Music apps are a must in every Android phone. While commuting to and from office, relaxing on weekends or sharing the latest hits with friends, music apps fill the hours of relaxation or help bring people together. There are so many apps available to cater to your taste that choosing becomes difficult. Here’s a list of some of the best ones. 

Amazon MP3 

This app is clearly one of the best apps out there. Its simple design and browsing system allows you access to the best stations and uploading and storing music is very easy. On top of that, if you’ve purchased some music online before, it allows you access to that. If you’re a free user, you can upload about 250 songs and for those who pay for its premium service, will get around 250000 song upload space! Its pretty much all the songs I’ll ever need without having to delete any of them.

Tune-In Radio 

All mobile phones come with a radio app but it’s limited to just a few local stations which might not play your favorite songs. Now music from around the world is accessible right on your phone with the help of Tune-In Radio. This app will connect you to over 70000 radio stations, podcast etc so you can listen to any genre you feel like at that moment. You can add your favourite stations in a list thus saving you from searching for them every time. It’s the best radio app ever!

Spotify 

Another awesome app for online music streaming is Spotify. It comes loaded with all kinds of services that lets you stream music; share what you’re listening to with your Facebook friends, play similar type of music in one station and much more. It has a huge library of songs to select from that you’ll be spoilt for choice! Its premium service provides syncing of devices with playlists and songs so that you can access your favourite tracks from any device easily.

DoubleTwist 

Another great music app with a quirky name! It’s an app stuffed with features and provides an extensive list of music to listen to. It manages your playlists, podcast subscriptions, updates the album artwork on your playlists and much more! Not only does it sync with your PC or Mac but this app syncs with iTunes playlists as well so you can access all your music from one place. Some of its modules can only be accessed after purchasing, but others are free so you can get a taste of its features.

Stitcher Radio 

If you want a free radio app without cutting down on features then go for Stitcher Radio. This app focuses on radio and podcasts and helps arrange channels according to specific genre or content. It’s a podcast lover’s ideal app! It’s very interactive, remembers your preferred type of music and creates stations to cater to that. Not many music apps can offer this!

Opinion 

Of all the music apps available online, some stand out for the features and usability that is not found in others. Access to music from all over the world is made possible by apps like Tune-In Radio, Stitcher and buying and sharing music online is made easy with Amazon MP3. So many channels offering a variety of music that you don’t have to listen to the same song over and over.

Open Site Explorer

Backlinks are still an important part of the overall SEO recipe for domains both large and small. Though somewhat limited in its free incarnation, Open Site Explorer nevertheless enables any SEO to compare a website’s metrics with those of 5 other domains simultaneously. OSE displays things like Page Authority and Domain Authority for sites linked to your pages. You can filter data by Linking Domains, Anchor Text and much, much more.

SEO Quake

One of the best tools for SEO practitioners performing online research, SEO Quake is a browser add-on for Firefox and Chrome. It allows users to dive deeply into the pertinent statistics of any site with the click of a button. When you come across a particularly strong domain, you can look at metrics like PageRank and take notes on how they’ve managed to attain their ranking.

Google Webmaster Tools

Appeasing Google’s ever-changing algorithms is a top priority for any webmaster due to its seemingly unassailable dominance in the search engine world. Google Webmaster Tools is your one-stop shop for all kinds of information on your domains. Data such as traffic sources, visits, link counts and PageRank are presented for further dissemination in a clean and logical manner. It also acts as a notification centre for possible red flags on your domains such as duplicate content and unnatural link profiles.

WooRank

Created specifically for small business webmasters and SEOs who need in-depth intelligence on their domains, WooRank is a serious tool for serious SEO gurus. It allows users to easily monitor over 50 KPIs, which makes increasing traffic and boosting SERPs rankings a simple proposition. Notable features include the Tasks Manager for managing SEO to-do lists and a White-Label PDF report generator. If you make your living in SEO, it’s a worthwhile purchase.

SwissMadeMarketing

While the Google AdWords Keyword Tool is a fantastic free keyword research utility, serious SEOs need something a bit more robust. SwissMadeMarketing is essentially the AdWords Keyword Tool hopped up on steroids. It allows users to filter keyword results, examine keyword CPC and see which sites rank in the top 10 of the SERPs for any given query. The included Rank Tracker tool makes following the sites you’re trying to match and surpass an absolute breeze.

Use What Works, Lose the Rest

If you work in the SEO field or simply need reliable tools that will help you to kick your site’s rankings up a notch, the aforementioned software selections will most likely work wonders. Granted, there’s no sure thing in the SEO world. As such, you’ll need to try them out for yourself to see what works. Regardless, there’s a good chance these utilities will prove invaluable.

About the Author

Jared is part of the SEO team at Search Factory, a search marketing agency in Brisbane, Australia. He uses a variety of tools in his day to day SEO activities and wanted to share some of the best for others to evaluate for their needs.

What’s the story?

Samsung believe that the phone will “make your life richer, simpler and more fun” through better features. Taking place on the big stage like Google I/O, this cooperation between Google and Samsung is a big statement in the move forward.

Described as the “Nexus user experience” on tap, this compelling smartphone is cheaper than the Nexus 4. The believe is that with this we no longer have to choose between updates and specs, design and features but enjoy awesomeness. Samsung said this came from a simple question: “how can we change people’s lives for the better?” Seemingly, with a self-proclaimed ‘life companion’!

How will it be a life companion?

While it won’t have the custom software of Samsung, it will run as stock version of Android. Some apps will be preinstalled, one of the best being TripAdvisor. The market-leading app gives all Samsung Galaxy S4 users the chance to get trusted travel content with millions of opinions and reviews in the widget. The updated developer section means that consumers can get more while companies will be able to sell more.

Better for developers

With gaming growing like never before thanks to mobile devices, advances in development were necessary. With that in mind, new features have given them larger scope including the addition of achievements, cloud saves and leaderboards to Android games.

Coming with 16GB of memory, Google is showing some intent in battling the Apple game centre. Added to the aforementioned features is a new subscription music service where for $9.99 a month you can access all of Google Play Music.

Worth buying?

With no Nexus announcement, many are unsure where the Samsung S4 stands in the medium term. It will have a vanilla Android 4.2 Jelly Bean but it may just be a stop gap for the latest Nexus which destroyed the iPad mini in a UK tablet poll and was named the most popular Android on the market. We will have to wait longer for the S4 to be rolled out to Europe but is it worth looking to sell your old mobile, tablets or other tech to get your hands on one? Maybe not. That’s before you take into account the competition of the LG Nexus 4.

Blogging is a bit like making it as a famous actor. It rarely happens by chance, and it’s usually only after years of dedication. The good news is there are ways to increase your odds of being one of the few who “makes it.” Three things you want to avoid are:

You, You, You

Unless “you” happen to be Kim Kardashian, a blog needs to cover more than just your life. There’s a good chance that you aren’t known by anyone outside your immediate circle, and the truth is that your blog readers just don’t care. There are the rare exceptions, such as dooce, but that kind of appeal is exceptionally slim.

Instead, focus on a subject, industry or anything else that you’re passionate about. However, be wary of choosing topics that are too out there. You still need to blog about things that will appeal to a large amount of people. Going too niche is a big danger and something a lot of newbies do.

Gruesome Grammar

You don’t need to have an editor go over every sentence with a fine-toothed comb, but you do need to edit your stuff. Review your posts for basic grammar, typos and syntax before posting. Make sure your videos are short and to the point. Because you’re being judged by at least a few readers, it’s important to sound like you know what you’re talking about.

Unfortunately, great grammar is something that’s slipping by the wayside. That’s not an excuse. Spend the extra time to edit your work and let it sit for at least a day before you post. It’s nearly guaranteed that you’ll want to make some changes when you revisit it.

Huge Gaps Between Posts

Maintaining a blog takes a lot of time and effort. If you review TV stands, you should publish multiple reviews each week. If you blog about dating advice, don’t make readers wait a month or more for an update. Otherwise, you’ll quickly lose any readers you have.

A blog requires constant attention, and if you don’t have the time for it, reconsider starting one. Blogs can’t be abandoned if you want to succeed. However, with the right care, nurturing and topic, you can get on the fast track to a solid readership.

Android apps have been flooding the internet and each one seems to offer the best of what category or type of app it falls under. Some apps are purely for entertainment, some for business and data managing, while others are for android device efficiency. Such huge number of choices can get a bit overwhelming so choosing what’s best on your phone is a tiring process. To shorten this process a list of apps best for androids are provided.

JuiceDefender Ultimate

Using android phones for calls or simply browsing the internet can drain the battery. To make the best use of your battery charge a number of apps have sprung up. Among these JuiceDefender Ultimate is proving to be a great help. It is a customizable app with smart controls for managing Wi-Fi, 2G/3G which drains the battery most. Besides this app also has brightness, timeout, night and peak time controls to ensure your phone’s battery life.

SwiftKey X

The SwiftKey X for smartphones and SwiftKey Tablet X for tablets take care of your typing errors and its interactive feature not only uses prediction on the letters typed but also mirrors your typing style.

Splashtop Remote Desktop HD

Carrying around our laptop and assorted devices is a problem. Instead just carry your android phone and install Splashtop Remote Desktop HD on it to access your PC files from PowerPoint, Outlook to other multimedia content over Wi-Fi, 3G/4G. It supports Windows 7, Vista, XP and MAC.

Avast! Mobile Security

But all of these would be useless if my phone is not protected both from viruses and theft. Avast! Mobile Security gives you safety in both these areas. It has a tracker and malware protection that puts my mind at ease when I’m accessing any site or carrying the phone with me. Its optimum battery usage and remote anti-theft features like GPS tracking, memory wipe are the best!

Opera Mini 7

For browsing the app that people working on limited bandwidth and others can use is Opera Mini 7. It looks almost the same as its full size version and for mobile viewing compresses the webpages, so for email and limited media this app is well worth it!

Tasker

For those of us acquainted with calendar reminders, automatic alerts, the Tasker takes it to the next level. Total automation on tasks, apps used, plug-ins and devices connected to your phone allows Tasker to detect patterns and respond to them. It can turn off the Wi-Fi when device is put down, set timer for certain functions; turn on music as soon as you plug in your headphones etc.

Opinion

If I have to sort the apps in the order of importance and usage then JuiceDefender, then Avast! followed by Splashtop, Tasker and Opera Mini 7 would be my top five. I can browse the internet even at low bandwidth without worrying about viruses; keep my phone customized for every task, access files from my PC no matter where I’m and all of this being done without draining my phone’s battery! These apps sure are handy!

Technology is fast becoming a part of our everyday life and children are using gadgets like smartphones, tablets, laptops etc at an early age. Nowadays, from school admission forms to study materials, everything is available online. To prepare your kids for their education, various apps have been created to make learning fun.

123s ABCs Handwriting Fun App

Kids about to start nursery or pre-school find learning as a new adventure. To make it interesting for kids to improve handwriting, this app allows them to trace the letters on the screen. Without any chalk dust to worry about, kids can improve their uppercase, lowercase letters, 0-9 numbers and even listen to the alphabet pronunciation on the device. To wipe the screen clean all you do is shake the device and you’re ready to write something new! This free app is very helpful for preparing young kids!

Kids Finger Paint App

This app lets you paint by using your fingers! Now kids can color their heart’s desire by choosing shades from a color wheel, fill in different shapes and lots more. Small children will find this app easy to understand because of its simple prompts. It relieves you from worrying about the mess created from water colors or little kids swallowing crayons. All you do is change brush size by pressing your fingertip a little more, choose color and paint away! Once you’re done just shake the device and everything on the screen is erased! Simple!

WordUp! App

If you thought that to improve kids’ spelling you need to get board games like Scrabble then an app is here to surprise you! Using WordUp, your kids can learn to spell long words from jumbled letters on the screen and its fun for the parents as well! This app can be played with family members to encourage children to learn. Extra points are awarded for the longest words. This app comes in a free version as well as paid one for $2.99.

Celeste SE App

For older kids of 7-10 years, a great smartphone app called Celeste SE is available. It allows you to take your phone and aim at the sky and you’ll see enlarged and realistic images of the Sun and other heavenly bodies in our solar system. You won’t need a telescope to see and learn about the stars and planets, just move the phone to the image of a star or planet you want to learn more about and it shows you more information about it. Great app for learning astronomy through query and research!

Fun Math Tricks App

To improve your kid’s mental math skills this app provides different methods to learn shortcuts and tricks to solving basic math problems. It is a very simple app with step by step explanation and sample problems to solve. This app is ideal for children who have learned the basics like multiplication tables, square roots etc. To test the lessons learned, you can solve problems with a time limit and judge your improvement yourself! Kids will love math with this app!

Opinion 

With the help of these apps learning has become fun, interactive and no longer limited to books. Apps like Celeste SE and WordUp help kids to ask questions and learn new things about their surroundings. Handwriting, painting help develop motor skills and mental math helps to stay ahead in schoolwork. Innovative apps like these are sure changing the education process!

After being impressed with the advertisements and also testing it out at the store you finally brought home your own Galaxy S III. But just flipping through email and enjoying the phone’s amoled touch screen is definitely not satisfying. You’d need some innovative apps to fully exploit the possibilities on your phone.

Tango Video Calls

The Galaxy S III is a smartphone with a SIM slot allowing you to use a SIM to make calls. But what if you don’t have enough balance or simply want to make a free call, like ISD calls for example. You can do that now with the help of an app called Tango Video Calls. If you think it’s like Skype then think again. Tango allows you to make free video calls as well as also free phone calls, video messages and smooth free group video messaging; a very handy app to keep.

Pandora internet radio

Now we’ve all heard of Pandora internet radio but saying that it is an awesome app to listen to music from all over the world is not enough. It takes personalized radio streaming seriously. If a search is made with your favourite artists’ name, song or classical composer, it not only plays the song but creates a ‘station’ for all their songs and similar music!

Google Play Books

If you want to catch up on some reading then a good place to browse through great titles, whether new or bestsellers is the Google Play Books app. It’s the app to get, for reading on the go, and its personalization setting lets you resume from the point you left off. Therefore, no need to remember or bookmark the last page you read.

Cloud Print

For office and personal printing needs an app that comes to the rescue is Cloud Print. Using Cloud service you can access all your files and print them directly from the phone to the printer. This app requires you to configure your PC; it supports all Office file types and also image files, notepad and xps files.

Angry Birds

For gaming, the Number 1 app all over the world is of course Angry Birds. A free game, using a lot of physics-based challenges is quite popular everywhere. It has more than 300 levels and each level promises to test your logic and skill to cross. To pass the time or improve your skills, Angry Birds is a great app for Galaxy S III.

Opinion

Apps like Tango, Pandora and Angry Birds really bring out the best in the S III. I’d never be bored when I’ve an interactive radio service and a challenging game to keep me engrossed. My phone calls and video calls would always be free. I can print any type of file whenever I want from my phone with Cloud Print. These apps have made carrying around data less bulky and everyday interactions so much simpler. If you’ve recently got a Galaxy S III, then some of these apps would be a good choice to start with.

Android apps have been flooding the internet and each one seems to offer the best of what category or type of app it falls under. Some apps are purely for entertainment, some for business and data managing, while others are for android device efficiency. Such huge number of choices can get a bit overwhelming so choosing what’s best on your phone is a tiring process. To shorten this process a list of apps best for androids are provided.

JuiceDefender Ultimate

Using android phones for calls or simply browsing the internet can drain the battery. To make the best use of your battery charge a number of apps have sprung up. Among these JuiceDefender Ultimate is proving to be a great help. It is a customizable app with smart controls for managing Wi-Fi, 2G/3G which drains the battery most. Besides this app also has brightness, timeout, night and peak time controls to ensure your phone’s battery life.

SwiftKey X

The SwiftKey X for smartphones and SwiftKey Tablet X for tablets take care of your typing errors and its interactive feature not only uses prediction on the letters typed but also mirrors your typing style.

Splashtop Remote Desktop HD

Carrying around our laptop and assorted devices is a problem. Instead just carry your android phone and install Splashtop Remote Desktop HD on it to access your PC files from PowerPoint, Outlook to other multimedia content over Wi-Fi, 3G/4G. It supports Windows 7, Vista, XP and MAC.

Avast! Mobile Security

But all of these would be useless if the phone is not protected both from viruses and theft. Avast! Mobile Security gives you safety in both these areas. It has a tracker and malware protection that puts my mind at ease when I’m accessing any site or carrying the phone with me. Its optimum battery usage and remote anti-theft features like GPS tracking, memory wipe are the best!

Opera Mini 7

For browsing the app that people working on limited bandwidth and others can use is Opera Mini 7. It looks almost the same as its full size version and for mobile viewing compresses the webpages, so for email and limited media this app is well worth it!

Tasker

For those of us acquainted with calendar reminders, automatic alerts, the Tasker takes it to the next level. Total automation on tasks, apps used, plug-ins and devices connected to your phone allows Tasker to detect patterns and respond to them. It can turn off the Wi-Fi when device is put down, set timer for certain functions; turn on music as soon as you plug in your headphones etc.

Opinion

If I have to sort the apps in the order of importance and usage then JuiceDefender, then Avast! followed by Splashtop, Tasker and Opera Mini 7 would be my top five. I can browse the internet even at low bandwidth without worrying about viruses; keep my phone customized for every task, access files from my PC no matter where I’m and all of this being done without draining my phone’s battery! These apps sure are handy!

Yet we recycle everything else, so why don’t we instantly recycle our mobile phones? There seems to be a strong mindset that there isn’t anything to gain from recycling mobile phones, yet it can prove very beneficial. In addition to being able to sell mobile phones for profit  to those who want to recycle the phone, you’re also helping the environment. So, whether you want to protect the environment or make some money from an unwanted device, there is every incentive to recycle your old phone.

Why Recycling Is Important

Besides the environmental factors, recycling your phone is important because it gives easier access to some of the key elements that are found in phones and electronics. You’re average device has some form of motherboard or circuit-board, for instance, and these are made of the same elements and minerals regardless of the device in question.

This includes the likes of gold, copper, zinc, beryllium, tantalum and more. Some of these minerals are very difficult to obtain through mining. Others are simply costly and expensive. Yet there are a vast amount of old phones that already have these previously-mined resources in abundance. As such, the pool of unwanted phones provides a valuable resource the industry is more than happy to tap into.

Environmentally, this also means the phones are being used. The usable elements are being recycled and used, rather than just ending up in a landfill. Rather than being detrimental to the environment, recycling a phone allows for new devices, and an alternative to mining for these important resources.

Cash Reward

The major incentive to you, as a consumer and someone who appreciates their technology, is the fact that you can get a surprising cash reward. The value of the materials, minerals and components within a phone far out-weight the value of the phone as a consumer product. A phone’s demand quickly decreases, whilst there is always a demand or interest from the industry for the materials needed to make new phones.

As such, the value for recycling is much more stable. If you’ve had the phone a while, and used it yourself, it’s likely past its prime shelf-life, and will only ever sell for a set amount from second-hand markets; furthermore, this value will decrease as time goes on.

In summary, this is just a brief overview of the benefits and advantages involved in recycling your phone, but it should none the less show the benefits of such. Whether you want to do your part for a greener world, or want to turn your unwanted gadgets into cash, recycling offers the best of both.

Karen Jones is a writer with a passion for gadget technology. From phones to tablets and other devices, she has a strong knowledge and passion for anything surrounding technology, including, tips on how to sell mobile phones and how to improve longevity and get more life out of unwanted tech.

Qik Video Connect 

The interface of the Android Qik’s is not same as that of iOs. The Android edition has 4 blocks which appear on its screen. Each of these blocks represents a particular function together with its explanation. The different functions are Video Mail and Video Gallery, Video Chat, Document and Share.

Besides video chat the video mail is another app for android which might be of interest to a lot of people. It is similar to the voice mail but it does this by means of videos. The benefit of this is that video mail is clearer than the live video chat as it is previously recorded. But in order to use this facility you may have to pay them a nominal fee. Qik of android also provides you with yet another function and that is you can now upload all your videos to the internet and also share through email or even SMS.

2. Tango 

Tango is a very good app because it permits its users to go in for a cross-platform video chat. This only means that you can have an Android video chat with a friend who is on an iOs. This app is really wonderful indeed! Even though F-ring has this facility, Tango is better because of its clarity of videos as well ease of use. When you have Tango you can in addition make calls via 3G and 4G set-ups.

With this app you can now find your friends easily. Tango has the capacity to search through your Android or even iPhone Address book and find friends who are also on Tango and includes them into the app’s contact list. The setting up of this app is very easy.

3. F-ring 

This app of F-ring is user-friendly. Its user interface is orderly and not messy. Even if you are using it for the first-time then also you will not face any problems with the app. The quality of the video is good. Its audio can be improved further. The best thing about this app is that it can be transferred from the Android internet site for free.

4. Knocking Live Video

Knocking Live Video is an app which permits its user to share video live from his/her phone to anyone else’s phone. This is a cross-platform app and hence videos can be shared with those who have iPhones as well. This app is a very popular social network and you can transfer this for free.

5. Skype

Skype is definitely one of the most excellent in VoIP apps. Regrettably, Android Skype does not have video conferencing and the only exception is 4G phones.