Amazon experience and providing revenue via the Amazon services and ads. The price will probably be close to the original Kindle Fire’s price, so maybe $200, maybe $250 or so.

Related posts:

1. Amazon Kindle Fire 8.9 Inch Version And New 7 Incher Coming in 2012
2. Amazon Preparing 10 Inch Tablet and Kindle Fire Sequel for 2012, According to Speculations
3. Amazon 8.9 Inch Tablet Preparing to Launch Ahead of Holiday Season, New Kindle E-reader Coming this Summer