Android app Review #2: Google Currents

Google Currents is a news reader with a twist. News organizations or anyone for that matter can create their own customized Currents portal that users can add to the Currents app, but users can also add their own RSS feeds. I have been using the Currents app for about 4 months now. It was first only available to the US but in recent weeks has opened up to a whole new list of countries including Canada. It is available on Android and Apple devices.

I am a news junkie and have been looking for a good useful news app for some time now. I have tried Pulse, News Republic and a few others but they all have been off the mark.

• Pulse seems to be pre-installed on a lot of devices but its layout is a bit lacking when trying to view the news you want.
• News Republic allows you to select topics and it will provide you with news results, not allowing you to add your own sources. 

 

Google Currents has mainly US news sources right now for you to pre-select, I think this is mainly that it has not been available in other countries for too long. But don’t fret, it is as easy as adding a RSS feed and the Currents app will create a nice looking edition for you. News, Sports and everyday users can just visit the Google Publisher and create their own custom Google Currents edition to publish on Google and their website. It took me 15 minutes to create a Google Currents edition for myself. You can use the Currents publisher and add different elements to it and it will all get updated when anything changes on your sites. I have added my blog, Google+ Feed, Twitter Feed, Picasa Photos and a few other things. Anytime the Adam Sooley Current edition is opened it syncs for the newest information. Since Google Currents is linked to your Google account, all devices you have will be synced with the same sources.

Add my Google Currents Edition or browse some editions online.

Overall the Google Currents app does everything I need it to do for a news app and in a clean, intuitive way. Download it now from Google Play for Android or iPad and iPhone.

Visit the Google Currents homepage.

ING Direct: 1 Year Review

Its been just about a year now since I moved all of my banking needs to ING Direct. It was a easy process to complete and ING Direct was there along the way to help when there was a problem. You can read that review here: Operation Bank Switch: Complete You will notice above that I said all of my banking needs, well that all does not mean all I will explain a few of these below.

What has changed in the year:

• ING Direct now offers Interac E-Mail money transfers at $1 each. This allows for faster money transfers to people who do not have an ING account. ING still does their free email money transfers though it will take a couple of days if the receiver is not an ING client.
• ING Direct gives more than the 20 free cheques now. First when they launched the account you would receive 20 free cheques and would have to pay ~$10 for an additional 50. Now you will receive 50 from the get go but you will still have to pay after the initial 50.

What they still need to work on:

• A Visa or MasterCard; I have said this in the previous posts and I continue to say it. Right now I use a RBC West Jet MasterCard and I have just come to learn that the interest rates will be going up in June for all account holders of this card. So here I am again having to look for a good credit card to get. I know if ING did get into this it would be a huge blessing for allot of their clients.
• A RESP; ING does offer RRSP's and do have children's saving accounts (CSA) but have no RESP so parents cant take advantage of the Government of Canada's grants available when investing into RESP's. This is just recently become an issue for me since Paige was born we have been putting money aside for her in a CSA but now we would like to invest it further.
• A Line of Credit; If not a Visa or MasterCard, a line of credit would be nice when need access to funds for repairs and such. Though this is not high on my wish list.
• Save the Rest; This more of a wish than anything. It is something that ScotiaBank offers. When you purchase something with your debit card, you can have the amount rounded up and the rounded up amount be placed into a savings account. So if you but something for $8.62 you can have it rounded up to the nearest dollar or five dollars. That way $0.38 or $1.38 gets deposed into a savings account. 

Overall I would still give IND Direct a 8.5/10 since it is free banking after all and they pay you to be a client. So here's hoping they can improve on some of the things above.

What other bank in the industry pays you to become a customer? Well the answer to that is easy, NONE. When you sign up for an account at ING Direct and use another customers ORANGE KEY you will both get $25, no strings attached. But the FREE money does not stop there, when you are ready to move your payroll into your ING Direct Thrive Chequing account, they will give you an additional $100 just to say thanks. Now I'm not saying you have to sign up with my ORANGE KEY but I would certainly love to get the bonus $25 just like you. My ORANGE KEY is: 14477247S1. http://www.ingdirect.ca/referafriend   

Long time coming

So it seems this post has been a long time comming since I seemed to have forgotten about my blog for quite some time according to my last post time. It seems like I slip into this much too often where I do a bunch of web posts and than forget to do a post. So here is goes for my first post in 6 months.

Paige was born at 4:29pm on September 15, 2011 weighing in at 10lbs 10oz, below is a timeline view of the last 6 months in picture format:

 

Arriving home for the first time. September 18, 2011

Her Christening. October 1, 2011

Heading to Edmonton for her first ride on a plane. November 4, 2011

2 Month Needles. November 28, 2011

Close to the first Christmas relaxing with Mommy. December 18, 2011

Its the new year. January 4, 2012

Mommy reading a book. February 2012

At Nanny and Poppy's house in Florida. February 15, 2012

Sporting her Google hat. March 2012

Sporting her flower. 

 So has you can see she has grown up quite a bit over the last 6 months. Since that time she is now rolling, crawling and has two teeth coming out. Also got a little bit of ink done on my right forearm to remind me of her all of the time.

So hopefully I will continue to keep this blog updated in the future now that I have started again.

Android App Review #1 - Instagram vs. Camera Zoom FX

Many months ago I purchased the Android app Camera Zoom FX when it went on sale. One of the selling points for me of camera zoom was the ability to download plugins for the app to do different effects with your images. Once you place the effects on your images you can save them and share the image on mutiple social media sites with ease. I had heard about Instagram but to my dismay it was only available on iOS so Android users were SOL for trying Instagram. That was up until two weeks ago when Instagram released a Android version of their popular app. So we Android users finally have had a chance to see what all the hype was about.

Ease of Use

Instagram has this hands down. Once you take a picture, you are shown a preview and you can select the different filters or none that you like and hit go to have it uploaded to the web. While with Camera Zoom FX you will have to take extra steps to apply the filters.

Cost

 Instagram also has this one won hands down since it is free, while Camera Zoom FX will cost you $2.79.

Conclusion

Over all I like the ease of use of Instagram, but Camera Zoom FX has many more features and abilities overall. If you are looking for a camera app to share all of your photos use Instagram but if sharing is not your main deciding point go Camera Zoom FX. While writing this post, news just broke that Facebook has bought Instagram for 1 billion dollars. So I don't know if this information will change anyone's view. For me I am not a big fan of Facebook so I may stop using Instagram in the future if Facebook messes with the quality of the product but for now I will continue to use both.

Downloads

Camera Zoom FX
Instagram