Whitepages Caller ID App

The name Whitepages, might not be familiar to anyone born after 1995, but the Whitepages was the paper-bound book directory sent to homes for the listing of all residential numbers in your town or city. While we may all still be familiar with The Yellow Pages, which was for businesses, the Whitepages had been the other staple in homes for decades prior to caller-id and mobile phones. 

Ever since cellphones gave us the ability to index our lists phone numbers, we've all but forgotten them.  We use the contact name rather than the number for contact, just as we use domain names on the internet rather than remembering the IP addresses. Recently however, spoofing the Caller ID has become rampant, there are actual apps that allow a person to make a call and fool the system. 

Since the Caller ID Spoofing trend hit the market, many people have begun to get calls from companies that are using caller ID's that are not their own.  These companies do not appear to care about which name or number they slander, as long as their message gets out.  And so many people now get false calls from names and numbers that they would never have had contact prior. 

 Thankfully, Whitepages Caller ID app can help to block both spoofers and spam

A Social App

Whitepages Caller ID works on a principle of social networking.  It is useful to know how everyone is reacting to calls and who better to help our than your friends. Both you and your friends can help the app by reporting spam and spoofed numbers to the app.  That way Whitepages can help everyone else be aware of which numbers to block.

The main screen that you will see shows your friends, the total spam phone numbers that you have reported and the total phone numbers that you have blocked.

Nearly every icon or symbol on this screen leads to another action.  You can add personal info by tapping the icon with your initials.  The Green "Friends" icon will take you to a screen for inviting more people.  The Orange Spam triangle will present all the callers that were either already marked by the app as spam or by you.  And the Red Circle crossed leads to those numbers that are blocked.  It is likely that many of the numbers is the spam list will be in the blocked list.  But the blocked lists is mostly up to you to be active with.

On the bottom, the buttons is a list of the last 5 or so people who either you contacted, or contacted you.  The Green dial pad in the lower right-hand corner is merely a link out to your dialing app.

The makers of the Whitepages Caller ID app, are quite serious about getting you to invite your friends. It only really takes 3 invites at a minimum to get the full blocking feature.  But once you friends see the features of this app, they may actually be grateful for the recommendation.



Call Stats

The app doesn't stop there however, it continues on down to offer stats on the calling of your phone.  Once you begin start making calls after having installed the app, it will begin to offer call frequency info. When you scroll to the very bottom, you will see a donut chart that shows the breakdown of how you call.  Although you may already be quite aware of who you call and how often, it's nice to get a feeling what's really going on.

In the section labeled "Frequent Callers" you'll see images of the phone numbers that you've called the most.  Each of these icons will lead to yet another page of info about calls to that number.  It gives a more in-depth display of how you call that number.   If that caller is in your address book already, then you should see their contact info as well as another chart showing incoming versus outgoing calls to that number.

Whereas your current calling app (whatever the default), normally this level of information is not shown.  You usually only get a list of recent callers, no stats.  It is apparent that Whitepages Caller ID app has groomed itself to be the replacement for your current caller app.

If you use the default built-in text messaging app, then you will likely see the text message info in the stats page for each phone number.  But Apps like WhatsApp, iMessage, and Google Hangouts will not display your text messages data through Whitepages Caller ID app.


Take Back Control

Something that we all deal with, unwanted calls, is the very thing that the Whitepages Caller ID app does well.  Whether on mobile phones or land lines, unwanted calls are a hassle, and at least with landline phones, there is no way to block a call (leaving the phone off the hook is not a solution).  Mobile carriers can block phone numbers on request, but it's not so simply as this app.

With the Whitepages Caller ID app, you have control.  You decide whether a call is spam, or needs to be blocked.  And once you've joined others in inviting people to the app, you too will get the Auto-block feature.

Auto Block feature

Via the social networking aspect and the copious users of the app, Whitepages Caller ID has been able to concoct a significant list phone numbers that are spammy. If you so choose, you can access this feature by sending an invite to three friends. Although the feature is still available, you will need to continually tell the app that you don't want to spam three of your friends about the app, whenever the features are used.

There are several ways to indicate how you would like for the Auto Block Feature to act, but most of these actions can be changed in the settings.

Settings

Caller ID options

One of the first features that you come upon in the Whitepages Caller ID app, is a small circular caller id avatar.  The avatar will show for all calls until you change its behavior in the settings.  Here is where I've found that it is most useful to change to showing only for callers that you do not have in your contacts.   The avatar will float over whatever application that you have open currently, when the phone is ringing, during the call, and shortly after it has ended.  Unless you don't mind having a small circle showing the caller's image blocking your app, I'd set it to be closed in the settings.

Call  Blocking Options

Whitepages Caller ID is heavy into the notifications.  The app likes to help you know what is going on with your calls and so it will post call alerts and blocked call notifications.  If you find all these notices annoying, you can shut them off in the settings.

General Options

Some of the more basic options are found in this last section.  Personally, I don't like hearing dial pad touch tones when dialing a number, it can be turned off.  If you want a full history of all that you've done, you can keep up to 12 months.  And lastly, if you want to keep track of your account on Whitepages.com, the registration is found in the General Options section.

Conclusion

I've come to rely on the Whitepages Caller ID app, I use it daily.  I've got at least 100 numbers on the block list.  The app works great with just about any smartphone, both Android and iPhones.  Check out your version by clicking on the appropriate link below.

Let me know in the comments what you think about this app.

Angry Birds GO Kart Racing App

Unbelievable!  If you've had the opportunity to play any of the Mario Kart games, then you already have an idea of how much fun this game could be.  It's great to see Rovio not slowing down in the face of its biggest competitors King and Zynga.  Angry Birds Go is HUGE step up from any previous ventures and looks to be a solid winner.

I can't tell you how many hours I personally wasted playing every iteration of Mario Kart.  I thought was pretty good, but if Angry Birds GO mirrors the fun of its prior apps, then it's got my attention.  When I think back on all the games that I played in the last 30 years, Mario Kart definitely sits in the top 10 of my favorites.

There's not a great deal that we can tell about interplay of the Angry Birds GO kart racing app from the trailer.  The characters, upgrades, and special powers are really just the internals of the game itself.  You can probably bet that kart upgrades will come with a price as the app itself is free.  I wouldn't even be surprised if there was no "buy" option for the app, so that the only way to get all the upgrades was to pay the incremental costs.

I sincerely hope that this game is not just cross platform single player, but cross platform multi-player over WiFi and Mobile data.  If the graphics are any indication of the awesome that is yet to come, I am looking forward to it all.

Check out the Trailer for Angry Bird GO

Blackberry Messenger Lives on in Android

It's barely been 24 hours since Blackberry Messenger (BBM) arrived in the Google Play Store and it's already rocking the boat.  10 million installs and growing on it's first day plus nearly 90,000 starred reviews. This may seem all nice and good, but unlike WhatsApp, you actually need an invite to join this throng, even though you can at the very least install it.

Blackberry might be is disappearing soon, but BBM looks like it is here to stay.  It's really too bad that Blackberry did not develop its phone more in relation to their killer app.  Keyboards on phones almost sounds like going out of your way to secure an Bell Rotary Phone and land line for your house.

 

 

Much Needed Google Keyboard Update (Android)

Hallelujah!  The Google Keyboard for Android has been updated.  It's just a keyboard, why get so excited? It's not a major change, but it's enough, and it is something that I think iPhone users would love if it were only possible to replace the default in iOS (w/o needing to jailbreak).  There are now numeric values across the top letters on the board.

The first Android phone I ever had was the first Android phone there ever was, the HTC Dream or G1.  It has a physical, slide-out keyboard, with 5 rows of keys.  That top row is all numbers and symbols.  Now maybe this isn't a huge issue for most people.  But I, being one person who uses numbers constantly both at work and in all my passwords, practically give myself an aneurysm when I have to constantly switch back and forth between boards just to get a ... blinking... number!

Samsung, in their accidental wisdom managed to include a fifth line of just numbers in their default board on the Galaxy Note 2, which I have to say, I outright love. But in Google's attempts to be frugal (or else mimic Apple), left that completely out of their (otherwise, very good) keyboard app.  Now of course, it's not as good as the default, in that I still need to long-press the top row to get a number.  But rather that flip-flop boards all day long, I can stay on the main board for the numbers at the very least.

Yes, there are lots of other keyboards out there for Android.  I have tried SwiftKey, TouchPal, Swype, and Thumb Keyboard, all of which are good in their own right. Thumb Keyboard was probably my favorite because it had so many option custom layouts, but inevitably I returned to the default usually because either the lack of the ability to swipe or some level of inaccuracy.

Google Keyboard on the other hand, besides up until the recent change, has exceptionally good default estimation of my sloppy swiping.  It was already on top of my poor writing skills before I had even begun to train it.  One of the biggest peeves that I've had with Samsung is that it guesses or replaces with words that are not even part of my vocabulary. I don't even know where some of these words come from or how they could possibly be contextual.   Google gets the context and rightfully guesses the correct word with impeccable precision.

Thank You Google for updating Google Keyboard for Android.

Check it out on the Google Play Store, sorry iOS users this is out of your league.

IMO.im debuts Video Calling Across All Mobile Apps

As a user of IMO.im for over two years now, I can say that it is the best instant messaging app I've yet used.  And thankfully, like most good apps, IMO is constantly adding features.  Today IMO announced that it is adding video calling to the app, across all mobile platforms.

That's right, you can call from Android to iOS or vise versa via video over IMO.  Yes, it works over WiFi, 3G, 4G, and LTE connections.  It's worth noting that although IMO supports up to nine different instant messaging protocols simultaneously and that they can all be used at the same time via the web and mobile platforms.

Like so many other video and text messaging apps, IMO has finally joined the two-way video calling elite. But unlike those other apps, IMO still supports nearly every instant messaging protocol.

Check out the App on the Google Play store or the Apple App Store

Locket App: 25 Days Later

It took exactly 22 days to reach $10 in swiping to unlock my phone.  And here with the Locket app, 25 days later, I've unlocked $11 worth of ads. This update will include the numbers in my experience with the app and other info on how this application works.  And there's been an update in the Beta to version 1.1, where just about everything has changed.

During the first 25 days of the beta release of Locket I spent slightly more than 15 hours per day unlocking the phone three times.  I might have done it more often, but there were some hours when I forgot.  Frankly, I don't think that it is reasonable to remember to unlock the phone three time per hour every waking hour.  Nevertheless I got to $10 just before the release of the first major update. Which ironically pushed the minimum cashable amount out to $20.

Update 1.1 was quickly over-written by 1.1.1 and then nearly as quickly by 1.1.2.  These updates brought a good deal of new ads and some amazing photos (see above).  If anything, the people who work for Locket do not want cheap material. But some changes have come with the updates that have not pleased the users.

In the first run of the Beta, you could make as much as $262 per year, or $0.72 per day.  Now you could make as much as $1.00 per day if you see all the ads, but once you've seen an ad, you cannot be paid again for it. To make up for the lack of consistency, Locket has introduced Aarki; a tasking add-on.  Aarki has you perform simple tasks such as watching a video, downloading and installing an app, taking a survey, or registering for a service.  These tasks can pay anywhere from $0.01 to as much as $22.


I perused the full list from Aarki and the tallied value came out to nearly $350.  If you don't mind parting with some personal information or waiting around to cancel a service, this may be of value to you.  Some of the apps are similar to Locket in that they will pay you to do other activities. I've noticed also that the list changes daily, this may be because it's not managed by Locket, rather by Aarki. Also, Aarki doesn't always pay you immediately, so don't worry about the payment from Locket.

The Locket app only seems to be getting better.  I am impressed with the updates to the app in version 1.1.  Although the three tabs across the main screen are the same, there is now a menu at the top left.  The menu gives a more detailed listing of what is available in the app.  In the list, it is now much easier to access your Paypal and account info.  The list has a line called "Earn More" which directs you to the Aarki list.  And the support section in the Help Center is one of the best I've seen in a startup company app.

I'm still looking forward to what other perks Locket has in store, despite the changes.  For once I don't get that nasty feeling that I'm just a slave to the ridiculously tiny amount of money like I have with every other tasking app.  The Locket team is keeping it real and consistently delivering top content.

Financial Calculators App Review

Financial Calculators App Review

As a person who enjoys number crunching I wanted an app for calculating Mortgage and Auto loan payments, as well as compound interest, and a basic calculator.  But I did not want to download multiple different apps.  Fortunately, I found FNCalculators', "Financial Calculators" app.  Like many apps, FNC's app is free to download and use as long as you don't mind ads across the bottom of the screen. But unlike so many other apps, this one has more than a dozen useful calculation apps.

For me, it really does not get any more easy than this.  Financial Calculators is a collection of 18 calculators that are useful in most financial transactions.  The following is a list of all the calculators that are included.

• TVM Calculator (Time Value of Money)
• Currency Converter
• Loan Calculator
• Compound Interest Calculator
• Credit Card Payoff Calculator
• Retirement / 401k Calculator
• Tip Calculator
• Calculator 
• APR Calculator (Annual Percentage Rate)
• ROI Calculator (Return On Investment)
• Auto Loan Calculator
• Credit Card Minimum Payment
• Discount and Tax Calculator
• IRR NPV Calculator (Internal Rate of Return / Net Present Value)
• Percentage Calculator
• Bond Calculator
• Stock Calculator
• Misc (including Unit Conversion and Dates)

While I will not detail every calculator, I will at least cover the one I use most often.  

The Loan Calculator

The Loan Calculator has four tabs, Loan, Comparison, Refinance, and Term.  The Loan tab requests values for "loan amount" , "interest rate (per year), "loan term" (years and / or months), and "additional payments per month" (optional).  All output values are displayed near the bottom.  But there is the extra feature of "Amortization", which allows you to see the full payment scheme. 

An example for the use of this tab would be if I wanted to know what each of my payments would be over the life of my mortgage or auto loan.  The amortization will give the principle and interest paid per month. Mostly I like to see where the switch will come when I am paying more principle than interest.  Or I like to see how much more quickly I would pay off the loan with added monthly payments. 

If you choose Refinance tab, the screen will change to include the "interest rate" (per year) and "loan term" (years and / or months) of the New Mortgage as well as all the details of the old like in the Loan tab. When I was preparing to refinance my home and car, I looked at these values to figure out how I could make the payments lower.  For the house I was trying to pull money out to fix it up.  For the car I just wanted a lower payment. 

For the Term tab you will get "loan amount", "annual interest" (%), "min monthly payment", "max monthly payment", and "payment increment".  The purpose of this tab is to give you an idea of how long the term of the loan will be if you provide the inputs.  As an example, if you wanted to purchase a Tesla Model S with all the bells and whistles, you might pay $118k.  At an interest rate of 2.0% with a minimum payment of $1.5k and a maximum payment of $2.5k per month, with an increment of $250, you would see a range of 40 to 68 months.

Look and Feel

Each calculator is quite simple and in general the app provides a great deal of white space and large colorful buttons to accommodate the user.  FNC uses a different colorful icon to represent each calculator.  

There are ads in my version of the app (the free version), but they're just a small banner across the bottom of the screen. The pro edition is $5 if you don't want to see any ads. It should also be noted that the primary icon that represents the app has a green background with the pro version, rather than blue like the free version.

Most of the time I feel that there is no other calculation app that I'd rather use, because this one doesn't over-do the colors or try to add backgrounds that would only detract from the purpose.  

Settings

Within the settings menu it is possible to edit the list of calculators that are presented.  If you, like me, only use 4 or 5 of all the calculators, you may want to scale back the list.  I don't usually do this if for nothing more than because I want to see all the possibilities.  If you prefer a white or black background, this can be changed in the settings. But one of my favorite features I did not discover until a few days before writing this review; the ability to show all the calculators as a grid, rather than a list.  I have to admit that this was a great help to be able to see them all, rather than being required to scroll down for the rest. 

If you need at least one calculator for financial transactions I recommend FNCalculator's "Financial Calculators" app.  If you need multiple calculators, I don't know of a better app for 18 calculators in one, than this one.

Check out FNC's app on the three biggest platforms

Dish Anywhere App Review

Review of the Dish Anywhere App

I've been a long time user of Dish Satellite Television services.  I used it from 2003-2007 and took a short break from 2007-2010 because the townhouse homeowners association would not allow a satellite dish to be-speckle an otherwise perfect fascia.  But returned again from 2010 and still have it today.  Fortunately in recent times Dish has joined the smartphone apps game and with the debut of the Hopper, they're actually leading the pack when it comes to TV tech.

Initial Setup

Before you get anywhere with the goodies in this app, you must of have the Sling Box add-on device. Sadly, the first generation of the Hopper does not come with Sling built-in.  The separate device may have been an afterthought or there just wasn't enough room for it in the initial design.  Fortunately the Sling Box add-on does not take up a great deal of space and can support weight from above. But if you do own other equipment, the USB cable isn't very long, so you may have to squeeze it between the Blu-ray and the Hopper.  The Sling Box add-on comes at a $50 one-time extra charge.

Guide

Most television services have a channel guide incorporated with the software of the receiver box.  The guide in the app includes all the bells and whistles of the one in the receiver allowing the user to filter the channels, view favorites, select only HD, or select a specific channel.  The guide shows exactly what is on all the channels that you have available at the current time and will shift as the time changes.  You can swipe through the time and channels like with most smartphone apps and the motion will be smooth unless your internet connection is slow.  If you happen to have the full package listing of every channel imaginable, when you begin the descent through the channels a simple numeric index will appear allowing faster access to deeper channels.

By selecting any show from the guide, you are presented with an information screen that is similar to the "info" overlay in the receiver's guide.  At the bottom of this screen you will see two options; watch and record.  The "watch" option will only show up if the show is currently running.  Selecting "record" however will take you through the steps of scheduling the show now, all episodes, or just new episodes.

Across the top, on the right-hand side of the guide you will see a button for "Live TV" which will give you whatever is playing on the primary TV, or whatever channel was last being viewed.  It should be noted that, unless your Hopper has multiple tuners (it has three), if you attempt to change the channel when watching "Live TV" and someone is already watching, the channel will be changed for that viewer as well.

My DVR

(Note: If the DVR is in standby mode, you will get a warning that it is not available when selecting this feature. But don't worry, a little bit of gentle nudging on the "refresh" icon will wake the device)

The view of the DVR through the app is also quite different from that of the Hopper's guide, it's more compact and simple.  Like the guide, you will find filters across the top of the screen for channel, genre, title and date.  Selecting any one show will take you to a screen identical to that of the guide, displaying show info, and the buttons across the bottom for "watch" or (in this case) "delete".

If you select a show that has a number on the right-hand side, you'll see a list of episodes and more filter options, this time for "original air date" or "date recorded".  Further delving into a particular episode will give you access the info and watch or delete options.

On Demand

Like the title says, these shows are accessible when you want them. But unlike the shows that are live or recorded locally on your DVR, you may have to pay extra.  Everything that is available via the On-Demand feature in the Hopper is available through the app.  There are shows and movies provided through Dish directly and through their recently acquired subsidiary Blockbuster Video.  There are literally thousands of shows and movies available, but the quality and price may not always suit your needs.  Depending on the service package that you currently have, will determine whether you have access to these features.

Video Controls and Playback

At this time in history I do not believe that it is possible to give you any great hopes for good control over remote playback.  A phone or tablet with unlimited  LTE data and a Hopper / Sling Box on Google Fiber might be the only exception.  My advice is to get used to long delays or just watch the playback without fussing with fast forward or rewind.  You will not be able to view how far you've gone forward or back and constant skipping is a painstaking process.  For the convenience I am grateful I can do just about everything that is possible with the remote in front of my TV.  But the technology just has not caught up to live controls over current wireless signals. 

Search

Of all the functions available in the Hopper Sling Box, Search is the most simple and easiest to use.  I actually prefer to search from the app than from the remote, primarily because the keyboard is easier to use from my phone.   Although, depending on the size of your TV, the search may be easier to see, search in the Dish Anywhere App is snap.  Selecting shows to watch live or record uses the same interface as the guide and DVR.

Settings

There are slew of settings for the Dish Anywhere App and to simplify I have provided a list below

• My Receivers
• If you have more than one receiver, this is where you can switch between them.  Personally I have one Joey (the remote unit for the Hopper), but it doesn't count as a receiver.  However, if I had more than one Hopper, I could choose between them here.
• On Demand
• Display Locked Content
• In the On Demand section, unless you have the correct service plan, you will see shows with a pad lock icon in the upper left-hand corner of the included image.  These shows are locked content. If you'd rather not see that, uncheck the box
• Parental Controls 
• Managed only from the website, will take you there if you choose
• Closed Captioning
• If you want to see the closed captioning text on screen in the app when viewing video, check this box
• Send Feedback
• Gives you a large space to write your opinion about this app.  Please do, the more feedback Dish gets, the better the app will become.
• Recordings (Be sure to hit save before leaving this screen, if you made any changes)
• Priority
• How important is this show to you?  There are two options, High and Low. If there is a conflict with the shows you want to record, priority will determine it.  
• (Note: When a receive is offline, all new recordings will be set to the highest priority by default)
• Start Early / End Late
•  If you've ever experienced the annoyance of having the prior show cut off part of the show you were trying to record or that the end of your show ran beyond the end of the hour, this option will help you to remedy that problem.  
• Max recording
• 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,10,15,20,25, or All episodes
• Keep Until
• ...I Delete
• ...Until Space is Needed
• Video Settings
• Show Control Bar on Connection (check box)
• Enable Low Bandwidth Message (check box)
• If the outbound bandwidth at the location of your Hopper receiver is too low, the video will not play. I recommend at least 300 kbps. Cable internet providers can get this up to 5000 kbps, DSL tends to be closer to 1000 kbps
• Video Quality
• Auto, Standard, or High
• Logout ( Hit this and your session is over )
• Privacy Policy
• Has a check box if you'd rather opt-out of being anonymously monitored

I did not use this app nearly as much in the past when the upload bandwidth at home was poor.  But since I installed a DropCam, I had to upgrade the out-bound data speed.  With this change came the ability to stream HD video on the app.  I highly advise against using your cellphone data plan to stream anything from the Hopper.  You will blow through your 2GB of data so fast it will leave you gasping. Find a local free WiFi, most hotels and many restaurants provide it as an incentive for your business.  But stay away from Starbucks as you will not get enough bandwidth.

I can't say enough about the coolness factor of being able to watch satellite TV anywhere.  Dish really does have a good idea and they are setting the standard for entertainment on-the-go.  Now if I could just get it to work on the airplane...

Check out the App on the Google Play store or the Apple App Store

Google Analytics for Android Update

Google Analytics is not a software that you might use unless you have a website and like to get statistics about a website.  But if you do have a Google Analytics account and use Android the new update is a welcome change

The prior version of Google Analytics, although not lacking in options for line chart data, did not offer much more.  Each chart required individual manual setup, which is fine if you only had 1 or 2 sites, but painstaking for 10 or more sites.  Real-time monitoring, standard and custom alerts were available as well, but in some cases required setup from the browser interface.

The new, updated version of Google Analytics runs along the design and style of the majority of Google's apps and products. The colors and formatting are smooth and the layout is much more fluid to fit a smaller mobile screen.  Much more attention was given to the default features available for each site.

Just like in the browser version, from the left can be found the menu of all the various features and options.    Starting from the top where select dates can be chosen or customized there follows five sections to scroll through, including Real-Time, Audience, Traffic Sources, Content, and Conversions. Some of my particular favorites are what would seem to be the most desirable display options.  In the Audience default the total number of visits is displayed including a listing of all the nations and their count of visitors.  In the Traffic Sources section the total page visits is displayed with a colorful circle chart. And yet still in the Content section, Page Views are displayed in a one-weekly calendar format with darkened spaces per hour depending on the volume of visitors.

It is still possible to find the line charts from the prior version of Google Analytics.  By selecting the menu each overview in the five primary sections will display a default line chart plus alternative corresponding charts depending on the data.  But it would be nice to be able to setup your own custom chart displays.

With this new layout, Google is meeting the requests of the users to make charts and graphs that are standardized at the outset.  If they plan on making changes, hopefully it will be synchronizable between the app and browser.

Check it out on the Google Play Store, sorry iOS users, there's no "official" app for you.

Locket: Get paid to unlock your phone

I unlock my phone easily 20 times per hour. It's like my brain goes dead when I look at the phone (Ooh pretty...) and somehow I half forget what I was doing, so inevitably I will need to unlock it again later.
And now there's an app for that.  Rather an app that will pay me to unlock my phone?

Well, not entirely.  There's always a catch, right?  Locket will pay me 1¢ per time I unlock my phone, by putting an overlay over the lock screen with an ad.  I'm sure they're making far more off the eyeballs on the ads, than I am.  But there's no requirement to look at further ads unless I am interested.

When I turn on my phone I see an image, then along the bottom the choice to unlock or get more info. The 1¢ will show whether I am getting paid or not.

Currently there is a cap of 3 per hour on how many times payments are made for unlocking ads. So if I unlock a lot I will see a lot of ads, but not a lot of cash.   I've noticed that sometimes there are no ads on the unlock screen, but have found that if I'm out of range internet.

You'll need a PayPal account to get any cash out. Oh and you will need to view at least 1000 ads before they will allow you take it out ($10.00).   At that rate you will need to have spent a minimum of 2 weeks looking at ads literally every hour of every day.  A somewhat more normal person may take 3 to 4 weeks to do the same.

Signing up for Locket is pretty simple, just follow link and give your info.  I'm not yet sure if you can make more money with multiple Android devices, but I suspect that they may be privy to this action.  Even still, I'm not going to unlock 3 devices, 3 times every hour just to triple my income, that would be like doing real work.  (I wonder if this is going to put Mechanical Turk out of business?)

There is another way to make money faster however and that is through referrals.  Each referral is worth $1 and there does not appear to have an hourly limit (like the ads).

The program is in beta (for now) and I won't be hurt if you don't use my referral link. Just thought y'all might be interested.  Sign up here!

Check out the App on the Google Play Store, sorry iOS users.

New Google Maps for Mobile

The Google Maps update that was announced at Google I/O 2013 is now available on Android.  The new UI simplifies the use of the app and sets a precedence for directions.

You may notice that the app icon for the app has been brightened slightly, with minor hint of color.  All the icons in the map layout have been refreshed with new versions of themselves. The indicator for your home and work locations will be easy to find, as well as the icon that indicates you.  If you can't find your tiny, blue avatar, tap the GPS icon in the lower right corner to center the map. And if you get away from true north the compass icon will appear, to give reference.

The search bar now permanently floats across the top of the map but depending on the hardware, the menu may or may not be near it.  In the Nexus 7 Tablet version the menu is immediately to the left of the search bar, whereas on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, the menu is small tab at the lower left side of the screen.

On the right side of the of the search bar there are the directions and profile icons, respectively. Tapping the directions icon will use Google Now to pull up the most recent locations that you have searched for on any device.  Across the top of the screen you will be given the option for car, public, bicycle, or walking transit.  Google initiates the search with your current location and you can either type a new destination or choose from the list below.

Directions in the new Google Maps is quite a different experience from the prior version.  All the new colors and lines not only improve the visual, but seem to enhance the ease of finding your way.  Along with the most direct route, Google Maps offers two alternatives. Again the presentation will vary depending on the device you are using.  Route options are available offering the ability to avoid toll roads or highways. And if you'd rather have either the turn-by-turn directions or use the Navigation feature, you need only tap the labeled route to access the feature. (A note: Google Maps Navigation is in beta, consider the road before you before trusting the navigation system completely) Whether or not you choose to display traffic patterns in searching for directions, Google Maps will include colored shading on the route to offer this info.

The menu icon offers new features from that are also different from the previous version of Google Maps. Although traffic and satellite views are both carry-overs, it is now possible to select bicycle map mode, public transit mode or Google Earth mode (which requires the installation of the Google Earth app).   The bicycle app will display a map of the trails and roads that have been reported as "safe" for bicycles.  The standard map will have an overlay of green lines that indicate where it is best to ride. This does not however bar you from modifying the route to use non-recommended roads or from recommending roads that have yet to be included in the "safe" list.

For public transit, it may depend on the city as to whether Google has included the maps for buses, local trolleys, or trains.  But in the San Francisco Bay area, at least for now, it is possible to view the Cal Trains traffic in the same colors as traffic on the roads.  It's not obvious if this means that the train is on time or if there are just a greater number of passengers.

A nifty feature of the new Google Maps is the search for nothing.  If you tap the "search" icon on the left side of the search bar without having typed anything, you will get Google Now and a whole host of options.  Google has packed colorful background with the "Explore" icon across it, local services and nearby items from your recent travel history.

The Explore feature will bring up a very colorful display options including Eat, Drink, Shop, Play and Sleep, with corresponding visual appeal and topical suggestions.  It's a wonder that this is not an app by itself considering the amount of thought that went into it.  Follow the explore feature are a select number of highly searched reference points such as grocery, pharmacy, ATM, fueling stations and more. And if these features do not impress you, you can always revert back to your prior search locations.

If you're wondering where Latitude has disappeared to, Google hasn't forgotten about you.  there's a link in the menu that will take you a site to explain the missing feature.  But from the slew of features packed into the new app, it's hard to miss a feature so under-utilized.

This update definitely reflected the necessity of a long overdue update.  But as it seems with typical Google fashion, they have yet again nailed, if not exceeded, expectations.  If you do not already have the Google Maps installed or haven't gotten you update, check it out on the Play Store or App Store.

Adsense Dashboard for Android

If you're a blogger or the operator of a website you probably know what Google Adsense and likely are using it.  Adsense Dashboard for Android is a brilliant tool and one that I have been using for at least a year. Although Google did not create a mobile app for Adsense, a smart and resourceful fellow named Gregory Block did.  The following is a review of that app.

Requiring access via your Google account, Adsense Dashboard will give you the latest info from your Adsense account in a summary format. The app is fairly simple but full of information. There are four pages that you can view in the app

1. Today / Yesterday Revenue
2. Top Custom / URL channels (last 7 days)
3. Charts
4. CTR / RPM / Est Earnings (last 14 days)

On the first page you will likely see at the very least Today's and Yesterday's revenue, Cost per Click (CPC), Click through Rate (CTR), Revenue per Thousand hits (RPM), page views, clicks, month-to-date, year-to-date, and lifetime.  The second page is bit more simple in that it contains the top custom channels and top URL channels of the last seven days.  I've noticed in my use of the app over the last year that the information, though it can be updated to the moment is not always completely accurate.  As time and the day progresses you may see the change particularly in the estimates of revenue. 

The third page contains the graphical line charts of revenue, CPC, CTR, RPM, page views, and clicks over the last period of your choosing as the default in the web app.  I like to track the last 30 days, so that's what I see, but the default is usually the last 7 days. The fourth page shows the last 2 weeks of page CTR, Page RPM and your estimated earnings for that day.  At the bottom of the screen you will see the averages of each column as well as the total for that period.  

Settings

There aren't much in the way of settings, but like many Google oriented apps, it is easy to switch between accounts via the settings.  Most of the settings are to allow you to easily track the status of your earnings.  When docked the app can be set to keep the screen on or even launch to Adsense Dashboard when docked.  Other than these features it is possible to set the refresh time for how often you would like updates.  The default is every 5 minutes, but if you tend to check the stats often, you'll notice that it will update every time that you access the app. 

Widget

The widget is very simple, but allocated to a 4x1 space on the desktop.  It simply displays a line chart of your pages views and clicks in a red and blue respectively without a scale chart.  And to the right there is a rotating display of your current Earnings, Clicks, and CTR.  At the bottom left is the time since the last update of information. 

I highly recommend this application to anyone who likes to keep an eye on their earnings from Adsense or at the very least the activity on their website(s).  I am as of yet unaware of an iOS version, as Google Adsense is a Google product.  Gregory Block does not appear to have written an equivalent for iOS, but there may be others who have done something similar. 

Thanks to Mr. Block for a job well done, you can see his blog here

And download his app from the Google Play Store here.

Mint.com Personal Finance

Oh wow, I can't believe that I've never written about this App.  I've been using Mint since 2007.  Although the Android App was not initially available (Android was released in Oct 2008), when it came it was great. Mint is the best way to manage all your accounts in one, simply, easily, and for free.

Whether the concept of Mint.com was to make a refreshing impression on money management, or to say that you could feel like you were minting new money, the idea is as simple as the name.  Connect all your accounts, banks, investment firms, credit cards, loans, mortgages and Mint will track it all in one column.

From what I've read, Mint was started by a frustrated user of Intuit's Quicken product, Aaron Patzer.  He formed Mint.com and did what Quicken had not been able to accomplish with paid software.  It was barely two years before Intuit came calling to buy Mint.com after its success was proven.  Sometimes it just takes some serious action to prove a point, thankfully he did.

I have spoken about Mint.com to many people, but I've found that not everyone is confident in giving up all their banking information to a single company.  This I can understand and will assure you dear reader that Mint.com understands this.  It would be the death knell to Mint if any of your information were to escape.  To reassure your confidence in their ability to maintain your information, Mint uses 128-bit SSL encryption which is validation by VeriSign and TRUSTe.  This level of security is the very same that is used by your bank.  Additionally Mint is a "read-only" service, no money can or will be moved by Mint.com at any time.

If you've yet to use Mint.com, then I hope that this review of the app leads you to appreciate the idea.  Where quicken offered the ability for users to maintain their own finances, Mint practically does it all for you.  Sure, it would be advisable to manage you budget and enter all your finances manually, but in the ages of computer conveniences, why would you?

Mint wants the App interface to be as simple as the website interface, so when you connect for the first time through your mobile device, they will request some basic settings for security. You'll be asked to setup a PIN for access if you use the widget on Android, but not if you just use the icon.

In the main screen of the app you will find that the interface is quite simple.  There are six major sections of the main screen: Accounts, Budgets, Cash Flow, Alerts, Advice, and Investments.

Your account list will include every account that you have connected to Mint.  As soon as you access this page, if you have an internet connection, the app will attempt to update all your accounts. You will be able to drill down into each account through this interface to find each account and see the transactions of each.

Any Budgets that you have created will appear here and the extent to which you have used them will appear as a yellow bar.  Below Budgets is the Cash Flow.  Although the image shows that they user has spent far more than the income received this is only representative of the current month.  I've found that because my mortgage is due at the beginning of the month and I do not always receive a paycheck immediately, that this number is usually more in the red for a bit.

Within the cash flow listing there are two columns that can be further investigated.  All expenditures and Income can be sorted either by Category or by Merchant.

Further down are the Alerts and Advice.  Alerts will have a number in yellow that indicates what activities have occurred recently that you may be interested in.  Examples of alerts could be large amount of money spent or received, that are greater than the usual numbers. You may have a bill coming up in a few days and Mint will give you notice of that.  Advice however is the core to how Mint makes money while offering these services at no cost to you.  If you happen to spend a lot on fuel for your vehicle(s), Mint will most likely have a credit card that has a discount.  Or if your credit is poor, Mint will offer ways to consolidate debts.

Lastly, Investments are kept separate from the accounts section.  Again you can drill down into this listing for the accounts associated with your investments.  I've noticed that depending on the type of investment that you have, you may or may not see the the dividends.

Finally, I would like to note that occasionally there may be issues with connections to certain banks and institutions.   At least one of my credit unions and on of my credit cards has regular issues with connectivity.  Fortunately, it is not a problem with Mint, as it is often just a lag in update time with that particular financial institution.  I highly recommend Mint and the app for both Android and iOS.  It's made keeping track of my finances a snap.

Check out Mint on Android and iOS.