The 'droids you are looking for

If you're like me, you'll often be hunting for your phone or tablet. For me, it's often leaving a device in the car or under a pile of papers. I end up using the Find My iPhone service reasonably often. This week, the same capability was introduced by Google for Android phones and tablets.

The Android Device Manager is a browser-based web service: available at https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager

As well as a map view of where your registered devices are located, you are able to 'ring' the device (make it play a sound for five minutes on full volume, regardless of muting) and, if you've enabled factory reset on the device, you're able to wipe it too.

In order to use this service, you have to be the registered device owner (on devices with multiple users) and be running Google Play services version 3.2.25 or higher. For configuration instructions, view the help page: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3265955?p=android_device_manager&rd=1

Android Device Manager >

Big screen, mini PC

For the second evening in a row, I've been playing with an Android 4.1.1 device. Tonight, however, it wasn't a tablet. In fact, it wasn't a touch device at all, but an Android mini PC. To be precise, it was a NX003II Android 4.1.1 Dual Core Mini PC Google TV Player from DX.com.

As detailed on the website, the neat little package contained a mini PC, power adapter (not Australasian but that doesn't matter as it's charged off a standard USB wall plug and micro-USB), a (composite) AV cable, a (micro) USB cable and what is actually an HDMI extension, rather than HDMI cable. Additionally, there was a USB extension cable too and a wifi boosting mini antenna.

What US$69.90 with free international shipping purchased is pretty much a plug and play device. In fact, what took the longest to sort was finding and deciding which of my wireless and bluetooth keyboard/mice combos I would use. I tried three different options and they all worked first time.

Not only do I get all the convenience of a vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich installation, but I get it displayed at 1080p high definition using HDMI 1.4. Contrary to the website spec, however you get one, not two, micro-USB ports. Since the micro-USB feeds the power, you're pretty much stuck with the USB port for connecting devices. Never mind: not only was setting up wifi a breeze using the standard 'droid settings screen, but once online, it picked up the network access storage (NAS) and streamed media off it using DLNA. If you really must plug in a drive, up to 2TB on an external works fine too.

I have only played for about half an hour so there's still a lot to try: extending the 8GB onboard memory up to a further 32GB using TransFlash, the alternative composite video output, the 2.0MP camera. I did test browsing the web, navigating the filesystem, streaming video, accessing Play Store and installing Classic Bubble Breaker. I was demonstrating it to my other half, until he pointed out rather insistently that it was a waste of the TV to be playing a bubble popping game.

As a potential replacement for our dedicated entertainment PC, I believe this could be a go-er. And if your household hasn't the spare PCs lying around to build a media centre, well this makes an easy alternative given it comes with one already installed. For the price, I think it's pretty good value and it arrived a fortnight after I ordered it.

It comes in the metallic brown like mine or white or pink. That's important to some of you, I know.

Ice Cream Sandwich for the price of chips

Today I stopped by The Warehouse to pick up a Nextbook 7SE Android tablet. It's for a case-study I'm doing on more efficient ways to carry out administrative tasks. When I last bought a cheap Android a couple of years ago, it was heavy and loaded against the Chinese Google Store which meant that most of the apps I wanted weren't available.

The experience this evening was far different. This time, I wasn't ordering online: I drove to a reputable store with the tablets on display. The box contained Australasian plugs and a device that feels as nice to touch and to use as my equivalent Nexus 7. Loading up Ice Cream Sandwich (4.1.1), adding a Google account and downloading Audionote from Play was quick and simple. It's a fairly standard install of the OS.

What's absolutely surprising is that this is an 8GB on-board memory device, with micro-SD card slot capable of a further 32GB, dual core, micro-USB, micro-HDMI, front and rear cameras and Bluetooth. It's list price was NZ$199, but because I was looking for the 4GB version (my experiment doesn't need a heck of a lot) and they'd run out of stock, they gave me the premium version for NZ$129. And when I got it home, it had full charge ready to go. The pack not only contained the charger and manuals, it also had a micro-USB cable, a pouch and screen protector film.

I'm looking forward to running my case study starting tomorrow. And I'm not even going to be the one to use it.

Get your social media on... optimising Instagram

I expect that you or your web developer spend time every month reviewing your website performance, likely using Google Analytics. And, if you've a fanbase of over thirty people, you're hopefully checking how Facebook is spreading the word through Insights (with new, better, brighter features too). And if you're not - get to it!

But how to optimise the use of your Instagram posts? I've previously taken you through Statigram's website feed service and Facebook tab app. But as the name suggests, one of the their service offerings is a full analytics view of your Instagram account.

Whether you want to look at community engagement, tags and filters that get the best results, or what time and day your community is most active, this is a useful service. After all, there's little point snapping lots of pics for minimal return.

Straighten up with Instagram

Version 4.1 of Instagram for iPhone (and iPod Touch, iPad) came out on 7 August and now you're able to straighten photos. It's a handy wee feature and one I'm pleased to see has come out along with the ability to upload videos you've already taken from your Camera Roll.

If you're adding a photo from the Camera Roll, straightening is a manual process, however, if you use the Instagram camera to take the photo, tapping the straighten button will result in an automatic attempt at straightening. The belt photos on the top demonstrate manual straightening; whilst the lamp was done using the automatic function.

Instagram

Take your pic... Android

Yesterday, I covered how to use Remote Shutter Pro to remote control the camera on an iOS device from another. Today, let's talk about Android.

Take your pic... iOS | Gadget Girl Files

Finding an app for Android was a little bit harder. Not that there weren't any, there are a number of options. The issue is finding an app that's compatible with both hardware that you intend to use. It's much easier if you're using two HTC One, for example, but not so easy if like me you're running one Acer Iconia and a Nexus 7.

Finally settling on Camera Remote by Busy WWW, I went ahead and tried to replicate what I do with Remote Shutter by using the Bluetooth capability. Those aren't the only connectivity options for Camera Remote but is the one I'll talk you through today. You can also use Camera Remote from a web browser or PC but for this I'm looking at one Android device to another.

Although more secure, perhaps that iOS, for ensuring that you are explicitly connecting two devices, I found connecting quite a bit more time consuming and frustrating. First you have to make the two devices discoverable, then connect, then agree the pairing once you've checked they're publishing the same key.

Once you've managed all that, you can switch between front and rear cameras, toggle photo or video mode and manipulate zoom.

For all its capability, if you're in a hurry and not so proficient technically, I wouldn't suggest depending on this app. However, it is free and does offer you the capability on Android. I'll certainly give it another go once I've bought an HTC One in a week or so and get a little more proficient with it.

Camera Remote - Android Apps on Google Play

Take your pic... iOS

Ever want to use your iPhone to take a group shot, not so obvious selfie or photo from an awkward position and wish you could have a camera remote? Well, if you have another iOS device handy, you can.

There are a number of app options that let you use Bluetooth to control the camera from one device to another but the one I've settled on and happily used for nearly a year is Remote Shutter Pro by i-App Creation Co., Ltd.

For NZ$2.59 you get all the convenience of a live streaming view from the camera on the remote device but if you only need the remote capability and maybe a timer function, the free version, Remote Shutter - Camera Timer with Lens, might be enough. Certainly, it's worth trying the free version to sample the app.

This app is compatible with iPhone, iPod and iPad on iOS 4 or greater, as both remote and camera.

As well as the remote camera function and timer, Remote Shutter can apply a number of filters to add special effects to your shots. Remote functions include toggling of flash, multi-pic snapping, camera light, front and rear camera switching, and timer. With the Pro edition you can save to the camera rolls of both the camera and remote device, handy if you and a friend both want copies.

Remote Shutter - Camera Timer with Lens filter

Colourful shadows

When I was deciding on the 'brand' for Gadget Girl, I played with a few ideas for logos and symbols. Among the ideas was the use of a woman's silhouette, to play on the girl part of the theme. Thinking I would prototype with some existing photos, I went to looking for a simple app that would quickly get the job done.

I tried a few but liked the colour gradient result of Hokuson's colorShadow for iOS best. I liked it so much, that instead of picking a single image to convert into a black silhouette logo, the Gadget Girl brand is a series of silhouettes with the same gradient fill.

ColorShadow is an example of a simple app that focuses on a single function and does it well. It can be a bit fiddly to get just the right threshold and to use the paint tool to remove extraneous graphic (notice that none of the gadget girls have facial features) but at NZ$2.59, it sure beats licensing a full-blown graphics program and figuring out the combination of filters to get right effect.

This particular off-the-shelf effect works best on images with a high contrast and simple background. It will load up images from your photo library and from there you can manipulate the colours used, the level of detail you want applied and a few other settings, including reversing the image so that the background is filled and the silhouette is in white.

Unfortunately, there's no HD version for the iPad. It would be easier to sort out the finer details with full use of the available screen real estate. Overall, though, a fun and cheap way to make cool profile pics.

colorShadow

Get your social media on... Instagram gallery feed

One of my blogs is on style, which means it's quite heavy on photos. Most weeks I'll photograph at least a couple of #ootd (outfit of the day), and a few photos of cool items I've found on various shopping expeditions. Not all of the photos result in a blog entry, but I'd still like to share them on the website without having to spend time and energy re-posting.

This isn't a service Instagram offers but thanks to its well-published and extensive application programming interface (API), a number of other services have sprung up that allow further functionality to use your Instagram feed. Yesterday I wrote a how-to on using Statigram's Facebook app to add the feed to your Facebook page. Today, I'll talk you through how to use Statigram's iframe-based widget to add a gallery feed to your blog or website.

If you run a Wordpress site (I don't) they have an easy extension. For everyone else...

What you need

• Access to edit the layout components or templates of your website
• An Instagram account

Instructions

• Go to iconosquare.com and login with you Instagram credentials.
• Select 'Promote' from the top menu.
• Scroll down to 'On your blog & website' and click the 'Get your widget' button in the 'Photo Gallery Widget' box.
• Configure the display settings and click the 'Get code' button.
• Copy the iframe code and paste into your website template or page layout component.

Looking to build an effective Instagram strategy?

Get your social media on... Instagram feed on Facebook

So, you've been busy snapping photos to help engage with your customer or fan-base on Instragram. After all that effort for something so fleeting, you want to share the feed without reposting every instagram to your Facebook page and having the crossover group receive multiple notifications. Solution? Add your Instagram feed to your Facebook page. It's quick, relatively painless and is a simple as a step-by-step wizard.

And, if you're conversing on Instagram using a special #hashtag, such as #gadgetgirlfiles, you can even add a feed for that #hashtag and share other people's related 'grams.

It all starts by going to https://apps.facebook.com/instagram_feed. First you'll be asked to log into your Facebook account, one with management rights over the Facebook page you want to add the feed to. After selecting the page you want to manage, you repeat the login but this time for your Instagram account. Give permission for the two accounts to play together and that's it.

There are further settings, such ordering the #hashtag feeds and imposing moderation once you've added the app to your Facebook page.

Get optimistic

If like me you suffer from an affective disorder, you've probably had the continuous or occasional need to track your mood state. Whether it's tracking triggers and social rhythms as part of a therapeutic regime or tracking the effectiveness of medicinal treatment or dosage, having a simple way to log your day is important.

When I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder three years ago, my diagnosing psychiatrist instructed me to come off the antidepressant my GP had prescribed as soon as I felt a bit better. His advice was, once I'd moved from my self-rating of fifty percent to around eighty percent, I should start reducing the dosage. This left me with a conundrum of how to monitor when I'd reached eighty percent.

My initial method was a spreadsheet I designed which monitored not just my mood state but a number of my symptoms and wellness activities. It's still a useful tool and I've made a PDF (preview at end of post) and Excel version available for download. In fact, my treating psychiatrist and I continued to use it for nearly a year as I underwent interpersonal therapy (IPT). It helped identify that sleep was the first factor to affect my wellbeing.

As I moved into using my mobile devices more, exploring the plethora of apps available has given me a number of supporting tools to help me monitor my condition, from goal setting tools to sleep and fitness trackers. But the initial hunt, around 18 months ago for a viable, pre-configured mood monitor with the comprehensive set of indicators didn't turn up anything quite as friendly or accessible as my old spreadsheet.

Recently, however, a few have come up which are a great improvement and after trying out a few, I've settled on Optimism by Optimism Apps. Although they have web, Windows and Mac versions, I've stuck with iOS one on my iPhone. You're forced to register an account in order to use the app, but it is free for personal use. A clinician version, which allows you to coordinate your record keeping with your psychiatrist is a pay service for the clinician in question.

What I like about Optimism is that it separates off the 'core' data that I should be tracking everyday from the mass of triggers, symptoms and wellness strategies that I need to monitor more closely when my mood state shifts or becomes erratic. It makes recording the basic information quick and relatively painless. Even better, the data I record is immediately synched so whether I'm logging or reviewing via my iPhone, iPad or the website, I'm not locked to a particular device, location or mode of use.

Whilst it is pretty limited, you can also configure some of the data you decide to track. Being bipolar with a history of rapid mood cycles, it's important for me to track two moods as part of my basic data because the difference between my high mood and low mood can indicate my level of stability. Again, as bipolar and having identified that sleep, or lack of, is an important trigger, tracking sleep quality and duration can serve as an early warning signal.

What's great is even after a month of use I can already see trends in my core data. Easily reviewed through a graphical representation. Spikes of better mood during weekends, for example. Over time, no doubt I'll begin to see correlation with other factors as I try to bring my exercise, social and eating habits back in line.

Optimism Mental Health Apps for Self-Tracking
Having looked at my first month of data with my psych, we were both pleased with how easy it was to review the social rhythms aspects and just my general mood trend. Much easier than my old spreadsheets! And, if I'd been a little more organised last week, I could have sent the graph early for review using the email sharing function.

Some words of advice:

Unlike some other apps, such as 'Better Mood Tracker', Optimism doesn't give you a set of descriptors for the grading scale so you should set yourself a standard one by which you can assess mood. Nominally, mine for example "feeling teary or upset but no tears or external symptom = 4", "actual tears or external symptom = 3", "disrupts normal function sometime during the day = 2", "incapacitated for a significant part of the day = 1", "oh dear, can't get up or hitting the couch and staring at cobwebs = 0". If you're stuck hunt around on the web, there's a few examples out there, some including specifics around suicidal ideation.

If you are undergoing treatment, talk through what you intend to monitor and how you'll use it with your clinician.

Try and log daily or every couple of days. As time passes you won't necessary remember what happened or what you did. And if, like me, memory is affected by your mood cycle, that can be a real impediment to this being a useful tool.
PDF template