Bleep charging cable backs your data up while you charge

For many people, their smartphone is the place where they have all their data. Contacts for work and play are in the phone and if the phone was lost or stolen, it would be very bad indeed to lose the data for most people. A new charging cable has turned up on Indiegogo called bleep that not only charges your phone, but it also backs up the data on your phone at the same time.

Using the bleep charge cable smartphone users get automatic data back up using a storage drive inside the cable. Plug and play capability means that the storage inside the cable does its thing with no intervention from you. Storage capacity is available in 16GB to 64GB.

An app running on the Android device allows your data to be saved to the drive as your device charges. Bleep is designed to synchronize new data and contacts to the internal storage each time it is connected to your phone.

Once everything is set up, the backup process starts as soon as you plug the bleep cable into the tablet or smartphone. After using bleep if you lose your device the app allows you to restore your data using the application interface. Data stored on the drive is secured with a password. Bleep seeks $20,000 on Indiegogo and has raised $3,120 with 59 days to go. A pledge of $40 for the first 100 buyers will get you a bleep with delivery date estimated in August 2015.

SOURCE: Indiegogo

Galaxy S5 PowerSkin Spare Battery Case adds 2200 mAh of power

Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone have a new battery case to check out called the PowerSkin Spare Battery Case. The case is available in four colors including black, blue, white, and gold. One of the big features of the Spare Battery case is that it is very thin and adds minimal bulk to your smartphone while significantly increasing the runtime of your device.

Inside the Spare Battery Case is a 2200 mAh battery that provides up to 230 hours of standby time and up to 12.5 hours of additional talk time. While adding significant amounts of talk time, the case weighs only 80 grams.

The case has a custom indent space for the charging port cover of the smartphone, front LED lights to indicate charging, and its own on/off button. TennRich, the company that makes the case, uses XPAL tech inside with short circuit and overcharge protection, heat channels to remove excess heat, and pass-through charging tech.

Pass-through charging means that the device is charged first and then the battery case charges. A flame retardant UV coating is also applied to the case to help reduce the risk of fire if the case overheats. Pricing for the Spare Battery case is £59.99 and it will be on display at IFA 2014 in Berlin. PowerSkin has been making battery cases for years now, we talked about PowerSkin cases for the Samsung Galaxy Tab all the way back in 2010.

SOURCE: TennRich

Strike Wing: Raptor Rising space simulator game hits Android

Crescent Moon Games has rolled out a new game for Android users that focuses on space battles called Strike Wing: Raptor Rising. Strike Wing is described as a space-fighting simulator and in the game players will be flying ships in deep space looking for answers to what happened during something called the Sirius incident.

The Sirius incident in the game is a major friendly fire incident and players play as a part of a black ops team searching for the truth. Two control options are available in the game with the ability to use the gyroscope for tilt controls, an on-screen d-pad is also available for controlling the spacecraft.

Players can choose to play with a cockpit view or a third person perspective. Graphics were a focus for the game and look good in screenshots and video. Players can enjoy the game on Android devices running Android 4.0 or higher. The game has a story mode, challenge mode, and a number of ships to fly.

Strike Wing can be downloaded and the first level played free, the full game will cost $3.99. When you purchase the full game all missions, ships, and challenges are included. There are 42 achievements to win in the game.

SOURCE: DroidGamers

Oscura Second Shadow arrives to shed some light

Ole Alfheim of Chocolate Liberation Front is taking another stab at its Webby-award nominated Oscura. In Second Shadow, you once again take control of the unwilling and rather ironic hero Oscura as he tries to recover the pieces of the shattered Aurora stone and restore light to the Driftlands.

Oscura is an ironic hero in the sense that this creature is trying to collect pieces of light while he himself is practically a creature of darkness. Or at least engulfed in shadows, much like the rest of the land. Driftlands is said to be a gothic land. Plunging it into darkness, then, sounds doubly horrifying, much like the creatures you will run into in this platformer game. "Platformer" would sometimes remind you games like Super Mario, and in this case that is definitely well warranted. The game is described as "Super Mario meets Tim Burton". The funny thing is that there are immediately palpable nods to the Nintendo classic. Remember those pipes that would suck you into an underworld filled with treasure and deadly traps? You've got that here too, except you won't have to guess which pipes have secret entrances.

Your quest is to guide the titular hero in search for the Aurora stone, the magical bright thingamajig that sits in a lighthouse and serves as the Driftlands' sun. Because for some reason, some nefarious creature has stolen it but also managed to break it while running, or flying, away. Oscura, who again is a literally shadowy figure, only has his glowing hand as his weapon. But that weapon is fairly limited in purpose, as you can't actually hit enemies with it. In fact, like in Super Mario, a single touch is enough to kill you. The glowing hand then, is used primarily to light up lamp posts that become your save games. You also collect shards of the Aurora stone, which fill up a gauge that you can use for a rather creative game mechanic.

Oscura Second Shadow has a tiny speck of Prince of Persia in it. With the shards of light, you can slow down, but not totally stop time. In doing so, you can avoid enemies, reach otherwise dangerous places, and claim those cogs and light shards. Be careful though, as activating this time manipulating power drains that gauge. In terms of game controls, Oscura is quite simplistic. You have buttons on one side for going forward or backward and on the opposite side a button for jumping and activating your time powers. All the rest of the game depends on your skill at avoiding enemies and traps and making use of movable parts of the environment, like huge rolling stones or crates, to your advantage.

Oscura Second Shadow is now available on Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore. To celebrate its debut, publisher Suprise Attack is putting it up for only $0.99 for a limited time only. There are no in-app purcahses so once you've bought the game, you're completely free to go, or in this case, jump, as you please.

Thanks for the tip, James!

MIX by Camera360 app updated to version 1.0, leaves beta

One of the most common things that people do with their smartphones is to use them to take photographs that can be shared online. An app called MIX by Camera360 was updated recently to version 1.0. The update brings with it lots of changes that are based on feedback from the beta version of the app.

The app has gained hi-res output for images and processing speed for applying filters and changes to images has been sped up. The app also saw minor user interface adjustments in the update. So far, Mix has been installed between 10,000 and 50,000 times, and requires Android 3.0 and up to operate.

The hallmark of the app is that it has a large variety of adjustment tools, effects, and filters for users to choose from. Some of the tools included in the app are Bokeh Blur, Selective Color Adjustment, Level Enhancement, Vignette, and others.

The app has about 200 handpicked effects and filters for users to apply to their photos before sharing. The workflow with images stored on the phone is non-destructive so if you don’t like the finished effect, you can revert to the original image without issue.

SOURCE: Google Play

TeamViewer QuickSupport update brings support to more phones

An app called TeamViewer QuickSupport has been updated this week to bring support for more devices to the mix. TeamViewer QuickSupport is an application that allows mobile infrastructure managers to help users with issues on their Android devices without needing physical access to the device.

With the update, the app now supports Huawei, LG, and HTC devices along with Intel, Casio, and i.Oink hardware. The app is 5.6MB in size and has been installed between 1 million and 5 million times. The new update brings the app to version 9.0.2299 and it requires Android 2.3.3 or higher to operate.

The app allows mobile device users to get support from any Mac or Windows computer. From the computer, the technician operating the help desk using TeamViewer QuickSupport can access and see the device just as if it were in their hands.

The app features chat, allows the tech to view device information, has remote control, and supports file transfer. Users can also see an app list, uninstall apps, stop processes, push and pull WiFi settings, and view screenshots from the device. Access to the devices is secured with 256-bit AES session encoding.

SOURCE: Google Play

Square Cash update: ask and send payment requests

Does a friend owe you money but you won’t be able to meet in person anytime soon and bank transfers are such a drag? Or do you want to send some money to a family member who lives in another state? Square’s Cash app has a new update and it wants to make cash transactions a bit easier by allowing you to send or ask for cash requests through SMS.

Well, of course, you’re not exactly exchanging cash through text messages. What you’re sending is an SMS that would ask your contact to download the Cash app, which is Square’s consumer cash transaction service, if they haven’t done it yet. From the Cash app, just select a contact from your phonebook, and it will send a text to them requesting or sending money. If they already have the app installed, they can straightaway do the transaction requested. But if they don’t have it yet, they will be redirected to download the app. You can send as many as 25 requests at once, so that you can message all those who owe you money in one fell swoop.

Aside from this new feature, the app has gotten a new design as well. You can now link your contact number and email addresses to your Square profile. All the functions are more streamlined as well, with the sending interface now more optimized to make transactions faster. You can also add a note to your payments if ever you need to explain to someone why you’re sending them money (or asking for it).

The app is ready to use in 50 states according to Square. You can download the Cash app for free (the cash in your account is not free though) through Google Play Store.

VIA: SlashGear