I love cycling, that is my preferred way to exercise. I am testing out a slew of different apps this week to see which will work best for mapping out my ride. In order to get the best comparison all of them will be used side by side with my GPS as I can verify the accuracy of my GPS.

MapMyRide is part of the MapMyFitness family. MapMyFitness has apps for hiking, walking, biking and running, they also have the general purpose MapMyFitness app that covers all of those activities and weight lifting plus other workouts. So far the only one I have started using is the riding app. It works pretty well so far and seems to be fairly accurate speed wise. I have noticed some mistakes with the GPS part of the app so far, nothing major but seems to zigzag a little bit rather than just following the street that I am on. This does seem to be a problem with many apps and I think has more to do with the GPS accuracy of the chipset used in the phone than errors in the app itself.

I like the ability to share my workouts with my Facebook friends and family plus the tie in with twitter. If you like to make your workout a social event you may like this too. It sort of helps keep you going when you have others cheering you on. Also nice to workout with others and compare times even though time may not allow you to travel the route together.

My favorite thing about the app so far is the tie in to the website at www.mapmyride.com. Here you can look at all of the rides you have taken, see an elevation map showing the total route and the elevation climbed. You can also find other similar routes nearby to help you find other cycling routes you may have missed or just might want to try out.

  

    

    

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So far I like it a lot, I would like to see a few additions like a customizable home screen showing large characters for the info I want to display but overall I like it so far. There is also a button to make it a simple matter for you to take photos along the route, nice if you want to remember any part or any people you meet along the way.

I will post more about bicycle apps as I test out more of them. What are your favorite riding apps? Post them in the comments below!!

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Oooo! This is so neat! A droid app that has practical use- that is what I’m TALKIN ABOUT! Dragons are practical I bet you didn’t know that! They fly and have fire why wouldn’t they have practicality? The app is called “Dragon Go!” in some ways it is a virtual assistant it uses your voice and will provide you with any questions you may have on anything you ask it.

Demands or requests you take your pick and tell your Dragon “Make reservation for Artichoke Café tonight at 8pm”.. BAAM! Confirm your reservation in Open Table app which is available with the Dragon Go app (and anything else you may want or need).

Dragon Go droid app is great because it gives YOU the USER the CHOICE as to what you would like to use and how you would like your information to be displayed. While the app searches for your information you can have it displayed by horizontally and choose the apps that you want it to come up in.

In other words instead of using the Google app as the default search browser once Dragon Go searches you can go back and forth between Wikipedia, news outlets etc in order to gather information.

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Obviously there are similarities with the Siri which is an Apple product. But Android is not being left out! Having an open system comes with choice… the power is in the choice

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The end of 2011 and the beginning or 2012 have been pretty big in the android sphere. AT&T – Denied The best news for those of us that are using T-mobile was the non sale to ATT. During my time on ATT there always seemed to be a billing error. I know that not everyone has the same bad experience I had with them but I do not wish to return. ATT was also the last company to roll out android phones, the last to let you download apps from Amazon, and during my time there they would never unlock my phone so that I could change out my sim card when I was traveling to escape the high cost of calling when overseas. Things may have changed; I have many people I know in my area who get terrible coverage out here in the southwest though. That is still the same.

Googlrola

Elsewhere, there is still the sale of Motorola to Google. This was approved by the boards of both companies. WE have yet to hear what the US Justice department feels about the sale though, like the sale of T-mobile to ATT they could feel that it leaves the market with too little competition and weigh in against the sale. It looks like the whole point of Google making the purchase is to get the patents that are owned by Motorola. This would give them access to more than 17,000 patents that they may well need in the ever present legal battles with Apple.

  

    

    

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      10.2" Google Android 2.2 Tablet 10" Camera 4GB HDMI ZT-180 Bundle

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Apple Topples – Samsung Rules

Another big news item to end 2011, Apple was no longer the best selling phone for the massive holiday sales season. The honors for the number one selling phone this Christmas season went to Samsung with the Galaxy S II. What does this mean for Apple? They fell from grace once before, will it happen again.

Closed IOS versus (mostly) Open Android

The closed platform of IOS keeps users safe, gives them a consistent user experience across all of their devices and their apps, but it also limits how useful the device can be. Apple has taken the most powerful mobile device ever created and effectively hobbled it. This has given android device makers a chance to challenge the Apple dominance. Androids abilities will soon far outpace those of IOS. Already Android has far more useful apps created as opposed to IOS. The most popular IOS downloads are games, and the phone itself is controlled by a jukebox application on from the computer. Nothing wrong with that but it does limit the things that developers can do for the Apple. It was hoped by many developers that the SDK released by apple would address some of those concerns but it was unfortunately sorely lacking in allowing increased functionality. So Apple will begin to languish just as the Android platform begins to really pick up steam.

The Future?

I feel that 2012 will be the year that Android truly dominates in the phone market. The release of ICS 4.0 brings the OS now on par with IOS. As they release software upgrades in smaller more incremental steps, new functions are added more quickly and the real holdup is often waiting for the carriers and the manufacturers to push out the software upgrades to the customers’ devices.

I look forward to a big year in the app market!

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Nom, Nom, Nom, that’s all I have to say when it comes to Android food apps! So delicious and yummy and you will always find a great place to eat. Want sushi? Must have pizza? Punch it into your app and directions will appear with reviews. Super handy when out in a far off land in which you have never been and has questionable restaurants that appear to be both a food joint and gas station. Bail out in that case!

Helping you in everyday life…

Technology is really carrying things to large proportions, perhaps you are making a soup that calls for lots of canned tomatoes? In this case your app would come in handy directing you to the nearest grocery store that happen to have a sale going on. Baam, saving money each step of the way!

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Out on the town…

Hungry for a good steak but not ready drop a ton of money on a steak that is not grilled properly? Who better to ask than those that have already gone there and tried the food? Getting reviews of the place and possibly recommendations to other places that perhaps could be better.

There are hundreds if not thousands of food apps out there. Also depending upon what device you may have like iPhone, iPad, or if you may be an Android to tablets and phones. Making sure that everything jives and you are getting the best connection.

A few great apps to check out and also you may stumble upon lots more that may even be a better fit for ya.

Epicuriouis- www.epicurious.com great for finding good guides, videos, recipes, and much much more from famous gourmet resources and publications.
Baconnection-www.baconnectionapp.com soups, salads, burgers, wrapped meals and last but not least bacon! Lots of various resources in which you can get your finger tips on.

Urbanspoon- www.urbanspoon.com helps you to figure out the toughest part about eating- WHERE to eat! This app is super handy in that it gives you a slot machine type of game as to figure out what to eat. Checking out to see what is in the area and browsing lists of restaurants.

There you have it great food resources right at the tip of your fingers, literally! Go, go eat some amazing food that just makes your tummy warm and tongue sing

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I have left Tasker for last not because it ranks last on my favorite apps list, instead it’s because Tasker is a difficult app to really quantify.

If you have never seen or used Tasker and have no clue what the heck it is, I find that you are not alone. Few have ever heard of it and fewer still use it. I have yet to make really good use of the App. This is an app that is more capable than most every other app on your phone combined. The things you can do are too many to write about here. It would take a book to cover all you can do with Tasker.

I use it to turn my phone off every night, then wake the phone up every hour to check for messages and missed calls, saves on battery power. You could set your Wi-Fi to turn off when you leave the house and on when you arrive at work, and again when you go the other direction. You can have it set an alarm then wake you up to your favorite song from your playlist.

The number if things that you can accomplish with Tasker is simply mind boggling, however, this app is not for the faint of heart. There is much to learn in order to make good use of this app. If you are new to the android platform you may want to wait for while and learn your other apps before you take the plunge. Tasker is a super powerful app that will help simplify using your phone, if you can figure out how to tame that beast.

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Although USB drives are super handy for moving files around Dropbox is even better. Dropbox is a service that will let you store 2 GB of files online. You can access these files anyplace. It also keeps a backup copy of any files you change.

What is super cool about Dropbox is that you can earn up to 8 GB of storage just by referring your friends. I also love the fact that I can share files and photos with the people who have signed up with you. It’s a great way to share large files since most email programs will not accept files larger than 25 MB.

When you download the Dropbox app to your computer it shows up as  file folder in your system, all files you save there are automatically uploaded to the dropbox servers and synced across every computer where you have downloaded the dropbox app.

Using the app for your android phone you have complete access to your files but it does not sync any changes you might make on your phone.

Anyway, a super cool way to share files with your family or anyone else you need to collaborate with.

Check it out at Drobox.com

Have you found any other great apps for sharing large files with groups? Please share them with us below, I am always looking for a better way to work in groups.

  

    

    

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If you are like me you may have lots of people to call all over the world. For me the cheapest way I have found to do that is using Skype. I know that most of you have used skype on your computer more as a curiosity than for real communication, but my family actually loves to talk with the camera. Video calling is great for those of us with small children. Children more than anyone are exceptionally visual and seeing your face while they talk really gets them animated.

Plus you can purchase a plan to use skype for call to any one country or to a group of countries. The prices are far better than anything you can find by using calling cards and it is also better than what I was getting from a VOIP service.  In a few countries you will even get unlimited calls to cell phones.

Now that there is an app available for my android phone my wife can call her family in Thailand for a fraction of what we were spending on calling cards. It costs around $140 per year for unlimited calls around the world. That comes in handy with friends and family in most of Europe and all around Thailand.

Plus with so many android phones having a forward facing camera you can talk to others face to face nearly any place. I love to see my daughters face light up when I call her on skype.

If you would rather use Data than minutes take a look at using skype. I actually spend more time using my phone on Wi-fi  anyway and that does not eat into my data time at all.

So what other options do you use when you make calls from your android device? Share those with us below in the comments!

  

    

    

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Although we all know that we need to get into shape, few of us ever take the time to get out and do so. My favorite app for keeping track of my cardio workouts is Cardio Trainer Pro. This App can be used in nearly every sport you choose. I personally use it for jogging, biking and hiking.

Since the app has a music component I use that when I am running. I hate to run and having a choice of music that motivates me really helps me a lot.

Cardio trainer is super customizable. You can set up your current weight, your weight loss goals, and even the foods that you are eating in there. It will integrate with maps and you can customize how much map you are seeing at any given time.

When you finish up your workout you can upload all the days training into the website. All info on the site is kept anonymous so you need not worry about someone intercepting your data and finding what type of a program you have for training and how much weight you are losing.

Anyway, this is a fitness App that I use often to track much of what I do.

What are your favorite fitness apps? Leave a note below and let’s compare faves!

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If you ever spend much time traveling, you know how difficult it can be to find an ATM. When you are someplace you don’t know and your pockets are empty you want to get some cash quickly. If you are not a native and can’t speak the language, you will have a problem asking where the nearest ATM can be found.

Although this app comes from Mastercard it is still free. ATM Hunter uses the signal from your GPS to locate any ATM’s that may be nearby it will also let you know how much the fee will cost.

Although I have noticed some gaps it works pretty well in every country that I have tried it so far. If you have used this app please leave a comment below and let me know your experiences using ATM Hunter.

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Everyone is using Twitter now, you probably are as well. If you like to use Twitter on your android phone, then you will need an app to help you do that.

There are a large number of apps available for Twitter, even the app direct from twitter is pretty good. However Seesmic and Twidroyd are my two favs. They are both extremely customizable and easy to use. Both apps are also extremely powerful, you can use multiple twitter accounts, even attach a location to all your tweets if you should choose too. Handy when you are traveling.

So since I have a difficult time choosing a clear winner in the twitter arena, I am giving a tie to position number five.

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