Turn Any Image Into An Interactive, Wobbling Live Wallpaper On Android Using AndWobble

Getting bored of how your original photos look? How about adding some fun factor to them?AndWobble is a free and highly entertaining Android app that you can use to play around with photographs on your mobile device by adding interactive wobbling effects. On the basic level, wobbling lets you select any area of an image and then set it to move in a certain direction by tapping over it, which causes the selected portion to bounce randomly. You can play with effects by tapping, dragging or pinching over the wobble area, or by simply shaking the device. AndWobble even allows you to set these wobbling image as a live wallpaper. Not only can you pick your own images and add wobbling effects, but also choose from a number of user-generated content available in AndWobble’s online library...

The app sports a really simple design. The main screen is an amalgam of interactive tiles that gives you access to different sections of the app such as images, settings, downloads, tutorials etc. You can also take picture and add wobbles instantly without having to leave the interface via tapping Camera. When you open an image, you’re provided with an editing workspace where you can work with your wobbles in layers. Wobbles can be added or removed on the fly, and you can control them in a number of ways, such as rescaling their size, and tweaking the direction they should move in when tapped. The canvas carrying the current image can also be resized via pinch gestures. And you can always revert your last change by using Undo button at the top.

 

Timely Is The Most Beautiful Android Alarm Clock App We’ve Seen So Far

Generally, nobody likes to be shocked out of their sleep by that violent morning alarm sound. Though for many of us, alarms have become the sole solution to help us get out of bed. Nowadays, almost all mobile devices come with a built-in alarm clock that works just just fine. However, for those who are looking a little more in their alarm app, Timely for Android is a gorgeous alternative worth giving a shot. Besides waking you up, the app is all about its crisp design and functionality, and a fantastic interface that also boasts beautiful clock widgets, stopwatch and timer. It carries a ton of themes with vibrant colors and designs that look simply gorgeous, and can make your device really stand out...

The most notable thing about Timely is how stunning it looks on your screen. The neat and elegant design has been crafted with perfection in mind. The handful of beautifully animated background themes are sure to appeal to everyone with an aesthetic sense. Developer Bitspin has optimized it fairly well for both phones and tablets. The main interface is divided into three sections: Alarm, Clock and Stopwatch / Timer, each of which can be navigated to via horizontal swipes.

 

Install CyanogenMod cLock Widget Chronus On Any Android 4.2+ Device

The name CyanogenMod needs no introduction for anyone who has been a part of the Android community. For the uninitiated, its a custom ROM that aims to brings a powerful user experience to every major Android device while retaining stock vanilla AOSP looks. In addition to all of its OS-level features that we’ve detailed in our review of CyanogenMod 10.1, the ROM also comes with its own apps such asApollo Music Player, CyanogenMod File Manager and CyanogenMod Messaging, and one of them is cLock – the well-known clock widget that lets you view the current time, date, weather and alarm information on your home and lock screen. cLock widget comes as default in CM but if you want to install it on your current ROM without switching to CyanogenMod itself, CyangenMod cLock (update: now called Chronus) is what you’re looking for. It’s the official, standalone version of the same widget that can be used on any Android ROM based on 4.2 or later...

CyanogenMod cLock widget is an official release from CM team as a standalone version of the same widget to be used on your home screen or lock screen. This also means that if you’re already on CM 10.1 or later, you don’t need this widget as you already have it as a part of your ROM by default.

 

SoundSeeder Brings Galaxy S4′s ‘Group Play’ Music Sharing To All Android Devices

Galaxy S4 caused quite a hullabaloo when it was unveiled back in March. Despite still being made chiefly from plastic and sporting a design not too different from its predecessor,  the phone’s primary reason for success lies in its powerful innards intertwined with some exciting software implementations. One of those features is dubbed Group Play that allows multiple S4 devices to connect together to play the same music track simultaneously on all of them. TuneMob brings the same Group Play feature to iOS, and works over Bluetooth. If you’re looking for something similar on Android that works on all devices rather than just the S4, SoundSeeder Music Player and SoundSeeder Speaker are worth giving a shot. The former of these acts as a server on the device that has the music, with the other acting as the client for the rest of the phones in the group. More details after the break...

YouTube For Android & iOS Gets In-App Floating Video, Continuous Playback & More

YouTube’s latest update to its smartphone app might not have the lengthiest changelog you will ever see, but the changes are pretty big nonetheless. In addition to getting a new icon on both platforms, the app is now capable of letting you navigate your account without stopping video playback. This means that the YouTube app finally lets you minimize videos, so that searching and browsing different areas of the service becomes possible. The miniaturized version of videos is reminiscent of the VideoPane tweak we covered earlier this month. Of course, the playback stops if you exit the app, but within YouTube, you can do anything you want without risking interruptions. The Android variant of the app has undergone several design improvements, while the long-awaited continuous playback option has been added to playlists as well. To top things off, the app now has a new logo...

 

Mini Launcher For Android Offers A Lightweight UI, Rich Sidebar & GO Widgets Support

I’m the kind of person who doesn’t just settle around with one Android launcher for long. These apps allow me to personalize my home screen and give it a quick makeover without even rooting the device or flashing any custom themes of sort. While most launcher apps that we’ve tested and reviewed so far tend to ship with loads of features out of the box, Mini Launcher feels fairly compact and minimal, thanks to its lightweight Holo-inspired design that feels fresh and intuitive. The key feature of Mini is its handy sidebar that allows to view current weather, recent apps, calls, messages and toggles for W-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS etc. Another interesting bit about it is that is its support for GO Widgets without actually installing GO Launcher EX itself...

It’s a bit difficult to be instantly blown away by Mini Launcher at first glance, as it features pretty much the same looks on the home screen that we’ve seen on countless other stock-based or stock-inspired launchers such as Nova, Apex and many more. From its home screen and app drawer to applying widgets, everything works in a similar fashion to ICS and JB launchers. On the bright side, its modest design makes it compact and simple to use by everyone, staying close to the vanilla Android look and feel.

  

Hemisphere Aims To Replace Now-Defunct Google Latitude On Android

If you’ve been a regular user of Google Latitude, you you must have been disappointed when Google decided to retire it a couple of weeks back on the 9th of August. While there was the announcement of a replacement in form of the feature’s integration within Google+, many wanted the same old Latitude experience back. No, Google itself isn’t bringing it back any time soon in its old form but as with Google Reader, third-party developers are coming to the rescue with alternatives to keep providing users with the same experience, or as close to it as possible, and Hemisphere is one such app that brings the Latitude experience back to Android. Let’s take a closer look at the app after the jump...

When you launch the app, you’ll be greeted with the familiar-looking map interface, along with a ‘Me’ bubble representing your location. Unfortunately, none of your friends will show up here by default, and you’ll have to add them to the app from scratch. Also, they’ll themselves need to be using the same app, and approve your request to view their location before you get to seem them on the map. To add someone, simply tap the first button (from the left) in the top bar.

 

Remotely Run Commands On Android Via Text Messages Using SMS Tasks

One of the best things about owning an Android smartphone is the plethora of things power users can do with it, especially after rooting their smartphone or tablet.  These include tweaking its complete user interface beyond what’s possible with launchers and lock screen replacement apps, and running certain apps that require root access to perform a wide variety of functions. Developed by XDA member jkok,SMS Tasks is a tiny app that lets you remotely execute commands on your Android phone by sending it an SMS. The commands can range from rebooting your phone and toggling its different features (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, data etc.) to executing any terminal commands on it and more...

Upon first launch, the app will request for root access if your phone is rooted, and providing it will allow you to use all the root-only commands. Otherwise, you’ll only be able to use the commands that don’t require root access. On the app’s home screen, you can set a pass phrase to be specified with your commands if you want to enhance security and avoid abuse by someone else. The default pass phrase is blank. In the More Setting section, you can enable the app’s service to make it start listening to your commands, set it to read all the incoming SMS messages, and also set it to disable wildcard support for potentially dangerous commands...

 

SickSkyr Is A Super-Simple Android Launcher With Customizable Gestures

There are a truckload of Android launchers available at Google Play Store for users who don’t fancy Sense, TouchWiz or stock Android launcher. I had been using Apex launcher for quite a while until I recently gave Nova Launcher a shot, which completely blew me away. That’s said, GO Launcher is another handsome app packing a host of features. Despite using so many similar launchers, it always makes me curious to try out new alternatives to give my home screen a makeover. If you want a compact launcher with minimal options and lightweight design, try locking your sights at SickSky. Available as an early Beta, the app tries to set itself apart from other launchers rather than mimicking the more popular ones...

Despite being in beta, SickSky launcher works fairly stable. Rather than allowing you play with multiple home screens, the app relies on just one instead, and supports several gestures for quickly accessing the most common areas such as app drawer, calendar, weather and settings. The home screen of the SickSky Launcher carries a Holo-inspired clock that show the current time, date and weather. The two squarish buttons at the bottom corners give access to app drawer and a settings pane that lets you navigate to weather, calendar and settings. After trying many launchers in the past, SickSky instantly felt new. The four gestures supported on the home screen can be pretty useful. For instance, you can simply swipe down to bring in the app drawer. Likewise, swiping left presents a weather screen. It should be mentioned here that these gestures are fully customizable according to your preferences.

 

Hands-On With The New, Gorgeous Yahoo! Weather App For Android

Ever since Marissa Mayer took over as its President, Yahoo! has been making strides in terms of apps released for both iOS and Android such as Yahoo! Sports, Mail, News and Weather. What’s better than releasing quality apps? Keeping on updating them with new features and improvements, of course, and that’s what the team behind Yahoo! Weather has just done for the app on Google’s smartphone OS.Yahoo! Weather for Android features stunning user-uploaded pictures for locations, complete with themes based on the time of the day, sign-in support for syncing your locations across devices, widgets and more...

Upon launch, you’ll be shown a brief intro to some of the app’s features. Just dismiss the window to head to the home screen, where you’ll be shown the current weather conditions based on your location.