» Smart Phones, Web Design, Google or whatever
Archive for November, 2010
Google Calendar Adds Optional Attendees
Nov 29th
With today’s Optional attendees in Google Calendar, good old GCal now lets you make invitees to your events optional. Maybe you have a group of people that need to come to an event (like an office meeting) and others who are not required to attend, but can opt to show up if they have time and interest. Or maybe your get-together has differing levels of interest or involvement like a project planning meeting or Xmas party.
No need to turn this feature on, you will see the new link for “Make some attendees optional” as soon as you begin adding invitees.
Top 5 Best Android Phones
Nov 29th
Based off of the Top Android Phones List below are the Top Android 5 Android phones rated since late June of this year by CNet, PC World, Bright Hub, Techie Buzz and Android and Me:
- HTC EVO 4G
- Motorola Droid X
- HTC Droid Incredible
- Samsung Galaxy S
- Google Nexus One
TOP ANDROID PHONE LISTS
Best Android Phones (CNET)
Top 10 Android Phones Get Updates First (Android And Me)
Top 10 Anrdoid Phones (PC World)
Top Android Handsets to Purchase (Techie Buzz)
Top 10 Android Smartphones (Bright Hub)
CELL PHONE BUYING GUIDES/TIPS
Cell Phone Buying Guide (The Washington Post)
Cell phone buying tips (CNET)
Cell Phone Buying Guide (Good Housekeeping)
![2011 Chevrolet Volt [image from chevrolet.com]](http://imblogginghere.com/techblog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/chevrolet-2011-volt-64x64.jpg "2011 Chevrolet Volt [image from chevrolet.com]")
Electric Cars to Get Charging Stations Across South Carolina
Nov 22nd
I heard on the radio this morning and several online outlets have also reported that South Carolina is getting 80 electric charging stations installed – 40 of those beginning in early December, 2010.
Here in South Carolina, the electric companies, and hopefully, the economy will get a slight boost by the installation of these stations. Columbia, Greenville, Charleston, Conway, Myrtle Beach, Spartanburg, Rock Hill and Union will have charging stations installed for owners of cars like the Chevrolet Volt (pictured at left, image from Chevrolet.com) and the Nissan Leaf.
In the long run gas stations will suffer or convert, with a gas war sure to start up with companies like GM saying that they will be transitioning much of their production into electric cars by 2015. In other areas, adoption by companies like GE will help with the electric car’s availability and price. With help from GE (and likely other major players) these green, efficient electric cars hopefully will experience a price drop bringing them more solidly into the average car owner’s reach more quickly.
Plug-In Carolina, a nonprofit founded four years ago in Charleston by Jim Poch, is coordinating the effort with the help of two grants from the S.C. Energy Office totaling $480,000 and with support from utility companies, including SCE&G in the Midlands, Santee Cooper in the Lowcountry and Duke Energy in the Upstate.
- Many Online News Sources
Duracell Grid/myGrid – Get a Charge In your Smart/Cell Phones
Nov 21st
I saw this great commercial last night for Duracell myGrid and I must say it looks like a great idea! You can charge up to 4 enabled devices using only 1 power cord. You’ve got to check this out if you have 2 or more devices in your home… to see what devices are supported visit www.durcacell.com/mygrid
Here’s an informational video followed by the myGrid commercial that aired recently:
DURACELL MYGRID
DURACELL MYGRID COMMERCIAL
What the Heck is a Droid Phone?
Nov 18th
Maybe you are shopping for an Android Phone or maybe you want a Droid phone. Maybe you wonder…
What the heck is a droid phone?
What the heck is an android phone?
Aren’t they the same thing – droid, android?
Those are good questions, and if you asked me I would have said I wasn’t sure. Then I ran into www.DroidDoes.com and my impression was that Verizon had made a phone with a purposely close name to Android in order to capitalize on the wildly popular Android phones, but that couldn’t be farther from the case.
WHAT IS A DROID PHONE?
I found the answer through Google on the Wikipedia website, and evidently the Droid is a renamed Motorola Milestone and the name Droid is licensed to Verizon from Lucasfilm (can you say Star Wars?). So, Droid is AN Android phone made by Motorola and exclusively using Verizon Wireless as the provider – especially since Verizon Wireless is the one licensed to use the very cool name DROID.
VERIZON DROID DEMO (11/2009)
MORE
www.DroidDoes.com
What is an Android Phone?
Google Docs On the Go
Personalized Recommendations in Google Maps
Android on Google Mobile Blog
Google Apps for Android
Gmail Shines up Some Images
Nov 16th
Google has made some minor images changes (and some other minor changes) to the Gmail login page. Other changes to the page include more sharing options, larger font for the header, and the “ticker” showing how much free space a Gmail account comes with has been moved to the top in its area touting Gmail’s features.
It seems Google wasn’t satisfied there, and moved on to smooth out the Gmail log a little, too. Check out the new graphics and visit the original Gmail post for even more detail.
Gmail Login Page Gets a "Shine"
Updated Gmail logo
What the Heck is an Android Phone?
Nov 16th
Unlike Blackberry, or iPhone or similar smarthphones, an Android phone is not a piece of hardware, not an actual phone called Android, or a Google phone, but rather a smart phone using the Google Android operating system. But let’s see some hardware, actual phones running Google’s Android – here are the Best Android phones as rated by DigitalTrends.com, nice!
With the HTC EVO 4G plastered all over the TV in commercials I’ve been seeing, Android might be seeing a big boost in holiday sales this year. Will they beat the iPhone, Blackberry and other smart phones? Probably if the current trend continues!
GREAT YOUTUBE ON ANDROID PHONE
MORE
Google Maps on Android (Just Got Better)
Android on Google Mobile Blog
Google Projects for Android
Google Apps for Android
PHP URI/URL of This Page in Address Bar
Nov 16th
Sometimes PHP_SELF doesn’t do what I need when I’m trying to programmatically find the name of a web page on-the-fly on certain dynamic sites I’ve worked on. for example, I might want to show or hide Adsense, or banners or something based on the page’s name. In these case sometimes this PHP $_SERVER variable works very nicely…
<?php
$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
?>
Here’s an example of typical usage:
<?php
if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] == “/south-carolina.php”) {$kontera = “hide”;}
?>
… which hides Kontera on this page. Some site I work on use .htaccess and Apache rewrites to make dynamic URLs out of dynamic URLs. In these cases REQUEST_URI can be a life-saver.
