Tag: mobile

Google Maps Tip – Start directions

Automotive / Phones / Software / Technology

Just a quick, favorite tip about Google Maps on mobile… After searching for a place, and getting its location on the map, it’s pretty normal/common to hit the blue “Directions” button – THEN tap the “Start” button. Instead, just tap-HOLD on the “Directions” button, and Google Maps will automatically start your driving navigation. Sure, it only saves a moment, but sometimes after tapping the “Directions” button, Maps can take a “long” time to come up with different routes for you to choose from… although for 99% of trips, …

DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE IF YOU’RE BUSY!

Phones / Technology

Since mobile phones became a body-part (meaning, just about every adult in the modern world has one,) expectations and etiquette of person-to-person communications have changed drastically. Now that “everyone” has a phone in the palm of their hand for HOURS every day, some people have turned into Pavlov’s dogs – they feel that they MUST answer a ringing phone, regardless of their current situation. STOP IT! The overwhelming majority of phone calls are not life-or-death. They aren’t ‘the radio station is calling to give you a million dollars.’ …

EZQuickOrder mobile app

Business / Customer Service / Phones / Software / Technology / Websites

If you’ve been to Qdoba, Chipotle, McDonald’s or ANY food location at Disneyland, there’s a good chance you’ve stood in line for at least several minutes waiting to order. Usually you use that wait time to study the menu and get everyone’s orders figured out. Imagine a big QR code around the entrance or line for the restaurant you’re waiting at, suggesting that you pre-build your order. The customer scans the code, which takes them to a simplified mobile version of the restaurant’s menu, with the instructions to …

Google Nexus 4… speaker design

Hardware / Phones / Technology

I just got the Google Nexus 4 and I’m liking it so far, but one of the first things I noticed was the odd/bad design for the speaker. When you play music or use the speaker phone, it can be assumed that many people will lay the phone flat on a desk/table/flat surface. When you do that, with the speaker hole being flat as well, the sound is basically blocked by the flat surface, which gives a very muffled sound. As soon as you lift up on the …

Mobile phone apps and security

Business / Distribution / Email / Microsoft / Phones / Software / Technology

People love their smartphones these days… and with good reason. They can be amazing tools for business and fun distractions from the mundane parts of life – like standing in line at the post office or waiting to be picked up from the airport. There’s a problem though. Those fun and handy apps can be setting you up for embarrassment, failure or good ol’ fashioned identity theft. If you saw the movie “Live Free or Die Hard”, you’ll recall the premise that one bad guy who sold software …

Mobile data throughput – agency or application?

Databases / Hardware / Marketing / Phones / Technology

I’m no fan of “big government”, but I do like the idea of a government agency monitoring, reporting and holding accountable any company that sell products or services based on measurements – or an application that can do the same thing. In California there’s an agency called the “Office of Weights and Measures”. They make sure that 1 gallon of gas at the pump is actually 1 gallon – and that is actually costs what the posted price says it does; They also make sure that a grocery …

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