Travelling Banana Site Icon

WordPress have just released version 4.3, also known as “Billie”.

One of the new functions of this release, which I’ve already implemented, is the Site Icons feature.

Site icons represent your site in browser tabs, bookmark menus, and on the home screen of mobile devices. Add your unique site icon in the customizer; it will even stay in place when you switch themes. Make your whole site reflect your brand.

So if you are looking at this post (or anything on my website) whilst on your computer or laptop you should now see a mini banana just left of the travellingbanana.com url in the browser.

Can you see it?

If you are on your mobile device such as an iPad or iPhone you can add me to your homescreen using the Add to Homescreen feature.

You will now have a funky smiling banana as an icon. It should look something like this:-

Now you can have a useful visual identification to help you find one of your favorite websites :-)
Now you can have a useful visual identification to help you find one of your favorite websites 🙂 and a convenient link on your mobile device.

If you are visiting from an Android device, let me know the options you have and I will add those instructions here too?


You can find out more about this new WordPress release here

Home

Today I’m starting the Photo101 Challenge where you post a photo a day based on a particular topic.

The first topic is HOME.

Home is elusive. When we think about this word, we might picture different physical locations. And while home is often found on a map, it can also be less tangible: a loved one, a state of mind.

This is an interesting one as my birth home is the UK but my new home for the last three years has been the U.S. They are two completely different places but here is a picture showing where home is right now – Miami Beach.

Ocean Drive
Panorama: Ocean Drive, Miami Beach

It’s a great place to be!


So how did I take this picture?

Since the introduction of iOS 6 it’s possible to take great panorama photos right inside your iPhone’s native camera app. The panorama feature only works with iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and the latest generation iPod touch, so if you have an older device you have to use another panorama app.

I love the panoramic feature that is available on the iPhone. Sometimes you just want to capture your whole view.

Have you used the Panoramic option on your iPhone yet?

In order to access the panorama feature, open your iPhone’s Camera app, tap on Options, and choose Panorama. This will launch the panorama mode. Once you tap capture, slowly and steadily move your phone from left to right. You will see a guide line – this will help you keep your phone steady and produce a much straighter final result.


If you enjoyed this article you may be interested in finding out more about Miami in the following posts:-

Miami Beach on a Budget

The Best Places to Eat in Miami Beach

The Most Tasty Cocktails

The Wild Green Parrots of Miami Beach

 

Bond Tracker for iOS

Everyone has their favorite Bond growing up and with every passing generation there’s a new Bond actor, movie and book. This app helps you track everything Bond.


James Bond, Licenced to Thrill

Splash Screen
Bond Tracker Splash Screen

Everyone has a favorite Bond and a James Bond they remember growing up with. There have been so many books, movies and even video games spanning a total of 60 years since it’s first conception in 1953 by author, journalist and naval intelligence officer Ian Lancaster Fleming that we thought we needed a handy device to log all this great entertainment.

This app was a lot of fun to create. As well as being huge fans of Bond, we love putting together useful apps to help make life a little more fun and a little easier to handle especially when there is so much information out there.

Have you looked at the web lately, phew, you can get lost out there.

We started to find that we just couldn’t remember what we had watched – call it loss of brain matter or the advancing years creeping up on us I guess! Was there a new movie, book or game out that we’d be interested in and if there was wouldn’t it be great to have something handy to help us find the info as well as help us remember too.

We’ve done the hard work for you. Let me be your Q and explain how this app works…and Bond, please do try not to break it…

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Talk! Speech Synthesizer for iOS

The Talk! Speech Synthesizer App for iOS is a lot of fun. Add some fun phrases or words that you like to say a lot and let your device speak for you.

How it works?

Enter Any Phrase You Like!
Enter Any Phrase You Like!

Open the app on either your iPhone or iPad and tap the + sign to add a new phrase. Once it’s been stored just tap the phrase and your iOS will begin to speak your phrase back to you. Keep adding as many phrases as you like.

You can also change the language and hear your phrase in your particular dialect or try some out just for fun. Select from British, American, Australian, German, South African, Irish to name but a few and choose whether you would like a male or female voice.

Add lots of phrases and speak to your friends via the Talk! Synthesizer.
Add lots of phrases and speak to your friends via the Talk! Synthesizer.

There’s also an option to change pitch and speed rate so you can play around with a high or low voice and make the voice speak really fast or ultra slow.

The app is currently available for iPhone but you can supersize it to fit the iPad screen for now. There are plans to release an iPad interface as well as iCloud integration to make it easier to share your phrases across multiple devices.

You can download Talk! Speech Synthesizer on the App Store. Check it out today and enjoy!

Download On The App Store
Download On The App Store

The Knitting Detective Guide

Miss Jane Marple comes to iOS so you can keep track of your favorite knitting detective on your iOS device. Easily track all your favorite Books, Movies and TV shows.


 

Miss Marple, the nosy but friendly busy-body, now on iOS

Miss Marple's Famous Hat
Miss Marple’s Famous Hat and Knitting Needles. Image: Travelling Banana

If you love all things Agatha Christie, but especially everyone’s favorite spinster amateur detective Miss Jane Marple, then you are in for a treat with our new app – Miss Marple for iOS.

The thing about Miss Marple, is that you can’t really ignore her, even though you may not see her at first. She moves around like some frail old lady often muttering something of great importance under her breath and the only sound you may hear is the faint clicking away of needles in the distance, expertly putting a new knitting project together.

Come to think of it, has anyone ever seen any of her finished results? A jumper for her nephew perhaps or a scarf for one of her many ladies that lunch or take tea and cake in her wonderful garden. I’m not sure I have, but then it’s all part of the devious mask behind the clever brain that’s working on so many things at once.

Settle in and I’ll explain how the app that we have made will help you keep track of all your favorite movies, books and tv shows.

Now where did I put my knitting needles.

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Sherlock Holmes for iOS

Can you remember which Sherlock Holmes books, TV shows or Movies you’ve watched or read? Let this app help you keep track of everything Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective.


Sherlock Holmes for iOS

Sherlock Holmes App Icon
Sherlock Holmes App Icon

Can you remember which Sherlock Holmes books you’ve read or which TV episodes and Movies you’ve watched?

Let this app help you keep track of everything Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective. We’ve compiled a list of books and short stories, TV shows and movies. You can keep track of what you’ve seen/read and discover hidden gems you may have missed.

It’s Elementary, my dear Watson!

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The Belgian Detective Guide

Poirot for iOS

Keep track of all things Hercule Poirot, n’est pas?

Poirot Flashscreen
Poirot Flashscreen

Remember which Poirot books you’ve read, which TV episodes and movies you’ve watched?

Let this app help you keep track of everything Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s famous Belgian detective. We’ve compiled a list of books and short stories, TV shows and Movies. You can keep track of what you’ve seen/read and discover hidden gems you may have missed.

We had a lot of fun putting this app together. We found that we were losing track of which books we had read, I know that sounds impossible but it’s true, maybe it’s the advancing years of age shrinking our little grey cells but we needed some help. Even if you don’t forget which books, movies or shows you have read or watched, it is also useful as an aide to ensure you don’t miss anything.

So hence the app was conceived and born.

I’ve put together this article to delve into the app and help you understand how it works.

Read more