First Impression: Google's Chrome Cast

Incredible, I have waiting for Google class product(s) that will make a regular HDMI capable TV into something more than just a "dumb" TV, and here we are. As I have predicted in January, an Android thumb size internet TV enabler will be the game changer, it has. Although the China's Android mini PC didn't hit the mark due to over heating and easily bricked component, like the picture below, their development continues to quad-core class processor.



Now, mid 2013, Google finally release the new Chrome Cast. Of course, Google starts the basic with WiFi based connection and streaming from your devices: smartphones, tablets, or PCs, as long as you have Google Chrome, that means iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Linux, Ms Windows, but no BlackBerry). The connector is HDMI so it is universal, giving the stream a HD capable presentation, limited only by your WiFi bandwidth.



Is Google too late? Yes and no. Yes because Apple has thrown out their Apple TV, Samsung has perfected their AllShare Dlna connectivity, Sony has improved their cross smartphones/tablets to TV sharing using WiFi in combination with NFC, and China's produces Android microPC like chocolate bars to push regular HDMI capable TV into Internet Smart TV. No because Google needed the time to perfected the micro system of connectivity and usability. With the new improvement that Sony has released few months ago, Google finally has the methodology of easy connection and streaming quality multimedia from Chrome enabled devices to TV.

Is it great? Not yet. It still needs time to develop further with services and stability. Google didn't joke around and dump power supporters into Chrome Cast.



These included features (Netflix and all Google products/services like YouTube, Music, etc) are the one that will drive new generations to buy this product. Of course $35 a pop is certainly an Apple TV killer on the loose.

Here are the nagging question: why don't Chrome Cast has a mini/micro SIM card slot to enable independent connectivity? The answer lies on whether or not you want to carry around your HDMI capable TV? Obvious, isn't it?

My nagging question is, why not propose Chrome Cast to HBO Networks, Fox, Warners, and others alike as the subscription tool? Here goes the death of TV Cable and the rise of Broadband and WiMax providers.

Of course, these all are predictions and still to be seen in the future. Why not share your comment and we'll discuss this further.

Review: Tubemate - YouTube Video/Music Downloader

You like a video or a music video on YouTube and you want to keep it? In Windows or Mac OS, it's easy, tons of YouTube downloader exists, most for free. How about for Android?

Yes, there are. One in particular I found stand out better above the rest: Tubemate.

You can not download Tubemate from Play Store because it is not a Google approved application, and you need to set your Android device to be able to install apps from third party source first. The way you can down load Tubemate is to go to www.google.com and search for Tubemate. Download then install it. Easy.

Tubemate basically functions as alternative app to access YouTube mobile website.





See the green arrow at the bottom of the screen, press the button and you will be able to download the opened video from YouTube.

The advantages:
- easy 1 touch download
- high speed dowanloader
- choose the video resolution size to download, the bigger the resolution the clearer the video but larger size
- you can pause downloads, resume whenever you want
- directly convert the video into MP3 (128kbps MP3 quality)
- can access non-mobile videos
- if you sign in to Google in YouTube, your subscription is accessible
- you can share your video

The disadvantages:
- battery hog
- internet quota hog
- tends to block other apps' internet access when downloading at lower Internet speed
- MP3 at lower quality conversion
- video downloads are only in MP4 and FLV formats

Why not try Tubemate if you want to safe locally any YouTube video. Easy to use and versatile.

Review: tTorrent

Torrent? Well, like Windows system, Android also has torrent downloading apps to be used.

I found among all the existing torrent app in Play Store, tTorrent to be the best app available, and apparently the first to include search and download features in a single app.



If you search the Play Store for torrent, you will find tTorrent at the top 5 in most countries. In the screen shot, it is number 3.

tTorrent advantages:
- built in search (you will be ask to download search engine at first search, download it)
- it connects to several popular torrent servers: bitsnoop, isohunt, pirate bay, limetorrent, extratorrent, etc.
- free version can have at max 250 kBps download speed
- you can set tTorrent a certain number of download torrent simultaneously, remember 250 kBps is split to the number simultaneous torrent download actively running
- limit upload speed, by default it has unlimited speed but you can set it to specific speed at min 5 kBps
- can be set to shutdown after download completed
- good news, Windows' viruses don't work on Android
- automatic saving at stop point should the internet connection got cut off, whether it is caused by power drain or just broken connection
- share magnetic link
- easy access with torrent file

Disadvantages:
- battery hog
- tends to overheat the smartphones
- beware of virus, malware and spyware (not all anti virus can detect them)
- beware of fake files
- if you use quota based internet, it will drain your quota like a gold-digger

Why use tTorrent?
- to sample music before you purchase the CD/DVD
- to sample movies before you buy the collectible version
- to sample software before buying the license

Of course for every good thing, there is a bad thing also. I don't know whether by reviewing this app, tTorrent will have problems with Google or not, but so far I found tTorrent to be the best torrent available in Android so far. Try it, maybe you like it. If you like it, don't forget to buy it. Support the maker.

Review: Quick Keyboard Switch

When you have at tablet, switching from landscape to portrait and vise versa sometimes causes problems in the form of keyboard functionality. In my case it gets worse since my Asus Padfone 2 can switch from smartphone OS to tablet OS. The problem is that smartphone keyboard buttons are too small for tablet, while tablet's keyboard buttons are too big for smartphone. Unfortunately, not all manufacturer provides settings for this small unforeseen necessity.

Solution a small application called Quick Keyboard Switch. This app practically a link to open up local & input setting by adding home screen widget, notification widget or just direct access to the app itself. That way, when you are to tablet or to smartphone mode, all you need to download is to quickly change the keyboard you want to use in each mode, without the need to go through the settings levels.



It is useful when you need to answer your email or editing a document quickly, since you can access it from notification pull down/up menu.

Quick Keyboard Switch has 2 versions available, free (with ads support) and paid version. Try the free on and start doing your typing quicker and easier.

First Impression: Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0

It's here, the new update on Samsung Galaxy Tab series, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0.



With the success of Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, the Korean manufacturer continues the streak with GalTab 3 at 8.0 inch screen.

Quick specification:

- Dual core 1.5GHz, MALI 400M GPU
- Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
- 1.5GB RAM, external memory microSD upto 32GB
- 1280 x 800 pixels TFT Capacitive Screen
- Phone function
- Stereo Speakers
- 5 MP back camera and 1.3 MP front camera
- 209.8 x 123.8 x 7.4 mm
- 4450mAh battery

It is thinner than 1cm for easy holding. This tablet is definitely for home use and gaming, if not entertainment.

The tab is always the preferred tablet of students, housewives and elders. Tab 3 will strengthen that position by improving the specification and capabilities.

Weakness:
- as always, not bright enough under direct sunlight
- 1.5GB RAM? it's neither here nor there
- 8.0" screen means heavier when used to read for long period
- new tablet accessories needed.

At around US$ 440 (Rp. 4,450,000) unlocked at launching next week at Samsung Experiential stores throughout Indonesia, Samsung will continue to rule the position of no. 1 tablet manufacturer in Indonesia.

Recommendations who should buy:
- for game players
- students
- young executives
- films and YouTube lovers

Review: Sony Xperia Z

Sony Xperia Z is Sony's answer to Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and iPhone 5. Is it competitive or Sony struck dead end?



Design:
- beautiful and thoughful
- sharp edge, sharpest of all
- long and tall
- tends to be slippery when wet
- thin
- nice side buttons locations, need to get use to but at the end easy to access with left hand. Right handed users expect difficulty accessing due to awkward side buttons location
- the sides are made of plastic

Screen:
- 1080p is great for watching HD movies
- not bright enough. HTC One is the brightest
- slippery screen, no need scratch proof added screen protector
- I don't get what Bravia screen means since it's similar to others

Camera:
- poor quality, when captured picture zoomed, strange prism pixelation made the picture ugly

Speakers:
- loud enough, but not too loud
- it's a Sony without the Mega Bass, use headphone for more bass
- need to follow HTC to relocate speaker location

Functionality:
- Sony hit the jackpot by utilizing the common NFC with their other products for easy connections, the easiest to connect among the competitions.
- dust and water proof means active users, so office bound users only use this for fun, but you never know when you drop your phone by accident
- the glass screen is not truly shatter proof, only protected by additional layer. Beware
- quad-core is fast and responsive
- bloat ware, not favorite
- battery saving mode, similar to HTC One and Asus Padfone 2, screen off means all connections are down until you turn the screen back on. Power users might choose Samsung Galaxy S4 instead with replaceable battery
- external memory, yeay

So there, simple and short review on Sony Xperia Z. Highly recommended for clumsy and outdoor active users.

Basic Knowledge to Digital Music Part 2

No The Listening Device

In part one, we have discussed digital music formats and we have touched some of the players for the digital music files. Whether it is PC or portable players (iPod, SanDisk Sansa, or any others), we still need a listening device to enjoy the music being played.

There are 2 major categories: speakers and headphones. Speakers produce the digital music to be heard by many, while headphones play it for individual listener.

Before we proceed in further discussing the listening device, we need to build the foundation about the sound produced by them, the sound frequency.

Human ears, no matter how sensitive, only hears sound frequency between 20Hz to 20,000Hz. Below 20Hz or above 20kHz won't heard. Some people might claim they do, but it isn't so. We are affected by the lower and the higher than human hearing range, but that's a different topic of discussion that relates to health.

Any sound frequency that we, human, can hear is divided into 3 major categories:
- Low frequency, commonly known as bass
- Mid frequency, usually related to singers' voice and main musical instruments
- High frequency, commonly known as treble

To hear music properly and enjoyably, the 3 frequency categories need to be arranged in such ways that we can enjoy. The arrangement is known as "tuning". Each sound producing device are tuned in specific manner to produce the best result for us the listeners.

For speakers, the high end speakers usually divided into tweeter, mid or main speakers and woofer. As guessed, tweeter plays higher frequency as dominant frequency. Woofer add the power of the bass at lower frequency. Main speakers plays all frequencies but focus on mid frequency.
These speakers, whether you have 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 11, are connected to a sound processor usually known as Amplifier. Amplifier boost the sound frequency from the music player to the speakers level. Without amplifier, the sound might not be produced properly, most likely to low on volume.
The source or the music player can be a portable music player or CD/DVD/BluRay player or any legacy player (cassette tape player, etc).
These are the basic construct of speakers based music players. It could be more complicated depending on how a person like his/her music played.

However, in headphones is more complicated, since the unit is smaller and limited by its size. Headphones uses small speakers to put on above or in wearer's ears.  The goal of the headphones design is to simulate multiple big speakers listening experience with the limited number of small speakers in a headphone.
Headphones by itself has several categories based on the size:
- over ear, which is usually the size used by most high end headphones. The characteristic is that the listening part of the headphone cover the wearer ears, that's why over ear headphones are k own as full size headhones. A pair of cushions are used to position the speaker parts of the headphones just above the wearer ears. Since the area available for the small speakers is bigger, a lot of headphones use small speakers with radius of 40mm or bigger. With the bigger size speakers, the tuning makes it possible to reproduce wider range of frequency. Don't be surprised to find headphones with 5Hz to 30Hz sound frequency range.
To enhance the tuning, the over-ear headphones can either have opened back or closed back. Opened back headphones has a more airy quality, hence closer to big speakers experience. While the closed back headphones, sound frequencies are either bounced back into our ear or absorbed by a layer of material behind the closed back area. Off course, opened back headphones leaks sound, meaning people next to you can hear what you are listening. Closed back headphones sealed the sound inside the headphones and almost has no sound leak.
Open back headphones are usually produce the best sound that sound editors and engineers use them as their main tools. While closed back commonly used by DJs caused it sealed their ears from outside noises better.

- on ear, mostly found in portable headphones, on ear headphones become popular with the birth of Sony's Walkman. The listening units are placed literally on the wearer's ears, and to give additional comfort usually they have cushions to protect wearers ears and the speaker units inside. It is light weight, usually foldable for easy transport and always leak sounds regardless whether it is opened back or closed back. The small speakers size is off course smaller than over ear, 40mm or smaller. Being smaller means limited tuning capability and lower quality sound producers compared to the over ear.
Despite the benefits of avoiding to look like Princess Leia, on ear headphones are less comfortable, mostly because we, humans, tend to sweat.
The tuning, being limited, is a challenge by itself. Most on ear headphones has at least 1 are of frequency sacrificed (less bass, less. mid or less treble).

- in ear headphones literally placed inside the wearer's ears, hence the term earphones. Currently, there 2 types of in ear earphones: ear bud (which is placed at the cave of one's ear, just at the opening of the ear canal) and ear canal earphones (which has a small pipe protected by cushioning to be placed inside the wearer's ear canal).
Earbud usually employs a bigger micro speakers of 10mm or smaller. While ear canal earphones have tiny micro speakers.
Earbud is older technology and less comfortable due to the vibration of the earphones that worn the ear caves and hurt the wearer when worn more than 1 hour long. Sennheiser and Yuin (headphone manufacturers) try to bring back earbud and placed them at high end earphones lately and quite successful in the last couple of decades with Sennheiser MX series and the legendary Yuin PK series.
Ear canal is the newer technology and has a more direct to ear drum access. The cushioning of ear canal earphones also acts as nice blocker so wearers won't be bothered by ambience noise. Concert musicians usually wear ear canal earphones customized to fit their ears during concerts so they can focus on playing better.
The current technology of tiny micro speakers now enables an ear canal earphones to have upto 4 tiny micro speaker in each unit. Each tiny micro speakers are tuned to boost a certain area of the frequency. With such technology, sound editors and engineers, who usually wear full size headphones, can use ear canal earphones to monitor sounds frequencies during recording or live concert.
With direct access to ear drums, ear canal can be turned d to produce a very high quality sounds to rival open back, full size headphones, hence the term In Ear Monitor (IEM).

Which is your preferred listening device? Everyone has their preferences. I'm like headphones better than big speakers, hence the term headfi. It's a personalized experience.  However if you asked hifi or headfi lovers, they have the same answer: the goal is to find the subjective perfection of sound as intended by the musicians.

Pricing wise, from the legendary STAX to China's no-brand headphones, you have a lot of choices with pricing as high as the sky.
Which brand is better? Well, that's for everyone to comment and discuss. A forum for headphones lovers are available in the Internet, as well as the speakers lovers.
My personal preference are Ultrasone Edition 8, Ultimate Ears 700, Jays V-Jays, Audio Technica M50LE, and Superlux HD381F. My player SanDisk Sansa Clip+.

Basic Knowledge to Digital Music Part 1

The music and it's format:

In this part, we discuss the numerous formats music is available in this digital age. Let's consider that CD/DVD are the source that use PCM audio format (big files, a 4 minute song can be stored at 50MB size file) , so any ripped musics from the source needs to be converted into a certain format of digital music file. Here are some of the most important to know:

- MP3
This is a standard format to get a smaller size of music. Of course, being smaller in size means there are quality to sacrifice. Most common in today's are 64kbps-320 kbIt/s. The higher the better. However, even at the highest conversion, the music quality will still lost parts of the music when compared to the original or higher end format. Regular music file in MP3 format usually is 3MB-12MB depending on the conversion method.  By audiophiles and Headfi-ers, mp3 is considered a lossy format since some of the music are cut off due to the smaller size of the file.

- Apple and Windows format
Both Microsoft and Apple produces wma and m4a as their standard format. Both also has lossless version which has more details, but still loss details. These 2 formats are better than Mp3. However, each has different quality. wma has bigger size file. Mostly sized at 4MB-20MB.
Both Apple and Microsoft also built a lossless format called ALAC and WAVE.

- FLAC
FLAC format is commonly know among the audiophiles and Headfi-ers as the minimum standard of high fidelity music file. The details are more apparent and significantly higher quality compared to the previous formats. The file also significantly larger: +/- 30MB.
FLAC measurement is using unit data measurement between 8-24 bit.

- WAVE
This format is is probably the closest to the source and even has more details compared to the rest. Significantly more high quality means the listeners can listen to all instruments played in a music as presented and intended by the musicians. Close to original means the loss of quality is very little that human ears usually can't recognize the difference immediately. The file size is usually +/-40MB depending on the conversion and music duration. A 2 minute song would be around 20MB in size when converted to WAVE format.
Although there are still arguments, WAVE is considered to be the best digital format available for digital music. However also the lost difficult to play. The measurement standard is also measured in kHz instead of kbps. Most common standard found is 8-24 bit.
To those not familiar with high definition recording, Wave format musics are considered bright, high in treble. This is due to the high details contained in the music file. Hence you will need a higher level headphones or speakers to play the file to reproduce it's high detailed music.

- ALAC
Apple lossless format is also common in iPod and iPhone. Like Wave format, the file is is large, bit not as large as the  original. It is smaller than Wave and has different musical characteristic since it has Apple musical signature of sound. Although it is also high in details, more boomy bass is apparent.
Alac can only be played in Apple standard player: iTunes, iPod, iPad and iPhone. With this limitation, Wave is more popular among Headfi-ers and audiophiles.

There several lore formats available, but it is less common, like ogg, aiff, etc.
If you found a high end mp3 player capable of playing high end music format, don't be surprised that at 64 MB is still considered a small player. High end music player examples: SanDisk Sansa, Cowon, iRiver, HiFiMan, and so on. Although iPod is capable to play lossless formats, most audiophiles considered them lower level quality in  term sound produced.
As an example, even at lossless format, iPod will play drum beats with boomy beats or guitar riffs extended to mask the lost details. While in other high end players, you can heard the drum stick hitting the drum skin or guitar pick striking the string of guitar.
The result is a different experience of listening. Higher details means we listen to music as intended by the musicians. While lossy music is just a music played like in an FM radio (reproduced to equal as 128kbps mp3).

Warning: Once you got used to hear the high end music standard format, you will always feel lossy format lack of "spirit".

Source:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_audio_formats

Password Manager: Dataviz's PasswordPlus

Ever having problems on how to keep your list of passwords and usernames together, as secrets but accessible anytime you need one of them?

In Android and iOS, there are tons of password manager apps, from paid to free, localized to online. But which is better?

The answer is of course depending on what you need. Not one is better nor worse. I can tell you my experience which I think will help a bit.

I have used several password manager myself. Like everyone, I have so many access usernames and passwords that it gave me a headache to remember them all, despite the similarity of the usernames and passwords. So, I decided to use password manager to simplify my life.

Easy enough, I have tons of options. However, just last year, Dataviz, the maker of Documents Togo, published a new app called PasswordPlus. It's basically a paid app. But it has several features that I like.

The advantages :
+ single access master password to remember
+ quite a versatile database entry system
+ sync to PC, Mac OS, Android, and iOS with multiple units on each platform
+ Dataviz doesn't keep you sync keys so only you have it

The disadvantages :
- not even Dataviz has your sync key
- rather slow synchronization
- lose the master password or sync key means losing all your data

I have been using PasswordPlus for about 6 months and I must say I'm impressed. I don't easily impressed with password manager and this one is basically has all the stuff I need. Synchronization across gadgets is a benefit I don't expect to praise. Meaning anytime you need, you access any device you have and it's there. Whether it is a bank account, online access, cloud access or anything, PasswordPlus prepares the entry system securely.

However, there is a precaution. I had the most unlucky scenario that even Dataviz didn't expect to happen. All my smartphones were damaged : Samsung Galaxy Note required a power board replacement, Asus Padfone 2 required mother board replacement, and I have no clue what my HTC Desire VC needed a replacement, and worse I have no laptop to go back to. Hence all access to PasswordPlus sync key are gone. So when I log in to my master password, PasswordPlus asked my sync key from of of my device and it's not there. So. If you want to use PasswordPlus, make sure you keep the sync key in a locked safe written manually.

Otherwise it is the best password manager I have ever used.

Quick Review: Samsung Galaxy Note Jelly Bean Upgrade

I finally has my Samsung Galaxy Note repaired. The cost was around $160. Samsung Service Center replaced a whole power board to repair it. Plus, they gave me the Jelly Bean android in return.

The Jelly Bean upgrades on SGNote :
- Multi Windows
- SmartStay
- Upgraded UI
- New AllShare
- Retirement of S Memo
- S Pen integrated S Planner
- Upgraded S Note
- Editable Multi Windows tray
- Favorite Apps widget
- Active Lock Screen
- New looks on lock screen and home screen
- Better folder management
- New and closer to vanilla android apptray

All in all, it looks like the new upgrade puts SGNote nearer to SGNote 2, but without the Quad-core capacity.

The bad news:
- Heavy operational
- Beware the RAM, almost always in the red zone
- Strangely enough better battery economy if multi windows are turned off
- Slower response on all the new features

If you enjoy the responsiveness of the original SGNote in ICS, better avoid this upgrade. If note, the upgrade is one worthy taken despite the slower processing.

Managing Tasks with Any.Do

Whether it is for work or for household management, we all need a toll to remind us what needs to be done constantly. I've been searching for an application that can support me in task management and found Any.Do, an online task management application on Android, PC and Mac OS that goes beyond listing and reminding tasks at hands.

The benefits:
- Nagging reminder, almost like having a wife as a secretary, it nags and reminds you constantly as programmed. It works across platforms so the nagging goes in all installed tools you have.
- Online capability means it link all your android, PC and Mac OS to provide all linked task management system.
- In app added application in Chrome enables you to right click and add task directly from a website
- Linked to Gmail for easy task adding
- Morning day plan to easily browse what to do that day in the morning
- Provided note taking feature to make the task clearer
- Meeting report request will run after the meeting is completed to give you a chance to enter notes from the meeting.
- It's free
- Always on

Note: it doesn't have iPhone (iOS) version.

Try it, it's worth it to have a strong task management app.