Like many other folks, I do a lot of driving to get to science fiction conventions. While I don't mind driving, I do mind running into traffic jams and other complications that make the trip more wearisome than it should be. When I was in San Jose to visit with the Other Daughter for her surgery, she had me use an app called Waze to navigate around the city instead of using a GPS. I didn't download it then since I don't drive much at home, but when we started planning our Florida trip, I thought it would be a good time to check it out. It turned out to be a real timesaver.
Since we ran both our GPS and Waze at the same time, I could directly compare the two. As far as map accuracy, Waze was more accurate -- my GPS was two years old and the maps weren't current. Both showed the same position for our car, so the tracking was good.
At first it was just amusing -- watching out for stopped vehicles and confirming them or reporting them "not there." But Waze showed its real worth when I spotted a notice of a big wreck on the interstate ahead and figured out from the messages and reports that the mess stretched for about six miles and average speed on that part of the road was around 4 miles/hour. A quick view of the maps showed that we could avoid it all with a pretty simple detour.
The interface is pretty simple -- just a map and two buttons. The one on the left allows you to customize your account; the one on the right allows you to report on-road issues to other drivers. The app alerts you (if you wish) when you're within a half mile of cops, stalled cars, and various road conditions including roadkill and weather.
The maps are all real-time maps and are generally more current than your GPS, since Waze gives you points for making edits to correct road conditions -- places where other maps might not be updated (recent construction that's closing the roads, for instance.) It was better at identifying accidents than my GPS (which only reports based on the state's Department of Transportation status reports), and some of the features (tires in road, bad weather conditions) were alerts that turned out to be very useful. Also included is a "gas prices" feature -- Waze gives you points for reporting updated gas prices, but because it can only be done when you're actually stopped at the gas station (the software has a method of checking), it isn't quite as useful as GasBuddy.
Waze shows your position on the map with a custom icon that also indicates your activity if you're in the top 10% of active users for your state. While this is fun, it also leads to some false reporting, which is a problem in some cities.
If you're the only person in the car, it can be a very distracting app, since you will be tempted to respond to alerts. This is especially true if you're driving in a city, since the number of alert messages can be pretty high. But it's THE perfect app to hand to your passengers, and it's a real timesaver (and sanity saver) for long trips.
Waze is available as an Iphone app and an Android app.
Showing posts with label android application. Show all posts
Showing posts with label android application. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
HabitRPG -- a good habit to get into!
My least favorite part of the day is doing ordinary tasks. I like novelty, I like excitement, and I've been a gamer girl for decades, so when I saw that there was an app to "RPG your habits" I went over to check it out -- with just a tiny bit of skepticism. How could you possibly have a web and smartphone app for tracking your habits that's been turned into a game?
After two months of trying it, I'm wondering why nobody ever thought of this before!
The application is lean (no memory hogging here!) and its simple interface and will remind you of your favorite 8-bit game graphics. You are given a character and you set your own tasks and decide whether you want them done daily, weekly, or on whatever schedule you like. If you're a habitual procrastinator (that would be me, folks) then there's also a column for the "get this done or else" list. Delay your tasks too long and your health bar goes down. Quit doing them for a day or two, and you're dead.
Or at least your character is. There's scary stuff out there!
Luckily there's a "vacation mode" (if only we could get life itself to install a "vacation mode.")
After two weeks, I don't know that I've developed any habits, but it IS an excellent reminder system for me to keep up with certain tasks... like writing new posts for The Silver Geek.
https://habitrpg.com
After two months of trying it, I'm wondering why nobody ever thought of this before!
The application is lean (no memory hogging here!) and its simple interface and will remind you of your favorite 8-bit game graphics. You are given a character and you set your own tasks and decide whether you want them done daily, weekly, or on whatever schedule you like. If you're a habitual procrastinator (that would be me, folks) then there's also a column for the "get this done or else" list. Delay your tasks too long and your health bar goes down. Quit doing them for a day or two, and you're dead.
Or at least your character is. There's scary stuff out there!
Luckily there's a "vacation mode" (if only we could get life itself to install a "vacation mode.")
After two weeks, I don't know that I've developed any habits, but it IS an excellent reminder system for me to keep up with certain tasks... like writing new posts for The Silver Geek.
https://habitrpg.com
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Sports Tracker: A Private Little Exercise App
Monetization is taking its toll on Android applications. Now, it's understandable that the developers want to see a return on their investment in time and resources -- and it's understandable that the users aren't keen to throw down a lot of money. We'll try free stuff before we try paid stuff -- unless that "stuff" (a book, music, film, etc) is from someone whose work we really enjoy. Android developers are using the tactic of "free to play but if you want the good stuff, you have to pay a few pennies for it." At the same time they also do a social media push to get your friends to join you as a small community that uses this app.
"Sign up with Facebook and (by the way) let us have access to your friends list and your personal information" is the new Terms of Service of many apps.
The trouble is, not all of us want to bother our friends with our games or our diet progress or many other things. And many of us don't want to compete or interact with strangers. Enter "Sports Tracker", a free app from a Finnish company that has some interesting goodies and gadgets to support the software. It doesn't ask you to join anything, doesn't ask your email. Open it up, hit the "explore" button and you can start tracking your own walking or running activities. It saves the log for you, if you like.
You will have to go into setup and change the settings from Metric to Imperial (the foot/pound/miles standard), but this is trivial. After you enter your weight, gender, and age, the system will tell you how many calories you burned. If you're stuck for ideas on where to go for a nice hike or run, the "Explore" button shows you other places nearby that people using this app have walked, jogged, or cycled using this app. This is a nice feature if you're away from home and would like to find a good place to do a little exercise.
They do have options if you want to share your data on Facebook or with a partner or with a team -- but that's something you set up for yourself. You aren't forced into doing this to use their service.
So why am I so twitchy about the "new paradigm?" Well, I got a new Android phone three weeks ago, and was trying to restore all my favorite apps. I lost the password and couldn't remember which email I used for MapMyRun, so I downloaded it and tried to sign up as a new user. But MapMyRun had fallen into the Facebook Sharing crowd and wanted access -- to figure out what language I spoke (is anyone having a "DUH" moment right about now?) and who my friends are.
I refused it access and it wouldn't let me sign in another way. So I trotted back to the app store and tried to find something that didn't need to have access to my Facebook information.
So why am I so adamant about this? Well, one of my college classmates competed several times in the Olympics and won a Bronze and still teaches athletics. I do NOT want to have my scores hanging out there (where she might see them and chuckle to herself at how slow I am.) Another's had surgery and recent health problems and I don't think it would do her morale much good to see that I'd finished a 2 mile walk, no matter how slow it was. I'm not on any teams nor am I likely to be and I sure don't want to "compete for the leaderboards."
Several other apps that I poked at requested the same amount of information.
So here's to the Sports Tracker App -- a nice little app that does what I need it to and doesn't want to blab all over the internet. It's exactly what I wanted.
Oh... they sell bike mounts, arm straps, and heart rate monitors that synch with the app.
Company site: http://www.sports-tracker.com/blog/
If you'd like to click and try it, here it is for Apple Itunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sports-tracker/id426684873?mt=8
And here it is on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stt.android
"Sign up with Facebook and (by the way) let us have access to your friends list and your personal information" is the new Terms of Service of many apps.
The trouble is, not all of us want to bother our friends with our games or our diet progress or many other things. And many of us don't want to compete or interact with strangers. Enter "Sports Tracker", a free app from a Finnish company that has some interesting goodies and gadgets to support the software. It doesn't ask you to join anything, doesn't ask your email. Open it up, hit the "explore" button and you can start tracking your own walking or running activities. It saves the log for you, if you like.
You will have to go into setup and change the settings from Metric to Imperial (the foot/pound/miles standard), but this is trivial. After you enter your weight, gender, and age, the system will tell you how many calories you burned. If you're stuck for ideas on where to go for a nice hike or run, the "Explore" button shows you other places nearby that people using this app have walked, jogged, or cycled using this app. This is a nice feature if you're away from home and would like to find a good place to do a little exercise.
They do have options if you want to share your data on Facebook or with a partner or with a team -- but that's something you set up for yourself. You aren't forced into doing this to use their service.
So why am I so twitchy about the "new paradigm?" Well, I got a new Android phone three weeks ago, and was trying to restore all my favorite apps. I lost the password and couldn't remember which email I used for MapMyRun, so I downloaded it and tried to sign up as a new user. But MapMyRun had fallen into the Facebook Sharing crowd and wanted access -- to figure out what language I spoke (is anyone having a "DUH" moment right about now?) and who my friends are.
I refused it access and it wouldn't let me sign in another way. So I trotted back to the app store and tried to find something that didn't need to have access to my Facebook information.
So why am I so adamant about this? Well, one of my college classmates competed several times in the Olympics and won a Bronze and still teaches athletics. I do NOT want to have my scores hanging out there (where she might see them and chuckle to herself at how slow I am.) Another's had surgery and recent health problems and I don't think it would do her morale much good to see that I'd finished a 2 mile walk, no matter how slow it was. I'm not on any teams nor am I likely to be and I sure don't want to "compete for the leaderboards."
Several other apps that I poked at requested the same amount of information.
So here's to the Sports Tracker App -- a nice little app that does what I need it to and doesn't want to blab all over the internet. It's exactly what I wanted.
Oh... they sell bike mounts, arm straps, and heart rate monitors that synch with the app.
Company site: http://www.sports-tracker.com/blog/
If you'd like to click and try it, here it is for Apple Itunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sports-tracker/id426684873?mt=8
And here it is on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stt.android
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Glorious time wasters: Fruit Roll
If you're into old video games, you'll find yourself right at home in this side scrolling platform game for Android devices. This free game offers a very simple scenario -- you start out the game as a yellow fruit (which changes as you encounter other things) and the goal is to bounce and squish and roll as you grab stars (points) and weapons (fruit) through different levels. The weapons (fruit choices) appear on the left hand side of the screen as you collect them; tapping on them allows you to change your character to get that fruit's powers. But choose your fruit weapons wisely, because if you hit the enemy with the wrong fruit, you're going to lose the encounter. Tapping (single, double, triple) give you different jump heights. Time them carefully, because like any physics based game it's easy to misjudge distance. I prefer the "feel" of this on my 7 inch Android tablet, though it's quite playable on my Android phone as well.
Certain fruits change the size of your character or the game speed and affects the gameplay in a drastic fashion as you hit the higher levels.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Glorious Time Wasters: Godville
Who it's for: Anyone
Rating: Five REEEEALY weird stars
GODVILLE
I'm.. not sure whose time this android game is actually wasting, because technically it's not wasting your time. This is an RPG game for android devices that you DON'T play. It's sort of a social media thing with sort of guilds as well. And actually, it's a little stranger than that, even. It's a parody life, the universe, and MMO games -- and best of all, you don't play it.
That's right. You DON'T play this one. It plays itself.
This is a text ...err... game -- or, rather, the diary of a luckless wannabe that YOU are godling over. You create yourself a deity and a hero suddenly decides to find you. Your godlike powers aren't terribly awesome -- but that's okay, because your hero isn't that awesome. You can send your hero messages and encourage them (sometimes this means raining flower petals on them.) You can also punish them and attempt to turn them to the Dark Side or become an outstanding do-gooder.
Your hero does all sorts of things while you're not watching (which gives you a new perspective on how deities might see YOU.) For instance, they will join a guild without your intervention. This is a nice thing for those of you who deal with guilds on MMOs. Less guild drama, more fun.
"Thought about writing in my diary, but then I changed my mind."
"Upon close inspection, this road seems to be paved with good intentions. Huh. I wonder where it leads.
"You know, Exalted One, I would have won that fight with the Wounder Man if that tree hadn't jumped out in front of me."
"Bunnies in burrows suddenly got suspiciously fussy." (Yes you read that right.)
"Avoiding mudholes, monsters, and mimes"
If you get the game, DO make an account on the GodVille site.
http://godvillegame.com/
It's free. Check it out at the link below:
Rating: Five REEEEALY weird stars
GODVILLE
I'm.. not sure whose time this android game is actually wasting, because technically it's not wasting your time. This is an RPG game for android devices that you DON'T play. It's sort of a social media thing with sort of guilds as well. And actually, it's a little stranger than that, even. It's a parody life, the universe, and MMO games -- and best of all, you don't play it.
That's right. You DON'T play this one. It plays itself.
This is a text ...err... game -- or, rather, the diary of a luckless wannabe that YOU are godling over. You create yourself a deity and a hero suddenly decides to find you. Your godlike powers aren't terribly awesome -- but that's okay, because your hero isn't that awesome. You can send your hero messages and encourage them (sometimes this means raining flower petals on them.) You can also punish them and attempt to turn them to the Dark Side or become an outstanding do-gooder.
Your hero does all sorts of things while you're not watching (which gives you a new perspective on how deities might see YOU.) For instance, they will join a guild without your intervention. This is a nice thing for those of you who deal with guilds on MMOs. Less guild drama, more fun.
"Thought about writing in my diary, but then I changed my mind."
"Upon close inspection, this road seems to be paved with good intentions. Huh. I wonder where it leads.
"You know, Exalted One, I would have won that fight with the Wounder Man if that tree hadn't jumped out in front of me."
"Bunnies in burrows suddenly got suspiciously fussy." (Yes you read that right.)
"Avoiding mudholes, monsters, and mimes"
If you get the game, DO make an account on the GodVille site.
http://godvillegame.com/
It's free. Check it out at the link below:
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Glorious Little Apps: Relax And Sleep
There's an app for just about anything these days -- but this "Relax and Sleep" (a favorite free Android app of mine) is one I've recommended to friends who travel and find it hard to get to sleep when they're away from home. Think of it as your own personal, free, environmental ambiance generator -- and so much more.
Need a free white noise generator to help you doze off? Yes, "Relax and Sleep" has an assortment of white noise type generators, inclluding "fan" and "washing machine." I prefer to combine several sounds together (my favorite is rain and a cat purring, along with cricket frogs) to create a lovely soundscape as I drift off to sleep. However, you can also use it to create a work-friendly soundscape to help you focus your attention and minimize distractions from the rest of your workspace.
Here's the link to the free version for the Android operating system -- BUT -- it's such a lovely little app that
I recommend paying the $3.00 and getting the paid version.
And happy napping!
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mizusoft.relaxandsleep&hl=en
Need a free white noise generator to help you doze off? Yes, "Relax and Sleep" has an assortment of white noise type generators, inclluding "fan" and "washing machine." I prefer to combine several sounds together (my favorite is rain and a cat purring, along with cricket frogs) to create a lovely soundscape as I drift off to sleep. However, you can also use it to create a work-friendly soundscape to help you focus your attention and minimize distractions from the rest of your workspace.
Here's the link to the free version for the Android operating system -- BUT -- it's such a lovely little app that
I recommend paying the $3.00 and getting the paid version.
And happy napping!
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mizusoft.relaxandsleep&hl=en
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Four Fabulous Apps For a New Android
This time on "Glorious Time Wasters" -- 4 Incredibly Useful Apps for a new Christmas Android device!
Tis the season to be giving -- and getting -- and the best thing to get right now is a new Android device. They come pretty fully featured, and a lot of them come with pre-loaded software (some of which I'd actually recommend). But whether yours is a humble device that only connects via a nearby wireless hotspot or whether you've got the latest high-end Android with lots of bandwidth and cellular transmission, there's ten types of applications that EVERYONE really should have. I'm staying out of some of the more interesting ones (like rootkits and so forth.) This list is a "really should have this" list for anyone getting (or giving) a new Android device.
...and you KNOW how much fun it is to hop off to Marketplace and show someone how to get goodies, right? So get them started right with these apps!
#1 -- Google Maps. Why do I have THAT on the list? One word -- traffic reports. In the case of Dallas, it gets its info from TXDOT, so it's not "up to the second" reliable, but it's free. And it gives you "good enough" warning about problems.
#2 -- Dropbox, the file mover of choice. Some of us can do it via Bluetooth, but for a lot of people, "Bluetooth" indicates someone with really bad dental hygene (come to think of it, there's times when I'm trying to get Bluetooth devices to talk to each other when I think it would be easier to go in for major dental surgery.) If you love Bluetooth and it works for you, stay with it. For the rest of us, there's "Dropbox." Dropbox is basically free web storage for your files. You take whatever it is you want, upload it to your Dropbox, and it's now available for every Android device that you've got. It will automatically load anything you put up there to your regular computer. It's great for backups and less of a hassle than Google can be.
In this day of "you can totally lose track of your life if you lose your phone, computer, blackberry, etc, backups are a gooooood idea! Listen to the geek, folks.
#3 -- Astro File Manager -- a better file handler than the one that comes on most devices. There's no real consistent scheme out there -- and some of the ones that come with the Androids are full of Mystery Meat Navigation (do I double tap to move? Where's that file located? Why does it pretend I've got 2 SD cards?) Astro File manager's interface makes sense, and it's fairly intuitive to move files between directories. It also accesses the top level directories, something that some apps don't let you do.
#4 -- Flashlight and Candle. Okay, that's two apps rather than one. But our phones and Androids are becoming extremely versatile devices and there's lots of times when having a small amount of light really helps. I like Candle Free if I'm just wanting to find my way through the dark house to the bedroom without tripping over the cat. Flashlight Free is for when... well... ya need that extra light. We also use Candle Free for birthday parties (yes, you can blow out the candles), and yes my family is in the Entirely Too Geeky To Live In The Real World category.
If you don't have these apps on your devices, you might like them. If you do, don't forget to suggest them to everyone around you. You'll look awesomely uber-geeky when you show them how to avoid the shopping traffic when they head out to buy your gift for Christmas.
Tis the season to be giving -- and getting -- and the best thing to get right now is a new Android device. They come pretty fully featured, and a lot of them come with pre-loaded software (some of which I'd actually recommend). But whether yours is a humble device that only connects via a nearby wireless hotspot or whether you've got the latest high-end Android with lots of bandwidth and cellular transmission, there's ten types of applications that EVERYONE really should have. I'm staying out of some of the more interesting ones (like rootkits and so forth.) This list is a "really should have this" list for anyone getting (or giving) a new Android device.
...and you KNOW how much fun it is to hop off to Marketplace and show someone how to get goodies, right? So get them started right with these apps!
#1 -- Google Maps. Why do I have THAT on the list? One word -- traffic reports. In the case of Dallas, it gets its info from TXDOT, so it's not "up to the second" reliable, but it's free. And it gives you "good enough" warning about problems.
#2 -- Dropbox, the file mover of choice. Some of us can do it via Bluetooth, but for a lot of people, "Bluetooth" indicates someone with really bad dental hygene (come to think of it, there's times when I'm trying to get Bluetooth devices to talk to each other when I think it would be easier to go in for major dental surgery.) If you love Bluetooth and it works for you, stay with it. For the rest of us, there's "Dropbox." Dropbox is basically free web storage for your files. You take whatever it is you want, upload it to your Dropbox, and it's now available for every Android device that you've got. It will automatically load anything you put up there to your regular computer. It's great for backups and less of a hassle than Google can be.
In this day of "you can totally lose track of your life if you lose your phone, computer, blackberry, etc, backups are a gooooood idea! Listen to the geek, folks.
#3 -- Astro File Manager -- a better file handler than the one that comes on most devices. There's no real consistent scheme out there -- and some of the ones that come with the Androids are full of Mystery Meat Navigation (do I double tap to move? Where's that file located? Why does it pretend I've got 2 SD cards?) Astro File manager's interface makes sense, and it's fairly intuitive to move files between directories. It also accesses the top level directories, something that some apps don't let you do.
#4 -- Flashlight and Candle. Okay, that's two apps rather than one. But our phones and Androids are becoming extremely versatile devices and there's lots of times when having a small amount of light really helps. I like Candle Free if I'm just wanting to find my way through the dark house to the bedroom without tripping over the cat. Flashlight Free is for when... well... ya need that extra light. We also use Candle Free for birthday parties (yes, you can blow out the candles), and yes my family is in the Entirely Too Geeky To Live In The Real World category.
If you don't have these apps on your devices, you might like them. If you do, don't forget to suggest them to everyone around you. You'll look awesomely uber-geeky when you show them how to avoid the shopping traffic when they head out to buy your gift for Christmas.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Glorious time wasters -- "Clouds & Sheep" for Android
Android Game Review: "Clouds and Sheep" -- another glorious waste of time!
Initial review: Four stars -- amusing but slightly sadistic
Game category: Vikings type game
Game type: Arcade
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? Anyone not troubled by some mildly sadistic acts like sheep tossing.
This is another game from Handy Games and as usual features rather charming graphics and an easy to use interface. The object is to keep your sheep happy and finish a series of very amusing quests -- like do the sheep toss. PETA would not approve of the sheep treatment, but they seem to like it.
The designers also allow you to save games so that you could either start at the level you left, restart an earlier version, or begin a new game and take the "best" scores. One of the biggest tips for this would be "don't have too many sheep." They breed like... well... sheep, I guess. It's hard to keep them all occupied.
So there you are, planting flowers to make sheep amorous and planting grass to feed them and handing them refreshing cool drinks or coffee -- and you also get to control the weather. Piled up clouds make a nice rainstorm -- and combined rainstorms make a nice thundercloud. "Sheep coffee" costs stars, but a lovely thunderbolt is free and wakes the sheep up just as effectively (so does bouncing them, but the thunderbolt's a lot of fun, frankly.)
A good time-waster, quick to learn, quick to play, easy to set down and pick back up again.
Initial review: Four stars -- amusing but slightly sadistic
Game category: Vikings type game
Game type: Arcade
Recommended device size: any device
Who'd enjoy it? Anyone not troubled by some mildly sadistic acts like sheep tossing.
This is another game from Handy Games and as usual features rather charming graphics and an easy to use interface. The object is to keep your sheep happy and finish a series of very amusing quests -- like do the sheep toss. PETA would not approve of the sheep treatment, but they seem to like it.
The designers also allow you to save games so that you could either start at the level you left, restart an earlier version, or begin a new game and take the "best" scores. One of the biggest tips for this would be "don't have too many sheep." They breed like... well... sheep, I guess. It's hard to keep them all occupied.
So there you are, planting flowers to make sheep amorous and planting grass to feed them and handing them refreshing cool drinks or coffee -- and you also get to control the weather. Piled up clouds make a nice rainstorm -- and combined rainstorms make a nice thundercloud. "Sheep coffee" costs stars, but a lovely thunderbolt is free and wakes the sheep up just as effectively (so does bouncing them, but the thunderbolt's a lot of fun, frankly.)
A good time-waster, quick to learn, quick to play, easy to set down and pick back up again.
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