Tag Archive | app

Configure Your Vintage Live Wallpaper

Feb11

Find Settings On Your Favorite Classic Wallpaper

Koi by Kittehface

When Android updated the way they handle Wallpapers and Themes, some of the “classic” Live Wallpapers were adversely affected. One of my favorite Wallpapers Koi by Kittehface, was one of these.

Since that initial Theme rollout, additional updates have made it possible to run those Wallpapers again. But you may have trouble customizing the settings for your Live Wallpaper. If you try to access those settings through the app, or through the Desktop and Screen Saver settings, you may notice there are no customization icons or menu options. That  happened to my favorite Koi fishes Wallpaper. So how do you get to those settings?

Continue reading →

Vintage Android Backgrounds

Feb6

Koi by Kittehface

Setting Your Favorite Old Live Wallpaper

When I bought my first cell phone, it was a simple Nextel flip phone. I can’t even think about how long ago that was. 1997, 98 maybe. A lot has changed since those “olden days”, as my son calls them. Mostly the changes have been really cool things and even us old folks can’t imagine life without a Smart Phone.

A few not so good things have happened to the technology too. No I’m not talking about the social and personal aspects. I’m talking about updates, upgrades, leaving some of our favorite apps in the dust, causing us to look for an acceptable replacement. And often being frustrated because we can’t find that exact match, especially for those of us who don’t like change.

The only constant in the Universe,
is that Things Change. Never give up.
~ Springwolf 🐾 © 1990

Continue reading →

Samsung S5 Screen Shots

Feb18
Samsung S5

Samsung S5

The Easier Screen Capture Method

I’m still in love with my phone. Yeah it’s a phone but it’s also a life line. Especially when you’re getting old like me. I don’t remember things like I used to and I love that my Samsung S5 cell phone can help me with that.

I have alarms set for several reminders throughout the day. I have notifications set for meetings and appointments in my calendar. I have notifications for important local news events or warnings for weather and traffic.

Then there’s the other app notifications for information and news I like to follow, especially for my favorite pastime; NASCAR Racing and my favorite driver Tony Stewart. All important stuff in my day!

And then there’s the social media connections, FB, Pinterest, Twitter and text messages all to keep up with. The Man and I met online in an AOL Chat room. We’re a little sentimental about AOL and still use AIM as a consequence.

All these things keep me on schedule, informed and connected to family and friends. So every now and then I want to take a screen shot of what I’m looking at for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it could be simply to mark a moment in time, a goal or achievement, maybe a milestone that has been attained. It depends on the app, because not all apps provide a “Share” feature and there times you want to share the information. Continue reading →

Using Old Apps on New Samsung Android Phones

Aug26
The Magik Of Android

The Magik Of Android

Accessing Old App Settings Menu

So you upgraded your android to the current generation phone. In my case that was going from a Galaxy Nexus to a Galaxy S5. Yeah, it was a leap. But I’m financially conservative and use products to their fullest to get my money’s worth.

One problem with doing this is that sometimes when a new product is created, manufactures make the item better and modify it’s functionality as part of that process. When you’re talking about cell phones, upgrades to the hardware and system functionality may also require modifications and upgrades to applications as well.

Most app creators upgrade their products and keep up with the times and changes made by manufacturers. While others drop support for some of their apps, because they have bigger and better products to offer you. Those unsupported apps may be left in the shadows and can no longer run on the new hardware.

But you loved that app. Or you really need that app because no one else offers the features you needed or wanted. Then what? Well it depends on why you can’t use it. If your problem is nothing more than accessing the Settings menu within the app; there’s a solution for you! Otherwise, you may need to call the developer and let them know what does or doesn’t work any longer. Then hope they’ll listen and support you.

How To Access Settings In Old Apps
The access settings problem is what happened to me when my apps were transferred from the Nexus to the S5. One app in particular has been a long time favorite with me, but I wasn’t able to use it on my new phone. For no other reason than I couldn’t access the Settings Menu. Continue reading →

The Mosquito Ringtone

Jul21
Mosquito Ringtone by Springwolf © 2014

Mosquito Ringtone
by Springwolf © 2014

More Than A Secret Sound For Teens

The Man and I had our son (the Prince) a little late in life. I went after the career, before I was interested in going after the family. What that means is that that Daddy person and I have to explain some things to the child about aging that most of the “Moms and Dads” of his friends at school don’t have to deal with. I’m old enough to be their Mom and in a very few cases, their Grand Mom.

We’re like all people getting older, things stop working well as we age. Right now today’s challenge is… we don’t hear as well as we did when we were younger. Ok so some of that comes from blaring the radio in the car when we were teens and twenty somethings. The point is, we’re constantly asking the Prince to repeat what he says and he’s constantly getting annoyed by it. He thinks it’s simply a matter of our paying more attention to him. It doesn’t dawn on him that we’re talking about biological science here and he needs to increase the volume of his voice. We’re getting old, come on kid, speak up.

This has become an opportunity to have a teaching moment and conduct an experiment that will help keep the Prince interested in science.

A few years ago I had heard about teens using their cell phones when they weren’t supposed to be, by turning off all sound and loading a sound file onto their phone that only they and other kids can hear,  The Mosquito Ringtone. Continue reading →

Creating Ringtones from MP3

Jul12
ringdroid

Ringdroid by Ringdroid Team

Android App Review

RingDroid: ☆☆☆☆☆
There are several products recommended for creating your own ringtones. Recommended by who? Other users, a few technology magazines, people who are supposed to know about these things. Two of those seemed to appear on almost everyone’s list.

The first runs on your pc where you can manipulate files and turn them into notifications, alarms or ring tones from your music library. Once created, you transfer the new sound files to your phone.  I tried this PC version program. I hated it! It was clumsy and made no sense to transfer a music file that you downloaded to your phone to your pc to create a sound file to transfer back to your phone. What?!

Then there’s RingDroid.
RingDroid is much easier to use and it’s right on your phone. You don’t have to worry about transferring files from your PC to your phone unless you want to. And if something goes wrong, you don’t have to go back to your pc try to fix it and transfer it again.

After using RingDroid for a week, let me say I LOVE IT!
I had some sound files that I wanted to use for alarm sounds, but they wouldn’t show up as available files for my phone. Start up Ringdroid and open the MP3, save it with a new name as a ringtone OR a Notification and tada you have your favorite sound on your new phone! (Thanks to the Folks on Galaxy Nexus for this tidbit!)

 .

© 1997-2014 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D., Springwolf's Kosmos. All Rights Reserved.
© 1997-2014 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D., Springwolf’s Creations. All Rights Reserved.

 

Getting Your Favorite Android Sounds

May16

ringtonesRingtones, Alarms & Notification Sounds

If you’re like me, you set up your alarms, notifications and ringtones with specific sounds that help you identify what’s happening before you even look at your phone. Then you went to a new phone and all those sound files aren’t on the new phone. Come on! I want my old sounds to notify me of events that I still need on the new phone!

There are two safe ways to get ringtones, alarms and notification sounds onto your Android. They come with the phone or you create them from sound files yourself. That’s it.

Yes I know there are a ton of websites that offer downloads for your phone and you’re crazy to use them. Either they spam your phone number with texts out the wazoo, or they sell it to every annoying hacker and spammer in the world. Or they load malware onto your smart phone with the sound file.

If you can’t find a reliable download site, such as one that’s offered from your carrier, don’t bother with downloading. Stick to what’s on your phone and what you can make yourself.

There’s one exception to that rule and that’s an app that provides sound files from all makes and most models. I LOVE this app! Though I wish it had the sound files from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Maybe they’ll add those later; crossing fingers. Continue reading →

Android Weather Apps

May16

weatherbugHow’s The Weather

There are a lot of weather widgets out there. Local News outlets have their own apps now and most include weather tracking and notifications. But what if you travel? Some don’t go outside their own area. So if you’re at home and need to go to Atlanta, you’re out of luck finding out how the weather is in Georgia.

The Weather Channel App ☆☆☆☆
Has a lot to offer. Almost too much. Sometimes I don’t need video or images from around the world bombarding my display. Let me look at things quick and simple and I’m good. But other people like a lot of graphical interfaces. If that’s you, you’ll like the Weather Channel’s app. You can add locations and follow weather back home, where your move lives, or where ever your favorite sports team might be playing this week. You can set notifications for alerts, look at lightening and more.

Weather Bug ☆☆☆☆☆
This one is my most favorite. I have used Weatherbug on my desktop for years. I love this app on the phone. WeatherBug weather widgets display live, local weather conditions, forecasts, severe weather alerts and it can be specific to your location. So if you’re driving down the road, you can bring this app up, look at the radar and see what you’re driving into..or away from.  You can add locations and set a primary Home location.  Continue reading →

Emergency Flashlights

May14

flashlightThe First App You MUST Add To Your Cell Phone

The most important App you need is a flash light. Seriously, it sounds funny but in addition to coming in real handy during your day to day life, you most definitely need it in an emergency situation.

I have used mine several times in the late evening and even a few times in the day. I can’t always find that flashlight in the utility drawer, but I know where my cell phone is. And it’s dark in the bottom part of the pantry, even with the kitchen light on! I use it in the house for little things, like plugging in the power cord in the power strip under my desk. Or looking for the splinter in my son’s finger.

It’s handy for Concerts, finding your way through the driveway when you’ve forgotten to turn the porch light on before you left the house. Or looking for that quarter you dropped in the floorboard of the car. Continue reading →

Our Varied Interests

May9
windstone-emperor

Windstone Editions

We’re Pretty Eclectic

We Love a lot of different things and we enjoy sharing those interests. Especially with family and dear friends who are spread out across the country and even the world.

From the U.S. to Australia, from Washington, DC to Washington State, Alaska and even some dear friends in Hawaii. We can go north into Maine to find friends and south into Florida to find family.

If we share a few things that interest you too, come on in and share your thoughts and experiences too!

We love trains and technology. But we also love dressing in costume and attending the Renaissance Fairs throughout the south-east. We are a sports family, but only with certain sports.

We’re a huge NASCAR family. We love football and enjoy Hockey. We live on a lake so we can also slow down a bit and relax with a pole and a quiet morning or evening enticing the resident Big Mouth Bass to come for a visit.

My boys love engineering, astrophysics and building things. And we all like history, living in the center of the Civil War region, there is a lot to see and visit. So our adventures generally takes us to some interesting places where there’s always a camera ready to capture the historical, unusual or unexpected. Continue reading →