Smarterware » TWiG Tip

This Week in Google, Episode 71

Gina Trapani — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:07:07 +0000

Really fun episode yesterday with Matt Cutts, one of Google's most friendly and well-known engineers. We talked about the power of links (even negative ones), net neutrality, Google possibly buying Groupon, and Google TV. My tip of the week was doubleTwist's new wireless media syncing feature, AirSync.

This Week in Google, Episode 51

Gina Trapani — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:10:55 +0000

Leo, Jeff and I jawed about the new Android App Inventor, Picnik in Picasa, mobile local search, my 23andme results, and iPhone 4 in this week's episode. My tip of the week: setting up a rich text signature in Gmail.

This Week in Google, Episode 50

Gina Trapani — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:24:09 +0000

Jeff and Leo and I chatted about Droid X, Prince, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and the iPhone 4 in our latest episode of TWiG. Also, listeners are helping send an Android phone into space! My tip this week: Chrome to Phone, which pushes your open Chrome tabs to your phone with the click of a button, for browsing on the go.

This Week in Google, Episode 47

Gina Trapani — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:50:20 +0000

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.

This Week in Google, Episode 46

Gina Trapani — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:30:09 +0000

This week's episode of TWiG featured Jeff Jarvis Skyping over 3G from a moving car on a NJ highway, Brad Stone from the NY Times who was a total trooper during our criticism of the Times' takedown of the Pulse iPhone RSS reader, and Om Malik of Gigaom, a very smart teddy bear who I'd like to hug. My tip this week: the new Gmail Labs' Maps Preview, which embeds a Google Map into any email that has a U.S. address in it.

Organize Android’s Home Screen Icons in Folders

Gina Trapani — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:40:01 +0000

Android users have a limited number of home screens on their phone (3 to 5, depending on what version you use), but folders group your home screen shortcuts into quick pop-up menus.

For example, I've got a few specific things I use on my phone when I go to the gym: a workout music playlist, a stopwatch app, my gym locker combination, a bookmark to an exercise program I'm following, and an app that tracks how far I've run. I only use these shortcuts when I'm at the gym, so I've put them all in a folder called "Gym," as shown here. When I get to the gym, I plug in my headphones, tap that folder, and everything I need to work out is there.

Here's how to create folders on your home screen to organize your Android icons.

In Android 1.5 through 2.1, tap and hold your home screen. From the "Add to Home screen" pop-up, choose "Folders," then "New Folder."

A folder called "Folder" will appear on the desktop. Tap to open it. Then, tap and hold the folder's header to rename it, as shown. (I called mine "Gym.") Tap Ok.

From there, close the folder and drag and drop any applications, playlists, contacts, or shortcuts to that folder.

Here's what my "Gym" folder looks like when I tap it:

So, while you don't have unlimited home screens in Android, you do have the ability to create home screen folders--which is nice for place/context-specific icon groups, because you can name them. You'll see in the second screenshot that there are lots of other folders you can add to your home screen; I'm a fan and user of the Starred contacts folder as well.

Update Your Google Account Password Recovery Options

Gina Trapani — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:53:29 +0000

Now that you're auditing your online account security, log into your Google account(s) and visit the Account Recovery Options page. Here you can update your secret question and answer, your secondary email address, and even associate your mobile phone number with your account so you can get a password recovery code via text message. (Just a tip: don't set your Google Voice number as the phone number or automatically forward mail from your secondary email accounts to your Gmail account--if you do, in the event that you lose your password, the recovery process won't work.)

Google Year-End Countdown Easter Egg

Gina Trapani — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:48:31 +0000

Just found out about a neat Google Easter Egg for the New Year: on the Google homepage, click on the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button with nothing in the search box, to see a live countdown of seconds left in 2009. They should have linked the seconds number to a "seconds in days" calculator search to let people know what it is. Time marches on. Thanks, Nom de Guerre!

Host Your Domain Email at Gmail (Without Forwarding)

Gina Trapani — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:38:28 +0000

If you already own a domain name like yourname.com, you want to use your personalized email address--but you don't want to advertise to the world you're forwarding to and sending those messages from Gmail. While you can manage multiple email accounts inside Gmail by using forwarding, the POP fetcher, and different reply-to addresses, there's an easier way--especially for groups like your family or small business. Google Apps Standard Edition (formerly known as "Google Apps for Your Domain") can host your personal email at Gmail, but without tying you to a gmail.com address for free. Obviously you'll need a domain to use this service, which will cost something to register. When you sign up for a Google Apps account, you'll have to set your domain name's email MX record to point to Google's servers (you'll get instructions on how to do that when you sign up). Once that's done, you've got Gmail behind your personalized domain name. The Google Apps Standard Edition includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Sites (for simple web pages).

There are two main advantages to using Google Apps (for your domain). 1.) You can easily create other users at your domain. If my email is gina@example.com, and I'm the domain administrator, I can set up addresses for my co-workers or softball team members too and make jack@example.com and jill@example.com accounts. Then everyone at my domain can collaborate on documents and a shared calendar easily. 2.) If you decide you don't like Gmail anymore? Just point your MX record to another host and you're done. Your email address never changes, like it would if you wanted to bail on your you@gmail.com address. Back when it used to be called "Google Apps for Your Domain", I explained more in detail how it works over at Lifehacker with some screenshots, then later at a post at HarvardBusiness.org. Check 'em out:

How to Make Your Small Business Look Big [HarvardBusiness.org]
Ask Lifehacker: What Does Google Apps for Your Domain Actually Do? [Lifehacker]

Why (and How) to Root Your Android Phone

Gina Trapani — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:13:38 +0000

Update, April 2011: Hi, reader! Before you go any further, you should know this article is out of date. To find out the best and most up-to-date way to root your Android phone, check out Lifehacker's Always Up-To-Date Guide to Rooting Any Android Phone.

I'm not dead. I've just moved into a new place where there is no internet connection yet, which is the equivalent of dead when you work and live online. Up until now I've resisted "rooting" my Android phone because I didn't want to go down the iPhone jailbreak road. (A major reason I have Android is so I don't have to jailbreak my device to get it to do something interesting!) But desperate times call for desperate measures. Living somewhere with no computer internet connection is a really good reason to root your Android phone. With a rooted phone, you can tether your Android device to your computer and get some internet love wherever you are. (There are quite a few other good reasons to root Android, too, not the least of which is speed boosts and early Donut access.)

If you're paying attention and reading the instructions, the rooting process isn't that difficult. I made the mistake of trying this out without my phone's USB cable (which was still packed away in some box) and in a loud sports bar during the first Chargers game of the season, with one eye on my screen and the other on my beer. Things didn't go so well. This morning I was able to finish up the process and get tethering working just fine. Here's what (and what NOT) to do when you root your Android phone.

Note: You WILL have to wipe your phone of all your data and apps in order to do this. Yes, that is really annoying.

First things first: fully charge your phone. Connect it to your computer and mount the SD card so you can read and write to it in Windows Explorer. Now, you're going to grab the latest stable version of the custom Android build you'll install on your device (which includes root access). Go to this listing of stable Cyanogen ROMs on your computer and download the latest one, i.e., the file with the most recent date. (Make sure it's the .zip file, not the md5sum). It will be named something like update-cm-4.0.4-signed.zip. Copy that .zip file to the root of your phone's SD card.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can try one of the experimental nightly builds, which might have more Donut in 'em--which might also not work, being experimental and all. There's also this Android ROM Build Database, which offers more options.

Now you're ready to "flash" your phone with a boot image that will let you install that file. Do exactly as this guy in this video tells you to do.

Don't do what I did and download a different version of the Recovery Flasher application. (I tried this one and it works differently than any of the instructions I was referring to, which screwed me up.) Visit http://ryebrye.com/files/flashrec.apk on your phone and download it directly to your phone, then follow the instructions in the video.

Note that this boot recovery image only works once. If you boot into Android proper (i.e., you don't hold down the Home key on startup), Android will rewrite your recovery image. Trying to get back into Cyanogen's recovery image will leave you with a big honkin' error, one that I couldn't get out of without removing my G1's battery. If you have to do this, start FlashRec again and reflash the Cyanogen image.

Once you've followed the instructions in the video (i.e., backed up your system and flashed the recovery image in FlashRec, shut down, booted into the recovery image menu by holding down the Home key during startup, wiped your system, and applied the .zip update you saved on your SD card), you're good to go. Your device will restart and prompt you for your Google login credentials.

Once my phone was up and running, immediately I headed straight to the Android Wi-Fi tether app to get internet connectivity in the barren wasteland that is my new home. There are other apps and tweaks available for root users available for exploration, and you can also further speed up, update, and back up your rooted Android device. But that's a project for tomorrow. (Thanks to Kevin at Lifehacker for being the canary in the Android-rooting coalmine.)