Microsoft Releases Hotmail App for Android!

One of my annoyances with mobile email has always been Hotmail. Not the service itself, but the seeming inability of any of the default email clients to properly handle Hotmail – I would get repeated streams of mails, deletion never seemed to work right, and so on. To the point where I don’t get my Hotmail on my Android phone and just check it on my iPad with full knowledge I’ll have to manage it elsewhere. We have already heard and seen how Microsoft and Apple have implemented a native sub-client for the iOS 5 Inbox that will work like…

News

Android Market Defaulting to Secondary Account? It’s Not Just You!

Do you have Android phone/tablet and have two different GMail accounts linked up to your Android Market accounts? Or just have both GMail addresses on your Android device? Well, if you do and have tried to access the Android Market recently, chances are that you have seen some sort of ‘please login’ message, or seen far fewer apps on your ‘My Apps’ list than usual. That is because according to many users (myself included), since the last update Android Market seems to frequently (but not always) default to your secondary account. Also, many folks seeing this are looking for solutions…

Editorials, Game Diary

Android Fragmentation: Some Perspective from the Developers of ‘Magic Defenders’

The other day I wrote about my frustration about the state of fragmentation in the Android ecosystem, citing my inability to buy the game Magic Defenders for my Acer Iconia A100 7″ Honeycomb-based tablet. I have been fortunate in the two of the developers from Clueless Ideas, the company making the game, have reached out to me – and one even commented on my post! His reply was thoughtful and insightful – and I thought it warranted being highlighted. When I saw in my email that someone from the developing company was commenting, my initial concern was that they didn’t…

Editorials, Game Diary

Android Fragmentation: Alive and Devastating Android Gaming Efforts

I love Tower Defense games such as Plants vs. Zombies and Fieldrunners, so when I saw a link on Google+ for a great new tablet / Honeycomb based TD game I got excited! When I heard it was a magic-based variant on the genre, I was intrigued and based on a couple of comments I was pretty well sold! Here is the description of Magic Defenders HD: Ready for magic circles, spells and an endless army of orcs? Be the hero and defend your village from the evil orcs in three different invasion episodes. You will fight in the forest,…

Editorials

My First Experience With a 3D Phone: LG Thrill

One of my students excitedly hurried into my classroom the other day, exclaiming that I had to see her new phone. Kids show me their new gadgets everyday, but this was obviously something special since the other students were just as excited. When she presented it to me she just exclaimed, “3D!” In her hand was one of the newest Android handsets from LG to sport 3D technology. The LG Thrill is exclusive to ATT and can be purchased for $99. The hardware seemed nice and was similar to other Android phones I have played with, but I really just…

Reviews

GPSRunningWatch for Android Review

Running is a pretty simple sport. All you need is a pair of shoes, a good pair of shorts, and a cheap watch. All the extra bells and whistles are optional (and really, even shoes and watch are optional — just don’t run naked, as police tend to frown on that.) But there are always ways for technology to creep in, and GPS watches such as Garmin’s Forerunner are near-staples in the running community. For those of us who don’t want a small computer on our wrists, or who carry a smartphone anyway on a run, there are apps that…

News

Facebook for Android Updates Brings Return to Tablets!

One of the annoying things about tablets is lack of support for smartphone apps. For iPad users the ‘1x/2x’ screen doubling for iPhone apps is the bane of their existence, and for Android tablet users they often find that their favorite apps simply aren’t available on the Android Market. Facebook is one of the worst offenders of this – though they ironically have one of their best versions for the now defunct webOS platform! Today brings a fresh update for Facebok for Android solves one of those issues by restoring it to the tablet market for Android devices! AndroidPolice notes…

News

Evernote for Android Updated: “Skitch-ified” and Better Than Ever

Want to get the most out of Evernote? The other day we brought word of the downloadable book, Evernote Essentials. It is a good resource for anyone who is new to Evernote or wants to maximize their Evernote usage. Evernote has been on a roll lately. They bought Skitch, rolled out new versions of their software and are opening a presence in Texas. Now word comes that Evernote has updated their Android app and included some neat new trick including even tighter integration with Skitch. We’ll let the Evernote blog post explain… Today’s Evernote for Android update (3.2) gets a bunch of really…

News

Big News From Evernote: Purchases Skitch, New Apps and More…

Evernote is in the midst of their “first-ever Evernote Trunk Conference” and had some big news to share. Skitch As the above “Skitched” image indicates Evernote bought the image app/service Skitch and is making the app completely free. As they explain We love Skitch so much that we decided to buy the company. Skitch is an amazing Mac application that’s changed the way people capture, annotate and share images. Chief Skitchers, Cris Pearson and Keith Lang are moving from Australia and joining Evernote to lead a significantly expanded Skitch team focused on supercharging the product. Evernote goes on to explain:…

eBooks, Editorials

Designing a Good eBook Reader

Winnie the Pooh iBook on the iPad–not bad, but could be soooo much better With the explosive growth of the eBook market, one would think that the design of eBook reader apps would, by now, be well-advanced. Lots of cool options, good readability, and all kinds of thought put into their design. One would be wrong. Initial background info: I have been writing information to be distributed online for nearly 20 years now–since 1992, to be exact. This is my life, my work, my calling–it is more than an avocation. I think about the best way to deliver information online all…

Editorials, News

Yet Another Reason Why It Seems Android Users Love to Relive Their Windows Suffering

I have been an Android user since 2009, and have no intent on switching. But let’s be honest – in many ways the OS mirrors DOS and Windows. For example, on my original Droid, the split between the internal storage and SD card was absurd – I would have 14GB of memory on my SD card, but get ‘low memory’ warnings trying to install a 2MB app because nothing would let itself be installed in ‘HIMEM.SYS’. Another Windows-like behavior? The Add/Remove Control Panel – or, the ‘Manage Applications’ system item. This is the place you go to move apps to…

News

Cobra Tag Helps You Find Anything Including Your Phone

Are you the type that misplaces things like keys, your car remote or your purse? Then the Cobra Tag may be for you. Cobra Tag is a Bluetooth device that works in conjunction with your phone. Once set up, if you walk away from the item your phone will alert you that you forgot your keys. What if that item is your phone? Cobra Tag has that covered too. If you walk away from your phone AND have the tag, then the tag itself will alert you that you left your phone behind. The app works on Blackberry and Android devices. No…

Reviews

Sonos PLAY:3 Review

We have had a fair bit of coverage of the Sonos Wireless Hi-Fi System over the past few weeks. As I noted in my initial review of the system, I only had the review units in my home for 23 hours before I went and ordered my own. I was impressed by the ease of use, the overall sound quality, and the vast amount of music that was available to me through the Sonos eco-system. It was by no means an inexpensive purchase but I have not had a single moment of buyer’s remorse. At this point I am a…

Editorials

The Ballad of an Android Fan…

I’ve talked before about my Motorola Droid. We’ve had a love/hate relationship over the last 18 months or so, but all good things must come to an end. Ours has a specific end date, as I am up for a new phone on August 12th. Unfortunately, none of the Android offerings on Verizon have me terribly excited, and in fact, I’m questioning whether an Android phone is my next step. It started when I headed to Verizon Wireless’s site to check out their phone selection. The Thunderbolt, Charge, and Revolution are all 4G LTE, which is intriguing and a good…

News

News Flash: Google Has Done NOTHING About Android Fragmentation in 2011!

Over at Android Central there was a reminder of the stark reality facing Android users: the Blackberry PlayBook has a newer version of Android than 81% of all users! As noted there: It’s running a newer version of Android than some 80 percent of you guys out there. When last we looked, some 18.6 percent of Android devices were running Android 2.3.x. (Honeycomb devices made up less than 1 percent on top of that.) And RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook? Why, it’s running Android 2.3.3, while some 59 percent of you out there are still officially stuck on Froyo, and another 18…

Editorials

LG G2X Screen Bleeding Issues Continue; No More Returns Accepted at T-Mobile

(If you aren’t familiar with the ongoing issues Francis has had with his G2X, be sure to see his initial explanation here: Original G2X Screen Bleed Article) Last week I wrote up a quick post about sending in my G2X to T-Mobile due to excessive screen bleeding issues. After receiving a new phone, returning a phone, and two more chats with T-Mobile representatives I’m sitting here with the same phone I started out with. If you are unaware of the screen bleeding issues check out my post here, or pretty much any G2X forum anywhere on the web and you are…

Reviews

The Sonos Wireless Home Audio System Review

If Apple were to release a wireless speaker system, it would probably look and function the way the Sonos Zone system does. Fortunately Cupertino doesn’t need to go to the trouble, since Sonos beat Apple to it — and there isn’t a whole lot of room for improvement. Sure, I understand that those opening sentences sound more than a bit fanboyish toward both Apple and Sonos, but hey, I love my Apple products; in the last month or so, I have also become a Sonos evangelist. How much do I like the Sonos system? Let me put it this way:…

News

LinkedIn Explains Why They Don’t Allow SD Card Installs

Although ‘business social’ site LinkedIn started off slower and with seemingly less traction than Twitter, a recent study showed that LinkedIn is now considered the most important social media network, with 60% of respondents saying that having a LinkedIn account is more important than any other social network. Since so many business users of social media carry smartphones, it seems that one necessary element in any strategy is to have a mobile application for iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices. As many have found, implementing a full-featured interface for sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn is daunting, as is keeping user…

Gear Bits

Amazon Free App Reminder Does What It Says – Amazon Android App Store

Ever since it was launched, we have extolled the virtues of the Amazon Android App Store, as well as pointed out a few issues with it. Like it or not, Amazon’s Android App Store has been well-received by Android users, especially since they have a different paid application available for free every day. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get busy. So I don’t check the Amazon App Store every day. Which means I could miss out on such gems as Nuance’s FlexT9 keyboard for free. Well, an enterprising developer came up with a solution for those of…

eBooks, News

Zinio Magazine App Now Available in the Android Market

It took far longer than we hoped or expected but, as of this morning, Zinio’s app is live in the Android Market. That’s right, if you have a device running Android 2.2 or above Android Honeycomb you can now get hundreds (thousands actually) of magazines right on your Android device. Zinio is one of my favorite apps on my iPad, and it was one of the things most lacking for me each time I tried to make the move to Android. And there’s more good news. Thanks to Zinio’s commitment to being cross-platform, if you already have a Zinio account,…

Reviews

Vivint Adds Security and Automation to a 1970s Era Deckhouse, Part One: The System

Eight years ago we moved into a thirty-five-year-old Deck House fixer-upper. Deck Houses are post and beam “kit” houses that are built like a barn, offer huge open space and because they have no joists or crawl spaces for running wires and plumbing present numerous challenges when renovating. It is for that reason (among others) that eight years later, we are still working on it. On the “wish list” of renovations was adding some home automation, but the cost and the unique challenges of the design made it less enticing than it might otherwise have been. At some point, I…

Android Apps