Nexus 2013 7 inch tablet

I was so happy with the fact that Google allowed me to send back my original Nexus 7 inch tablet for credit when for the third time it became a brick. I had to applaud them for standing by their customer, me, and making the purchase of this product right. I must say that the new tablet is much faster, has a camera on the back which I use a lot for things around the office and doing site surveys at customer sites and I have not run into any memory limitations as of yet but I am very picky about what I put onto it. I would have like the option of an SD card slot where I could add additional memory if I wanted but it is not a deal breaker for me obviously. If you make judicious use of the available cloud storage you should be fine. I have thrown all my music up to the Amazon cloud and I am able to access that from any device that use including my phone (Samsung Note II), ASUS TF300T, iPad 1 & 2, and any computer I lay my hands on.

Another surprise I had with the new design is how loud the stereo speakers are on this unit. It makes it nice to set it beside me to listen to audio books while I am working on different things in the house. I also purchased a nice simple case that has a magnet built into the front flap that acts just like the iPad magnetic cover does to turn on and off the unit. This is a quick way for me to turn of the screen display while a sound application is running that helps to cut down battery drain on the unit. When I open the cover it immediately turns on at the sign in screen to prevent unauthorized access.

This has become my go to tablet now for most everything I do. It is small enough to fit in my pocket, fit on the shelf in my car and have a large enough screen to allow me to see a movie, read a book or do some simple notes on a project. With the mail and calendar programs I use it makes it very easy to continue to communicate with the outside world and whenever I need an instant hotspot I can fire up my Verizon hotspot real quick to acquire that capability for any of the devices that I carry. I have no longer included 4G as an option to any of my device except my phone because you normally don’t need it except for short exceptions. It is much simpler to have just one plan for this purpose that I have to manage and take care of all of the machines I own.

This would probably be a good time to go over the list of apps that I use on my tablets. I choose most of them by whether they will do the job for me but I refine that to include those apps that are available on both Android as well as iOS and if possible have a browser or desktop application as well.

For the Office I use: Evernote, OneNote, OnLive Desktop, Dropbox, SkyDrive, Pocket, RingCentral, Keep, Fill and Sign PDF Forms, Lync 2013, Feedly, Adobe Reader, LogMeIn, Instapaper, Outlook Web App, Messaging,  and Skype.

For Personal and Entertainment: Amazon Kindle, Amazon MP3, Audible, BeyondPod, Cozi, Hulu Plus, Pepperplate, Roku, Scrabble, SmugMugMobile, SquareSpace, Xfinity TV, NetFlix, WatchESPN, Plex.

I’ll go into more detail on how I use some of these programs in another posting. I hope this gives you some insight on using a tablet and maybe some detail on the Nexus 7 if this is one of those tablets that you are thinking or purchasing.Let me know how you are using your tablets for work and play, I would really like to know.

Audi shows integrated Android tablet at CES

Audi already integrates Google Earth into its navigation system. The Open Auto Alliance means a lot more Google technology will arrive, and at GM, Honda, and Hyundai, too. Audi showed a 10 inch Android based tablet in their console that would control both vehicle services and entertainment. The OAA is dedicated to using a common platform that will drive innovation and make technology safer and easier to us for everyone.

Audi did not provide details as to availability or cost, but the demonstration worked seamlessly. The tablet will likely coincide with the new TT model, which does away with a central LCD in favor of a virtual instrument cluster showing gauges and infotainment functions. The TT cockpit does not allow for a passenger to control infotainment functions, making the tablet a perfect adjunct.
Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-35289_1-57616809/audi-shows-integrated-android-tablet-to-ces-2014-crowd/#ixzz2pwImG0AQ

With an open environment like Android the case can be made for easier innovation to be delivered easy and quickly to your automobile. This will allow you to pick those applications that make sense for your use case, and make you car driving experience even more personal and enjoyable.

The partnership also could help pave the way for incorporation of Google's self-driving car technology. Even if that technology doesn't use Android itself, the OAA is a tight technology partnership for essential computing services, and that could make it easier to rely further on Google technology.
Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-35289_1-57616662/google-joins-with-gm-honda-audi-for-android-powered-cars/#ixzz2pwISjeSn

Nexus 7 - 2013

My Nexus 7 died again for the third time so Google agreed to refund my money, took about two weeks for the credit to show up, and I used the credit towards buying a newer model of the Nexus 7. The two biggest differences that I have seen so far is the much better screen display and something I really wish the first generation had, a rear-facing camera. The stereo speakers seem a little louder to me and I was very impressed with how easily it moved all of my programs over to it from my Google account. Of course login’s and passwords didn’t come over but the most of the programs that I use did.

There were three models to choose from. The first two are Wi-Fi only and are differentiated by memory (16gb or 32gb) and the third is 32gb, LTE (T-Mobile) and Wi-Fi. I chose the 32gb Wi-Fi only for my updated unit, first I wanted to make sure I had as much room on it as possible and these days I am not getting anything but Wi-Fi since I have both a Verizon hotspot that I carry around with me and my phone (AT&T) will tether as a hotspot as well. While a little more expensive than the generation 1 version the addition of the camera makes a big difference to me and the way that I plan to use it. It is important to me as a work device to help me document site surveys but the absence of the ability to add external memory cards or USB sticks to it is the one thing that would really have liked to see included that was not.

I am impressed with the graphics, everything is much crisper and the sound coming from the stereo speakers seem adequate for personal use. While I haven’t directly timed battery life as of yet, it seems fairly decent. We streamed one of our audio shows for about 4 hours yesterday and at the end it showed about 43% battery life still available. When you consider that was coming over Wi-Fi the whole time and connecting to a Bluetooth speaker for it’s output that seems to be pretty good with that much over the air wireless activity. It feels a little heavier to me and also feels more substantial as compared to the earlier version. I’m sure the battery has something to do with the weight (.64 lbs.) but  it feels like a better quality machine then the first generation.

First impression: You see nothing but smiles from me. I’ll report back with more info as I use it more.

New Samsung ATIV Q hybrid Notebook/Tablet

So you need Windows for the office and Android for your entertainment, huh? This new tablet from Samsung may just fit the bill. At Samsung’s London event today they showed this new tablet that is very interesting with a high resolution display, low weight and both Android and Windows 8 installed on the unit.

Brent Rose of Gizmodo wrote:

ATIV Q

Samsung's most interesting tablet-type thing is a double-hybrid freak of a device. It has a keyboard that is connected by a rather versatile hinge. It can fold all the way flat against the back so you can use it as a straight up tablet, you can use it as a normal laptop, you can type with having the screen magically floating above your fingers, or you can use it as a stand.

But why is it a double-hybrid? Because it runs Windows 8 AND Android. I guess that's one way to solve the lack of good tablet apps in the Windows 8 ecosystem. The tablet can switch back and forth between modes, and while it won't share settings or apps, at least you can share files and folders back and forth. It will be running a full version of Windows 8 (not RT) and Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) with the Google Play Store and all.

Switching back and forth between operating systems looks lighting fast. Just the press of a single button. No booting or anything. It looked extremely seamless. You can also add Android apps to the Windows 8 homescreen for quick access, which is handy.

The other highlight on the ATIV Q is the touchscreen. It's at 13.3 inch gHD+ display, which comes in at 3200 x 1800 pixels. At 275 pixels per inch that bests even the screen on the Google Pixel (239 PPI). Samsung claims that it's "the world's highest resolution display," has a 170-degree viewing angle, and is clearly viewable in bright sunlight. Very impressive looking.

The ATIV Q comes running Intel's latest and greatest Haswell processor, which means it should be mighty fast, and it also comes with an S Pen, so the graphic design crowd should be able to really take advantage of all those pixels.

The ATIV Q comes in at 0.54 inches thick and weighs 2.84 pounds. That's pretty fat n' heavy for a tablet. But for a laptop-hybrid thing? Well, maybe that's not so bad. No word on U.S. It bears mentioning that this entirely dissimilar from Acer's R7 hybrid, though the ATIV 8 certainly wins in on the resolution and processor front.

SmugFolio for SmugMug now SmugMug for Android

The creator of SmugFolio has been hired by SmugMug and his original program is being renamed to SmugMug for Android. If you are already running SmugFolio for SmugMug your App will automatically be updated and become SmugMug’s official Android App!

"SmugFolio for SmugMug" will be renamed to "SmugMug for Android" and it'll have a new snazzy icon. The new app will be free to download. For those of you who own SmugFolio, you'll automatically receive the update via the Google Play market. It will be the same app you know and love with a few changes:

· You'll now be able to browse other SmugMug user accounts without needing to log into the app. This is a great way to give friends and family easy access to your public galleries on their phones and tablets.

· The app has been made more secure by switching to OAuth for the login. This change will require you to re-login once you have updated to the new app. After you login, your photos will still be available in the app as they were before. You will not need to download them again.

· To make the app more secure and to prepare for some exciting future enhancements, the updated app will now require Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) or above. Those using Android 2.x or earlier can still use SmugFolio, but you will not be updated to the new app. This is not an easy decision, but it is necessary to move the app forward.

SmugMug has a motto that "Your Photos Look Better Here", and I plan to keep that motto true on Android. I hope you've enjoyed using SmugFolio over the years, and I hope you enjoy the new app even more.

Private Apps function now available in the Google Play Store for Android

One of primary focus’s at Computer Connections is with our business customers. We spend a lot of our time supporting their software and hardware integration and maximizing their mobile and desktop productivity. With the emergence of more and more android development applications for us to use the ability to add customized applications to your mobile Android devices (phones and tablets) becomes a big bonus. This makes the Android environment more friendly business environment as well as better environments for government and educational users as well.

To setup this capability all you need to do is enable it in the developer console and then you can upload applications to the Play Store. This new section will allow a user to browse, download and update internal applications without the need to sideload them. To find out more information on this jump to Google Enterprise Blog located here.

• Google Play Private Channel for Google Apps

• Sign in to your control panel
• Google Play Developer Console help center

Nexus 7 Update

Last week I had an issue with my new Nexus 7 but this week all is right with the world. I was able to get a taste of Google's support for Nexus 7 and the short of it is I am very impressed!

A little over 10 days ago I began having some lock up problems, deletion issues, and when I tried to do a factory reset I was unable to reset the Nexus 7 back to its factory defaults.

So I called up the 855-836-3987 support line to get some suggestions on what I should do. This is the Google Play device support team number and it is available 24/7. Two things impressed me. First I did not have a long wait for someone to pick up the phone and talk to me and second it was someone speaking to me in my Native American English!

After speaking to two separate technicians over a half hour period, we determined that this was a very strange failure and proceeded to process the RMA. I have to give them a credit card but 2 days later I had a new Nexus in my hands and I should the other one back to them. Except for the fact that the unit failed, it was quite painless to get this turned around. It took me about an hour and a half to reload my applications and to reenter my logins to my online accounts, but I seem to be getting really good at this.

Pro's: Nexus 7 Support
Con's: Nexus 7, and I broke you in just one month! Not good...

Amazon launches ‘Send to Kindle’ feature for Google Chrome

Amazon has created an extension for Chrome that allows web content to be sent to any device that has the Kindle App installed. It provides a single click process that will send blog posts, stories and other Google Chrome displayed pages to be sent to your favorite e-reader device. Amazon’s Whispersync technology synchronizes between devices so that you can start reading the content on one reader and seamlessly pick up where you left off on another device.

The extension, "Send to Kindle for Google Chrome," allows users to send the entire webpage or just selected text to the device.

To get the extension for yourself, head on over to Amazon's Send To Kindle download page. Confirm the download on the Google Chrome Web store and sign in with your Amazon account. When you click the button, the content is formatted for the Kindle and then sent to your device a few minutes later. Amazon has said FireFox and Safari will get support "soon" but there was no mention of Internet Explorer.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 has finally reached distribution and it seems to a very interesting choice of functions. The tablet is available in both 16GB $499 and 32GB $549 versions. It is using Samsung’s S-Pen stylus for input and is available in WiFi only. It is shipping with Android 4.0 (ICS Ice Cream Sandwich) but Samsung is promising an upgrade to Jellybean (4.1) before the end of the year. It is also shipping with Samsung’s Touchwiz interface that allows for easy multitasking and customizable home screens.

It's powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core and 2GB of RAM. The screen seems a bit low-res coming in at only 1280×800 on a TFT display. The rear camera also seems a bit underwhelming, coming in at a mere 5MP with autofocus and a LED flash. It has a regular size SD slot that supports up to 32GB SD cards. There is a a disappointing US 2.0 connection but it is supporting Bluetooth 4.0.

The software apps that are loaded on the system include: Google Play™ Store, Books, Movies, and Music Preloaded: Contacts, Alarm/Clock, S Planner, Camera, Gallery, Google Talk™, Dropbox, Netflix, Gmail™, YouTube™, Web Browser, My Files, Email, Google Search, Latitude, Video Player, Media Hub, Game Hub, Calculator, Music Player, Smart Remote, Settings, ChatON, Samsung Apps, Polaris Office, S Suggest, Google Maps, Google +, Google + Messenger, Music Hub, Navigation, Places, Video Maker, World Clock, Nook, AllShare Play S Pen Optimized Apps: Crayon Physics, S Note™, Adobe® Photoshop® Touch, Kno™

Audio Support
Music: MP3, AAC/AAC+/EAAC+, WMA, OGG (vorbis), FLAC, AC-3 Sound: AMR-NB/WB, WAV, MID, XMF, iMelody, SP-MIDI, RTTTL/RTX, OTA

Video Support
Video: 1080p Playback Full HD in 1280 x 800 screen @ 30 fps Video Codec: Mpeg4, H.264, H.263, VC-1, Divx, VP8, WMV7/8, Sorenson Spark Format: 3gp(mp4), wmv(asf), avi(divx), mkv, flv, webm

Image Support
GIF, AGIF, JPEG, PNG, WBMP, WEBP

Supported Document Types
Word File: .doc .docx .txt .hwp .rtf Excel File: .xls .xlsx .csv PowerPoint: .ppt .pptx .pps PDF: .pdf

Messaging Options
Email (POP3/IMAP/SMTP/SSL/TLS); Exhange ActiveSync Email

Update on the Nexus 7

I have had a little more time with the Nexus 7 and I have found a few quarks that have caused me a little frustration when I compare the same functions on my iOS devices.

Bluetooth Audio Streaming

The first has to do with Bluetooth streaming audio and Audible. I love to listen to my Audible audio books when I am driving in my car but there is some kind of lockup that occurs when I turn off the car and the book is still running. I have to totally power off the Nexus 7 and reset it to get the book to run on the device. This happens every time. My iPhone and iPad both don’t have a problem with this and keep going on their merry way. Once the Nexus has lost that Bluetooth connection it is frustratingly hard to get it back up and running.

Space Limitations

I also found myself loading up several books and podcasts and it didn’t take long for me to run out of space on the 16GB version. So I need to keep my eye on space limitations. However, most everything else seems to running fine. When I was running out of space the tablet began to run very slow and was timing out between functions. As soon as I backed off of the number of books and podcasts that I was running everything came back up to speed just fine.

EReader

I find reading books on this tablet just as nice as most other tablets. The one thing that the Kindle has over the Nexus are the physical buttons to page forward and back on both sides of the screen. This makes it much easier to flip pages. It seems to be more of two handed gesture on the Nexus to flip pages.You can single tap on the edge of the screen to flip a page but you have to tap on right to flip forward and the left to flip back. I haven’t found anything in setting as of yet to change this.

Exchange Email

I have noticed that my Exchange email access is very slow. On my iOS devices they normally beat Outlook to receiving an email response from the Exchange server, which really surprises me. The email does get there but is extremely slow.

Is the Samsung Galaxy Tab the Android Tablet Standard?

IDC stated that in Q2, 2012 the iPad was certainly the leader when it comes to the overall tablet market.. With 17 million iPads shipped during this period the next nearest competitive tablet was the Samsung Galaxy Tab that reached 2.4 million units during the same quarter. That means that iPads are outpacing its next nearest competitor by a ratio of greater than 7 to 1. Amazon shipped 1.2 million units in this same quarter. It will be interesting to see how the Nexus 7 fairs this quarter in the mix.

In the fourth quarter Microsoft is going to be jumping into the fray as well with their Windows Surface RT tablet and that is going to make it that much more interesting as well. The question is whether we are going to see that many more tablets being sold or whether one or another will start eating into each other’s sales.

What do you think?

Will Voice to Text and Voice Recognition be taking over all of your phone functions?

My use of voice to text recognition software goes in spurts.  I don't use it routinely just because I am very seldom in a quiet enough area to make a good environment for the voice to text recognition software work well.

On my Windows 7 machine I use the built in Windows 7 software for speech recognition.  It does pretty well, but I can't help but think that Dragon Naturally Speaking would do a much better job at this.  I sometimes use the Dragon app on my iPhone to create like texts that I send out.  But other than that, I don't use any of the boys search programs that are out there for my phone.

I have written a lot of blog posts using the voice to text technology on my iPad, and more recently on my new Nexus 7.  On the iPad am using the Dragon app to create a note that I eventually will paste into another application to post up to my blog.  The Nexus 7 has a very similar voice to text recognition application that you can use inside multiple applications on the device.  This makes it a little more usable then the dragon app.

New wants is the software manufacturer of the Dragon series of software packages, and they are in constant development of their software to place it on as many devices that they can.  We're starting to see it on some smart TV use and even in cars.  They are hoping to have their software power in every application that you use.

They're placing a new software development kit so all iOS and Android app developers can use the same voice recognition technology in any app. This might be exciting for some of us that there is a scarier side to this coming to fruition.  They are also hoping to combine actual voice ID’ing to financial applications to access banking and payment functions.  Think about one click purchasing at Amazon being processed totally by voice control.

What is frightening is the possible loss of control as someone overhearing, recording your voice, or some other IP capture system to be able to take advantage of this voice function on devices and within applications that could hurt you financially.  The question is do you want to open this Pandora's Box or not?  Think about it.

Nexus 7 Accessories

Engadget has posted we can expect two accessories for the Nexus 7 tablet that include a docking station and a smart cover. On the heals of the the Nexus 7 16GB version becoming available again on Google’s Play site we can start expecting a  docking station and two styles of covers being release in August. Already showing the case on Google Play Store the entry level case is just $19.99 and a leather one will be available for around $40.

ASUS is showing the cases in many different colors so you can let your imagination go wild and get the color you like best!

No prices are shown on Asus’s site but you can see the six different colors that are available to choose from. Of course I am so bland I will probably consider staying with the ugly grey one but who knows?

The Nexus 7 dock is a simple wedge design with standard 3.5mm jack plugs that you can plug into active speakers for sound. It has a micro USB connector for charging your Nexus 7 by laying it into the holder. It appears that the four prong connector may have a use after all. There isn’t any video output connector so we don’t have that available in this version, it will be interesting to see if that will ever be an option. Probably not because it doesn’t appear to have the circuitry to support that.

Nexus 7–Day 2

I find this device quite comfortable to hold and it is amazingly responsive. After the first hour using it I was feeling very comfortable  learning the new Android 4.1 functions. Since I have been deeply embedded with IOS operating systems I found my initial learning curve to be short once I found out what the different system icons were and how to use them.

I added quite a few applications that I use everyday on my iPad and I wasn't disappointed at all, in fact, I was very impressed with how many of the applications had a better interface to them when compared to the iPad version of the app.

The Skype application runs rings around anything that I've seen on any other mobile device. It is more usable than the desktop version.

Evernote seems to be a little more elegant in the way it handles folders which is one of my chief complaints in the iPad version. One disappointment that Microsoft OneNote crashing on me so I quickly put that in the dark place until they get it right.

Setting up different kinds of connectivity was very simple and straightforward. It only took a second to connect this device to my Bluetooth connection in the car and to WiFi in both my house and my parent's.

I was a little worried when I plugged in my headset jack and it did not slip right in. The headset port is on the curve of the case  and so it did not appear to go into the hole correctly. But once I had it installed it seemed to work fine.

One of the features I think I'm going to love to use is the voice voice to text recognition. I actually used this to write most of this article. It certainly does make for a very handy dictation device. I believe it is using an off site translation system to convert my voice to text in much the same manner that Siri does. It also doesn't know that you can use the voice to text recognition in what is called offline mode as well. You have to download this function onto your Nexus 7 and  it will take up space on your device as well.

So, do I think a 7 inch tablet is going to be useful for me? I do like the way it fits into my pocket. I like the size of it in my hand and it seems to have enough power to do most of the functions I would want it to do . So my first weekend with the Nexus 7 I'm going to give it a thumbs up and I can’t wait to give it more time to see what else it can do for me. I think Android 4.1 is what will make this device quite more important to its use than the previous versions of Android operating systems. And as Google says, “It is buttery!”

Google’s Nexus 7

Well, I have finally bit the bullet and have placed my order in for the new Nexus 7 tablet. I am really looking forward to its arrival. As you probably have noticed I have been a staunch IOS device user since the iPad was released but I have been thinking about android based tablets for awhile. With all the reports I have seen and the specs of the unit I decided to get my hands on one to try it out. I’ll obviously report more on this once I have it in my hands. I think with the introduction of Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean” the Android experience will be a much happier one for me. The only drawback with the Nexus 7 that I see is that it doesn’t have an SD slot for adding more memory. It would have been nice to have that as well but I’ll have to live with storing my stuff in the cloud instead.

With the addition of this new device in my toy box I am going to have to begin entertaining the thought of getting a mobile WiFi device that I can share with all of my devices. I just wish that the data plans weren’t so darn expensive. To help supplement this I will probably discontinue my iPad data subscription and just use the mobile hotspot to get by in areas where I don’t have WiFi access.

Step aside AirPlay here comes SmartGlass

In a step to open up the Xbox 360’s interactivity with mobile devices, Microsoft showed off what they believe will be a great competitor to Apple’s AirPlay called SmartGlass at E3 yesterday. The new cross-platform functionality will come to Apple's iOS, as well as Google Android and Microsoft Windows Phone and Windows 8, later this year.

Microsoft showed off how content being played on the Xbox 360 could be complemented by additional content on a tablet like an iPad. In one demonstration, a user watching "Game of Thrones" on the HBO Go application had the show streaming to their HDTV, while an interactive map of the fictional world was displayed on a tablet and was updated in real-time, synced with the program.

Also expect browser integration on the Xbox 360 that you can control with your smartphone or tablet device. Other than being able to share the results I don’t know why you just wouldn’t do it on you personal mobile device. Game play was another function they showed off using Madden’s NFL. In this case they demonstrated the ability to use a tablet to select plays and draw up new ones that could them be displayed through the Xbox 360.

I haven’t purchased an AppleTV yet and I have been holding off doing so. Microsoft’s Xbox SmartGlass should be able to be used for this function as well. They will probably need to develop an application to do this but I don’t think that there will be a native AirPlay integration in the Xbox but that would be nice. Microsoft stated that they will bring the same ability on Android device as well as Windows Phone and Windows 8.

For those of us that already have an Xbox 360 in their media setup this is something to be anticipated. SmartGlass is Microsoft’s new interface platform that will hopefully allow programmers to open up your stationary media center with the Xbox at the center to all of your mobile devices.

Evernote for Android get some great updates

Press Release March 27th: Today, we have an exciting update to Evernote for Android (3.6). We’ve added a great speech-to-text capability that makes dictating notes in Evernote really easy, plus we have a bunch of new features for the Evernote Widget app.  Get Evernote for Android and get the Evernote Widget App for Android

Speech-to-text feature:

While all of the Evernote apps have the ability to capture audio, the Android version will now provide speech recognition. Tap the new speech bubble icon in the tool bar above the keyboard to launch the feature. As you talk, the app instantly places your spoken words into the body of the note as text.

When you are done recording both the original audio as well as the converted text will be attached to you note. This allows you to easily search you audio notes. If you don’t want the speech-to-text conversion then tap and hold the speech bubble and it will switch to just a microphone. Tap the microphone to begin recording you message.

The speech-to-text conversion uses Google Android’s text transcription service you must be on line for it to work. This capability is also available on version 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and some versions of 2.2. If you see the speech-to-text option appear when you update then you will know that your phone or tablet supports this function.

New Widget Features:

Press Release: In this update we’ve added a bunch of great new capabilities to our widget app, available as a separate download from the Google Play Store.

Here is what TechSmith had to say about this update:

Customize your widget
We’ve added a new gear icon to the widget that lets you customize a number of features:

• Widget Color: Choose between original green or a new dark theme
• Custom buttons Choose which Evernote functions appear in the widget
• Large widget notes Choose what notes appears in the large widget—last viewed; last updates; specific notebooks, tags, or Saved Searches

New tiny widget
When you long press on the phone’s home screen and go to the Widget menu, you’ll now see a tiny 1×1 single function Evernote widget, which takes up the same screen real estate as an app icon. This widget is great for placing a single Evernote function anywhere you like.

Quick snapshot
The newest widget function is the Quick Snapshot. This feature truly lives up to its name. Tap on the Quick Snapshot icon, camera with lightning bolt, to launch the camera. Snap your photo and tap save. That’s it. A new snapshot note will be added to your Evernote account with an auto-generated title.

Which Option should you choose for storing your music in the “CLOUD”

With Google relabeling its cloud storage system for movies, books and music, called Google Play, there is another option to choose for placing your music into a location that you devices can get to with multiple devices. If you have an IOS device or and Android device then you have a multitude of options at various costs.

For general storage there are a lot of choices with my favorite being Dropbox (2GB free), but you also have Google (10GB free), Microsoft (25GB free).

Microsoft SkyDrive provides 25GB’s of free space and is integrated well with Microsoft Office Applications and has some interesting things that it can do in regards to information sharing with OneNote.

iCloud (5GB free) and Amazon (not free). When it comes to your media files (mainly music oriented). It also integrates with a few document applications but this is solely an Apple based product for Apple products only.

Google allows up to 20,000 song titles. This service is primarily associated with Android Devices and desktops for access. It will now integrate with a central interface for accessing movies, eBooks, and music. It will be interesting to look at once it fully comes available. This is separate from Google Doc Storage which I talked about above.

Amazon Cloud Player for your music is limited to 5GB for free and all of you purchased MP3’s are stored for free.

Dropbox can also play back you media but unless buy into the large file storage levels and there isn’t a media player associated with it directly. But I like using it for everything that I throw at it for work, home and play. It is integrated with the largest number of application on your IOS and Android devices and that is one of the things that I am continually reaching for, high availability between applications and devices.

Another service that is out there that has a fairly close comparison with Dropbox is SugarSync. It provides a free 5GB account and reasonable larger accounts. It is more of a file share program that allows you to synchronizes between PC’s. Dropbox is pretty much limited to its file structure that syncs while SugarSync has more of a backup flair associated with it.

So if you ask me what I have, well, I have them all. Which do I use the most? Dropbox at this time. However, in reviewing these services I started thinking that SugarSync looks interesting and one that I didn’t even mention Box.com is something that I want to explore as well.

Let me know how you are using these types of services and let me know which one is your favorite and why.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S i Magazine

I just finished reading my first made for iPad magazine and was totally entranced by the interaction with media formats that made full use of all audio, video still images and slide shows. The magazine I chose is called Photographers i and besides showing off beautiful images it provided articles that drew you into the featured photographers world, talked about their techniques and projects and keyed on specific technical details that help you to improve your own photography as well.

This is a great example of the benefit of electronic texts over paper with the ability to use the best style of presentation (words, static pictures, slide shows, audio or video) to present the information in the article. If you can find a magazine on a subject that you enjoy, it is worth taking a look to see if they have taken advantage of the new media style. The limits of printed material can finally be surpassed in this new form and provide you with many hours of entertainment and an expanded learning experience.

It is available as a subscription on both iPad and Android devices. I absolutely recommend this magazine.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 2 vs. Galaxy Note 10.2

Samsung seems to be introducing a new tablet almost every week. Samsung has made a new designation for their tablet line with the Note series with the primary distinction being that the Note series will be coming with an S-Pen. What is the S-Pen and what is its capabilities? Version 1.0 lets you add a basic canvas, a pop-up for pen settings (opacity, line color and so on) as well as erase and un/redo. Sure, ICS might natively support stylus input, but as Samsung is keen to point out -- with its capacitive tip and configurable button -- a simple stylus this is not.

See these engadget articles for more information:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/27/samsung-galaxy-note-10.1/

http://gizmodo.com/5888347/samsungs-galaxy-tab-2-now-comes-in-an-exciting-101+inch-flavour-but-is-fatter-and-heavier-than-the-original/gallery/1