40Tech

Even though rising industry costs are pushing tickets prices higher and higher, movies are still one of the cheapest forms of entertainment in America. There are tons of free apps that provide any kind of movie information you seek.

Whether you want to know what movies your favorite star is likely to appear in next or get recommendations on your next DVD rental, there’s an app for that. Here are a few free ones that will provide you with an instant movie fix on Android or iPhone.

One of the limitations of the iPad is that it normally can’t print to just any old printer. If you want to print from your iPad, you usually need an AirPrint compatible printer. If you’re like me, and bought your printer before Apple introduced AIrPrint, or if you just own a printer that isn’t AirPrint compatible, there is a way to print from your iPad to your current printer.

17 months ago I abandoned my iPhone and embraced Android. At the time, iOS was a much different operating system than it is today, and I had grown increasingly frustrated with its limitations. Now, I might be ready to move back to an iPhone. Should I?

If you’re an Android user who also has an iOS device, iOS’s simplicity can be frustrating. I remember when I first switched to Android, it suddenly made my iOS devices feel like Fisher-Price toys. In hindsight, that was a pretty snooty viewpoint. iOS’s simplicity is both a strength and a weakness. Still, it’s cool when something comes along that lets you feel like you’re customizing your iOS device. Launch Center, an app that lets you perform many tasks with two finger taps, is one such app.

I’ve caved, and bought the new iPad. I’ve found it to be quite capable as a rudimentary photo and video editing tool. Due to the lack of a file system in iOS, though, getting videos from other devices onto it can be a bit problematic. Since I have an Android phone, that was one of the first problems that I wanted to solve. Here’s the method that I use, that could work for you, too.

iOS is more stable than Android. Android’s open nature is a blessing and a curse, leading to a system that is much less stable.That’s what we hear at least, right? One study calls those assumptions into question, finding that iOS is more crash-prone than Android.

The launch of the iPhone 4S set new records in the smartphone market in 2011. Hitting the shelves in the UK, US and Canada in October, with a staggered global launch continuing to the end of 2011, Apple shifted 30 million units. It has helped their profits soar and has also quietened the naysayers who thought the iPhone 4S might not have the same impact on the market as its predecessors.

Yet the iPhone 4S might have had an even bigger and more important impact on the smartphone market, aside from the eye-watering sales figures. Reports suggest the dominance and popularity of Apple’s latest device has been so extensive, the firm’s competitors are putting off launching their own handsets because of fear that they won’t make enough of a splash.

Both the iOS App Store and the Android Market offer an abundance of camera apps. There are so many, that it takes either great functionality or a unique twist for an app to stand out. One that does so is Paper Camera, available as an Android and an iPhone/iPad app. Paper Camera lets you use your camera to output real time cartoon and painting effects that have to be seen to appreciated.

We’re always looking for a better way to filter and experience all of the content we discover on the web. Thankfully, there are a ton of great feed readers and news discovery apps out there. Three of the standouts, Flipboard, Zite (which we somehow never wrote an article on, directly), and PressReader, have recently received some significant updates. Some might even call them game-changing. Either way, they’re significant enough that we feel the need to share them with you, so read on! Enjoy! And comment, of course…  

When we first told you about Hotspot Shield, it was to use the free Virtual Private Network to bypass blocked media, as well as increase your browsing security. Over a year later, we posted a tutorial on how to use the VPN to watch US Netflix outside of United States, using your iOS devices. Unfortunately, the Hotspot Shield sign up process for iOS was broken soonafter, and their customer service team didn’t have a lot to say about it. Now we know why: Anchorfree, the creators of Hotspot Shield have released an iPhone app that makes all of the steps go away, and even solves a few of the problems.