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6 Ways to Call Your Friends for Free

Posted: 19 May 2014 07:00 AM PDT

Smartphone User In Store

With smartphones being as popular as ever, new apps are made all the time and with this guide you can find out how to use them to call your friends for free.

When the 'smart revolution' began to take place sometime in 2008 when the original iPhone was released and 2009 when handset makers seemed to wise up to smartphone's popularity, people realised that the mobile phone market would change in a big way, but not like this. They probably never realised that in the face of smartphone popularity other markets such as that of PCs, would dwindle as we began to pride portability over sheer, raw power. They probably didn't realise that even gaming would change too as mobile gaming became a bonafide genre, as opposed to something that younger generations did on their Nintendo Game Boys and DS'. But most of all they probably didn't realise that in the face of smartphone apps and services, we would even stop calling and texting in traditional ways as we could use apps to do that too so you can read on to find out how to use your smartphone to call your friends for free below.

1. Skype

Skype is everyone's favourite voIP (voice over Internet Protocol) service because it's been around for years and everyone trusts it. Skype has all of your basic features, such as IM (instant messaging) and voice calls that can allow you to keep in touch with your friends no matter where they are. So well does Skype do this that it saw MSN (Microsoft's own IM service) buckle under competitive pressure with Microsoft purchasing Skype a few years later, helping the service to become bigger and better. That 'better' hasn't quite happened yet, with Skype still having the propensity to drop calls every once in a while (they aren't always of the clearest quality either) but as it's used by more people than the rest of the apps on this list (and is therefore easier for everyone to use) then the Skype app is worth a look in.

2. Viber

You have to be brave to launch in direct competition with a company like Skype and you also have to be certain that what you're offering is strong enough to last. Luckily, voIP start-up Viber has the chops to prove it, having offered text chat and call services since it was created in 2010. The Viber app is free and in some ways you do get what you paid for here as calls take a little longer to connect than they do with Skype, but once they do, the quality of the call is arguably much better than Skype and a buyout by Japanese company Rakuten for $900 million means that that's only set to continue.

3. BlackBerry Messenger

BlackBerry as a handset may have some paltry offerings but BlackBerry Messenger as a service remains one of the strongest messaging services out there. Given that BBM was always one of the key reasons to buy a BlackBerry in the first place, you can imagine that BBM as it stands now (it's available for iOS and Android too) is a very strong competitor due to all of the experience and knowledge behind it. The only downside to BBM is that the app is funded by ads meaning that this may mar your experience slightly but as it also boasts seamless movement from a text chat to a voice call, you might not even notice that the ads are there.

4. Line

Line is the rising star of the chat app world and with good reason too. Its delightful stickers make text chat a fun experience in which you catch up with friends using silly images when serious conversation just isn't something that you want to do. But in addition to Line's fabulous text chatting, it also has a voice call function too, in which calls are quick to connect and are a crisper, clearer alternative to Skype. In fact, the only downside to Line's calls is that you often find yourself initiating them accidentally due to the positioning of the call button, but the 'Decline' and 'Answer' buttons are bold enough that this isn't a huge problem.

5. Kakao

Kakao is another rising star (albeit a slightly dimmer one than Line) and even if you can't pronounce what it's called, you can still get hours of enjoyment out of it. Like Line, Kakao has a plethora of stickers that you can send to friends but Kakao boasts the additional feature of animated stickers too, meaning that you can get the full experience of a dancing animated character if you wish. Unfortunately Kakao's calls are tiny bit fiddly to do, but the service seems to be doing well which means that it's absolutely worth a shout.

6. WhatsApp

Over 500 million users can't be wrong about WhatsApp's quality since they've all been using it to chat amongst themselves rather than paying for texts for some time now. Indeed, WhatsApp's weight warrant an inclusion on its list even if it doesn't technically include calls yet. Specifically, a $19 billion buyout by Facebook is set to catapult WhatsApp into huge new territory, including free voice calls. But that hasn't happened yet despite the company saying that it would happen sometime during Q2 2014 (April, May and June) so there's still time for them to launch the feature and once it does it'll probably be incredible so keep an eye out for that. 

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories WhatsApp Now Has Over 500 Million UsersFacebook Expands Services With WhatsApp Purchase

21 Perfect T-Shirts Inspired by Books

Posted: 19 May 2014 06:00 AM PDT

FNL

How does one show his love for a great piece of literary art? Well, you can buy the book. Or you can get a tattoo of some famous quote. Or like being a fan of a sports team, you can wear a cool T-Shirt with pride.

Ulysses, James Joyce

Catch 22, Joseph Heller

Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell

 

Animal Farm, George Orwell

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle

The Call of the Wild, Jack London

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

 

The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton

Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, H.G. Bissinger

On the Road, Jack Kerouac

The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

 

The Color Purple, Alice Walker

 

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

 

The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan

 

In the Night Kitchen, Maurice Sendak

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou

 

All T-Shirts via Out of Print Clothing

For some more T-Shirts inspired by books, take a look at these. For Star Wars fans, it doesn’t get any better than these.

Google Wallet Now Supports Payments With PayPal

Posted: 19 May 2014 05:00 AM PDT

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Digital wallets and payment services have taken a long time to catch on, but a new partnership between Google and PayPal suggest that could all change soon.

Google Wallet was originally launched in 2011 and serves as a digital wallet with a an intended function not all that different from a physical wallet, but digitally.  Initially, Google Wallet used a Google pre-paid reload-able digital debit card, but slowly expanded to cover various credit/debit cards and loyalty cards such as Walgreens and California Pizza Kitchen, but it is now primarily used as a transaction system for purchases through Google Play or other Google services.

Paypal was the pioneer of such transactional services, but had over a decade head-start on Google Wallet.  Paypal has been providing transaction services–mainly for its parent company, ebay–for years and allows users to integrate access to their bank account and credit cards.  In fact, Paypal initially sued Google over “misappropriation of trade secrets” after Google Wallet employed a former PayPal executive.

The Google/PaPal suit hasn’t been the only line of contention since the advent of the mobile wallet, though.  Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile have partnered to form their own mobile wallet, Isis, and have regularly stonewalled Google’s attempts to provide Google Wallet on any phones they carry.

Although Google Wallet was greeted out the gate with a PayPal lawsuit, there has been a conspicuous lack of news since then, and the original lawsuit documentation has been removed from ebay’s website.  In over 3 years there has been no decision or settlement announced.  In fact, PayPal and Google just announced PayPal support for Google Wallet.

Currently, Google Wallet only supports PayPal transactions through Play Store downloads, such as app purchases, so there is no mobile wallet support available at this time.  Paypal can be linked to most bank accounts, as can Google Wallet, so the two can share the same pot of money, but this ability has existed for some time now.  The ability to go into Walgreens and use a phone to make a purchase using Paypal funds is still some time off in the future, but this new cooperation brings us one step closer.

The popularity of wallet cell phone cases and devices like the Coin digital credit card show that consumers are desiring to find a unified solution for both their wallets and their digital payment services.  Hopefully the market will mature in a few years and cooperation such as this deal between Google and PayPal will be more commonplace.

Source: SlashGear

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