Home for the holidays, Digital News

PUBLISHED ONDecember 26, 2014 6:45 PMBySherwin Loh Vincent ChangOo Gin LeeEbel TangJoshua Chen

With the year-end party season kicking into full-gear tonight, here are a few tech tips and tricks to keep your friends and family entertained during home gatherings.

WATCHING SHOWS FROM THE US

With glasses of bubbly in hand, your friends are lounging in your living room after that massive holiday spread you prepared and everyone is looking at your big-screen TV, hoping for some entertainment as the evening winds down.

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But if you are hoping to watch Marco Polo, the US$90 million (S$118 million) TV production from Netflix, the United States content streaming service, it is time to switch channels.

Although several Singaporean actors, including Oon Shu An and Chin Han, have roles in this 10-episode TV series, Netflix itself is not officially available here.

But you can take a few steps to subscribe to the service. Here is how.

VPN or DNS service

First, you need a VPN or DNS service to access Netflix, or other similar content streaming services such as Hulu Plus or Amazon Prime Instant Video.

Both are basically workarounds that let you access US services.

If you are signed up for fibre services with MyRepublic or ViewQwest, both offer add-on services that give you access to Netflix, Hulu Plus and other content services.

If you are signed up with the other three service providers, opt for a DNS service, such as UnoTelly, instead.

Once you have either a VPN or DNS service up and running, you should be able to visit the homepage of each streaming service and sign up for it.

Of course, you can skip the VPN or DNS registration and setup by watching streaming services on your browser.

The free Hola extension on the Chrome browser works well, but this means you cannot watch any of the shows on your big-screen TV.

Credit cards

The next hoop you have to jump through is signing up for the streaming service. Not all Singapore-issued credit cards can be used to pay for Netflix. The word from my friends is that cards from POSB and Citibank are out, but OCBC and DBS ones are accepted.

Still, there is no way to test every card in this market to establish a definitive list.

Watching it on your TV

To enjoy US streaming content on your TV, you need to buy additional equipment to connect to your TV.

Apple TV

To access Netflix, Hulu Plus or Amazon Prime Instant Video on this device, you need a US iTunes account.

Android set-top box

There are many brands in the market, but as long as it is running Android, any of the streaming apps should work.

The catch? None of these apps are available on the local Google Play Store.

First, go to www.amazon.com and download the Amazon App Store. Sign up for a free Amazon account and download the streaming apps from that app store.

Android Smartphone + Miracast dongle

Miracast is a feature that allows you to mirror your Android phone or tablet display on to your TV, with the use of a dongle.

There are several brands available; choose one and connect the dongle to the HDMI port of the

TV. Pair your phone with the dongle and everything on your phone will be "thrown" onto the TV screen.

The downside is that this connection is dependent on your Wi-Fi network, so a spotty connection can leave you with video and audio lag.

SHARING YOUR HOLIDAY PHOTOS

There are two certainties at any gathering - food and photos. Most of us are armed with camera phones that allow us to shoot first and organise later.

But as anyone who has been the unofficial photographer at any gathering will attest, ensuring that photos are tagged properly and shared with everyone can induce a headache on top of your post-party hangover.

So instead of having one person do it, why not open it up for everyone at the gathering to contribute?

Collaborate on a photo album

If your group leans towards Apple's iOS devices, you can use its iCloud Photo Sharing feature.

Create a shared album and invite other iOS users to upload their photos and videos. Even Windows users can get in on the action, but they will need to install the iCloud for Windows app on their computers.

The resulting album can be published online for all to view using a browser. The images can also be saved to other devices.

There is a limit of 5,000 for photos and videos in shared albums. Videos cannot exceed five minutes each and are restricted to 720p resolution. The good news is that these uploads are not counted against your personal iCloud storage limit.

For groups where everyone is on Facebook, the social media site has a similar shared album feature. The functionality is identical: you can add, view or edit photos in the album.

Photos can be published and made accessible to the general public, but be careful that it does not backfire on you or your friends.

Those using Android smartphones likely know that their phones can be set to automatically upload photos to Google Photos. They can also use Google's Picasa Web Albums to create a collaborative photo album. E-mail is used to invite contributors to add photos and videos.

Note that all these uploads will count towards your Picasa Web Albums quota of 1GB, but photos with a resolution under 2,048 x 2,048 pixels, and videos 15 minutes or shorter are exempt from the storage limit.

If you just want to share photos with others, without creating a special album, you can use any number of cloud storage services as a convenient repository. Popular services, such as Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive, come to mind.

Add Wi-Fi to your camera

Smartphones are ubiquitous, but what if someone in the group has a better camera, such as a DSLR one? Newer models may come with Wi-Fi functionality that older models lack.

The old method would be to plug the SD card from the camera to a computer and share the files. But there are now SD cards that come with built-in Wi-Fi, such as Toshiba's FlashAir, which generate their own Wi-Fi network.

Either use Toshiba's app (Android and iOS) on your mobile device, or a Web browser from a computer to access and copy the photos from the SD card.

Share via a portable drive

If all else fails, you can always copy the photos to an external hard drive or USB flash drive and pass it around.

A computer and USB cables will be needed if you are copying files from the drive to another drive or mobile device.

A slight improvement: Portable hard drives with integrated Wi-Fi, such as WD My Passport Wireless, let you bypass the PC and cables, though you will still need to install an app on your mobile devices. A bonus: this WD drive has an SD card slot too.

In addition, some flash drives, such as the SanDisk Ultra Dual USB drive, now come with micro-USB connectors, so you can plug them directly into mobile devices. Again, an app is usually required to manage the file transfer.

PLAYING GAMES

Here are the top three group dancing games to get your family and friends into the party groove.

Just Dance Now

It does not matter whether you have three or 30. With Just Dance Now, any number can dance to classics and modern pop songs and compete to see who has the best moves.

The magic of this mobile version of the popular console dance game is that it lets you play without the console. Each player needs only to have a smartphone in hand, as the game works by tracking the movement of your right hand, which needs to be holding the phone with the app running.

It is similar to the way the Wii works, except that it is your phone that is being tracked instead of the Wiimote.

An extra phone, tablet or PC is needed to be the main screen for players to pick their songs and view the moves to follow. Every player has to download, install and launch the Just Dance Now app.

On the main device, go to www.justdancenow.com to get a "room number". All the players then key in the same "room number" in their own apps to link their phones to the same dance session.

There are a handful of free songs you can dance to every day, but if you want to rock to your favourite tunes, you will have to part with some moolah to get the VIP pass.

When your VIP pass is active, the entire library of about 80 songs is fully accessible.

You can rent the pass for as little as $1.60 an hour or $3.22 a day.

If you are a party animal, the monthly $14.54 subscription or $80.79 annual deal might make better sense.

Only one person needs to have the VIP pass, so if you have it, you will be everybody's best friend - just like in my schoolboy days when I was the proud owner of a Mikasa football.

Do not expect the latest hits on this mobile version, as it has mostly numbers from previous years' versions of the console game.

For older dudes like me, this works out perfectly because I get to strut to I Was Made For Lovin' You by Kiss, and The Final Countdown by Europe. There are also more modern hits such as Psy's Gangnam Style (to which my three-year-old is addicted to) and Selena Gomez's Love You Like A Love Song.

Just Dance 2015 and Dance Central Spotlight

These two dance games for the console platform have been around since the advent of the Wii and the first Kinect system of the Xbox 360.

Dance Central remains an Xbox exclusive game, while the latest version of Just Dance supports all console platforms - Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii and Wii U.

Playing these dance games on the Xbox One is still better because of the superior motion-tracking technology of the new Kinect sensor that can see more and track movements more precisely.

The latest version of Dance Central is Dance Central Spotlight, which is now much cheaper to jump into as it costs only $12.90 instead of the usual "full-game" price of about $60. It is cheaper because it has only about 10 songs instead of the typical 40 to 50 that came with earlier versions of the game.

You can always download more tracks. A lower base price means you pay for the tracks that you like.

Dance Central Spotlight is technically superior to Just Dance 2015. This is the one to get if you are serious about your moves.

If you want to learn to dance well, Dance Central is the one to go for. You can put your dance instructor's moves into slow motion and repeat just the parts you are having trouble with.

It has a better selection of the latest dance tracks. Older folk like me may find songs in Dance Central Spotlight unfamiliar, but more happening dancers will fit right in.

For a good time with the family, Just Dance 2015 is the better choice by a mile. Up to six players can dance together, if your living room is big enough to accommodate them and deep enough for the Kinect sensor to see everyone.

In my own home, my three girls and I can all dance side-by-side without any problem.

Unlike Dance Central, Just Dance 2015 does not try to teach you how to dance, though it will still score you on how well you mimic the on-screen dancers' steps.

The motion-sensing system is suspect because, on a few occasions, my score topped my daughters' even though I had to sit down on the sofa to catch my breath for a large part of the song.

However, the songs are really fun and the choreography is designed to make you do silly and crazy moves that will bring the house down.

Think crawling under your friend's legs a la Gangnam Style. Or dancing in circles like Greek men in Epic Sirtaki. Or an Indian-inspired Christmas dance in the song Xmas Tree.

There are a handful of modern songs but there are also plenty of retro ones such as Speedy Gonzales, Never Can Say Goodbye, Holding Out For A Hero and more.

Best of all, it automatically records the highlights of your moves as you dance. You can play them back from your console or share them with friends on Facebook.

If it is fun you want, Just Dance 2015 is the one.

MAKING VIDEO CALLS

If family members and friends overseas want to join in the Christmas celebrations at home, the many video-calling apps available across multiple platforms ensure that there is a way to include them.

Skype

Available on computers running Windows, Mac and Linux; mobile devices on iOS, Android and Windows; and even game consoles such as the latest Xbox One and PS Vita, Skype is the ubiquitous video-calling application.

Voice calling and instant messaging are included with the application. The best part is that the service is free. It only requires that you sign up for an account.

But premium features, such as group video calls, require a paid account. If you want to make calls to landline and mobile phone numbers, you will need to buy credits.

ooVoo

ooVoo offers video calls, instant messaging and voice calls. What sets this service apart from the pack is that it offers free group video-calling for up to 12 people.

You can record your video calls and even add YouTube videos to the group video-chat, the closest thing to watching TV together.

As with Skype, you pay for credits to call landline and mobile phone numbers.

The app is available on computers running Windows and Mac; and mobile devices on iOS, Android and Windows.

Line

The Japanese instant messaging app has a few tricks up its sleeve, including functions such as free video calls and voice calls.

However, unlike some of the other services featured here, it does not have a group video-calling option.

Line also offers calls to mobile or landline phone numbers, at rates as low as 1 cent per minute to China, Spain and the United States.

It is available on PCs running Windows and Mac; with a separate application for computers on Windows 8. The app is available for mobile devices running Android, iOS, Windows and even BlackBerry and Firefox OS.

But for BlackBerry and Firefox, some features, such as video and voice calling, are not available.

Viber

Viber promotes itself as hassle-free. Users need only download the app. There is no account to sign up for or alias to use.

To make things even easier, the app integrates with the user's contact list instantly. But it limits video and voice calls to mobile devices on iOS and Android; and Windows and Mac computers.

On the bright side, the instant messaging feature is available across all platforms, including Linux and Windows 8.

STREAMING MUSIC TO SET THE MOOD

Music streaming can provide festive playlists that are practically endless.

This takes all the work out of keeping Yuletide spirits up while you party to a musical mix that will not sound stale or repetitive.

Give these apps a listen.

Spotify
Free with ads, or $9.90 a month.

Perhaps the best known of the bunch, Spotify lets you browse music titles by genres and moods.

There is no shortage of Christmas-themed tunes here.

If that is what you desire, look through the Happy Holidays category for a wide selection of music ranging from Christmas classics to pop, rock and even indie.

Ads will play occasionally between songs if you are not a subscriber, which can mess with the vibe if you are fussy.

The app is available on iOS, Android, PC and Mac.

You can also access the service via a Web player.

KKBox
$9.90 per month, one-day free trial available. Seven days free if signing up through Facebook, one month free if signing up through StarHub.

Give KKBox a whirl if you prefer more of an Asian vibe for your party.

The service, based in Taiwan, has a comprehensive library of Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Korean songs.

You can have a singalong session, as the KKBox app can display lyrics on the screen.

KKBox lacks an ad-supported free version. You can, however, get a free one-day trial, which is extended to seven days if you sign up via Facebook. The app is available on iOS, Android, PC and Mac.

Rdio
Free with ads, or $9.90 for unlimited streaming.

Like Spotify, Rdio can recommend new music based on your listening habits. You can also follow other subscribers, as you would on Twitter, to see what they are listening to.

You can browse through new releases, Rdio's recommendations and trending music, along with playlists curated by users and by Rdio staff.

This service offers less variety in mood recommendations. You can still easily find music by genre, but Rdio's catalogue is not as well curated as Spotify's.

Look out for user-created holiday-themed playlists.

Rdio can be accessed via your Web browser or an app (iOS, Android, PC and Mac). As with Spotify, it plays ads occasionally in between songs, unless you are a paying subscriber.

Deezer
Free with ads, or $9.90 a month; $4.95 for the first month for M1 post-paid customers.

Deezer's main strength lies in music discovery and personal listening, with its staff picks, trending charts and recommendations. It even lets you explore popular music by region, so you can stay on top of all that is hot in music.

As a bonus, the service recently added a native lyric display function, unlike Spotify and Rdio, which depend on third-party add-ons to do so. With this feature, you can hold impromptu karaoke sessions.

Like Rdio, Deezer is somewhat lacking in mood recommendations, relying more on trends, along with playlists curated by users and staff.

The service can be accessed via the Web, or apps for iOS, Android, PC and Mac. Ads occasionally play between songs unless you have a paid subscription.

This article was first published on Dec 24, 2014.
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