May

[I/O 2013] New APIs For Location, Single Sign-On, And Google Cloud Messaging

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Development, Google, News

Right off the bat here at Google I/O, the company is telling developers about some awesome new tools for apps. A new series of APIs will enable a variety of new services for both developers and end users. Here are some of the highlights.

Version 2 of the Location API, which includes:

Geofencing (assigning triggers to specific geographical locations) and up to 100 fences per app

a fused location provider, which should allow for active location gathering at just 1% battery drain per hour or increased accuracy
Activity recognition - API can recognize if users are walking, biking, driving, et cetera.

May

Apex Launcher Launches v2.0, Introduces Badge And DashClock Widget Notifications Via Apex Notifier

Posted by Bertel King, Jr. in Applications, News

Apex Launcher has bumped up to version 2.0, bringing in a host of new features to both the free and pro versions of the app. Free users who make the leap will find various improvements to the interface, updated translations, and the option to set the duration of vibrations. The pro version now allows users to place folders in the app drawer, but the star of the show is its integration with the new Apex Notifier.

Apex Notifier is not a standalone app, but an extension that works both with Apex Launcher and DashClock Widget. Apex Launcher Pro users who install Apex Notifier will see unread counts appear as badges atop various application icons, including:

Missed Calls
Unread SMS
Calendar Appointments
Gmail
HTC Mail
Samsung Email
K-9 Mail
Battery Level
Stock Email
Google Talk
Google Voice
Starbucks

You are free to tweak the size and color of notifications, and you get to have a say in which apps badges will appear on.

Apr

StatusAgenda Keeps Your Google Calendar Events In Your Notification Shade For Easy Access

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Since the introduction of expandable notifications in Jelly Bean, the shade has increasingly become the home for widgets and easy-access controls. StatusAgenda brings this concept to your calendar, creating a persistent list of upcoming events accessible from anywhere in the operating system.

At the moment, the app is pretty barebones, but it doesn't need too much fluff. You can choose from either a larger or more compact layout, and the list of events can be collapsed with the regular gestures you use to open and close expandable notifications. StatusAgenda is free on the Play Store, and still listed as a beta for the moment.

Mar

Samsung Galaxy Stellar Jelly Bean Update (JZO54K.I200VRBMA1) Coming Soon, Google Now Comes To The Mid-Range

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy Stellar (SCH-I200), News

Last Updated: March 4th, 2013

Samsung seems to have gotten the hang of updating phones besides the major flagships. While it's still coming about nine months after the release of Jelly Bean and nearly six months after the release of the handset, the Galaxy Stellar will be upgraded to 4.1 "soon", according to these Verizon support docs. The OTA will bring the much-beloved Google Now as well as expandable notifications and all the other goodies of the newest tasty treat.

The update is 403.6MB in size, so you're going to want to be on WiFi when you download it. While we don't yet know exactly when the OTA will start, it usually doesn't take too long between the arrival of these support docs and the initial rollout.

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

New Android 4.2.2 Features: Toggle From Quick Settings, Better App Download Notifications, and Some New Sounds!

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Jelly Bean 4.2, News

Last Updated: February 20th, 2013

Android 4.2.2 is out, and while an OCD-fueled 4.2.2 edition of Getting To Know Android is on the way, we figured it would be a good idea to highlight the big user facing changes that came with this release. We already covered the new ADB Whitelist and posted the raw developer changelog, so this should be the last of the important stuff.

New Download Notifications

First up is the new notification for in-progress app downloads, which now shows the percentage and an estimated time remaining for your app downloads while they are happening. Or, if you want to be technical about it:

Calculate speed of in-progress downloads and estimate time remaining
until completion. Uses a moving average that is weighted 1:1 with
the most recent 500ms sample. Funnels timing data to notifications
through DownloadHandler.

Jan

Google+ Update Gives Notifications Their Own Special Tray, Adds Community Management Features, And More

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Can we be honest with ourselves for a bit? Notifications on Google+ have sucked for a while. It's never clear what's new and what's old, they're cluttered with information, and up until recently, they've been tucked away in the app underneath the sidebar navigation. Well at least one of those problems is getting fixed today as the Android app gets an update that creates a special new section for notifications on the right-hand side of the app. Also, you can access it in more places! Not everywhere, but a lot more!

^{Left: Old style notifications, below the side bar navigation.}

Nov

[New App] Notification Weather Offers Current Conditions And Forecasts In Expandable Notifications

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, Apps/Games, News

One of the coolest features included in Android 4.1 was the enhanced notifications. If an app supports the feature, you can swipe down and expand the data being shown. Many of the stock apps do this, but third-party developers have been taking advantage as well. Notification Weather offers its own twist on notifications by adding rich weather forecasts to your Jelly Bean device's notification shade.

This app's notification comes in two forms. The first is a single line with the current conditions. The other is a two-line block with the current conditions and a 4-day forecast. You can choose in the settings what units you want, how often it updates, and whether it defaults to the expanded or collapsed view.

Aug

Evernote App Updated To Version 4.2, Brings Jelly Bean Notification Enhancements

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Apps/Games, News

If you've ever needed to jot down a quick note on the go, I hope you used Evernote to do it. The Evernote service, and the accompanying app, make it easy to keep all your notes in the cloud. This app has long had great features like audio notes, notebook categorization, and tagging. Now Evernote is getting a little more awesome for anyone running Jelly Bean.

Android 4.1 supports expanded notifications so you can trigger actions right from the drop down. In the case of Evernote, you can share or edit a note by tapping the corresponding buttons.

Aug

Google's Music, Magazines, And Goggles Apps All Get Updated, Here's What's New

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

A bunch of new fun stuff is coming down the pipeline, Google-fans! Your favorite search giant has just pushed several updates to some of its headlining properties, including Play Music, Play Magazines, and Google Goggles. We've got the full rundown for you.

Play Music

For starters, Google Music has added expandable notifications to its repertoire. It doesn't look like you'll see much more info if you expand it, but Play Music continues to be one of the best examples of how to make notifications robust and useful. Also, good news for Google TV owners: if you purchased a newer GTV box (like the Vizio Co-Star), Play Music will now be supported.