Europe’s much-loved music service has finally arrived stateside, bringing over 15 million tracks, MP3 import, an offline mode, and Facebook integration. Currently, the service is invite-only, but you can sign up and wait or jump in right now with Unlimited or Premium service for $5 or $10 a month respectively.
Head over to the source link to sign up now and be sure to check out our hands-on with the music service after the break. [via Spotify]
Augmented reality and optimal character recognition come together into one package, with Word Lens for the iPhone. Word Lens is an instant translation app that works with your iPhone’s camera; point at a sign and it will instantly be translated on screen.
The app is free, but language packs will cost you $4.99 each. We gave it a try, and although the app is not as perfect or accurate as the video, its still amazing to see what the future holds. [via iTunes]
Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks, and as we’re eating our meals, lets not forget those developers. So lets pay tribute to these people, who bring us the free iPhone apps we love.
Lets get started and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the U.S.
1. Dropbox
Dropbox, the service that allows you to access your files from anywhere, is also available on your iPhone. After installing Dropbox on your computer, you can put any files into the Dropbox folder and they will be automatically sync with Dropbox’s online service, allowing you to access your files online or on your iPhone. You start out with 2GB of free storage, but that’s plenty for a couple of documents. [via Apple]
2. Evernote
A very robust notes service, Evernote is great at keeping you organized. In conjunction with their desktop application, Evernote allows you to create notes and add anything, from simple text to pictures or audio. Everything is synced between the mobile and desktop version, keeping you the ace of organization. [via Apple]
3. VLC
Our favorite desktop media player is also available on your iPhone. VLC Media Player for the iPhone allows you to play video extensions not supported by Apple’s native video player. Video playback was smooth for us, even with formats such as WMV. [via Apple]
4. Pandora
The online version of Pandora is good, but the iPhone app is even better. An online radio service, Pandora is a great place to listen to your favorite artists, totally free. It also helps you discover new songs.Navigations is smooth, plus, the app runs in the background, even after closing out of the app. [via Apple]
5. News360
News360 is a great app for getting news. Gathering news from a variety of sources, News360’s app gives you a variety of topics to sort through. It’s also easy to share news with your friends. Navigating through different news stories is also easy, with a simple scrolling gesture. [via Apple]
Preme for Windows 7 is a tool that tries to make navigating Windows 7 a little bit easier. The utility did make navigating easier for me, but some features didn’t quite work out for me on my dual-monitor set-up. It seems that Preme was designed for users with a completely stock version of Windows 7 who only use one monitor.
Let’s take a look at all that it can do…
The idea: After touching the upper-left corner of your screen, Alt-tab or Aero Flip 3D is supposed to be activated
The outcome: With one monitor, windows switcher corner worked well and opened up Aero Flip 3D when my cursor touched the top, left-hand corner of the screen, but with my dual monitor set-up (my main monitor on the right and my second monitor to the left), I had to touch the top left corner of my second monitor for it to work. Maybe some dual-monitor support?
The idea: Click the area underneath the minimize, maximize, and close buttons of a window and the window will slide to the outside of the screen, leaving a thin bar which is the border of your window. When you hover over it, the window will slide back into place.
The outcome: It’s a neat idea, but it “hid” my window by sliding it off to my second monitor. Upon trying it with a single monitor setup, it did just what it advertised and was relatively smooth. Again, some dual monitor support would help.
The idea: You click the top area of a window and the window will stay on top of all your other windows.
The outcome: After clicking the area, the window flickered twice and stayed on top of all my other windows. It’s a neat option that will come in handy.
The idea: Point your mouse at the top of a window and you scroll to minimize the window.
The outcome: Worked just as it said and was very smooth. It was so good that it should be included in Windows 7.
The idea: Again point your mouse at the area beneath the minimize, maximize, and close buttons and press the scroll button to close the window.
The outcome: Worked well and is a nice way to close your window.
The idea: Save the time of clicking the start menu. Point your mouse at the start menu icon and it will automatically open.
The outcome: It worked while using only one monitor, but for those who have their taskbars positioned vertically or have a dual-monitor setup, this is a no-go
The idea: When you right click on an open window in your taskbar, the cursor should automatically move to the “Close Window” prompt.
The outcome: We have no idea why “up” was capitalized (maybe the developers liked the movie UP?), but anyway, after right-clicking on an open window in my taskbar, my mouse automatically moved to the close window prompt.
The idea: Hit “escape” twice to close a window.
The outcome: It worked, but I don’t find much need for it.
Preme is a neat application that does most of what it advertises to do. Hopefully, with a few software updates, dual-monitor support will be added. Overall, it’s a pretty decent utility for single-monitor users, but for dual-monitor setups, many features won’t work. Keeping that in mind, I’ll be keeping it on my system and hope that a software update is coming soon. [via Preme]
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Jerry Chen
aolmenki