Category Archives: Technology

Webapps are still a good idea

several ipads used as kiosk

Webapps were the future. Steve Jobs and Apple originally wanted the iPhone to use web pages as Apps. Then people started throwing billions of dollars at Apple so they said Apps were the way to go. However, you can still turn your simple website into a standalone iOS App using some simple META DATA.

This article on using the iPad as a Kiosk is a great starting point. I took incorporated the tips into my site (michaelmontez.com) and you can now save the page as an App.

  • Hid the browser chrome (URL bar and buttons) using <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" />;
  • Created a bookmark icon for the home screen and linked to it using <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/path/to/icon.png" />;
  • Set the color of the status bar (the options are black, gray or black translucent) using <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black" />;
  • Made all events touch events, as opposed to hover events, to accommodate the limitations of the touchscreen.

The iPad was originally all about webapps. For that reason, you can still turn any webpage/site into an app, no Apple approval required.

Read the full article at Smashing Magazine

UPDATE – once you try this, you will find that you site links open in a new Safari page. You can prevent this by adding the script found here: https://gist.github.com/1042167

Managing Google Play Music Devices

Every three or four months I like to reset my Android device and return it to stock. Why? I like that new phone/device feel that you get with stock Android…and then I ruin that feeling by adding back all my apps and content.

After my last reset, something went wrong. When I tried to download my workout music playlist, I got the following error: “Can’t download songs right now. Check your internet connection.” I received the error on 3g/4g, and wi-fi. My data connection was working fine on all connections…so something else was wrong.

I found some blog post but didn’t find a step-by-step guide…so I made one.

The data connection was not the issue. The error is a Device Authorization issue. If you are experiencing this error, you have too many (more than 10) devices associated with your Google Play Music account. Here is how you remove devices.

– In your desktop or none phone/device web browser, go to http://play.google.com/music/
Click the GEAR icon in the upper right corner and select “Music settings“.

Screenshot of Google Play Music Settings

Go to Google Play, Select Music Settings from the GEAR

– At the bottom of that page, you will see the Device section. Here are all the computers and devices associated with your Google Play Music account. DEAUTHORIZE any devices you no longer want to keep associated. (DO NOT DEAUTHORIZE THE COMPUTER YOU ARE ON.)

Screen shot of Manage Devices

At the bottom of the Music Settings section is the Devices section.

– Once step 4 is complete, grab your device. Launch the PLAY MUSIC app. Once launched, go to the Settings section and make sure your account is selected.

– Go back into your library and select an album, artist, or playlist. From the pop-out menu, select KEEP ON DEVICE.

Screen shot of Music Play app for Android

Select “Keep on Device” from the Play Music App

– This will send a request to authorize the device and the download should start.

Screen shot Google Play App Keeping Requested Music

Your download will start once the account is authorized.

– You should now see your phone/device listed in your Google Play Music devices section.

Got an eye-exam this week. They took pictures of my eyes. I turned the pictures into this graphic. Please feel free to use it for your kids birthday or wedding invitation.

The left eye is worse than the right eye.

How to quiet your friends on Facebook

Do you have 100+ “friends” on Facebook? Do those 100+ friends post a lot of junk? Do some of those friends post more crap than quality? Well, you can filter your Facebook friends and only show “All Updates,” “Most Updates,” or “Only Important Updates.” What does this mean to you? Well, you know that uncle that only post game updates…now you can say, “only show me the important stuff.” And for your lover, you can select, “All Updates,” and you will never miss a post.

In your friend feed, you can hover over the news items of the person you would like to edit. On the right, you will see a little “down arrow.” Click the arrow and you will get a menu of options for this friend.

The first section will increase/reduce the amount of post you see from this person. You can also select “unsubscribe from…” This will allow you to not see anything from this person…but stay “friends.” Take that MOM!

KCRW Music Mine app – passionate people sharing music

As a Los Angeles transplant, I miss KCRW programming. Listening online is good, but the new KCRW Music Mine app is so much better than live. Not only can you listen to a well curated list of music, you can listen to the various DJ’s most recent show. Unlike Pandora or Spotify, the ‘discovery’ is taken care of for you.

Back in the day, radio station people were interested in finding and sharing new music, sound, voice, and noise and using the radio waves to disseminate it. Slowly, it became less about discovery and more about profit (so is the cycle of business). Fast-forward to 2011. Most major cities have limited music variety on the radio. A rock station, hi-hop station, and pop station (sometimes all three in one). This mono-culture does very little for the small-brand, up-and-coming band/artist.

The power of KCRW and the KCRW Music Mine app is that it returns to the days of passionate people sharing music and noise. This is not a pop-star app, and it is not hipster, WTF was that noise maker app. It’s a perfect blend of both with a fantastic touch interface. Give Music Mine a spin (it’s free – duh).

And don’t forget to support KCRW and your local Public Radio Station.

American FourSquare Badges

I have been using FourSquare for a while now and I enjoy collecting these badges.  If you are not using FourSquare, here is a little bit about it:

Foursquare is a mobile application that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore. It is a friend-finder, a social city guide and a game that challenges users to experience new things, and rewards them for doing so. Foursquare lets users “check in” to a place when they’re there, tell friends where they are and track the history of where they’ve been and who they’ve been there with. For more information on how foursquare works, see our searchable FAQ.

There are badges that you can get for checking into specific types of places in a certain order. So I created a few of my own badges for people to collect. Here are the badges and how you can obtain them.

American Obesity Badge

FourSquare American Obesity Badge

Using your rotund fingers, check-in to four or more fast-food restaurants in one 24 hour period to unlock and add this badge to your collection.

Juvenile Diabetes Badge

FourSquare Juvenile Diabetes Badge

Check-in to McDonald’s six or more times in one week to unlock and add this valuable (and increasingly more common) badge to your collection.

Meth-Cooker

FourSquare Meth Cooker Badge

Check-in to three or more drug stores in one four-hour period (after buying up all the Sudafed of course) to unlock and add this valuable badge to your collection.

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Put Your Best Facebook Forward

Want to PIMP your Facebook profile page? Well, maybe not “pimp”, but at least clean up your Facebook profile. You can do some cool things to your Facebook page. Your profile photo can be up to 600 pixels in height but only 200 pixels wide. So fire up your Adobe Photoshop (or Adobe Fireworks) and start building a new profile page.

Clean up the images on your Facebook Profile

The other thing you can do to your profile is edit those pictures in the photo bar above the status updates. These are images of you people have “tagged”. As your images are tagged, they are added to the bar. But sometimes the images suck and you’ll want to remove them. When you move your mouse over the image, you’ll see a small “X” in the upper right corner. Clicking the X will remove the image from the bar an replace it with the next image. Keep removing until you have your five favorite images in the bar.

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