Gadgetoxic – Toxify your tech life

Smartphones , Tablets , Computers , laptop and news on every other gadget

I love a good survey. Even the dumb ones like, 1 in 3 people use their tablets in the bathroom. Or how about, more people use Android on the toilet than iPhone users. Absolutely absurd questions with some of the craziest outcomes. One of the more recent surveys taken was performed in Canada by Rogers and Angus Reid. They survey 1,403 random Canadians that owned a smartphone and/or tablet and asked them a variety of questions. They intention was to see if people passions for gadgets and social media hurt the ‘human interaction’ or improved it. The results are pretty crazy-

- 25% say the use of technology to stay connected keeps their relationship exciting
- Quebecers were the highest with 31% agreeing with the above statement
- 18-24 year olds spend 2.5 hours/day using tech to communicate to their boyfriend/girlfriend
- 48% of those surveyed have been asked out over the phone
- 18% of those surveyed admitted to being dumped over the phone
- 31% of 18-24 year olds surveyed said they’ve been asked out via a social networking (Facebook)
- 60% of 25-34 year olds surveyed have been asked out over the phone
- 27% of 18-24 year olds think it is fine to ask someone out on a first date through a text message
- 40% of 18-24 year olds say they’ve been asked out in a text message
- 12% of those surveyed have been dumped via text message

Looks like social outlets and hiding be hind your device is the new way to meet people and hook up. Does anyone else find our lack of personal , face-to-face, interaction a little disturbing? What is your answer? Have you asked out some one or been dumped via social media or text? Is this the ‘new thing’ to do. Whatever happened to chivalry and common courtesy?

Via MobileSyrup

Tired of applications just asserting themselves into your personal information?

We have seen so many instances where applications from the App Store have taken our information from our iPhone and just snatched it like it was their own. One of the most recent instances was with the popular social networking application Path, which as we

The popular and elegant mobile social networking app, Path, has come under heavy criticism after developer Arun Thampi discovered that the app uploads users’ address books to its servers without asking for permission. The whole ordeal was discovered by Thampi when he encountered the back-end feature while attempting to hack the application to run on the Mac OS X. After he went public with the news, it sparked quite a bit of backlash from users who viewed the address book upload as a violation of their privacy.

The Path CEO, Dave Morin, quickly responded to Thampi by clarifying that the upload was

It’s an election year, and what better way to get into the spirit of American politics by downloading a social media voting app and becoming the First America’s Social President? Form your party, recruit people to join, write your program and you platform, even get campaign buttons and hire a media director. The app is free to download and free to play, with some paid-for enhancements available for those who don’t mind spending real money on a fake campaign.

How It Works

Being a social networking app, VoteMe is primarily powered by Facebook. You will need to grant some permissions to the app, though not all of the permission requests are required (for instance, you can decline permission for the app to access your Facebook information while you’re not using VoteMe). Once you’ve started the app, you need to start your campaign by entering all of the details. You earn points through various means, like by joining other parties, getting others to join yours, and even by paying for some big-ticket items that will garner you hundreds of points in one go.

You can buy 20 “Team Player” and “Thank You” buttons to give out to your followers, encouraging them to do more and propping up your own campaign. For a little more you can also start a promoted cell or hire a media director, both of which get you tons of points.

The winner of this virtual social campaign will be announced on November 6, 2012, naturally. You can follow the progress on the app’s home screen, by tapping on the “Social Candidate” icon. The other shortcuts on the home screen let you inspect your profile, directly access promotional links, follow others’ updates on a social feed, and even follow the real candidates’ in the general election.

Pros And Cons

VoteMe is fun and social, sort of a subset of Facebook with a political campaign skin on the interface. It’s as if someone has taken the idea of Facebook and actually attached a point value to all of the things you can do… well, it’s actually exactly like that, because that’s what they’ve done. I’m surprised nobody though of this before.

The overall experience is well designed, with great graphics and a responsive interface. There is quite a bit of depth to the game, so much so that at times I really had no idea why I was doing what I was doing, but I still kept doing it! It’s a fun way to game your Facebook experience, and the possibility of there being a “winner” only adds to the excitement.

Overall

VoteMe is a fun and engaging social media game, that brings you and your friends together, along with the rest of the country, in a contest to become “president” of the… social media world, I guess? It’s good fun, free if you want it to be, and worth a quick download to see if you can become leader of the free world.

Winner of 2011 HSBC Youth Business Award!
Welcome our 1,000,000th Tapatalk user!

The best selling forum app just gets better with tons of great features! Check out our user reviews to see why we are endorsed by over 25000 online communities worldwide!

**Over 25,000 forums support Tapatalk!**
**300 forums added every week!!**

Tapatalk is the top forum app that allows you to connect to thousands of internet forums with ability to access private messages and upload images.

“It’s one of those applications that you didn’t know you needed until you had it and then you couldn’t do without it!”

Top 5 Social Networking app worldwide!

Get a fast, cost-efficient forum browsing experience using the app built-in data compression to save data and increase speed.

** Tapatalk works with vBulletin, phpBB, IPBoard, Simple Machine Forums, xenForo, MyBB, Kunena and WBB forum system, covering 99% of forum systems worldwide

** Forum Owner need to activate Tapatalk support in his forum before members can access it. It’s free for forum owners to activate Tapatalk **

Key Features differentiating from other forum apps:
- Super quick photo upload
- Facebook Integration
- Customizable signature
- Save images posted in forum to your Photo Album
- Multiple forum systems support means your single purchase will likely usable in more than one forum you frequent
- Multiple Account Support – easily switch identity in the same forum!
- Full screen image viewing support
- Private Messaging support
- And a lot more!

==================================
Here are what the users say about Tapatalk:

“The Tapatalk solution was installed after members wanted a better browsing experience on their iPhones than using Safari could offer. It has proven to be a valuable tool for the members of Ausphotography and they access the site from anywhere at anytime. Members love the ease of use and the full integration with the forums that Tapatalk offers them when they access the site from their iPhones.” – Owner, Ausphotography Forum

“Worth it alone for the super quick load times especially as being out in the sticks from time to time means I am lucky to see edge speeds let alone 3G. Makes the forum useable at any connection speed.” Rich @ Peugeot Sport

Lostviking @ MyPolitics-Forum”Sometimes it is even faster than using my Macbook!”

“definitely worth the money especially if you want to check if you’ve got messages or keep an eye on the for sale section when you dont have access to a computer. much better than viewing on safari!!” robvts20 @ Saxexperience

Tested under iOS 5.
ZenNotes keeps you in constant touch with friends and colleagues.
First native application type “Contacts Centric” for iPhone, iPod touch, and compatible iPad, ZenNotes includes all of your Contacts, Calendars, email, enterprise directory, enterprise instant messaging and social networking.
Available in different languages, ZenNotes is customizable through of different themes including one by a photograph of your choice.
The documentation is accessible from our website: www.clo-team.fr

This application is available in English, German, Chinese, Spanish, French, Italian, Hungarian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Czech and Turkish.

Requirements:
iOS 4 minimum and WiFi
In Lotus Notes® 8.5 minimum with the option Traveller for email
An account Notes Address Book® for the enterprise directory
An account for Sametime® for instant messaging®
An account Twitter® for Tweet
WiFi Intranet and /or VPN to access Enterprise resources.

Contacts centric, ZenNotes is an awesome application for anyone looking to stay in contact with their relation.
This is the first native application that includes all the following features:

•Email:
Access your email from Lotus® Notes® company without any additional software. Requires a WiFi access enterprise or VPN certificate.
Save, reply, send, forward or delete an email.

Sorting your email: Urgent, Normal and Calendar or date of arrival.

•Calendars:
Includes a view daily, weekly and monthly.
Taking into account the regional format.
Create, edit or delete event:
Title (Quickly create a list of as programmable),
Start and end time
Full day,
Location,
Alert,
Recurrence,
List of participants.
Synchronize with your Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or your account Outlook®.
Color representation corresponding to the imported calendar.

•Contacts:
Add a business contact from the corporate directory
Synchronize with your Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or your account Outlook.
Your contact you have access to:
Personal or office phone number,
Personal or office mobile iPhone,
Personal or office email address ,
Tweet
And view its location from its address.

Option to sort by name, group and birthday.
Sending an email, SMS or telephone.
View the address of your contact.

•Enterprise directory:
Connection to the server Notes Address Book of your business, without any additional software. Requires a WiFi access enterprise or VPN certificate.
Display the following information when available:
Last name,
First name,
Job title,
Employee number,
Department,
Chain management,
Email address,
Phone number,
Mobile phone number,
Countries.

•Instant Messaging:
Connection to the server Sametime of your business, without any additional software. Requires a WiFi access enterprise VPN or certificate.

•Tweet:
Requires a Twitter account.
Sending a tweet.
Access to the list public.
Search by person or tweet.
Reply or send tweet.
Access to your profile.

•Configuration:
ZenNotes customize the application to your liking with various themes:
Zen,
USA,
Romantic,
Metal,
Rock,
Aqua,
Wood,
Black and White and Perso.
The theme Custom “to choose a personal photograph of your film iPhone.
The option will allow you to customize settings as desired: language, theme, security, VPN certificate, accounts, servers, Enterprise Address Book, Enterprise Instant Messaging…

•Synchronization:
Allows you to trigger a synchronization of modules selected.

•Feedback:
Feel free to send us your suggestions, remarks and comments about ZenNotes. We rely on them to improve our product to better satisfy you.

Kobo Vox is a very interesting e-reader device that has been launched by Kobo. It is suitable for many different user types and it will integrate different communication, web browsing and social networking features in an e-reader. This is a device that is similar to others on the market in the sense that all the basic functions that you expect are going to be included. You can easily read electronic books without having to use a PC and the favorite book can be read wherever you go.

Kobo Vox will offer a color screen and this is one feature that has been demanded by different e-readers. The screen will allow you to read eBooks with ease and the same goes for any other document that includes pictures and color graphics. Even if this is a new device, it does not actually have something that is truly revolutionary. It is hard to do this anyway since basic functions is all that most people use.

One of the biggest advantages of Kobo Vox is the fact that it uses Android as an operating system. At the moment the device is marketed as a social e-reader and it is the first one on the market from this point of view. It will feature different unique apps that will make sharing info with other people a lot easier. Users can easily connect with different social networks like Twitter and Facebook by simply clicking a button. It is really easy to comment on books online thanks to some applications.

It can be said that the social features of Kobo Vox is what makes the device really interesting. Many users will appreciate this since you can communicate with other people and you can spot recommendations made. The truth is that all the different applications that can be included will transform the device into a tablet PC and not necessarily an e-reader. However, this is what people really want to see at the moment and there is a growing trend in including as many apps as possible and Internet applications will always be popular together with social networking applications.

The bottom line is that Kobo Vox is a useful e-reader that you might want to seriously look at. It offers all that you need when referring to eBook reading and you will definitely appreciate the additions that were mentioned above. Keep in mind that buying online will bring in a better price tag.

No related Apps

With the newspapers full of accounts to do with how children keep indulging in lurid messaging (that they call sexting) and bullying each other over the Internet, parents are completely worried.

What kind of Internet protection for kids is out there that can help them keep track and keep an eye on everything? How do they protect their children from making these kinds of mistakes and from being victims too?

This kind of parental software is quite new. And already, one out of two children has seen software of some kind sent after him that keeps tabs on his activities online. And it’s a growing market too. Only about three years ago, barely 15% of parents did this.

Of course, we’ve always had parental supervision software to keep an eye on our children’s activities on the computer. These days though, the home computer is old news. It’s the iPad and the smartphone that the young do all of their online work on – on Facebook and everything else.

Internet protection for kids though, doesn’t come cheap. It can cost as much as $80 a year. And for that, there is a lot they promise to do.

They’ll completely keep abreast of everything your child posts online and everything that shows up on your child’s social networking pages.

The surprising thing though is that it doesn’t matter where a child goes to access his social network – even a friend’s house. The software is completely able to keep track of everything.

The good thing is that these programs don’t attempt to spy on your child. In most cases, they work with your child’s permission and full knowledge.

These programs, by companies like Trend Micro and Symantec, want to make it clear to children that they truly are at risk and they need their parents help staying safe.

It’s so easy for children to do what the next child is doing – send graphic messages that they’ll regret one day or participate in bullying that they might get expelled for. The more you pay for these services, the more control you typically get.

Trend Micro’s $50-a-year offering will keep an eye out on all the imagery that goes in and out of your child’s online accounts and they will even keep an eye out for unpleasant keywords search for. Zone Alarm’s product costs $20 a year, and it will keep an eye on your child’s Facebook account for you. They will let you block unsafe chat rooms and do a number of other things.

If you know your tech really well, you can easily access a few free online resources to put together your own Internet protection for kids from sources such as Minor Monitor as well.

Parental Control and Internet Protection for Kids Today is a post from: Computer Spot

Incoming search terms:

• minormonitor (1)

Ever wondered about who thought of the term “con artist” to describe someone who is obviously just a thief? Well, they also call them social engineers.

It’s for reason of course – it’s quite an art how they use their understanding of human nature to manipulate people and get them to do exactly as they wish.

This kind of social engineering in pursuit of fraud is particularly useful in the era of social networking. It helps hackers really get a Facebook virus in and about.

A very popular thing for makers of Facebook virus and malware examples to do to spread their evil, often, is to hack into a person’s account, gain control of it, and then to chat over Facebook to his closest friends with some dishonest plan in mind.

They think of some kind of sob story about how they are far from home, have been robbed and need some money. The person who receives this message will believe that since it comes from his friend’s Facebook account, it has to be genuine.

Here’s the perfect example for why they call this “social engineering”. Facebook has thousands and thousands of Facebook applications. They are made for all kinds of interests. People download them to add to the fun of it all.

Facebook doesn’t scrutinize or approve most of those apps that are on offer. Facebook’s app list is more like the Google Apps Marketplace than like the iTunes App Store in this way.

So when you download and install a Facebook app, you have no idea what it is – it could be a Facebook virus, for all you know. In many cases, it actually is.

And even if you don’t download an actual Facebook virus posing as an app, you could be downloading something programmed by some school kid who won’t be careful with the access he has to your personal information. You can get robbed that way.

What do you do when you find an app that says something irresistible like, “Find out about which of your friends is about to break up in the next 20 min”? Can you really resist? That’s social engineering for you.

There are many more tricks they have up their sleeve. For instance, how about a message you might get that says, “Here’s a great new video about you”.

Who could resist this?  Even if you receive this from a friend, there is no way you could know if your friend really sent this – or if a hacker gained access to your friend’s account. Almost always, this is a virus.

The Ways a Facebook Virus can Spread is a post from: Computer Spot

Scarborough, United Kingdom – JAS Applications today is proud to announce the release of version 1.0 of their new iPhone and iPod touch App ‘ImageTweet’. ImageTweet is a fantastic new App to let you share images to your Twitter friends and followers. With the sleek, easy to use interface you can easily choose any image from your device’s photo library or simply use your device’s camera to take an image there and then. You can also add a caption for the image and then with you one click you can upload to your Twitter account.

Simply run ImageTweet and then select the image you would like to tweet from your device’s photo library or camera. Then simply press the ‘tweet’ button and add a caption to the image. You can even add your current location so Twitter followers can see where the image was posted from! Then press ‘send’ and the image will be posted to Twitter. With ImageTweet, you can easily tell the world about your current mood with your photography life!

Main Features:
* Tweet any image to Twitter.
* Select the image from your device’s photo library or camera
* Sleek, easy to use interface
* Add Captions to images
* Add GPS Location to images

Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch
* Requires iOS 5.0 or later
* 2.0 MB

Pricing and Availability:
ImageTweet 1.0 is 0.69 GDP ($0.99 USD) (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and is available exclusively for iOS on the App Store in the Social Networking category. Please enjoy the App and email us with any questions or problems.

JAS Applications
ImageTweet 1.0
Purchase and Download
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3

JAS Applications headed by 16 Year Old James Shaw creates useful, intuitive Apps for iOS Devices. Our aim how we can develop amazing Apps to make the experience of for the consumer as pleasant and fun as we can. Copyright (C) 2011 JAS Applications. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Ogden, Utah – Avikey Software, LLC is announcing today that iOS free app PhoneTree Messenger, a simple tool to simultaneously deliver emails, text messages, and phone calls to a large group of people, will now go by the name Caller101. The new name is shorter and is believed to be more recognizable and memorable for users. The changes apply for the app name only while the app icon and design remain consistent after the name change.

Caller101 strives to facilitate the way iOS users communicate with large groups of people using Simple Broadcast, Confirmed Delivery and Survey modes. The app includes powerful features, such as the ability to import large contact lists directly from Excel, the ability to specify the start time of a message broadcast, and promises smoother user experience. Caller101 is great for casual use, but powerful features make it a serious tool for business users and marketing groups as well.

“The name change should help make our fantastic product more recognizable and easier to remember. Given that this is the only app of its kind in the app store, we’re excited about the improvement.” – Gary Shellabarger, co-founder of Avikey Software.

Device requirements
* Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
* Requires iOS 4.0 or later
* 2.0 MB

Pricing and availability
Caller101 (v5.0) is free and available worldwide, exclusively through the App Store in the Social Networking category.

Avikey Software
Caller101 (v5.0)
Screenshot
App Icon

Headquartered in Utah, Avikey Software, LLC is a leading provider of mobile applications for iPhone, Blackberry, and Android. Avikey creates applications for the public market as well as solutions for major corporations and non-profit organizations. Avikey’s team of dedicated, full-time employees is well known for providing quality, innovative, and professional business applications. Copyright (C) 2011 Avikey Software, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Tel Aviv, Israel – A little over a year ago, Facebook introduced Places, their location-based offering which was set to go head-to-head with Foursquare. Fast forward to today. In a significant turn of events, Facebook made a switch from “checking-in” to sharing nearby places and more recently the purchase of GoWalla. But knowing where you are, is one thing, knowing how to get to where your friends are, is another. That’s where the Friends Map for Facebook iPhone app comes in.

Friends Map for Facebook takes a cool approach to maps, by letting you see your Facebook friends directly on a map, share your location, search for places around you, check-in to them as well as share a Facebook status update with a link to your location on a map.

Developers should also take note, AtlasCT, the developers of Friends Map for Facebook have said that they will be opening the API that will allow any developer to embed friends map and allow location sharing in their mobile or web apps. A perfect example of this is the Friends Map HTML5 page which works on any smartphone, accessible by pointing the mobile browser to friendsmap.me.

Notable Features Include:
Facebook Friends Map: See where all your Facebook friends are on a map.
Share Your Location: 1-Click and your Facebook friends will see you on a map.
Search Nearby Places: Find the nearest restaurants, cafe, hot nightlife and more.
Check in: Let your Facebook friends know that you’ve arrived at a certain location.

Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
* Requires iOS 4.2 or later
* 5 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Friends Map for Facebook 1.2.7 is only free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Social Networking category.

Friends Map for Facebook 1.2.7
Download from iTunes
Screenshot 1
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App Icon

Friends Map for Facebook is a product of AtlasCT Ltd. (1987) a global provider of APIs and Applications in the fields of maps and location-based services. The provider of mobile and web maps for Nokia, Yellow Pages, Dun Bradstreet and many more. Copyright (C) 2011 Friends Map for Facebook. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Chappaqua, New York/Atlanta, Georgia – The total number of individual mobile apps in the marketplace is approaching a major milestone, hitting the 1 million mark within the next week, according to Mobilewalla, the search, discovery and analytics engine that tracks apps in real time.

Today the app count rose to 987,863 across all 4 platforms; an average of 2,000 apps enter the marketplace each day (with numbers higher at end of year for holiday rush). In the last 12 months, Apple apps grew from 338,000 to 589,148. Similarly Android apps went from 115,000 to 319,774.

Here is the breakdown:
Platform – Total – Percentage of Total
Apple – 590,138 – 59.95%
Android – 320,315 – 32.54%
Blackberry – 43,544 – 4.42%
Windows – 35,479 – 3.60%

Across all platforms, the top categories of apps are: Entertainment 16.68%, Games 13.36%, Books 10.21%, Lifestyle 8.02%, Utilities 7.13%, Education 7.08%, Travel 4.84%, Business 3.76%, Reference 3.73%, Music 3.32%, Health & Fitness 3.28%, Productivity 3.09%, Sports 2.92%, News 2.85%, and Social Networking 2.71%.

“This is truly an astonishing accomplishment that cannot be ignored,” says Anindya Datta, the founder and executive chairman of Mobilewalla. “The growth of apps is the fastest growing consumer segment in the history of commerce. The app race began in July, 2008 when the iTunes App store opened and Google followed with the launch of the Android operating system in October, 2008. Recently, app marketplaces have been launched for the Blackberry RIM and Microsoft Windows Phone platforms.”

“In the early days most of the initial apps were “fun, indie” apps, such as the Doodle Jump game, one of the first mass-market apps to gain viral popularity and paved the entryway for other mass successes like Angry Birds,” says Datta. “As app usage skyrocketed, the nature of the app ecosystem changed quickly – new apps were designed to improve our lives, disseminate news, weather and even crop data in places like rural India.”

Mobilewalla
App Count By Platform (Updated Daily)

Mobilewalla is a deep search and discovery and analytics engine incorporating breakthrough technology to help consumers, developers and advertisers navigate the highly fragmented mobile application marketplace. Mobilewalla offers a real-time rating and raking system for every app in every category available in Apple, Android, Blackberry and Windows, plus a ratings system for the developers who write these apps. For more information, visit Mobilewalla online or download the free app in the Apple or Android stores. Please follow us on Twitter at #millionmobileapps. Copyright (C) 2011 Mobilewalla. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Do you share a computer with your child? If yes, you will need some additional steps to safeguard your data and also to protect your child’s experience on the computer.

This article will share some important computer security tips that can help you.

1. You set some rules for your child what he/she is allowed to do on the computer.
2. Installing security software such as firewall and anti virus software. You must keep them up to date.
3. Set up parental controls. It’s our duty as parent to control our child using a computer. In windows 7 there is a feature how to limit your kids computer use. Here is the reference how to set up parental controls on windows 7, http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Set-up-Parental-Controls
4. Take advantage of login and user management systems
5. You should use tools that can monitor their activity. Monitoring your child using a computer is a good way to protect them.
6. Be accessible to your child in case of questions and concerns.
7. Warn your child of dangers associated with social networking and chatting.
8. You must back up your important data. There are many ways to backup your data. You can use external hard disk, flash disk, etc.

It is very important to not only properly secure your computer, but also to keep your child safe, if you are sharing your computer with your child. Use the tips in this article to keep them both safe.

Safety Way to Share Your Computer With A Child is a post from: Computer Spot

Going into your applications to get rid of badges can be cumbersome.

Today we are reviewing BadgeClear, a genius tweak by John Heaton that allows you to get rid of those annoying icon badges that plague all of your social networking apps and other applications that support push notifications. BadgeClear was released a while back but it comes with a very cool update today. As shown in the image above, you can put your iDevice into jiggle mode and tap on the app icon’s badge to pull up a window asking you if