How to Run Android Apps on your Windows PC?

BlueStacks App Player lets you run your favorite mobile apps fast and fullscreen in your browser and on PC.

I like Windows OS for my Desktop and Android OS for my mobile devices. Sometimes, in order to test the Android apps experience, I use the special player to run them on my desktop. You also can do that simple and straightforward way with BlueStacks App Player, brining thousands of Android applications and games straight to your Desktop.

The biggest advantage of BlueStacks is in its ability to run Android OS and apps on Windows PCs with instant switch between two operating systems - Android and Windows – with no reboot required. Android apps can appear either as icons on the Windows desktop, or within a full-blown Android environment.

The seamless user experience, simultaneous use of Android and Windows apps, and multi-touch enablement are built on ground breaking virtualization technology, which requires zero configuration and is transparent to the end consumer.

The BlueStacks App Player includes the KitKat release of Android. This release is generally available (GA) for public downloads through BlueStacks’ website.

Windows 8.1, 8, 7 Installation Requirements

If you run the latest Windows Operating Systems, you can install the BlueStacks App Player on Window as long as the following requirements are fulfilled:

* You must be an Administrator on your PC.

* Your PC must have 2GB of RAM/main memory. Note that having 2GB or more disk space is not a substitute for RAM.

* Your PC must have 9GB of disk space available for storing Android apps / games and their data.

* The drivers for your PC's graphics drivers should be updated for compatibility.

* The App Player is nominally installed in the same drive where Windows is installed, usually C:\. However, during installation, you may choose to have all of the apps/data located on another drive.

It is not recommend installing the BlueStacks App Player if you have a virtual machine, e.g., Microsoft Virtual PC, VMWare Workstation, or Oracle Virtualbox, installed on the same PC.

Please note that BlueStacks is incompatible with BitDefender, you can install anyone but not both of them on the same PC.

Free Version Limitations

Free version of the player occasionally downloads sponsored apps and offers you to install and try them. That takes the bandwidth and may occasionally slow down the system operation.

Website: http://www.bluestacks.com/app-player.html

How to use Excel spreadsheets on your Android smartphone?

Google Sheets, part of Small Google Drive, is an online spreadsheet app that lets you create and format spreadsheets and simultaneously work with other people.

Multi-platform service allows you to create, edit, and collaborate with others on spreadsheets from your Android phone or tablet with the free Google Sheets app.

With Google Sheets you can:

- Create new spreadsheets or edit any that were created on the web or on another device.

- Share spreadsheets and work together with others in the same spreadsheet at the same time.

- Open, edit, and save Microsoft Excel files.

- Get stuff done anytime -- even without an internet connection.

- Format cells, enter/sort data, view charts, insert formulas, use find/replace, and more.

- Never worry about losing your work -- everything is automatically saved as you type.

The Android app has great rating 4.2 out of 5, based on more than 110K reviews.

Screens

Cost: Free

Google Play Site: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets

Image and Animation Viewer with screen capturing function

Main Features

- View and save image/animation files with very fast speed

- Support for numerous image/animation file formats:

PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, PCX, TGA, TIFF, ICO, CUR, LBM, ANI, FLI, WMF, EMF, etc.

- Extract single/all frames from animation files

- Show detailed information of image/animation files

- Show Exif/IPTC information

- Show or hide transparency

- Support for digital camera raw image file formats:

3FR, ARW, CR2, CRW, DNG, ERF, KDC, MRW, NEF, ORF, RAF, RAW, SRW, SR2, etc.

- Support for numerous archive file formats:

ZIP, RAR, 7Z, ALZ, HV3, CBZ, CBR, CB7, ARJ, LZH, EGG, TAR, ISO, CAB, etc.

- Support for high dynamic range image file formats:

HDR, EXR, SXR, MXR, etc.

- 64-bit version available

- Unicode version available

- Multilingual support:

English, German, Spanish, Russian, Danish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc.

- Thumbnail browser

- Batch conversion

- Slide show

- Batch rename

- Capture screen

- Tiled view (check textures for seamless tiling, very useful for game developers/modders)

- Create animations

- Create multiple page images

- Manipulate and edit images:

Flip vertical and horizontal

Rotate left, right and free

Grayscale

Negative

Change color depth (1, 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 bit)

Swap colors

Resize per pixel, percentage or standard dimensions.

Several resample filters available.

Effect filters, including a handy Preview browser

Import, export and edit palettes

Set and remove transparency

and more...

- Customizable shortcuts for Keyboard and Mouse

- Command line parameter support

- Shell extension support

- Add-on plugin support

- Total Commander lister and packer plugin

- No write unnecessary registry (ini-based configuration)

- Fully optimized binaries (tiny, pure, fast, neat)

Note: Don't forget about Imagine format plugins for: Digital Camera Raw, Archive Format Plugin, JPEG 2000, Microsoft HD Photo, JBIG, Google WebP, OpenEXR, RAR Archive, 7Z Archive, ALZ(ALZip) Archive, HV3(HoneyView3) Archive. You can download them from here - access "Imagine" forum section, choose “Stable version..." and scroll down until you reach (Plugin) section.

Installing Imagine (if you choose the standard version) for the first time is something easy and it will require just a few seconds: the setup wizard will ask for system shortcuts, destination folder, font type, file associations (which files should be opened by default using this application) and that's it. As soon as you start Imagine, you will notice the simplicity of his interface which uses an Explorer layout. Besides of the traditional "File" - "Open" operation you can also use the well-known "drag-and-drop" method. Just drag one image or more of them directly in his interface (right-side).

Once you added the image start using his powerful features: rename, resize, rotate, flip, adjust colors, view file properties, EXIF info, change file format and color depth, apply filters (a lot of them available) etc. Go to "Tools" tab and you have several other cool features: batch conversion, slide show, batch rename, capture screen, animation editor, JPEG lossless transformation and create multiple page image. Each main feature also comes with a subclass of other settings so you have a large suite of options.

System requirements

- CPU: Pentium compatible

- Memory: 32MB or higher

- OS: Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT 4.0/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7

- Display: 256 color or higher

Author: Chun Sejin (Korea)

Website: http://www.nyam.pe.kr/

Download page: http://www.fosshub.com/Imagine.html

Portable version link: http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=1819

Pictomio – Cool Freeware 3-D Photo Manager with Set of Professional Features

Pictomio is freeware and raises the bar when it comes to displaying your 3D-accelerated photo and video collections and comes with great geo tagging features.

Main Features:

* Image Management

Pictomio easily manages thousands of media intensive images and video archives and groups your media according to orientation, time, type, size, rating, etc.

* Video Management

Finally a tool to directly manage your videos. Along with viewing Thumbnails you can also rotate and zoom video.

* Library

With the Library you can display photos by the date taken and EXIF values (e.g. type of camera) as well as sorted by category and album.

* EXIF Editor

With the integrated EXIF editor (Exchangeable image file format) you can see, edit and save the meta data of JPEG files.

* 3D folder

The 3D folder symbol previews the folder's contents. You can also display all your pictures in fast-forward.

* Albums and Categories

Albums and categories are virtual folders which you can use to arrange your pictures regardless of their location on the hard drive. Example album: "My best vacation pictures"

* 3D Image Carousel

Browse through your pictures with the visually engaging 3D picture Carousel. The direction of motion can be controlled by the mouse.

* Slide Show

Pictomio simplifies the production of slide shows for you by using a drag-and-drop interface. By using the capabilities of 3D graphics cards you can also integrate elaborate page transitions.

* Tools

Web designers will find the color pipette and the measuring tool helpful in determining color values from pixels and measuring a section of an image.

* Image Rating

Using dynamic controls you have access to comprehensive rating and filter functions.

* Liquid-Zoom

Smooth High quality zooming using Mip levels for the reduction of aliasing lets you easily zoom in on your images. The bilineare filtering can be deactivated in order to see exact image details down to the pixel.

* Languages

Pictomio already supports an extensive list of languages. If your native language is not included, we would be glad to have your assistance with the translation.

* GeoTagging with pictoGEO

Use pictoGEO to link your digital photos to location information. This allows you to view the location where you took the picture on a map. pictoGEO works with any digital camera and even allows you to import .nmea and .gpx files! Free pictoGEO license key: WNXKRX-YRKAH4-VLUUWH-F4GD9G-NXLLNA

* Import Wizard

Pictomio’s easy-to-use import dialog box guides you through the application step-by-step.

* 3D Trips

pictoGEO not only manages your images but your trips as well. These are displayed in 3D including information on altitude and distance.

* Map View

Trips and images including GPS information are shown on maps and can be edited afterwards.

Photo communities

Share your favorite photos with the rest of the world: Pictomio offers support for picasa, flickr, ImageShack, facebook, and photobucket.

Manual geotagging

With Pictomio getting a GPS fix for your images is a snap. The coordinates are stored as EXIF information if requested.

Trip view

Highlight: whether you are traveling on a plane, in your car, on your bicycle or on foot, pictGEO will not only show you the exact location where you pictures were taken but also the distance you have covered on your journey. Archive every meter you cover on your next vacation so that you will be able to track exactly where you went many years from now.

Trip management

You can integrate the routes you recorded into one or several virtual trips. You have the option of showing or hiding specific routes (e.g. only your flight) and view routes in more detail.

Video Presentation

Computer requirements:

* Intel or AMD x86 CPU with >1 GHz

* 1GB RAM

* Shader Model 2.0 graphics card with 128 MB of Video RAM

* 500 MB of available hard drive space (depending on number of managed photos)

* Operating system Windows XP, Vista, or 7.

Website: http://www.pictomio.com/Default.aspx

Downloading page (CNet): http://download.cnet.com/Pictomio/3000-2193_4-10847328.html?part=dl-10847328&subj=dl&tag=button

BonAView – Advanced Freeware Photo Manager

BonAView is an outstanding free photo managing and organizing utility, which may become one of your favorite programs when you need to deal with your collection of images.

Main Features

               

* 3D Image Preview. BonAView can generate high-quality thumbnails of your images and display them like interactive pictures in 3D space.

It offers intuitive, convenient, and easy way to view images in 3D with ability to rotate, flip, and move between them.

* Working with Categories. Categories is a special feature of the software, offering the easiest way to organize and manage your photo collection, which can be any size – from a few hundred to a few million photos.

- UNLIMITED number of categories.

- Creating the hierarchy of categories.

- UNLIMITED level of the hierarchy of categories .

- Adding images to the category in an easy way. To add an image, just drag-and-drop any image into the category you need.

- UNLIMITED number of images in categories.

               

* Searching Images. A powerful BonAView image searching tool, which will help you find exactly what you want through flexible and easy image search and the widest choice of the search criteria: You can search your photos by file name, size, type, image dimensions, rating etc.

* Filtering Images. With an image filtering tool you can reject the waste browsing or searching results.

You can filter images in current folder, category, or search results, enhancing operations productivity.

               

* Editing Images. BonAView includes a powerful, easy-to-use image editor with a set of useful tools to help reduce red-eye in digital images, remove an unwanted color cast, apply special effects, and much more.

- Automatic image quality improvement.

- Removing "red eyes" effect.

- Supporting common image filters.

- Adjusting color balance or brightness/contrast to your photos.

- Cropping, resampling your images.

- Sharpening or blurring your photos.

- And many others…

* Image Info.

- Easy access to the main image info.

- Easy manipulating the image database properties such as rating, category, or caption.

- Supporting EXIF data of your photos.

               

* Image Annotations. An annotation tool lets you easily add vector objects, such as lines, rectangles or captions to your photos.

- Easy creation of captions for your images.

- Measurement of distances and angles in the photos.

- Adding watermarks.

- Adding vector objects, such as lines, rectangles, ellipses.

- Detailed settings of vector objects.

* EXIF/IPTC Editor. With EXIF/IPTC editor you can edit/add/delete almost any IPTC or EXIF information, that is embedded into your photos.

 - Edit/Add/Delete EXIF information.

- Edit/Add/Delete IPTC information.

* ImageBoard Tool

- Replacement of the standard Windows Clipboard tool for manipulating your photos.

- Simultaneous work with lots of pictures (copying, pasting, assigning to category).

               

* Built-in Scanning Tool. This is a full-featured scanning tool, which helps you to get images from your scanner, rotate them, adjust colors, borders etc.

- Scan your photos without interrupting your work with BonAView!

- Preview using setting scanning borders.

- Adjust contrast, brightness, saturation to your scanned photos.

- Rotate scanned images.

- Import Tool

* Import Tool. Import tool lets you get your photos from ALL your devices.

- Import photos from camera.

- Import photos from your scanner.

- Get images from your card reader and other removable devices.

- Import your photos from other TWAIN or WIA compatible devices.

Developers’ website: http://www.highmotionsoftware.com/products/bonaview

Downloading page: http://www.highmotionsoftware.com/download-center/bonaview