GeekSugar

Website of the Day: Stored Apps

GeekSugar — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:01:46 PST

Do you ever head on over to the iTunes store to peruse the iPhone apps and you get lost and overwhelmed in the sea of apps? Unless I know exactly what I'm looking for and can enter it in the search box, browsing the app store is usually a headache just waiting to happen.

Good news. There's a site called Stored Apps that better organizes the thousands of apps from the iTunes Store by offering a searchable and filterable database. Search by things like price, categories, most popular, and more. The site even offers direct links to every app's iTunes Store page. Badabingbadaboom.

To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group,

I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and “Regular Post.”
Give your story a “Title.”
Fill in the “Body” with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click “Next."
Choose the audience for your story to “Website of the Day” in the drop-down menu
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to “Technology and Gadgets.”
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click “I’m done” to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

Amazon App Store: 5 Apps to Download Now

Kristy Korcz — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:51:08 PDT

Amazon officially opened its App Store for business, and besides the ability to download awesome Android apps to your smartphones right from your Amazon account or your mobile device thanks to the Amazon Appstore app, you can also get a paid app for free every day via the featured app spotlight on the App Store front page. What a steal!

A nice and easy-to-use alternative to the Android Market, here are five apps I found that are worthy of a download today.

Daily Tech: Amazon Launches App Store, Apple Sues

GeekSugar — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:30:19 PDT

Amazon launches app store for Android apps, Apple sues Amazon for trademark infringement - Huffington Post
The best earbuds for uncommonly sized ears - Unplggd
Tech-savvy theft victim tracks his stolen computer, publicly embarrasses thief - Switched
10 characters whose genders were swapped in production - The MarySue

Easy Ways to Get More From Your Food Budget

LearnVest — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:15:48 PDT

Go the extra mile with your food budget with these tips from LearnVest.

For years, many people - my husband, mom, sister and even my son - told me to stop wasting so much food.

Throwing away half a piece of chicken here or a handful of grapes there never seemed like such a big deal to me. If I was full or no longer in the mood for that particular food, then I had no problem tossing it.

That is, until I experienced a bad case of sticker shock during a recent trip to the supermarket. The cost of bread, eggs, fish - basically everything I was purchasing - had increased. And, according to the USDA, we can expect prices to rise even higher this year.

As I forked over my money and left with only a handful of bags, I realized just how important it is for me to pay more attention to what I spend on food . . . and to confront how much of it I shove down the garbage disposal.

Unfortunately, I'm not the only one with wasteful ways. In 2010, 33 million tons of food was thrown away, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Obviously, wasted food means wasted money, but figuring out how to make your grocery budget go further can be a challenge.

To keep more food in your fridge (and more money in your pocket), try these expert tips.

1. Ward Against Freezer Burn

Those large bags or packages of frozen veggies or meat come in handy when you have a large family, but "each time you open a bag of frozen food, air gets in and will cause freezer burn within two to three weeks," says consumer saving expert Andrea Woroch. Freezer burn will dry out the meat and make it less tasty. Woroch suggests going small.

Read on for more.

Fixes For These 10 Money Mistakes

Business Insider — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:15:04 PDT

Everyone makes mistakes. Business Insider shares solutions for some common money mistakes people make.

Recently, two friends confessed they live check to check - a revelation worsened by the fact that they only check their bank balance once or twice a month.

We called in the finance experts, and here's what we decided they should do to get on track.

"I check my balance once . . . every two weeks."

The mistake: The more we rely on our debit cards, the easier is to go over budget - and risk having our bank misorder the charges to slap us with overdraft fees. It's the reason my friend keeps paying $39 for that Starbucks latte.

The fix: Get in the habit of checking your bank balance morning, noon, and night, says financial expert Farnoosh Torabi. "Rather than compartmentalizing into a once-a-month chore, make checking statements a habitual, daily thing."

"What, my bank offers an app?"

The mistake: Ignoring your balance can make you "forget" about incoming bills and checks waiting to clear, and not using your bank app is careless.

It also keeps you out of sync with your money, something you don't want to do in an era of rampant identity theft.

The fix: Download the app!

Read on for more.

Geeky Gifts and Tips to Give Mom For Mother's Day

Anna Monette Roberts — Sat, 12 May 2012 10:31:47 PDT

It's difficult for moms to stay up-to-date in this fast-paced digital world - which is why she relies on you to break it all down for her. Mother's Day is the perfect opportunity to teach Mom about the latest gadgets and trending websites and apps. Plus, there's always room to teach her the basics of her DVR and the iTunes store, too!
Source: ThinkStock

18 Spring Activities to Get Your Geek on

Laura Marie Given — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:42:00 PDT

Whether you prefer to be in the kitchen or on the road, we've come up with several creative ideas to keep you busy this Spring. Looking for some new pastimes? From DIYs to nerdy day trips, we've got 18 fun, geeky ideas to get you through the season.

Have a documentary marathon: Not sure where to start? Check out Frozen Planet, a seven-part series from the team behind Planet Earth, to learn more about climate changes (and adorable animals!) in the Poles.
Become an amateur astronomer: Pick an especially clear night and look at the stars with the 5 Stars Astronomy Guide App. It's simple: hold your phone to the sky and you'll learn all about the constellation in front of you.
Host a Comic-Con party: Get your pals to dress up as their favorite comic book characters and go for bold, bright decorations. Keep your favorite comic-inspired flicks playing in the background and serve drinks in these Vintage DC Comic Tumblers ($125 for 6).
Try a coding class: Do a bit of research to find local coding classes at a community college. Sign up solo or invite your Internet-obsessed pals to join so that you can help each other learn the HTML ropes.

Keep reading for more geeky things to do.

Teach Your Mom Tech: iTunes Store

Anna Monette Roberts — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:57:08 PDT

The iTunes store offers lots of content, but with the separate pages for movies, TV, apps, and books, it can be a pain for a casual user like Mom to navigate. This Mother's Day, help Mom make the most of her digital media with a walk-through of the iTunes Store's most important functions.

Update Mom's iTunes: If Mom's still running on 6.0, the first step is updating the program to its current version. She's less likely to run into bugs, plus she'll have the most current store features.
Teach how to redeem a gift card: Save Mom the future phone call to you by showing her how to redeem an iTunes gift card. Select the "Quick Links" bar on the right hand side of the iTunes Store home page, then "Redeem" to enter the gift card code and begin purchasing. Remind her to take this step any time she wants to use the gift card, otherwise iTunes will automatically charge the credit card associated with the iTunes account.
Test out the search bar: Mom likely knows what she wants to purchase ahead of time, so help her search for items via the search bar on the upper right-hand corner of the title bar. The results aren't always clear, so make sure she's selecting the right items for purchase (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo book rather than the movie).
Explore each option on the navigation bar: Music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books: these are just a few items on the top navigation bar that Mom should explore to see what's new and what's popular.
Dive deep into each section: Each media content page breaks down into series of categories. View the list of categories by holding down the content page name on the navigation bar, or look to the "Quick Links" section on the right-hand side of the page. That way, Mom can search for types of movies, books, and music she prefers.

Daily Tech: Introducing Facebook Apps

Kelly Schwarze — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:01:37 PDT

Everything you need to know about Facebook's app store - Geekosystem
Yes, people do use dog collar cameras on their pets; here's the awesome proof - FWD
Playing Monopoly and other "fun activities" you don't really enjoy - Cracked
Anti-WiFi wallpaper makes for a seriously secure home network - Dvice
7 comic book superpowers the world can do without - MentalFloss
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is going abroad - SlashFilm
Is Mark Zuckerberg's hoodie a Wall Street snub? - Newser
Angry Birds hits a crazy high number of downloads - Tecca

Should Apple Rethink Its App Store Guidelines?

Leta Shy — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 02:00:23 PDT

Amazon may staunchly stand by its policy of not censoring its Kindle offerings (never mind that one incident), but Apple, however, behaves differently. Developers must go through a review process to get their apps approved; Apple bans certain things that it deems low-quality or inappropriate - like apps that lack usefulness, creativity, or effort, or ones that are too racy.

But do you think Apple should extend its guidelines to keep other types of apps out as well, such as discriminatory or potentially dangerous ones? Just this week, outraged users successfully fought to ban an app from Christian group Exodus International that said it could cure homosexuality, and senators are demanding that apps that tell you where DUI checkpoints are located should be taken down.

Read what I think about these controversial apps after the break.