No sooner was the appstore from Apple released out came an iPhone application for the iPhone. The application let's you post to your wordpress blog on the move, anywhere any time!
The application is only compatible with wordpress version 2.5.1 or above and supports both wordpress.com and wordpress.org (self hosted.)
Using the application you'll be able to do most of the basic functions found at your usual desktop wordpress client including create, edit etc...check out the video below for more info on the features.
The application is available via the Apple Appstore only.
via [Wordpress for iPhone]
Showing posts with label Applications. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Applications. Show all posts
Wordpress for iPhone
Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta Out
Be the very first few to test out the latest Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta. It's currently available for download on the Windows Mobile platform.
Opera Mobile 9.5 completely reinvents the Web browser on mobile phones. It provides an elegant browsing experience, while also making smartphones a new home for cross-platform applications. It marks a turning point in the ongoing evolution of the Web.Some of the features included in the latest version are:
- Pan and zoom - Using the same technology found in Opera Mini, Opera Mobile 9.5 defaults to full Web page viewing and allows users to pan and zoom into their desired content in just a few clicks.
- Save pages and/or images - With a click, simply save your selected content and send via email or MMS to your friends.
- Improved user interface - Opera has completely renovated its mobile UI. Cleaner and more intuitive, the new UI is designed for quick and easy navigation.
- Improved standards support - Opera remains steadfast in its commitment to make the Web accessible for all. Opera Mobile 9.5 is the most standards-compliant mobile browser available. It is based on Opera's latest core rendering engine, Presto 2.1.
- Faster - Opera has always been among the fastest browsers — if not the fastest — available. Opera Mobile 9.5 beta continues this fine tradition with noticeable speed improvements over Opera Mobile 8.65 and IE Mobile.
You can download the beta version from the Opera website.
Top 10 Free iPhone Apps
So the Apple Appstore is now live and they have already had 10 million downloads, WOW! Time to take a look at the top 10 Free Apps you can get for your iPhone 3G as listed by the Appstore.
Remote
Be a mobile DJ. With Remote, you can control the music on your computer or Apple TV from your iPod touch or iPhone. Play, pause, skip, shuffle. See your songs, playlists, and album art on your iPod touch or iPhone as if you were right in front of your computer. Remote is free and works with your Wi-Fi network, so you can control playback from anywhere in and around your home.
Features
- Control the Music on iTunes or Apple TV
- See the album artwork on your remote
- Search your whole iTunes library
- Control your AirTunes speakers
iPint
Facebook for iPhone makes it easy to stay connected and share information with friends. Use your iPhone to start a conversation with Facebook Chat, check your friends' latest photos and status updates, look up a phone number, or upload your own mobile photos to Facebook while on the go.
PhoneSaber
As you swing your phone, a range of lightsaber sound effects will be emitted from your phone's speaker 9or connected audio output). Not only that, but you can also withdraw and put away your saber.
Last but not least, you can also change the colour of your lightsaber for maximum effect.
Tap Tap Revenge
Tap Tap Revenge is a music game that puts your rhythmic skills to the test in all-new ways. Tap through the beats or shake left and right as the arrows fall. Download exclusive tracks or take on your friends in Tap Tap's unique two-player mode.
iMaze
An entertaining maze game in which you guide a ball from start to finish by tilting the iPhone in different directions (i.e. accelerometer based navigation). Once you have succeeded, you can generate a new maze with a single touch and the fun never ends. You can choose the type of maze (easy vs hard) and it displays the time spent on each maze.
Shazam
When your hear a song and wonder what it is, Shazam is there with the answer. Hold your iPhone to the music and within seconds we'll tell you the artist and track name.
You can use Shazam to:
- Identify music anywhere: from the radio, TV, Film, or in a store
- Buy music you hear: your Tags link directly to iTunes
- See the video: view related videos on Youtube
- Capture the moment: personalise your Tags with Photos
- Share the moment: send your Tags to friends via Mail.
Light transforms your iPhone into a simple flash light
Bubbles
For toddlers who need a fun distraction. Bubbles brings the simple pleasure of popping bubbles to your iPhone. Unlike other iPhone games, Bubbles is free entertainment that's fun for little ones.
Features:
- Hear the bubbles pop
- See the bubbles fly off your fingers
- Feel gravity pull your bubbles downward
Break
Brick breaker for the iPhone, but 10 times better!
FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME
The unique Jirbo characters are back in a battle of trying to break the Jirbo themed bricks! Hours of fun.
Well there you go, the top 10 Free apps available now in Apple's Appstore, honestly speaking some of these just baffle me!
Nokia Chat Released
Initial impressions are it is very much beta, slightly buggy, but the potential is there to finally integrate many aspects of socialising into one converged application, IF Nokia can pull it off.
Go over to the Nokia Chat website to download and try on the application yourself. The compatible list of handsets are:
Tested with:
Nokia N95 8GB, N95, N82, N81 8GB, N81, N76, E71, E66, E51, 6290, 6120 Classic, 6110 Navigator
Should work with:
Nokia E90 Communicator, 6124 classic, 6121 Classic, 5700 XpressMusic
Apple's App Store Launched
If you are running iTunes 7.7 then you can head on over to check out the applications of offer.
via [AppleInsider]
Apps Worth Jailbreaking For - iPhone
This is good news in aniticipation of the new iPhone 3G which is rumoured to be announced this month.
You can head on over to the list of applications on Lifehacker's website.
iPhone owners and potential investors should take a look.
Y-Browser 0.88
Y-Browser, our favourite 3rd party file manager that does so much more has been updated by Dr Jukka to version 0.88. The update includes amongst other things bug fixes, layout changes and improved support and stability for Feature Pack 2 devices.
The main list of changes included in this version are:
- Lots of layout change fixes
- Some bug fixes to improve stability (Especially with FP2 devices)
- File modified time changed from UTC to local time
- Added Command short cut accelerators to the menu items
- Edit-Mark, menu has now two additional options: Mark with wild card & inverse selection
- File association settings added
- Plug-in manager added
- Email folders shown now as well (with Mail folders plug-in)
If you need more info on what Y-Browser does and the benefits of it, check out the review on Symbian in Motion by Zach.
The good news is that the application is signed and ready for installation, which is great in the current climate of Symbian Signed being such a mess. Head on over to the Dr Jukka website to get the addition plugins as desired.
WLAN Hotspot Your S60 Device
A great little application has appeared today which lets you configure your S60 3rd Edition WiFi enabled handset as a WLAN hotspot.
By downloading and installing Joikuspotlight instantly turns your handset into a WiFi hotspot allowing other WiFi devices to connect and use the net access available.
The good news is that more than one device can connect at any one time.The list of supported devices include:
Nokia N95 (all models)
N93i
N82
N80
E90
E70
E61, E61i
E51
The application is freeware and available already signed! It doesn't get better than this, does it!?? Keep in mind it is in Beta stage still.
Screenshot 3.01
My favourite screenshot application and the one that I swear by is available in V3.01.
Screenshot for Symbian OS is an application to take screenshot on your Symbian OS mobile phones (S60 3rd). You can capture screenshot and save it to a file in JPEG, PNG, BMP or MBM format. The screenshot can be sent directly to a PC via Bluetooth.Thanks to AntonyPranata for updating it. This version (from the horses mouth) is better because?:
The current official version (2.80) does not capture N-Gage games properly.
The new version (3.01) has fixed this problem; but the signed version is not available yet.
You can download it here but it is unsigned, which means you will have to sign it yourself or wait for a signed version to be released.
Skyfire Beta Reviewed by Brighthand
Ed Hardy of Brighthand has done a review of the very impressive "full" browser coming to Smartphones near you. Currently in Beta and only available for the US as I mentioned on Symbian in Motion, Ed has got his hands on it and given a nice quick review of it. Skyfire acts generally like the iPhone browser. When you open a site, what you see is it shrunk down to fit on your smartphone's display. You can then tap on the screen to zoom in on sections of the page. When I went to YouTube, what I saw was the full site, not a stripped down version. I selected a video and the page opened, and the video immediately began to play, with full motion and sound. The full article can be found here. For information on signing up for the Beta, head on over to my post on Symbian in Motion or the Skyfire website.
The outcome seems to be very positive, the browser is similar to the one found on the iPhone, but this one is aimed at Windows Mobile and Symbian handsets.
A quick excerpt from his review:
Share Online 3.0 Updated
Nokia Beta Labs has updated the Share Online application to extend handset support.
Overview
Share Online makes it easy to post photos and video from your phone straight to your blog, photo sharing site, or other online community. You can control the file size and quality of your photos and video, add text to your posts, and browse to your page to see how it looks once you`re done.
The latest list of compatible handsets and features supported in different versions of Online Share can be seen below:
Supported Devices:
- Nokia N95 / N82
- Nokia N76 / N81
- Nokia N73
The application itself can be download from the Share Online Download page.
NiiMe Bluetooth Control for N95
Here is a video of great piece of software hopefully coming to N95 users, which let's you control many aspects of your PC via Bluetooth.
Much like the Sony Ericsson HID profiles which let users control their desktop, Media Players etc... NiiMe brings it to the S60 platform.
Using the N95's accelerometer it is a great combination for gaming which can be found on today's latest Next Generation Consoles (Nintendo Wii),
For now there is no info on release, beta or anything, just watch the video and drool!
A Year on With the N95 Pt 2
This is the second part of my post on A Year on With the N95, to read Part 1 just click the link.
This part will be covering 3rd party applications and great software available for the N95.
3rd Party Developers
One of the key factors of the longevity if the N95 is thanks to many of the 3rd party developers who create great applications for it both enhancing the experience and making it stand out from the rest.
In recent months there have been many applications developed making use of the built in accelerometer since Nokia revealed the demo of the Moving Ball, an application which reacts to the various tilts of the handset. With this, the floodgates of great applications utilising this feature started to be released one by one.
Leading the way was Samir a developer from France who brought us great applications such as;
rotateMe - an application which rotates the screen to landscape view when the handset is tilted horizontally, similar to that of the iPhone's.
Nokmote - an application which detects the movement of your handset to navigate through your menus.
ShutUp - an application which literally "shuts up" your handset when you get an alert by simply flipping it over.
There are many others which utilise the built in accelerometer, this is something I'm a big fan of and I can't wait for the many other great applications to be developed.
Although the accelerometer has been a big success since it was revealed, there have been many more practical applications, utilities and some must have applications which change the way your handset works and you'll never be able to live without again. Read on to find out which they are.
Y-Tasks and Y-Browser by Dr Jukka
These two are essential utilities for any S60 user. They help to trouble shoot, log and monitor process, problems and analyse all the goings on in your handset. There will be occasions when these applications will save you a lot of trouble from having reset your handset, reinstall all applications and backup your data because something has corrupted in your handset. Y-Browser is a file browser and Y-Tasks is a diagnostic and monitoring application. For a full review on how they work you can visit Symbian in Motion. Just click through for the Y-Browser and Y-Tasks reviews respectively.
This application is one that falls into the life saver category. Literally it can do that, stopping you from taking a wrong turn or finding out where your when lost, this does the job simply, quickly and fairly accurately. Since the native version for the N95 was developed which included support for the internal GPS and virtual GPS which pinpoints your current location using Cell towers and your mobile handset signal it is one of the best freeware applications available and a must have for all N95 users.
To install the application you need to head over to http://www.google.com/gmm on your mobile's browser, once visited it will detect your handset and download the appropriate version. For a full review and more in depth information check out Stefan from Intomobile's review here.
emTube
emTube is a great application which gives direct and full access to the entire library of Youtube. This is possible since the release of Flashlite 3 by Adobe. emTube let's you search, browse, download and stream videos from the Youtube site because it supports the flv file format which is becoming the standard for streaming videos. There is a more in depth review by myself which you can find on Symbian in Motion by clicking through to emTube Quenches your thirst for Youtube.
Tube 2 is a great Java application which works on all models with J2ME support. This is a very basic Underground map available for London, New York City and Paris currently. This is a very useful application because it is very quick and comes in useful when navigating your way through the underground maze. Searching via station, planning routes, and directions via text and animation on map makes this the ideal.
This application is not freeware and will cost $10 and can be purchased from the Visual IT website.
Palringo Vocal IM
If you are looking for a good Instant Messaging, Push-To-Talk application Palringo is one of the best around. It supports many of the popular IM platforms including Gtalk, AIM, Yahoo, MSN and ICQ. There are a few cool features which make this stand out from the rest; Push-To-Talk, Send Photos, Groups and the ability to Leave Messages for off-line contacts. Palringo lets you keeping in contact with your friends easy and simple. There is an in-depth review of it by Zach on Symbian in Motion. Click through to find out more.
Screenshot
Screenshot by Antony Pranata is a must have for all bloggers, testers, themers alike who want to take a snap of their current screen. This application is key to many of the previews you see of newly created themes, reviews of beta applications and error documenting on the internet. The application is very simple, uses up little RAM and is one of the best around. The best thing is it's absolutely FREE! It is available for all S60 devices and you can download it from Antony Pranata's website.
QIK
Qik was recently released and is available but it is still in Alpha stage. Qik streams videos from your handset to your personal page setup on Qik. What makes this so special is how fast it does it and how simple it is to use. The results are good and the video is streamed instantly to your personal page on Qik. Be aware on what you record and make sure set it to private if you don't want to stream it as it's set on public by default.
You can sign up and download the application from the QIK website.
There are dozens of more cool and great applications out there developed by 3rd parties, these are just a few of my personal favourites and ones I have used constantly and are still on my device. If you do have any suggestions on applications I should be aware of or would like me to review, please send me an e-mail (can be found at the bottom of the page).
That about wraps up my "Year with the N95" review. I'd just like to point out one more feature which has made my experience enjoyable; THEMES! Great looking themes which change the look of the handset anytime you want it, reflecting your mood, scene or just to match what you are wearing. I'll be doing a post on my favourite themers and themes of all time for the N95. So stay tuned for that soon.
A Year on With the N95 Pt 1
It's been just over a year since I purchased the N95 and impressions of it haven't changed much. It's still the awesome device it was when I first got it. The iPhone came, created waves but to be honest it wasn't going to dislodge the N95 from it's position standing above all handsets as it's more of a mid-range device if you compare the features. The N95 8GB came and gave a different option in comparison to the original. Bigger screen, bigger memory, bigger storage, bigger battery, everything is bigger with the N95 8GB, but it doesn't necessarily mean better.
There are a few reasons why the N95 still stands as the benchmark to compare all upcoming high-end handsets to;
all which contribute towards the longevity and success of the N95 and continue to do so.
Firmware Upgrades
Firmware upgrading is crucial to a handsets longevity in the current fast paced market. If a manufacturer can tweak the firmware of a handset and add significant changes it will have a very positive effect on not only the current users, but potential users. The first few firmware upgrades which I wrote about didn't enhance the users experience to a degree where one could say it was satisfactory or significant enough to change the user experience.
There were some changes with camera, tweaks with the UI, and more stability of which only the latter would be a positive addition during the v11.0.026 and v12.0.013 firmware upgrades, but they didn't enhance the user experience enough to convince the current users or potential new users that it was worthwhile. But all changed with the V20.0.015 firmware upgrade!
The latest version brings many significant changes which improve the experience considerably. The UI is much faster, accessing the gallery and camera is much faster, all due to demand paging, there is more RAM, support for the new N-Gage platform, general stability of the phone itself is improved all which add to a very positive experience making the handset feel as if it's completely different. A full change log can be found over at Symbian-Freak.
S60 Platform
One of the key features which makes the N95 able to always evolve and keep up with the moving market. The S60 platform enables the N95 to add features which would allow it to keep up to date with new applications being created and added to future handsets being made available now. Take for example the N-Gage support, Nokia officially announced it would be available to the N81, but it's also available to the N95 equipped with the V20 firmware. Nokia also has a site dedicated to new applications which are being developed and tested for the S60 platform; Nokia Beta Labs. There are many different applications which you can install to enhance your experience with an S60 device, applications which will enhance your device, from finding information about your handset to blogging from your handset or uploading your pictures to your Flickr account. There are many more add-ons that make the N95 more flexible, more ready to evolve and keep pace with the ever changing market.
Some of my personal favourites are:
Integrated GPS
The first mobile handset to include this, it made waves when first announced. It is now an essential feature for any N95 user, be it planning a night out, finding where you are, nearest hotel, train station etc. It's one feature not to be underestimated. Many will question the addition and the use of such a feature, but until they use the device on a daily basis and find out how you start to rely on it, you can't judge what a great added feature it is. It's always an addition one would be glad to have available when needed rather than not have when in need.
Using the Nokia Maps or any other 3rd party Navigation suite it can become very handy in travelling, providing voice guided directions, travel information and services. Ever since the N95 came out with the GPS, there have been many handsets which have started to come out with GPS integrated, and it's not just handsets, electronic devices themselves have started to be released with integrated GPS. In recent times the sales of GPS capable devices have had an increase, was this due to the N95? I'm not sure, but I would like to think it is!
5 Megapixel Camera
The N95's camera made headlines when information was revealed to be a 5 Megapixel camera, and even still surprises some people. The camera has been tweaked with the firmware upgrades and it seems to be a great addition when out to catch a quick snap, or out on a social event with your friends. Even in dark situations, it copes with the LED flash.
Video capture on the N95 is impressive as there aren't any handsets on the market that can compete with it. With the option of TV out watching what you've recorded on a bigger screen is always impressive. As with the GPS feature it's one I'm glad I have in hand and available rather than need it and not have. I've taken many pictures with the N95, and it hasn't let me down at all, always finding it up to the tasks asked of it. I tested the Macro function early on once I got my hands on it. Coupled with Photoshop it produced some pleasant results as can be seen on my post here.
With this I'll conclude the first part of this post as I'd like to dedicate the 2nd part to the 3rd party developers partly because there is a lot to cover and also they deserve some credit for their contributions to the S60 platform.
To Read Part 2 Click Through
Socialising with Music with Social·fm
Socialising seems to be the big buzz word amongst the new Web 2.0 communities, with hundreds of millions signing up to Myspace, Facebook, Friendstar, Bebo, Orkut and more. I'm sure I have missed out dozens more, but I hope you get the picture. New on the horizon is Socialising with music, which seems to be a bi product of social networking, something Myspace has had on their site for quite a while now, something which in turn has turned me off the Myspace network itself. Annoying auto playing profile pages sound familiar? I thought so.
Now ignoring all the social networks let's move onto the bastard child in it's entirety. There are a few that have come to bloom, Mystrands, Last.fm and Social·fm, of which the latter I will be/have devoting my time to.
What is Social·fm? What does it do? Well quoting their actual website,Social·fm enables social music discovery and recommendations through connections with your friends, family and Social·fm users with similar musical preferences. We are building innovative products and services that leverage Internet broadcasting, social networks and user-contributed content to enable you to enjoy your favourite media any time, anywhere.
A similar statement objective to the other two mentioned. What I'm interested is to what makes it different or better if it can be proved it is to it's competitors...
Social·fm comes in two varieties which both work together, you have the Social·fm Desktop and also a Mobile client, which is compatible with Symbian S60, UIQ and Windows Mobile devices.
Starting with the Desktop application let's see how each works with the other;
Desktop
The desktop application runs on Windows XP and Vista (sorry no Mac love here), it is also nice to know that it doesn't come with any adware and spyware and is easy to uninstall. Great!
The desktop application gives you access to four main features:
Looking pretty promising!
After downloading the EXE file (1.91Mb) and installing you are prompted with your login details, which you should have if you registered at the site, if not you can do so now. Running the application first time will prompt you to search for your music library, for those who don't have an organised library can prompted for this option or you can cancel to show the application, folders where your music is stored. I cancelled both options just to familiarise myself with the interface and settings (something I always do when installing new applications on my sensitive and fragile Windows XP setup).
I was brought to the main "HOME" screen, which is an auto refreshing screen which displays random playlists created by other users, with album art included and a familiar iTunes-esque looking scrolling.
The desktop application window has four main elements; the left hand navigation menu which is used to navigate through the main features which include;
Now that's a lot of My's! Adjacent to that is the main screen which displays content depending on where you have navigated to. Directly above this is a search bar which also has three quick access buttons; Feedback, My Favourites and My Profile. Far top is your now playing and playback control bar which controls what you are listening to, volume, general navigation on browsing the Social.FM site and main navigation bar for the desktop application itself, where you can tweak and change the settings of the application itself.
After familiarising myself with the desktop application I decided to import my library, this can be done by navigating to "My Library" on the left and clicking on the music note button which in turn gives you the options to "add a file" "add a folder" "manage folders" or "search Computer for music." If you have all your music in one folder, you can opt to add that folder at which point it will scan that folder and add all the contents into your Library. Depending on the size of your library it may take some while, (15-20 mins for my 15000+ mp3s, a good time to go and make a nice cup of tea). Take note that your Library will be available to your friends!
Using the desktop client you can listen to random playlists, search for songs in your friends Libraries or just listen to your own Library, which will broadcast it to your friends who might also like to listen.
I think that covers the Desktop application. Moving onto the Mobile Client...
Mobile
The Mobile client is a very interesting concept is unique and very significant in today's age of music on the go, something I am a very big fan of.
The client itself is available on the big three Smartphone platforms, UIQ, S60 and WM respectively. The mobile client claims to Turn your phone into an iPod with Social·fm Mobile
a very bold statement to say the least!
Downloading and installing the Mobile client will give you access to four main features:
Looks very promising indeed!
Downloading the client is pretty easy and also gives you the option to either register if you haven't or use your existing login details, which I presume helps make you're mobile experience easier? One thing I did notice whilst downloading the mobile client is that certain Brands where highlighted in a different colour to the others and it seemed to be the big brands. Whether this is to make them easier to find on the drop down list or not I can't confirm, but I will give them the benefit of doubt.
Filling in the required fields takes you to the download screen, where you can opt to download the client to your PC and transfer to your handset or have an SMS link sent to download direct to handset, either will suffice.
After downloading and installing the application at initial start up you get the option to define the settings for which outwards connection it should use to stream music and general net access by the application.
Initially the application brings you to this "activation code" screen, which reminds you that you have a trial access to the service (did you read the terms and conditions and small print?) and a round loading animation hoop thing which just looks strange, surely a loading bar at the bottom would be easier on the eyes? This screen always pops up every time the application is started, surely the first time is enough? Also there is no option of changing this code or editing it in any way, which is even strangier for it to show this! After the application does whatever it does behind the scenes with the activation screen you are brought to the main screen.
The main screen has a list of options from which you can navigate through from the top down using the navigation pad (take note Left and right to navigate back and forward, up and down to increase or decrease volume level, volume can not be adjusted using the dedicated volume keys on the side of your handset! WTF!!??) "Music Stations" gives you access to the 100,000 digital radio stations mentioned in the features list, "create your own station" is quite misleading as it doesn't "create" your own station, rather does a search and brings up anything matching that criteria, hardly creating your own station! "Library" which connects to your desktop client and gives you access to your Library on your mobile, sounds great? Well it is, pretty fantastic actually. What amazed me it works seamlessly and it also gives you a prompt on your desktop via a little pop-up window telling you what you are listening to and also what your friends are listening to from your Library. "Friends" is the same as your Library except it's your friends library. "Podcasts" and "Favourites" are pretty much self explanatory so I won't bother going into to covering them.
What is great about the mobile client is the fact you have your entire music collection with you without actually physically having it with you! Not only this but you also get access to your friends music collections, the 100,000 digital radio stations and podcasts! What more can you ask for? Well there are some teething problems which may dampen your experience slightly and one key aspect which will make you hold on to that iPod of yours;
Obviously as this is streaming music rather than playing direct to from your handset it will and does suffer from buffering issues. Running on a HSDPA connection it still needs to buffer and constantly disturbs the users listening experience. Also there are times when the client simply does not respond, what or why cannot be explained as there no options to check connection status.
The main concern is when there is no signal or coverage, which an iPod or any other Personal Music Player would not have problems with, so in effect it doesn't and will not replace your iPod. But what it does give you is an option to have an alternative to your iPod when your are bored of listening to your own collection or if you want to just try something random or see what new music your friends may have added to their collection.
To conclude, what Social.FM does is give you an option, an option to choose and also to discover new music and stay in touch with your friends all by playing some songs.
There are a few options I would like to see implemented and some improved which could turn this application from being pretty good to pretty fantastic:
Improvements and Impelements Wishlist:
Social.FM is a great platform and a great concept, but as it's still in BETA stage I can live with the fact there is room for improvement, for the moment Social.FM and the S60 Music player is a great combination for me. When there is poor/no signal I can switch to my Nokia N95's Music player and when I want to listen to some random stuff I can just use the search function on Social.FM or listen to the wide variety of digital stations on offer. Having used it for a few days I have come across many songs I don't have in my collection or forgot about and some newly discovered gems!
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