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EACH WEEK, WE highlight five apps that are worth downloading for your smartphone and tablet. There are a lot of apps released on a daily basis, but not all of them are worth paying attention to.
This week includes a way for you not to forget those important links, a way to practice those free-kicks (virtually) and a private web browser.
Mail to Self
For: iOS
Cost: Free
- There are always moments where you’ll come across something you will want to remember but quickly forget when you moved onto another thing.
- Mail to Self is a simple but effective add-on. Setting up is easy: enter your email address, get a verification code and use it to activate the app.
- Anytime you’re in an app that has iOS share features, you can email yourself a link, image or video through one tap.
- You have to go into the ‘more’ section first and move it to the top so it appears automatically, but that’s a small thing to handle.
- If you regularly bookmark stuff on your phone but forget to check it, this will ensure you remember next time.
Ghostery Private Browser
For: Android
Cost: Free
- Those of you who are fond of non-tracking plugins would already be familiar with Ghostery which stops sites from tracking you. And now it’s on the small screen.
- It has its own standalone browser for Android which brings the same benefits as its desktop counterpart.
- The standard web browsing elements are here. Tabs, bookmarking and other features perform just as well as you would expect.
- Of course, the privacy elements are what are going to attract you to this. You can see how many trackers are on a website and choose which ones to allow and block.
- For those who don’t want their mobile browsing activity to be tracked by sites.
Camera360 Sight
For: Windows Phone
Cost: Free
- Windows Phone users following Camera360 will be glad to know that the app has finally come out of beta, and is now Sight.
- To say it comes with a lot of features would be an understatement. Sight is packed full of them from software to selfies to after-edit features. It’s pretty comprehensive.
- The camera is swipe-based, and rather intuitive. Swipe down on the camera to get extra options, choose filters before snapping and even set a selfie timers if needed
- There are quite a number of editing features here too, enough for you to touch up whatever photo you may take.
- The blurb may oversell it somewhat but it is a great camera app.
Tiny Strikers
For: iOS, Android
Cost: Free
- Chances are this will remind some people of Sensible Soccer, but while the graphical style is similar, the gameplay is incredibly different.
- Tiny Strikers effectively has you scoring free-kicks by swiping. The way you swipe it determines the the direction the ball goes.
- It’s similar to an arcade game, you have to score as many goals as possible and deal with defenders and goalies.
- It can get repetitive though and once you’ve played a few minutes of it, you will know what to expect, but it’s still a nice distraction.
- It’s not a deep game by any means, but it will certainly kill a few minutes of your time.
Stick Hero
For: iOS, Android
Cost: Free (includes in-app purchases)
- From football to ninjas now and a arcade game that’s all about creating platforms.
- The premise is simple. Hold your finger on the screen to create a platform and stretch it until it’s the right length.
- It’s simple but it’s quick and challenging to get the platform measurements right.
- It can be incredibly cruel though. If you’re off by only the slightest of margins, you’re going to fall to your doom.
- Another game that you can pick up and play pretty quickly. Straightforward and to the point.
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How come the media aren’t following gerry o carolll around looking for an interview? If he wasn’t a journalist or an ex heavy gang member you can be sure the media would be camped on his door.
@sixmile: Gerry o Connell does not accept he is wrong he doesn’t believe the police ,the irony he wants Scotland Yard to redo the tests again as far as I believe from listening to the radio
@FlopFlipU:
yes, i heard, this is why rte should be camped outside his house.
@sixmile: how were 3/4 vey similar statements taken from the Hayes family which have now been shown to be impossible to be known by them back in 1984.
Fast forward to recent Jobstown trial and again we have several sworn statements presented to a court which video evidence showed to be completely false.
2 similar statements MIGHT be explained by coincidence, several are at best, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
@FlopFlipU: as per the media he wants baby johns body exhumed & retested for DNA so he still doesn’t believe the forensics. The majority of the guards involved are now either dead or retired so I doubt they’ll be many comments or interviews coming. It would be ironic if the media hounded the surviving ones the same way they hounded the Hayes family at that time. It amazes me how the guards are still focusing on the Cahersiveen/ South Kerry area 34 years on, that child’s body could have been thrown in around dingle & washed down the coast?? There’s some people sweating somewhere this week!!! RIP both babies, hopefully justice will be served.
Now that DNA is so advanced maybe they can also find out who raped teenager Ann Lovett who died along with her baby in a Grotto not long after the Kerry Babies case. That is if they took DNA samples of the baby at the time.
@Aine O Connor: The poor little baby boy was never even given a name. Heartbreaking.
I think the guards carried out the dna test in the hope that it would prove that joanne hayes was the mother. They weren’t trying to clear her they were trying to destroy her further, if that’s even possible.
@sixmile: That would not make sense though because everyone in the country knew this was a bogus investigation and that it’s findings were ridiculous. The DNA test could only ever have been expected to prove her innocence.
@sixmile: I don’t think so to be fair ,it would be to risky
@sixmile:
More likely they delayed the DNA test for years because they knew it would prove her innocence.
Aother example of how shockingly bad the state of journalism was/ is in this country.
The politicians are to blame, the would not set up the DNA databank for years. The forensic dept of the Garda is totally underfunded. Our incompetent Politicians & Ministers for Justice have led to years of inaction.
@Martin Sinnott:
“Our incompetent Politicians & Ministers for Justice have led to years of inaction.”
They were either scared or corrupt, not incompetent.
@Martin Sinnott: yeah! Need to look at our police force too. Fraudulent breath tests is only a symptom of the rot. Look at the leadership! 2 commissioners with serious questions to answer. The only difficult is knowing where it starts at the top or lower down.
This state stinks at every professional level and its going to continue on and on and on because people at this level have no word nor honesty but are only full of their own self importance .
Brush under the carpet followed by knuckle whitening hand wringing was the order of the day .
I see the media now referring to Joanne Hayes as ‘Hayes’, this was how criminals were referred to in the past and journalists would rarely if ever refer to suspects unless they were found guilty. I noticed the same on RTÉ with regard to the late Dolores O’Riordan in a news item last night. This is offensive to loved ones, families and to those involved.
@Síghle A Ni Ainle: Isn’t that a bit out of date? Equality has more value than old-fashioned habits.
There have been cases when DNA hasn’t proved reliable though. It’s unlikely in this case but there have been cases where the person turned out to be a chimera and it has caused issues. For example one woman was DNA sampled in the US and almost lost her kids because it showed no biological relationship to her children. Subsequently they discovered she was a chimera and took several DNA samples from different areas before finding one that proved her relationship to her children.
@Catherine Sims: You’re right.It is possibly in some cases.
@Gerry O’Rourke: So you missed where I said it was unlikely did you ? Actually this particular issue is widely being recognised as causing innconent people to end up in jail. Chimeras aren’t as late as first thought. Having looked at cases in an academic situation for the purposes of study the chimera issue is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Regardless my point still stands. DNA evidence can be problematic and is not infallible despite the generally help view that it is.
@Catherine Sims: Rare not late , spell check again.
Never knew we had a Police force!
A very serious case, but difficult not to picture a totally fit up when the blood test proved the couple could not be the baby’s parents.
Guards trying to force a square peg into a round hole.
@Caroline Otoole: not the only ongoing case where gardai ignorance caused ongoing problems.
Why does this still sound like a witch hunt? They’re still fixated on finding “someone local”. They’re still airing opinions. They know little and they should be seeking proof, not trying to outdo each other with theories to show off what they “knew” all along. Isn’t this like a nod and a wink instead of establishing a chain of actual evidence?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: I’m not sure we have people who know what an open mind is, and how important it is. Especially in investigation.
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