Woah.

I just came across Google Reader Play in my Google Reader. StumbleUpon.com must’ve peed a little when they saw this.

Google Reader Play Landing Page

It’s just like StumbleUpon. Basically it randomly chooses web pages, images and video from the world wide web it thinks you’ll like (based on the content of you’re RSS feeds) and instead of “thumbs up”, favorite-ing, or writing a review it has the Google Reader functions.

Especially compared to Buzz I think this could actually have a chance of catching on. I like seeing this because I love StumbleUpon and Google might have a comparable algorithm to find cool stuff to look at based on all the spying they do on me

A few neat things: it gives you previews of what is in the line up & a great summary view of webpages before actually visiting the site… unlike Stumble. This makes it quick & easy to pre-determine whether or not the content will be of interest, therefore saving precious time one can spend wasting looking at other random stuff.

If you haven’t checked out StumbleUpon do so!… but I’m really looking forward to experimenting with the ripped off version Google made.

I just read this article about Purdue’s plans for the “post-PC era”.

Here are my thoughts about the idea of the desktop computer getting replaced by more mobile devices in colleges.

So what this article really is about is how bad Microsoft sucks, ha. Their solutions for educational institutions are almost as outdated as Gerry McCartney’s views on the future of mobile devices at Purdue and how “This idea that I have to go to a PC and sit down and use it is as quaint as having to go to a phone to use a phone” (Gerry quote).

That’s pretty laughable. It made me do so, actually. The fastest way a human can input information into a computer is with a keyboard. Many times students have to stare at computer screens for long periods of time… so think of the pros that go into the ergonomics of having to “go to a PC and sit down and use it” . Having the display eye level, sitting up straight, ect. This aspect was missing from his view of the future of Purdue’s potential IT plans, as Gerry describes a generation of crooked spine-ed youth.

The money issue is a completely different beast that I don’t really know anything about, but using Microsoft seems to be the equivalent to digging a large hole to throw themselves into. Here’s my 2 word solution for Purdue to save money, Google Apps. 3 reasons for this:

1. Less hardware – Uses Google servers and many PC’s and desktops would only need to have a browser and internet connection to function.
2. Cuts need for IT employees in half – Basically just needs student/customer help service with a few repair geeks.
3. Mobile device compatible – Google already has mobile versions of all applications like GMail, Docs, Calendar, Tasks, ect.

The answer is not to get rid/replace desktop PC’s in order to get ready for the future. It’s to use them in conjunction with a system that’s already optimized for mobile devices.

I’m sure that there’s just a generational disconnect for Gerry McCartney and technology, but his ideas of the future of educational computing plus his control of Purdue’s IT plans makes him weiner of the week.

SO much love for this application. I used Remember The Milk for task management before I even owned an especially smart phone… back in my HTC 8125 days…  ha (happened to be cool circa 06′, OK?…).

Fortunately RTM made it really easy to get task reminders via text message by using Twitter. Which was ridiculously innovative… but that won’t be the topic of this post. So, onto more relevant points.

Mirror Action

After getting paid to spend 8 hours looking at  a computer screen for a while now, the power of reflecting your online life on your mobile device has manifested itself to me. The ability to mirror any additions/changes you’ve made to your calendar events or task list is particularly important for maximum productivity. Going along with the ghetto picture theme, here’s a super ghetto photo of my homescreen widgets that stream in my tasks and calendar.

On the right RTM Tasks & to the left there is a widget I got off the Market called Pure Calendar, works great for streaming in Google calendars.

Smart Add

This could easily be the one reason (if I had to choose) I use RTM.  Smart Add refers to the ability to type while adding a task “salad dressing 8am” and get a reminder in the morning at 8am to get salad dressing for the co-worker whose salad dressing you devoured over the last 2 weeks.

You can also use operators to add even more detail about the task. Like making the task have a repeating reminder by specifying “take garbage out thursday 8am *weekly”. You can check out how bad ass task management can be on your own time though.

An additional efficiency tip, if you use GMail is to use the Remember the Milk gadget. This provides the smart add functionality for calendar events and tasks in the convenient location of … right next to your inbox

Conclusion

Over all this app looks great and is easy to use. Not once have I experienced an issue with it and all the functionality of the web app streams flawlessly. Speaking of the web app… it’s incredible. I highly suggest getting and using Remember the Milk. It’s free (UPDATE… used to be, now only for 15 days), but just go pro… it’s like $20 a year or something similarly nominal.

Mkuy…. So this app is works well for backing up SMS, call logs, music and browsing history.

Leave calendar and contacts alone! They sync automatically with GMail anyway. I was dumb enough to keep those boxes checked when I tried to restore my phone and paid dearly.

So here’s a little background on what happened.

Apparently the Droid headphone jack goes bad after a few months if used consistently. I use it everyday so 4-5 months later I finally gave in and got a replacement.

I was looking for the ultimate solution for backing up and restoring my phone EXACTLY how it was and read in a forum that MyBackup Pro was the solution. Don’t know if the guy talking about it was a good writer or what, but one way or the other he convinced me to shell out the 6-7 bucks.

Fun and easy to use app really… schedule automatic backups to the web while you’re sleeping.

Then, crunch time came… and I was excited. My shiny new refurb was waiting for me to tap the restore button on MyBackup Pro and I was glad to do it.

An hour later or so I… and the 100′s of people I’ve been doing business with for the past year began receiving declined event emails from my Google Calendar. For some reason the f’n app went through and declined past events, sending an email for every occurrence to all attendees! … I’m still feeling the effect of that a week later. It also merged calendars & added me as owner of some re-occurring events.

Other shortcomings:

• restored my homescreen with the exception of my widgets
• failed to restore all applications

So in conclusion, I’d recommend this app for the backup schedule functionality. Just make sure you’re not an idiot like me and try to backup and restore information that’s already backed up on Google.