Quikthinking Software Blog
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0 Video Victories Getting Good Vibrations
- video
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 08/10/2020
YouTube tells us that Quikthinking Software has posted 120 videos since early 2014. That's a lot of material from movie cameras and cell phones. Many moons ago before online movies, we learned how to edit 16 mm (millimeter) film in college. 16 mm is an old-school movie medium made from an acetate plastic which displays an image by using a movie projector. We stuffed this skill into our bag of tricks, not to reference it again until the dawn of digital video production. Scanning through our YouTube videos, we see a diversity of popularity among the top 5 viewed. Two are for games, two are for education, and one is for productivity - entertainment. How did we gauge our top 5 videos of all-time? Each candidate had to have a minimum of 1,000 views. Here they are from bottom to top. #5 (video released in 2015): Fast food seems to stay in style. So does Pizza Burger Match-3 app that was originally released in 2015 (Google Play) as a semi-joke "tongue and cheek" production. Here is #4 (video released in 2017): Black History People was originally a "mobile website" that we sunset and turned into an app in 2011. It is now in it's 3rd generation as a concept and 2nd generation as an app. Here is #3 (video released in 2016): You are encouraged to read the Black History Audiobook Back-Story and watch a different video within the story page. Here is #2 (video released in 2017): Pizza is as popular as ever. After watching this one, check out the revealing video How Much Pizza Does $1 get you Around the World in our blog. For this 2nd version of our Pizza Burger Match-3 app, we commissioned an artist to hand-paint all of the food images using water colors. Here is our #1 (video released in 2018) Because this is a how-to video we are not surprise that it is #1. "How to Use African American Emojis For Android Text Messaging Update" explains how to enjoy our stickers using any Android phone. The iOS version has always been much easier to use. With coaching from this how-to video, we hope we helped many of you who needed a simplified approach to use these emojis across thousands of different Android devices. Please subscribe to the Quikthinking Software YouTube Channel.
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0 Black History Quotes Express Mobile App
- Black History
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 07/20/2020
One thing you'll love about Black History Quotes Express mobile app is roaming through the 11 categories of inspiring, reflective, instructional, and humorous words of wisdom. We pulled up these two John Lewis quotes among others in the app while reflecting on his legacy. Who was this American hero who passed away on July 17, 2020? In 1961 as a teenager, he volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, from 1963 to 1966, Lewis was named Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which he helped form. SNCC was largely responsible for organizing student activism in the Movement, including sit-ins and other activities. Despite more than 40 arrests, physical attacks and serious injuries, John Lewis remained a devoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence. He was elected to Congress in November 1986 and has served as U.S. Representative of Georgia's Fifth Congressional District. Learn more about John Lewis at BlackHistoryPeople.com. Within Black History Quotes Express app for iOS and Android you'll always find thousands of relevant passages that help us make better sense of the ambiguities or stresses of our world. Updated July, 2020 in The App Store, Amazon App Store and Google Play.
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0 Black History Audiobook Rebuilt
- Audiobooks
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 07/15/2020
Black History Audiobook mobile app includes informative stories about famous Black history people. There's nothing like seeing a fresh face on an old friend. We introduced Black History Audio Book for Android in 2016, Book 2 in 2016, and Book 3 in 2018. In 2018 we injected the iPhone-iPad version into the App Store essentially combining all 3 Android editions (30 chapters) into one book. As time marches on, we are all challenged to take the past and bring it up to the present. We have rebuilt Black History Audio Book (Android) from the ground up into a similar design that we used for the iOS version. The new Android version 2.0 now has all 30 chapters just like the iPhone-iPad version. Android version 1 along with its children used the B4A (Basic for Android) SDK (software development kit). For version 2 for Android, launched on July 15, 2020, we developed the app in Android Studio. Here are the current apps, side-by-side. Note that to see and open (touch) the list of all chapters, Android uses an arrow at the top right, and iOS uses the lower right circle surrounding 4 horizontal lines (commonly called a hamburger menu). Watch the video below to learn more about the Black History Audiobook. Here are just a few straight talk technical notes about file size on your phone. The original 2016 Android version of Black History Audio Book was 45 megabytes. Version 2 is only 15 megabytes. The good news is we've kept the high quality audio you expect for crystal clear speech inside of 30 interesting stories! On September 1, 2020, we'll retire Android Book 2 and Book 3 since they are no longer needed. Grab the free Black History Audiobook app for iPhone or Black History Audiobook for Android right now and please leave a review. The above links take you to app stores.
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- Apps
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 07/01/2020
The theme is People Power! See below. The first examples: smart heads creating three data driven pictures to visually simplify complex problems in the USA from COVID-19 to floods to the police. 1) In this NPR interactive map The Coronavirus Crisis Tracking The Pandemic: Are Coronavirus Cases Rising Or Falling In Your State? middle page, you can touch the circle in your state (laptop only) for the latest numbers. 2) Climate changes notwithstanding, among the 50 states, what's your home's flood factor whether or not you live in an apartment or house? Enter your zip code to find out at FloodFactor.com. 3) Garden State residents, The ForceReport.com for New Jersey lets you search the most comprehensive statewide database of police use of force in the USA by the name of a police department or an officer. ForceReport is especially important to us since we are headquartered in New Jersey. The interactive Coronavirus map, the FloodFactor risk models, and the New Jersey statewide database of police use of force hits home how simplifying the display of information helps people better understand significant issues. We all do work. Work is a job. Your work may not be "database wiz," but it matters. When we created our mobile app People Power Jigsaw Puzzle we were thinking about what people do all around us. We cover the professions and pastimes, blue and white collar, urban, suburban, and rural in the puzzles. Dive into the three data driven resources above, and have some fun with our People Power Jigsaw Puzzles for iOS and Android that you can grab free from the app stores.
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- Apps
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 06/20/2020
If you have an iPhone, you know how easy it is to text with emojis. For Android users, it is more of a challenge. Here are just a few of our AAeMojis for iPhone and Android spelling out the acronym BLM for Black Lives Matter. For Android phones, there are two easy ways to use these emojis in a text message.Method 11) Open the app.2) Swipe left to the 2nd screen.3) Scroll up to select the emoji you want.4) Touch the emoji you want.5) A "Share with" box will pop up.6) Select your messaging app.7) Your image from step 4 is automatically added.8) Write your text and send your message.Method 2** (Do this only once) Make sure you followed the "Use Emojis on Facebook" instructions on screen 3 of the app. Scroll down and touch "Go" on the "Use Emojis on Facebook" picture. Answer "Yes" when prompted to create the emojis album gallery on your phone. This is required to use the emojis for texting.1) Open your text messaging app.2) Select your contact and type your message.3) Open the image Gallery you saved **4) Press the "+" next to "Type a message" to open your emoji gallery.5) Scroll to the emoji you want and select it.6) Send your message. I can tell you that on Samsung phones, Motorola phones, and iPhones we've used, it is easy to text wth these AAeMojis.
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- Apps
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 06/03/2020
Here's an image from just one of the many projects we've been working on over the past couple of months. We don't release everything we develop, but this mobile app may make it to prime time. Shown are two of the nine heroes in the game.
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- Black History
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 05/20/2020
James Forten, Sarah Goode, Jan Matzeliger, and Madam(e) C.J. Walker are just a few of the 50+ creators presented featuring quick audio stories in the Black History Inventors mobile app. This is one of our most popular titles for both iPhone and Android. Above are screen shots from the iPhone version. In the Android version just touch the pictures to listen to the short audio stories. Enjoy Black History Inventors.
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0 Power To The People Jigsaw Puzzle App
- Games
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 04/01/2020
Billions of people do millions of activities. What do you do? The narrative of work, fun, leisure or responsibility can paint a brilliant mind picture of people engaged doing something wonderful. It's time to salute everyone who makes a colorful contribution to living. You'll find just that in the People Jigsaw Puzzle game mobile app. It's a visual salute to folks who do what they do. Enter the nurse, doctor, artist, painter, guitarist, sculptor, farmer, cashier, DJ, drafter, teacher, laborer, postal worker...you get the picture. These are just a handful of the jigsaw puzzle people you'll find as we spotlight our colorful world citizens. People Jigsaw Puzzle for iPhone, iPad, and Android includes 50 easy, 50 medium, and 50 hard levels for a total of 150 ways to have fun. Each level has a countdown timer based on the difficulty. Watch the video below then grab People Jigsaw Puzzle game app from your favorite app store for free or read more about People Jigsaw Puzzle app here. This app was launched on April 1, 2020 (no joke). It's real!
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0 Zodiac Jigsaw Puzzle App Back Story
- Games
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 03/27/2020
Old mobile game apps never die, they just fade back in! We mentioned last time that there is a back story we would reveal about Zodiac Jigsaw Puzzle Game app. This zodiac signs game app was introduced in March 2020 for iPhone, iPad, and Android. First, take a look at the new game video... Now, let's go back to 2014. We had reasonable success with another zodiac themed game: Find The Difference Quik 3. It was the third in our series of spot the difference games. In the game two pictures are placed side-by-side. You locate up to five differences between the pics. Since time marches on, we no longer include these three games in our app portfolio. However, we always desired to bring back the zodiac theme into another game. Six years later, Zodiac Jigsaw Puzzle game app was created (in 2020) using many of the same images from the Find The Difference Quik 3 app. Here's the original Find The Difference Quik 3 thirty second promotional video from 2014 exactly how it was featured with no new editing or changes.
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- Games
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 03/20/2020
Right now is the perfect time for some mental escapism. If we can get our minds away from the global problems of the world for just a few minutes, that's a good thing. In the world of mobile apps, to get an app into an app store requires a formal review by the store. The app is screened using an automated process along with a real human if necessary. All apps submitted to Apple are vetted by a real human. Isn't that nice to know! Normally, when we submit a new app to the Google Play store, it takes approximately 3 hours for approval. As we write this on March 20, the Play Store states "due to adjusted work schedules at this time, we are currently experiencing longer than usual review times. Please expect review times of 7 days or longer." Wow! Talk about an international pandemic crisis that affects everyone! We submitted Zodiac Jigsaw Puzzle game to both Google Play and the Amazon App stores on March 19. Luckily Amazon approved the app on March 20. Zodiac Jigsaw Puzzle is a drag and drop mobile game. Drag the puzzle pieces onto the picture board to solve the puzzles. Easy, medium and hard modes. 150 total levels. Game artwork is universal and inclusive. Although the iPhone and iPad versions of this game are also finished, I believe it will take another 3 to 4 days to wrap up the submission process to Apple. Once they get the app, who knows how long it will take for approval? There is another back story about this app we'd love to tell you about. When all three major app stores have released the app, you'll be the first to get the story here. For our Amazon Fire Tablet fans, you can ace all of the signs playing the Zodiac Jigsaw Puzzle game app right now. It's available for free in the Amazon app store. Update March 22: Approved and now in The App Store for iPhone - iPad Zodiac Jigsaw Puzzle game. Update March 24: Approved and in Google Play, Zodiac Jigsaw Puzzle.
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- Games
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 03/13/2020
There are twelve signs in the Zodiac. The sun spends approximately one month in each sign. You probably know your sign. Let's quickly share all of the details about these symbols from a past year. These dates change from year to year... Sign Symbol Dates Aquarius Water January 20 - February 18 Pisces Fish February 18 - March 20 Aries Ram March 20 - April 20 Taurus Bull April 20 - May 21 Gemini Twins May 21 - June 21 Cancer Crab June 21 - July 22 Leo Lion July 22 - August 23 Virgo Virgin August 23 - September 23 Libra Scales September 23 - October 23 Scorpio Scorpion October 23 - November 22 Sagittarius Archer November 22 - December 21 Capricorn Goat December 21 - January 20 You won't have to know anything about astrology or horoscopes to play a brand new mobile game app that we'll be releasing soon. The Android version is done. Now it's on to the iOS version for iPhone - iPad. What kind of game is it? Stay tuned. Here's a small reveal. It has 150 levels.
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- Games
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 03/06/2020
Join us for a throwback look at one of our early successes that continues to win fans today. See how you can check out the mobile game action below. What is Hip Hop Fingers? It's one of our very first Android apps released in 2012 on Google Play. With well over 60,000 downloads across app stores this music rhythm game continues to have lots of fans. You won't find it on our website unless you search for it using the website search box as we are focusing now on more recent apps. Don't worry. We give you the link below. Thanks for reading! By the way. Note that the website search box is different from the blog search box. What we love and you'll love about this 'small in storage size' app is that Hip Hop Fingers will still run on any version of Android including older phones or tablets. Hip Hop Fingers has nothing to do with the music genre hip hop, just as the Robinhood trading app has nothing to do with Sherwood Forest or a band of merry men. Hip Hop Fingers refers to touching the mobile keyboard using your hands in the game to make a short leap with your fingers. Some people didn't get it so you can ignore any hater reviews in the stores. Watch the newer Hip Hop Fingers Game video on Facebook as our sax man blows some cool pseudo “bird” and some awesome “trane” (Charlie Parker, John Coltrane) along with developer Hugh Smith who plays the game (that's me!). In the video, our second bonus music track changes the mood into something completely different! There are 12 music tracks in the game including the two you hear in the video. Enjoy! You can join the free fun and grab Hip Hop Fingers now on Google Play http://bit.ly/2vdKj1W or see the original app video and eyeball the info on our website https://www.quikthinking.com/hip-hop-fingers-game.html
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0 Social Thinking While Quikthinking
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 02/28/2020
We love social media but we are very disciplined about using it. We would have never been able to create over 50 mobile apps since 2011 without exercising social self-control. That said, we know you get a lot of fun, information, or valuable exchange of ideas from social networks. Opinions matter too. There is no lack of a view point online. In the digital world, you may like the instant speed of a tweet. The visual electricity of Instagram might attract you. You too may watch YouTube video. Facebook fosters it's own sliding scale of reality to be trusted or not. Within my own family there are a few social media Luddite champions! Luddites were English workers who destroyed machinery in the early nineteenth century because they believed their jobs were going to be threatened because of automation. Recognize the similarity to today? Whatever you personally think about the rise of social media as a form of human communication, it is here to stay. It will continue to change as technology marches on. I like responding to the feedback we receive on our social media channels. Most of the feedback comes from Facebook via non-app pages that we also run. More comes by email from app users who need support. We are happy to support you! Pick your favorite way of reaching out, and we'll see you there... Facebook - QuikthinkingSoftware Instagram - QuikthinkingSoftware1 Twitter - Quikthinking Youtube - QuikthinkingSoftware
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0 Top 10 Mobile Apps for February 2020
- Apps
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 02/20/2020
February 2020 has been a record breaking month for us with a week left to go. We are happy to be able to give back to you with some of our most popular mobile apps. Here is the top ten ranked from highest at #1, with Black History People Game (Android version) skyrocketing to the top spot after a January 24, 2020 release. The iPhone version of the game plays the same way, so help spread the word! Explore all of our Quikthinking Software apps, games, teaching tools, and audio books.
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0 Black History Quotes Express App Bonus Video
- Black History
- by Kingsley H. Smith
- 02/06/2020
Black History Quotes Express continues to be one of the most popular mobile apps we've created. I use it all the time to find quotes that I need. There are thousands of author quotes for you to explore and enjoy. The keyword search is a 5 star winner. Look for a theme "happy" or an author name "Wells." You'll get results as the entire database is searched. Read more about Black History Quotes Express, or add this impressive collection of prose to your mobile phone right now: http://onelink.to/bhquotesexpress. In the 3 minute plus video I demonstrate how to use the app on both an iPhone and on an Android.
