PERSONAL/GADGET/APP SPECIAL...Start App - Shoot

Start App  Shoot

Bring out the filmmaker in you and record videos with special effects

The makers of the popular Camera360 for Android and iPhone now have a most enjoyable movie-taking app. For informal, fun videos, of course, though you can go up to a whole two-hour recording. Movie360: My Movies My Life! for the iOS makes shooting a movie a supremely easy job. Tap to start, tap to stop, etc. But the unique thing here is a bunch of Instagram-like filters you can use live. There are nostalgic and lomo filters, funky ones and arty ones that give a painting-like look to the film. The best is, you can change effects on the fly. And you can pause and pick up. There are three quality levels, high, medium and low, and you can go up to 960P recordings. To get the recordings off your device, you can send it off to your computer via wi-fi after you get a link to do so from the app. Or you can save it to your camera roll and do what you like from there. The app is priced at $4.99.

The App Killer

Considered standard fare for an Android phone, Advanced Task Killer is an app that shuts down apps starting up and running in the background on your device. Why are these running in the first place? Well, how else will they give you updated info all the time? What would be the point of an always-on phone if you had to tap apps and wait for them to inform themselves and you? But the trade-off is that you get poor battery life, so much so, that when you want to make a phone call — which is after all something a phone is still supposed to do — you find no battery juice  left for the job! The theory is that a task killer will end up saving you battery life because it keeps shutting down apps that work in the background. Try Advanced Task Killer (free) from the Google Play Store or Pro for no ads. When you download the app, you can see a list and check off which ones you want to kill. The developer recommends you manually kill apps but you can try both auto and manual ways.  

Touch To Time

Really meant to teach kids with special needs all about time, the Timer+Touch HD app is rather handy if you often need to quickly time a task. Free at the time of writing, this app for the iPad may cost you but looks too simple and straightforward to be costing anything. All the same, its simplicity is its attractiveness. No settings or dialogue boxes to fiddle with, just sweep your finger across the face of the clock to set the amount of time you want. If you sweep through an entire 60 minutes, the colour on the clock will change to indicate minutes above one hour. There’s a bunch of alarms to choose from. 

See-through Screen

Head to the Google Play store on your Android phone and download Transparent Screen for free. Watch that you don’t pick up any others with similar names. Open the app and choose your settings and press the Stop and Start button to activate the feature. And then press the home button to go to the rest of the phone without exiting the app. Get a good surprise as you now see your phone turn transparent. Open any app and you’ll find you can see through it. While this looks startling and makes for a good party trick, it’s actual use is meant to be for texting without falling into a pond or bumping smack into someone, or well, falling off the stairs. Depending on          how good your eyesight is, what font settings you have and the transparency level you’ve chosen, you can text while still seeing what’s in front of you.  

Record Your Screen

Display Recorder for the iPhone, iPod and 

iPad used to be available only for “jailbroken” devices. That means only for those who took control of their devices outside of Apple’s App Store and updates to install whatever else they wanted. Now, this little app is on the App Store legally and costs $9.99. It lets you record whatever you’re doing on your screen — along with your voice. You can put that to whatever creative use you like. Demonstrate something on the iPad or show a bunch of your photos and add a commentary. You could even go to a website — say your own company’s — and talk about something to do with it. What you do is to start the app, press the button to record, and get out of it. The red bar on the top of the screen shows that you are in recording mode. You then start up whatever other application you want to show and talk. The screen, with all its movements, and your voice, will be recorded in an mp4 clip. You can then share or use this clip anyway you like. But the annoying thing is the recording shows the exit and entry to the recording app. Not very elegant. 

Magnify To Read

Free on the Google Play store is an app called Ultra Magnifier. Put it on your home screen for quick access and touch it when you need to read something in really small text. Such as those notoriously difficult-to-read medicine bottles. Or a manual or some fineprint designed to be glossed over. A slider lets you control the quantum of zoom. You can take a picture of the screen with the in-app camera button. There’s even a dedicated auto focus button so you can read more clearly. And should you need light, another button lights up the flash to make it a flashlight or beam.

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