<div><strong>How Delectable</strong><br />Before you take that sip of wine — what do you know about it? In today’s society, it’s not just about the taste <img width="125" height="125" align="right" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=0fcd1f7b-9e17-4324-b14b-df6dbea8c36c&groupId=222861&t=1406033020893" alt="" />of wine, but your knowledge of its characteristics. If you’re an iPhone user, get yourself the app, Delectable, and use its camera to click a wine label. Now, once it’s been recognised, see what Delectable has to say about it, where is it from, what vineyard, etc. And more interestingly, go social with it. If you let the app into your contact list and networks, you can see who else has been partaking of the particular wine and what they’ve said about it. In fact, you can see what wines your friends have been drinking and what they like. Delectable is both a wine scanner and a wine journal and a lot more enjoyable way to learn about wine than attending a course. Also a way of getting reviews and recommendations before you buy.<br /><br /><strong>Get your Colours</strong><br /><img width="125" height="125" align="right" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=0207e9db-2938-408d-a3e7-f916b5aa1859&groupId=222861&t=1406033044278" alt="" />Artists, designers, interior decorators — or anyone who frequently has to deal with colours such as when creating marketing material, schemes for an app or logo colours — here’s a wonderful tool on iOS. Spectrum is a great way of creating or capturing colour schemes and sharing them with others who may be working with you on a project. The app has colour wheels and matrixes of various kinds, but the more interesting part is how you can extract the colours from a photograph and use them for something else. In fact, if you spot a set of colours that grab your attention, just take a good picture and then pull the photograph into Spectrum. The whole palette will open up for you to edit so that you can adjust any colours or add or throw out some if you like. You can save the palette to your camera roll or share it.<br /><strong><br /><img width="125" height="125" align="right" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=d5af56f3-28d2-4f20-9dc3-3a585b38e506&groupId=222861&t=1406033059982" alt="" />Salient Eye</strong><br />At a pinch, you can use your Android phone as a security camera. Download the free app and it’s best to watch a tutorial on how to use it though it isn’t very complicated. You configure the app on various parameters like whether to switch the screen off, how many seconds to take to arm, password, etc. You then set the phone to have the rear camera face an entrance or vulnerable area, press the button to arm, and get out of the way. The problem is that it’s rather fussy and insists the user stop moving so it can finish arming. You can experiment with the sensitivity level. If it detects movement before arming, it’ll just start all over again. Once it’s armed, you move away totally. If anyone passes in front of the camera, even from a distance, an almighty alarm will go off and only stop when you enter your password. <br /><br />(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 11-08-2014)</div>
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.
