Turn your Android into a monitor for your DSLR with a cheap accessory and an app

Instead of an expensive monitor use your Android phone or tablet

A little while ago we looked at using an Android phone with a DSLR and how the experience was actually pretty good. Using the Chainfire app with a Canon DSLR opens up a world of possibilities. Before we looked at importing your DSLR photos, but there's more to it than that. With a cheap accessory on top of this you can actually create a low-cost, yet still effective external monitor for your camera.
What we're basically looking at is a phone grip, similar to something you might use in the car to hold it to the windshield. Instead of a suction cup, though, we've got a hotshoe mount to fix it to the top of a camera.
Again, as with the last time we looked at using the Chainfire app with a camera, you'll need a USB OTG connector and a miniUSB cable to connect to the camera. The beauty of adding a grip to the top of the camera is that you can easier use the app while you're shooting.
It also gives you a bigger display to look at over the one on the camera – made bigger still if you opted to go down the tablet route – and one area I found this set up particularly useful is when trying to shoot video using the DSLR. With no auto-focus on offer on the camera, having the Chainfire app connected allows you to change focus points by touching the screen instead of using the cameras manual controls. It's not perfect but it's certainly useable.
There are other apps out there too that will let you interact with your DSLR – including none Canon brands – from your Android device, which is great, but buying a cheap accessory to clip it to the top of the camera is one of the best thing's you'll do.

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How to refocus photos with the LG G3 camera

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There's no need for any extra apps, the G3 can do it out of the box

Refocusing photos – or blurring parts of it out to create a depth of field effect – is all the rage these days and if you've picked up a new LG G3 you'll be pleased to hear you can do it out of the box. No need to download additional apps, such as Google Camera, with the Magic Focus mode in the stock LG camera app you can take and refocus photos with ease.
Here's how it works.
Simply open up the standard LG camera app on your G3. Look for the "Mode" button on the left hand side of the screen and tap on it. The slide out menu that appears will display 4 options, and you'll want to tap on the one labelled "Magic Focus."
What Magic Focus does is allow you to change the focus point of the photo after you've changed it. Where something like Google Camera will focus on an object and allow you to change the amount of background blur, here we're getting something more akin to Nokia's Refocus app on Windows Phone.
LG G3 Magic Focus
To take your pictures you need to get close to your subject and hold the phone as still as you possibly can. Once you hit the shutter button the G3 will spend a few seconds grabbing the shots it needs and processing them together into one image.
Once it's processed you'll be prompted to tap on the gallery in the top right hand corner to refocus. The easiest way to do this is to simply tap on the area of the photo you want to be in focus, but you can also adjust it using the slider on the right. If you don't like the effect and decide you want it all in focus tap the button labelled so along the top, and once you're happy hit save and you're done!
It's a subtle effect, and we've got a couple of quick samples to have a look at below.

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How to take and share pictures on the Galaxy S5

Samsung Galaxy S5 Camera

The Galaxy S5 has a pretty great camera, and the power of Android lets you share your pictures quickly with little effort

Samsung improves on the camera quality with each successive iteration of its Galaxy S lineup, and the S5 is no exception. The 16MP camera has ultra-fast focusing, fantastic detail in daylight and more shooting modes than you can shake a stick at. Pair that up with Android's native ability to share images to pretty much any app or service imaginable, and the Galaxy S5 is a fantastic every-day camera you can have with you to share the moments that matter most with the people you want.

Quickly capturing pictures

Samsung Galaxy S5 Camera
There are several ways to launch the camera on the Galaxy S5, but there are two ways you'll likely take advantage of regularly — the lock screen shortcut and the camera icon on your home screen. When you turn on your Galaxy S5 but it's locked, you can tap and hold on the camera icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and swipe in any direction to launch the camera. From your home screen, just tap the camera icon (if it isn't on your home screen, go into the app drawer and drag it out to your desired location for it).
Launch the camera and you'll be ready to take pictures with the shutter key on the right side of the interface. The left edge of the screen will give you options to toggle settings, choose between different shooting modes and various features, but which you choose will depend on your situation.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Share Menu
Snap a few pictures in whatever mode you choose, and you'll notice previews of those pictures appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen (or bottom left in portrait mode) — tap the preview and you'll be taken into the picture viewer. You'll see a picture-by-picture timeline of every shot you've taken, which you can swipe through to find the frame you want to share.
Tap the image to bring up the interface, and look for the share button — it looks like three dots connected by two lines — in the top bar. Tap it and you'll see a standard Android share menu that shows every single app installed on your Galaxy S5 that can handle pictures. Select the app you want to share to — whether it's Google+, FacebookGmail or something else — and you'll be taken to that app with the picture attached automatically where you can share it out as you wish.
If you want to go back and share a picture that you took previously, you don't have to launch the camera to get to it. Go straight into your app drawer (or home screen) and open the "Gallery" app, then select the photo you wish to share. You'll see the same menu for sharing as you did previously, where you can share out one or more pictures to the app of your choice.
If you want to back up and save one or more pictures for future use, know that you have all of your pictures saved on your device and they won't expire. If you want further backup, consider using that same share option to put them up on Google DriveDropboxOneDrive or your favorite cloud storage system of choice.

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How to set a sleep timer in Sonos

Sonos Play 1
If you've got anything at all from Sonos — be it the smaller Play 1 speaker, or the room-filling Play 5, or perhaps a Soundbar — you're going to want to use it as much as you can. For one, Sonos is excellent. It sounds great and is one of the easiest ways to stream music wirelessly through your home. But it's also not inexpensive, and so I'm making a point of using it whenever I can.
When I was a kid I'd fall asleep listening to the old-school CNN Headline News on AM radio. (And that says more than a few things about me.) CNN has changed more than a bit since then. But then again so have I. And I'm now making it a point to put on something relaxing as I'm passing out.
To that end, there's a sleep timer available in the Sonos app, but it's a wee bit buried. Here's where to find it.
Sonos app
The Sonos app is a mix of familiar and "What the hell?" So we're looking for the overflow menu — it's just not in the usual place. You'll find it on the bottom right of the album art in this picture. The three dots with the circle around it. Tap it, and you'll get some more info.
Sonos app
Ah, some more info. And a button that looks like it'll do what we want it to do. So, tap "Sleep timer."
Sonos sleep timerSonos sleep timer
You've got a few options for how long you can have the music keep playing. There's 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours. Or you can choose to turn it off. Once you've set the sleep timer, you'll note that it's listed as being on in that info window.
And that's it. Setting a sleep time in the Sonos app is a nice little way to end the day. See you in the morning.

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Sprint HTC One M8 updated with Android 4.4.3 and Wi-Fi calling

Wi-Fi calling comes to Sprint HTC One M8
The HTC One M8 on Sprint is now receiving an update to Android 4.4.3 KitKat. While Android 4.4.3 brings some under-the-hood changes, nothing much visually changes on the One M8. What is new, however, is the addition of Wi-Fi calling on the Sprint M8.
Sprint debuted Wi-Fi calling earlier this year on a few devices and has been steadily expanding the roll-out since. In addition to gaining support for Wi-Fi calling, the Sprint HTC One M8 now sports an HD Voice icon (how's that for an overwhelming visual change?).
The user-facing changes in Android 4.4.3 are minor, but M8 owners will benefit from the latest bug fixes and performance tweaks in this updated version of Android. Sprint HTC One M8 owners, let us know how the update's treating you!
Source: Sprint

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New Galaxy S5 ad asks iPhone users to stop waiting for big displays

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After years of being adamant that the 3.5-inch screen on the iPhone was perfect, Apple made the move to a 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5, which then became the best size for a smartphone in the company’s eyes. This year, no longer in a position to ignore the market trend of consumers of wanting bigger screens on their smartphones, Apple is rumored to be moving to a 4.7-inch display on the iPhone 6. Well, Samsung thinks iPhone users wanting a larger display need to stop waiting and go grab the next best thing, aka the Galaxy S5, and it has posted a new ad on its YouTube channel to poke some fun at its biggest competitor.
It’s quite the short ad, but manages to show off one of the biggest advantages Samsung’s latest flagship has over the Apple device that is a few months away from being launched. It gets the point across, though we’re not sure advertisements are needed to let people know what they’re missing out on with the small-screen iPhones, though it’s always good to put the message across while being able to make fun of the competition, and the ad does that without taking too much of your time.
Check it out below.

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