Long Story Short

Now that my Droid Incredible is out of warranty and contract, I can freely mess with it a bit. So, I decided to root it and install Cyanogenmod7. First, I saved all my apps installation files using the Astro app. That was the easiest step.

I found instructions for my specific phone at Androidforums.com. The instructions were confusing as all get out. I would never have figured this out on my own, though. But it wasn’t clear when I was supposed to be executing steps on the referenced HTCdev site or on the command line. So, I ended up going through the process a few times.

But many hours later, my phone is rooted and back in service. Would I recommend rooting your Android phone. Not so much. I actually think I like the HTC Sense better than any of the ROMs I’ve checked out.

The first thing I noticed after installing CM7 was I missed having the HTC widgets and keyboard. I didn’t realize I would be giving up one of my favorite features on an Android phone. I used to be able to long press the search button and give a voice command. That broke also. At first I was a little panicked. Then I found out that all I needed to do was to add the Sense Analog Clock widget and the Google Voice Search app. I changed my default launcher to the Holo Launcher from the Google Play Store.

The most significant benefit was that my battery life doubled. Free at last from having to have my phone charging every four hours or so. The other benefit was that now I can take screenshots – just like iPhones have been doing from the beginning.

It was time to take a chance and find out whether rooting was worth it to me. Now, I know. If you’re familiar with the rooting process, perhaps it is. If your idea of fun is mucking around with your phone and entering command line prompts on your computer, you’re as weird as I am and you might want to try it, too. Or, if you really just can’t stand the skin that your cellphone manufacturer put on your phone, it might be worth it.

I’m anxious to see the new Nexus and new iPhone before I buy another phone. Having a new ROM with improved performance might just keep me entertained until then.

Suddenly, Otixo has become a much more important service to me. It is convenient that otixo.com has a web app that allows a user to easily copy a file from one cloud storage service to another. You can easily move a file from your Skydrive to your Google Drive, for example. But frankly I don’t need that service very much.

I like to do the majority of my computer work on my iPad. CloudOn is an awesome app that lets me use MS Office to edit files on my Google Drive and Dropbox, but only when my iPad is online. (Strangely, Skydrive is not an option even though it is an obvious pairing with MS Office.)

Offline, I have to use Pages and Numbers. The good news is that these apps let us store to a webdav server. Somehow, I had missed that Otixo offered a webdav server that links back to all of the cloud storage services previously linked to Otixo by a user. When I read this article on iPad Creative, I realized that I can easily upload any file to my iPad for offline editing. Later, when I’m reconnected, I can upload the edited file to any service. I can copy a file from Dropbox, go offline, edit the file, go online, and then copy the edited file to Skydrive, for example.

Now, I can do anything. I’m the king of the world. Wheee.

Source:  iPad Creative – iPad Creative – How to: Use Pages for iPad with Most Cloud Services.

Warning: Author has been known to exaggerate and think he is being funny.

First ReadItLater morphs into Pocket, and now Mytvrss morphs into followshows. If you’re not familiar with mytvrss, it is a simple service that gives you notice in an RSS feed when your new shows are airing. Every day it gives me an update of shows I’m following in Google Reader. You could follow it in whatever reader works for you.

To try it, follow the link to mytvrss here, and then go to the top of the page and click on the ‘RSS feeds’ link you find there.  They give simple directions for creating a feed consisting only of the shows you watch.  Once you check the shows you want to follow, scroll to the bottom and click on ‘>Create feed’.  Now go up to the url and copy the id.

Next bop on over to followshows.com and sign on up.  From any screen after you sign up, go to the drop down menu with your name and select settings.  Enter your mytvrss id in the box provided and click import.  From now on followshows can provide an rss feed or send you emails whenever a new show is coming on.  The mytvrss people claim the feed from followshows is even prettier than what we’re used to seeing from mytvrss. The main change is that a thumbnail has been added to the feed.

But I like the calendar view, so that is what I bookmarked.  I also like that I can import the calender using the address at the bottom into my Google or Rainlendar or Rainmeter calendars.  The ‘Queue’ lists your shows from the newest to the oldest with a little thumbnail and some episode info.  ‘Home’ shows your recent activity.  ‘Tracker’ lists the shows you follow in alphabetical order.

It is a little hard to figure out how to delete a show. Go to the followshows show page (not just an episode). There will be a button that says ‘Following’ or ‘Follow’. If you hover over the ‘Following’ button it becomes ‘Unfollow’. Click ‘Unfollow’ to remove the show from your feed. I prefer the selection page at mytvrss and hope followshows will improve this on their site.

Other than that, the interface is very straightforward. It reminds me of Clicker in that regard. However, it is extremely slow to respond. [UPDATE: I returned to their site 2012-04-30 and it was snappy. Not sure what happened the first day.] That really is my only gripe about an otherwise excellent free service.

I think I’ll make this my only RSS feed in XBMC.  Then I’ll have a list of new shows scrolling across the home screen when I settle in for some quality time with the boob tube.

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My Evernote bookmarklet is not working today.  So, I fall back on Read It Later to temporarily store some web pages.  Only when I go to the website, I’m redirected to getpocket.com. The website formerly known as Read It Later shall henceforward be known as Pocket. (You know, as in, “I’ll just stick this in my pocket until later.) With the new name, came a new, improved look.  It appears that Read It Later is following on the heels of Pinterest with regard to their new visual layout.  I think their grid (albeit more symmetrical than Pinterest) is a big improvement over the old interface.  So, now, when I’m having trouble with Evernote, I’ll have something a little prettier on which to fall back.  Well, done Read It Later, er, Pocket.

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I tried the Belkin Pro Tri Fold and Photive iPad cases on my new iPad, but the autowake feature didn’t work consistently on either one. Neither these nor the many other covers I’ve seen are nearly as attractive as the Yoobao cover. The top grain leather on the Yoobao cover from Pyrus Electronics is far and away the best material I’ve seen on an iPad cover. It looks and smells like the hunt seat saddles with which I used to ride horses as a kid. However, the feel is much softer. It is a slim case that looks professional and protects the iPad well.

All ports and switches are accessible. The autowake works perfectly every time. Unfortunately, I have to take my iPad out of the case to fit the camera kit onto the iPad. The opening in the leather isn’t quite big enough for that. I would highly recommend this cover. It works like Apple’s smart cover but provides better coverage and looks more professional.

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