Why am I writing this series of articles?  Well, due to an article I wrote a couple of weeks ago and the number of emails I received about it would be my reason.  The article, “More Android Apps” covered where to get some of the best, latest and also worst applications around for your Android devices.

From the emails I received questioning me about what I had on my tablet (Toshiba Thrive) here is my personal list of Thrive apps that I am currently running, with links to each app.  I will not discuss what each app does here because you can easily click them and read all you want on the Android Market.

I am breaking them down how I have them grouped using the first app I will mention, ADW Launcher EX.  The list right now if from my “Reading Folder”.

• B&N Nook
• Barcode Scanner
• Bible
• Evernote
• Facebook
• Fox News
• Moon+ Reader Pro
• Office Talk Free
• OfficeSuite Pro
• Google Reader
• Sportacular
• StumbleUpon
• USA Today
• Wikipedia
• WordPress

More next timer about my, “Media Folder”.

Tags: android, barcode, barcode scanner, bible, books, e-reader, ereader, Evernote, facebook, Fox, fox news, google, launcher, moon, news, nook, office, pro, Sportacular, toshiba, WordPress, yahoo

As I stated last week, I annually provide links to all of the sites we have visited throughout the previous year at Double Click.

Here is part 2. Remember, if the site addresses are too long to type I have shortened them with bit.ly. Here they are in their order of appearance with short descriptions of each.

• Yahoo! Mail (mail.yahoo.com) the most popular free online email provider.
• Windows Live/Hotmail (live.com or hotmail.com) the next most popular online email site.
• Gmail (gmail.com) next in the online email list, and my personal favorite. I use it for most of my email needs.
• AOL Mail (webmail.aol.com) last in the popular email list, and my least favorite. Yeah, the world finally agrees with me!
• Gmail hacked? (bit.ly/9u1CZi) here are instructions on what you should do if your Gmail account is hacked, such as someone other than you getting your password and changing it. The other email providers have this too. Just search for them if needed.
• KeePass (keepass.info) an app that will keep all of your usernames and passwords in one secure location. Can be used on your computer, thumb drive and on most Smart Phones.
• Lucy Phone (lucyphone.com) when you are put on hold for too long let this site call you back as soon as a real person comes online. You don’t have to wait on hold.
• Windows Live Mail (bit.ly/aMeCl4) downloadable email program from Microsoft (replaced Outlook Express).
• IMAP (bit.ly/bYXOtk) explains what IMAP does with your email. This could be good and could be bad. Just be careful if you use it.
• Run Pee (runpee.com) check out current movies for the best place to take a “pee” break and not miss anything.
• Multiple RSS readers, reader.google.com, Viigo.com, bloglines.com, feedreader.com. If you don’t know what RSS is, Google it and find out if you want to use one of these.
• Google Calendar Sync (bit.ly/google-cal-sync) easily synchronizes your Outlook calendar with Google’s calendar.
• Skype (skype.com) and Google Voice (voice.google.com) two different but similar telephony apps, complete with many details. So check the sites carefully.
• 43marks.com, create your own ultimate start page with your favorite links.
• MedicAlert (medicalert.org) identify your medical condition and give rescue personnel necessary info.
• TAC Drive (tacdrive.com) similar to above but I like it much better.
• Blogger.com here you can create your own blog site very easily.
• Heritage Basket Weaving & Chair Caning (hbs1991.wordpress.com) a friend’s site using Live Writer.
• Windows Live Essentials (bit.ly/windowle) several very good apps from Microsoft including Live Writer.

  That is all for 2010, see you next week to start 2011!

Tags: appearance, blank mail, Double Click, email providers, gmail account, keepass, lucy, microsoft, outlook express, previous year, real person, smart phones, thumb drive, usernames and passwords, yahoo, yahoo mail

Last week we talked about the top online email programs.  Today I will discuss the top two I have heard about from readers and others in the area.

Although, Yahoo! Mail was listed as number one around the world, those I have heard from put Gmail and Windows Live Mail as their favorites.  Mine is not a very scientific poll since I used emails from you all and asked people I work with.  Keep in mind, the majority of my coworkers are geeks which could be skewing the results. 

Windows Live Mail (WLM from here on out) has two different address formats.  In 1996 there was Hotmail.com.  Then in 2005 Microsoft decided to revamp the name and add more functionality so Live Mail was born. Therefore, if you have an older account you have a "hotmail.com" address, while the newer members have "live.com" as their address.  Being the geek tester that I am, I have one of each but rarely use either.

With Gmail everyone has the same domain in their address.  They are all formatted as, name@gmail.com.  Gmail started in 2004 by invitation only and then went public for everyone in 2007. 

WLM  will very shortly (maybe by the time you read this) be expanding storage on the site to 25GB.  They will allow this for email and all other types of files with their "Live Sky Drive" app.  Gmail started out with 1 GB of storage and continues to expand daily.  It is now at approximately 7.5 GB.  The issue I have with Gmail is that the storage is not contained in one location.

As stated above Gmail provides an ever increasing 7.5 GB of storage for email only.  Google’s Picasa Web Albums offers 1 GB of storage for photos and videos only. Google Docs gives you 1 GB for everything else; all of your docs, spreadsheets, presentations etc.  You should know this free storage is not transferable from one product or application to another.  My belief is that Google will be merging them together sooner or later. It will most likely be sooner, once Microsoft finishes rolling out their 25 GB.

Both WLM and Gmail offer calendars, address books and more online.  One very important factor is that it is all free.  Of course, both offer upgrades in storage size for a charge.  The basics should be more than enough for the average user.

After doing a review of the two I found that even though I exclusively use Gmail; Live Mail has a lot to offer.  Of course, there is Google Voice but more on that another time.

Tags: applications, Email, Gmail, live mail, microsoft, online, yahoo

I get a lot of questions about online email programs.  I hear: Which one is safest?  Which one is best?  Which one has the better features?  Etcetera, etcetera.  I have to say that I believe a lot of those questions can best be answered by each individual.  You may have to try out several if you don’t use one as your main email program now.

I prowled around the net looking for the most popular programs and found the following as of May, 2010.  At that time, the most popular email websites according to “Email Marketing Reports” were Yahoo! Mail, Windows Live Hotmail, Gmail and AOL Mail.  This data is based on US Internet usage and is in descending order of popularity. First of all I wonder who does not have an email account by now.  However, I am sure new users hit the net every day.  Toward the end of 2009 there were a reported 1.4 Billion active email accounts in the world.  That works out to about one for every five people on earth.  So there are still many out there that have none.

Many users have multiple email accounts.  For instance, I have one specifically for this column.  I have another one for friends and family, an extra for online purchases and a final one acts as a “throwaway” account.  The last one is used when I have to sign up on a site for something and I know that it will create more spam.  I use it for what I need and then check it every week or so and delete all of the junk mail.

In some respects I realize that I am not that much different from other geeks.  I imagine that in reality less than 1/5 people have email accounts.  As an example, my wife, a non-geek, has two email accounts – one for personal use and the other for work.  I would imagine that is more the norm.

As for me I have tried them all.  However, some I haven’t looked at in years.  In the past I have  used all of the top four and still have those accounts active.  I know they are because I checked them this week.  Over the long haul I have chosen to go with Gmail.com as my main online email provider.  They have other extras I really appreciate although Windows Live mail is looking good.  Maybe we will look at that next week.

Let me know which online email services you use and like best.

Tags: aol, Email, Gmail, windows live, yahoo