Ever wanted to know what you’d look like in a $400 scarf? Designer Emilio Pucci has released an app that lets you superimpose styled scarves on pictures of yourself, giving you a free ticket to his scarves - or at least to looking like you have them. The app is surprisingly well built, giving users colour and style options and allowing a full range of motion when resizing and repositioning the scarves on your photos. It’s a bit buggy at times, but it’s a fun way to spice up your pics and play around with the beautiful scarves Pucci offers without spending a dime. Pucci also has a tumblr page up and running where they are displaying the #PucciScarfies submitted on Instagram and by email! Can you find mine in there?
What are you waiting for? Go take your #PucciScarfie and see yourself on Pucci’s tumblr page!
Since the rise of mobile apps, mobile photography has grown into a huge industry in its own right. Thousands of photo apps exist, each bringing its own angle to the experience of taking, editing and sharing photos using our mobile devices. We’re so used to having our albums in the cloud or on our phone that we rarely take the time to print our pictures out anymore because it’s simply inconvenient to take a memory card to a print station nowadays. That’s why I love Printic, the app that lets you print photos directly from your phone, and have them mailed right to your doorstep.
I’ve always loved collaging, and the way Printic’s prints are shaped takes me right back to the Polaroid I had when I was little. Digital photos are great, but there’s just something beautiful about having the best memories printed out so you can hold them in your hand. Printic also lets you print photo albums and calendars, all fully customized and pre-built so you have them just the way you want them.
Not only do the finished products look great, the app does too and is so easy to use! You just follow the guided steps to choose and format your photos, add text and change the background colours, then enter your address and order!
Pretty cool eh? Well Printic has generously offered a credit for 10 prints for a giveaway on Trendy Techie, so you could have a chance to get 10 prints for free! The giveaway will be open for one week, winner announced on Monday June 9th!
There are a ton of ways to sell a phone, and even more ways to buy one. Anyone who’s considered selling their phone knows how hard it can be to settle on a price, especially if you’re dealing with an expert haggler. But what if your phone could tell you exactly how much it’s worth? Well iPhone users, you’re in luck: Orchard does exactly that, and gets you more money than other appraisal methods!
I’ve been wanting to sell my iPhone for a while now (I’ve got my eye on the gorgeous Nokia Lumia 1020 in white, ooh ahh), so I’m pretty jazzed about this Orchard app. And not only is it a cool concept, but it’s super intuitive to use - it only took me about five minutes to get my appraisal. Here’s how it works: the first time you launch the app, it shows you the expected value range of your device. Then you can access the menu to enter the step-by-step feature test, which verifies which hardware components still work. At each step, the app clearly tells you how well your phone is passing the tests. Check out some screenshots from my own appraisal experience on my iPhone 4s.
Orchard’s appraisals are more than fair, they actually get you more on average than selling on other platforms! The Fair Market Value of your phone is calculated according to the average of what identical phones are selling on all other markets, taking into consideration all possibilities and every element of your phone, from whether it is carrier-locked or unlocked, to the quality of the cameras, to even the scratches on your screen, that you draw out during the test. Don’t believe me about the higher pricing? Check out the stats below.
Another thing I like about Orchard is that no step is done without your approval - you are given control over the appraisal every step of the way, so you’re always aware of what the app is doing. And when you’re done all the steps, your listing is created so people can browse to it in the online shop and see all the specs. Like what you see? Download it here!
Everyone has a smartphone, but not everyone knows what details to list when listing their phone for sale. Orchard takes the thinking out of this process, making it easy, effortless and enjoyable to sell your Apples.
So what do you think? Would you use Orchard to sell your iPhone?
The most amazing display of passion is found when an entrepreneur is explaining their business. When I spoke at NBTC, I had the pleasure of meeting LocaWoka co-founder Hussain Bandukwala, a man whose passion for his startup shines through in conversation. LocaWoka is an app by a three-man Torontonian team that simplifies and redefines the process of finding skilled laborers to help you get things done.
There are so many people in the world, and many in each industry with comparable or similar skillsets. But in a sea of similar skillsets, how do you find that one person perfect for your job? LocaWoka is the answer. Craigslist and Kijiji have similar subsections in their classifieds, but LocaWoka is much more than that. It’s a network of people with answers to the questions: “who can do this for me?” and “how can I find work?”
Despite it’s playful name, LocaWoka is a smart, very well thought-out answer to a very real problem. Not only is the app a network for people to connect, it also houses a rating system where the solicitors can rate and review the workers to provide other users a realistic assessment of the quality of work provided by the workers. This pares down the short-term hiring process, giving you back the time you would normally need to spend scouring Craigslist, sorting through miscategorised posts, and ruling out the creepers.
It’s one of those simple ideas that makes you wonder why it isn’t already widely used to employ and find employment. I think the only reason it isn’t yet is it’s very new! The startup was officially founded in late 2013, and it’s only been available for a few months. Check it out for yourself!
Social networking is a huge market these days and, though sometimes it seems to be saturated, the world is never going to turn down an amazing new way to connect. Every now and then I scour the “Social Networks” category in the various app stores and look at all the new attempts at connecting us, and not surprisingly many of them miss the mark. But this new storytelling app has it all - ease of use, an elegant interface, and a killer purpose: to tell stories through multimedia flipbooks, all created on the iPhone. Introducing Steller: an up-and-coming social network that will let you unlock your inner storyteller.
Users create stories by capturing photos and videos on their phones and selecting them from the in-app finder. A selection of templates allows them to add text to the pages, overlaid or inline with the media. Once the story is created, the user publishes it to a collection where other people can read them. You may note the similarities to existing social media platforms: Instagram and Vine both let you upload videos/images with captions. But Stellar takes it one step further, effectively combining the Vinestagram experiences into one by letting you upload multiple pages of media into one story. Click on my story, Business Beautiful, to see an example!
In fact, here are a few more of my stories!
Isn’t that awesome? I love the simplicity and beauty of this app. And of course, you can follow users, like and share stories, and set up as many collections as you want so your library of stories is organized by topic.
I’m pretty obsessed with this app. It’s so fun to create and share stories and to see the awesome stuff other people have created! Check out some of my favourites below, and download the app to try it for yourself! Follow me to get the latest Trendy Techie stories, including some exclusive to the app that will not be shown here on the site. ;D
Be sure to follow me so I can check out your stories! I see nothing but potential in this app and I’m looking for new people to follow. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. :) And let me know what you think in the comments below!
Last week I was invited to join PayPal at Boehmer Restaurant in Toronto to celebrate the launch of their great new app. This app redefines the PayPal experience by partnering with restaurants and cafes around the world to let you pay for your purchase without ever touching your wallet! All you need is a smartphone (iPhone, Android and Windows Phone compatible!) and a PayPal account.
Picture this: you’re all ready to go out - hair done, nails done, everything did (hey, we’re in Toronto so a little Drake can’t hurt) - and you’re headed out for dinner and drinks with your friends. Before you can go you have to do the double triple check: phone, keys and wallet, plus ID, cards and cash. If you forget any one of those things, your night could be stickier than expected. PayPal’s new app cuts the check in half by eliminating the need for you to carry your wallet! No wallet, no cards, no cash.
To pay with the app, you “check in” to the place you want to pay at when you get there by sliding the slider over. That’s the last time you need to touch your payment method - no more fiddling around in your purse to find your cash. When you’re ready to pay, you simply tell the cashier you’d like to pay with paypal. They will see your name and picture on their screen, so they can verify that it’s you using your account. Then they select you and charge the amount to your account, it’s as easy as that! And you get a notification about the purchase, so you don’t even need to worry about a receipt.
I love the easiness of this app. It really removes any hassle and inconvenience from paying for your purchase and frees up your hands. It’s particularly useful when you have to carry your purchase to a table - goodbye, awkwardly trying to carry your change, purse, wallet, latte and muffin!
And not only is the app awesome, the launch party was great too! Boehmer is one of the restaurants that offers PayPal as a payment option, and the food is absolutely amazing. Owner and Chef Paul Boehmer cooked up a delicious array of food for us, including tarts and mini chicken schnitzels. It’s a beautiful restaurant that I will definitely be going back to while I’m in Toronto!
This app is a prime example of how technology augments our lives. Paying is a simple process we’ve grown used to and we don’t even think twice about anymore, and yet this app makes it even simpler. It’s available for iOS, Android and Windows, and more locations are being added every day so you’ll be able to check in and pay at all your favourite eateries. Try it for free in your phone’s app store today!
Photography courtesy of Teddy Chau Photography/PayPal
Have you ever been browsing Sephora and seen a gorgeous new lipstick or eyeshadow that you just needed to buy? Chances are you chose to go to the store to try it on before buying it instead of ordering it online. With the amount of money that makeup costs these days it would be a waste if you ordered a product in the wrong shade! Now with this fashion-forward app GlamST by two female engineers from Uruguay (yay women in tech!), you can try on products digitally without ever leaving home!
GlamST has 4 important components:
1. Virtual makeup tester: try products on your own picture
2. Algorithm for intelligent recommendations: automatic recommendations on how to complete your look
3. Social advice: ask the community to advice you in the creation of your look.
4. Latest trends and Tips: space for the bloggers to post their blog posts with link to their blogs
It’s currently in the final stages of development, and will be available soon on the Windows Store! I’m really looking forward to trying this app out. Last year when I dyed my hair black, I used a similar website to simulate the change in hair colour. I think this app is a great opportunity for users to save their money and make the makeup-buying experience a social one. Get the app here!
