Sunday 26 January 2020

Google Assistant Interpreter Mode has reached phones!

Google Assistant Interpreter Mode
This cool new feature, courtesy Google, allows you to translate languages in real time. How Cool is that! No more trying to learn a couple words here and there to get by in a new place. As with some language translators, they initially work with only a few languages, but not with Google Assistant Interpreter mode. This new feature comes with 44 languages to help you get along in translating a new language. That is definitely quite a bit to start of the bat.

To simply launch the new feature all you have to say is “Hey Google, help me speak so and so language…” or instead “Hey Google be my so and so language translator…”

More on the New Google Assistant Interpreter mode: 


You may be thinking, so it translates languages but what about speaking it and pronunciation? That is all been taken care of by Google. The tool not only translates the language but also reads it out aloud.
Why not add a little AI into the mix too? This too has been taken care of by the tech giant. The Google Assistant Interpreter mode can also give smart replies thereby lessening the hassle of you typing out a very obvious reply. Plus you don’t have to speak into the translator for it to begin to translate things.

Google Assistant Interpreter mode in Phones now too: 


Previously, Google Assistant Interpreter mode was found only in Google Smart Home and displays. But has now found a home in Android as well as iOS devices as well. The translator mode was initially launched to Google smart home and its displays in Feb 2019. Since then it has been added to phones in Dec of 2019.

This tool is great when you’re headed abroad for a nice and relaxing holiday. Especially if you’re going to a place having a different language than yours, this tool can definitely come in handy. No longer do you have to brush up on a language or try to avoid the local crowd just because you don’t know the local dialect.

How to use Google Assistant Interpreter mode? 


To start translating all you have to do is start with “Hey Google translate so and so language..” as soon as your counterpart speaks, the tool will automatically translate words onto the screen. When you need to speak in turn you will have to hold down on the microphone while the tool translates what you’ve just said. The tool will then play what you’ve just said in the local dialect.

After a translation you will also get a variety of smart replies to choose form. You simply select the best one and have Google Assistant Interpreter mode translate it for you.

If you happen to be in a quiet environment where talking is not really allowed, then you could also input things by typing out what you want said. Translations too will appear in the local language on screen just as if it was spoken out aloud.

Tuesday 14 January 2020

CES 2020: A thing of Fake meat, Security and Fake people

CES 2020
The buzz is abound CES 2020, much of that has do with fake meat, hypes over security and fake people. With CES spanning over 2.9 million square feet, the area is hopping with new and emerging gadgets. People walk miles and miles to take a look at what new and often weird gadgets have taken places at this year’s CES. However the more top players in the game such as Google, Amazon and Samsung have reserved their top offerings for their own shows to be held later in the year. So without further ado let’s see what CES 2020 has in store for us.

Laptops, TVs getting interesting at CES 2020? 


Laptops have just gotten a lot more interesting with their new foldable tech that allows OLED screens to bend.

Tvs are getting their own ability to fix their own picture settings and fake meat is becoming a thing. Have you ever heard of ‘fake meat’? Well now you have. All curtesy of CES 2020. Leave aside fake meat for just a second and look at this- Artificial people. These virtual avatars interact with us as if they are the real deal.

How are we Getting There at CES 2020? 


CES 2020 has long been a place to catch up on new trends that haven’t really made it to the factory floor as yet. These include the self- driving car phenomenon, augmented reality glasses and artificial intelligence. Yeah yeah we known artificial intelligence is a broad topic, but there is a lot that can be done with it that we’re still looking out for.

Get this: If you should have any single reason to get a TV upgrade it should be for this- To get 8K instead of the now common 4K (This is the ad plug by the TV industry at CES 2020). 8K as the name suggests will have 4 times as many pixels as 4K, DUH!

Gadgets we rather not look at: 


Every so often at CES we see gadgets that we hope don’t make it to the market place. This time around is no different too. There are companies that use people’s security fears and transform it into something tangible, there are those health centric companies that make people even more aware of health concerns over their already over health conscious lifestyles and then there are those who like you to think that you need to keep an eye on everything- we’re talking deep level surveillance paranoia.

There’s also the case of privacy washing whereby you are given additional security under the pretext of having all your data transferred to the company. Air quotes begin: “To help in learning the environment for an enhanced user experience”, air quotes end.

Now to Conclude with the weirdest at CES 2020: 


Neon Avatars: Neon is a computer generated artificial person. Neon has Alexa like conversational abilities and the company also says that the person will even be able to sympathize like a normal person would. I don’t know if that is cool or just creepy?

Tuesday 7 January 2020

5 Best Color Splash Apps for Android to Try Out Now

Color Splash Apps for Android
One of the many popular ways to edit your photos is using something known as color splash. For the selfie takers out there this is a common term. For those uninitiated, color splash is where the whole photo is made black and white save for a certain area that is left with color. This effect makes the colored object pop up and hence the name ‘color pop’. In this post we’ll be seeing some of the best apps that give you this effect. So continue reading for some of the best color splash apps for Android.


Most of the apps on the list have ‘color splash’ in their names and give you automatic black and white save that one object. For others you’ll have to work a little harder to get the intended effect. Besides this there are also some more features that separate each app from the other. But we’ll get into that later. So without further ado let’s see what these Android apps have in store.

Color Splash Apps For Android- Paletta One of The Best to Try Out: 


This app has both features to cater to automatic as well as manual intervention. When you upload a picture to the app, the app extracts the colors from the image and shows them in a palette at the bottom of the screen. Once the picture is in grey scale you can simply choose the color of your choice from the given palette to make that particular object pop up. So in the end you can end up with multiple colors being selected.

Now for the manual option: if you want to remove certain colors from the object that pops up you can do so manually. You can do this by using the given brush and eraser option. These will be seen on the left side of the screen. To get to the smaller areas of the picture, the app also allows you to zoom in and out to make the more minute changes.

The best part of this app: it has no Ads besides that color extraction is excellent and compares well with the original picture. However a big negative when it comes to this app is that you cannot adjust the size of the brush or eraser. But in spite of this negative this is still one of the best color splash apps for Android to try out.

Color Splash Effect


This app is courtesy of Colorful Filter Studio which has produced some amazing photo editing apps. But for now we’ll be looking at this color splash app for Android. This app besides coming with the requisite color splash effects also comes with an editing tool as well. This tool you can use either before applying the color pop feature or after. You can access this tool by selecting the beauty option.


In this app there are two ways in which you can add the color pop- one is by using smart color the other is by using free color. In both of these features you will have to color the object of your choice manually. The smart option is smart in that the app helps you in keeping the color within the objects boundary itself. If that’s not really your thing, you can always try out the free option to see if that is more your jam.

The best of this color splash app is that it has this cool smart color feature. The negative is that you can’t control the brush size and also can’t compare the image with the original picture.

Color Touch Effects Color Splash apps for Android: 


This app weighs in a mere 4MB but still packs in a punch. Besides doing what we’re here for- color splash, it also has some more effects that you can play around with. There is even an option to add a caption to your photos from the convenience of the app itself.

To get the color splash effect you’ll have to do so manually there isn’t an automatic configuration feature given. There is however a ‘Mono’ button that allows you to erase any errant color that you might have added. The biggest plus in this app is that you can adjust brush size and opacity which is something the other color splash apps for Android do not have.

The biggest con with this app is that it does not come with an automatic mode.

Color splash Effect photo Editor


This is a three way app in that you can color splash in three different ways. Let’s begin with the more traditional way which is to brush on color on the required area. For this you’ll have to tap on the hand icon button given in the bottom panel. Then proceed to color the desired area.

The second way to color splash is to add color much like the Paletta app using the automatic mode. This you can do using the pallet given in the bottom.

The third method is kinda different. In this method you can add color by selecting a shape. The area inside the shape chosen will be colored. You can also reverse this and make the area outside colored instead of the one inside. The best thing of this app is that it comes with multiple modes, the not so great aspect is that you can’t adjust the brush size.

Partial Color Master Best Color Splash Apps for Android: 


With this app you can extract colors automatically by just tapping on the selected area. Once you’ve removed the colors you can add any color by simply applying it to the image. This app also allows you to adjust the intensity of the colors chosen as well. After the automatic color splash you can add any other desired color manually too.

These are some of the various color splash apps for Android that are available. Some will allow you to manually apply color while others are more automatic. However a common theme seems to be the lack of brush size in almost all of these apps.

Friday 3 January 2020

How to Get Your Android Notifications on Windows 10

How to Get Your Android Notifications on Windows 10

One of the reasons why people pick Apple over Android is the inter connectivity Apple allows. iPhones, iPads and macOS can all be synced with one another, allowing you to see you’re notifications on any Apple device that you’re currently on. On the surface Android too lacks such a feature but Android’s open source feature allows third parties developers to add things that Google’s does not include with their stock version. One of these so called third party developers happens to be Windows. Windows is using such a feature to lure Android users into their web of customers. Apart from bringing in the much needed inter connectivity, you also get Android Notifications on Windows 10 as well.

Requirements to get Android Notifications on Windows 10: 


As the title suggests you’ll first need to be running Windows 10 on your PC. The version has to be the April 2018 one and later.

The next requirement is of you Android device. Your phone needs to have Android 7.0 Nougat or later for you to get notifications on your PC.

The First Step is to Install an app: 


The first step in getting Android notifications on windows 10 PC is to install the “Your Phone Companion”, which is an app onto your Android device. This app, courtesy of Windows, is available in the Play Store for download.

The next Step is to get your PC to know your Phone in other words install your Phone onto the PC:
As a small side note if you happen to have Windows 10 version October 2018 or later you can skip this step. The app already comes Pre- installed. If not, then continue with the above mentioned step as follows:

Once on your PC go on to the Microsoft Store app and search for “your Phone” app. Continue with installing it. If you don’t have a Microsoft account you’ll be prompted to make one if you already have one the go on and install the app.

Once you have the app installed and open it you’ll be prompted to give your phone number. This is to send text messages to your phone with details of the accompanying app to install. We mentioned this app in the first step.

Connect your Mobile Device to your PC to get Android Notifications on Windows 10: 


The next step is to open the app on your phone and once there you can click to get started. Press the continue button and follow the prompts given. These prompts are to ask you for all the necessary permissions and such.

If you happen to have problems with any of the prompts you can simply go on to the home screen and then onto the app drawer. From there you have to long press the “your phone companion” icon and then select the app info button or the small- I. On the next page you’ll be given a list of options select “Permissions”. You will then be allowed to go one by one to each section to enable permissions. Once this is done you can open the app again.

Once in the app press OK to get to the next step. After that you can switch to your PC to continue the next steps to get Android notifications on Windows 10.

On your PC open the app that you just installed- “Your Phone”. Once you have the app opened you’ll get a prompt asking you to allow so and so phone to connect to the PC, press allow. With this step your phone and PC will now be linked.

Now to Enable Notifications onto your PC: 


On your PC itself press on the Your Phone app. Choose notifications and get started. After this you will get an option to open the settings on the phone. Grant permission and move on to your phone where you should get be asked for permission to sync your phone’s notifications with so and so PC. Much like when you make a Bluetooth connection with a new device.

Once you’ve given permission you’ll be taken to the notification access menu. Once this is done scroll through till you reach the “Your Phone Companion app” toggle to allow permission. After this is done you can return back to the app on your phone by pressing the back button.

After this you’ll have to switch over to the PC for the next step in how to get Android notifications on Windows 10. On the PC you will have to press on “open settings on phone” in the app. The notification page will now show you the notifications you receive from your Android phone so long as the phone and PC remain synced.

Customize what you Receive: 


Everything is all set up now, but there are a few adjustments you can make to get a better experience. In the “You Phone” app on the PC scroll down to the bottom of the page to see some of the available options. For our post we’ll be concentrating on the option of allowing only certain apps to notify you. Once you click on this you’ll then see a list of apps you get notifications from.

Simply choose which apps you want to receive notifications and the others you can disregard. To not get notifications from certain apps toggle to the left. Others you can leave as is. This brings us to the end of how to get Android Notifications on Windows 10. But before you go there are some points you might want to take a look at first…

The Things to look out for: 


While getting notifications on your PC seems convenient there are just some things only your phone can do. One of which is accessing Smart Reply, at this stage this is a feature you can access from only your phone at present. There is also the case of the privacy feature. While you may have kept certain messages private on your phone these same messages won’t appear on your PC as well.