client

HootSuite, TweetDeck, or Seesmic?

For Android users, there are basically three apps to choose from when it comes to one-stop social networking: HootSuite, TweetDeck, and Seesmic. They're all great hubs for your social network updates, and they're all really good at shortening links, geotagging, and adding pictures to your posts. For the most part, the three of them do the basics very well, which makes it hard to decide which to use. So, we're taking a look at some of the nuances that set the three of them apart.

First up is HootSuite, which requires you to set up a HootSuite … Read more

Tweetdeck is your social dashboard

Tweetdeck, now owned by Twitter, gives you power over your Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and Google Buzz accounts, all from a single application window. It presents each of your feeds as customizable columns, and allows you to easily swipe left or right between them.

Thanks to Tweetdeck's slick, dark interface and adjustable text, keeping up with your social networks from your Android device is easy on the eyes. Your feed columns are adjustable, and updates are even color coded so you can quickly distinguish between Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and Buzz posts. The Home column shows all of your feeds aggregated … Read more

Power up your social networking

HootSuite for Android lets you sign in to your Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare accounts from a single application window. While the app may not be versatile enough for the most active social media personalities, it is a convenient option for frequent users of these three social networks.

The first thing you should know about HootSuite for Android is that it's nowhere near as powerful as its browser-based sibling. While the desktop version lets you sign in to and post from no fewer than nine different networks, the Android app is limited to the three mentioned above. That said, the … Read more

The PC isn't dead, but it's still a post-PC era

In early June, market researcher IDC cut its forecast growth for PCs in 2011 from 7.1 percent to 4.2 percent. Gartner Group, another IT analyst firm, had earlier trimmed its numbers. Meanwhile, Apple iPad sales continue to skyrocket, with 183 percent growth compared to the year-ago quarter. Android tablets remain more of a mixed bag when it comes to gaining buyers, but they'll gain traction over time as well.

Those numbers would seem to lay out the case for a post-PC world rather starkly. Especially when you consider that they don't even consider phones which, in … Read more

All-in-one chat client for Android

IM+ takes all the fuss out of mobile instant messaging by enabling you to connect to your Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, Facebook, and other IM accounts, all from a single application window. With its clean design and simple user interface, chatty folks on the go may wonder how they ever lived without it.

Under the Contacts tab, all of your contacts are compiled in a single list. That way, you don't have to bother with switching among accounts in order to chat. In fact, once you're on IM+, you should feel absolutely no distinction between the different … Read more

All-in-one chat client for Android

Twitter for Android updated

Twitter for Android stepped up its game today with a couple of new features that users probably wish it had incorporated a long time ago.

Now, users get the option to receive Push Notifications, which are essentially real-time, automatic updates. Previously, users had to set the app to refresh at timed intervals. Now they can go into account settings and enable Automatic Refresh to get instant Status Bar notifications for Direct Messages, @Mentions, and Tweets.

Also, the updated app now supports multiple account sign-in, making it easy to switch between your social media alter egos.

The new version of Twitter … Read more

As expected, Gmail app is strong at the basics

The Gmail app gives you quick access to your Google e-mail account (or multiple accounts) right from your Android mobile device. As expected, it integrates nicely with your other Android applications as well as with your device's contacts.

Gmail for Android packs all of the e-mail basics like composing, reading, deleting, and replying into a simple, user-friendly interface. Like its full Web browser counterpart, it also lets you browse through your messages by label, and even apply labels to messages. Adding Stars, reporting Spam, and creating a Signature are also simple.

While the Gmail app is strong at all … Read more

Chrome's security overhaul begins with PDF plug-in

Google has begun work on the first step of rebuilding Chrome from the inside out on a more secure foundation called Native Client, CNET has learned.

That first step is the built-in Chrome module used to let Google's browser read PDF (Portable Document Format) files. Linus Upson, vice president of engineering for the Chrome team, revealed the plan in May at the Google I/O conference, and now evidence is emerging that the first step is under way.

References to the Native Client version of the PDF extension have begun cropping up on the Native Client's bug-tracking database. … Read more

Yahoo Mail is a winner

Yahoo Mail for Android gives you quick access to your Yahoo e-mail account (or multiple accounts) right from your mobile device. As a mobile mail client, we really couldn't ask for more. It's clean, user-friendly, and it includes some added bonuses that make it feel very much like its desktop counterpart. For instance, composing messages is a much richer experience than in other mobile e-mail apps, thanks to all the formatting tools that Yahoo Mail offers. It lets you make text bold, italicized, or underlined. It even lets you change font color, size, or add emoticons.

Overall, we … Read more