8 Free eBook For Mobile App Developers

f you are into mobile app development, you know that this is the most difficult profession as it requires you to take several things into account before you even start working on any app development. Moreover, it is a forever learning process so you need to keep yourself up to date with the latest trend and developments in the industry. Learning process will help in increasing efficiency and productivity in the long run. The process is the same whether you develop applications for desktop or mobile.
Here, we are sharing 8 free eBooks that will greatly help you with your mobile app development work and teach you lots of good things as well. These eBooks would be your prefect resource to strengthen your grip on the subject. Enjoy!

Mobile Book of Trends 2014



Developing Modern Mobile Web Apps



The App Design Handbook



Mobile Game Design book



Native vs. Web vs. Hybrid App Development



Free Android Programming – Ebook



Free ebook: Programming Windows Store Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript



Learn BlackBerry 10 App Development A Cascades-Driven Approach

Your tech news briefing for Monday, February 9

Big Auto is watching you behind the wheel of that hackable car

A new study of the mobile data and wireless electronic systems proliferating in cars says they present serious security problems as well as potential threats to individual privacy. The report coming Monday from Senator Ed Markey’s office is based on information from 16 car makers, the New York Times says, and looks at not only how wireless systems leave vehicle electronics vulnerable to hacking, but also at the wholesale collection of data on driving history.

ARM puts IoT security center stage with Offspark acquisition

The microprocessor design company that plays a dominant role in the mobile space has bought what it calls the leading security company in the Internet of Things arena. ARM Holdings said Monday it’s buying Dutch company Offspark, developer of the PolarSSL embedded Transport Layer Security technology.

Alibaba funds Chinese phonemaker to support its own mobile OS

Alibaba is investing US$590 million in a small phone maker in China that’s put its hardware behind Alibaba’s YunOS operating system. Meizu is a little-known handset vendor but it has a phone that runs Alibaba’s mobile OS—an Android competitor which the e-commerce giant sees as a platform for popularizing its own Internet services.

Pols want Verizon’s supercookies probed

Three U.S. senators want an investigation into whether Verizon Wireless’ use of so-called supercookies to track the online activities of its subscribers amount to privacy violations. They’re also considering new legislation targeting such tactics. Verizon has said it will let consumers opt out, but privacy advocates favor requiring an opt-in.

Corning has a followup to Gorilla Glass

The developer of the super-tough Gorilla Glass that’s made it less traumatic to accidentally drop your mobile device has an even hardier substance waiting in the wings. Corning Glass told an investor conference that it has a product that’s as drop-resistant as Gorilla Glass, with a scratch-resistance that “approaches” synthetic sapphire, Cnet reported.

Medical fraud worries on the rise with Anthem hack

The breach of U.S. health insurer Anthem that was revealed last week may reflect a trend for hackers to go where the richest information is—and with the move to electronic health records, the spotlight may be on medical targets. Not only do the records frequently have a broad and deep set of personal and credit information, but they also provide the data to enable medical identity theft. Meanwhile, healthcare as an industry is under-invested in cybersecurity relative to other businesses like banks.

Mobile wallets have a trust problem

If mobile wallets and payment apps have been slow to take off, it may be because consumers’ trust in them is eroding, not growing, according to a recent survey of 15,000 mobile users in 15 countries. Not only do many mobile users believe the systems aren’t secure, they are also concerned about having to share too much personal information when enabling an app.

Watch now

DARPA is planning fast, cheap satellite launches: it wants to send orbiters weighing 100 pounds or less into low earth orbit within 24 hours for less than $1 million per launch.

One last thing

Google Fiber didn’t fix the profound digital divide in Kansas City—but it put a spotlight on it. Fast Company looks at the lessons learned.

Qualcomm, fined $975M in China, prepares to move forward

The chipmaker won't contest the record fine as part of the resolution, and agrees to make several changes to its patent-licensing business in China.

Qualcomm agreed Monday to pay $975 million to resolve a long-standing antimonopoly investigation in China, opting to settle the matter and move on rather than fight the enormous penalty.
The country's National Development and Reform Commission found that Qualcomm, the world's biggest smartphone chipmaker, had violated local antitrust laws in how it runs its patent-licensing business there. Qualcomm said it won't contest the findings and agreed to start offering certain communications licenses for use in China at a significant discount than what it offers elsewhere.
"We're pleased to have concluded this matter, which we think removes a major uncertainty clouding our business, and we will now focus on the sizable opportunities in China," CEO Steve Mollenkopf said on a call with analysts Monday, though he added that the company is "disappointed" with the investigation's results.

Earlier Monday, several news outlets reported that a resolution was coming soon, with a roughly $1 billion fine expected. The penalty dwarfs just about every past fine imposed in China, including a nearly $500 million bribery fine on British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in September.
The resolution should bring some measure of stability -- albeit at a high price -- for Qualcomm, with investors relieved the investigation will be behind the company. The NDRC spent the past 14 months looking into Qualcomm's business in China, the biggest smartphone market in the world by users and the country where the company generates half its revenue. Additionally, Qualcomm should be able to pay the fine without much pain, thanks to its total cash and marketable securities of $31.6 billion, as of December.

Shares rose 2.5 percent after-hours to $68.80, after rising about 1 percent during regular trading Monday.

The huge fine may serve as a cautionary tale for some foreign companies looking to take advantage of China's massive consumer market, but are worried about the country's strict and sometimes opaque government oversight. Qualcomm, based in San Diego, Calif., has been one of the highest-profile targets of China's 2008 antimonopoly laws, but several other major companies, including Microsoft and Daimler, are facing similar investigations. These antitrust laws have been criticized by some businesses for being used unfairly against foreign companies there.

Qualcomm has for years been the top dog in mobile chips, providing the processors or radio chips, or both, inside most major smartphones, including Apple's iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy line, and some of Chinese handset maker Xiaomi's phones. That dominance in mobile may have ultimately made it a target for competition agencies, including China's NDRC. Along with Chinese regulators, European and US officials are also looking into Qualcomm's business practices.

The end of the China probe should allow Qualcomm to refocus on fighting fast-growing competitors in China, such as MediaTek and Spreadtrum. Also, the resolution lifts a cloud over Qualcomm's lucrative licensing business. Qualcomm makes its revenue both by selling chipsets to manufacturers, and taking in royalties for its patents through its licensing segment. The licensing unit provides about a third of revenue but two-thirds of profit for the company.

Microsoft, Samsung settle suit over Android patent royalties

Microsoft says the companies have settled a contract dispute over Android patent-licensing but offers no specifics about the terms.

Microsoft and Samsung have settled their contract dispute over Android patent-licensing, according to a brief statement issued Monday by Microsoft.

Microsoft officials declined to qualify or comment in any way on the settlement terms.

Microsoft filed an Android patent-royalty suit against Samsung on August 1. Microsoft claimed there was a breach of contract by Samsung involving Android patent royalties, following reported "months" of attempts between the two companies to resolve their issues.

The contract in question was the September 2011 multi-year IP agreement Samsung signed with Microsoft via which Samsung has been paying Microsoft per-device royalties for its Android phones. Under that 2011 agreement, Samsung and Microsoft agreed to cross-license their intellectual property, with Samsung paying Microsoft an undisclosed amount for each Android-based phone and tablet it sold.

In October 2014, it came to light (thanks to an unsealed court filing) that Samsung paid Microsoft $1 billion in 2013 for a single year's worth of patent-licensing royalties.

Samsung claimed the Microsoft Nokia handset acquisition breached the business collaboration part of the agreement between the two companies.

Samsung is one of about two dozen companies selling Android, Chrome OS and/or Linux devices that are paying patent-royalty licensing fees to Microsoft.

3 free apps to help you pick the perfect wine

I know nothing about wine other than reds give me an unfairly severe hangover if I drink more than two glasses of it. Thus, I tend to shy away from wine except for holiday dinners and special occasions. For Valentine's Day, particularly one that allows me to recuperate on a Sunday, I will look for a good bottle of red for my wife and I to drink with dinner.

Since I don't buy wine with regularity, I am quickly overwhelmed by the selection of wines at my local wine store or by any wine list at a restaurant. Armed with a wine app however, I have become a more confident wine buyer.

Vivino Wine Scanner

I will never walk into a wine store without this app. There are a number of apps that let you scan a wine label to get information about the wine, but I found the Vivino Wine Scanner app provides the most useful information.

After you take a photo of a label, it gives you an average rating and price so you know if you are holding a good wine and a good price. You can also scan the text of a wine list should you find yourself clueless in a restaurant. In addition to rating and price, Vivino provides notes about the type of grape used in the wine, info about the winery which made the wine and a variety of additional rankings that rank the wine within its winery, region, country and world. You can read reviews from other Vivino users and add your own, but what I find fun and interesting are the winemaker's notes (as in, "notes of toffee, cherry, fig, chocolate"), vintage comparison (how it stacks up to other years), and food pairing suggestions (beef, lamb, spicy food).

The wines you scan are saved to a My Wines list and will eventually build a taste profile for you. You can also build a feed, where you can follow friends who use the app as well as wine enthusiasts and pros. The app also lists nearby places that sell wine, showing you how many different wines are offered at each store and restaurant. Lastly, there is a Top Lists section that features lists such as "Best wines under $20 right now" and "Five wines from the world's smallest wine country."
Vivino Wine Scanner is available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

Wine Spectator WineRatings+

If I ever begin to amass a wine cellar's worth of wine, the WineRatings+ app from Wine Spectator magazine will prove useful. As it stands right now, it offers useful how-to articles and videos along with interesting vintage charts. These two items are free, along with a news feed of wine-related news articles. If you sign up for the monthly subscription ($2.99, £2.29, AU$3.79), you'll also get Wine Spectator's ratings and reviews.

Of the free content, I like perusing the vintage charts to see if the bottle I'm considering buying is from a good year for that particular region and grape. Since I'm a wine novice, I found a number of the how-to articles and videos to be illuminating, particularly those on how to pair wine and food.
Wine Spectator WineRatings+ is available for iOS and Android.

Delectable

Delectable provides the same ability to scan wine labels as Vivino, and while it provides far less information than Vivino about the wines you scan, it does something Vivino can't. With Delectable you can buy wines for delivery through the app, whereas Vivino only shows you places nearby that sell wine. Wine delivery is certainly convenient, and it appears as though orders of four or more bottles ship for free.

Delectable saves your scans and lets you add a comment and rating along with useful info like where you enjoyed a certain wine and with whom. You can share your wine thoughts via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and you can also recommend wines to a friend via text. Also like Vivino, Delectable lets you build a feed of friends, winemakers, sommeliers and critics.

Delectable is available for iOS and Android.

Windows 10 Preview to reach only subset of phones at launch

  Microsoft is busy prepping its upcoming Window 10 Technical Preview for smartphones. But which phones will get the preview, and which ones will receive all the features of the new OS, is a key question.

In a series of tweets posted Sunday, Joe Belfiore, vice president for Microsoft's Operating Systems Group, laid out the plans for the rollout of the Windows 10 Technical Preview for Windows handsets.
The first tweet aimed to allay some anxieties: "Hey all: we ARE working on Win10 for 512MB, including 520. Our ambition is to make #Win10 available for these devices but features may vary, including 520."

Several Lumia phones, which Microsoft now sells courtesy of its buyout of Nokia's handset division, come with only half a gigabyte of memory. Those phones include the Lumia 520, Lumia 630, Lumia 625 and Lumia 530. Many owners of these and other phones with only 512MB of RAM have complained in the past that certain Windows Phone apps and features require more memory and therefore won't run on their devices. Belfiore's tweet implies that the same limitation may hold true for Windows 10, which may fuel more complaints from users of affected devices.

Windows 10 is a next leap forward for a marquee operating system that has long been a mainstay of desktop computing, but that seemed to lose its way with the last big version, Windows 8. At the same time, Microsoft's efforts to attract consumers to its mobile OS have largely gone unheeded -- in 2014, Windows Phone hovered at about 3 percent of the worldwide market for smartphones, far behind Apple's iOS and market leader Android.

Now, with the upcoming Windows 10, Microsoft will drop the Windows Phone distinction altogether, aiming to make clear that all Windows-powered devices, from phones and tablets to desktops and laptops, will run on a single platform. At its big coming-out party for Windows 10 on January 21, Microsoft said it plans to have a version of the operating system tailored for devices with screen sizes below 8 inches.

What has yet to be fully set out is when exactly everything will fall into place.

On Sunday, a second tweet from Belfiore said: "Timing for various phones may be variable as well. When we first launch insider program, it'll be a subset of phones with more coming latr." He didn't indicate which subset of phones would be first on the list. But considering the issues with 512MB phones, the first batch that qualify could be those equipped with more RAM.

In a third tweet, Belfiore promised that the first build of Windows 10 for phones is still slated for this month: "Also, we're on track for Insider build coming 'in Feb' as Terry said at our 1/21 event. We need to complete internal testing 1st, hang in!"

Microsoft naturally wants to eliminate as many bugs as possible before it rolls out the technical preview. Many Microsoft insiders who were supposed to test Windows 10 build 12492 on their phones last week weren't even able to upgrade their devices, a source at Microsoft revealed to Neowin. Those kinds of bugs are obviously best discovered by Microsoft employees rather than the large number of users who'll be playing with the Technical Preview.


The Windows 10 Technical Preview has already been available for PCs and tablets, giving people the ability to check out the new OS. Microsoft's goal with Windows 10 is to provide more consistency across PCs, tablets and mobile phones as one way to increase customer interest and demand for all three types of devices.

For LG's G3, virtual reality is just a bundle away

LG is teaming up with Google to try bringing virtual reality to the masses.

The South Korean electronics company said Monday that it'll soon kick off a new promotion that offers a virtual-reality headset -- the VR for G3 -- for free for new buyers of its G3 flagship smartphone. The headset, which is based on Google's Cardboard device, uses the G3 as the screen, allowing owners to use it for VR apps and games downloaded from the Google Play store.

"This is just the beginning of the virtual reality movement, which until recently was expensive and inaccessible to everyday consumers," Chris Yie, an LG marketing executive, said in a statement.
The new headset is a way for LG to answer its long-time South Korean rival, Samsung, with a similar but no-cost virtual-reality product. The VR for G3 follows the lead of Samsung's Gear VR, released in December, which uses the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 as the display and can cost several hundred dollars ($310 on Amazon). Also, both Samsung and LG are looking for ways to build up smartphone sales, which have been slowing in mature markets, and could be using their VR headsets to do just that.

The LG headset could be an early sign of how competition and cooperation will shape up in the world of mobile virtual reality -- Samsung aligning with Facebook's VR-goggle maker Oculus on the Gear VR, and LG working with Google.

Both headsets are just one part of a growing list of virtual-reality and augmented-reality products being created, as tech firms work to add new technologies into those previously unrealized markets. The intent of virtual reality is to provide an immersive experience for gaming or other applications, while augmented reality offers an overlay of the real world to provide extra information for the user.
Google has been a major player in AR and VR lately, last year unveiling the cheap, do-it-yourself virtual reality kit called Cardboard, which it has continued to develop with additional features and apps. Google's Glass wearable headset project has faced a a bumpier start, with government officials asking about privacy issues and Google eventually taking the product off the market, at least temporarily.

Microsoft became the latest giant tech firm to jump into augmented reality, announcing last month it's working on a headset called HoloLens.


The VR for G3 promotion will roll out this month in certain markets. Buyers of the LG G3 can also download a free VR game, "Robobliteration," using an in-box code.

Using technology to mobilize a community

Peter Pham was furious.
An alleged hate crime had taken place in Manhattan Beach, California, a Los Angeles suburb six blocks from his home, and he wanted to do something to help, quick.

Pham, the co-founder of Santa Monica based incubator Science, Inc. (Dollar Shave Club, Dog Vacay) was in San Francisco at the time, raising money for one of his startups, and the only tool at his disposal was his Samsung Galaxy Note 3 smartphone.

So he started working it, sending out tweets on Twitter and using the Nextdoor neighborhood website to broadcast to locals.

Pham helped organize a weekend candlelight vigil attended by 500 people and has raised over $27,000 as a reward to catch the person who committed the crime, from 268 individual donors.
"These are amazing times we live in," notes Pham. "Being able to do all of this via a cell phone."
It started early Thursday when a 2:15 a.m. fire erupted at Pham's neighbors home, an African-American family. Police suspect it was a hate crime.

Pham is a heavy user of Nextdoor as a digital neighborhood watch service. In Manhattan Beach, a city of 35,000, some 8,000 locals are on Nextdoor.

NextDoor calls itself "the private social network for neighborhoods," and acts as a replacement for local posters on signposts.

The site suggests being used to get the word out about break-ins, ask for help finding a lost dog or simply ask for recommendations on reliable housepainters or babysitters. It's Yelp for hyper-local services and events.

Pham likes Nextdoor as a way "to get to know my neighbors a little better," find good local services, and better yet--go beyond police alerts to get neighbors mobilized.

He subscribes to police alerts via the Nixle service, which simply reported the fire and noted dryly that there was something suspicious about it. Pham did some research, and found out what happened. A tire doused with gasoline was thrown on the doorstep in the middle of the night as the family and their three children were sleeping.

"You couldn't get that in a police alert," he says. "This is where Nextdoor really helps."

Through Nextdoor, Pham let people know the details of the story, and folks got into action, using the site to contact local media and get the word out--which they hoped would help the police find the perpetrator. The area TV stations responded quickly.

Science, Inc. co-founder Peter Pham used his smartphone to raise over $27,000 to help victims of a hate crime (Photo: Jefferson Graham)

On Twitter, Pham said he wanted to raise money for a reward to catch the man or woman who did it--and he was turned onto Fundly, a San Francisco crowdfunder which charges 4.9% flat fee for using its services. He could have chosen other, more well-established brands like Kickstarter or fundanything, but a friend recommended Fundly, and he found he could set it up on his phone within minutes, so he was sold.
In two days, he brought in $27,000, with links generated on Nextdoor and Twitter.

Protect online ID with secondary phone number

VENICE BEACH, Calif. - Every day we're being asked to post our phone numbers on websites that are viewable to the public, whether that be for job resumes, Craigslist ads or dating sites.
Greg Cohn has the solution for those who might not like the idea of putting those 10 digits out there to the larger community: use a fake number.

He's the co-founder of Burner, the app that describes itself as a "privacy layer" for your phone. Cohn was my guest recently on the audio edition of #TalkingTech, where we spoke about how apps like Burner can be one of many steps used to protect your online identity.

In the wake of recent attacks against Anthem health insurance, Home Depot, Target and others, "a lot of our data is out there in the world, and it's vulnerable," says Cohn. Folks need to be "aware of what information they're giving out." Like your social security and phone number.

Because so many of us have ditched the landlines, and live now on our cellphones, "we're all consolidated around this one device," says Cohn. "Now everybody is calling us and texting us here all the time, and we need ways to partition that a bit."

Consider Burner as that other number you give out when you don't want to hand out your real one--or be connected forever.

Hence the name "burn." When you're ready, you can "burn" the number and get a new one.

Greg Cohn, co-founder of the Burner app (Photo: Jefferson Graham)

Burner is a free download for Apple and Android devices, and gives you a free phone number to use for a week. That new number can be forwarded to your main number and be set up with voicemail as well.

Burner competes with Google Voice, which offers a secondary phone number for free, and the Line 2 app, which charges $9.99 monthly for a second number.

The costs are incredibly confusing, and based on paying for credits that will give you more time to use the phone. They start at $1.99 for 3 credits, which will get you 20 minutes of talk time over 7 days.

Study: Men Who Take Selfies May Be Psychopaths

Well, I always knew my selfie habit on Snapchat was a bit outside the norm, but if a new study is to be believed, I must be a bit of a psychopath.
According to a new study led by Ohio State University Professor Jesse Fox, men who post a lot of selfies to the web tend to exhibit higher levels of narcissism and psychopathy.

So to all the gym rats posting mirror selfies and the guys behind the wheel in shades giving a "what up" look, you may have a problem.

And it gets worse if men edit their own selfies. The study found that men who edited their photos have higher levels of narcissism and self-objectification. The only good thing is that these men are not necessarily psychopaths, as Fox explains that psychopathy is related to impulsivity. Impulsive people, it's suggested, wouldn't bother waiting to edit their photos.

My only question now is, do Instagram filters count as editing? Because I'm obsessed with X-Pro II.
The study compiled data on 800 male participants between the ages of 18 and 40, all of whom completed an online survey about their selfie-taking habits. They also filled out questionnaires on anti-social behavior and self-objectification.

To be fair, the University explains that while all subjects exhibited higher levels of these traits, they were still all within the range of normal. If you would like to read the study yourself, you can find it in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
While the study is over, Fox isn't done yet. She is looking into whether our online friends encourage us to post more selfies. I just hope at some point she looks into those ridiculous new selfie sticks.

10 Windows Phone Tricks and Settings You Should Know

You feel so excited as you have just received a brand new Windows Phone. You start exploring the phone in almost all the corners. You have already installed many apps which appear on the start screen. You’ve get used to the gestures, and eventually also find some hidden features.
Yet, with all the features that ship in Windows Phone, there’s a chance that you have missed a couple of handy tricks and useful settings to configure and tune up your Windows Phone. So, here are 10 tricks and settings that you should know to get the most out of Windows Phone. Let’s check them out.

Recommended Reading: 10 Things Windows Phones Do Better Than Android Phones

Capitalize and All-Caps Words Quickly

Typing in Windows Phone can be so much faster, if you know this little trick. For example: while typing, you may highlight a word and tap the Shift key to capitalize the first letter. Tap it a second time and it will capitalize the whole word. Holding down the Shift key will turn on the caps-lock mode.

 

Turn Off Navigation Key Vibration

Windows Phone handhelds ship with 3 physically sensitive buttons – namely the back button, the home button (which is depicted with the Windows new logo) and the search button. These buttons will vibrate as you tap. If you feel that the vibration is kind of annoying or you simply want to switch it off for whatever reason, go to Settings > Touch and turn off the Navigation Bar.

 

Action Center Half-view

Windows Phone has finally come with an Action Center that stores app notifications as well as a couple of shortcut settings for quick access. To view the Action Center, swipe your finger from the top edge of the screen down to the bottom. Alternatively, halt your finger at the middle to only view the shortcuts.

 

Configuring the Action Center Shortcut

There are 4 shortcuts present in the Action Center, but a Windows Phone with a wider screen will have 5. Configure the shortcuts with ones that you frequently need most with Settings > Notification+action menu. Tap one of the current shortcuts, and select another on the list as the substitute.

 

Remove All Your notifications In One Swipe

You can remove a notification in the Action Center by swiping your finger from the left to the right of each notification item. But, sometimes you can have heaps of notifications that will tire your fingers out. In that case, use 2 fingers to swipe all of them away in one swift motion.

 

Move and Install Apps to SD Card

One of the best things about a Windows Phone is that the storage capability is upgradable with an SD Card for up to 64GB. You can store files, images, videos, and even apps in the SD Card instead of within the internal storage.
So, if you have an app that takes up a lot of internal storage, it’s better to move it into the SD Card. To do so, go to Settings > Storage Sense. Tap the app+games and select the game. You will find the button to transfer it to the SD Card.
Note: This button will only appear if you have your SD Card installed.

 

Mute the Shutter Sound

When taking a picture or taking a screenshot of the phone, you will hear the shutter sound that is similar to the sound a real camera makes . Did you know that you can turn this sound off? If you don’t want people around you to notice that you are taking pictures, go to the Settings > ringtones+sound and untick the Camera shutter.

 

Assign Nick Name for Cortana

Cortana, though in Beta, is very capable and and up to par with its competitors. Cortana can help you call or text a specific person by calling his/her name. Alternatively, you can also call the nickname. So, instead of call “John Doe”, you may simply tell Cortana to call “Driver” (if he really is so).
Go to the Cortana’s Notebook. Then, select the Inner Circle option and select the the person from the contact list to be assigned for a nickname – you can assign up to 3 nicknames. Cortana’s Notebook is where Cortana learns about you. Therein, aside from the Inner Circle, you can specify your Interest and Favourites as well.

 

Projecting Screen

You can project Windows Screen to a TV or to your PC screen. This can be very useful for creating screencast tutorial and demonstrating Windows Phone in a presentation. To do this, you will have to install Project My Screen. Connect Windows Phone to PC with USB, and start projecting the screen through the Settings > Project My Screen.
Additionally, turn on the Show touch option to show your finger position on the PC screen with a dot.
Note: This is only applicabale in Windows Phone 8.1.

15 Free Android VPN Apps To Surf Anonymously

Everyone is getting more concerned about the issue of Internet security especially when making transactions via mobile. VPN (Virtual Private Network) is technology that enables you to add an extra level of security while you surf the Internet without compromising the privacy of personal data, even whilst using public WiFi networks.
There are many ways to access the region-based blocked content as well but VPN software/apps provide a handy way to do so. For the ease of Android users, I have pooled together 10 of the top free Android VPN Apps along with some bonus apps that may prove to be useful.

Recommended Reading: Send Anonymous Emails: 20 Sites To Keep Your Identity Hidden

1. Hotspot Shield VPN Proxy

With approximately 330 million downloads around the globe, Hotspot Shield is at the top of the list. Apart from traditional features found in any VPN app, it provides banking-level HTTPS encryption to secure the WiFi connection so that the outgoing data can be protected from eavesdroppers. 

 

2. SecureLine VPN

SecureLine VPN is a nice app developed by Avast. They are famous for developing one of the best antiviruses worldwide. The private VPN Tunnel of SecureLine VPN encrypts the data using IPsec protocol which makes it really tough for hackers to snip the data through public WiFi hotspots. The app will perform all this work for you with just a click.

 

3. Spotflux VPN

Spotflux is a VPN app which take cares of the seclusion of data by providing 2 levels of protection and reduces the consumption of bandwidth by compressing data. This makes it a suitable choice for those who are interested in securing their data as well as maximizing the data plan available on their device.

 

4. Hola Free VPN

Hola Free VPN app is mainly for those who are looking for a completely free VPN android App with some striking features. Along with securing data and providing access to geographically blocked content, Hola Free VPN speeds up browsing by selecting and connecting to the nearest and fastest servers automatically from the list of servers located in 190+ countries. 

 

5. Speed VPN

Speed VPN is an app which allows one to connect to the Internet through servers located at multiple geographical locations. It is designed particularly for web browsing by unblocking geographically restricted sites and for viewing low resolution videos. Each session of Speed VPN lasts for 60 minutes and it can be reconnected with a click. 

6. Super VPN

Super VPN is an easy to use Android app with approximately 5 million installs around the globe. It encrypts the traffic to keep the transmitted and received data safe from 3rd party tracking without having to register or configure the settings of the device in a special way. Just a single click will enable you to use the Internet and browse websites anonymously.

 

7. Hideman VPN

The main feature of Hideman VPN is to secure the transmitted data as much as possible and for this purpose the algorithm uses a 256-bit encryption key. This scrambles the original data in such a way that if anyone is monitoring the data they wouldn’t be able to understand it without the key. The app offers 5 free hours per week although premium hours can be earned via in-app ad networks.

 

8. Touch VPN

Touch VPN encrypts data by using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) which maintains a secure and encrypted link between server and client. The app also helps conserve the battery of the device in comparison to other VPN Apps. This makes it great for those who are looking for an app which offers these 2 features.

 

9. Flash VPN Proxy

The Flash VPN Proxy app provides secure and encrypted VPN network to make sure that all your incoming and outgoing data remains intact from hackers and data stealers. The best thing about it is that you can use it smoothly because it offers a decent amount of bandwidth for communication, which is only often offered by premium apps. On top of that, there is no limit to how long you can connect for.

 

10. CyberGhost

CyberGhost is a nice app which provides banking-level security. Usually people have concerns that the apps might access their personal information that’s available on the device, CyberGhost respects the privacy of its users and does not access any personal information. The free version of the app provides access to 23 servers located in 15 countries while the premium version gives access to 300 servers in 23 countries. [

Apple’s post-Beats music service will still come to Android

Ever since Apple acquired Beats for a paltry $3 billion, Beats fans without Apple devices have been wondering whether they'll be left out in the cold on future products and services. It looks like, for the time being, Android fans need not worry.

A report at 9to5Mac suggests that Apple is building a brand-new streaming service based off its Beats acquisition, with apps for both Android and of course iOS. This is a first: Apple is building an in-house Android app.

There are no plans for a Windows Phone app given Microsoft’s paltry market share (though the current Beats service is available on that platform). However, there also won’t be a web app according to the report, so Chromebook users may be out of luck. Apple plans to build the streaming service into iTunes, so you’d still be able to use it from a computer running OS X or Windows.
A key strategy for Apple may be to undercut the competition's pricing. Rumor has it the monthly price of Apple's post-Beats service may be $7.99 per month, $2 cheaper than Spotify, Rdio, and Google Play Music. That could be enough of a discount to make your eyes wander and see what Apple has cooked up.

However, there were no details about what kind of integration would be there if you wanted to bring over a playlist from an existing service. If you’ve spent time building up your collection and playlists with Play Music or another service, it’s not appealing to go through a giant hassle to save a few dollars. Also, Google Play Music has some additional integration with Android, such as through voice commands, that other services don’t get.

The 9to5Mac article claims that the Beats-based service will rely heavily on your iTunes collection for finding new music. You’ll be able to search for any song in Apple’s catalogue and stream it or add to your own iTunes library.

Supposedly, Apple plans to keep its existing iTunes Match, iTunes Radio, and music store offerings as is and just live with the duplication of services.

Why this matters: This will be the first application that Apple builds for Android. CEO Tim Cook has indicated in the past that Apple had “no religious issue” with building an app for Android if it made sense. It certainly does here, as Apple needs its app on Android both for a wider user base and probably to satisfy any existing record company deals negotiated by Beats before it was purchased.

U.S. developers create more sketchy, privacy-shattering apps than anyone else

new report identifies the U.S. as the top developer of malicious and privacy-intruding applications, a finding that contrasts with conventional wisdom that often places the problem squarely in Asia.
Marble Security, which focuses on mobile security, looked at countries with developers that published applications that were either directly malicious, handled data insecurely or posed a potential privacy risk.

The research focused on application marketplaces that are considered the most secure: Google’s Play and Apple’s App Store. Marble also limited its study just to those applications that were not designed for modified devices, thus excluding apps for jailbroken iPhones or rooted Android devices.
More than 42 percent of the dangerous apps came from companies or publishers that identified as being in the U.S., Marble found.

The report said it may be true that Chinese or Russian app developers are responsible for developing most of the malicious applications for tampered devices.

But “it’s a common misconception that the risk of using mobile devices is limited to jailbroken or rooted devices in Asia, and apps that are downloaded from fly-by-night app stores other than the Apple App Store or Google Play,” Marble’s report said.

Marble analyzed applications for a range of sketchy behavior, such as if an app sent data without a user’s knowledge, sent premium rate SMSes, collected a user’s contacts or displayed unwanted advertising.

Applications with intrusive functions can often escape quality control checks by app stores, Marble said. Apple maintains tight control over its App Store to keep the quality of applications high, while Google also checks applications in Play for malicious behavior. But it’s not perfect.
“For example, an app may request access to your contact database, but does not disclose the fact that it uploads your entire contact database to third party servers, perhaps insecurely, and that this data is sold or used to target your contacts who might be colleagues at work,” Marble said.

That could pose problems for enterprises trying to guard sensitive data on employees’ phones.

“Consumers and businesses need to pay close attention to what apps they download on their mobile devices, even if those devices are not jailbroken or rooted,” Marble said.

“Zombie” apps becoming more common in the App Store

Apps that have little to no chance of becoming popular on the App Store are becoming more common. These so-called “zombie” applications have grown over the past year. A new report from Adjust.com has found that zombie apps now make up 83% of the entire App Store, compared to just 74% early last year.

During the period of time between January and December 2014, the App Store as a whole grew in size by 60%. The App Store reached 1.42 million apps by the end of the year but started 2014 with just 890,000 apps. During the same period of time, a large percentage of those apps became hard to find and were guaranteed to never have any sort of success.

As the App Store has grown, new and existing developers have found it more difficult to launch popular apps. “Living” apps are becoming less common now that so many developers are publishing apps that are either not good or have never been seen by enough people.


Some of the issues for developers are also tied to a bad search function in the App Store. Finding apps in the store is difficult, and the search function rarely makes it easy to find less popular software. Of course, it’s not easy to create a good search function when there are nearly 1.5 million apps to scan through.

Vine Kids for iOS Now Available for Download

Vine, the short-video sharing service, has released an exclusive version of its app for kids, called Vine Kids. The new app is now available for download and the official App Store listing notes that the app has been "made for ages 5 and under." The app requires iOS 7.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Vine's Carolyn Penner, Head of Communications and Marketing, in a blog post said, "We've seen for ourselves - and heard from parents, siblings and others - that kids love Vine. So, we built Vine Kids, a simple new app that gives young children a fun way to watch Vines."

The Vine Kids for iOS uses animated characters and the company claims that "kids can watch videos that are appropriate for a young audience." The app has been tailored for kids and includes quirky sounds when the screen is tapped. Swiping right or left will show a new Vine.

Explaining the idea about Vine Kids for iOS, Penner adds, "The idea came about during an office conversation in early January. One of my colleagues was talking about how much his two-year-old daughter loves Vine - he said he wished there was a separate app she could use to more easily watch posts that are appropriate for kids. That week happened to be Hack Week, a time when we get to work on projects outside of our day-to-day work. So two folks teamed up and built exactly that. Here's a Vine of my co-worker's daughter using the app. How can you resist that smile?!"

Last month, Twitter's Vine completed two years since launch and the team shared some interesting statistics about the short-video service.

The company claimed that people watched Vines over 347,186,768,222 loops and also touted that it had only begun counting in April, 2014.

Have your say Microsoft Office, Outlook Hit Mobiles

On Thursday, Microsoft announced the official launch of Office for Android out of "preview" and the launch of Outlook for iOS and Android.

"At Microsoft, we are working hard to reimagine the Office experience for a cloud-first, mobile-first world. On January 21st we previewed versions of Office for Windows 10 fully optimized for touch and mobile devices. Today, we are proud to announce the general availability of Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Android tablets," wrote Microsoft's Kirk Koenigsbauer on the company's Office blog. After three months of "preview," Microsoft Office is now available on iOS and Android tablets with 7 inch screens or larger running Android 4.4 KitKat. The apps can be used on tablets running the latest Android OS - Lollipop - but Microsoft is not officially supporting the OS at this time. The updated apps will be available from Thursday via the Google Play store. The apps are free to download.

In addition to launching the official Android tablet Office suite, Microsoft unveiled mobile versions of its Outlook mail client for Android and iOS devices. The new mobile Outlook is based on Acompli, a startup Microsoft acquired in December of last year. "We founded Acompli with this mission in mind--building the future of mobile email," explained Acompli CEO and co-founder Javier Soltero on the Microsoft Office blog. "Today that mission continues with the launch of Outlook for iOS and Android. We've developed apps that put your mobile email in focus, integrate with your calendar and make attachments much easier to use on the go. Joining forces with Microsoft also gives us the ability to reach over a billion Office users and do much more with the technology, with tighter integration with Office and Outlook, the most popular desktop email app on the planet." The Outlook apps are available for free on the App Store and Google Play store from Thursday.

How To Use PageSpeed Insights To Make Your Site Mobile Friendly?

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that going mobile is the new norm these days. A mobile-friendly site is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. If you're working on making your website mobile-friendly, and haven't heard of PageSpeed Insights, then you know nothing! Google has put together (and now updated) a great tool - PageSpeed Insights - to help developers and webmasters make their pages mobile-friendly, with recommendations on mobile usability, and more.

It is the goal of any webmaster to optimize their website so as to minimize its loading time. A fast-loading page goes a long way in improving your website's user experience. But suppose you manage a very fast ~1 second load time for your website. If that comes at the cost of usability, then it's really not an improvement.

For example, a user might need to zoom out, or scroll down quite a bit in order to read the content on your site. The time wasted between the page loading, and up until the moment the user can start interacting with your website counts as much as the initial loading time. Well, this is where the PageSpeed Insights come in.

 

 

The PageSpeed Insights Tool provides valuable information regarding your website, and how you can optimize it for better effect. It's new user-experience rules can help you find and fix the usability issues found on your website.

Usability recommendations

Google has recently updated the tool with some new recommendations, a summary of which is given below.

1. Viewport

Without a meta-viewport tag, modern mobile browsers will assume your page is not mobile-friendly, and will fall back to a desktop viewport and possibly apply font-boosting, interfering with your intended page layout. Configuring the viewport to width=device-width should be your first step in mobilizing your site. (More on the topic coming up, so stay tuned!)

Size content to the viewport: Users expect mobile sites to scroll vertically, not horizontally. Once you've configured your viewport, make sure your page content fits the width of that viewport, keeping in mind that not all mobile devices are the same width.

2. Font sizes

Use legible font sizes: If users have to zoom in just to be able read your article text on their smartphone screen, then your site isn't mobile-friendly. PageSpeed Insights checks that your site’s text is large enough for most users to read comfortably.

3. Scale objects

Size tap targets appropriately: Nothing’s more frustrating than trying to tap a button or link on a phone or tablet touchscreen, and accidentally hitting the wrong one because your finger pad is much bigger than a desktop mouse cursor. Make sure that your mobile site’s touchscreen tap targets are large enough to press easily.

4. Avoid third-party plugins

Avoid plugins: Most smartphones don’t support Flash or other browser plugins, so make sure your mobile site doesn't rely on plugins.

You can read more about these rules in Google help sections. If you have questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below. Also, we'll be covering some of these topics in detail, such as the viewport settings. So stay tuned :)

Orange extends post-paid plan to all mobile subscribers

In May last year, Orange launched Biashara Talk, a post-paid service targeted at Small office Home office  (SoHo)customers and small businesses. Biashara Talk monthly bundles ranged from KES 1,000, to KES 10,000, all with 30-day validity periods.

In response to what the firm calls a stronger market demand, Orange has today extended the post-paid plan to all its Orange Mobile subscribers. Dubbed Orange Ongea, subscribers will choose the KSh1,000 or KSh3,000 monthly options to access Orange Mobile voice and data services.
“Our offering is one of the best in the market, taking into consideration our very competitive on-net and off-net call and SMS rates,” company CEO Vincent Lobry said.

The Orange Ongea Plan 1,000 will require a subscriber to place a deposit of KSh2,000 upon registration, while the Orange Ongea Plan 3,000 will see the subscriber place a KSh6,000 deposit. On-net and off-net calls will be charged at KSh2 and KSh3 respectively, while on-net and off-net SMS will be charged at KSh0.5 and KSh1 respectively. Data per MB will cost KSh 3 on the 1,000 Plan and KSh2 on the 3,000 Plan. Calls and SMS to international destinations are also included in the bundle.  A customer will automatically be converted to the pre-paid offer once they exhaust their bundle and will be required to top-up to continue enjoying Orange Services.

“Orange continues to better its product and service offering to its customers as we continue with our customer acquisition and retention strategy,” says Lobry.

This move is aimed at helping Orange retain its customers, acquire more and even grow its market share asthe local telco market gets competitive with Equitel. Safaricom which had plans to discontinue its post-paid bundles recently made a u-turn to maintain the loss-making option to match its competitors offerings

According to the recent Communications Authority of Kenya’s Quarterly Sector Statistics Report, Orange’s growth strategy on market share is indeed working, making it one of the two telcos to record continuous growth. During the three-month period under review, Orange grew its market share to 9.2%, up from 8.3% recorded in the previous quarter.


“We remain committed to strengthening our business and these statistics confirm that we are moving in the right direction and most importantly that our strategic approach is indeed working,” adds Lobry.

Lost your Phone? You Can Still Retrieve its IMEI Number

Your mobile phone has a globally unique number associated with it, called the IMEI number, that uniquely identifies your device within the mobile network. If your phone gets lost or is stolen, you would need to provide this IMEI number to the law enforcement agencies and the telecom operator for them to blacklist your device and prevent anyone else from using your phone on their wireless network.

As you probably know, it is relatively easy to find the IMEI number of your mobile phone. While there are apps that will help you retrieve this number with a tap, you don’t really need one. Just open the phone dialer, call *#06# and the IMEI number will be displayed on the phone’s screen. Alternatively, you can open device Settings – About Phone – Status and long-press the IMEI number to copy it to the clipboard.
If you have however lost your phone but did not record the IMEI number beforehand, you can still retrieve the number from your Google Account.



Just go to google.com/settings, sign-in with your Google account and expand the Android tab. Here you will 
 see of all Android devices that are connected to your Google Account and it will list the IMEI number of your phone as well.
In the case of iPhone, the IMEI number is printed on the box itself. And if nothing works, trace the phone’s receipt – the vendor may have written the IMEI number o the phone on it at the time of sale.