I have been trying to get fitter, and being the geek i am i have been trying out different android apps. Sofar ive checked out Run Keeper, Cardio Trainer, and Runtastic.

Runkeeper is pretty great app! It does everything i was looking for, and connects to a website where you can look over your workouts. Most of the stats are useful, the mapping is excellent (but it does have some GPS lock on issues that can get pretty tiresome) . Its an overall good solution for workout tracking. doesn’t really stand out, but it does its job. Here is an example of a runkeeper workout.

Cardio trainer is much more social, has ALOT more options, and integrates with Google health. It has alot of little fun apps where you can “train your droid” and have it compete with your friends droid (crappy facebook game), a live wallpaper where snacks disappear as you burn their equivalent in calories. I stopped using it because it required you to install a facebook app to post your activity. its a general pain in the ass to share with others. But the google health integration is pretty great if you are using it, and don’t already have a fitbit.

Runtastic is what im currently using. It has everything runkeeper does and a bit more. Much more workout details available on the site. It seems like someone took runkeeper, fixed the GPS issues, and added alittle more details to the workout stats.  the website looks like it was designed by a recently fired apple employee who had a very limited color pallet at his disposal. And the app has a tendency of crapping out in the middle of a workout (at least on android)  Here’s an example of a Runtastic workout.

Overall I recommend Runkeeper. But I’ve only tried those three apps. if you have any recommendations please let me know!

Just discovered an awesome project called android-notifier It’ll send android notifications to your Linux, Windows, Or mac computer so you can hear your phone even when you’ve got your headphones on! just scan the QR code below to install the app on your phone, and go HERE to get the computer client. if your behind a firewall you may need to look into port forwarding. but so far its Awesome!

This is one of the most usefull apps! So your browsing a site, looking up directions, or just in the middle of reading something and you hafto leave your computer, you can bookmark it and come back later. Or you can send it to your phone and keep reading on the go! Especially useful when looking up directions, just send them to your phone when you head out!

Its a 2 part system. the first part is installing a plugin on your browser. There are plugins for both Chrome and Firefox. Then next step is installing the “Chrome to phone” app on your phone, Either search the market or just scan the QR Code below and your all set! Enjoy!

If your anything like me you’ve cough world cup fever!!! Ive been using my android phone to keep up to date on the games i cant be at the pub to see, track my teams, and overall enrich my world cup experience! i thought I’d share some of the apps I’ve been using:

The best app I’ve found so far for tracking stats, players, finding times, etc etc is “World Droidcup”! its got a pretty interface, ALOT of information, but can sometimes be slow on the updating. I had to run the app a couple times before it started working properly, but its definitely number one on my list for its ease of use and abundance of information (after some initial hiccups)

My second favorite app for getting all the information you can handle on the game is Goal.com Mobile! its sleek, shiny, and gives you alot of information! Its coverage for the world cup isn’t perfect, but if you are a soccer fan then i definitely recommend this for all your games post world cup! you can set favorites in every league, track players, get updates on stats and standings. its absolutely wonderful for soccer in general!

And I’ve saved the best for last! One of the great things about hosting this world cup in South Africa is the energy you get from the fans in the stand! So much national pride, love of the game, and they have brought their own touch to the game…. that’s right, I’m talking about the Vuvuzelas! The wonderful horns that will forever remind me of soccer! And this is the best app to get your Vuvuzela on in your local pub or watch party! “World Cup Virtual Vuvuzela” Ive tested all the ones on the market now, and this one is absolutely the best!

That’s all Ive got for now! not really much else that would improve the world cup for an android user other than mobile video, looks like we will need to wait till next world cup for that one! Hope you enjoy my suggestions!!

Ive been getting alot of questions about where to find non market android apps lately, so i wanted to introduce you to “SlideME”. its the absolute best source for android app excellence! Ive installed several apps form them wiht no issue, one was paid and my payment info has (sofar) been kept safe! in short i have no complaints whatsoever about them! and they house some of the most fun (and non market approved) android apps! To install this app youll hafto enable non market apps (duh) then just scan this barcode:

Or go to think address on your android phone:

http://SlideME.org/sam2.apk

Some of these apps require you to root your phone. if your not rooted just avoid those apps. Ill post a step by step later on how to root your Android device!

With all the new android users since the release of the “Droid” phone i thought i would give some updates on the best android app!
Locale is an excellent app for managing your phone and some of the annoyances that come with phone ownership. the best way to give you an idea of what locale does is to give examples. For instance… When you go to the movies you need to silence your phone, maybe set it to vibrate, and dim the screen so when you check whats goin on during the movie your not blinding everyone behind you. Locale can do that for you without you even touching the phone. Just setup conditions for the movies. mine were the GPS coordinates of the theaters locally. so when i arrive there, my phone is silenced, dims, and the wifi turns off to save battery.
I also have a condition of “low battery” setup, so when my battery reacher 20% or less i have locale Automatically turn off wifi, gps, bluetooth, dim the screen etc etc. Your conditions can be almost anything the phone can detect, form presence of a wifi signal, to gps location and many more. the results of the situation can be anything! i used to have it Automatically birghtkite check in for me using the SMS plugin! so i didnt even hafto look at brightkite, when i showed up at a placemark it would Automatically send the text to the brightkite SMS. So yeah, Definitely check out Locale! its won the Android developers challenge and the Mike’s Seal Of Approval!
Scan the barcode with your android phone to install the app!

So ive recently gotten on this much needed fitness kick, and started walking and occasionally jogging. Recently i also started using the android app SportyPal.  Its an awesome way to track almost all aspects of your workout!

Pretty much any workout where a gps can track you its useful for. roller blading, walking, jogging, cycling, even a mixture of them it can track your distance, speed, calories burned, top speed, all kinda of spiffy things. Ill post my test workout below, itll give you a good idea of how it tracks things. on this workout i was walking,m then decided to pick up the pace a couple times to see how the app would react.

You can see the velocity and altitude graphs aswell as how long it took to get between checkpoints. the app can automatically post your stats to Facebook and twitter, or just upload them to the sportypal.com website to track them. if you click on the right side of the map above it will display all kinds of spiffy information that a serious exercise enthusiast would love!
If your at all interested in working out, or just want to play with a very spiffy app i defiantly recommend this for anyone. casual go on a walk every now and then types to “i fucking love cycling” folk. and its free so if you don’t like it ill refund your money Just scan the barcode below to install!

Decided to post another workout im proud of

Short story before we start, i was aw Quakecon 2009 earlier this month and the network would not allow steam connections to cut down on bandwidth abuse, but my Steam install had not updated in a while so i could not play any of my Steam games on the LAN. if i had setup this Tethering solution all of my problems would have been solved. if you have an android phone id recommend you get tethering setup even if you don’t think you will need it. because when you do its already too late.
So this is how to setup your android device to act as a proxy for connectivity to the Internet, or Tethering!
First off, like most unconventional solutions, you need to enable installing non market android apps. To do this Hit Menu then settings then Applications, then check the Unknown Sources box. While your in that area we will also need to enable USB Debugging to do that go to Menu then Settings, Then Applications, then Development, then check the USB debugging box. Now we are ready to install the app to allow for Tethering. To facilitate this I’ve generated this handy QR code. Just open the Android Barcode Scanner and scan this:

We are done with the Device settings for now. next we will need to turn to the computer you want to use tethering with, usually a laptop but it can be any computer. You should already have the android driver installed, If your have an up to date Windows or MAC computer you can skip that, but for a Linux compy you’ll need to go Here to install the Android Driver.
Now you’ll want to install the Android SDK! Quick and easy install, but its a 100MB+ Install Mac, Windows, and Linux installs can be found Here. When your done installing, plug your phone into the computer, and run the app we installed “Proxy app”.Press the “Start Proxy” Button. Now open a Command prompt in the folder that you uncompressed the SDK. Navigate to the location of adb.exe.For example mine was “C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Desktop\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r3\tools” as the folder containing the file. so i hit start, then run, then cmd, then typed “cd c:\Documents and Settings\Username\Desktop\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r3\tools”. once your there type “adb forward tcp:8080 localabstract:Proxy” for a windows box, or if your on a Linux or mac “./adb forward tcp:8080 localabstract:Proxy”. This will start the Proxy server running on port 8080.
This is the easy part, set firefox to use a Proxy server to do that go to Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Settings > Manual proxy Configuration, and fill in the HTTP proxy as localhost, and the port as 8080. Hit OK and your done!
You can now access the Internet on your computer through your Android Phone! Enjoy!

In my Previous Post about google voice i suggested that users download an app called GV to use Google Voice from your Android phone. well its time to uninstall that 3rd party app and switch to Google’s Google Voice App!
The reason i suggest Google’s version over GV is that the new version handles system resources MUCH better. They basically make it so your phone behaves as if it is your Google voice number. that is you have the ability to configure it to behave so. right now i have it setup so all outgoing calls go through google voice, the GV app has that capability but it was slow loading, took a long time to connect the call, and even then only worked half the time. Text messaging is also improved upon, rather than the lack luster interface of GV we get a shiny screen similar to the default messaging screen. and the messages go by much quicker than the GV app could. but how could they not. My thanks go out to the guy who wrote GV for getting us something to fill the time before Google got around to making an app! Well Done! In short Google has done an amazing job of completely integrating Google voice into the android platform!

To download the app just scan the QR Code!

I love everything augmented reality! Ever since BIL ive been hella interested in an augmented reality system thats content is community driven, and Wikitude is exactly that. sounds like a very specific thing to wish for.. but trust me… its worth wishing for. The app has alot to offer as far as hard data. it pulls your location gia GPS and uses the compass to point you in the direction of location based Qype and Wikipedia entries. the awesome part, and the augmented reality part is the camera mode. Wikitude overlays way points of interesting landmarks and descriptions on the display of your Android phone. Its really best described in this video.

Its not a terribly useful app at the moment unless your going sight seeing, but it is an awesome way to show off the ideas behind augmented reality. And a spiffy toy to play with. Scan the QR-code to get the app. Enjoy!