Turn Your Android Phone into a Remote Control for Your PC

Turn Your Android Phone into a Remote Control for Your PC: "
Would you like to play media files or use your PC by remote control? Here’s how you can turn your Android phone into a remote control with GMote 2.0.

What You’ll Need:

• GMote Server software installed on your Computer.
  
• GMote app installed from the Android Market.
  
• Windows, Mac, or Linux computer.
  
• A WiFi router. You can use GMote over your 3G connection, but it will require you to forward port 8889 on your router.

Download and install GMote from the Android Market.



When you launch the GMote app for the first time on your Android device, you’ll be prompted to install the Gmote server software on your computer. You can find the download link at the end of this article, or you can choose to have the link sent to your inbox by selecting (Email me the link).



Installing the GMote Server

Select your platform and OS and download the appropriate package. (Download link below)



It’s a straightforward install, you can take the defaults.



You’ll need to Unblock or Accept any firewall prompts.



You’ll be prompted to choose a password (optional). Type a password and click OK, or simply Cancel.



Next, you’ll have the option of adding the locations of any media files on your computer. This will allow you to easily find and play those files from your Android device. Click Done when finished.



Your GMote server will run in the system tray.



Now that the server is installed, it’s time to return to Android. Select I have installed the Server. Start GMote!



Open the GMote App. You may be prompted to choose your server computer. If you don’t see it listed, select I don’t see my server or I want to enter my IP manually.



If you set up a password, you’ll also be prompted to enter it.



Controlling Your Computer

GMote has two screens you can use to control your computer. The remote screen has some basic controls for media playback. Tap Browse at the top left to browse any media folders you added during setup, or tap the power icon at the top right to close the currently running application on your computer.



Select the directory with your media files or browse for a different folder.



Tap the file you’d like to play to begin playback on your computer.



Now you can use the Play, Stop, Skip Forward/Back, Pause, and Volume buttons to control playback.



You can switch to the touch pad mode by selecting your menu button and tapping Touchpad.



The Touch screen allows you to control mouse movements with the flick of a finger across the screen. Tap or double tap on the screen to simulate left mouse click or double click. Tap and hold to simulate a right-click on the mouse.



Tap the keyboard icon at the top left to bring up the on screen keyboard and key in text.



To modify the sensitivity and acceleration settings, press Android’s Menu button and select Settings while on the GMote touch screen.



This will allow you to adjust how far the computer’s mouse will travel when you slide your finger along the screen.



Conclusion

While GMote is not likely to make an HTPC owner forsake their remote control, it is a very nice solution for Android owners who wish to be able to play and control media on their PC from across the room.

Download GMote Server

Source : How To Geek

Skype for Symbian Now Live in Nokia’s Ovi Store

Skype for Symbian Now Live in Nokia’s Ovi Store: "

Skype for Symbian has gotten out of beta and appeared in Nokia’s Ovi Store today, enabling users of Nokia’s Symbian-based smartphones to make free voice calls over 3G or WiFi connection.

Besides free Skype to Skype voice calls, the app enables you to send and receive instant messages, share pictures, video and other files, receive calls to your online number, and import names and numbers from your phone’s address book.

The app works on following Nokia models: Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia X6, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia 5530 and the following non-touch devices: Nokia E72, Nokia E71, Nokia E90, Nokia E63, Nokia E66, Nokia E51, Nokia N96, Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8Gb, Nokia N85, Nokia N82, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8 Gb, Nokia N79, Nokia N78, Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia 6210 Navigator, Nokia 5320.

See a video demonstration of the Skype app for Symbian below.

You can download the app from Skype or from the Ovi store.

Document Source

Recognizr: Facial Recognition Coming to Android Phones

Swedish software and design company The Astonishing Tribe, also known as TAT, has been developing a rather astonishing augmented reality application for mobile phones. Originally built as a software concept, the Android app called 'Recongnizr' is a mobile prototype that allows you to use your phone in order to 'see' who a person is and what web services and social networks they're connected to. App users can also associate traditional address book details with their profile like their full name, address, phone number and email, for example.

And all of this data can be accessed just by aiming your mobile phone at someone's face.

Sponsor

We first looked at TAT's mobile concept back in July of last year. At that time, the application was called 'Augmented ID.' Using facial recognition and tracking technology from Polar Rose, a photo tagging startup, the app is able to match 3D models of faces captured with the phone's camera to those stored in a database on remote servers. This matching technique, which captures the shape of the face and other distinctive features like the contour of the eyes, the nose, and the chin, is one of the three methodologies for performing facial recognition. It's ideal for mobile interfaces such as those found in Augmented ID/Recognizr because it's not one that's affected by low-lighting scenarios, a very real possibility for mobile interfaces such as this.

Improvements to the App

Since our last look at Augmented ID, it's clear that the company has been making great strides in the development of this mobile application. Most notably, the interface's design has been greatly improved. It now has a much cleaner layout and looks to be far easier to use. The social networking icons, for example, now appear big and bubbly, casually overlaid on top of each other in a row at the bottom of the screen, ready for dragging upward when you go to create your own profile. The same icons, all evenly sized, also float around people's heads after the app recognizes them. You can then tap the icons to see the profile information they contain. For example, a Twitter icon could showcase the user's latest tweets when tapped.

The recognition process, too, seems improved. A square shown by a broken line appears on your mobile's screen around the face you're trying to recognize. This closely resembles the autofocus systems found on most digital cameras today. When the app 'sees' the face, the square's outline turns from grey to green and the social networking icons zoom in from all sides to float around that person's face.

The only downside to Recognizr (besides the fact that the prototype isn't available for use today!) is that it requires both participants to use the mobile application in order to work. That makes the app far less creepy than some all-knowing 'Minority Report'-like technology, but severely limits its potential at the same time. Since the prototype is currently Android-only, too, the database of users available for facial matching would only include those who have installed the application on their Android phone and have taken the time to set up their own profile.

That's not to say that some future version of the application couldn't scour the web for faces to match - implementing this feature would be challenging, but not entirely impossible. There are plenty of photos on social networks to pull from in the case that a particular person wasn't already a Recognizr user. However, whether or not the company plans to develop their app to that point is unknown at this time.

Coming Soon to Android

After demonstrating Recognizr at the recent Mobile World Congress, Dan Gärdenfors, head of user experience research at TAT, announced that his company plans to partner with someone who can help bring the mobile concept app to market. He anticipates having a commercial application available in a little as a month or two.

You can watch video demos of both Augmented ID and Recognizr on YouTube, here and here.

source : http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/recognizr_facial_recognition_coming_to_android_phones.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+readwriteweb+%28ReadWriteWeb%29

Week in Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 Series arrives

Windows Phone 7 Series arrives:

This week at Mobile World Congress, Microsoft showed off its new phone platform for the first time. Everything that we knew and loathed about Windows Mobile is gone. Even the name is different. It's now 'Windows Phone 7 Series.'

One of the many unanswered questions about Windows Phone 7 Series is what the application development situation will be like. A few details have started to emerge; through both official and unofficial channels and the big news is that application development will use managed code more or less exclusively.