Here you go the show notes from Monday, March 19, along with the podcast.  Enjoy to fun and games and let me know what you think.

Have fun with your new iPods if you an owner of the “new” iPod.

Liquipel http://www.liquipel.com
Save your Smartphone from becoming a Dumbphone (or any other electronic device) when they get dropped in water.

Water damage has threatened our devices for far too long. Liquipel protects every feature of your device with a revolutionary waterproof shield.

Pinterest http://pinterest.com
Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

At this point in time to use it you must request an invite to the program. Without a “membership” you can only browse a little of the content.

True Crypt http://www.truecrypt.org/
If you carry around free open-source disk encryption software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Thanks for looking, listening and I hope to see you back next month, Monday, April 16 @ 10:00o am on WSVA Radio with Jim Britt.

Tags: android, computer, e-book, ebook, Email, fun and games, google, iPod, Jim Britt, radio, tablet PC, windows 7, windows 8, windows operating system, WSVA

When I do talks and meetings with people who read this column around the area, there is a question I get most every time.  That question is, "Where do you get ideas for the columns?"  That is a great question and there are several answers to it. 

My favorite place is from emails my readers send to me.  You all are full of great ideas which I can often turn into useful columns for everyone else.  So, as always, keep those emails coming to me!  I usually get back to each of you but sometimes it may take a few days so be patient.  Also, if you email me and don’t hear back within a week to ten days shoot me another to wake me up.

I also use RSS feeds which I have written about, but today I would like to talk about another Google feature, "Google Alerts".

I realize that I mention "Google" often, (I even mentioned this particular part of it a couple of years ago) but I consider this to be one of Google’s top 10 features.  Google Alerts (google.com/alerts) has been around for over ten years and I have been using it almost since the beginning.  It works very well. 

Let’s say that you have an avid interest in ostriches.  Coinciding with your interest you would like to be updated anytime there is new information on the feeding habits of these big birds.  Go to "google.com/alerts" and login with your Gmail account username and password.  iGoogle.com is another good site I regularly visit but I will just mention it in passing this time.  If you don’t already have one, get a free Gmail account at any Google site to start enjoying the many features of Google.

At the Create a Google Alert area, first enter your search terms like, "feeding habits of ostriches." Next, the type of item you want to search for; News, Blogs, Web, Comprehensive, Video or Groups.  You can sign up for any or all of these categories.  Now choose how often you want to receive updates; daily, weekly or as it happens.  Daily is the one I use most regularly.  Then last, decide if you want all of the news types you chose or just the "best."  Depending on your set up you could be inundated with site links, but once set up you may always go back and change your original decisions.  

Google will now be on the lookout for those terms and email you a list of them as often as you like.  This is a great way to keep up-to-date with sports, hobbies, politics, medical conditions and the list goes on ad infinitum. 

It has been interesting to me when on occasion I write a column about a particular product or web site and the owner of the product or site will contact me to give me additional information, thanks or condemnations.  I have asked each time if they used Google Alerts to find me and the answer has, so far, always been yes. 

Happy information gathering!

Tags: birds, common sense, conspiracy, favorite place, find, Gmail, google, Google Alerts, information, ostriches, privacy, scare, search terms

Over five years ago I wrote an article that told us about how Google had just bought up another small company.  That company was found on the web at grandcentral.com and it was evidently called Grand Central.  As the years went on I continued using the program with its new Google branding and it worked well, but I never started using it fulltime.  A couple of months ago I made the switch and now Google Voice is one of my favorite applications/sites.  As usual with all Google products, once it hit the mainstream, it works pretty much flawlessly. 

Google Voice has so many features that I will not be able to mention them all here; however, at Google Voice Help you can find out all you need to know…and more.  With some great videos here.

Remember, these features are my top five favorites.  Your opinions may vary with usage.

1)    First up is a paraphrase from Lord of the Rings, "One number to rule them all."  Google Voice allows you to have one phone number and you can set up which phones you want it to ring, from none to many.  So if someone calls your GV number it can ring your cell, home and office phones all at the same time.  This allows you to receive the call wherever you are located.

2)    The next feature I find very useful and fascinating is that all messages are transcribed and sent to your email, as is the actual recording.  So you do not have to call in to get your messages since they are immediately in your email.  This allows you to keep them as long as you want and even email them to someone else if you wish.  The transcription works pretty well but is not perfect; however, it has been my experience that they are close enough to easily interpret what they mean.  And sometimes they provide a laugh. 

3)    Next, you receive a call.  It shows you who is calling you, even a picture if you have them in your Gmail contacts with a photo.  You can choose to either answer the incoming call or send it to voice mail.  The interesting thing is that if you send them to voice mail you cannot only listen as they leave a message but you can interrupt and speak with them while the caller is talking.

4)    The next feature is one that sometimes moves to the top of my favorites.  If you have a person listed in your Gmail Contacts and decide you no longer want to hear from them you can block their number.  You block them from within your contacts settings online.  Once they are blocked and they call you, they get the standard, "We’re sorry you have reached a number that is no longer in service…"

5)    If you need to conference in many people on one call, like your seven member team from work Google Voice provides free (and very easy to use) Conference calling.

These are just the top five features I like in Google Voice.  There are many others like, answer on one phone and transfer to another, recording calls, setting when and which phone should ring by either time or who the caller is, free text messaging and on and on.

You get a local phone number free along with most everything else.  To quote Google, "All the features are free, except for calls placed outside the United States or Canada; you’ll be able to make those calls through Google Voice at an affordable price"…if you wish.

Tags: Email, google, laugh, lord of the rings, mainstream, office phones, paraphrase, phone number, transcription

A few weeks ago I said that, "Google is just a great source of interesting, informative and OK, just plain fun applications you can get for free…at least the large percentage are free."  Due to a large amount of email regarding Google I figured it is time to get onboard the Google train again.  It seems like every several years I have columns about new Google related things, so today we start another cluster of them.

Google Cloud Print is a fairly recent technology that has obviously been developed by Google.  Google Cloud Print (bit.ly/wlbCwv) can connect all of your personal (most of us have at most one) and business printers using the web.

Picture this; you are at your local favorite breakfast shop writing your weekly newspaper column.  Oh wait, that is what I am doing right now.  You remember that you need to print something to take with you to work the next day.  There are many ways you can digitally get this information to yourself to use tomorrow.  You could copy the file to your thumb drive – if you have it in your pocket, email the document to yourself, put the file in your Dropbox account (sign up for free here, http://bit.ly/aszzao) or ask the restaurant if you can use their printer on their private corporate network. These are all doable.  Okay  the last one is very, very iffy and the others require you to remember to check your device or email and print the file before you go to work.

What if you lived in a time where you could print the document to your home computer from wherever you were – as long as you had an internet connection?  Well that time has arrived! 

That is exactly what you can do with Google Cloud printing.  And I did not mention it yet, but you know me; it is another free service from Google.  All you need is a free Google/Gmail account.

Google Cloud Print has been made to work on notebooks, phones, tablet PCs and any other web-connected device you want to print from including Apple products.  You will read in some places that it requires a "cloud ready" printer, I say, "Malarkey!" I have it installed on my old Lexmark printer at home and it works fine.  As long as you set it up the way Google tells you and leave your home computer on and connected to the internet you are good-to-go.  The cloud ready devices connect to the internet by themselves and do not need a computer to connect them.  Not a big deal in my opinion.

It really depends on which device you want to print from as to how you install the application, so I will not get into details here.  However, the setup is very easy and has worked flawlessly for me on my phone, multiple computers and my Android tablet.

To get answers to any questions you may have regarding the "what ifs" and "how tos" of Google Cloud Print visit their support site at "support.google.com/cloudprint".  I imagine all of your questions can be answered there. 

Have fun printing from anywhere to anywhere!  Next week I believe we will be looking at Google Voice, so get ready!

Tags: breakfast, business printers, doable, Gmail, google, google gmail account, great source, home computer, internet connection, newspaper column, notebooks, panera, recent technology, thumb drive

Today, “Facebook” seemed to take over the show.  Do you like the new timeline feature? Do you think it should be optional, removed, left in place or something else? Do you even know/care what it is, if so visit PC Magazine and see the lowdown about it?

Let us know, but while you are thinking here is what else we discussed on todays show, along with the entire podcast here.

Apple Textbooks http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks
Introducing an entirely new kind of textbook that’s dynamic, current, engrossing, and truly interactive. A textbook created by publishers using a new authoring tool from Apple. A textbook brought to life by iPad.

Paper textbooks are expensive to produce and expensive for schools to buy (RON’S THOUGHT: but will that really change? Look at the cost of paper books to ebooks now…no difference). Which is why schools are forced to use a book for several years to make the finances work. But information changes so quickly that some textbooks are out of date almost before they’re published. And as books are passed along from one student to the next, they get more highlighted, dog-eared, tattered, and worn. Heavy backpacks. Weighed-down students.

It’s no secret that paper textbooks are heavy. But what you may not know is that backpack weight is an increasing problem among kids. Studies show that heavy backpacks can lead to both chronic back pain and poor posture — and many kids are carrying a quarter of their body weight in textbooks.

Pill Identifier is a good one. You find a pill laying around the house. Give it the numbers stamped into it, the shape and or color and it tells you what the pill is.

Dad Shoots Daughter’s Computer 
(Be warned! Some profanity ensues.)

Agree with the dad or not, I think he gets the point across.

Tags: cell, common ailment, drug information, facebook, foxnews, ibooks, lookup drugs, mobile phone, pc magazine, phobias, retail price, security authentication, smartphone, textbooks, timeline, wet phone

I do not have any idea if any of you are like me, but I like keeping my eye on the weather.  My wife and I have found that online you can get many variations in not only weather predictions but even the current temperature…depending on which online weather site you visit.

For instance, right now for Harrisonburg it says that the current temperature is 35^o (wunderground.com, my personal favorite), 36^o (weatherforyou.com), 37^o (intellicast.com) 39^o (noaa.gov) or 40^o (accuweather.com) all depending on which weather site you go to.  I know that is only a five degree range which is not a big deal; however, it would nice to be able to have an absolutely, positively accurate current temperature wouldn’t it? Now if you want to get the most accurate forecast from those or any other sites, forget it.  You should be prepared for confusion and perhaps frustration.  After viewing several different weather sites you may come away thinking that they are actually reports for another convenient location and not your local area.

So today I would like to share with you a site that gives the absolutely ACCURATE weather reports, for anywhere in the world, that you can make all your outdoor plans according to and be guaranteed to have it turn out perfect. 

Well, OK, I would like to but I can’t.  However, I can point you to a very interesting weather site.  Weather Spark (weatherspark.com) may also vary in reporting weather conditions from other sites, but you can find all sorts of interesting things related to weather there.

When you first visit the site all you need to do is enter your zip code, press your enter key and give it five to ten seconds.  A Google map will appear on the left with some of your local temperatures filled in (again they may disagree with other sites, but that’s the way it is).  On the right is what the site titles a, "Beautiful Weather Graph".  Well, I do not know about the "beautiful" part but it sure is a great graph of the past, current and expected temperatures for the day.  You will also see the current temperature guess along with the current sky conditions, projected temps for the day, surrounded by the historical highs, lows and averages including the predicted wind directions, all by the hour.

I don’t have enough room here to tell you about everything but if you are interested, my advice for you is to go to the site, hover your mouse all over the screen and click wherever you see a button or a link that looks clickable.  You will see all sorts of historical and predicted weather info, learn something and maybe have some fun along the way.

You know when I was in college taking one of my meteorology courses I sure could have used this site.  It would have made the entire course easier, but the part about gathering historical data from the huge volumes of weather documentation would have been a cakewalk.  Instead of a week or so of falling asleep while looking up the data I could have completed it in 20 minutes.  YAY for technology!

Tags: accurate weather, current temperature, degree, frustration, meteorology, noaa, predicted weather, reports, variations, weather conditions, weather predictions, weather sites, zip code

Two warnings precede this information today.  First, I like most Google products and am a big Google supporter (read prejudiced).  Secondly, I work for Ntelos Wireless. Since I am going to mention phones I should warn you of any other possible prejudice.  When I talk about smartphones, etc. I am giving my personal experience not corporate information.

Now let’s get to the fun stuff.  Google is a great source of interesting, informative and OK, just plain fun applications you can get for free…at least most are free.  The one we will look at today scares some people.  I am in the camp of those others who could care less.  I imagine if you are a terrorist on the run from the Department of Homeland Security you would have an issue or two with Google Latitude.  But if you are a normal boring individual like me you do not mind it much.

Basically, if you install it on your smartphone, tablet pc, etc. (from your device’s marketplace) you can give your mapped location to only those you choose.  You can also hide your location whenever you choose.  The entire world will not be able to see your location, only your chosen "stalkers".  In my case only my wife and a couple of good friends can see where I am at any given time.  I only have one girlfriend and I’m married to her, so I don’t ever need to hide my location. 

Before anyone can view your location, you must either accept an invitation from them asking you to add them as a friend or you must request they share their location with you.  Then you must chose to either "Share best available location", which gives your most accurate location or "Share only city level location," which shows them the general area you are in, but nothing specific.  And of course, you can remove a person from your list and not share anything with them.

How close they are able to get to your location depends on the quality of your phone and how well Latitude is behaving.   Occasionally I will check it for fun when my wife and I are in the same location.  It has shown us to be over a mile apart but usually it is accurate to within 25-50 feet.  Hey, it is free what do you expect?

If I know my wife is leaving somewhere and I am going to meet her somewhere else I can follow her path on Latitude and ascertain her approximate location.  This helps me get there on time.  Of course, I could also call her but that just isn’t the geek way to do things now, is it? 

The last thing I will mention today is that you can go online to "google.com/latitude" and log into your Latitude account.  From there you can choose Friends, Location History or Check-ins.   Friends shows where your friends are which is pretty obvious.  The Location History gives you just that, where you have been. If you go to DoubleClicks.info you can see where I’ve been for the last 30 days.  Check-ins are neat too.  When you go somewhere you can set Latitude on your phone to remind you to check-in where you stop for a while.  You can add a picture to it, a comment or just check-in.  I just checked in where I am enjoying a pastry and my fourth cup of java.  Where do you think I may be?

Tags: accurate location, corporate information, department of homeland security, entire world, fun stuff, girlfriend, good friends, latitude, location, longitude, prejudice, security, stalkers, tablet

I was in one of my favorite places one Saturday morning recently talking to some geek friends.  One of them mentioned that their wallet was getting so full of  "store cards" they were thinking about just tossing them in the trash and not participating.  I then said those famous words you know so well in today’s society, "There’s an app for that."

You know the cards that he was talking about, don’t you?  The plastic cards you use to keep track of purchases at particular stores.  We are all familiar with the routine when you purchase something; they scan your card and give you a discount after the two-hundredth purchase.  Maybe you earned a free donut or get a discount on gas after you purchase a specified amount.  Not only do you get a small card to fit neatly in your wallet or purse but you also get a little card that slides onto your key ring. 

You get one of these for each store…now you get the picture.  Here is a way to get rid of them!

Check your cards now and see how many you have – could there be five, ten, 20 or more?  I had eight of them at one time including my library card.  That is until I discovered the Key Ring app for my smartphone over a year ago.  There are links at the Key Ring site (keyringapp.com) to download the app from your particular phone.  

It is really a slick little program.  After you install the app you need to set up a free account with your email address and password like usual.  Then start by scanning the barcode on the card you want to add to Key Ring.  It will get most everything that is listed in the barcode, like the cards logo, company name, your name, etc.  If the particular card is not in Key Ring’s huge database of stores you can enter it yourself.  Some cards do not have a barcode.  For those you can type in the account number manually.

Once you have scanned in your cards give the application a few minutes to update. 

One I use is the "Regal Entertainment Group Crown Club" card.  Using my phone and Key Ring I went to the movies and used the app.  Now this one does not have a barcode; however, the ticket taker typed in the number and it worked fine.  I also asked if they got many of these "cards" on phone and she said, "Every now-and-then."  So at least you and I aren’t the only ones.  Key Ring also listed that I had earned free popcorn.  I walked over to the snack counter, they scanned the "card" on my phone and I walked away with the popcorn.  Immediately afterward the free popcorn disappeared off of the Key Ring app.  Slick! 

Once you have them set up head over to the Key Ring site and see what other cards you can sign up for at the site.  It can search by your location.  I found two tire stores and 13 pharmacies I can sign up for now.  Wow, so many deals, so little time (and money)!

Tags: barcode, company logo, donuts, favorite places, friends, geeks, key ring, library card, morning, plastic cards, purse, Saturday, smartphone, store cards, trash, wallet

Thank you for all of the emails over the last couple of weeks regarding the past year in review.  Keep in mind you can find all the articles online at DNRonline.com and my site, DoubleClicks.info if you want to catch up.

Many emails asked about the Android Market link (market.android.com).  Before starting you should note that I work for Ntelos Communications, Waynesboro, VA, USA (that should make disclosure folks happy).  I have used Windows, Blackberry, iPhone (not as much) and now Android phones.  Android phones are currently my preferred flavor.  Keep in mind Android is the name of the operating system (created by Google) not the actual phone manufacturer, etc.  Again, that is opinion and I am sure there are a bazillion people out there who would argue with that statement.  But, I write the column…

The above mentioned site is the default Google site for apps available for this type of phone.  You can get free apps and some that can cost from less that one dollar to several dollars.  Of course, there are also free apps which are missing the enhanced features you pay for if you get the "Pro" version.  For instance, a game may have two adventure levels for free but if you purchase it you will get all 30 game levels.  There are games, business, utilities, entertainment, education and any other type of applications/programs you can imagine.

According to Distimo (bit.ly/ygIsBD), a company that watches of the stats of mobile apps, as of December, 2011, there were 400,000 Android apps in the marketplace.  Of those applications over 270,000 were free. 

In addition to the Android Market there are many other places to get apps.  You can search for apps online or go to specific sites.  Here are the other two sites I frequent. 

My number two favorite after the default market is the Amazon "Appstore for Android" (amzn.to/x2w2F5).  Many of the apps in the market at Amazon and everywhere else are repeated in each site online; however, prices may vary and some are only available at specific sites. 

Why is Amazon my #2?  If you log into the Amazon site you can get one free app every day.  I check the site most every day and have 250+ apps; however, I have only installed about ten of them.  I have the rest in reserve for future use, testing or forgetting about them.  If you buy one (for $0) you do not have to install it on your phone or tablet at that time; or ever.  Some of them are junk but some of them are excellent.  One that currently costs $9.99, "OfficeSuite Pro 5" I got free several months ago.  This application is basically an office program that will allow you to view, create and edit Microsoft Office files, i.e., Word, Excel and PowerPoint files with your smartphone. 

The final site I like is called 101 Best Android Apps (101bestandroidapps.com).  This is where new apps are released by developers before they are officially approved by Google for the Android Market. 

Wikipedia says that the approval process for apps is that Google, "…places some restrictions on the types of apps that can be published, in particular not allowing ‘sexually explicit material’, ‘Violence and Bullying’, ‘Hate Speech’, ‘Impersonation or Deceptive Behavior’, copyrighted material (without permission)…"

The 101 Best Android Apps site mentioned above allows many of the unapproved ones to be downloaded to your phone as an .apk file (similar to .exe for Windows).  Warning, be very careful when loading an .apk file as it could contain harmful code…check out the reputation of the developer first! 

Tags: android, apps, Blackberry, disclosure, free apps, google, iphone, microsoft, operating system, phone manufacturer, preferred flavor, smartphone, windows, year in review

Welcome to the first show of 2012!  This is the beginning of our third year and I am certainly glad you are still listening and reading.

I want more of you this year to sign up and be members of the site. It costs (my favorite amount) $0.00, all you need is an email address and I will NOT SPAM you.  I think I sent out one email last year to all the members.

So anyway here you go with the notes from the latest show along with a link to the podcast if you would prefer to listen to the show.

Thanks for joining us.

Ron

Geocaching with Android http://www.geocaching.com/android/m
Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online.

Now you can geocache using your Android phone and Groundspeak’s Geocaching for Android Application.

Dad creates Autism App  http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/dad-creates-app-autistic-sons-15346472

Ron’s nephew, Joe Hill, creates an iPhone app to help his two kids, the family and the rest of the world with Autism.

I hope you are able to listen in and call in next month along with visiting the site between now and next month  on Monday, the 2oth of February, 2012.

Tags: aeir app, american life project, autism, bad news, broadcast, cable, content providers, e-book, e-reader, foxnews, internet, Jim Britt, love affair, new tv, pew trust, Ron Doyle, traditional tv, tv manufacturers, WSVA