Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Hidden picture? Wow. Who controls these kind of claims?
Apparently the Jesus figure is "hidden". Gives you an idea regarding the age range this picture is targeting.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Fun Christian bumper stickers
I'm not generally one to use bumper stickers, but these were kind of funny.
Bikes in stl
Bicycle Works has refurbished things
Randy's Recycled Cycles 2 days a week
Recycled Cycles St. Louis out of basement
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Fake Vibram KSO Trek shoes
FAKE Vibram KSO Trek
(Pictures of real ones are at the bottom of this post)
Above is a picture of the fake Vibram KSO Trek Fivefinger pair of shoes I purchased for $71 on eBay from eBay. Totally not worth it.
Below is the picture in the eBay listing I bought the fakes from that are of a real Vibram KSO Trek
The picture on eBay did not show the differences between the actual shoe and what they were selling. How many differences can you see between the top picture and the other three pictures?
-First off, there is white stitching all around the shoe instead of tan stitching.
-There are 4 VERY apparent vertical slits with visible liner near the heel on each side instead of 2 vertical slits on each side with no visible liner
-The sole of the fake shoe is ALL black on the brown KSO. On the real KSO Trek, the sole is black on the bottom and brown on the sides.
-I put them on and they were tighter than the same size of actual shoes. I was not able fit my feet into them with socks. The real 42 Trek shoes fit fine with socks when I tried them on at REI.
-The hard footbed was narrower at the arch, thereby not giving much arch support or bottom of the foot protection.
-The "leather" top was way too thin. I doubt it was kangaroo leather, or even leather at all, like it was supposed to be. It felt like it could easily rip. It seemed to be a soft sewn material.
-The top strap is not as long as it should be.
Below are actual images I found online of the Vibram KSO Trek. You can see some of the differences.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
McDonald's, the place to meet a blind date
McDonald's, the place to meet a blind date. If you start blabbering or don't know what to say, the table can help guide you into a staring contest. If that becomes awkward, say the table told you to do it.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Paper airplanes
In a contest of accuracy, a paper wad beat out a folded rolled pieces of paper as well as the darts and gliders.
Stratego strategy
One idea is to have a non-traditional approach, have scattered strongholds and pieces you do not move, like a 3, 4 or 5 that you pretend are strongholds to psyche out your opponent. They run out of pieces searching for your flag.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The knife company
You get $5 per set if you sell at least 150 a week. $6 for another tier, and $7 at a higher tier by number of sales per week. He sold 70 sets yesterday.
They give demos at K-mart and Sam's Club and travel in regions.
He is nice, has 9 kids, and is friendly. He offered me a job since I looked confident, filled my suit well, and even took a stab at the commissions he was getting.
He led on that there was turnover for people that didn't believe in their product.
Sharp Select knife
These do not have wooden handles that harbor bacteria. They also supposedly never should be sharpened. It ruins the finish.
For $46.98, 10 knives. Twice a year they come to Sam's club.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Triathlon and Road Bike Research
So I am tempted to do a triathlon if I see one come up.
Wikipedia and a distance converter helped out.
Sprint Distance- USA Triathlon, the main international race distances are
750 m/.466 mile swim
20 km/12.42 mile bike
5 km/3.1 mile run
Intermediate (or Standard) distance, commonly referred to as "Olympic distance"
1.5 km/.93 mile swim
40 km/24.85 mile ride
10 km/6.21 mile run
the Long Course (Half Ironman)
1.9 km/1.18 mile swim --I've done one mile in about an hour
90 km/55.92 mile ride
21.1 km/13.11 mile run --I've done this in about 2 hours
Ultra Distance; the most recognized branded Ultra Distance is the Ironman triathlon.
3.8 km/2.36 mile swim,
180 km/111.85 mile ride --I did 100 miles in under 10 hours with many long breaks on a poorly geared bike with aero bars
and a marathon: 42.2 km/26.22 mile run
--------------------------------------------------
I'm already looking at good bike configurations.
Here is the start of a relatively comprehensive summary of the highlights. It is a work in progress. Please comment with tips for order, phrasing, conciseness, relevance, etc.
You need a bike that fits you. You should be able to straddle the bike while in front of the seat and have about an inch of clearance.
Get a bike that weighs under 30 lbs (including aero bars). Road bikes generally range from 35 lbs to 14 lbs. The more total weight you carry, the slower you are when riding up hills. Lance Armstrong is 5'10", weighs about 155 lbs, and rides a 14 lb bike with some water for a total weight of around 172 lbs. (The Tour De France set a minimum weight limit at 14 lbs to prevent the race from costing more than it does already. Each rider uses several bikes each day of the multi-day race. Bikes in the Tour De France used to cost about $600 to manufacture 30 years ago. Now, with all the lightweight and aerodynamic components, some bikes range in the $5,000 range.)
Steel bikes are usually heavier than aluminum which is heavier than carbon fiber bikes. Generally the lighter the bike, the more it will cost. Aluminum is more expensive than steel and carbon fiber is more expensive than both. However, there are new aluminum bikes that are more expensive than steel ones but actually weigh more than the steel frames. Aluminum and carbon fiber bikes generally need thicker parts on the frame because they can not handle the side to side torque as well as steel and other metals, like magnesium, another lightweight metal popular in older racing bikes.
There are some old composite metal racing bikes that are only about 25 lbs and lighter than some modern aluminum bikes. Walmart's GMC Denali road bike is aluminum and weighs around 30 lbs. It has low quality parts that make taking the tires off difficult. It's not a great buy.
Parts that Matter
The more teeth the the main crank gear where the petals are, combined with as few teeth as possible on the rear wheel gives you the maximum potential speed of the bike.
The main gear for racers in the Tour De France are 55 teeth on one of their bikes and 53 on another of their bikes. Unless you have calf muscles like theirs, the standard 52 tooth gear is fine.
The rear wheel should have a small gear with 11 or 12 teeth and a rear large gear with 25 to 28 teeth. Competitive racers tend to have a smaller range of teeth in the rear cassette so they can get a more precise ratio. An 8 speed bike uses a more durable chain and doesn't need to be as finely tuned as a 9 or 10 speed bike.
The main crank can have as few as 50 teeth if you have 11 teeth on the back. If you have 12 or more teeth as your smallest gear on the back wheel, you will want 52 or more teeth on the main gear.
Many road bikes from the 80s have a main crank (the gears on the pedals) of 52 teeth and 39 teeth with 14-28 gears in the back or 52 and 42 teeth on the main crank and 14-30 teeth on the back. Notice how both bikes have the same gear ratios for their highest and lowest gears. 52-14 on both and 39-28 for the lowest gear on on and 42-30 for the lowest gear on the other. Those last two ratios are the same. You can go to the site.
Some road bikes will have three gears on the main crank. Most keep it down to two to save on a tiny bit of weight and reduce the need for an accurate shift on three gears vs two. This is usually fine since the smallest crank is usually not used in a race.
The Differences Between a Road Bike and a Tri-Bike
A road bike is built for fast handling and rapid acceleration.
The shifters are in front in stead of to the sides.
There are elbow pads on a tri bike so less weight in on your legs which are needed for the run.
The seat is more on top of the crank/pedals.
The downtube may be aero-shaped.
The tri bike will weigh a little more.
Wikipedia and a distance converter helped out.
Sprint Distance- USA Triathlon, the main international race distances are
750 m/.466 mile swim
20 km/12.42 mile bike
5 km/3.1 mile run
Intermediate (or Standard) distance, commonly referred to as "Olympic distance"
1.5 km/.93 mile swim
40 km/24.85 mile ride
10 km/6.21 mile run
the Long Course (Half Ironman)
1.9 km/1.18 mile swim --I've done one mile in about an hour
90 km/55.92 mile ride
21.1 km/13.11 mile run --I've done this in about 2 hours
Ultra Distance; the most recognized branded Ultra Distance is the Ironman triathlon.
3.8 km/2.36 mile swim,
180 km/111.85 mile ride --I did 100 miles in under 10 hours with many long breaks on a poorly geared bike with aero bars
and a marathon: 42.2 km/26.22 mile run
--------------------------------------------------
I'm already looking at good bike configurations.
Here is the start of a relatively comprehensive summary of the highlights. It is a work in progress. Please comment with tips for order, phrasing, conciseness, relevance, etc.
You need a bike that fits you. You should be able to straddle the bike while in front of the seat and have about an inch of clearance.
Get a bike that weighs under 30 lbs (including aero bars). Road bikes generally range from 35 lbs to 14 lbs. The more total weight you carry, the slower you are when riding up hills. Lance Armstrong is 5'10", weighs about 155 lbs, and rides a 14 lb bike with some water for a total weight of around 172 lbs. (The Tour De France set a minimum weight limit at 14 lbs to prevent the race from costing more than it does already. Each rider uses several bikes each day of the multi-day race. Bikes in the Tour De France used to cost about $600 to manufacture 30 years ago. Now, with all the lightweight and aerodynamic components, some bikes range in the $5,000 range.)
Steel bikes are usually heavier than aluminum which is heavier than carbon fiber bikes. Generally the lighter the bike, the more it will cost. Aluminum is more expensive than steel and carbon fiber is more expensive than both. However, there are new aluminum bikes that are more expensive than steel ones but actually weigh more than the steel frames. Aluminum and carbon fiber bikes generally need thicker parts on the frame because they can not handle the side to side torque as well as steel and other metals, like magnesium, another lightweight metal popular in older racing bikes.
There are some old composite metal racing bikes that are only about 25 lbs and lighter than some modern aluminum bikes. Walmart's GMC Denali road bike is aluminum and weighs around 30 lbs. It has low quality parts that make taking the tires off difficult. It's not a great buy.
Parts that Matter
The more teeth the the main crank gear where the petals are, combined with as few teeth as possible on the rear wheel gives you the maximum potential speed of the bike.
The main gear for racers in the Tour De France are 55 teeth on one of their bikes and 53 on another of their bikes. Unless you have calf muscles like theirs, the standard 52 tooth gear is fine.
The rear wheel should have a small gear with 11 or 12 teeth and a rear large gear with 25 to 28 teeth. Competitive racers tend to have a smaller range of teeth in the rear cassette so they can get a more precise ratio. An 8 speed bike uses a more durable chain and doesn't need to be as finely tuned as a 9 or 10 speed bike.
The main crank can have as few as 50 teeth if you have 11 teeth on the back. If you have 12 or more teeth as your smallest gear on the back wheel, you will want 52 or more teeth on the main gear.
Many road bikes from the 80s have a main crank (the gears on the pedals) of 52 teeth and 39 teeth with 14-28 gears in the back or 52 and 42 teeth on the main crank and 14-30 teeth on the back. Notice how both bikes have the same gear ratios for their highest and lowest gears. 52-14 on both and 39-28 for the lowest gear on on and 42-30 for the lowest gear on the other. Those last two ratios are the same. You can go to the site.
Some road bikes will have three gears on the main crank. Most keep it down to two to save on a tiny bit of weight and reduce the need for an accurate shift on three gears vs two. This is usually fine since the smallest crank is usually not used in a race.
The Differences Between a Road Bike and a Tri-Bike
A road bike is built for fast handling and rapid acceleration.
The shifters are in front in stead of to the sides.
There are elbow pads on a tri bike so less weight in on your legs which are needed for the run.
The seat is more on top of the crank/pedals.
The downtube may be aero-shaped.
The tri bike will weigh a little more.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
funny joke!
So you want a day off. Let's take a look at what you are asking for. There are 365 days per year available for work. There are 52 weeks per year in which you already have 2 days off per week, leaving 261 days available for work. Since you spend 16 hours each day away fron work, you have used up 170 days, leaving only 91 days available. You spend 30 minutes each day on coffee break which counts for 23 days each year, leaving only 68 days available. With a 1 hour lunch each day, you used up another 46 days, leaving only 22 days available for work. You normally spend 2 days per year on sick leave. This leaves you only 20 days per year available for work. We are off 5 holidays per year, so your available working time is down to 15 days. We generously give 14 days vacation per year which leaves only 1 day available for work and I'll be darned if you are going to take that day off!
Sent from Funny Jokes http://bit.ly/1DOFTl
Grandpa Peterson's Chili recipe
Cooking Time
About 45 minutes (and definitely worth it)
------------
Serving Size
Serves about 6 as a primary dish, 12 as a secondary dish. Refrigerate to eat later.
------------
How to Serve
Eat out of a bowl or on a slice of wheat bread
-----------
Ingredients
2 lbs ground chuck beef (80 lean-20 fat) or venison or ground turkey
1 full finely cut up onion (optional to the weak of heart)
small slice of butter to coat bottom of skillet (optional)
2 cans chili beans
2 cans kidney beans
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 bottle of Heinz chili sauce
2 (small?) cans of diced tomatoes
1 frozen pack of mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn)
1 pack of elbow macaroni
------------------------
Kitchen Materials
Skillet to brown 2 lbs of meat (optional if you brown the meat in the pot instead)
Large pot (1.5 gallon or larger)
Medium pot to boil water for the pack of elbow macaroni
----------------------------------
Directions
1. Brown meat in a pot (or skillet, then add to a pot after browning) with the chopped onion using medium high heat. (Cooking with the onion adds flavor to the meat.) You may want to use some water or butter on the skillet to prevent the meat from sticking. After the meat has finished browning, drain the fat and add the meat to the pot.
(~15 minutes)
--2 lbs ground chuck beef (80 lean-20 fat) or venison or ground turkey
--1 full cut up onion
2. Add the remaining ingredients (except the elbow macaroni) to the pot with the meat and cook on medium high. Stir every few minutes. Make sure nothing burns on the bottom of the pot by scraping the bottom of the pot with the stirring spoon.
(~10 minutes)
--2 cans chili beans
--2 cans kidney beans
--1 small can of tomato sauce
--1 bottle of Heinz chili sauce
--2 small cans of diced tomatoes
--1 frozen pack of mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn)
3. While the ingredients in the pot are warming up, prepare the macaroni in a separate pot following the directions on the bag. (Bring the appropriate amount of water to a boil, then add the macaroni and stir occasionally until the macaroni is soft.)
(~10 minutes, but overlaps the previous step)
--1 pack of macaroni
4. Once the macaroni is soft, add it to the pot with the meat, beans, etc. Stir and simmer on medium heat (down from medium-high heat) for about five minutes. Serve when ready. Feel free to taste it before serving.
(~ 5 minutes)
About 45 minutes (and definitely worth it)
------------
Serving Size
Serves about 6 as a primary dish, 12 as a secondary dish. Refrigerate to eat later.
------------
How to Serve
Eat out of a bowl or on a slice of wheat bread
-----------
Ingredients
2 lbs ground chuck beef (80 lean-20 fat) or venison or ground turkey
1 full finely cut up onion (optional to the weak of heart)
small slice of butter to coat bottom of skillet (optional)
2 cans chili beans
2 cans kidney beans
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 bottle of Heinz chili sauce
2 (small?) cans of diced tomatoes
1 frozen pack of mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn)
1 pack of elbow macaroni
------------------------
Kitchen Materials
Skillet to brown 2 lbs of meat (optional if you brown the meat in the pot instead)
Large pot (1.5 gallon or larger)
Medium pot to boil water for the pack of elbow macaroni
----------------------------------
Directions
1. Brown meat in a pot (or skillet, then add to a pot after browning) with the chopped onion using medium high heat. (Cooking with the onion adds flavor to the meat.) You may want to use some water or butter on the skillet to prevent the meat from sticking. After the meat has finished browning, drain the fat and add the meat to the pot.
(~15 minutes)
--2 lbs ground chuck beef (80 lean-20 fat) or venison or ground turkey
--1 full cut up onion
2. Add the remaining ingredients (except the elbow macaroni) to the pot with the meat and cook on medium high. Stir every few minutes. Make sure nothing burns on the bottom of the pot by scraping the bottom of the pot with the stirring spoon.
(~10 minutes)
--2 cans chili beans
--2 cans kidney beans
--1 small can of tomato sauce
--1 bottle of Heinz chili sauce
--2 small cans of diced tomatoes
--1 frozen pack of mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn)
3. While the ingredients in the pot are warming up, prepare the macaroni in a separate pot following the directions on the bag. (Bring the appropriate amount of water to a boil, then add the macaroni and stir occasionally until the macaroni is soft.)
(~10 minutes, but overlaps the previous step)
--1 pack of macaroni
4. Once the macaroni is soft, add it to the pot with the meat, beans, etc. Stir and simmer on medium heat (down from medium-high heat) for about five minutes. Serve when ready. Feel free to taste it before serving.
(~ 5 minutes)
St. Louis Recycling fluorescent bulbs with mercury
Apparently, when you buy a fluorescent lamps to save money, you also sign up for properly recycling them when they make a popping sound and die out. You don't want mercury to leak into the ground. One of the bulb boxes says to go to www.lamprecycle.org to find a recycling center. The one nearest to St. Louis is here: http://search.earth911.com/location/3ZwA5VGZ/?what=Items+Containing+Mercury&where=63131&max_distance=25&country=US&province=MO&city=Saint+Louis®ion=Saint+Louis&latitude=38.6171262087&longitude=-90.4431068348&list_filter=all
It was suggested that the store you bought the bulb from may collect them and perhaps dump them at the recycling center for you... or maybe throw them in the trash themselves.
It was suggested that the store you bought the bulb from may collect them and perhaps dump them at the recycling center for you... or maybe throw them in the trash themselves.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Transmission
Apparently, transmission leaks can start small, but if they get bigger, you can drain your fluid in a matter of minutes and destroy your transmission. The solenoid on these older vans is outside the transmission and can be replaced much more easily than the newer transmissions which have the electric solenoid inside the transmission. Expect 15 hours of labor... he said. A 6 speed manual transmission on a super duty truck with a built in solenoid would be 25 hours labor. Chrysler is notorious for solenoids that are susceptible to having transmission fluid leak into them causing them to need to be replaced.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Scratch off gambling
My sister has a guy that likes her. His mom bought her $10 in scratch off tickets. I said I would have taken the $10. She gave me one sheet to scratch off. I was confused. I assumed I could only scratch off a certain number of options or else risk disqualifying myself if I scratched everything. Nope. This card, you scratch everything. My brain screamed for a catch. Surprise! No winning lines.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Movie recommendations from blockbuster workers
Manson: my name is evil, flipped, afterschool, mysterious skin, winter's bone,
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Business statistics misleading advertising
This graph is a prime example of how ads distort and exaggerate the message. 3% return on an investment of 100% barely keeps up with inflation. Sheesh. What they should is compare their whole life policy to the actual return after taxes of the stock market and also a bond investment and a CD investment with a term life policy. People could then see what year the whole life policy makes fiscal sense.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Fun coupons
The "moral" (ironically to some) of the story is to go ahead and ask if they will accept expired coupons.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Lessons from dad-Thanksgiving coupons
Walgreens runs a Thanksgiving special every year where certain items give you a coupon for the same value you paid. These coupons are redeemable until December 8thish. The trick to keep getting
11 purchases give you 11 coupons. If you use a coupon for hair ties (but that is really good on anything in the store) on another product with the coupon generation special other than hair ties, you get a coupon for the new product. So you have two piles of things. You Seth coupons of one pile to buy the items that generate different coupons on the other pile.
The cycle ends when you purchase things that do generate coupons, like ice cream, or they run out stock on a few items.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Funny
Many people are prison singers. We are behind a few bars and can't seem to find the right key.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord. Singing helps improve our attitude. Maybe sing to yourself.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
30+ Top Recommended Android Apps 11/2010
Recommended Android Apps
Now that you have an Android phone/computer/PDA/brick, what apps should you install?
The Short Version
When someone asks me, I'll say DoubleTwist is great for iTunes lovers, Astro is a decent file manager-which you'll need for finding certain files on your phone. Docs Pics is good for google docs, Go!Lyrics (if you can find it) lets you watch the lyrics of the songs you are listening to, Quick Task Killer is about as good as anything else to maybe help on battery life (though the autokill can cause keyboard freezes and you have to exclude gps programs). Remote Droid lets you control the mouse on a mac or PC. Voice can be set up to show a preview of text messages to a google voice account, as well as transcribe voicemails for free. Maps is good for navigation (unless you go out of a 3g data range). SoftRace and SportyPal are GPS programs that are awesome to run, bike, hike, etc with. Delicious is a good bookmark saver and finder tool if you get a free account.
Astro File Manager-There may be better ones out there, but Astro allows you to view and edit the contents of the folders on your phone and SD card.
ArcMedia---Maybe lets you watch additional video formats on your phone. I'm not sure. Only download if you can't play video files you transferred to your SD card.
AroundMe- Not awesome, but can help you find nearby attractions like gas stations (no gas prices) and restaurants. "Where" is probably a better alternative.
Convert Anything-This can help with converting cooking measurements, weight, and more. I like to cook.
Craigsnotification-Lets you save searches for keywords you want to keep tabs on. If you leave "Background Notifications" turned on, it will run in the background by default if you set up a search and alert you when a new posting that fits your saved search criteria comes up. You have to set up a search and then delete it since it autosaves searches. Don't enable "notify me" when you set up a search if you don't want your phone to buzz whenever a new post starts up.
DailyStrip- Lets you keep tabs on most of your favorite comic strips.
Delicious- (There are a few out there...The one with a square with curved corners and no rotation allows you to search through your tabs by typing in a keyword. Then it pulls up the tags you have. You can click on the links you've saved and they open in your default browser. This works well with Dolphin HD Browser. Dolphin Browser HD has a seperate Delicious plug in that lets you save the page you are browsing with tags. It does not yet have a way of letting you search through your tags within the browser-unless you bookmark the delisios web page and search through the delicious web page. This Dolphin HD extension is a separate "app." It has rounded corners and a diagonal banner that says "New" draped on the upper left corner. It isn't awesome when paired with the Firefox browser... yet. Firefox starts up with a homepage that shows old tabs... not necessarily the linbk it was supposed to open. Once Firefox is open, you have to click on the link again.
Docs Pics -This is one of the best apps for integrating with google docs. It works well with the docs. It downloads a local copy to the phone. Then you manually "save" the file which uploads it back to google. You can create new "Sync notes", change the title of new or existing titles, and make changes. Just don't forget to save. You loose changes if you don't save it. Docs Pics is not great when it comes to editing Excel files. It will download them, allow you to make changes through a different app, like documents to go, but it is not great about reuploading the Excel files to make changes.
Documents to Go -(A paid app) Requires a key to do more than read files. This lets you edit Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. I'd like to get the 3.0 version which supposedly also syncs to google docs. Version 2.0 is only good for local storage and editing.
Dolphin Browser HD- Good because it supports flash video from websites (except hulu which will require a paid subscription) and multiple extensions that the default browser does not such as delicious bookmarks, a toggle between mobile and desktop versions of the web page, full screen, etc. It also allows you to be able to run flash based things like www.speedtest.net to view your web phone's internet speed. It seems less bulky than Firefox and starts up faster. This may be because I have not changed a Firefox setting to not view closed tabs each time the browser opens.
DoubleTwist-http://www.doubletwist.com/
This is one of the few free apps that will sync MULTIPLE playlists from your iTunes account with your phone. The program will need to be installed on the computer with your iTunes music as well as your Android phone. Works well with song and playlist integration in the music player. Playlists can be found in this app and in the music player. DoubleTwist runs as a seperate app from the default music player. There is a default setting for it to be the default app for headphone controls. Turn that off if you want to use the default music player. The doubletwist and default music player are very comprible, the DoublEtwist edging ahead with album art and ratings. However, GoLyrics which lets you see the lyrics of what is playing so you can sing along to the current song only integrates with the default media player.
eBay - Lets you keep tabs on ebay things. It likes running in the background. Download it if you will use it.
Evernote-It has potential. In theory it can keep your Evernote documents, uploaded pictures, and video together. Supposedly it can transcribe some words found in pictures you take into text. I found that it was not good at uploading video and pictures. It would hang on larger files and prevent smaller files from being uploaded. Google docs seemed easier. It did have an interesting voice recorder feature you could look into. It's just not useful to me yet. Additional functionality can be added by also downloading the evernote program to your computer-although it is not necessary.
Firefox- As of November, it was a bit buggy. It does have potential though. It allows you to actually edit google docs from a web interface. It is getting a growing number of add-ons and will likely be one of the nicer browsers out there. It syncs Firefox bookmarks and history with your Firefox account (which you will have when the new Firefox Beta becomes the new standard.) It allows for tagged bookmarks through Firefox-though a working Delicious extension is still in progress. It takes several seconds to start up. If the default settings are left on, Internet links that open with Firefox from other apps will be ignored when Firefox is opened and the home page with old tabs will be shown instead. It's a quirk that can probably be changed with some settings.
Funny Jokes- Has different categories for users to submit jokes. They tend to be a bit rowdy, but there are some clean ones mixed in.
GoLyrics-Shows lyrics for whatever songs on in your music player playlist. It was able to find about 50% of the lyrics in my library. It also has forward and backward buttons. The search function hasn't been too good. But it's decently integrated to the music player.
Now that you have an Android phone/computer/PDA/brick, what apps should you install?
The Short Version
When someone asks me, I'll say DoubleTwist is great for iTunes lovers, Astro is a decent file manager-which you'll need for finding certain files on your phone. Docs Pics is good for google docs, Go!Lyrics (if you can find it) lets you watch the lyrics of the songs you are listening to, Quick Task Killer is about as good as anything else to maybe help on battery life (though the autokill can cause keyboard freezes and you have to exclude gps programs). Remote Droid lets you control the mouse on a mac or PC. Voice can be set up to show a preview of text messages to a google voice account, as well as transcribe voicemails for free. Maps is good for navigation (unless you go out of a 3g data range). SoftRace and SportyPal are GPS programs that are awesome to run, bike, hike, etc with. Delicious is a good bookmark saver and finder tool if you get a free account.
Astro File Manager-There may be better ones out there, but Astro allows you to view and edit the contents of the folders on your phone and SD card.
ArcMedia---Maybe lets you watch additional video formats on your phone. I'm not sure. Only download if you can't play video files you transferred to your SD card.
AroundMe- Not awesome, but can help you find nearby attractions like gas stations (no gas prices) and restaurants. "Where" is probably a better alternative.
Convert Anything-This can help with converting cooking measurements, weight, and more. I like to cook.
Craigsnotification-Lets you save searches for keywords you want to keep tabs on. If you leave "Background Notifications" turned on, it will run in the background by default if you set up a search and alert you when a new posting that fits your saved search criteria comes up. You have to set up a search and then delete it since it autosaves searches. Don't enable "notify me" when you set up a search if you don't want your phone to buzz whenever a new post starts up.
DailyStrip- Lets you keep tabs on most of your favorite comic strips.
Delicious- (There are a few out there...The one with a square with curved corners and no rotation allows you to search through your tabs by typing in a keyword. Then it pulls up the tags you have. You can click on the links you've saved and they open in your default browser. This works well with Dolphin HD Browser. Dolphin Browser HD has a seperate Delicious plug in that lets you save the page you are browsing with tags. It does not yet have a way of letting you search through your tags within the browser-unless you bookmark the delisios web page and search through the delicious web page. This Dolphin HD extension is a separate "app." It has rounded corners and a diagonal banner that says "New" draped on the upper left corner. It isn't awesome when paired with the Firefox browser... yet. Firefox starts up with a homepage that shows old tabs... not necessarily the linbk it was supposed to open. Once Firefox is open, you have to click on the link again.
Docs Pics -This is one of the best apps for integrating with google docs. It works well with the docs. It downloads a local copy to the phone. Then you manually "save" the file which uploads it back to google. You can create new "Sync notes", change the title of new or existing titles, and make changes. Just don't forget to save. You loose changes if you don't save it. Docs Pics is not great when it comes to editing Excel files. It will download them, allow you to make changes through a different app, like documents to go, but it is not great about reuploading the Excel files to make changes.
Documents to Go -(A paid app) Requires a key to do more than read files. This lets you edit Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. I'd like to get the 3.0 version which supposedly also syncs to google docs. Version 2.0 is only good for local storage and editing.
Dolphin Browser HD- Good because it supports flash video from websites (except hulu which will require a paid subscription) and multiple extensions that the default browser does not such as delicious bookmarks, a toggle between mobile and desktop versions of the web page, full screen, etc. It also allows you to be able to run flash based things like www.speedtest.net to view your web phone's internet speed. It seems less bulky than Firefox and starts up faster. This may be because I have not changed a Firefox setting to not view closed tabs each time the browser opens.
DoubleTwist-http://www.doubletwist.com/
This is one of the few free apps that will sync MULTIPLE playlists from your iTunes account with your phone. The program will need to be installed on the computer with your iTunes music as well as your Android phone. Works well with song and playlist integration in the music player. Playlists can be found in this app and in the music player. DoubleTwist runs as a seperate app from the default music player. There is a default setting for it to be the default app for headphone controls. Turn that off if you want to use the default music player. The doubletwist and default music player are very comprible, the DoublEtwist edging ahead with album art and ratings. However, GoLyrics which lets you see the lyrics of what is playing so you can sing along to the current song only integrates with the default media player.
eBay - Lets you keep tabs on ebay things. It likes running in the background. Download it if you will use it.
Evernote-It has potential. In theory it can keep your Evernote documents, uploaded pictures, and video together. Supposedly it can transcribe some words found in pictures you take into text. I found that it was not good at uploading video and pictures. It would hang on larger files and prevent smaller files from being uploaded. Google docs seemed easier. It did have an interesting voice recorder feature you could look into. It's just not useful to me yet. Additional functionality can be added by also downloading the evernote program to your computer-although it is not necessary.
Firefox- As of November, it was a bit buggy. It does have potential though. It allows you to actually edit google docs from a web interface. It is getting a growing number of add-ons and will likely be one of the nicer browsers out there. It syncs Firefox bookmarks and history with your Firefox account (which you will have when the new Firefox Beta becomes the new standard.) It allows for tagged bookmarks through Firefox-though a working Delicious extension is still in progress. It takes several seconds to start up. If the default settings are left on, Internet links that open with Firefox from other apps will be ignored when Firefox is opened and the home page with old tabs will be shown instead. It's a quirk that can probably be changed with some settings.
Funny Jokes- Has different categories for users to submit jokes. They tend to be a bit rowdy, but there are some clean ones mixed in.
GoLyrics-Shows lyrics for whatever songs on in your music player playlist. It was able to find about 50% of the lyrics in my library. It also has forward and backward buttons. The search function hasn't been too good. But it's decently integrated to the music player.
Google Sky Map- It's a battery hog, but it will show you where all the stars and planets are supposed to be. (Apparently it is not out for the iPhone.)
GVoice callback-If you want to save minutes, and you have a plan with certain numbers in a calling circle, add your google voice account as one of the numbers. You can get an $8/month add on with Sprint that lets you connect to one land line phone number without eating your minutes. This app will allow you to designate whether calls should always be made though your normal phone number or if you want to use the internet for a second to have your google voice number give you a free incoming call, which you pick up, then Google voice calls your friends or land lines or whatever.
ICE: In Case of Emergency- paid app- Lets you have a widget and an option for a lock screen that has your medical infoand who to contact if found info. The lock is a bit finicky with HTC and Froyo. The widget is fine though.
JuicePlotter-Without consuming battery (like most battery tracking apps), this app does a pretty good job of graphing the battery level. I use it to view how long it takes to charge, how quickly activities like WiFI and 4G sap the battery, etc. I was surprised to see that my phone only lost 2% battery at night over a span on 8 hours. It demistifies where your battery life goes.
Laputa- This is one of several e-readers. It has some good titles like "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and "The Art of War." It has bookmark tabs and opens the book where you last left off.
MusicBox-Lets you view several top music charts. It also lets you stream and outright download songs to your SD card which are picked up by your music player.
Note Everything Google Docs- Combined with the Note Everything app, it provides a slightly more confusing alternative to Docs Pics when it comes to creating new docs. It only syncs with google docs word-type docs-no Excel. It does let you record something. Once the recording finished, It gives you a notepad to type notes as you listen to the recording. That note (without the voice recording) can be sent to google docs. the font is an ugly Courier New, but hey. The voice recording and note can be sent via e-mail. That's cool. There are some quirks, like being able to create an event from a pint note you drew in pretty colors... Not sure what was going on there.
PDANet- Allows you to tether your phone's internet connection via a USB cable or your bluetooth connection (though I have not tried the bluetooth personally) to a single computer that also has PDANet installed. I like an Internet connection on my computer during car rides.
PDF Viewer- Lets you view PDFs if you can't already
Phone Locater- has more settings than Where's my Droid. It is case sensitive. You ise it to ring your phone if you know it is nearby but on silent or vibrate. You can also set up the GPS to give you locations every few minutes incase you want to know where your phone is.
Quick Settings- This is an app, not a widget, that gives you 2 touch access to things like the screen brightness, 4G toggle, volume control, WiFi, GPS, 3G data, and airplane mode. I don't think it eats up as much battery as an actual widget. Open widgets supposedly take up battery life.
GVoice callback-If you want to save minutes, and you have a plan with certain numbers in a calling circle, add your google voice account as one of the numbers. You can get an $8/month add on with Sprint that lets you connect to one land line phone number without eating your minutes. This app will allow you to designate whether calls should always be made though your normal phone number or if you want to use the internet for a second to have your google voice number give you a free incoming call, which you pick up, then Google voice calls your friends or land lines or whatever.
ICE: In Case of Emergency- paid app- Lets you have a widget and an option for a lock screen that has your medical infoand who to contact if found info. The lock is a bit finicky with HTC and Froyo. The widget is fine though.
JuicePlotter-Without consuming battery (like most battery tracking apps), this app does a pretty good job of graphing the battery level. I use it to view how long it takes to charge, how quickly activities like WiFI and 4G sap the battery, etc. I was surprised to see that my phone only lost 2% battery at night over a span on 8 hours. It demistifies where your battery life goes.
Laputa- This is one of several e-readers. It has some good titles like "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and "The Art of War." It has bookmark tabs and opens the book where you last left off.
MusicBox-Lets you view several top music charts. It also lets you stream and outright download songs to your SD card which are picked up by your music player.
Note Everything Google Docs- Combined with the Note Everything app, it provides a slightly more confusing alternative to Docs Pics when it comes to creating new docs. It only syncs with google docs word-type docs-no Excel. It does let you record something. Once the recording finished, It gives you a notepad to type notes as you listen to the recording. That note (without the voice recording) can be sent to google docs. the font is an ugly Courier New, but hey. The voice recording and note can be sent via e-mail. That's cool. There are some quirks, like being able to create an event from a pint note you drew in pretty colors... Not sure what was going on there.
PDANet- Allows you to tether your phone's internet connection via a USB cable or your bluetooth connection (though I have not tried the bluetooth personally) to a single computer that also has PDANet installed. I like an Internet connection on my computer during car rides.
PDF Viewer- Lets you view PDFs if you can't already
Phone Locater- has more settings than Where's my Droid. It is case sensitive. You ise it to ring your phone if you know it is nearby but on silent or vibrate. You can also set up the GPS to give you locations every few minutes incase you want to know where your phone is.
Quick Settings- This is an app, not a widget, that gives you 2 touch access to things like the screen brightness, 4G toggle, volume control, WiFi, GPS, 3G data, and airplane mode. I don't think it eats up as much battery as an actual widget. Open widgets supposedly take up battery life.
Quick Task Killer (installed as Process Killer)- I've found that this works better than most other process and task killers because of the auto kill function. You can leave the auto kill function off and use it as a regular manual task manager as well. If you are in desprate need for more battery life, you can set it up to autokill certain apps whenever you turn your phone off. It also has a manual kill button. I reccommend turning on the Auto Kill, leaving the kill interval "When Screen On/Off" and disabling the notification bar and autostart icon. You will then want to add things to the ignore list so you phone doesn't go crazy. Open the app, then hold down the names of the apps you want to ignore, then select ingore on the pop up. Include things like any GPS programs you don't want killed like SportyPal, SoftRace, Where's My Droid, Phone Locater, Wireless Tether/Sprint Hotspot, HTC DM, Juice Plotter, PDANEt, JuicePlotter, etc.
RemoteDroid-Download remote droid on your computer and your Android phone. Connect to the same (unsecured?) wifi connection from a nearby router (not your own phone's broadcasted wifi connection though-like Sprint Hotspot), and you'll be able to control your mouse, click, drag windows, right click, and type on your computer with the android's keyboard. I've tried others, but this one works the best so far.
RemoteDroid-Download remote droid on your computer and your Android phone. Connect to the same (unsecured?) wifi connection from a nearby router (not your own phone's broadcasted wifi connection though-like Sprint Hotspot), and you'll be able to control your mouse, click, drag windows, right click, and type on your computer with the android's keyboard. I've tried others, but this one works the best so far.
Robo Defense Free- You have to use logic to create a maze of gun towers, rocket towers, slow towers, mines, and teleport towers to prevent enemies from geting from one side of the map to the other. The free version goes to level 10. For anyone that tries this, I have beaten level 10 with 21 out of 22 lives left without building a single rocket tower. Beat that...
RTM-tasks-Can help with task management
Shazam- lets your phone listen to and identify songs you hear so you know what the name of the song it. It lets you listen to only a few songs a month unless you pay for it. Not bad if you don't use it often. It only works when it listens to the actual song, not your friend humming something. Who knows what song they are trying to mumble.
SoftRace-Want to see where you are and where you ran on a google map? SoftRace and SportyPal do just that. Softrace lets you set up course challenges for other people with the same app to also try. It Displays time, top speed, Avg speed, top pace, avg pace and also has graphs for Speed vs distance, pace vs distance, and altitude vs distance. You just have to be a pit careful with the manual start. You have to wait a few seconds. Then press menu-start. Auto start is ok for distance runs. Can export files to SD card and facebook and twitter
RTM-tasks-Can help with task management
Shazam- lets your phone listen to and identify songs you hear so you know what the name of the song it. It lets you listen to only a few songs a month unless you pay for it. Not bad if you don't use it often. It only works when it listens to the actual song, not your friend humming something. Who knows what song they are trying to mumble.
SoftRace-Want to see where you are and where you ran on a google map? SoftRace and SportyPal do just that. Softrace lets you set up course challenges for other people with the same app to also try. It Displays time, top speed, Avg speed, top pace, avg pace and also has graphs for Speed vs distance, pace vs distance, and altitude vs distance. You just have to be a pit careful with the manual start. You have to wait a few seconds. Then press menu-start. Auto start is ok for distance runs. Can export files to SD card and facebook and twitter
SoundHound--This app tries to tell you what song it hears. Unlike Shazam, you can hum and sing. It recognized Bad Romance but didn't recognize my Elvis singing. Either I am tone deaf or not all music libraries are loaded onto this thing... yet.
SportyPal-similar to SoftRace but exports files in a different format, doesn't have the same challenges. SportyPal only shows one graph, but gives the results of MPH vs mi, and the info:Total time, Distance, Avg. Speed, Avg. Pace, and *Calories... Also integrates with facebook and twitter.
SportyPal-similar to SoftRace but exports files in a different format, doesn't have the same challenges. SportyPal only shows one graph, but gives the results of MPH vs mi, and the info:Total time, Distance, Avg. Speed, Avg. Pace, and *Calories... Also integrates with facebook and twitter.
Swype- this keyboard lets you type without picking up your fingers between letters. Just slide your finger from letter to letter. I was able to use it, but spent more time correcting typos than typing. If you don't care about proper punctuation as much, go for it.
Voice- This is Google Voice's app. It's cool feature is a widget that displays your most recent text to your GV account or transcribed voicemail. You'll need to call your carrier and ask them to use your GV number as your voicemail box number. Once that is set up, you'll be ablse to read and listen to voicemails to both your GV number and your regualar cell number. It does not do MMS messages. It is not as good as your default SMS messenger; it breaks up messages from single contacts into multiple conversations, but it does prevent you from needing to save people's GV assigned phone numbers so they send messages to your google voice account instead of your phone. If you loose your phone, you loose your messages-especially if you have Sprint. It is good at searching for contacts, finding old messages, and calling people.
Where- Tells you gas prices, nearby theaters, movies and showtimes, coupons, etc. Not bad. Similar to Around Me
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Interesting mentionable
Applanet-
This is supposed to be a way to download paid apps for free. It mirrors the android market, but lets you download certain paid apps for free. In my experience, it rarely connects to its server. So it does not display any apps for you to download anymore. It occasionally worked in October, but there were not a lot of apps in its library that were worthwhile. It was mentioned in an article that the apps found here were not current versions and that it was possible that malware was found on some of them.
Voice- This is Google Voice's app. It's cool feature is a widget that displays your most recent text to your GV account or transcribed voicemail. You'll need to call your carrier and ask them to use your GV number as your voicemail box number. Once that is set up, you'll be ablse to read and listen to voicemails to both your GV number and your regualar cell number. It does not do MMS messages. It is not as good as your default SMS messenger; it breaks up messages from single contacts into multiple conversations, but it does prevent you from needing to save people's GV assigned phone numbers so they send messages to your google voice account instead of your phone. If you loose your phone, you loose your messages-especially if you have Sprint. It is good at searching for contacts, finding old messages, and calling people.
Where- Tells you gas prices, nearby theaters, movies and showtimes, coupons, etc. Not bad. Similar to Around Me
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Interesting mentionable
Applanet-
This is supposed to be a way to download paid apps for free. It mirrors the android market, but lets you download certain paid apps for free. In my experience, it rarely connects to its server. So it does not display any apps for you to download anymore. It occasionally worked in October, but there were not a lot of apps in its library that were worthwhile. It was mentioned in an article that the apps found here were not current versions and that it was possible that malware was found on some of them.
January update: It worked in December for a while. It seems down again in January. You were able to get free apps like the Shazam Pro (with unlimited searches per month), SwitchPro Widget, and a key for Docs to Go 3.0 (which has already shopped working.) You can download the most recent file on your phone if you create an account at www.applanet.net and register. Or get it here http://hotfile.com/dl/96546330/f51ab35/Applanet_2.6.3.apk.html
Once downloaded, you may need to download it with a ".apk" extension, then use Astro, or some other file manager to find the file in your phone's download or downloads folder, then you can install it. Again, it's not working right now.
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Keeping in mind that several apps will autostart and run in the background unless you go into each one's preferences and tell them not to, perhaps followed up with a task killer, a general rule is that the more apps a newbie has installed, the worse their battery life is going to get. My general advice, uninstall apps you won't use. If you see an app in your notification bar, it is running. If you don't want it to run and drain your battery, go into its preferences and turn off notifications.
Also, for better battery life, get a 3500 mAh battery (vs the 1700 mAh standard battery in the HTC phones) and fat back case for your phone on eBay. They are about $15. If you don't have a slide out keyboard, you can choose to follow up with a $3 silicone phone cover.
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Monday, November 15, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
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