7 newly free Android apps for business

Free quality Android apps don’t come around as often as you may hope. And a lot of the time you have to sift through ridiculous and unrelated apps to find the one that matches your professional needs. So, we’ve done the work for you so you can spend your valuable time elsewhere. Here are seven newly-free Android apps that can streamline your day-to-day business tasks and processes, making you a more productive business professional.

Project7

Used to be $1.44 – Project7 – This app has many competitors, but most of them aren’t free. Project7 simply allows you to text and receive texts through voice recognition. You can use it while you’re driving or even just busy typing at your computer.

uIM

Used to be $1.53 – uIM – This unique Android app is all about providing privacy and security while text messaging or using chat platforms. This is perfect if you have clients who provide you with private and sensitive information, like credit card numbers or even personal addresses.

PC Monitor

Used to be $1.42 – PC Monitor – While this has been featured on our list before, it’s still a fantastic tool to utilize. PC Monitor allows you to monitor up to three computers from your phone. Not only is this app free, but there are no subscription costs either.

ROAMpay

Used to be $2.99 – ROAMpay – Accepting credit cards has never been easier. ROAMpay enables you to accept secure payments right from your phone. However, you do have to have an account with one of their partners to fully utilize its features.

QwikList

Used to be $1.99 – QwikList Voice Free – Here’s another app that works with voice recognition technology. Create to-do lists and prioritize your tasks with the QwikList Voice Free app, and you can do it all while you’re driving home from work or running errands.

I Expense

Used to be $1.00 – I Expense – Keeping track of mileage, hotel costs, and what you’ve paid for food on business trips has never been easier. I Expense will take the data you’ve entered and create spreadsheets that you can keep for your records or send to your boss.

Call 2 Calendar

Used to be $1.99 – Call 2 Calendar – If you’ve ever had a difficult time remembering when you last talked to a client, Call 2 Calendar might be the free Android app for you. The great thing about this app is that you don’t have to do a thing. It will log the call into your calendar automatically, so you’ll be able to reference it easily.
The great thing about free apps is that you don’t have to commit to anything. You also won’t feel obligated to use it just because you paid for it. So, with that in mind, test out the above free Android apps and explore the other free apps on your own. You may just find an app that makes the difference between just getting through the work day and killing it with productivity and effectiveness.

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Android App Development

How to Run Android Apps on Your PC

The BlueStacks Android App Player lets you run Android apps on your PC. We explain how to install it, how to transfer apps from your Android smartphone, and how to run them on a Windows system.

As the popularity of smartphones and tablets increases, so will our dependence on the myriad apps available for them. Whether the end result is a hot game, a handy price checker, or a useful contact manager, the constraints of smartphone and tablet designs and interfaces have forced app developers to find creative ways to present and access data.

Unfortunately, most apps created for smartphones or tablets aren't available for use on a PC. Some apps let you sync favorites or other personal data with a companion program or a somewhat equivalent application on a PC, but mobile apps and their PC counterparts are rarely the same.

Thankfully, Silicon Valley-based startup BlueStacks recently released an alpha version of what the company calls an app player--a PC program that enables users to download Android apps directly or transfer them from an Android-based smartphone or tablet to their PC. The BlueStacks app player essentially runs an instance of Android in a virtualized environment on the PC, so the apps act as though they're running on a mobile device. If that's something you'd like to try, here's how to set it up.

Getting Started With BlueStacks

Using the BlueStacks app player is relatively straightforward, but there are some quirks involved with getting apps from a mobile device to a PC which we'll go into a little later. To use the BlueStacks app player, you must first download it from the BlueStacks website or from PCWorld's Downloads Library. Then run the BlueStacks app player installation file, and follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation. Keep in mind that the BlueStacks app player is still in the early phases of development, so you can expect some minor performance issues and perhaps a bug or two.

When the installation is complete, you'll see a short video describing how the BlueStacks app player works and how you can access a few key features. Though the video doesn't offer a ton of information, it's worth watching to ease your learning curve. The BlueStacks app player isn't terribly intrusive: It requires minimal space and consumes few system resources; but it does launch automatically with your PC, and it displays a status icon in the system tray. The app also connects automatically to BlueStacks servers. If you prefer not to have the player launch every time your PC boots up, you can disable the BlueStacks launcher via the Startup tab in the MSCONFIG tool (to access the tool, select Run from the Start menu, type msconfig, and press Enter).

Once you've installed the BlueStacks app player and configured it to your liking, you can start using the app player with the handful of apps preinstalled in it or with the few apps available for download within the BlueStacks 'Add more apps' channel. To access the downloadable apps however, you'll have to register for a free BlueStacks account with either a working email address or a Facebook account. The main allure of the BlueStacks app player is its ability to send apps from your Android device to your PC via the company's Cloud Connect mobile app and servers.

Transferring Your Android Apps to Your PC

To use the Cloud Connect mobile app to transfer Android apps from your mobile device to your PC, you have to know your BlueStacks PIN. When you register an e-mail address or Facebook account with the BlueStacks app player, the service will link a personal identification number (PIN) to your account. This PIN appears as soon as you register, as well as when you click the 'Cloud Connect' link within the 'Get More Apps' tool in the BlueStacks app player. To transfer apps from your Android device, launch the Android Market on your Android tablet or smartphone, and search for BlueStacks Cloud Connect. Download and install the Cloud Connect app on your phone or tablet; don't worry--it's only 402KB. With that app in place, you can send any other app that's installed on your mobile device to the BlueStacks app player on your PC. Essentially, the Cloud Connect app uploads selected apps from your phone to BlueStacks' servers, where your PC can then access and download them to your PC.

 

Transferring apps from a mobile device to the BlueStacks app player involves entering a personal code assigned to your account during registration, to link the PC and mobile device through BlueStacks’ servers.

To use BlueStacks Cloud Connect, simply launch the app and select all of the Android apps on your device that you'd like to upload for transfer to your PC. Then click the Sync button at the top of the interface, and wait for the apps to upload (all of the apps installed on the mobile device will be listed). The uploaded apps should be visible in the BlueStacks app player on your PC when you launch the 'Get More Apps' tool.

Note that sometimes the BlueStacks app player doesn't sync properly if it's already open on your PC when the Cloud Connect app on your mobile device uploads data. We found during testing that, when this issue arose, restarting the BlueStacks app player always resolved it.

Once your apps are uploaded and the app player has notified you that they're available, select Get More Apps from your BlueStacks app player's PC client and click the Cloud Connect link. From there, a screen should pop up that lists all of the apps you uploaded from your mobile device. Click the Subscribe button underneath each app, and you should be able to run your favorite Android apps from the app player on your PC.

 

To send your favorite mobile apps to the BlueStacks app player, select them in the BlueStacks Cloud Connect app on your phone or tablet, press the Sync button, and subscribe to them via the Cloud Connect menu link in the BlueStacks channel that opens when you click the 'Get More Apps' shortcut in the player.

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The Must-Have iOS and Android Apps for a Killer Super Bowl Party

 

Are you ready for some football? Wait, that's the last song you want to hear on your Super Bowl pre- or post-party mix. But thanks to your iPhone or Android devices, you won't have to move away from the snacks table to switch your tunes at your official party.

We've already covered some of the best apps to supplement your Super Bowl experience – as in, the game itself. But what about mobile apps that can take your actual Super Bowl party to the next level? Don't let the fun start and end with the kickoff and final whistle: Keep these apps on your mobile device and use them to rock the house for all the other awesome events you have planned this year. NFL Draft Day party, anyone?

Music iOS: At the top of your list should be the iTunes Remote app, which allows connected party guests to vote and request songs they'd like to hear from your iTunes library. TuneTug performs a similar task, but supports Spotify as well (if you're so inclined), and it lets all smartphone users vote for new jams to play via a standard website.

Android: If you're using iTunes to host your music library, you can access it in a Remote-like manner using the app "Remote for iTunes." Unified Remote transforms your Android device into a remote for a whole host of different apps, and Gmote allows you to control the entirety of your PC from afar.

Food Running low on wings? Pizza? Guac? The food delivery services Seamless and Grubhub both have iOS and Android apps for download – if you can't find enough places that will deliver in your local area, you might have better luck searching for pick-up options instead.
And if you're ready to wave the white flag on your food preparation, you can always use an app like Snapfinger to order ahead to nearby restaurants or fast-food locales.

Booze If you don't know your Jack and Coke from your Red Bull and Vodka – or your favorite drink is either – you might need some digital assistance in the kitchen-turned-amateur-bar. Check out the Top Shelf app for iOS, where you can search for potential drinks based on their names or, far more useful, based on what you can actually make with the ingredients you have on hand.

If you're content with quality classics over thousands of user-submitted (and likely incorrect) drink recipes, Android users should check out the Drink Maestro for Android app. What it lacks in comprehensiveness, it makes up for in mastery. And if you really just want every possible drink recipe ever (regardless of quality), Bartender's your virtual lime wedge.

Games Who needs football when you have mobile fun? Those looking to spice up the party on an iOS device should check out Spin My Party, a game that awards players points for completing tasks selected by one of those giant prize wheels. Screenlife makes plenty of "Scene It?" trivia games across a variety of subjects, if more iOS-based "smart fun" is in store. And Foosball HD – for iPad only – is a great way to bring the fun of that classic bar game to the party without cluttering up your home or apartment.

Ready, Android users? First up, there's 4 Player Reactor, which blends a variety of minigames into a single app that up to four players can play at once (as the name suggests). And since we touched on Foosball for iOS users, it's only fair that we suggest Glow Hockey 2 for Android aficionados: It's one of the prettier multiplayer air hockey clones on the Android Market!

Finally, if you want to get to know a particular party-goer a little closer, then Paper War for 2 Players is a great way to show off your excellent taste in Android gaming. It's not only fun, but it's drawn in a way that's sure to grab the attention of even the most sour Super Bowl partygoer.
   
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Android App Development

Android App for Viewing 2D or 3D CAD Designs

 

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) applications have already invaded the mobile platform. Although most of such programs’ mobile versions may not be as sophisticated as the desktop ones, the main point here is that more and more productivity applications are now brought into the mobile platform. This would mean that mobile devices like tablets and smartphones are getting more useful, productivity-wise.
One of the companies who ventured into a CAD app is IMSI Design. The company is known as one of the leading providers of CAD software applications. It has an array of products that are specifically tailored for computer-aided design. One such CAD product from IMSI is the TurboViewer app for Android App.

Pros

TurboViewer is capable of rendering not just 2D designs but also 3D designs. This is a feature that is unique to TurboViewer.  Other mobile CAD apps don’t have such feature.
The user interface of the app is simple and straightforward. You will not be bombarded with so many menus that might be confusing at times. All you see is a clean and tidy user interface without clutter.



The app may take a few seconds to render a design depending on how big the file is, but once it is already up on the screen, you can easily rotate or zoom in and out of the drawing. The animations on this app are very fluid.
The app is free, too–so, that should be one of the biggest perks here. You can upgrade to a premium version, though, to gain access to more features.





And, last but not the least, the makers of the app just very recently released a software development kit (SDK) for the app. This will mean that the app will be improved. Better versions of the app will surely come out once developers can get hold of this SDK.

Cons

This might not really be a big disadvantage of the app, but it’s worth mentioning. The app can only recognize the directory it has created during the installation process. The app doesn’t have a way to browse for files saved in other directories.
The features in the app are very decent and good. But, they are very limited. You don’t have that many on the menu to choose from.
The free version of TurboViewer is ad-supported, and the ads can be a bit annoying at times. This will go away though if you get the premium version. If you want to stick with the free one, you have to get used to those advertisements.
The app will eat up around 43 MB of storage space when installed on a device. This might not be that much, but for a viewer app, this is a bit big.

Conclusion

TurboViewer is a good app. This might even be the first free app that offers 3D viewing capability–something which makes it stand out from the rest. The cons we listed above, as you can see, are really minor ones, and can easily be overshadowed by the great features this app has.
Looking at the bigger picture, tablets and smartphones are said to be the future of mobile computing. It is even predicted that mobile devices will someday replace laptops and netbooks. And, with the developments we are seeing nowadays, this may not be a far future. These devices are becoming more powerful nowadays. Someday soon we’ll be seeing a full-fledged CAD app running on our mobile devices.
If you want to try this amazing mobile CAD app from IMSI Design, download TurboViewer free from the Android Market.


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Google now scanning Android apps for malware

Google has added an automated scanning process that is designed to keep malicious apps out of the Android Market, the company announced on Thursday.

The new service, code-named "Bouncer", scans apps for known malware, spyware, and Trojans, and looks for suspicious behaviors and compares them against previously analyzed apps, Hiroshi Lockheimer, vice president of engineering on the Android team, said in an interview with ZDNet Asia's sister site, CNET, on Thursday.

Every app is then run on Google's cloud infrastructure to simulate how the software would operate on an Android device, he said. Existing apps are continuously analyzed, too.

"The system takes an app that's been uploaded and runs it in the cloud and monitors what the app is doing in a virtual environment, if you will," Lockheimer said.

If malicious code or behavior is detected, the app is flagged for manual confirmation that it is malware. The app could be blocked from being uploaded if it is blatantly malicious or will be removed quickly thereafter if it gets flagged by the scanning process. "It won't get uploaded at all if it is an instance of known malware," Lockheimer said.

Unlike Apple, which vets every iPhone app before it hits the iTunes Marketplace, Google does not require pre-approval for Android apps Development. Instead, it does the screening of the apps behind the scenes when the developers upload them to the Android Market.

Google also is analyzing new developer accounts to "prevent malicious and repeat-offending developers from coming back", the company says in a blog post today.

Google has been quietly testing Bouncer for a "number of months", long enough to see an impact, Lockheimer said. Between the first and second half of 2011 there was a 40 percent decline in the number of downloads of potentially malicious apps, the company said.

Lockheimer said he could not say how many malicious apps had been blocked or removed from the market as a result of the scanning.

Asked if Google created Bouncer in response to complaints about malicious apps on the Android Market, Lockheimer said no. "It's not like there is a rampant malware problem," he said. "Think of it as an insurance policy...to ensure that Android continues to be a safe place."

Mobile security firm Lookout found that there were about 1,000 malicious Android apps last year, but the vast majority were on unofficial, third-party sites where anything goes. But some malicious apps have made it to the Android Market, including about two dozen apps containing malware that Google yanked in May and nearly 60 malicious apps removed in March.

It's likely Bouncer will flag apps that may not technically be considered malware but are designed to perpetrate fraud against the consumer. This would include situations such as the nearly 30 fraud-related apps Google pulled from the market in December that were found to be charging premium SMS toll rates on European phones without the user's knowledge.

Asked to comment on this, a Google spokesman said: "We look for many things, this may be one of them."

The news was met with praise by security experts, including some who wondered why Android apps weren't scanned from the beginning.

"I think it is great that Google is taking steps to address the inevitability of malicious apps in their app store. What were they thinking at first?" said Chris Wysopal, CTO at application security provider Veracode, who had called on Google to scan Android apps in March of last year.

"Both Apple and Microsoft started their app stores with a validation process. Blocking known malware patterns is a no-brainer."

"I hope Google can keep up with published rootkit code and research on vulnerabilities and add these patterns to their scanners," he added. "The process should be proactive and not have a window of time when tens or hundreds of thousands of mobile users can be compromised before the malware is detected and removed."

Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer at Lookout, said Google's move was a "step in the right direction".

"We think it is great that Google is working with the Android community to provide an alternative to a manual curation process, allowing developers to innovate quickly while also increasing the baseline level of security for Android users," he said.

Original Source

HTC Phones Vulnerable to Wi-Fi Stealing Android Apps

A security risk exists on some HTC phones that could allow an attacker to harvest the smartphone user's Wi-Fi password by deploying a malicious Android app Development.

Discovered by researchers Chris Hessing and Bret Jordan, the glitch can expose the user's Wi-Fi credentials to any program that requests basic Wi-Fi permission. If an HTC owner were to download a malicious Android app built specifically to harvest user data, the results could be disastrous.

"When this is paired with the Internet-access permissions, which most applications have, an application could easily send all stored Wi-Fi network credentials (user names, passwords and SSID information) to a remote server," the researchers explained. 

The HTC devices at risk of exploitation are: Glacier; Droid Incredible; Thunderbolt 4G; Sensation 27103 and 4G; Desire S and HD; EVO 3D and 4G. MyTouch 3G and Nexus One phones are not affected, the researchers said.

HTC has acknowledged and developed a fix for what it called the "small Wi-Fi issue affecting some HTC phones." Most phones, HTC wrote on its website, have already received the fix through regular updates and upgrades; "However, some phones will need to have the fix manually loaded." The HTC site contains instructions on how to upgrade your phone.

The researchers said they found the bug in September, but publicly disclosed it only after allowing Google and HTC to address it and issue a fix.

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Why Updates to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Gingerbread & iOS Take So Long

Droid, iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S (1 & II) owners have been known to get anxious waiting for updates for Android 4.0  or iOS 5.  The wait is not just due to software development/testing but could also be due to network traffic.

Android App Development, owners seem to have wait longer due to he development of the core Android update from Google, the carriers' added-on interfaces and testing.  Now there is another element that affects the slow time it takes to get an update. Operating system updates put a greater strain on the networks than video traffic, reported Flash Networks.

Flash Networks, reported data showing that the amount of network bandwidth consumed by mobile operating system updates can threaten network performance, especially if delivered during peak traffic periods.  This may explain why we have noticed that Verizon tends to release its updates slowly on Thursday, then in greater depth over the weekend. Most carriers don't allow updates while roaming.  We always recommend completing a large update over Wi-Fi to ensure that the files don't get corrupted.

Based on traffic measured during  Windows Phone and Android updates in Europe and North America, it was found that operating system upgrades sometimes consumed even more bandwidth than YouTube videos, creating significant bottlenecks.

This network clogging is expected to be dramatically increased in when Apple iOS5 is pushed out over the air (OTA).

Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate who waited almost a year for their Android 2.3 Gingerbread update had to download the update not  Over-the-Air (OTA) but through Kies mini.  When the update is downloaded via a computer it saves tremendous network bandwidth.  Samsung used the Kies app for the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and Galaxy Tab. Samsung will not update to Android 4.0 for the popular Samsung Galaxy S line of smartphones but did promise updates for the Samsung Galaxy S II brand and for its latest tablets.

The burst in traffic for update can bring networks dangerously close to full capacity if the upgrades coincide with busy hours, such as commuting times, or popular browsing times late in the evening, reported Flash Networks.

In the United Sates, Windows updates increased upgrade traffic from 4.5% to 20%, an increase of more than four-fold.

In a few other cases observed by Flash Networks’ systems, the network bandwidth required to deliver an Android software upgrade climbed, on certain days and hours, up to 15% of total traffic and exceeded the bandwidth used for watching YouTube videos.

Flash Networks’ Harmony is a network based solution that optimizes backhaul and transit capacity which could help with future updates.  Meanwhile we expect more download only to computer updates.

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Mint's Android Tablet App Wrangles Your Finances

Intuit's popular, free personal finance tool comes to Google Android tablets.

Mint.com, an online personal finance tool offered by Intuit, Wednesday released an application specifically for Android tablets. The free application brings a number of Mint.com's best features to Google-powered tablets, and gives the financially minded another avenue through which to monitor and manage their budgets.
Mint.com for Android tablets allows users to organize all their accounts in one place and view data such as account balances. The app offers detailed graphs that permit users to drill into spending by categories, such as food, clothing, entertainment, travel, and so on. It can help analyze spending over time and offer customized views to help better visualize financial habits. 

Need to track how much cash you're spending? Mint.com lets users enter each cash transactions while on the go to more accurately capture spending. It can then help set up personalized budgets so that users are better able to stay on top of spending.

Push alerts will aid users when it comes time to pay bills or stay abreast of their latest account data. Alerts can be set to stream to the device depending on account activity and make sure people have the most current information about their accounts.
 
[ Do you know your tablet can also act as a teleprompter, whiteboard, heart rate monitor, or even an emergency Windows 7 machine? See 10 Tablet Tricks To Try. ]

The search tool is particularly helpful. With it, users can parse through transactions to find specific purchases, transfers, or payments based on user-generated tags, categories, or even by merchant. The app interacts with the online version of Mint.com, but also stores information locally so that it can be accessed when there's no Internet connection.

"As tablet use rises, more mobile-savvy people will look for ways to manage their lives across multiple devices, so we developed our Android tablet app to bring simple money management tools to their fingertips," said Aaron Forth, general manager of Intuit's personal finance group.
With the addition of the Android tablet application , Android App Development Mint.com now offers apps for Apple iOS smartphones and tablets, and Android smartphones. These dedicated mobile applications will help Mint.com's 8 million users stay on top of their finances.

Intuit launched Mint.com in 2007, and since then it has been used to track nearly $1 trillion in transactions and $485 billion in loans and assets for its customers. Intuit says Mint.com is so effective that more than 90% of users say they have changed their financial habits as a result of using the service.

In other words, if you're looking for a personal finance tool that works online and via mobile device, Mint.com would be a good place to start. It doesn't hurt that the service and applications are offered for free.
 
How can companies find and fix vulnerabilities before they lead to a breach? Better yet, how can software developers identify flaws in their applications before the new software is ever deployed? In this report, Eliminating Vulnerabilities In Enterprise Software, Dark Reading offers a look at some tips and tricks for software development and vulnerability assessment.

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Survey: Android set to beat iOS in battle for coder love

Android is set to become the number one choice for mobile application developers in the next 12 months as the Google platform pushes ahead of arch rival Apple, according to the latest research from Ovum.

The analyst house interviewed over a hundred developers globally, asking them which platform they preferred and then compared the answers to last year’s Trends in Mobile Application Development survey.

While iOS is still rated as most important by the majority, as it was last year, young upstart Android is fast finding favour in the developer community. Ovum said Google’s OS had taken a “significant leap” in the past 12 months, jumping from fifth most important platform in last year’s survey up to second in 2012.

In reality, most developers will look to cover all bases by supporting as many major platforms as they can, with Android’s growing popularity likely to be linked to its increasing market share, according to Ovum analyst Tony Cripps.

“It’s pretty unusual to find an application developer who favours just one platform only. It’s about how many resources and what level of importance they place on that platform going forward,” Cripps told The Register.

“There is starting to be overall a larger installed base of devices on Android than iOS in the coming years. 

Typically developers prioritise the platforms that give them the largest market. The nature of the battle is not like that on PCs or web apps, there are differences in the target demographics.”

BlackBerry OS came third in the popularity stakes, and much will depend on how it transitions towards the forthcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system, according to Cripps.

Anecdotally, Windows Phone is also doing pretty well, said the analyst, although it came a distinct fourth according to Ovum.

Going forward, the big Android App Development-Apple battle could well depend on which platform provider offers the most unified experience across different devices, he concluded.

 Original Source