Archive for the ‘Utilities’ Category

Barcode Scanner Makes Adding Apps Easier

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

A very handy little app available for the Hero is Barcode Scanner.  It uses your phone’s camera to read barcodes – just pull up the app, aim your camera at the barcode and it’ll beep when it’s read and provide you with search options.

At first glance, it seems a little hokey – what am I going to use it for, doing a Web search on a package of frozen peas?  And you could do that, if you want to find out more about your frozen peas.  But it does make it easier to do a search online.  For example, scan a book barcode to read a synopsis or add it to your Amazon wish list; or if you’re comparison shopping, you can quickly look up prices at other retailers online.

But the handier and to my view more useful application of Barcode Scanner is the ability to install apps to your Android phone without having to search.  Many of the various online sites that write about new Android apps include a barcode that will link to the app being discussed. It’s a fast and easy way to get straight to the app you’re looking for without having to do a search in the Marketplace from your phone.

Here’s what an online barcode looks like – obviously not very useful if you don’t have the scanner.  But I’ll do my best to include the barcodes in future posts about Android apps.  So get this and start scanning!

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What I’ve been up to..

Monday, May 17th, 2010

On my mobile handset (and I’ve been using an Android handset in addition to my BlackBerry lately), I tend to look for apps that are either media portals (those that deliver news and or blog content seamlessly) or tools (such as a flashlight app). As I walk between the BlackBerry and Android worlds I’ve been looking to see which specific apps, media delivery and types of tools, that work well in both worlds.

Here’s what I’m up to:

Media
There are a ton of media sites and apps. I believe that very soon you will be able to find an app for your favorite news source on any platform. For the moment here are my picks (all are free unless specifically noted):

Android
• Huffington Post – Original content from one of the most popular blogs out there.
• Engadget – My personal favorite gadget news site.
• AP Mobile – For all AP wire stories.

Black Berry
• New York Times – All the news that’s fit to Print
• Slate – My favorite online magazine. Lots of great writing, debate, and even a bit of fluff.
• AP Mobile – For all AP wire stories.

Tools
For the most part I think the simpler the app the better. Here are my top faves:

Flashlight tools – Completely awesome when it is all you have. When your parking meter change falls out of your pocket at night, a flashlight app can save you from the risk of parking tickets. There are a number of apps out there. Some use a handset’s flash LED (on my BlackBerry tour, for example) and some use the handset’s LCD screen (as on my Android handset).

BlackBerry
• BestFlash ($2.99)

Android
• Color Flashlight

Guitar Tuner – This little app replaces my standalone guitar tuner and tuning fork. Yea! There a number of them for Android. There are a few for Blackberry but they tend to be pricey.

Android
• G Strings Guitar Tuner

BlackBerry
• Guitar Studio ($9.99), also includes chord library and some other useful utilities.

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Opera Mini 5 Beta 2

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Opera has released a new version of their popular mobile phone browser and it might now be the best mobile browser on the market. The new browser has the look and feel of the original desktop Opera browser and perhaps its best feature is how customizable it allows users to set up their home screen with nine different saved websites. Searching is also easy to do with the quick search bar tool in the upper right hand corner of the browser. The new browser has made it fast to swtich between tabs and refresh pages. Here are some highlights on the best new features with the new Opera mobile application:

•Tabbed browsing-Open and skip between several sites at the sames time.

•Speed dial-Creates a several screen interface to quickly open favorite sites.

•Password manager-Allows users to log on email accounts, social network and other sites with just one click.

Opera Mini 5 Beta Overview

Opera Mini 5 Beta Download Link

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FlashLight OneTouch

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

This app uses the video function on your Blackberry device to activate the video camera light so you can use it as a flash light. I usually have a flashlight on my keychain. I also have a six-year old who likes to press the flashlight button and leave it on so the batteries are always dead. I usually find a need for a flashlight on an almost daily basis. This does a pretty good job and allows me to forgo the flashlight on my keychain. I have spent more than $2.99 (the cost of the app) on flashlight batteries in the last three months so I this will “pay for itself” pretty quickly. And the light is surprisingly bright! I wouldn’t want this to be my only source of light on an Everest expedition, but for finding that dropped quarter on a dark sidewalk it works great.

base_media

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Life with Google — on your BlackBerry

Monday, March 1st, 2010

I’m one of those people who can’t imagine life without Google. I communicate with all my friends and family using Gmail and Google Talk. I do all my web searches on Google Search. I look up all my directions on Google Maps. And I keep up on all my news via Google Reader.

That’s why the first app I installed on my BlackBerry Curve was the free Google Mobile App. It has all the amazing features of Google – but it comes with me in my pocket. Here’s a few tips for maximizing your life on the go with the Google Mobile App for BlackBerry:

  • Voice search: Say you’re having a conversation with a friend and trying to figure out when the first day of spring is. It’s easy: just launch your Google Mobile app, hold down the green call button, and say “first day of spring” into it. The voice recognition software will translate what you say into a Google Search query—and return the results that the first day of spring this year is March 20.
  • Maps: Did a friend just call and offer to meet you at a restaurant you’ve never heard of in an hour? No need to get directions, just plug the restaurant name into your Google Maps app. Whether you’re walking, driving, or taking public transit, the Google Maps app will draw your route for you, and give you estimated time it’ll take to get there (and how much it’ll cost, if it’s via public transit). Or are you lost? Just call it up and wait for the blue dot to tell you where you are. I’ve used this more times than I’d like to admit when I’ve been turned around in unfamiliar neighborhoods. And it’s especially valuable to have if you’re navigating someone from the passenger seat; “turn right in two blocks” is a lot better than “turn right on Main Street, which is coming up at some point…oops, there it was…”
  • Reader: This app is by far my favorite. As a CREDO Action campaign manager, I live and breathe the news, and Google Reader is my go-to way of catching up on the latest. I use RSS feeds from all my favorite newspapers, magazines, and blogs. Rather than having to visit each publication’s site, I pull their stories into my Reader account through RSS. The Mobile Reader app pulls in the headline of the newest 10 (depending on your settings) articles. You can easily scan to see the latest news, or click through to read the full articles of the ones that pique your interest the most.
  • News: Don’t use Google Reader? You can also use the News app, which pulls in the latest from the Google News homepage.

All of these and more are available with the free Google Mobile App for BlackBerry. Just point your browser to m.google.com or visit their website to have a link texted to your phone.

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Posted in News, Political, Travel and Maps, Utilities | 1 Comment »

Creating shopping lists on your Blackberry

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

My Blackberry is my phone, my email device, my camera, and my shopping list. Yes, shopping list. No more little scraps of paper, scribbling on my palm (Sarah Palin has given this a bad name), or straining to remember my wife’s need for wasabi peas. With your Blackberry, it’s easy to create shopping lists for multiple stores and have access to them whenever you are out and about.

You should have an app called Tasks pre-installed on your Blackberry. It looks like a clipboard with a few check marks. Open the app and then follow these directions:

Create shopping lists - I have one shopping list for various types of stores (e.g., Costco, Trader Joe’s, hardware, pharmacy).
- Click the Blackberry button and select “Filter” – this takes you to a list of the Categories for tasks. Each shopping list should have its own category
- Click the Blackberry button and select “New”. Type the shopping list name and hit return.
- Repeat this process to create additional shopping lists

Create a list – Now you can add items to each shopping list:
- Hit the back button to get to your list of tasks. You should see “Find” at the top.
- Hit the Blackberry button and select “New”
- Type the name of the item in the Task line at the top
- The following options allow you to set prioritize an item and create reminders
- Scroll to “Category” and hit enter. This takes you to your list of shopping lists. Scroll to the appropriate list and hit your trackball or space bar to check the box.
- Click the Blackberry button and select close. Chose “Save” when prompted.

View shopping lists - All of your tasks, from all shopping lists, are listed together when you open the Tasks app. If you want to get to a specific shopping list:
- Click the Blackberry button and select Filter.
- Place a check next to the appropriate shopping list(s)
- Now you will see only the items from specific stores.
- As you make a purchase, make sure to check off your items.
- Already purchased items still appear in the list. This is nice because when you run out of “wild Chinook salmon”, you don’t need to retype it; simply find the item in the appropriate list and uncheck it

Tasks can be configured to synch with your Outlook task list so you can also access the content on your desktop. Here is some more detail on tasks from Blackberry.

Sadly, you will now need to find another excuse for forgetting to purchase the wasabi peas.

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Improving transportation planning for cyclists through smartphones & GPS

Monday, January 11th, 2010

The San Francisco Transportation Authority (SFTA) has released a mobile application that will improve its ability to understand the traffic patterns of cyclists in the city. Traditionally, the SFTA has used far less accurate and more manual methods of collecting data on bicycle use – e.g., someone standing on a corner counting. By installing an app on your GPS-enabled smartphone and then providing some data on your trips, you can provide rich, accurate, and real-time data to SFTA on how you bike in the city. This is a great step forward in quantifying the growing number of cyclists in the city and making the roads better for them.

The application is currently only available on the iPhone and Android platforms. This has driven some concern for a variety of reasons:

  • It doesn’t provide an accurate view of a very large segment of users. Blackberry has far more current users than the iPhone and the Android platforms combined.

  • It doesn’t provide as representative a picture of users from a variety of income backgrounds. The iPhone is one of the most expensive devices out there ($200 for the newest model). You can get a Blackberry for $50 or often less.

  • It probably undercounts bicycle commuters heading downtown. There are 16 million more enterprise Blackberry users than there are enterprise iPhone users in the US. I believe that addressing the bicycle needs of commuters represents the largest opportunity for taking cars off the road.

  • It isn’t available on CREDO Mobile. Bicyclists such as myself love CREDO Mobile, the greenest mobile phone carrier in America. The iPhone is only available on AT&T, a carrier with a history of contributions to right-wing politicians, including U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) who opposes government spending on bicycle infrastructure. Also, CREDO Mobile is a San Francisco business and woman-owned.

    • If you are interested in having the Cycletracks app support Blackberry, please contact Billy Charlton via email or at (415) 522-4816.

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    The Least Exciting, Most Practical App on My BlackBerry

    Friday, December 18th, 2009

    Mobile Banking. It’s not particularly exciting — at least not to a layman like me, who has no idea the amount of security technology that must be involved in banking (only that there is probably a lot) but banking via my BlackBerry is incredibly useful. Not to say that listening to music or playing Brickbreaker isn’t a good use of my time — but Mobile Banking is probably the most practical thing I use my phone for. Well, aside from actually talking on the phone.

    I’ve been using the free Wells Fargo mobile banking shortcut on my CREDO BlackBerry for the last few months now, and I’m sure that most other major banks have similar apps available. For Wells Fargo customers it’s pretty easy to get started, just sign on to your account at wf.com with your phone’s browser. Once you’re logged in, you can opt to transfer money between your accounts (or to another customer), find ATMs, check your balance, and pay bills. I’d have to say that locating an ATM is the feature I’ve used most often. Again, this app isn’t as much fun as playing games or perusing the REI.com WAP site, but it’s definitely practical. And it can’t hurt for my phone to be practical once in a while.

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    edocrab – How to Limit Landfill

    Thursday, December 17th, 2009

    During this holiday crunch, anything to ease the shopping nightmare experience is a bonus in my book.

    edocrab (”barcode” spelled backwards) is a new BlackBerry app that allows you to shop right from your BlackBerry. It’s currently in beta and available from BlackBerry App World.

    Say you are at the store, and you find the perfect gift for that someone special on your list, but you want to be sure it won’t end up as landfill. All you do is aim your BlackBerry’s camera over the barcode and voila! Edocrab shows you reviews, price comparisons and even pics and videos of the product. Easy.
    Happy Shopping!

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    Holiday Comparison Shopping App for BlackBerry and Web-enabled Phones

    Monday, November 16th, 2009

    That gift giving time of year is approaching again and this year I’ve vowed to get the best deals. That’s why I downloaded the “Frugalytics Shopping for Smart People” application from the BlackBerry App store.

    Frugalytics allows me to quickly search millions of products to compare prices and review ratings while I’m in a store or on the go. It’s fast, free, and helps me know that when I make a retail purchase decision I’m getting a good deal.

    You can use the service from any web-enabled phone – just go to frugalytics.com. If you have a BlackBerry Curve I suggest you download the app from the BlackBerry App World. Simply open App World if you already have it on your phone and search Frugalytics or go to this URL to get a link to the app emailed to you.

    http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/email/1712

    As with any type of downloadable web enabled application, I recommend you have an unlimited data plan so you don’t need to worry about how much data you’re using with multiple searches.

    Features:

  • Deal of the Day: This appears at the top of the page when you login.

  • Add item to Watch List: Once you add items they appear at the bottom of your screen. You can keep an eye on price changes and decide to buy if the price drops to a range that works for you.

  • Search Filters: Allows you to sort the results by factors relevant to that item. For example, my search for “audio headset” allows me to filter on items such as: Price, Brand, Plug type, Design, Ear Piece type, Store. Cool!

    • What I like:
    There is a lot to like about this app. It is fast and easy to navigate. The product images and descriptions are clear. Although not all product categories are represented equally, many are covered in great depth. If I have questions about a particular item I can easily click to retailer’s site for more information.

    Room for improvement:
    The primary downside I see with the application is that not all stores are searched. Regardless, the search seems to be large enough for many products that you can still get a really good idea as to whether the product you’re looking at is priced competitively or not.

    This seems like a solid application and I’d recommend giving it a try. If you know of other comparison shopping sites you like I’d love to hear about them.

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