It's been about 18 months since I first wrote about Zapd, a clever app that lets you build simple, attractive Web sites using nothing more than your iPhone.

Why would you want to do that? To chronicle something cool, of course, like a wedding, vacation, party, or even a work project. I mean, your photos are already in the phone, right? The next logical step is to publish them where friends and family can have a look.

Of course, most such events involve your friends, family members, and/or co-workers, who will no doubt be snapping photos of their own. That's why the new Zapd 2.0 allows others to contribute their own content to your site. Now, suddenly, you've got the means to whip up a crowd-sourced blog, photo album, project diary, or the like. And that's seriously amazing.

Though it's been rebuilt from the ground up, Zapd still works much the same way as before: choose a template (the app has about 45 of them, with more to come), give your site a name, then start adding text, photos, and/or links.

These elements can be rearranged just by dragging and dropping. This can be a bit tricky within the tight confines of your iPhone's screen, but ultimately it works just fine. When you're done, Zapd will i... [Read more]

(Credit: Adobe)

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Adobe decided to kill off support for its Flash Player on Android a while back. Unfortunately, that didn't mean all Web sites you visit would start using HTML5 instead of Flash (though it would have been nice). So what can you do if some of the Web sites you want to look at are using Flash and your new Android device doesn't have support for it?

Fortunately, the last version of Adobe Flash Player that landed on the Google Play Store will work with your Jelly Bean device. However, since it's no longer available through the Play Store, you'll need to install it from a side-loaded APK. This means that someone exported their copy of Flash Player and uploaded it so you could install it manually.

Getting started

(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET)

[Read more]

(Credit: Google)

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Popular Web sites that sell e-books like Amazon and Barnes & Noble allow you to preorder titles with your credit card. Google Play Books now offers the ability to do the same, from the Web or your Android device.

To allow preordering of titles, you'll need to make sure you have a payment option available in Google Play, like Google Wallet or carrier billing.

Step 1: Open Google Play Books in your Web browser or on your Android device. When using an Android device, just open the Google Play Store and tap on Books.

(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET)

Step 2: Search for the title you want to preorder. If you're not quite sure of the title, Google has been nice enough to include a New and Coming Soon tile on t... [Read more]

Vimeo's "reimagined" iPhone app

Video-sharing service Vimeo has launched a new iPhone application that has been built from the ground up.

The company's redesigned application, which hit the Apple App Store today, allows users to both create and share videos all from within the app. In addition, users will now find easier access to their video queue and simpler navigation. " In a company blog post, Joseph Schmitt, lead developer at Vimeo, touted the "reimagined iPhone app" as "awesomer, sleeker, more beautiful, way awesomer, and also much more awesomer than ever before."

It appears that Vimeo's focus with its new app was ease of use. The company's previous application was criticized by some who said that it tried to deliver too many of its online features to mobile users who wanted little more than the essentials.

Still, Vimeo has been able to bundle a host of its more popular features into the application, including liking and commenting. And while videos are uploading, the app allows users to watch clips shared by others. Sharing is also central to the new app, and includes Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and iMessage integration to send videos to friends.

But not everyone is so pleased ... [Read more]

Amazon's Appstore is now available in Japan.

Amazon announced the news today, saying that the application marketplace includes both popular worldwide apps, such as "Fruit Ninja" and "Cut the Rope," as well as Japanese favorites like "Mushroom Garden."

The e-retailer has been making a significant push for the Japanese market as of late. Last month, Amazon launched its Kindle Store in Japan, allowing customers to buy its e-books. A few weeks later, Amazon launched its backlit Paperwhite e-reader in the country.

The Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD are currently available for preorder in Japan.

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Regardless of your feelings for iPhoto on OS X, having to launch and wait for it to load your photo library only to access a screenshot or a single photo in your Photo Stream can be annoying. The good news is, after following the steps laid out below, you'll be able to access your Photo Stream at any time, without even having iPhoto running. The process comes courtesy of a post by Ben Ward (which originated from a Mac OSX Hints thread) earlier this year. It looks more complicated than it really is, but as always, proceed at your own risk.

• To begin, you'll need to launch Finder, then bring up the "Go To Folder" dialogue. You can do so by clicking on Go > Go to folder in the menu bar or by pressing Command-Shift-G. Enter ~/Library/Application Support/iLifeAssetManagement/assets/sub into the text box and press return.

Click to enlarge.

• Finder should then take you to a list of folders under the "sub" directory. In each folder, you'... [Read more]

Apple's computers are not the cheapest in the world, but are highly desired and as a result many people purchase their Macs secondhand through auction sites like eBay and Craigslist. Unfortunately in most cases these systems are old enough that their warranties have expired, so if something goes wrong after your purchase you might need to spend more cash to have it fixed.

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Under the circumstances, it is best to give any used Mac a thorough check before you decide to purchase it. (Obviously, it would be hard to do this for most online purchases.) I've covered this before specifically for MacBooks, but here I'll address it more generally.

When you examine the computer you're considering buying, it's best to bring some tools with you:

• A FireWire drive
• A USB drive
• Headphones and a microphone
• A CD-ROM disc, DVD-ROM disc, or SD card depending on the computer's ports
• An Ethernet cable and an Ethernet device (a powered hub or router)
• A working external boot drive with an updated version of OS X
... [Read more]

I've always wanted a jungle biome on my desk.

After downloading Minecraft Reality for iOS, I channeled Queen's epic song "Bohemian Rhapsody" and asked myself, "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"

Fortunately, the answer to both questions is "yes." The $1.99 app, released yesterday, gives gamers the opportunity to view their Minecraft creations in the real world -- through the lens of augmented reality.

After a brief install, the app essentially lets you anchor a virtual Minecraft creation at your location, sort of like a digital monument. When others visit the area, they can see whatever you placed there through the eyes of the app.

Some users might find the setup process a bit confusing at first, as it requires you to slowly move the camera left, right, in, and out before putting the virtual item or location down. I found it a lot easier to use when testing it on tables and desks instead of the floor.

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Taking a screenshot in OS X is a popular option for capturing activity on your computer, whether for communicating instructions to people or documenting events that are happening on your system. Usually screenshots are taken when sitting at the local system, but if needed you can also do so remotely by several different means.

The easiest way to take a remote screenshot is by using the Screen Sharing service in OS X. By enabling this in the Sharing system preferences and then connecting to the remote system to view its screen, you are provided a couple of ways to take a screenshot.

Since through Screen Sharing you are virtually placed in front of the remote machine, the first option is to use the standard screenshot hotkeys such as Shift-Command-3 to invoke the screenshot function on the remote system. By doing this, you can take a screenshot as if you were sitting in front of it, and then be able to upload the captured image to the location of your choice or otherwise manage it.

The second approach is to use the Screen Sharing application's ability to capture a screenshot. To do this, when you have the remote desktop session established, go to the Connection menu on your current computer and choose "Save Screen Capture As" to save the image in the location of your choice. You can also switch to the Finder or another application, then invoke screenshot hotkeys locally to take a picture of the Screen Sharing application window; however, this wi... [Read more]