What is instagram? I’ve been hearing about this app for ages since it came out on iOS and to see my other friends who are iOS lovers use this app had me envious. Instagram is a photo app with a social media flare. This app gives you the ability to share pictures adding different filters.

A lot of people love the different filters that give a variety of effects to pictures. I personally love the choice to upload my pictures with a different look and feel. For those of you who are on iOS you are maybe saying that is so old, we on Android however, value a great app that will be useful to us. Yes there are many other photo filter apps out there that may be equivalent to Instagram, but in my opinion this is the app of all filter apps.

The instagram app is slick and well built. It is flawless in design and it’s layout was well planned. It’s not often you see an iOS to android app that works with little to no flaws. Setup was simple, and uploading the pictures was done in under 30 seconds. Figuring out the application and how to upload was also simple. Sharing to Facebook, twitter and any other social media app was straightforward.

If you’re looking for a photo app that could add some effects to your pictures Instagram for Android is the app you will need.

My friend Tony had this to say:

Good. Best of the android pic apps. Very nice looking. Very organized with great options. There are some bugs currently other than that it is great!!!!

Having tested out Gingerbread I was very excited about the changes that were coming including those Motorola made to ninjablur, well gingerblur. Heck I will admit it’s sexy, it’s smooth, its yummy!! Now I know why I never went to the Droid Incredible or even the Thunderbolt (even though I’m jealous of the 4G access). Motorola and Verizon Wireless seem to be standing by their word even though it took months we still got the update. So I shall wait for the Droid Bionic/Targa or whatever the name is of the next device as I have confidence I’ll receive updates to my phone.

Back to the Gingerbread review. The phone seems faster. After installing gingerbread on my phone via the update.zip no root, everything is in tap and go mode. Access to options I will say is better and having the new app launcher is great. They did fix the bug from Froyo which caused WIFI to disconnect after a few minutes of use and WIFI now stays on without the need to worry that it will disconnect.

User Interface (UI)

Motorola has done a lot to improve the user interface of their phones. Implementing the new darker look of Gingerbread in with the not so overbearing skin of ninjablur, was flawless. We have the same lock screen and pattern screen except the pattern buttons are white. I love the clean look and feel of the skin as its not too overbearing as other phones.

The notifications bar has improved giving you the option to clear notifications one at a time or all at once. It’s actually quite spiffy I should say.

Copy and paste is now easier!!!!!! I have to give a standing ovation for this feature! Press and select and tap again and text is copied to clipboard! That is really a major improvement as one can copy from any application, be it the browser, Gmail or the Catholic One app.

App Launcher:

My favorite app launcher is Launcher pro, but I also love the new app launcher! You could change the icons to the apps you use the most, instead of leaving it as default. The options are very simple and one could configure their app drawer to their liking by adding groups of apps, viewing the recently used apps or the downloaded apps. Notice you could now view a lot of recently used apps so it is not limited too only six or eight apps.

Access to Options:

Clicking the menu button and seeing manage apps is a life saver, I don’t know for anyone else but having this option available cuts out the need to go through settings applications then manage applications. They changed the options under application settings adding a little more to that setting.

Profiles

Customization seems to be the focus of this update, with profiles, which was introduced with the Droid Pro late last year. You have the choice of home, work and weekend, I only chose home for now since I use everything on a daily basis and not just the weekend.

Keyboard:

The keyboard now has predictive capabilities you know like swiftkey. It brings up quite a few words at  times don’t you think? It highlights the words spelled incorrectly giving you suggestions as it is highlighted.

The update is in no way perfect, but the improvements are massive. I can’t wait to see what the Droid Bionic has to offer!!!

There are a list of twitter apps for android each having their own pros and cons. Yesterday Hootsuite released HootSuite for Android and welcomed the robots.

Despite worldwide adoration, the HootSuite iPhone App seemed a bit lonely. So the thoughtful developers went back to the factory to build more robots including HootSuite for Android. In fact, they had so much fun, they made Lite (free) robots too.

HootSuite is a professional Twitter client that lets users manage their entire twitter experience from an easy – to – use interface. Business users are mostly fond of it as you could schedule tweets and look at data from the ow.ly links. There are two versions of the HootSuite for Android application, the free (lite) and the full version. Both the free and full versions feature multiple accounts with the lite being limited to only three accounts. Plus there is on-board click-through statistics tracking to see what’s working in (almost) real-time available in the full featured version only. The good thing about HootSuite is that it syncs your web profile to the phone .

Streams:

View Full Album

You have the option after you login to view whichever stream you want. Home Feed, Mentions, Direct Message (inbox) and Sent, it all depends on the settings of your web application. It’s a real simple way of getting access  to your streams to view tweets. The overall layout of  HootSuite is clean, similar to Seesmic’s layout. I could see that they really had fun creating this application. With the flick of your finger (right or left) you could go through all of your streams with ease.

Profiles:

View Full Album

Having the ability to view a follower’s profile is very convenient. The layout makes each section accessible with a tab to view. The tabs are as follows the Profile, Timeline, Mentions, Following stats, Follower Stats, Favorites and List. You have full access to a person’s profile all within this application.

Scheduling Tweets:

Scheduling tweets is an easy way to tweet while you away from your computer. HootSuite utilizes the same methods from it’s online web app, schedule for later. I’ve used it and it works as said, no glitches and no late tweets. If you see a tweet and you don’t have the time to retweet it save it for later .

Posting a Tweet and Retweeting:

It’s easy as 1-2-3 and send. Tweeting using the HootSuite App is very easy. Unlike seesmic you could see a calendar icon which allows you to schedule your tweets, it also has a camera icon and a link shortener icon both of these are on the seesmic app. You can edit your Retweet and see how many characters you have remaining.

Unmasking a Shortened Link:

I noticed that all links are unmasked to give you the full link  an excellent feature of HootSuite for Android. I will know if the link is broken or if it is spam. Thumbs up on that feature HootSuite!!

This is a roundup on the HootSuite for Android application.

Pros:

• Clean Layout and UI
• Very User Friendly
• A lot of Options
• Schedule for later
• Unmasking links
• Updates fast
• Syncs web profile to phone app

Cons:

• There are no cons at this moment well in my humble opinion if you do find a con please comment to let me know.

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion and in no way did I receive compensation for this application review.

While the Android Market is  not as big as the Apple App Store, there are still applications to choose from. Some of them very useful while others less could be said of them. Here is part one on how I use my Android phone.

Astro File Manager

Once you mount your phone to your computer and gain access to the SD card you could drag files onto the card, so you could take them with you. However, there is no native way of accessing that card via your phone. That is where Astro File Manager comes in. It is a simple application that gives you access to your SD to view the files that you transferred over from your computer.

WaveSecure

Wave Secure is an application that could be used to backup SMS, contacts and call logs. It is an alternative to MobileMe for the iPhone that could be used to lock down your phone if stolen, and also wipe data. Its an  easy and simple way for me to backup my info.

Dolphin Browser:

When I got my Droid about a week later they confirmed that it was a multi-touch device also. Sometimes I hated to double tap just to zoom so I got the Dolphin browser app. It is fast, very responsive and it renders web pages with ease, though you know it could make do with some improvements. Its no Safari Mobile browser but its still something .

PdaNet:

In order to tether on an Android phone one has the option to root their phone (Only people willing to brick their phones should attepmt) or to purchase PdaNet for $29.00. I can attest that it works…well maybe not for the Sprint customers. Remember however even though your plan says unlimited please be careful what you use your tethering abilities to do.

**Update**

PdaNet is working on the Sprint Network

Flixster:

Everytime I think of a movie and what time should I go I always use the app flixster. It is a simple way of finding out which movies are out, which movies are blockbusters, which movies are coming out the current week.

WordPress For Android:

Since its release I have to say that this application is essential for on the go blogging. It is very easy to use and creating a post and reviewing comments. It is a must have if you are a wordpress blogger.

Shazam:

Shazam is a funny name for an app I must say, but it’s an app that works. No longer do you have to rely on Verizon’s V-Cast app just to be able to identify that song. Its a plus especially if I hear something I like I could get it right away and use it with my Spotify app.

Spotify:

The release of this application has not been announced and there are quite a few of us waiting for its release here in the US. Having an offline playlist and even the ability to search and play on the go is a plus. I love using it with shazam to discover new music on the go.

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion and in no way did I receive compensation for these application reviews.

I’ve seen a few of James Cameron’s movies, Titanic, Terminator and a few others, he is a man who could set almost anything on screen and make it EPIC.  First off I will say awesome graphics, maybe I should have used a better word to describe it but this is my true feeling. This is cinematography at its best. I admit at first I did not want to go to see it, but after looking closely and seeing my friends excited over it made me decide to go.

Here is my interpretation of the movie. There will be no spoilers as I do not want to take away your spirit to want to see the movie.

First off I saw a political side to this movie, and my hubby mentioned it to me while we discussed it after. Certain things that were said in the script had a political connotation to it, however that did not take away from the movie. Watching the movie in the IMAX 3D theater at the AMC made me see how advanced this movie was in terms of its use of technology. I mean 500 Million is a lot and Cameron put it all into good use. The whole movie from start to finish was color filled and after a while I forgot that it was 3D as I’d gotten used to the action on screen. My son however reminded me that it was 3D when he continuously tried to grab the particles.

The movie was practically predictable, as I had an idea of what was going to happen next. However, I was not bored to death because I was interested in the story line of Jake and how well he adapted to the Na’Vi. Even though you know what is coming next you still want to watch. As Dave said earlier we have sort of shied away from SCI-FI movies as they have gotten boring and its the same old alien mess. Cameron however is showing Hollywood that they have to step their game up in order to capture the attention of the audience. Their movies may not be as good as Cameron’s but that will force them to do better.

Back to Jake and the Na’Vis it is a world that was basically untouched. A world that has a niche that was connected down to the dust. A world that is only in the imagination yet it seemed so real. The characters seemed so real, everything seemed real, I even wondered if Cameron visited a world like that and it was his little secret. People are fussing about the name of the planet Pandora, for all I care it could have been named Tim-buck-two and it would not have made a difference. The way Jake adapted the actions of the natives, all brought the story together.

Jake’s brother Tom who was his twin died. He was a scientist working on the Avatar project, and since Jake is his twin their gnome matched so it was no problem fitting him to his brother’s avatar. The scientists and the military had two different agendas as the cooperation funding the project had one aim and that was to get the natural resources from the planet. At first Jake went in obeying orders but as he adapted to the natives, he began to see the evil around him. In turn for becoming one of them he betrayed the humans. He learned their language, how to walk and appreciate the forest. Having turned his back on the humans he created a catalyst to what was going to happen anyway. Destruction happened faster and was more brutal.

Even with a predictable story line Cameron still manages to capture the audience’s attention and there was never a dull moment. Kudos to Cameron.

•  Improved Speed: It seems to open documents a lot faster than its predecessors.
•  Better Options: In terms of printing and editing.
•  Improved Layout & User Interface: Using the office button you see an eye catching layout with a user friendly interface.

I think Microsoft in now catching up on what the user really wants to see. Like Windows 7, Office 2010 sports some extras and has a few improvements.  The information tab under the Office Button has quite a few options depending on what you are editing.

One of the things that I enjoy seeing is the information on the document, when it was created, was it ever modified and by who also was it ever printed, and total editing time. You also have the option to set the permissions on the documents.

Every time I opened a document which was not created on my computer I got a warning telling me that the document was read only. I have the option to remove that read only warning and I proceed to modifying my documents. The options for sharing are all under one tab. For the PDF option I have a PDF creator installed so I am not sure if MS is using it on its own or my PDF creator is giving me that option. Either way having that open is great since it is a great format to email documents.

So far that is all I am going to report on for Word 2010 until I start seeing some more things that will be interesting to mention.