Blue Bugle: Mobile, Desktop & Web Technologies

[Note: First of all, we are redesigning the format of Blue Bugle. We have not been active for more than a month now. In August, we did not have even one post going. There have been quite a number of technological advancements in that month. We covered none of them, but none of our regular readers missed us still. The reason being, there are no regular readers; probably! We have been trying hard to develop readership by posting honest reviews of products and good advice to smartphone and tablet buyers that you can get nowhere else. Not even on professional technology blogs. Still, we are not gaining readership, because we have been posting only what people feel they can find elsewhere. If they do, there is absolutely no need for Blue Bugle to exist. Hence, we are changing. From now on, you will get blatant entries on what we really think and know. We are going to be ruthless to anybody that rips you off. We are going to show you what you need to do. We are restructuring the posts. No...

Simply speaking, VOIP has become a means to make calls from your PCs to all kinds of devices. Here is a list of short reviews of the best of VOIP software programs out there. 6. Vonage In the large field of VOIP software, Vonage  (also UK edition ) is already quite a bit known. It is also one of the best services out there. The Vonage VOIP plans start at 9 dollars per month. The system has a box known as Vonage box that works with your broadband modem in order to bring unlimited calling worldwide. There are a lot of included and add-on features for Vonage service, including call management, voicemail, simultaneous ringing on five phones, enhanced call forwarding, virtual numbers, Fax, extra lines, toll free numbers, etc. 5. Nextiva Nextiva is a VOIP software program with business focus. It is feature-rich with quite a number of features listed here . You can also buy VOIP software phones from Nextiva at affordable prices. Nextiva has a number of plans at affor...

Remember we reported the shutdown of Google Reader a few days back? It used to be one of the Google services that reached a few million people instead of a few hundred millions as Google wants its products to. Hence, the search giant decided to shut down the reader application, putting millions out in the street. We were gladly rescued by a overwhelmingly simple feed reader application known as Feedly . Feedly Feedly came and conquered. It does have an interface with which you can import all your feed content directly from Google Reader itself. Since it was one of the early adopters of Google Reader refugees, it had a major boost in its traffic and user stats. With is iOS and Android apps, Feedly beckoned the readers who were desperately looking for a platform to place their feeds. And it worked. The application had a boost in traffic so tremendous that it had to make internal changes. Now the Feedly cloud application goes through regular maintenance and feature updates...

Today let me discuss about encryption a little bit. You may know that the government agencies, hackers, and companies are capable of eavesdropping into your communications. It doesn’t matter how you transfer files and emails, they are always under the threat of wiretapping. How do you hide your data? There is only one way you can safeguard from data stealers. That’s by using a software application to encrypt your files and folders. One of the best encryption software out there is being reviewed in this article. The program is known as Encrypt4All  available for trial download. Encrypt4all is a complete encryption software program that can encrypt and lock files, folders, documents in various formats, etc., into an archive with bit-by-bit encryption methods. One of the major advantages of Encrypt4all is that it has the capability to work with many different file formats, some of which include documents, text files, PDF, mp3, videos, Flash, etc. This is not a big advantage as the...

In the 90’s one of the most popular online things was the Yahoo! and AOL online chat rooms. When social networks started appearing and gained popularity, chat rooms slowly died. In December last year, Yahoo! shut down its popular chat service. We can chat right inside Facebook or Google Plus or Gmail. This has become quite so common these days. What is making news in this sea of social networking sites is the new information that Facebook is building chat rooms for its users, who are counted to be more than a billion. The biggest competition to FB chat room will be Google’s own Hangouts feature available on Google Plus. Facebook is testing out a new feature known as ‘Host Chat’ that will help you create and host chat rooms within FB. This being said, there are a number of chat applications already within Facebook. OpenChatRoom, LiveChatRoom, etc., are third party apps available in Facebook for the same purpose. These chat applications are not however so popular although they are ...

Taiwanese OEM, Huawei is kind of popular these days, thanks to its Ascend Mate smartphone, Ascend P6, and MediaPad range of tablets, which have some of the largest Android screens in the market outside Samsung. Huawei, like Asus, has now come up with a tablet, 7 inch tablet that can make phone calls. You may remember Asus FonePad, a pad that is a ‘Fone’ too. Here is Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue, another pad that is a phone too. Technical Specs Here are the major technical specifications of Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue. Display : 7 inch capacitive touch; 16 million colors; 600x1024 pixels Processor : Quad-core 1.2 GHz K3V2 (Huawei owned HiSilicon) Camera : 3.15 MP; no front-facing Memory :  1 GB RAM Storage : Internal 8 GB; expansion slot provides up to 32 GB Dimensions : 193.8x121.3x9.5 mm Weight : 335 g Operating System : Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Battery : Non-removable Lithium-Polymer 4100 mAh Connectivity : HSDPA/HSUPA 42 Mbps downlink; mini-SIM; no LTE The techn...

You have probably already read our reviews of HTC One  and Galaxy S4 . These are the best and brightest of the currently available Android smartphones on the market. These smartphones have the best display, processors, graphics options, memory, storage, and of course high price. They come with Android 4.1.2 and 4.2.2 respectively, with HTC’s and Samsung’s special skin on top of Android. Google releases its Android OS and licenses it out to all these smartphone manufacturers, who decide to change the OS in the way they want and skin it up with their own designs. Although these designs are quite amazing, people are still pretty interested in Google’s own non-customized Android as found in the Nexus line. The latest Nexus device is LG’s Nexus 4  that has its own disadvantages, such as lack of LTE for one. Now, however, you are getting an option to get a Nexus-like operating system on one of these premier devices, HTC One and Galaxy S4. Here are the Google Play editions of the...