The plethora of social networks can be great for providing interaction with different audiences and formats, but it can also be a lot of work. Seesmic Ping is designed for users who have multiple accounts and want to post to them all at once. It’s quick, efficient, time-saving, and much more.

Seesmic Ping is the simplified vision of Ping.fm, which sought to do something similar. With the just launched Android app, Seesmic Ping can broadcast to multiple accounts and networks. So a social media manager or chatterbox could post an update on their Twitter and have that same message instantly sent to Facebook, LinkedIn, or Salesforce. The app can even send to multiple accounts and fan pages, so your personal and website accounts could be updated simultaneously.

Aside from being a multi-platform sidekick, Ping can also be an assistant for saving drafts and scheduling. For instance, imagine if you want to make a post at 4:30 PM in four days but don’t want to remember or return to your accounts to do so. Ping can save a draft – including text, photos, and links – and post at the designated time. Users can do this for multiple tweets or status updates, and then cancel or publish immediately by going to the Pending section of the app.

As someone who manages multiple social media accounts on multiple networks, this is something that I can definitely get behind. Heck, this is even useful if you just have one account but want to be able to schedule posts. I love the simplicity of the design and how easy it is to post to all linked accounts or pick and choose based on each post. A free Seesmic.com account will keep track of all those accounts, so download Ping from the Market to start managing them in one place.

Cameras on Android phones have come a long way since the T-Mobile G1, but as we’ve seen with any kind of camera, there’s always room for improvement once an image is captured. Aviary Photo Editor is a new plug-in for Android that does more than just improve an image; it transforms it into something better looking or completely new.

Aviary is known on the desktop for a suite of image editing products, and the mobile version of the app is smooth entrance into a new format. The app works by taking an image that has already been captured with a camera, or imported from a gallery, and sets to changing things with adjustments or filters. The Enhancements section has auto-correction that fixes imbalanced lighting, and Saturation and brightness can be adjusted to increase or decrease color intensity. Changes are applied by swiping a dial to get just the right effect, which can create the perfect image when combined with other fixes.

Aside from merely editing an image with enhancements, crops, orientation changes, or red eye correction, Aviary also includes a set of filters in the Effect section. Popularized by apps like Instagram and Magic Hour, filters apply retro or highly stylized effects to your images. The “Vivid” effect raises contrast and brightness, “Singe” adds a sunset-like glow, and “Soft Focus” brings back that classic mall photo booth appearance.

There are 11 effects included in the app, but users can purchase “Grunge” or “Nostalgia” upgrade packs for $0.99 each. Aviary lacks the filter customization options of some other apps, but the included packs look beautiful if you are into this style of mobile image creation. (Plus, you can use standard adjustments to make further changes.)

After playing with Aviary for a few days and testing several images, I found it to be on par with most of the style camera apps I’ve reviewed. The only problem is that this isn’t an “app” in the traditional sense – it’s a plugin. Aviary can only launch by going to a camera/gallery app and pressing the edit or share/export buttons to begin editing. This can creates headaches if errantly pressing the back button too many times or switching to another app and being unable to return to your in-progress image. Users have to make changes right away because pressing the back button too many times loses all progress and there’s no way to return to it should you go home or get an incoming call.

With that said, this is still something that I’d recommend people try. While some image editors focus on filters, others on color/lighting adjustments, and others on adding fun things like stickers or text, Aviary manages to do all three. And do them very well.

Sports is major part of my social interactions. I’m guaranteed to discuss soccer, basketball, or football whenever I talk to my father or brother, and we’re only a text message or call away from complaining or celebrating.

OnSports is an app focused on that sole purpose of connecting sports fans through the mobile devices they keep close. There’s a tremendous focus of the app centered on user-generated content and discussions, making sports – before, during, and after the game – a more social and informative experience.

Considering that Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest sporting event of the year, and only 2 of the 3 men in the Kameka clan watched the game together, I decided to take OnSports for a spin and see how the app works. Here’s a log of my impressions from using the app yesterday.

9:30 AM: Talk to me

After eating my off-brand corn flakes, I start browsing OnSports. The app is simple and beautiful with a UI focused on a red top banner, gray background, white text, and game photos. I instantly notice that while OnSports has a news section, it’s downplayed for the sake of discussion. The first section seen when launching the app is filled with user polls and discussions organized according to specific sports.

Then I notice that many of the discussions are repetitive or stale. There are multiple posts about who should be the NFL MVP, and a “discussion” of the best NBA player of all-time (obviously Michael Jordan). I counted at least 20 different versions of “Who will win the Super Bowl?” and only one of them has more than two people participating.

10:30 AM: Meeting my goals

OnSports can filter according to sport, and since Manchester United vs. Chelsea is on, I decide to focus on the EPL a little bit. Discussions are rare and sometimes pointless, but there are news articles pulled in from ESPN, The Guardian, Eurosport, fan blogs, and much more. By linking with a Facebook or Twitter account, OnSports creates profiles to become “Fans” of other users and follow the posts they make. This is a great way to follow what others are saying and doing in the app. Users can then select teams as their Favorites and create a view dedicated only to those teams individually or collectively.

1:30 PM: Change the game

Man U vs. Chelsea has finished and I decide to switch to the Miami Heat vs. Raptors game. There’s a lot more activity in the NBA section, so OnSports’ social problem becomes clear – the people. Despite being available for several weeks and having 500,000 downloads, OnSports is only as good as the users contributing, and they aren’t always on their game. The app needs some kind of curation or formula change to push popular posts to the top and get rid of the repetitive topics. For an app with such a focus on social, there needs to be some way to encourage adoption.

10:45 PM: Game Over

Super Bowl preparation and excitement took up most of the afternoon/evening, but I peeked at my phone here and there. The Giants eventually won the Super Bowl, and I’m still in a state of euphoria. But before I go off to fail to get some sleep, I decide to jot down my final impressions of OnSports.

The app is beautifully designed and has a great organization of the content it presents. I’d prefer if the News section had full articles rather than abbreviated feeds, but navigation is a breeze. I’m a fan of the Scores section that provides updates for in-progress games mixed with smack talk from fans. Any app can tell you the score is 80-75, but you get more color from seeing what people are saying about the game. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy live-tweeting sports events.

OnSports is a mixed bag for me because it suffers from the early-adopter phase of most social products. The tools are there, but the amount of people necessary to make it really shine aren’t depending on what sports you follow. With a larger audience, this would be a phenomenal app. For now, it’s just a good-looking option for folks who want to keep up with sports news. Invite your social circle to join and this could be a good tool to have in the run-up to the next big sports event.

Click the image below to download it from the Android Market.

Hot on the heels of its rival adding support for Android tablets, rdio has updated its music streaming app to support not only a new tablet version, but a complete redesign for its user interface.

Rdio has ditched the three-tab legacy design in favor of something flat, quick, and at your fingertips. The app launches with a new homescreen that pushes more options to the front. Members can jump directly to the collection, playlists, queue, heavy rotation, social activity, history, new releases, top charts, or recommended songs. A search bar rests in the top right corner to get to a specific song, artist, or album.

The playback screen remains fairly untouched because that was previously a bright spot. What has changed is that Rdio has added the long-requested feature to control playback from the lockscreen on Android 4.0 devices. The app can now skip, pause, and show album art. And when you want to find new music to control, there are several ways in which to find them. Here’s a list of the new music discovery options rdio sent to us.

• New Releases – Be the first to listen to new albums and singles on the day they are released, and access new albums released up to two weeks prior
• Top Charts – Check out recent chart-topping albums
• Recommendations – Discover more music by exploring fresh album recommendations based on your listening history
• Enhanced Search – In addition to searching for artists, albums, and songs, you can now search for Playlists and People
• Synced collection and playlist views – View only the music you have synced for offline listening, without the need to go into offline mode
• User Profiles – Search, browse, and follow other Rdio users; discover new music by seeing their activity, who they follow, their playlists and more

The new design looks good, but that only means something if there are good songs to go along with that pretty face (unlike what record labels demand of their artists). There are more than 12 million songs in the streaming library, and you can test the waters for yourself with a free 7-day trial available through the rdio Android app. A monthly subscription of $9.99 is required to continue using the app once the trial offer expires.

Everyone can name a decent tower defense game, but how many Android users can rattle off the title of their favorite tower offense game? Anomaly Warzone Earth HD flips the old format on its head and creates a fun strategy-based game in which players plan an attack on a position rather than protect it.

The premise of Anomaly HD, available for $3.99, is that aliens have invaded planet Earth and a commander must lead a group of units through fields of enemies to complete tactical missions. That can range from cutting through alien forces to rescue trapped comrades, re-taking military facilities, or going on recon missions to learn more about the invaders and acquire weaponry that will lead to ultimate victory.

Along the way, players will see the familiar features of a tower game: destroying adversaries earns money to acquire new units and purchase upgrades, tactical rewards can heal fighters or provide an advantage in battle, and waves of attacks will determine your chance for survival. Players can make changes to their attack plan – including route and sell vehicles to get more money for upgrades or changes – in the middle of an attack.

The main problem with Anomaly is actually the installation process. The app requires an additional 180 MB of game data to function and it took me 3 days before I finally managed to get the entire filed downloaded without crashing. Once I did, I found that the graphics weren’t mind-blowing, but the other aspects of the production value were very good. Support staff provides audio updates about missions and alerts users when they need to perform repairs or consider alternate routes. There’s also a good story and three levels of difficulty that can be changed for each mission. At $4.99, this is a game that I can see people enjoying when they pick it up, put it down when they have to, and come right back to find the same level of enjoyment.

Here’s a video showing some action from the game.

Rhapsody streams your favorite music to your Android phone, Google TV, and even your Sonos player. Today, the company added Android tablets to the list thanks to a new tablet view designed specifically with 7 to 10-inch screens in mind.

“We didn’t just resize Rhapsody – we re-imagined the entire experience for the tablet,” said Rhapsody CPO Brendan Benzing.

The new Rhapsody tablet mode is a prime example of the cool things developers can do with a tablet. As expected, users can stream songs and build playlists or queues, but the larger screen allows them to do it without constantly pressing the back button. It’s also much easier to browse through a library because Rhapsody greets users with a screen showcasing featured content in three sections: New Releases; Popular artists, albums, and songs; and Suggestions for artists to listen to based on the music users have already added to their library.

Rhapsody also has an action bar for the Browse, Features, My Music, Radio (stations built around an artist or genre), search, and control sections. A right panel shows the album cover art, playlist, and controls to play or skip back/forward. A homescreen widget is also included, but it could stand to larger than the 4×1 included considering there’s so much more room to utilize.

The design choices are all good, but I especially like the Featured content that Rhapsody delivers for music discovery. The homescreen has a sliding carousel for featured artists and articles built around a subject, but there’s an entire section dedicated to similar lists. Writers have hand-picked recommendations based on the popular songs in your senior year of high-school, themed mixtapes, and “Cheat Sheets” for buzzworthy artists or bands who sound like one of your favorite artists. There are occasional misses like the love-her-or-really-really-really-hate her Lana Del Ray, but the content is otherwise interesting to browse.

Rhapsody is available for download now. The app requires a $9.99 monthly subscription fee to stream music. You can also store music for offline use and cache streaming to improve playback quality. Some devices might want to disable the cache feature because it might prevent playback at all (I had to turn it off for my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to work).

KEY FEATURES

- Artist biographies and album reviews from some of the top music writers in the industry
- Unlimited access to over 14 million songs
- Customized playlists, new music recommendations
- Exclusive content: artist interviews, live performances and pre-release listening

The Waze Android GPS app has a new look and a new live integration with social apps to better connect with events and happenings in an area.

The just-announced Waze 3.0 update has stripped down to a more minimalist UI that focuses on the road. The previous version of the app had more of a cartoonish look, but the map has been toned down slightly to display in a more traditional map view. (Fret not, it’s not all business.)

The cutesy icons from the top and bottom have been stripped and the core functions are now available through one of two buttons. Slide from left to right to search for an address, place, or person; see your favorites or search history; or do a voice search to trigger navigation. Tapping the left button brings up reports, My Waze section, and sharing to Facebook or email. Users can also slide right to left to send reports of traffic moderate, heavy, or standstill traffic jams. Tapping on the right button brings up the ability to report an accident, police presence, problems with a map or roadway, chat, or check in.

The “check in” is to Foursquare, which allows users to immediately check-in once they have arrived at the location. That is one of the ways in which Waze 3.0 imports social networks. Someone searching for “Chinese food” can see nearby restaurants, but that doesn’t tell users anything about food quality. Sliding the bottom bar on the results page can take a user to see Yelp star ratings for that establishment. It would be better if the app allowed users to actually go to the restaurant’s Yelp page to learn more about specific dishes, price, or atmosphere, but this is still a useful tool to have. Waze also has a Foursquare tab that shows how many people are checked-in to a venue and which locations have Foursquare specials.

Android 2.0 and higher users get more out of Waze 3.0. The app has a My Waze feature that keeps stats of how a user fares in the gamification/contest aspects of Waze, pre-programs Home and Work locations, and provides live feedback on the best routes to take when driving. The iPhone version has had these features for a few months, so here’s a quick video filmed by Robert Scoble showing how it works. You can download the Android version for free from the Android Market.

Around these parts, we’re big fans of Koushik Data, a CyanogenMod team member and developer of great Android things like ROM Manager and Clockwork Mod. Unlike the previously mentioned features, the latest innovation from “Koush” doesn’t require root.

ClockworkMod Tether is an alpha application that enables wireless tethering on Android devices. The difference between this and most other solutions is that it:
1 – Doesn’t require the phone to be rooted
2 – Doesn’t require a monthly tethering plan from your carrier
3 – Will supposedly not be detectable by carriers thanks to a workaround to be implemented

In his Google+ post announcing the app, which is still in testing and seeking constructive feedback on issues that you may run into, Koush says ClockworkMod Tether “should work with any carrier and phone, and is not blockable or detectable by carriers.” To get started, user only need download and run a Mac, Linux, or Windows application. The desktop client is required to function, and will initiate set-up on both the computer and phone.

Download links are available at Koush’s Google+ post. I just tested on a Mac OSX laptop on a non-rooted Galaxy Nexus and it worked without a hitch. Start-up was a little slow, but I was soon browsing the web. The tethering app, which is not final, even provides a running clock to warn users how much data they are downloading and uploading while tethering. (Your normal data caps will still apply.)

[Google+] via Reddit

Happy New Year, everybody! This will be the last edition of Android Apps Alert published in the year 2011. It was a prolific year for the Android Market, which underwent more changes than we have time to recount, and we’re happy to see the constant stream of new Android apps available for our phones and tablets. However, the stream was a little soft this week as development has slowed during the post-Christmas, pre-CES lull. Here are a few new and noteworthy apps that you may want to grab anyway.

Old Republic Security Key

Android 2.1+ required

Star Wars: Old Republic debuted this week, and this is probably the first time that you’ve come up for air since you got your hands on the new MMORPG. Fans of Old Republic spend a great deal of time and money on quests in the game, and they want to ensure that their investment remains in tact and secure. With the Old Republic app, users can get a two-stage verification that prevents their accounts from being accessed without approval. The app creates a one-time keycode that acts as a secondary security layer to keep your game info protected.

Winter Wake Up

Android 2.1+ required

Ever woke up at your scheduled time only to discover that there’s a mountain of snow that needs to be moved before you can get your car on the road? Download Winter Wake Up and avoid the weather delays. Winter Wake Up (WWU from here on out) works by taking asking users what time they wake up and how much extra time they would need under heavy snow or frost. The app then intelligently monitors local weather conditions, as determined by GPS, and wakes users up earlier. So if it snows overnight and you need 20 minutes to shovel or de-frost the windshield, WWU rings the alarm at 6:20 instead of 6:40 AM. There’s even a feature that says, “Don’t bother to wake me” if conditions are really bad, but be careful about that one. Your job may still require some sort of notification that you aren’t coming in.

via TechCrunch

Free New Years Live Wallpaper

Android 2.2 required

I’m sure we’re all hoping that the Mayans were wrong, but either way, it’s time to party like it’s 1999 2012! The Free New Years Live Wallpaper offers glowing live wallpapers with multiple themes and effects to bring in the new year. Your wallpaper may be a purple-and-orange Statue of Liberty one minute, but it could just as easily be fireworks exploding over parties celebrating the new year. Download the free app and get ready for a new beginning (or end depending on what you believe).

Ancestry.com

Android 2.1+ required
Phone and tablet compatible

Ancestry.com is a popular resource for researching, creating, and maintaining a family tree. The official Android app that debuted recently makes it possible to do that from a phone. Ancestry.com can show your existing tree or start a new one, so users can add or delete people and events (Sometimes, you need to prune your family members apparently.) The app includes zooming in/out, search, profile info for family members, and viewing historical documents that may provide clues about your family history.

Light Flow LED

Android 2.2+ required
Free Lite, $1.99 premium

Light Flow tweaks how the LED notification light operates. So instead of seeing a standard flashing light for all notifications, it shows green when a text message comes in, white when a new email arrives, purple for a calendar reminder, or red for a missed call. Users can customize colors so they know what type of notification comes in. Purchase the premium $1.99 app and you’ll get more notification options for specific apps like Facebook, Foursquare, Kik, Skype, Tweetdeck, Twitter, WhatsApp, and more.

Able Remote

Android 1.6+ required, Google TV required

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed a free Android app called Able Remote, an interesting remote for Google TV that controls the TV and accessories. (It even uses voice commands.) There’s also a page that bookmarks common apps for easy access. The latest version of Able Remote now allows users to customize that page. After purchasing a $0.99 in-app upgrade, users will be able to select which Google TV apps are bookmarked so they can get to them with a couple of taps rather than going through the entire menu. There’s also new graphics, editable buttons, and improved on-screen caller ID.

Android Apps Reviews & News of the Week

• Add Androinica.com to your Google Currents library!
• Are You Watching This?! sports app lets you swipe and play games on TV
• Papa John’s giving away Samsung Galaxy Nexus and discounts to Android app users
• Gameloft putting Android Market games on sale for $0.99
• Redux TV delivers curated, leanback viewing experience for Google TV [App Reviews]
• Sprint NBA Mobile 2011-2012 hands-on [Video]
• Amazon and Google Music sales yield big discounts