New Spaces
Need a new place to talk? Maybe not, but Google has one for you anyway. It's a platform called Spaces, available as an app on Android and iOS as well as on the desktop. Here, you can create conversations with groups — in fact Google refers to it as a small group messaging app. So, if you've a mind to chat about something with a few friends, you just tap to create a group and invite.
At work too, you could just tap to start a topic and gather a few people around it. The groups and conversations arrange themselves interestingly, in tiles. This gives it a different look from the other messenger apps. And Google has added a few things to make this platform unique. There's a search box right in the app. You can share a website or something on YouTube for discussion.
A Spark Of An Idea
Adobe has a suite of apps for iOS that provide interesting creative tools for someone who wants to DIY some design projects. Try Adobe's Spark Post to make single page posters and messages you can post on social media.
Once you've logged into Spark Post, just follow the buttons. It's very intuitive. Basically, you choose from among templates and replace photos with your own, if you like. You can choose colours, shapes, styles, themes and exact text to create a nice looking message. Once done, you can animate it. For instance, I made a page with a beautiful flower with the text Waiting For Rain. I chose an animation that made it fade in from black and white into colour slowly. After that, I shared it on Facebook. Because it's iOS, the format of the video is .mov.
You Hear That?
Looks like the hearing aid business could see some losses. Pune-based company, Quadio, has just launched an app called Q+ Hearing Aid which has your smartphone doubling up as a hearing device. Well, not all phones yet, but some of the Android phones running recent versions of Android. I tried out the audio test and my audiogram seems to have come out with the same consistent results.
You have to plug in earphones both to test and to use the phone as a hearing aid. Once tested, you can opt for heavy, flat or sharp sound profiles. There are also advanced settings you can make to reduce noise, increase certain frequencies etc. It seems most impressive though only a person with a hearing impairment can tell us whether it's better than a physical aid.
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
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