Smartphones and tablets have changed the way we live life. No longer can we wake up and lull around in bed without checking our email or Twitter mentions. Nobody worries about getting lost any more unless they’re low on battery, the smartphone user’s achilles heel in a world of do-everything devices. Our gadgets have also replaced a significant amount of physical objects, to the point where many of us wouldn’t consider buying a product when there is an equivalent piece of software that is up to the task.

Visualisations (or visualizations if you’re American or absolutely love your Zs) transform whole sets of arbitrary data into beautiful, visual learning tools. From basic graphs and charts to complex animations, visualisations take an infographic-like approach to helping us understand the world around us. Today’s Stuff to Watch features nothing but the most interesting visualisations I could find.

Google I/O has brought a flurry of news from the search giant including the announcement of a new cross-platform messaging service called Hangouts. Integrating with a fresh-looking Google+, the new application for iPhone and Android works seamlessly with the Web version of the messaging app found in Google+ to connect users in real-time. The platform is billed as a replacement for Google Talk and Voice, allowing one-on-one and group chats via text, along with media messaging and video calling.

The buzz behind aumented reality seems to have died down somewhat but with Google’s Project Glass looming in the distance, the technology is bound to see a resurgence in popularity. How this will relate to gaming remains to be seen, but there are already a large variety of AR games to choose from regardless of your mobile OS. I’ve spent some serious time over the past week putting some of the most popular implementations through their paces on my iPhone in the hope to find out if AR really is the future or not.

Whether you’re building a website, designing a brochure or painting your spare room; finding the perfect combination of colors can be a daunting task. It often takes more than just personal taste to marry shades perfectly, and that’s where an advanced color picker can really help you out. The best tool for the job has been freely available on the web since 2006. This tool is called Kuler, and it’s probably the best free product Adobe has ever released.

Do you drink 20 cups of tea per day? Maybe you can’t even contemplate getting out of bed without a bitter shot of caffeine to kickstart the day. Whatever your level of addiction, tea and coffee are two of life’s most socially acceptable little vices, and something that many of us depend on to get through a work day. The culture and prevalence of tea and coffee throughout the world is an interesting topic.

iOS has a lot going for it when it comes to mobile music creation, curation and performance. Apple’s App Store is absolutely jam packed with synths, drum machines, effects processors, DJ tools and other weird and wonderful noisemakers for your musical pleasure. One such app that produces fantastic results with relatively little skill is Crossfader, an app from DJZ that launched on the App Store at the beginning of April and has been “free for a limited time” ever since.

After a rather thorough and taxing look at both Blogger and WordPress.com it’s time to evaluate the possibility that some of you might want to switch from one service or the other. That or you floated in on a wave of search traffic, looking at whether this is possible. It’s a rather simple operation, but one that requires a bit of testing to see how your content will look on a different platform.

From terrifying games to feature-length horror films, as humans we seem to love being scared. Getting the adrenaline pumping and stepping outside of our comfort zones doesn’t have to involve skydiving or a wing suit; many of us prefer to immerse ourselves in the horror genre instead. FEWDIO is a small studio that specialises in the horror genre. In this instance short horror films are a specialty, with more than 40 finished products.

Twitter’s new music discovery service for finding bands and artists has been out for nearly two weeks now and that has given us plenty of time to put the aptly named #music through its paces. Available in the form of a free iPhone app and as a web app that works in a standard desktop browser, it’s time to find out whether the service is the powerful discovery tool that many of us have been hoping for.

When I first saw Photojojo’s DIY iPhone projector I was intrigued. The science behind it was sound in my mind, but I wondered how usable it really was. The only way to find out was to make one myself, but not content with simply making another website’s tutorial I decided to change things a bit. What I ended up with is a slightly easier to use yet still ultimately hobbyist toy for iPhone photographers. Total cost? $4.50 for a magnifying glass and some duct tape.

Google has updated its basic Search app for iOS with Google Now integration, the company’s personal digital assistant. Initially released as part of Android 4.1, Google Now is finally available for both major mobile operating systems in the form of a universal iOS app and an Android app for older devices.

The never-ending curiosity shown by the West for information about North Korea, its people, government and life inside the isolated country shows no signs of abating. I’ve already produced one long list of North Korea documentaries and YouTube continues to provide more footage and video coverage of the hermit kingdom. With recent political tensions reaching [...]

Twitter’s long-neglected Mac application has just had its first update since June 2011. Version 2.2 of the service’s official desktop client adds support for Retina displays and a redesigned Tweet composer with support for image hosting at pic.twitter.com. Also included in the update are a set of new icons and support for 14 new languages.

There is a growing amount of so-called “spy software” available that promises to log everything the user of an infected phone does while attempting to remain undetectable. Compromised devices are easily traceable via GPS, record all incoming and outgoing text messages and phone calls and can even be used to spy on captured photos and browser history. Installing such software on Android or BlackBerry devices is morally reprehensible but not quite as damaging as doing so on an iPhone…