Best new Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone apps of December 2014

This is our selection of the best apps for the month. Take a look at our picks for best Android, iOS and Windows Phone games for November 2014.

With another month behind us, it's time for our usual recap of the best Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows Phone games for the past month of November 2014, but what's not habitual is that we've had some fairly exciting new applications arrive to the Android and iOS platform. 

As for Windows Phone? Some key players from the two largest platforms have made their way onto Microsoft's app catalog, and that's always welcome news.

From a surprising new launcher by non other than Nokia (yes, an Android launcher), to a major update to one of the best cooking apps out there, a fresh new live wallpaper application, and also new entrants in various other categories of apps, you can check out the best new Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone apps right below.

Z Launcher Beta

Category: Launcher

Price: Free

Download on Android

The Z Launcher Beta is an innovative solution from Nokia's emerging platforms group, which aims to omit the use of multiple home screens. The launcher only has one page, which displays a list of apps that it "thinks" you might need for the particular time of day. Of course, as with every prediction-based app – this one will need some time, before its guesses get more accurate.

Secondly, the launcher allows users to look for specific apps by scribbling letters on the screen. For example – if you are looking for the "calculator" app, just scribble a "c" anywhere over the screen, and you will be presented with a list of apps, starting with the letter. Typing out a second character (in our case - "a") will further narrow down the list of choices.

Minima Live Wallpaper

Category: Customization

Price: Free

Download on Android

For all lovers of minimalist shapes in motion, the Minima Live Wallpapers brings a truly good looking and fully customizable wallpaper experience. You get to pick all aspects of your live wallpapers and it all moves as you swipe between home panels. If you like the app, you might want to also get the premium version where all 'Pro' themes are unlocked.

C Notice

Category: Productivity

Price: Free (in-app purchases)

Download on Android

C Notice allows you to receive floating notifications from selected applications and keep track of everything that is important to you, directly from the lock screen, without needing to open the status bar. Plus, all notifications are styled in the Lollipop material design language and color coded. Nice!

QKSMS

Category: Messaging

Price: Free

Download on Android

Texting apps are not the most inspiring field right now - all with fairly plain uninspiring looks. Many people would love to see more color and liveliness in their texting app, and that's what QKSMS delivers.

Lumific

Category: Image gallery

Price: Free

Download on Android

A smart gallery app, Lumific organizes your images in a neat manner and does all this without annoying ads. It does a few things for you: automatically picks the best photo from similar photos and automatically enhances, straightens and crops all photos. Let us warn you - the results are not always admirable, but it does no harm and often improves images.

Getaways by Groupon

Category: Deals/Travel

Price: Free

Download on Android | iOS

If you're looking for good deals on travels, as well as ideas about where to spend a few blissful days off work, the new Getaways app by Groupon is a great place to look for ideas.

Yummly Recipes & Recipe Box

Category: Cooking

Price: Free

Download on Android | iOS

Yummly is one of the best cooking apps available for both iPhone and Android, but what makes it even more appealing is the filtering capability, allowing you to choose between recipes for each occasion, by cuisine (Asian, Mexican, Italian, etc), taste (sweet, sour, salty), diet (Pescetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free), nutrition (low carb, low fat, low cal, etc.), and so on.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Review The upcoming Game

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes acts as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and takes place one year after the events of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

Assuming control of the legendary Snake (a.k.a. Big Boss), players are charged with the infiltration of Camp Omega where both Paz and Chico are held. The hostages hold key information concerning Snake and his private military organisation that Snake and his ally Kaz Miller must prevent from being exposed. Ground Zeroes charts the rescue and the subsequent fallout that leads into the beginning of the The Phantom Pain. Ground Zeroes also acts as a bridge between previous Metal Gear Solid titles, easing players into the vaunted open world of MGSV.

Release Date: December 18, 2014

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Violence, Strong Language

Genre: Action

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Kojima Productions

How to Lose Weight Fast: A Proven 3-Step Plan That Works

There are many ways to lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time.

However, most of them require you to be hungry and unsatisfied.

If you don’t have iron willpower, then hunger will cause you to give up on these plans quickly.

The 3-step plan outlined here will:

• Kill your appetite.
• Make you lose weight fast, without being hungry.
• Improve your health at the same time.

  Step 1 – Eliminate Sugars and Starches

  The most important part is to remove sugars and starches (carbs) from your diet.
  
  These are the foods that stimulate secretion of insulin the most. If you didn’t know alre
  When insulin goes down, fat has an easier time getting out of the fat stores and the body starts burning fats instead of carbs.
  Another benefit of lowering insulin is that your kidneys shed excess sodium and water out of your body, which reduces bloat and unnecessary water weight (1, 2).
  It is not uncommon to lose up to 10 pounds (sometimes more) in the first week of eating this way, both body fat and water weight.
  This is a graph from a study comparing low-carb and low-fat diets in overweight/obese women (3).
• ady, insulin is the main fat storage hormone in the body.

• Step 2 – Eat Protein, Fat and Vegetables

  Each one of your meals should include a protein source, a fat source and low-carb vegetabl
• es. Constructing your meals in this way will automatically bring your carb intake into the recommended range of 20-50 grams per day.
• Protein Sources:
  • Meat – Beef, chicken, pork, lamb, bacon, etc.
  • Fish and Seafood – Salmon, trout, shrimps, lobsters, etc.
  • Eggs – Omega-3 enriched or pastured eggs are best.

  • Step 3 (Optional) – Exercise 3-4 Times Per Week

    
    You don’t need to exercise to lose weight on this plan, but it is recommended.
    The best option is to go to the gym 3-4 times a week. Do a warm up, lift weights, then stretch.
    If you’re new to the gym, ask a trainer for some advice.
    By lifting weights, you will burn a few calories and prevent your metabolism from slowing down, which is a common side effect of losing weight
    Studies on low-carb diets show that you can even gain a bit of muscle while losing significant amounts of body fat 
    If lifting weights is not an option for you, then doing some easier cardio workouts like running, jogging, swimming or walking will suffice.

How to Monitor a Remote Computer

sometimes, it becomes necessary for us to monitor a remote computer in oder to keep track of the ongoing activities on it. This may be for several reasons such as to monitor an employee, catch a cheating partner or for the parents to monitor the activities of their children during their absence.

To do this, all you need is a powerful monitoring software installed on your computer. However, the story doesn’t end-up here itself because there exists tons of such monitoring software programs out there on the market each having different features and prices. Many of them are no more than a crap, some are overpriced while only a few are really worth buying.

In this post, I will give you a detailed information on how to monitor a remote computer and also tell you about which monitoring software to go for, how it works, how to install and use it, their pros and cons and many more.

Which Monitoring Software to Choose?

In my experience of over 10 years in the field of information security, I have tried and tested a number of monitoring programs for my clients and personal use. Realtime-Spy was the only program that grabbed my attention. The following review shows why I was really impressed by Realtime-Spy:

Realtime-Spy: A Detailed Review

Realtime-Spy is a cutting-edge Remote Spying Solution from Spytech Software and Design, Inc. that comes with a Remote-Install feature! That means, you can now install this software even on a remote computer without the need to have physical access to it. Currently, only a few monitoring programs on the market support this feature and Realtime-Spy is the best among them.

This is the only monitoring software on the market with a real-time activity viewer. You can remotely view everything your child, employee or spouse do on their computer.

Tony Blair and the art of a good Christmas card photo

"Menacingly odd", "fabulously awkward", "terrifying" and plain "creepy" - just some of the reactions to the Christmas card sent this year by Tony and Cherie Blair, notes Ben Milne.

It's set up to look like a domestic scene of an elder statesman and his devoted wife. But there's no getting around it - the former prime minister looks perturbed, even angry, according to dozens of tweeters. His teeth are bared and his eyes appear to be downright fierce, they suggest. "Perhaps the oddest thing about Tony Blair's threatening Christmas card is that this must have been the BEST photo..." tweets one observer. "The strange thing about Tony Blair's Christmas card is how the teeth seem to follow you round the room." "Be afraid. Be very afraid," write others.

The Blairs have a difficult past when it comes to Christmas cards. While in Downing Street, they were regularly castigated for including pictures of their young children (2001), or choosing pictures in which Cherie looked good and her children looked uncomfortable (2003), or pictures which excluded their children but looked like something out of a Boden catalogue (2004).

Etiquette writer Simon Fanshawe thinks that people are being unfair: "If you're trying to appeal to a whole range of people, it's a personal message from you - so you put your face on there. The choice is between that or a snowman. The man's a former PM - he's a major world figure, so putting himself on the card doesn't seem odd."

In fact, self-portraits have decorated Christmas cards from the beginning of their existence. The first card was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in 1843, and featured an illustration of himself and his family, wine-glasses in hand. In the 21st Century, it's easier than ever to produce a bespoke greeting (although the Kardashian family took this to an extreme last year, with a card of themselves which cost a reputed $250,000 to produce).

Jo Bryant, an etiquette tutor with Debrett's says, "Photographic Christmas cards are usual amongst those with a significant public profile, and are a tradition of the royal family" although she adds that "enclosing general round-robin newsletters, or photographs of the family and pets, is not traditionally British and can seem excessive".

Fanshawe agrees and says he objects more to "those dreadful letters from people about how well their children are doing, with messages like, 'We were so lucky to fly first class'."

Other politicians play it safer than the Blairs. Nick Clegg has a preference for drawings by his children - something political commentator Kevin Maguire approves of. "What's wrong with a kids drawing of baby Jesus in a manger? You look at [the Blairs' card] and you think, 'Steady, what's going on here?' It might be hard to get it right, but it's easy to get it wrong."

Ukraine crisis: US accuses Russia over 'incursion'

The rebels in Ukraine's east say they have been aided only by "volunteers" from Russia

The US has accused Russia of undermining a ceasefire in Ukraine after reports of Russian troops and military hardware entering the country.

The US envoy to the UN, Samantha Power, also accused Russia of pursuing war in Ukraine while talking peace.

Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN, Alexander Pankin, dismissed the allegations as propaganda.

More than 4,000 people have died in the conflict between Ukraine's military and pro-Russian rebels in the east.

Nearly a million people have fled their homes since the fighting started in April.

The violence has continued despite a ceasefire deal struck in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, in September, with both sides accusing each other of violations.

Relations between Russia and the West are at their lowest ebb since the Cold War as a result of the conflict.

The US called a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday after Nato accused Russia of sending troops, artillery and air defence systems across the border into Ukraine.

"The pattern is clear," Ms Power told the meeting. "Where Russia has made commitments it has failed to meet them."

"Russia has negotiated a peace plan and then systematically undermined it at every step. It talks of peace but it keeps fuelling war."

However, Mr Pankin said the Nato claims did "not reflect the situation on the ground". He accused Security Council members of a "foray into propaganda".

Meanwhile, Jens Toyber-Frandzen, the UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs, also warned of "a return to full-scale fighting".

He said an alternative scenario - a simmering conflict "with sporadic low-level battles" - would also be "a catastrophe for Ukraine".

He also expressed concern at a third prospect - "a frozen or protracted conflict that would entrench the status quo in south-eastern Ukraine for years or decades to come".

Nato's top commander, US Gen Philip Breedlove, told reporters on Wednesday that the Russian troop deployment in Ukraine may be intended to reinforce "pockets" under separatist control.

This could, he said, help them to form "a more contiguous, more whole and capable pocket of land in order to then hold on to it long term".

He did not specify how many troops, vehicles or weapons had been seen. A Nato official confirmed to the BBC that Nato had "assessed" that the equipment and troops were Russian in origin.

US Gen Breedlove, Nato: "What worries me most is that... the border between Ukraine and Russia is completely porous"

However, Russian defence official Maj-Gen Igor Konashenkov said "there was and is no evidence" to support Gen Breedlove's claims.

The current crisis in Ukraine can be traced back to the overthrow of a pro-Russian president by street protests in February.

Russia responded with the annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine also began a separatist uprising against the government.

Russia has consistently denied sending troops and equipment to support the rebels. However, the rebels have admitted being helped by "volunteers" from Russia.

Russia warns of recession in 2015

The Russian government said household disposable income would also fall by as much as 2.8%

The Russian government has warned the economy will fall into recession next year as Western sanctions, in response to its role in eastern Ukraine, and falling oil prices begin to bite.

Russia's economic development ministry estimates the economy will contract by 0.8% next year.

It had previously estimated the the economy would grow by 1.2% in 2015.

Russia's reliance on tax revenues from the oil industry makes it particularly sensitive to price movements.

Household disposable incomes are also forecast to decline by as much as 2.8%, compared with a previous estimate that they would grow by 0.4%.

The sharp revision in Russia's economic forecast is the first admission from the government that the economy will contract.

"The current prognosis is based on a drop in GDP by 0.8% in 2015, against the previous prognosis of growth by 1.2%," deputy prime minister Alexi Vedev said.

Budget

On Monday, the rouble suffered its biggest one-day fall since 1998.

The currency slid almost 9% against the dollar before rallying after suspected central bank intervention. The currency has already lost 40% in value this year.

The Russian finance ministry has also not ruled out spending more than 500 billion roubles from the budget's Reserve Fund next year.

The 2015-2017 budget allows for spending of up to 500bn roubles (£5.9bn) next year from the Reserve Fund, but Maxim Oreshkin, head of the finance ministry's long-term strategic planning department, said it was possible the government could spend more to support the economy.

He added that if the average oil price were $80 per barrel in 2015, the finance ministry's forecast for a fall in GDP was in line with the economy ministry's prediction of a 0.8% contraction.

He also said that a scenario in which the oil price averaged $60 a barrel in 2015 was pessimistic, and at that price, the Russian economy would contract as forecast in the central bank's "stress scenario".

'Damage'

The bank published its stress scenario last month, saying that at $60 per barrel, GDP would decline by 3.5% to 4%.

"The real damage from the collapsing rouble and oil price is to investment and growth,'' said Chris Weafer, senior partner at Moscow-based Macro-Advisory, in a note to investors.

Thailand profile:: Thailand is famed for its colourful traditional dancers

Thailand is the only country in south-east Asia to have escaped colonial rule. Buddhist religion, the monarchy and the military have helped to shape its society and politics.

The 1980s brought a boom to its previously agricultural economy and had a significant impact on Thai society as thousands flocked to work in industry and the services sector.

Although Thailand's recent governments have been civilian and democratically-elected, the country has seen turbulent times. The military governed, on and off, between 1947 and 1992 - a period characterised by coups, coup attempts and popular protests.

The collapse of the south-east Asian economic boom in 1997 led to public disillusion with free-market policies and encouraged the rise of populist Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was reviled by the urban elites but enjoyed widespread support among the poor, particularly in rural areas.

In September 2006, opposition to PM Thaksin came to a head and the military once again stepped into politics, carrying out a bloodless coup against him.

The move kicked off a period of seesaw politics, marked by frequent attempts by pro-Thaksin "red-shirts" and anti-Thaksin "yellow-shirts" to use mass protests as a lever to eject the other side from power.

Elections held at the end of 2007 as part of the military junta's transition back to civilian rule handed power straight back to pro-Thaksin forces, who managed to stay in power for only a year before being ousted by mass anti-Thaksin rallies.

The resulting anti-Thaksin coalition weathered frequent pro-Thaksin demonstrations - often by dint of military force - for four years before losing power in elections to a government led by Thaksin's sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Yingluck Shinawatra managed to avoid triggering violent opposition on the scale of the protests that brought down several previous governments until late 2013, when an attempt to pass a political amnesty bill - which would have allowed Mr Thaksin to return from exile - brought mass protests back to the streets of Bangkok.

The Constitutional Court ousted Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014 over nepotism allegations, leaving the government and country in political turmoil before the army once again seized power.

Conflict in south

Thailand has a minority Muslim, ethnic Malay population concentrated in its southern provinces.

A decades-old separatist struggle in the region - which abated in the 1980s - flared again in 2004. The violence has claimed more than 5,000 lives.

Thailand's capital, Bangkok, expanded rapidly with the influx of workers during the boom years. It is one of Asia's most vibrant and heavily-congested cities.

The large-scale sex industry that flourishes there contributed to the incidence of HIV infection - a major concern for the government.

Thailand has taken the lead in the region in distributing cheaper generic drugs for Aids sufferers and awareness campaigns are credited with reducing the number of new infections.

Since 2009, Thai troops have sporadically clashed with Cambodian forces in several disputed areas along the two countries' border.

Switzerland rejects immigration cap

Swiss voters have roundly rejected an initiative to put a cap on immigration in the name of environmental concerns.

Final results showed 74.1% of voters said no in a referendum spearheaded by Ecopop, a group describing themselves as leftist ecologists, who claimed the country was being “buried under concrete” owing to the growing influx of foreigners.

The 5 million people eligible to vote also rebuffed two further proposals, one to force the central bank to increase its gold reserves and another to scrap a flat tax for rich expatriates.

“Switzerland screams a straightforward No, No, No!” the business daily Handelszeitung wrote.

If successful, the Ecopop initiative would have slashed net immigration to 0.2% of the population, reducing the numbers of foreigners coming to Switzerland every year from about 80,000 to 16,000.

Ecopop said the Alpine country’s resources were insufficient to support mass immigration, which it argued was damaging its landscape.

The group, which was formed 40 years ago by a group of academics, ecologists and feminists, also proposed using 10% of the country’s overseas aid budget for family planning projects in the developing world.

The anti-immigrant initiative, which united leftwing ecologists and far-right thinkers, drew huge criticism from around the world and led to an unprecedented counter-campaign by business leaders, the government and other mainstream parties who argued it would do considerable damage to the economy and would isolate Switzerland from the European Union.

Sunday’s/ vote came after a referendum in February in which the country voted in favour of reintroducing immigration quotas, which effectively means it opting out of a free-movement agreement with the EU.

As many as three-quarters turned down the so-called Gold initiative, which economists had warned could cause the gold price to soar if passed.

Some 59.2% of voters rejected the flat tax proposal said.

All three issues on the table were highly emotive and had triggered unusually passionate and often aggressive debate for a country where consensus has a long tradition.

The gold initiative was led by a small group of rightwing radicals, while the scrapping of the flat tax for rich expatriates was brought down by a small leftwing group.

Under Swiss law, any petition signed by 100,000 voters must go to a popular vote.

All the issues were seen to be indicative of a nationwide bout of soul-searching over the future of a country that has enjoyed huge economic success based on striking a balance between its independence and an internationalist outlook.

While the Swiss enjoy one of the highest living standards in the world and among the highest wages, there have been increasing complaints that the country is showing signs of strain, overcrowding, and excessive development of urban and rural areas.

Swiss vote: three times “NO”

According to the newspaper 24 Heures, preliminary national results of the three votes in Switzerland this weekend were overwhelmingly “No”. The Ecopop initiative resulted in 74% voting “No”, the initiative seeking to do away with lump sum taxation or forfait fiscaux resulted in 62% voting “No”, and 77% voted against the initiative that would have required the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to hold a certain amount of gold.

The Swiss seem to have responded to pragmatic calls to vote in favour of the status quo.  Ecopop, a call to drastically limit immigration on environmental grounds, was presented by those opposed to it as an economically damaging dead end proposal, doing away with lump sum tax deals was presented by those opposed to it as a loss of tax receipts, and the gold initiative was described as a foolhardy monetary straight jacket by those who work in the financial sector, including gold traders and the SNB itself. The Economist also came out against the gold initiative in a piece entitled “Full of holes” in which it’s described as a woolly proposal that would reduce the ability of the SNB to influence the Swiss Franc’s value and reduce SNB profits.

Click on the links below to see the results by canton (in French) from the Swiss government’s website. The initiative to abolish lump sum taxation result is 59.2% “NO”. The Ecopop initiativeresult is 74.1% “NO”. The gold initiative result is 77.3% “NO”.

Sekonix DLP Pico Keychain Projector

Travel presentations will be transformed in 2015, thanks to the world’s smallest projector. This tiny keychain projector eliminates the need to lug around heavy equipment or pay to have projection equipment delivered to a presentation site. This Sekonix DLP Keychain Projector works with smartphones, tablets, and PCs through a USB connection.