yDroid.com -

13 top Webmaster apps for Android

2012-02-06T14:25:00.001-05:00

So now that you have your Android smartphone, you can run your Online Business from your phone while on the go. Keep in mind that most of the apps are a bit limited from the web versions, you can still mobile post to keep your customers updated even if you aren't at your PC or Laptop.

Do you have any other Android apps you use that aren't listed here?

Feel free to add your favorite in the comments

Google +

Very good app but you can't update Google Pages, YET.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.plus&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5nb29nbGUuYW5kcm9pZC5hcHBzLnBsdXMiXQ..

Facebook

Facebook mobile is very good if you are updating a fan page.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.facebook.katana&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5mYWNlYm9vay5rYXRhbmEiXQ..

Droid Edit

Source code editor for Android.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.aor.droidedit

Blogger

Still a bit quirky and limiting for mobile but gets the job done.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.blogger&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5nb29nbGUuYW5kcm9pZC5hcHBzLmJsb2dnZXIiXQ..

Droid Analytics

Check your stats from anywhere.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.e6bapps.ganalytics&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5lNmJhcHBzLmdhbmFseXRpY3MiXQ..

Pdanet

Must be downloaded on your laptop also.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.pn.helper&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5wbi5oZWxwZXIiXQ..

cPanel Remote

5 bucks to upgrade to paid version.

https://market.android.com/details?id=net.cpanel.remote&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIm5ldC5jcGFuZWwucmVtb3RlIl0.

And FTP

Free version, 5.50 to upgrade to paid version.

https://market.android.com/details?id=lysesoft.andftp&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImx5c2Vzb2Z0LmFuZGZ0cCJd

Webmaster's html editor lite

Free version, 5 bucks to upgrade to the paid version.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.welant.webmaster.DEMO

Photoshop express

Requires sd card to use, good mobile photo editor.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.adobe.psmobile&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5hZG9iZS5wc21vYmlsZSJd

Wordpress for Android

Use Wordpress for mobile to update your website.

https://market.android.com/details?id=org.wordpress.android&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIm9yZy53b3JkcHJlc3MuYW5kcm9pZCJd

Bonus

YouTube for Video

Get your unique email address and send videos directly to your Youtube page from mobile.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.youtube&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5nb29nbGUuYW5kcm9pZC55b3V0dWJlIl0.

Documents to Go

Access any Microsoft document from mobile.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dataviz.docstogo&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5kYXRhdml6LmRvY3N0b2dvIl0.

36 Apps for December

2011-12-13T14:45:00.001-05:00

Top Apps for December

The Top 5 Christmas Apps from Life of Android.

Top 5 Toddler Android Apps from Sippy Cup Moms.

5 Apps for Mobile Fitness from Tech Republic.

5 of the Best Apps for Boosting Battery Life from Tech World.

Top 10 Money savings Android Apps from Ranker.

6 Useful Tax Apps for Android.

Google Places, Steps for Businesses to get Listed.

2011-11-01T13:27:00.001-04:00

With the Google Panda update this year, I hope you heard all of us cheering when the trash finally got taken out to the dumpster. The way unconscious marketers were gaming Google Places was beyond pathetic and with Google's hard push into mobile and localizing search, it was shot heard around the world for the little guy and your Mom and Pop business owners.

I am by no means an expert on Google Places, but have had a Places page for a couple years now and it is not all that hard to rank if you follow a step by step guide.

I am sharing this because my competition is limited being that I have an Ice Cream Store as my bricks and mortar, my online presence through Facebook, Foursquare and Google Places has enabled me to stay ahead and crush a few start up competitors.

One way to currently use your Google places page is to check in on Google+. I did this from day one and have not had any problems.

I do not recommend using your home address or a po box, or your cell phone in your listing, as this may get you booted from Places with future Google Panda updates or if someone reports you. Those folks are probably the ones who got booted to begin with :), but seriously, if you see someone gaming Google Places report it,

If any new clients are not willing to pay me to list their site for them, I send them to a page on my site just to see the work involved and from that point on they can do it themselves or call me up to to do it for them.
(Note) All credits are listed from the curation of that page. I just edited in what I needed to.

Check out the (my local ranking) to tweek your listing once you have claimed your Google Place. Excellent site to track your competition.

Credit Card Fraud and Identity Theft, they just got me.

2011-09-29T10:39:00.001-04:00

So some scumbag spent $925 dollars on my credit card at Victoria's Secret, Best Buy, and DSW in New Jersey yesterday. Sucks it wasn't me who bought something cool for my wife at VC. (she wouldn't wear it anyway, off in 5 minutes so why waste the money :) Seems like a common store we all use had a breech, but no one is talking at my Bank. They are not even telling the employees. They have had a spike in credit card fraud since Monday.

Someone stole my credit card statement from the mailbox and wrote a $975 cash advance check. I spent 52 minutes on the phone (27 of them on hold) with the bank trying to straighten the situation out. "Ma'am, are you sure you didn't write that check??" YES I'M SURE I WOULD HAVE REMEMBERED IF I DID, especially since I'm POOR!!!
Author:zingersb

Experts focus on identity theft
Unlike many of the training seminars put on by her office, this one enabled participants to learn from national experts with “the most cutting edge information and technology on identity theft and financial crimes,”

The J-Walk Blog: Eliminate Credit Card Fraud
Eliminate Credit Card Fraud. I just had a brilliant idea on how to eliminate credit card fraud. Credit card companies would get your cellphone number. Whenever a transaction occurs, an automated call is made to the cellphone ...

How To Avoid Credit Card Fraud YOU CAN"T
This informative video is a suitable time-saver that will enable you to get good at identity theft prevention. Watch our tutorial on How To Avoid Credit Card Fraud from one of Videojug's industry leaders.

Malware apps in the Android Marketplace

2011-09-26T14:10:00.002-04:00

Be careful where you LEAVE your smartphone.

All data stored on your smartphone ….. gone in 60 seconds

Five data-stealing applications that offer to retrieve secret information from others in less than a minute have...

By BitDefenderME thanks for the tweet....
and +TheoTol

The Abstract :: North Carolina State University :: Data-Stealing Apps ...
Data-Stealing Apps ID'd, Pulled From Official Android Market. 07.15.2011 | Matt Shipman. Five apps ID'd as stealing data were pulled off the market July 14 by Google. NC State computer science researchers have identified five applications ...

How to reduce id theft of five skills « How you can keep id theft ...
Below we will quote you out of trouble of five id theft prevention ideas concerning this. How to Protect Yourself From Identity Theft Five suggestions to prevent id theft. 1, data theft detection and removal software ...

A Data-Stealing Trojan Under The Microscope | PC Support
From my 10+ years experiences on system administration, program install and uninstall leaves behind fragmented entries such as incomplete tasks, broken program drivers and other erroneous registry entries. If you got ...

CNET Tap That App: Three apps to secure your 'droid
App malware is a growing problem for smartphones, but there's more to keeping your Android safe than scanning for bad apps. Check out how these three apps from Lookout, AVG, and Trend Micro make your Android battle-ready. cnettv.cnet.com

Google Places Tips, Google Maps, GPS, Yahoo, Foursquare and your Small Business

2011-09-08T10:04:00.000-04:00

One first questions you need to ask about your business is,
Can my business be found from a smartphone? The answer should be yes, if your business is a bricks and mortar of any type. If you can't find it quickly, you have some catching up to do, but its not that hard or time consuming. Don't waste your money with expensive Yellow page ads. For the time being just stick with one line and your business phone for folks who are not on a smartphone yet.

What if you've decided that your small business can't afford 1000 a month on a local billboard, 5 grand a year plus maintenance fees in some states, to get a sign on the off ramp of your local interstate. You don't have the budget for local tv ads yet so what's a business to do? Word of mouth, QR Codes and local advertising in the newspapers can only go so far. Your website is up and listed in every local directory you can find, and and you are not seeing any ROI with your Social Media Marketing efforts.

Make sure your Business is listed in Google Places.
20 Things in Google Places to get to 100%

Start at GetListed.org Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp and others are listed here and you can use this site as a dashboard.
This will automatically put you on Google Maps, which will then put your business in Google Places search results when a mobile user using GPS does a search when they are in your area.

Once you are done verifying Google Places, here is a site to check your listing. If you are just listing your site or making changes to it, give a day or 2 to come back and check. BUT YOU NEED TO TWEAK and ADJUST your listing.
www.mylocalranking.org This is an excellent site to check your keywords and tweak your listing to rank on keywords you might have missed.

Google Places - Claiming and Optimizing

Case Study How Important are 5 stars?

Google gets it and Yahoo doesn't. For almost 10 years I have been tying to get Mapquest to change the wrong location of my bricks and mortar store to the correct location, 8 miles west of where they have us listed. Yahoo uses Mapquest and the combination of 2 wrongs never come out right. I am sour on Yahoo ever since I got website hosting from them for my first website and now they just went up for sale. Who could have guessed. Still put a listing in Yahoo, who knows what will happen and who might buy Yahoo. Microsoft?

I have people stop by lost with GPS, or the can't find a specific address. If you don't update your GPS subscription yearly, your system will not update.
InfoUSA, NAVTEQ Map Reporter and Teleatlas are the 3 main players in GPS, so don't forget to ad your business with these maps also.

Google Maps currently has over 100,000,000 users.
With all of the changes going on inside Google, now that Larry Page is the CEO, there is no telling how everything will be intrigrated down the road with all of their products. Google has just come alive again under his direction. Besides Google Plus, Mobile, Places, Maps and Navigation are a few that you need to really consider spending some time on to understand. According to TechCrunch, local search by mobile phones has grown 50 percent year over year and become the No. 1 access method for local information.

Android MarketPlace

Customer Loyalty: 8 Tips to Keep Them Coming Back
Don't forget to give your customers specials via check-in discounts from Google Places, Foursquare and other Location Based Services (LBS). Also try Groupon Locally in your area.

Add your business to the Foursquare link below, claim it by registering and start offering specials to your social media using customers.
Offer a check in special. http://foursquare.com/businesses/
Recent news is that Facebook is stopping their check in service, so
stick with Foursquare as the most popular LBS - Location Based Service.

Mobile Marketing Networks and Tools

2011-09-06T08:34:00.002-04:00

This just in...

AdMob To Stop Serving Ads To Mobile Web, Google Pushes Developers To Use AdSense

The Comprehensive Mobile Advertising Networks Comparison Guide - Infographic from December 2010

Mobile marketing is Different Mobile marketing, like any paradigm shift, represents a completely new way brands will interact with consumers. It’s not something we know how to do, it’s something we must learn.

Mobile Marketing Tools - helpful links to build innovative applications and an arsenal of creative ideas. We've got an expertly-compiled list of essential third party resources for the modern mobile marketer

Admob's Official Google Mobile Blog

Mobile Affiliate Networks and programs

More Networks

Mobile Monopoly

Top Augmented Reality Apps

2011-08-31T21:39:00.000-04:00

Wikitude World Browser
This app is really cool. As soon as you open up the Wikitude Browser 6.1.0 the dashboard comes with preloaded folders like Twitter, Foursquare, Panoramio, Last.fm Youtube, Flicker, Pizza Gowalla and more. Plus you are able to customize it.
Open up Last.fm and you can see scheduled concerts from local bands. Open Panoramio ( a forgotten Google company ) and see GEO tagged or Local photos in your area.

Google Goggles – Google Goggles is an app that allows you to capture an image of any object in your camera’s view and then image recognition software compares it to others in its database to find a match. This can be useful to find information quickly on any object, place or words of interest.

Last time I tried some of the picture recognition features the database was new. I imagine over time this will get better. With Goggles you can also scan a QR Code from your phone.

Layar - Impactful Augmented Reality in Your Everyday Life
An introduction to the Layar Reality Browser, bringing impactful augmented reality experiences to people's everyday lives. ------------ A film by Campfire Creative - www.campfire-creative.com

Augmented Reality Kills The QR Code Star

Augmented reality leader Layar just took its system to a whole new level by installing a real-world object recognition protocol that's a little like Google's Goggles. In one swoop it may have turned AR apps from intriguing, inspiring, and occasionally useful toys into serious tools for information discovery and, of course, advertising. Let's call it hacking the real world.

Commercial Real Estate Augmented Reality Search by Rofo.com
You can now find office space listings, retail locations and warehouse space for rent by simply pointing your Iphone or Android device at a building or city block. Quickly find out rental rates, sizes and who to contact to see the commercial space.

The Top 3 Best Navigation Apps for Android

33 Awesome Augmented Reality Apps and Games for Android
Augmented Reality is going to be the future of most apps. Here are 33 Best Augmented reality android apps and games which will offer a glimpse of AR experience. Really good post, includes Google Sky Map to figure out where the stars are. Satellite AR to find the satellites orbiting the Earth.

45 Brilliant Augmented Reality iPhone Apps - tripwire magazine
This is a round up of the best augmented reality iPhone apps that you should not miss out on!

94 Back to school Apps for Android and iPad

2011-08-26T12:00:00.009-04:00

Taking from the old post I shared a while back, Top 5 Android Apps for Kids, we will be looking at Back to School Apps. Now that your kids are starting back to the old grind, why not make it fun this year and download some apps to help out your kids. You might even learn something yourself if your anything like me, always trying to learn something new.

Sit down and grab your favorite beverage! There are a lot of apps here.

5 Great Mobile Apps For Heading Back to School Colin Storm looks at 5 great mobile apps to get your kids ready for the coming school year. Tablets are increasingly accepted in schools, so how can students make the most of it?
Evernote (All Platforms – Free), Stanza (iPhone, iPod, iPad, Desktop – Free), Dictionary.com (All Platforms – Free, or $2.99 Without Ads), Penultimate (iPad) and More/Real Caps (Limited Availability)

25+ Best Back to School Android Apps | Android Tapp. Android App ... 25+ Best Back to School Android Apps for this year's school season. In this list you'll find the most useful recommended Android app picks from the expert reviewers here at AndroidTapp.com. This well-rounded list included those for studies, ... Nice post by Antonio Wells.

iPad Today 59: Back to School Apps, Snapseed, Defender of the Crown Hosts Leo Laporte and Sarah Lane show off this year's must-have back to school apps, Elements for Dropbox lovers, Algebra Touch, inClass, Snapseed, more! Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/ipt.com

Sit back with your kids and watch - 1 Hour and 7 minute video.

2 Quick Tips for Android and Google Maps

2011-08-25T13:42:00.001-04:00

Quick Tip:
Try this on Mobile

Go to Google Maps on your phone, scroll down to pretty close to street level where you can read the business name. As you move along the road you'll see some businesses are where they are suppose to be, some are out of place and some that are physically there but don't show up on Google maps.

Businesses are bought and sold all the time. The new owner has more than likely been too busy with just keeping things running and not even thought about his Places listing.
This is your chance to add YOUR business to where it belongs physically, or to strike up a conversation with business owners who are not listed yet. Start locally with businesses that you know are there physically, your hometown or right where you're standing if you happen to be the business district. Also check strip malls, with the economy the way it is, a lot of businesses gone out of business, and have been left abandoned or taken over by viable companies or individuals.

Enable Google Maps' Awesome "Bubble Buttons" Lab for Quicker ...
Google Maps for Android just updated with an awesome "Bubble Buttons" feature that adds phone call and navigation buttons to map results. Here's how to enable it.

Get your Business in Google Maps.

2011-08-18T23:39:00.214-04:00

This post has moved

Blogger app - 2694 downloads in the android marketplace

2011-08-18T14:34:00.003-04:00

I just downloaded the android app for Blogger and just became the 2695th person to try it.
Woop. I can see why. Reviews are not positive and the app is very limited.
It needs a lot of work.
One of the quirky features is the editing of older posts. Just comes up in html mode.
Wondering if it will be tied into google plus some day, seems like a natural progression.
Blogger should really get this app and platform updated and kept in pace with google plus.

Positive notes on the Blogger.
When I logged in for the first time in many months, blogger asked me if I wanted to turn on the mobile version. Of course I said yes. There is also a link to use your own domain name. I don't know if this feature is brand new, but it was highlighted after logging in for the first time in a while.
Blogger - Android Market

This was my first post with the Blogger app and it failed.

Edit. Found http://draft.blogger.com after posting.

Android security, Pano and a Google plus video for mobile

2011-08-15T09:18:00.000-04:00

This week we are looking at Pano for Android, Android security and a Google plus video for mobile.

Lookout Security & Anti-Virus for Android | AppBrain.com
Lookout Security & Anti-Virus: Android app ⇒ Lookout is the #1 Security App for Android. Get Lookout for...

Hacking expert says 12+ popular Android apps are vulnerableGoMo News
Hassel claimed to have identified more than a dozen widely used Android applications that make the phones vulnerable to attack in association with his colleague Shane Macaulay. However, the same report quotes Google ...

Pano for Android: Panoramic Pictures Are Elongated Awesomeness
Do you know why phone cameras are the best cameras to use? Because they're always on you! Okay, aside from that, it's because you get to add gnarly features (like taking panoramas) without having to buy a new phone.

The Google+ project: Explore Mobile
Learn how Google+ brings real-life sharing to your mobile device. See what's happening nearby, use simple group chat to make plans with your circles, and turn on Instant Upload to never leave a photo behind. Find out more at google.com/mobile/+

How to use QR codes for advertising your business to consumers.

2010-10-21T14:46:00.003-04:00

QR codes can be scanned and decoded by mobile smartphones. So, when you see a qr code in an ad, you can simply scan the code with your mobile phone's scanning application (Barcode scanner, QuickMarks among other apps available for iPhone and Android) and it will take you to a message, a website or video where you can get more information about the product/service mentioned in the ad. They are very popular in Japan and Korea and are just coming in style in the U.S. and Europe.

Smartphone users scan codes to get information rather than having to send a text message or make a call. This minimizes effort on mobile users’ part and makes the job of the mobile advertiser easier than ever.

Scan from websites, phone to phone or with Google Goggles. Using Google Goggles to scan a QR code from your smartphone: save image to phone, go to share and goggles will show up in the options to share,and scan the code giving you the data in the qr code. Why is this important? If your on a mobile and you want to scan a code from a webpage or someone sends you a code by email, you need the ability to be able read the code as opposed to scan with a camera. As of this writing goggles is the only application that I know of to scan an image with your smartphome.

Google Places already has a one set up for you already, if you have a brick and mortar business. Just log in to your places account and download it. Add it to your website, google places landing page and business cards.

Just a few things you can do with a custom QR code, online and storefront local marketing, specials offers, videos, direct mail, flyers, TV commercials, real estate agents making a code for a specific house, On a bottle of wine you will quickly see the vintner, the type of wine, what year it was produced and the mix if it is a blend, have a scavanger hunt leading to your place of business, restaurants can take diners straight to a site that lists specials, retailers can send shoppers directly to the buy this page. The possibilities are endless.

Resources for QR Codes and beyond
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ qr code generator
http://www.beqrious.com/ even has a forum to generate ideas
http://SplashURL.net change the redirect url with this site
http://delivr.com/qr-code-generator pro has to option to change the url
http://goo.gl url shortner now creates qr codes
http://bit.ly url shortner now creates qr codes just add .qr after the short url
Chrome extention lets your create a qr code from your browser (QR-Code Tag Extention)
http://www.stickybits.com/ Attach anything to a barcode
http://www.qurify.com/en/ Write a message and get a qr code - multi lingual
http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/category/qr-codes/ more qr code posts
http://geekbeat.tv/storefront/ Setting up your digital storefront, get into the 21st Century
http://goo.gl/Zsrx The Lego Codes
http://goo.gl/kvjf 101 uses for qr codes
http://kb.clipotech.com/qr_codes More QR Code Search
http://blog.oneims.com/2010/10/18/qr-codes-part-3-9-real-life-qr-code-examples/ 9 real life examples
http://retailgeek.com/retail/best-buy-deploys-qr-codes-to-enhance-shopping-experience/ Best Buy

Top 5 Android Apps for Kids

2010-10-17T09:53:00.000-04:00

Top 5 Best Educational Apps for Kids on Android

There are many great teaching resources available for kids on Android. Here, we have compiled a top 10 list containing some of the best apps currently offered in the Android Market. If you have a young child beginning to learn the alphabet, numbers, colors, etc. they will definitely love these apps. It’s important to make learning fun and smartphone apps are definitely a new and exciting way to engage your kids.

These apps are all kid-friendly. No ads and deactivated buttons (except Home, usually) ensure your child won’t end up on the internet or accidentally quitting out of the app.

1. ABCs

Price: Free

This app features alphabet flashcards which combine phonetics and images to teach the alphabet. Use the random letter quiz mode to test learning progress. Star the more challenging letters for more repetition practice later.

2. Kids Alphabet

Price: Free (Full ~$1.49)

Similar to the ABCs app above, this app features the letter and example word on one flashcard. Clicking on the image (e.g. the airplane) will make the appropriate sound effect. Similarly, clicking on the word will sound it out completely, in addition to the letter itself.

3. Kids Numbers and Math

Price: Free (Full ~$2.99)

This app is fully featured. Your child can learn the numbers, counting, choosing max/min numbers, addition, subtraction, and other exercises. Voice instructions and sounds help support and facilitate the learning process. Multiple languages are also supported!

4. Colors

Price: Free

This app is a quick, simple way for kids to learn their colors. Having a child’s voice read out the colors is a great feature. Click the button at the bottom-right of the flashcard for an example of the color. Use the quiz mode to test learning progress.

5. Shapes

Price: Free

Another quality learning tool to help your kids learn different shapes, both 2 and 3 dimensional.

See more at www.appconsumer.com

The Top 3 Best Navigation Apps for Android

2010-10-10T09:39:00.001-04:00

The Top 3 Best Navigation Apps for Android

Android

GOLD MEDAL: Google Maps Navigation

Did you expect anything else? It’s turn-by-turn navigation made by Google and more importantly, a part of Google Maps. You get live traffic data, location bookmarks, satellite view, search along route and Google’s killer Street View. Plus its powered by, duh, Google Search and has all the googley features you’ve come to expect like voice search and of course, being free. The only downside is that its navigation is sorta dependent on your data connection as opposed to being preloaded (though it does cache your route) and the GPS voice is terribly robotic (but it does do text to speech). Free, Android.

SILVER MEDAL: CoPilot Live

It’s not free, but you only have to pay a one time fee of $20 which is significantly cheaper than similarly capable GPS navigation apps. Plus, CoPilot’s GPS voice is actually sorta pleasant, POI search is smart and you get 3D and 2D maps (though the downside is they’re not particularly attractive). If you do a lot of driving in areas where cell phone signal isn’t great, paying 20 bucks for CoPilot isn’t a bad option since maps are preloaded onto your SD card. $19.99, Android.

BRONZE MEDAL: Waze

Waze uses user-generated maps which aren’t always perfect, but it’s free and turns navigation into a “social” game where you can see other Waze users on the road and earn points by hitting landmarks. Not useful enough to be a full time GPS but fun enough for those times where driving gets boring. Free, Android.

See more at www.appconsumer.com

Top 5 Android Apps for Real Estate Consumers

2010-10-01T16:50:00.000-04:00

Top 5 Android Apps for Real Estate Consumers

With the real estate market at an all time low, now is the time to plan your upgrade or first purchase of a home before the market surges upward again. Below are 5 real estate related Android apps to help you out.

Suburb Scout
Suburb Scout allows home buyers to search for possible annoyances in the area of a potential home purchase. Are there sewage plants, airports, nuclear plants, landfills and prisons in the area? This is a great tool for locating everything that might affect the resale value of a home.

Karl's Mortgage Calculator
Mortgage calculator with graphs & charts. Calculate mortgage payments given principal, interest & term. Reverse calculate for any one given the other three. Pay off mortgage early with bi-weekly or extra payments. Supports interest-only & Canadian mortgages.

Safe Neighborhood
Get Safe Neighborhood and see if registered sex offenders are living near you, your friends, or any area that you want to check. Search by your address or current location to see if any sex offenders are registered in the area. View on a map and see their personal info + photos.

Zillow
This app allows you to see estimate home values, local real estate including homes for sale, rentals, and more. Use voice search, plus GPS, to search for homes as you talk, walk or drive. Filter real estate by home type, price, beds, and more. Save searches and favorite homes. On top of that, full-screen color photos!

Smarter Agent
The most comprehensive app of its kind on the market, the Dictionary of Real Estate Terms provides a convenient and user-friendly reference tool that will be as invaluable to real estate professionals as it is for current and prospective home buyers.

Source Tech Savy Agent
All Apps are available thru the Android Marketplace

Top Android Forums - Everything you need to know about the Android Smartphone

2010-09-26T11:42:00.002-04:00

Top Android Forums - Everything you need to know about the Android Smartphone

[edit] Updated 8/2011

Are you looking to get a new smartphone?
Can't decide between an Android from Google or an iPhone from Apple?
iPhone has been the leader in this space with the vision of Steve Jobs at the helm of Apple but Android has been surging this year, poised to take the lead in smartphone sales behind Google and it open source platform.

If your choice is influenced by open or closed platforms or which carrier is available to you, no matter which way you decide to go, Android or iPhone, you can't go wrong with either.

Below is a list of Android forums and other websites to help in your decision.

Android and Me

Google Android News

Everything Android

Droid Forum - Info about the Motorola Droid on Verizon Wireless

Android Central

HTC Comunnity - This is the US page. There is a link to other country and worldwide at the bottom of the page. Join the HTC YOU Club to register your products and receive the exclusive YOU Club newsletter with the latest news and offers from HTC.Your YOU Club registration allows you to search, view posts, and interact within the Support Forums.

Droid Forums

- This site contains a large collection of Droid News, Droid Apps, Droid Accessories and Droid Reviews gathered from around the web!

Motorola Droid forum frequently asked questions

The best resource to learn about the Motorola Droid Smartphone.

Android Market Forum help

Android Applications for Developers

T-Mobile Forum

Here are some bonus sites

Everything You Need to Know About Android Widgets

Create your own Android App

Direct link to Android Market

Android Guys

If you find any more Smartphone help sites, post in the comments.

10 Of The Best Social Networking Apps For Android

2010-09-24T22:38:00.001-04:00

If social networking is your thing then you’re not exactly lacking in apps for the Android to keep you connected. If you’re a regular Tweeter then you may find it more difficult sifting through the masses of possibilities than actually finding one in the first place but there are some that are more feature-rich and intuitive than the official Twitter app. Facebook fans and even WordPress bloggers have a plethora of tools to choose from. The following is a list of 9 of the best Android social networking apps and, what’s even better, is that they’re completely free.

FourSquare has become one of the fastest growing phenomenon around. One click check-in and integrated Google Maps make the FourSquare Android app a must have for geotagging fanatics everywhere.

1 – Facebook

You can’t start a list on social networking without putting something related to Facebook at the very top. The fact is that it’s the most popular network on the web with more than 500m users and the Facebook Android app is easy to use, although that’s partially because of the lack of features that it offers.

2 – FourSquare

3 – Last.fm

When it comes to free music streaming, Last.fm is a really good choice. It can take some getting used to having related music forced upon you but once you get the hang of it, the Last.fm Android app is a great addition to music lovers’ phones.

4 – DroidIn

LinkedIn is more business or professional than it is social but has a massive following of professionals and business owners around the world. The mobile app ensures that you can track your applications, keep in touch with contacts, and generally manage your LinkedIn profile.

5 – Seesmic

Seesmic is arguably the better Android App than the official Twitter app. It’s simpler to use, allows multiple account access, and generally just looks nicer. It’s a must have for Tweeters to stay in touch and up to date.

6 – WordPress For Android

Once called wpToGo, WordPress were so impressed by the independent app that they bought it and brought its developer on board and in house. Offers just about everything you could hope for if you’re a WordPress blogger ensuring that you can post regular blogs and stay in touch with your readers wherever you are (as long as you have your phone with you, of course).

7 – Meebo IM

Meebo IM is an Instant Messaging aggregator. It enables users to stay connected via MSN, Yahoo, Facebook, and MySpace chat. It is a vital communication tool for anybody that actually wants to chat in real time with their network connections.

8 – Beelicious

OK, so Delicious is hardly new and groundbreaking. In fact, it’s lost quite a lot of its following in recent months and years but nevertheless, the bookmarking site still has a loyal following. Send bookmarks to your social bookmarking account straight from your Android browser.

9 – Skyfire 2.0

Skyfire 2.0 is an Android based web explorer and it offers Flash support too, which is great if you watch media on social networks or like to spend hours on YouTube. Newer phones benefit most from good quality Flash clips but older phones still enjoy some benefit from this too.

10 – beebPlayer

OK, so it’s definitely not a social networking tool but you deserve a break every now and again, even if it is a break from chatting and playing games. The beebPlayer gives you mobile access to BBC iPlayer where you can watch hundreds of hours of BBC programs and listen to the radio. A great addition to your app list.
Read more at www.blog.best-mobile-contracts.co.uk

5 photography must have Android apps

2010-09-04T13:18:00.000-04:00

5 photography must have Android apps

The cameras on the new Android smartphones are getting more and more advanced with every upgrade, in fact the 8meg camera on my HTC Incredible is better than the digital camera we bought just a few short years back.

Listed below are 5 Applications for the Android OS system are listed here for Photo specific editing and sharing.

Photofunia - this app is just like the photofunia website, not a photo editing app. It’s more of a photo sharing app that lets you add your camera shot or photos from your phone gallery and overlay it on top of a long list of templates from Superman, Angelina Julie to Mount Rushmore, billboards and portraits. Lots of fun.
5 stars for fun.

Droid on a Billboard and Chris Pirillo is pretty scared with the Droid in Photofunia.

PicSay - From the menu it lets you add titles, captions, word balloons and stickers to your photos. It also let’s you choose from normal, high pro and max pro images before you start editing. From the effects menu you can spotlight, distort, mark it, pixelize, exposure, contrast, hue, colorize, dizziness, rainbow, tone, tint, saturation, brightness, inverted and change the temperature, all from the free version. Picsay pro is also available.
5 stars for functionality in the free version.

Picsay with Word Balloons

Adobe PhotoShop Express - let’s you share to PhotoShop.com, Facebook and Twitpic. Like Picsay it has tint, saturation and all the other editing properties plus it adds a soft focus and effects option. The effects option works.very quickly with about 8 option of effects. Works very well. The only fault I found is that it doesn’t load all the photos on your camera. It gives you a phone and online option so Adobe must want you to upload your photos to access them.
4 stars, 3 if you are used to Photoshop on your computer.

Adobe Photoshop Express with Softener and Pop effect

RetroCamera - is not an editor, but gives 4 options of cameras to choose from that give automatic borders and finish photos from different era’s. The Barlol, Little Orange box, Xolaroid and the Pinhole camera. Nostalgic.
4 stars for fun

The Barlol camera Little Orange box camera

Xolaroid camera The Pinhole camera.

Photoid - is very similar to Picsay, and the problem I have with it is more than half of the menu options don’t work in the free version. They want you to upgrade to the Pro version. Very limited. Send a photo in an email and they want to send you to their site with a big long link at the top of the email. A little to much self promotion.
1 star as stated above

Android with clipart overlay with Photoid.

Android HTC Incredible comes with a built in Flicker app and there are a lot more photo sharing apps for different sharing websites. available in the Android Marketplace.

*all photographs reworked, taken or downloaded on the HTC Incredible Android ADR6300

Google Maps or Beer Drinkers Guide

2010-08-28T19:52:00.002-04:00

On our recent trip to Denver, Lauri said we needed a map to keep in the car. So when I came out of the bookstore with the “Beer drinkers guide of Colorado”, she just looked at me with that women’s look, and said with attitude “How are we suppose to find anything on this, there are too many mugs of beer on here to find anything else.” I said “Have you forgotten that I have the HTC Incredible Droid ADR6300 with built in Google Maps and an app with Google Places?”

Android Battery Test Reveals Droid X is best

2010-08-27T15:35:00.004-04:00

Sorry to hear the HTC Incredible comes in last in this test. I have noticed that my phone seems to get warm to very warm recently, especially when using Google Maps and places with GPS. Still no upgrade on the battery since the phone is so new.

One solution is to keep your car and wall charger handy and use the task killer often and you can get about 10 to 12 hours for a full charge with Normal usage.

Hooray for Customer Service

2010-08-14T15:34:00.001-04:00

Hooray for Customer Service

Well after getting a new HTC Incredible while still under warranty, I am back to my mobile adventures.
Verizon’ s customer service has been awesome. Both in store if you have the time (hint: get there went they open) or the toll free 800 number from the comfort of your home or office. You don’t get sent to a phone bank in India where they don’t know your name or speak English.

Just make sure you have them detail your account with the problems you are having. After 2 hard resets they wanted to do it again, but I refused and they actually sent me a new phone. Impressive.

Advanced Task Killer for Android is just awesome. I never realized how many apps were running once you turn on your phone, and pop on while your phone is just sitting, doing nothing. Highly recommend.
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Everything you need to know to master Google's smartphone OS

2010-07-24T14:08:00.000-04:00

Finally an article that is not about the iPhone
Everything you need to know to master Google's smartphone OS

Read the article here

Google Local, Foursquare and your Business.

2010-07-21T12:53:00.004-04:00

GPS Apps, Google Local, Yahoo and your Business.

First question you need to ask about your business is, can my business be found on a cell phone? Any type of Resturant, bar or like business,the answer should be yes, if you can't find it quickly, you have some catching up to do, but its not that hard or time consuming.

Google has it right and besides, when you go mobile with the Android OS on your new Verizon wireless phone, Google's free tools automatically come built in.

First thing you need to do is claim your business with Google Local. This will automatically put you on Google Maps, which will then put your business in Goggles search results when a mobile user using GPS does a search when they are in your area.

Next you need to list your business with
Foursquare just surpassed 100 million check in's this week. Add your business to the link below, claim it by registering and start offering specials to your social media using customers.

http://foursquare.com/businesses/

Adding just these 2 steps, can have an instant impact to your business once you can be found with a cell phone.