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All posts tagged "on jon's phone"


Wednesday, October 6, 2010

On Jon's Phone: ConnectBot

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android Software" @ 06:00 AM

http://code.google.com/p/connectbot/

"On Jon's Phone" is an ongoing series of short posts about software that I personally use. The goal is to provide a Android fans a quick spotlight on an app they might have not seen yet, and get those who do use these apps talking. Thanks to AppBrain, you can now view all the apps on my phone, and even subscribe to me within the app (username: jonwestfall)!

Anyone who has a Unix server they are responsible for has had that moment of panic. Something is broken, and one simple command will fix it. But the computer is far away or unavailable, and the smartphone is only good for the emergency call from the boss, not for actually getting work done. But ConnectBot changes all of that. With support for SSH (including tunneling and login via private keys) and telnet connections (with multiple open simultaneously), ConnectBot can be a real life saver. Just three weeks ago it saved me - a website was down and all that was needed to fix it was 1 simple command. I used Dropbox to grab my private key, imported it into ConnectBot, unlocked it and logged into the server. In 5 minutes (in a airport shuttle no less) my site was back up, thanks to one great, free, tool!


Monday, October 4, 2010

On Jon's Phone: ThrottleCopter

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android Software" @ 06:00 AM

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.throttlecopter

"On Jon's Phone" is an ongoing series of short posts about software that I personally use. The goal is to provide a Android fans a quick spotlight on an app they might have not seen yet, and get those who do use these apps talking. Thanks to AppBrain, you can now view all the apps on my phone, and even subscribe to me within the app (username: jonwestfall)!

I confess that this small and addicting game was not discovered by me, but by fellow editor Tony Rylow, who told me about it a few months ago. In that time it's become my go-to-game whenever I have a few minutes to kill. It takes about 30 seconds to get going (to the point that it's a challenge once you've played more than 1-2 times), but inevitably you fail and are motivated by seeing the ridiculously high scores others have gotten. The best part of it is simply the pick-up nature: No complex levels, no need for save points, and no time commitments required. If you have a minute or two, ThrottleCopter can banish boredom!


Friday, October 1, 2010

On Jon's Phone: WiFi File Explorer PRO

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android Software" @ 06:00 AM

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.doo...FileExplorerPRO

"On Jon's Phone" is an ongoing series of short posts about software that I personally use. The goal is to provide a Android fans a quick spotlight on an app they might have not seen yet, and get those who do use these apps talking. Thanks to AppBrain, you can now view all the apps on my phone, and even subscribe to me within the app (username: jonwestfall)!

Smartphones like our Android devices are great at sucking data down from the cloud, however getting content off from the cloud isn't always easy. WiFi File Explorer PRO is worth it's £0.69 pricetag in that it makes grabbing files off of your SD card a breeze, with no cable required of course. I'll often use it when preparing articles for this site - create a series of screenshots and then have WiFi File Explorer zip them up and download them to my machine. But one can see other uses for it as well. Got some new music you want on your device? Upload it directly. Download something while browsing the web on your device, get it on your local computer with ease. The software runs in the background, so you can leave it connected as long as you wish. Lots of power for a very reasonable price!


Monday, September 27, 2010

On Jon's Phone: Zillow Real Estate

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android Software" @ 06:00 AM

http://www.zillow.com/android/

"On Jon's Phone" is an ongoing series of short posts about software that I personally use. The goal is to provide a Android fans a quick spotlight on an app they might have not seen yet, and get those who do use these apps talking. Thanks to AppBrain, you can now view all the apps on my phone, and even subscribe to me within the app (username: jonwestfall)!

Zillow is an app that I have no worldly use for on this planet - I don't own a home, I'm not in the market to own a home, and I don't really care about real estate prices. But yet I have this on my phone. Why? Because it's interesting to peak around your neighborhood and see what prices are around you. The estimates are interesting in that you get both an estimate price and monthly mortgage payment. So while I'm not in the market for a home, I am now aware I pay more in rent than I might pay on a mortgage for some homes in my area. For the price (Free), it's a fun app to play with.


Friday, September 24, 2010

On Jon's Phone: Titanium Backup

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android Software" @ 06:00 AM

http://www.matrixrewriter.com/android/

"On Jon's Phone" is an ongoing series of short posts about software that I personally use. The goal is to provide a Android fans a quick spotlight on an app they might have not seen yet, and get those who do use these apps talking. Thanks to AppBrain, you can now view all the apps on my phone, and even subscribe to me within the app (username: jonwestfall)!

There are quite a few ways to backup and restore apps in Android (such as my first method, good old ADB) but Titanium Backup is a must have solution for anyone looking to really keep a handle on their apps. First of all, it lets you schedule backups regularly. By donating a small sum, you can also keep older versions of apps on hand just in case a new update mucks up your existing setup. You can backup programs as well as data, and the program is pretty peppy. I regularly like to clean my phone of apps I'm not using, and this lets me do that without worrying that I'll be somewhere soon and need that app again - I can always restore it! The only downside is that you must have root access to your phone, and for some of the advanced features, a $3.99 license is required (you're encouraged to donate more if you can). A great app to check out - so great it's built into some custom ROMs!


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

On Jon's Phone: CallTrack

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android Talk" @ 06:00 AM

http://asterdroidmobile.com/

"On Jon's Phone" is an ongoing series of short posts about software that I personally use. The goal is to provide a Android fans a quick spotlight on an app they might have not seen yet, and get those who do use these apps talking. Thanks to AppBrain, you can now view all the apps on my phone, and even subscribe to me within the app (username: jonwestfall)!

Sometimes you just don't remember when you last talked to someone on the phone. And sometimes it's really important. Maybe you want to bill them for your time. Maybe you want to prove your love by letting them know just how many times you've called. And maybe you just don't like reviewing your phone bill to find out when you last called someone. Well all of that can be alleviated with CallTrack, a simple little android app that lets you pick a calendar (even your main Google Calendar) and log all incoming, outgoing, or missed calls to it. Now you know for sure that you called that company 8 times in 1 day to resolve an issue. And that your son DID call you while he was supposed to be in class. Peace of mind, at a great price, Free.


Monday, September 20, 2010

On Jon's Phone: ShootMe

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android Talk" @ 06:00 AM

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.bw.picme.local

"On Jon's Phone" is an ongoing series of short posts about software that I personally use. The goal is to provide a Android fans a quick spotlight on an app they might have not seen yet, and get those who do use these apps talking. Thanks to AppBrain, you can now view all the apps on my phone, and even subscribe to me within the app (username: jonwestfall)!

What good is having a rooted phone if you can't show it off. And how do you show it off? Screenshots! But how to get them? With ShootMe, it's a pretty simple process. Just shake your phone 3-4 times back and forth and you'll hear a snap sound - that means the screenshot has been taken and stored in /sdcard/ShootMe (As the graphic above states). Couldn't get more simpler. From there you can do what you'd like - use Gallery to upload to Picasa. Use Evernote to upload to Evernote. Or just attach it to an e-mail. Caveat Emptor: It only works on Rooted Phones. The price is excellent (Free) and the developer also has a sister-program named PicMe that sets up a local webserver on your phone letting you take screenshots by simply navigating to a page with the special URL.


Friday, September 17, 2010

On Jon's Phone: BeyondPod for Android

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android Talk" @ 06:00 AM

http://www.beyondpod.mobi/android/

"On Jon's Phone" is an ongoing series of short posts about software that I personally use. The goal is to provide a Android fans a quick spotlight on an app they might have not seen yet, and get those who do use these apps talking. Thanks to AppBrain, you can now view all the apps on my phone, and even subscribe to me within the app (username: jonwestfall)!

Isn't Podcasting great? So much free content to view and listen to while you're driving or commuting or relaxing or working. But what's that? You say you never can do that because you forget to hook up your Apple (or other) device to the computer to download new podcasts? You say you wonder why you have a device with an always-on data connection that can't just download them itself? Well you're saying you want to check out BeyondPod. It not only lets you listen to podcasts, it'll actually download them on a regular schedule. I set mine to download at night, and wake up each morning with new things to listen to. A free version is available, however to get the most you need to go pro (what else is new), which is reasonably priced at around $7. The interface to add a feed is a little funky, but once feeds are set up it's set-and-forget time. Quite handy when you can't be bothered to plug in your device to a computer regularly!


Wednesday, September 15, 2010

On Jon's Phone: c:geo by carnero

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android Talk" @ 06:00 AM

http://cgeo.carnero.cc/

"On Jon's Phone" is an ongoing series of short posts about software that I personally use. The goal is to provide a Android fans a quick spotlight on an app they might have not seen yet, and get those who do use these apps talking. Thanks to AppBrain, you can now view all the apps on my phone, and even subscribe to me within the app (username: jonwestfall)!

If you've never geocached before, it's a lot like hide-and-seek, only with GPS and an inanimate target object. If you have been geocaching, it's a lot of fun, right? What might not always be fun is downloading the caches you want to a device, or inputting them into a GPS. But what if there were an app that would let you look up caches on the fly, navigate directly to them through the built in GPS, and then let you post online when you'd found them. Well, there is - it's called c:geo and it's a bargain (Free!). In the time it's been available, the developer has also been working overdrive - it's pretty feature complete now and is adding features fairly regularly. The big clincher was Offline mode, which allows you to download caches in advance if you're going into areas with spotty service. Check this out even if you're not into geocaching, and perhaps you'll start when you find you're near a cache by chance!


Monday, September 13, 2010

Introducing On Jon's Phone; Follow Me On AppBrain

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android Talk" @ 11:02 AM

http://www.appbrain.com/user/jonwes...n-the-nexus-one

"AppBrain is a website for discovering Android apps. In addition to providing search and browse functionality, users of Android phones can download the apps they chose by simply clicking an install button on the site. Appbrain then stores the application in an application wishlist. A companion native android app then lets the user efficiently make all the desired changes on the phone."

Ever wonder what's on someone else's phone? Sure, you can grab it and look at the app drawer, but you never quite know what each icon does if you're unfamiliar with it. Thankfully, as AppBrain users know, a recent update now lets you follow users and keep track of what they use - a great way to find out about new apps and finding out what they do. In that spirit, I'm happy to announce a new recurring feature here at Android Thoughts: On Jon's Phone. I'll be taking apps off my list and talking a bit about them - nothing long or complicated, just highlighting apps that users may be interested in. And, if you're on AppBrain already, you can head over to my 88 App strong list and subscribe to follow the list as it changes.


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