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Jun

Light Flow LED Version 3.8 Adds Support For NinjaSMS, More Hangout Types, Fixes CyanogenMod Bugs

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Applications, News

Light Flow is the kind of app that best showcases Android's sensibilities: esoteric, amazingly customizable, and downright impossible on other platforms. The popular notification manager for devices with LED indicator lights has just had a big update to version 3.8, most notably bringing support for the popular NinjaSMS texting app. NinjaSMS users, make sure you're running the latest version of both apps, and enable Light Flow in the settings menu.

Other changes to Light Flow include a tweaked notification system, in which persistent notifications are more, well, persistent. Devices running older versions of Android will have to do without persistent notifications, for reasons which the developer does not list.

Jun

Roundup: Our Top Six Favorite New Apps From May 2013

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Roundups

Following up on our roundup of May's absolute best games, we're back with the month's greatest apps. As with (almost) every month, May offered plenty in the way of great new apps to try out. If you feel like the supercomputer in your pocket just isn't doing enough, any of these apps are great starting points for added functionality, productivity, or just entertainment.

As with our last roundup, we'll also include a list of honorable mentions – those are the apps that didn't quite make the short list but that you should still take a look at if you find your selection wanting.

May

[New App] HueNotifier Beta Turns Philips Hue Light Bulbs Into Psychedelic Remote Notification Lights

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Applications, News

If a speaker, vibration motor, and an on-device notification light aren't enough to grab your attention when a new message comes to your phone, you need a more extreme option. The developer of HueNotifier Beta has provided one: an impressive sync between any Android 4.0+ device and Philips' range of Hue connected LED lightbulbs. After installing the app and setting it up, new notifications from any app can be assigned to pulsate the light bulb or bulbs in any available color.

The app is pretty basic at the moment, but seems to have all of its bases covered, with easy setup and quick modifications.

Apr

Paranoid Android Says Hello To Halo – 'This Is How You Do Multi Windowing On Android'

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Development, News

After some teasing, Paranoid Android has unveiled (in a lovely promo image) their plan for multi-window functionality on Android, which they promise to "get right," – Halo.

The premise is simple, yet extremely ambitious in scope – allow apps to give you notifications right on top of your screen, which allow you to pop into that app without leaving the one you're in (no matter what it is), take care of business, and resume your experience uninterrupted. The general concept, which rejects the notion of a distracting notification shade, and shuns implementations like "whacky s-multiwindow," is no doubt inspired by Facebook's admittedly awesome Chat Heads functionality, perhaps the most compelling feature of its new Home app.

Apr

[New App] Notifications Off Gives You A Handy Way To Selectively Banish Apps From Your Notification Bar

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Applications, News

If you've tried as many apps and games as we have, you've probably come across one or two that were great... with the exception of annoying, vaguely spammy notification alerts. Starting with Jelly Bean 4.1, there's a simple and somewhat obscure solution: check the App Info menu to disable notifications. But that can get tedious, especially if you're setting up a new device. Developer Giorgi Dalakishvii has created a more elegant solution, which puts notification settings for all your apps in one handy place.

Notifications Off is a simple app, but it does a lot with a little.

Apr

[New App] Knock²+ Looks To Replace LED Notifications With Clean, Minimal Lockscreen Popups

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

When it comes to getting various notifications while your device's display is off, a built-in LED is useful. However, it's far from perfect. Sure, you can customize each notification with something like Light Flow, but that doesn't let you know the message contents at a glance. And, of course, there are also devices that don't have an LED at all, like the Nexus 7 for example. If you're looking for more out of your notification experience, Knock²+ may be the answer.

Update: Apparently the app isn't compatible with the Nexus 7 right now, but the dev is working out the kinks and should update the app "soon."

Like others before it, Knock²+ essentially provides a lockscreen popup when a notification is received, so you need only glance at your device to see what the ping was about.

Apr

Pandora Update Finally Brings Lock Screen Controls, Still Forgets The Notification Controls

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Whether due to neglect or a topsy-turvy set of priorities, Android developers sometimes leave out basic features like lock screen or notification (I'm looking at you, Spotify) controls. Well, Pandora is fixing at least some of its problems with an update that brings the ability to pause or skip tracks from the lock screen. Unfortunately, notification controls still aren't available but, hey. One step at a time.

Here's the full change log:

What's in this version:

- Lock screen controls for devices running Ice Cream Sandwich and later
- Added elapsed and remaining timestamps to the track progress indicator
- Reduced startup time
- Bug fixes and enhancements

Aside from the lock screen controls, it's not a huge update, but it's always encouraging to see a prominent developer truly take advantage of what Android can do.

Mar

Gmail Update v4.3 Allows You To Reply, Archive, Or Delete Emails Right In The Notification Shade

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Google has finally added the feature that we've been wanting since Google first started adding functionality to notifications back in Ice Cream Sandwich: the ability to archive email directly from the notification shade. Now, when you get a new email, you can choose what to do with it immediately. This is extremely handy for the chronic email checkers who would like to be able to dismiss the clutter as it comes in, rather than let it pile up later

This is something that seems so obvious that when Ron reviewed Jelly Bean, the lack of buttons was a disappointment in an otherwise fantastic update.

Feb

Pushover Updated With DashClock, Pebble Watch Support

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Pushover, a "simple push notification service" that essentially allows web services, scripts, and a lot more to send notifications to your mobile device, got an update recently to version 1.6 (and soon after, 1.6.1), which brought on a couple more nifty features.

Namely, the update brings support for DashClock, the popular clock/information widget that has gained immense support in its first few weeks of existence. Now DashClock can show you how many Pushover notifications are waiting for you.

The update also brings support for the lauded Pebble Smartwatch, allowing the gadget to receive forwarded notifications, provided you've got the Pebble app, and the watch is paired with your phone.

Feb

PushBullet Updated To Version 9 With DashClock Support And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Roman Nurik's DashClock Widget has seen remarkable adoption since its release earlier this month, with a handful of apps quickly adding their own DashClock extensions in a bid to populate your lock screen with useful information. Joining the list today is PushBullet which, in an update to version 9, added a DashClock extension that will let you know how many pushes await you before you unlock your device.

Besides the DashClock extension, PushBullet will now play your device's default notification tone when you receive a push, and has new localization for Italian and Dutch users, along with a couple of other tweaks.