Groopic Solves The Group Picture Taking Woe — Includes Photographer In A Group Picture Too (iOS)

Groopic for iOS simply merges the photographer's image to the group picture. Put simply, the photographer gets included too in a group photo. No more setting up of external tripods, using timers and chairs, and no more asking help from a stranger.

Unfortunately, in most group photos, the photographer is always left out. Or, a group photo is never complete because two photographers have to switch so one or the other is always left out. Groopic solves this problem with an app that will show everybody in every group photo. No one needs to be left out.

Take a Group Picture that Includes the Photographer with Groopic (link)

Groopic gives you complete groupie pics in 3 easy steps: Simply take two pictures, use the app to mark the photographers, and the Groopic app does the rest. It automatically combines the two pictures into one complete group picture.

Here's How It Works:

Groopic is the creation of Eyedeus Labs, a company that develops computational photography solutions for smartphones, with over 30 years of experience in innovative imaging solutions. Eyedeus is based in Lahore, Pakistan.

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The Groopic app for iOS is available from the App Store for only a $1.99 download. So far, an Android version is in the making and may be made available soon.

New iPhone App Automatically Captures a Photo of Anyone Who Touches Your iDevice

Ever wanted to catch those nasty itchy fingers trying to grab your iPhone without your permission?

Well, as the popular cling goes, there is always an app for that!

Meet Guardian Cam, the iOS app that spies on anyone who tries to “spy” on your iDevice. Once activated, Guardian Cam automatically takes a picture of anyone who touches your iPhone or iPad.

Discover Who May Be Using Your iPhone Without Permission With Guardian Cam (link)

The Guardian Cam app replaces the home screen with a dummy screen. If the dummy screen is touched the front-facing camera automatically takes a picture — good news for those who want to protect their iPhone’s or iPad’s security and privacy.

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The app even has an upgrade for auto-flash in low light, an icon badge that displays the number of photos captured, and even an optional audio alarm that will not shut off until it runs after one minute. All photos are even dated and saved.

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The Guardian Cam app is useful in order to guard against anyone using someone else’s iPhone or iPad without the owner’s knowledge. It’s also a foolproof way to catch anyone in the act of spying on the contents of any iDevice. The ultimate protection of course is against anyone attempting to steal the device, since the loud alarm will discourage anyone from finishing the attempted thievery. In short, anyone attempting illegally to look at a file, open an app, make a call, or to steal the device, is automatically caught on camera or subjected to a loud alarm.

If hard proof is needed to accuse someone, the outcome from Guardian Cam is all the proof you need.

Guardian Cam supports English and Japanese. It is compatible with iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, and 5; the 3rd to 5th generation of iPod Touch; and iPad. Of course, the iDevice must have a front-facing camera.

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Created by the Masatoshi Higashionna and Masaya Takahashi Co. Ltd. from Japan, Guardian Cam sells for only US$1.99 available worldwide at any App Store in the Utilities category.

Use Mover.io To Copy, Move Files From FTP To Google Drive, DropBox, SkyDrive and Vice Versa

To those looking for a FREE, decent file management web service with support for FTP to copy, backup web files from web server to cloud storage providers (e.g. DropBox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, etc), well, then, this post if for you!

I am sometimes asked, as a web ninja, to create a full site backup of my client's sites and copy it to their cloud storage accounts. Such tasks can actually be a accomplished using the right (premium) tools or plugins. But sometimes, plugins just ain't enough! So you sit with a sheer frustration realizing that the only way out is to 'manually' grab those downloadables and upload them back to their online virtual drive. And yes, it's not an option; it's a waste of time!

Copy Files Between FTP, Dropbox, Google Drive & SkyDrive With Mover.io (link)

Meet Mover.io, yet another awesome web platform to move/transfer files from one cloud storage provider to another. Mover was created to streamline the process of transferring your data to the cloud. The service is sort of like that of Otixo, or the time-saving cloud storage managers we have previously mentioned here, which allows you to conveniently copy/move files between DropBox, Box, Google Drive, etc. 

But, Mover is Unique

What Mover sets apart from the rest is the intuitive support for FTP as your source or destination drive. And that's very useful feature among web guys who might need to backup their web files if BackupBuddy (or the equivalent add-on) is not an option.

Using the App:

It takes just a few clicks to kick off your transfers with Mover — just a one-time signup is required. But you have to complete your registration and login until you're greeted with their neat homepage:

Click to enlarge

All it asks is the source & destination drives, and the authentication required for Mover to basically talk to DropBox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, or Box. If you are copying files between FTP server to DropBox (like my example below), you may need to ask for your FTP host, username & password, and you're good to go!

In my example below, I was trying to backup all my web files under /backupbuddy_backups/ directory and copy it to my DropBox folder named /Backupbuddy/. In this case, FTP is the "source" and DropBox is the "destination". 

Click to enlarge

As soon as you hit that big “Transfer Now” button, your transfer is now being queued and Mover should redirect you to the Activity page detailing the progress of your transfer.

Click to enlarge

Link: Mover.io

Cornell University & Adobe Create An App That Lets You Adjust Your Lighting After Photoshoot

It’s almost routine for commercial and even amateur photographers. After shooting indoors or outdoors without the benefit of studio lighting or just using an attached flash, photographers have to spend hours using Photoshop or other similar photo app to adjust the lighting and brightness of certain portions in the pictures to give them a more “balanced” look.

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Now, there’s a new app that cuts down photo editing time by more than half. The approach is to assist photographers to compose images when viewed under different dynamic lighting. The app introduces a set of basic lighting that combines several of the input images and provides controls to achieve effects photographers typically need such as color accentuating of objects or its edges.

Cornell and Adobe create software that lets you adjust your lighting after the shoot ends

The app is called User-assisted Image Compositing for Photographic Lighting (yes, it has no short name yet). The app is the joint creation of Ivaylo Boyadzhiev and Kavita Bala from Cornell University in partnership with Sylvain Paris from Adobe Research.

Basically, the Image Compositing app allows you to merge multiple shots of your subject, with only the lighting varying between shots, to create a single image. You are also shown multiple images of each shot, but with several changes in lighting. You can either select the best lighting image or merge everything or selected images into one.

Cornell and Adobe's software, demonstrated and explained by its creators.

If you choose to control the lighting for individual images, there are a range of controls types that are controlled by moving a slider:

• Fill Light – creates a flat, evenly lit image with no deep shadows or bright highlights.
• Diffuse Color Light – emphasizes subject color.
• Edge Light – emphasizes high contrast lighting for edges.
• Soft Lighting Modifier – reduces harsh shadows that may have been emphasized by the original image or by Edge Light Control.
• Regional Lighting Modifier and Exposure – adjusts overall contrast and luminance.

You could say that all this can be done on Photoshop. However, while Photoshop is all done manually, the advantage of Image Compositing is that some tasks can be automated or lighting is automatically presented so all you need to do is to either select or merge. While some tasks may need to be done manually, the slider control cuts down manual work. What may take 45 minutes for a single image on Photoshop can be finished with Image Compositing in 5 – 6 minutes.

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For details on how to purchase the User-assisted Image Compositing for Photographic Lighting app, visit the Adobe website or the creators at the Cornell University site.

Download Audio MP3 Directly to iOS Device Without Using iTunes

Now you can download MP3 files on the fly without using iTunes using the MP3 Music Downloader Free.

One drawback with Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod is that you cannot download MP3 files directly to any of these devices. You have to go through the long process of downloading the MP3 on your computer first and have an iTunes app installed in your computer to move those music files to your iDevice. It can be actually troublesome for many iDevice users.

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Now, thanks to the developer gods from WebTechies, an India based IT company, there is an awesome free iOS app called MP3 Music Downloader Free that lets you download MP3 files directly to your iOS device without the aid of iTunes.

Download MP3 Audio Files Directly To Your iPhone, iPod or iPad Without iTunes (link)

Presently featured on the Apps Store for FREE, all you need to do is to download the MP3 Music Downloader Free from the WebTechies.org website and you’re all set to go.



The free app allows you to either download or listen to an unlimited number of legal MP3 songs from any online music website you select. Remember that the music needs to be legally available or the app will not work.

Play, Stream All Music Files, MP3 Saved From Your DropBox

MP3 Music Downloader Free comes with its own MP3 Song Seeker to help you find the music you want to listen to or download. It acts like a search engine to comb through the music site open in your browser tab. You can download individually using the manual controls or download all songs you select all at once.

There is also a Download Manager to keep downloads organized and que songs properly on the download status bar. Should your iDevice go into Standby Mode while you’re downloading, the download will continue running in the background. Once you’ve finished downloading the music you can immediately play them on your iPhone or iPad. The music player is similar to the iPod player, another practicality for iDevice users.

Link: MP3 Music Downloader Free (iTunes)

New Jailbreak Tweak FaceHalt Adds Samsung's Smart Pause Feature To iPhone

The recent release of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 saw a number of unique software and app features. One that seemed to catch a lot of attention was an app with gaze detection technology called Smart Pause. It automatically pauses any video you’re viewing when you look away from the display or puts the smartphone down.

Apple iPhone owners can have this app on their device too with "FaceHalt."

FaceHalt Brings Galaxy S4's 'Smart Pause' Feature to iPhone, iPad

FaceHalt is a new copycat, Jailbreak tweak from Chris Simpson. It uses the same Samsung Smart Pause concept feature. Using the same front-facing camera of your iOS device, it can detect if you look away or put down your phone, and will automatically pause the video you’re watching.

How To: Automatically Switch Off Your Phone At Later Time

FaceHalt is compatible with Apple’s iPhone 4S and 5, and the iPad mini, iPad 2, 3, and 4, and even the 5th generation iPod Touch. It’s also compatible with most video applications except VLC.

Activating the tweak is easy. After downloading FaceHalt, go to Settings and just select from the enable or disable toggle button. You can even switch to manual control and double tap on the Pause button, and press Play to play the video again.

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Because the app is made by an independent developer for iOS users, it’s not free. But, FaceHalt is affordable at $1.99 from the BigBoss repo in the Cydia app store.

5 Best Memory-Saving Chrome Add-ons to Help You Manage Tab Overload

A single browser tab opened on Chrome can consume an average memory of around 30MB. Can you imagine what happens while you’re working on the internet (web development, SEO, etc.) and you open up, say, 20 or more browser tabs?

This might result in your browser getting bogged down. Worse, you might suddenly experience performance issues, unresponsive webpages, unexpected crashes, or the computer just freezes over. That’s because some webpages can consume a lot more memory than 30MB.

It’s a good thing someone thought about Tab Managers.

Since we’re talking about Chrome, we picked the Top 5 Chrome Add-on or Extension Tab Managers and picked at it to see how each one worked:

Manage Tab Overload with this 5 Best Memory-Saving Chrome Add-ons

Tab Manager (link)

Tab Manager Is an open source add-on that allows you to handle your tabs fast. The add-on allows practical functions such as displaying all tabs and windows, allowing new tabs and windows, selecting of tabs using Ctrl + Shift, moving  tabs between windows, deleting tabs and windows, pinning and unpinning of tabs, and searching tabs by title or URL.

Page Snooze (link)

Even with so many tabs open, Page Snooze can help manage tab overload by allowing you to snooze tabs for up to 2 weeks. This can pop back up once the time is up. You can view all your snoozed tabs and manage them on the Page Snooze options page.

The Great Suspender (link)

With Great Suspender, you can unload, park, or suspend tabs to reduce the memory load of Chrome. Tabs can be configured with auto-suspend after a set period of time or they can be suspended manually. You can whitelist tabs to be excluded from automatic suspension. Suspended tabs are retained after closing and reopening the browser, preventing the tabs to reload even after restarting the computer. Tabs are restored using a very simple and intuitive interface.

OneTab (link)

With this extension you save up to 95% memory by reducing tab clutter. You simply click on OneTab to convert all your tabs into a list. When you need to access any tab, you can either restore them individually or all in one go. This can also reduce the CPU load on your computer.

TooManyTabs (link)

Developed by Visibo Ltd, TooManyTabs was first used with great success on Firefox. This version for Chrome carries virtually all of the same features when you open a lot of tabs on Chrome. The extension helps you manage your tabs even when too many are opened and you can’t anymore identify the tabs or favicons. You get a bird’s eye view of all opened tabs; clear preview of each tab’s content; instant tab search; tabs sorted by opening time, domain, or title; and ability to restore recently closed tabs; suspend idle tabs to save memory, and import tabs data from TooManyTabs unto Firefox.

Split Screen: Splits Your Web Browser into Multiple Resizable Windows

Create Awesome, Web Embeddable Photo Slideshow Online FREE with PhotoSnack

Forget about SlideShare, Slide.ly and other boring, complex slideshow maker flooded online!

If you ever wanted to create a straight-out decent photo slideshow FAST, well, then, you've got to check out PhotoSnack. 

What is it?

PhotoSnack is yet another awesome online photo slideshow maker that lets you create elegant & web embeddable photo slideshow for FREE. Yes, PhotoSnack gives you the HTML embed code so you can publish your awesome image slider on your Blogger, WordPress or Tumblr blog. Of course, your photo gallery can also be shared to your favorite social media networks.

Prezi: Create Visually Engaging, Rich Media Presentations, Slideshows Online FREE

PhotoSnack's quick and easy way to import photos for your image gallery is also something to behold.

Some notable goodness of PhotoSnack:

• You can add music to make your photo slideshows less boring
• You can add photos directly from your PC or from sources like Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, SmugMug and Instagram
• All PhotoSnack slideshows are all responsive,meaning they all look good both on mobile and tablets

Who is it for?

PhotoSnack is for anyone who want to turn their precious snaps into visually stunning photo slideshow. This online photo slideshow maker is also useful for bloggers & web publishers who may need to create instant HTML5 image slideshow that can be embedded on any web pages.

Why I love it?

Aside from the delightfully quick and ease-of-use, PhotoSnack's embed capability is one big “cool” factor here. If you're fond of sharing your snaps on Tumblr, PhotoSnack is really useful. And for content writers who blog about troubleshooting tips, apps and gadgets, adding screenshots or image walk-throughs is always part of the chore. And this is where PhotoSnack comes in handy.

The elegance it adds to your photos is also something hard to ignore. See PhotoSnacks slideshows examples.

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Been really hunting good online image slideshow maker that works outside the box, without relying heavily on plugins (and all that stuff). Until I stumbled upon PhotoSnack which I ultimately fell in love with.

Link: PhotoSnack

5 Essential Android Apps That We Wish Existed On The iPhone

If you're a long-time Android power user who just switched to iOS, you would want to warn everyone how hard it is to enjoy the kind of customizability and convenience that Android brings to the table. For sure iOS has the kind of mobile experience that's missing on the Android, and so does the Android to iOS. But if we are to weigh both based on the criterion of which one gives the best mobile experience, Android, well for me, is the real winner.

Remotely Lock, Password-Protect Your Lost/Forgotten Phone Thru SMS

The following 5 Android apps hopefully explains why Android is the best platform & why it can make your digital life a lot easier compared to iPhone:

1) Tasker (link)

Tasker is one of the Android apps that makes every iPhone user jealous. This $3.00 USD app makes your Smartphone extra smart by automatically executing certain actions based on the profile or criteria you created. You can define a set of instructions/actions which will be automatically performed by your phone in response to events such as location change, time of day, among others.

Example: you can automatically put your phone into silent mode when you're entering on your office, or you can automatically send an SMS to someone when you're leaving the house. There are myriad of automation options you can exploit with Tasker, making your Android experience utterly unforgettable.

2) Astro File Manager (link) & LCG X-Plore (link)

On the iPhone, it's cumbersome to do simple things like unzipping a file, view a PDF, view office files, and even do a simple job of organizing your files straight from your iOS device. Even sending email with multiple attachments & deleting multiple photos inside the iPhone's Gallery are impossible.

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I wish file managers like Astro and LCG X-Plore are available too on the iPhone. Both apps give you full access to your data on your mobile device. And the bonus: these apps have built-in viewer of office files and are bundled with cloud storage integration.

3) Wifi Kill (link)

Now, let's talk about evil: how many times have you wished you could disconnect other devices connecting on a congested wireless network so you can enjoy the extra bandwidth juices on that network? Yes, you can manage and "kill" other devices with this awesome root-only app: Wifi Kill.

4) AirDroid (link)

Your Android experience won't be complete without AirDroid. With AirDroid, you don’t even need to touch your phone in order to use it. The app allows you to access your device remotely by going to AirDroid website and scanning the QR code on the page. The free version of the app lets you do things like reply to text messages, organize your photos, and play music -- all from a web browser while the paid version lets you remotely access your camera and helps you locate a missing or stolen device.

5) SuperBeam (link)

SuperBeam makes transferring of large files as convenient and fast as it should have been. SuperBeam allows you to share large files between Android devices at a blazing speed using WiFi Direct. If WiFi Direct fails, you can even use existing WiFi network to move files from one device to another. Go check out SuperBeam at Play Store.

Backup, Save SMS Text Messages To Gmail All At Once (Android)

Those are my shortlist of 5 essential Android apps that hopefully will make their way to iOS!

Send Files Directly To Your DropBox, Email Using Only the File URL

You can now send files or large file attachments by just using the file URL directly to "the cloud" without downloading to your computer or mobile device. At present, "the cloud" can be your e-mail account or your DropBox account. You can even send large files within 10 seconds to a minute.

It's called Side Cloud Load.

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There are times during your busy work schedule that you have to download work files fast for your PC, but you need to go somewhere and don’t want to lose the files. By using Side Cloud Load you can remotely upload it by means of sending it to your e-mail account or can send it to DropBox.

Transfer Files From Host URL Directly To Your DropBox, Email (link)

The steps to using Side Cloud Load are so easy:

1 Go to the Side Cloud Load website (link).

2 On the first blank space, paste the file URL or upload the file.

3 On the second space, select the cloud service, whether e-mail or DropBox.

4 On the third space, enter the receiver’s e-mail address. If you’re sending the file to your e-mail account, then enter your e-mail address.

5 On the last space, enter the file name.

6 After filling all field spaces, click on the "sideload it" button.

7 Don’t forget to fill in the security code before sending the file.

When receiving using the e-mail, check the spam box as the filter might have mistaken the sent file as spam.

Cloud Save: The Quickest Way To Download, Backup Files Straight To The Cloud

Side Cloud Load will prove useful if you are using a gadget or device you cannot download a file to, such as a smartphone or tablet.

At present, the "large file" limit stands at 25MB. Hopefully this limit can be increased in the future. There are now more than 2,000 users of Side Cloud Load. URL Droplet (link) is also a good alternative if Sound Cloud Load doesn't work for you.