Saturday, April 21, 2018

No nonsense Free Audio Playback of any Kindle or IBook



"I recently purchased a Kindle book and noticed that Audible offered a free audio version. But eventually I discovered it was not free and they had me signed up for a subscription. You know, those sneaky little leaks that gradually drain your bank account when you are not watching. Buyer Beware!"

I hijacked this article from here: Free Audio Playback of any Kindle or iBook

Here's a quick guide to enabling free, no subscription playback with page turning.

Open Settings and General->Accessibility->Speech->Speak Screen  then Enable Speak Screen. Below on the same screen, you are able to select from voices.  Then use a two finger swipe down from the top within your Kindle or iBook App.




Thursday, April 19, 2018

IBM Watson Loves Apple to the CoreML

ET vs AI
We would love to review this App on Best Camera. 

Here is a good article for anyone interested in Artificial Intelligence, Aliens from other worlds, and fast Image Recognition. Will they provide the code for this App? I read in the article that they are planning to make the entire project open source on GitHub. That would be a great learning tool. And if they submit to the App Store, a good way to get a bunch of installs.

Here is a link for Part 2 of the Article. It looks like there are three parts.

Part 2 - Coding with Watson SDK and CoreML

There's kind of TOC in each article. I would recommend starting with Part 1, or just jump right to he coding with part 2.

Part 1 — Setting up Image Recognition Models in Watson Studio

What's great about this article is the in depth description of how to use some cool technology created with by an IBM/Apple partnership. This is a good read.

Quoting from the article:
The engineers at IBM and Apple have formed an exciting AI joint venture. This article will explain how these two giants have made your life, as a developer, easier and more productive.
The combo of Watson and CoreML has everything from friendly online model training tools to fast onboard image classification. It’s got the stuff we want.

Friday, April 13, 2018

The Incredible Value and Emotion of Fonts


Fonts increase value of both your website and your Apps 

Netflix unveils Netflix Sans, a new custom typeface developed with Dalton Maag


and more....


       “Through a series of split test experiments, I managed to improve my site’s engagement by 38%.  I did this by changing nothing but the font styling of the site.” – Six Revisions, July 21, 2014

       “For Internet marketers, the most important thing to remember is to use typography to complement and enhance your copy.  When done right, it can trigger the right emotion, mood, and even action required to get a visitor to convert.” – Oberoi, 2014.

       “Effective typography practices can prove to be a pivotal factor in the success of an interface’s effectiveness and ability to support business needs.” – DeFrates, 2013

       “Of course, endless examples can be found of how subtle typographic choices make all the difference…. Effective design begets effective communication, and while major design decisions are obviously important, the little things often make all the difference.” – Knight and Glaser, 2012

       “Even the letterforms you choose could have an impact on how much authority your words carry.” – Anderson, 2012

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Space Camera Apps


Space Station Astronauts are testing out new cameras in orbit. Here's a fun video using these this new camera technology.




Monday, April 9, 2018

View Everything Facebook Knows About You in 3 Steps


Just follow these steps to download an archive of everything Facebook Knows about you including all your friends and their phone numbers, ads, messages, photos and videos and much more.



1. Facebook Settings



2. Download a Copy


3. Confirm Download (requires FB password)


Thursday, April 5, 2018

Aliens vs AI


Best Camere Exclusive!

There's an App coming that detects visitors from other worlds.
 Better than DNA because it can't be fooled. 


Read about it here when available. The developer has teamed up with IBM and Apple



Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Don't fall through App Store Subscription hole

Please check this article to View, Change or Cancel your mobile device subscriptions. Yes, there are subscriptions from the Apple App Store. There should be a way to disable subscriptions all together on your device, but I could not find it.

So if you are evaluating an App, it's easy to get sucked into an unwanted subscription. You need to stay on top of those Apps that let you evaluate and then after a time charge you for a subscription. It's a bit tricky to find the cancel subscription setting so follow the link above to see a page like this. It has good instructions.


Fortunately, Apple is pretty good at refunding if you contact them early. Here's a chat response I finally got after cancelling the subscription and asking for a refund. So be sure to ask for a refund if you do not want the App subscription. Apparently takes a while for the refund but at least you can recover.



Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Why Did Space Oddity Go Viral?

What makes an App or a video go viral?

The answer is Arousal. And what are the most powerful emotions?

- Awe

- Anger

- Amusement
I'm working with some actors on a video commercial for a mobile App and it is hilarious. I'll post it here when done. 


Positive emotions out poll Negative emotions. People like positive emotion stories.

And here is the first ever music video from space. It's awe inspiring.





The Metaphor and Richard Feynman


How could such a brilliant nobel-prize winning scientist find ways to teach normal people about his subjects? He was a master at metaphors.  Here he explains fire using a metaphor. 




If you think about it, the world of computer programming is filled with metaphors.

Bus: Bits commute each day on a data bus. Data is a group of objects.
Window: Opening a new window lets more enlightening in! A program exists in an outside space.
Frame: Frames compartmentalize screen space. An overlap of space is an (undesirable) overlap of concept.
Desktop: My desktop is cluttered with icons. A visual surface is a physical surface.
Open/Close: Windows, programs and ports may be opened or closed. To open is to start, and to be open is to be susceptible to change.
File: A corrupt file wreaks havoc on the computer. Data is physical and discrete, occupying space.
Folder: A folder may have any number of files within. Files are objects that can be grouped.
Space: I've not much space left on my hard drive. Data takes up finite physical space.
Port: A port is a transfer point for shipping data. Data transfers on a liquid.
Tools: A program's tools never need sharpening! Data is physically altered by a program.
Cut: I cut out part of a speech by Mayor Nagin. Data on the screen is as if on paper.
Clipboard: The excerpt sat on my clipboard awaiting pasting. Data may be physically picked up and held.

Four New Animojis for iPhone X

IOS 11.3 comes with 4 new crazy animojis for the iPhone X with face recognition.



This release also includes a better battery analyzer.



Checkout the new section in Battery Settings for information about Battery Health. Battery Health is available in iOS 11.3 for iPhone 6 and above. There's an estimated battery capacity and a peak performance feature. This is where you can find out if your device is being throttled. 

Your device is throttled automatically when the system has an unexpected shutdown. Disable the throttle feature if you want. 


Monday, April 2, 2018

Yikes! Here come the mind police.



Big Brother has come to local news. Sinclair wants a monopoly and will appease the state, the mind police, to get it. 

Is blogging a rare form of independent journalism? I suppose some bloggers that rely on sponsors might fear the fight against big brother, but not many. This is why net neutrality is under assault. The free flow of information is a dangerous thing for the State. 

The great thing about Camera Apps is that the cameras are pointing in the other direction.