Smarterware

Android Gmail App Gets Priority Inbox, Better Reply Features
December 9th, 2010

My favorite app on Android, Gmail, got a significant update today, with full Priority Inbox support, the ability to send from a different address than your native account, and my favorite, the ability to reply to specific bits of text inline. The update is Android 2.2 and up only. To get it, click here from your phone or scan this QR code.

Google’s Gaggle of Announcements
December 7th, 2010, 4 comments

This week is the last chance for big companies to make 2010 product announcements before things slow down for the holidays, and Google's not letting the opportunity pass them by. Yesterday they announced the Google eBookstore (here's the Android app) and Gingerbread's flagship handset, the Nexus S, which will be on sale on December 16th. (Nexus One users, the over-the-air Gingerbread update will hit your handset in "the next few weeks.") Today, Google announced the Chrome Web Store and their ChromeOS prototype netbook, the Cr-48. Being a laptop girl who loves her keyboard and hasn't personally fallen for the touchscreen tablet craze (no iPad or Galaxy Tab here yet), the Cr-48 is exciting: full-size keyboard, built-in 3G that's free-to-cheap with reasonable pay-for-what-you-use plans from Verizon so you're always online, pure webapps (no native apps) and no spinning hard drive. Needless to say, I applied to be a tester in the pilot program. The boldest thing Google asserted at today's Chrome event: That you can do ANYTHING in a webapp that you can do in a native app. Truthfully I'm dubious--how do you compile code on the web? Is there a web-based Eclipse?--but I'm willing to give it a try. What did you think of the last bits of 2010 Google goodness? There will be much to discuss on tomorrow's episode of TWiG.

Google Hotpot
November 16th, 2010, 1 comment

I Google places I want to go or need directions to or want to research on my phone constantly, so I'm really digging the newly-launched Google Hotpot, a ratings and recommendations engine for Google Places. Most iPhone-toting tech writers will miss the killer app in this whole product: the Android homescreen widget, which lets you rate the place you are currently in with one tap, no application launch required. The downside to Hotpot's social component is that you have to build a whole new friends list of people whose recommendations you want to see. Gawd, I'm tired of making friends lists. Here's my entire writeup at FastCompany.com: Google Hotpot Powers Local Recommendations (Watch Out, Yelp).

The Perfect Touch Keyboard
November 8th, 2010, 6 comments

Spurred on by the launch of 8pen and informed by over 60 suggestions on Twitter and Facebook, I rounded up my five favorite alternate Android touch keyboards with demo videos and pros and cons of each on FastCompany.com. Right now I'm using SlideIT, but any day now, I might switch over to SwiftKey. Which is your favorite?

Google Voice Open in the U.S.
June 22nd, 2010, 8 comments

Previously invitation-only Google Voice just opened to everyone in the U.S., offering free text messaging, multi-phone management, and voicemail features which, after more than a year of exclusive use, I couldn't live without. The three things I do on my mobile phone most--text, call, and check email--are powered entirely by Google at this point with Voice, Gmail, and Android. The Gmail/GVoice experience on Android is the main thing that leaves me cold when I look at an iPhone. It's just not as good. Here's more on how Google Voice makes the phone less loathsome (similar to how Gmail made email workable).

This Week in Google, Episode 47 · Great conversation today on TWiG with our guest Chris Messina, who dropped knowledge on the history and differences between OAuth and OpenID--which in an age of "Facebook wants to own all your sign-ons," is an important discussion. My tip this week: to grab the Android Swype beta within the next couple of days while it's still available, as previously-recommended ShapeWriter is no longer in the Market. ∞ June 16th, 2010, 35 comments

This Week in Google Episode 45 · In this week's episode of TWiG, Leo, Jeff, and I talked about Google's "ban" of Windows PCs for employees, Android tablets, the Sprint EVO (which I love), blogger journalism, and some of Steve Jobs' remarks at D8. My tip of the week was the new "Save to Google Docs" link in Google's PDF viewer. ∞ June 4th, 2010, 4 comments

TWiG: The Un-iPad Episode · Hopefully better late than never: in this week's episode of TWiG, Jeff reboxes his iPad to return to the store, we talk Twitter developer relations, and my tip of the week was a web front end to the Android Market, at thanks to doubleTwist. ∞ April 16th, 2010, 1 comment

Android and Me Interview
January 27th, 2010

Thanks a million to Eric Weiss at Android and Me--one of my favorite blogs for keeping up on Android news and tips--for interviewing me about my own Android habit, space travel, cloud comforters, third-party ROMs, and my favorite gadgets.

Gizmodo’s Essential Android Apps
December 11th, 2009, 1 comment

A solid list of 30 good Android apps. While I don't have all of these installed, there are a ton of my personal picks here. (Downloading the Evernote Android beta now, which is not yet in the Market.)