Of all the many aspects of your Android phone that you can modify, customize and personalize, the ringtone is one of the simplest… if you’ve got the right tool.  The classic (and still probably the best) app for the job is of course Ringdroid.

Ringdroid allows you to do several things that culminate into the creation of your very own ringtones.  It allows you to choose MP3s to make into ringtones by making it possible to clip them and save them as ringtones.  If you’re running Android 2.3, it also allows you to record your own ringtones using your phone’s mic.  As you can tell, with these features the sky’s the limit!

Let’s go and do a walkthrough to geet a better look at how simple it really is to create your own Android ringtone.

As you can see, Ringdroid shows up in your app draw like any other app.

Ringdroid is really cool in that it will find an MP3 file anywhere on your SD card, as far as I can tell.  I think at one time you would have had to place them in the media folder but the more recent versions will find them anywhere.

If you have a phone running Android 2.3, you’ll notice the button labeled Record Now for opting out of using an MP3 and choosing rather to record your own sounds.

Once you find the MP3 file you want as your ringtone, you can then clip it to be as long or as short as you’d like it.  Drag the tabs to enlarge or shrink the selected portion and you can even click and drag the selected portion as a whole back and forth.  You can even zoom in for more delicate clipping and preview the clip you’ve selected.

Tapping the disk icon will allow you to save your clip.

You can save the clip in several formats: music, alarm, notification, and ringtone.

Once you’ve saved the ringtone, you are presented with a popup that asks if you’d like to set the ringtone as something right off the bat.  You can make it the default ringtone or set it to ring for a specific contact.  If you’d rather not do that right away, you can always click close and chose to set it up later in the sound settings.

Now that you’ve got a bran spanking new ringtone, you can go into the settings on your phone and double check that it shows up on the list.  One way of doing so is to go to menu –> settings –> sound –> phone ringtone and just scroll through the alphabetized list until you find your new ringtone.

If creating a new ringtone for your Android phone is a new skill for you, I hope you were amazed at how simple it really is using Ringdroid.  If the fact is that you’re still struggling, however, feel free to ask questions or share opinions in the comments section below.

via: thedailybuggle.com

It was recently released that it is possible that cell phones may increase the risk of brain tumors and cancer.  In other words, they don’t know.  Could you possibly have been using that phone for years and unknowingly have been putting yourself at risk of tumors?  We don’t know.  What we do know is that there are a few percausionary steps we could be taking, just in case.

Use Speaker Phone

The trick is to not keep your phone stuck to your ear day in and day out.  They’re telling us to start using speaker phone (most phones have it).  I’ve already begun to see people walking around town holding their phones out in front of them speaking loudly while their phone is shouting back.  Frankly, I’d father not hear everyone else’s conversations; it’s already annoying hearing their choice in obnoxious music.

Use a Bluetooth Headset

Going along with the same principle, anything you can do to get that phone from your ear would be a help.  Many people opt for the wireless Bluetooth headsets.  You can pick them out from a crowd easily.  They’re the ones you’ve got pegged for talking to voices in their head.

Text Instead

Yes, one of the wonderful pieces of advice is to send a text instead of call, as if we aren’t already enough disconnected from one another in this modern society we live in.  Let’s stop talking to one another altogether.  Less cancer and less interpersonal issues from actually dealing with other people!

What’s Your Answer, Tim?

These solutions will help reduce our exposure to cell phone carcinogens (if they’re there), but each at a cost.  A real solution, I think, is to begin to change the way we interact with each other and get back to spending time with one another IN PERSON.  Put away your Facebooks and your Twitters for a bit, put your cell phones back on their chargers and make real time to spend with real, in the flesh, friends and family.  Maybe spend some quality time soaking up the fresh air enjoying the creation God has given us.

Just my $0.02.

PS: Stay tuned because there is an article coming (by guest author William of WesWare Online) about an interesting App that actually measures the level of radiation coming from your phone!

UPDATE: Check out William’s article “How much radiation is your Blackberry zapping into your head?”  Thanks a bunch, William Starkey!

(blogged using my HTC Evo)

This is a guest post by Paul from BroadbandExpert.com.  He shares with us several ways to tell if a high speed internet provider is a good choice.  You’ll notice that these tips are good while looking for almost any service provider so I am sure this article will be of some help to you!

The internet has brought about ease to many transactions we do. This is because the internet has proved to be a very fast means of sending information across long distances and places. Most of the things that were done with days and sweat in the absence of the internet are now done very easily on the internet, such as mail correspondence, money transfer and so on.

The success of doing something very fast on the internet can be determined by the type of internet provider you use. If you are a high speed internet user and you want to know what makes a good high speed internet provider then you are in the right place.

There is a lot to benefit from using a good high speed internet provider but you need a way to know whether your high speed internet provider is good or not. How can this be done without stress? In this article, we will be giving you four major tests to help you find a good high speed internet provider.

Bundle Plan Offers (unlimited data)

This is a formula of broadband internet whereby you don’t pay per the amount of data you transfer or send and receive. This option makes it easy for you to be able to pay for your internet connection without the fear of running into debt. It also makes it possible for you to be able to predict your budget before the month runs out and allows you the opportunity to save more money. If your high speed internet provider does not offer you the option to make your payments by purchasing bundle plans, then you can do with a better high speed internet provider. Good broadband high speed internet providers should have great and effective bundle plans available to everybody and not make you waste your hard-earned money browsing the internet.

Popularity

A good high speed internet provider should have a level of popularity that commands respect. The value of the service a high speed internet provider offers its client would determine how popular it will be. If a high speed internet provider is not popular, it probably means they don’t offer good services that will increase their popularity among people. When you are going to choose a good high speed internet provider, make sure that high speed internet provider is popular to a substantial level. A high speed internet provider that has no image to save itself can do unbelievable things. But a popular high speed internet provider that has a good reputation to save will surely do everything at its reach to save the good name it has earned itself.

Good Customer Support

The level of customer support a high speed internet provider offers should be very high before it is considered a good high speed internet provider. The way a high speed internet provider handles its customers should be respectable and of good standard. If your internet provider does not treat you well as a customer, then there is something wrong somewhere and you need to act before it gets out of hand. Before you consider going for a high speed internet provider, you need to consider how good their customer support is.

Quality of Service Offered

A good high speed internet provider should be able to fulfill the promise of good quality service to its customer before it is considered a good high speed internet provider. There should be stability in service rendered and the assurance that such good service will continue in the future. If there is no stability in the service your high speed internet provider is rendering you, you are better off with a good high speed internet provider that can promise you stability in service. If you want to know whether a high speed internet provider is a good one, you should try to know the quality of service it renders its customers.

This guest article was written by Paul who helps you learn how to choose the best broadband high speed internet providers

Hiking is one of my favorite Summer pastimes!  If you’ve ever watched me play most any organized sport, you’d think me to be out of shape.  Hiking is different for me.  I’m in shape enough for some real eight hour hiking excursions and that’s in shape enough for me!

Anyway, I love hiking in the Adirondacks of Upstate New York, especially in the High Peaks region around Lake Placid.  While hiking mountains in the region, there are some beautiful summit views.  If I can capture even just a part of those scenes (it’s impossible to really capture them, you have to see it in real life), I am happy.

There are several Android apps in my current arsenal that can really be an asset in capturing the beauty of an Adirondack hike (or any hike for that matter).  Check these out and don’t be caught on a hike without them!

1. EveryTrail

EveryTrail is an awesome app that actually uses your Android’s GPS to track and record your journey.  If you take pictures along the way, and I hope you would, it places them on the map where they were taken.  When you get home you’ve got this really cool map and pics telling the whole story so you can save your memories and share them with anyone.  Check out the article I already wrote about it.

2. Photaf

If you go on a hike with some sort of summit or another type of cool 360 degree view, wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to take a panorama shot?  Photaf is an app that makes it super-duper easy to do it!  With it you can create the panorama (it steps you through taking the photos and then it stitches them for you), share the stitched panorama, and even upload it to their site for further sharing choices.

Personally, I had real issues uploading to their site (like, it never uploaded) but you can also take the JPG file and upload it to another panorama site such as ClevR.com (for ClevR, make sure you resize the JPG to at least 400 pixels).

via: AndroidTipguys

3. Pro HDR Camera

If you’re not sure what HDR is all about, you’re not alone.  I didn’t either until I read up on it.  Basically, HDR stands for high dynamic range and it’s taking several pictures at different brightnesses and putting them together to make one picture with a lot of detail.  Done right, photographs come out beautiful bringing out wonderful colors.

This Android app makes the process quite simple.  Just take the photo through the app, hold the camera very still throughout the capturing process (you’ll probably want to use a tripod for best results), and the app takes several pics and puts them together for you.  Think about the hiking photos you’ll have after using such an app!

via: AndroidTipguys

4. PhotoCloud

This app ought to sound familiar seeing as though I just mentioned it in a recent post.  Basically, as you’re taking all of these awesome hiking photos, you may want to have them automatically backed up to your Picasa or Facebook account.  This way, even if something happens to your precious Android, you’ve still got the photos when you get back to civilization.

via: me @ AndroidTipguys

There you have it!  Now go on out hiking and bring back those memories!  With your Android in hand you have no excuse!  Oh, and don’t forget to bring extra batteries, or a solar charger, just in case!

I love my Android and I love taking pictures with it.  I don’t always like taking the time to plug it into my laptop in order to get to those photos for further editing and sharing.  That’s why I love PhotoCloud, one of my new favorite Android Apps.

Learn more about it on AndroidTipguys where I wrote an article all about it.  Check it out: Automatically backup your photos to the cloud

BTW, you can look forward to me writing more articles for AndroidTipguys.  Check the site out!  Great tips and app reviews for Android users!

As you may have noticed, the commenting system for TImmyjohnboy.com has changed.  It now uses IntenseDebate which should aid in discussions and it definitely help me, as a moderator of the site, to take care of things behind the scenes.  Something was bugging be about it so I hit the Internet up for some answers.

The problem was that I wanted a commenting system on my blog posts but not on my pages.  I couldn’t find anywhere in IntenseDabate to remove the commenting on pages; I still can’t tell why but maybe they’ll fix it.  Until then, I found a fix posted on burchwords.com.  All I had to do was add this code to the head tag of the header.php file (easily done through the theme editor within WordPress):

<?php if (!comments_open() && is_page()) echo ‘<style type=”text/css”>#idc-container-parent { display:none !important; }</style>’; ?>

This tip cleared up quite a bit of the clutter on the pages of this site.  If you’re a WordPress user, I hop this tip helped you as much as it did me.

I was writing some article for Aweseurs.com (I forget which one) and as I was research the particular device I noticed some cool stuff about the new version of HTC Sense.  One of the cool features is the ability to go from the lockscreen directly to an app, such as the camera app, saving considerable time.

I began to wonder if there might be some app that someone has already developed that would replace the lockscreen and that might do something similar.  Lo and behold I found LockMenu for free!  This app allows me to choose up to six apps (seven if you want to replace the sound toggle slider) I might want to quickly jump to upon unlocking my phone.

For now (this is the second day of me using it) these are the apps I’ve got set:

• Camcorder
• Camera
• Internet browser
• Messages
• Gmail
• Phone

To me these choices just seem obvious but if through time I find myself wanting quicker access to some other app, it’s very simple to change.  All you gotta to to enter a settings menu is hit your phone’s menu button and you’re presented with a preferences slider.

I can’t tell you how much easier it already is to use my phone.  There is so much less fumbling when I want to do something quickly.  I think I have already caught a photo or two that I would have missed before.

Check out LockMenu for yourself and if you don’t like it, just uninstall it but I really don’t think that will be the case, until of course by some strange stroke of divine intervention my Evo finally gets the Android 2.3 and new HTC Sense upgrade and the option is built in.

Tablets are the newest form the computer has taken and they are all the rage.

Wait, maybe they’re not really all that new.  Microsft’s been trying to get various forms of tablets to take off and hasn’t succeeded.  Apple, with their iPad release, has really whetted the market’s taste buds for the tablet revolution.

Either way, tablets are big and now there are many different assorted sizes, makes and models to choose from.  Sure, your Apple friends will have you looking at nothing but the iPad or iPad 2 but is it really the right tablet for you?

Here are just a few simple tips that should help you think through your tablet decision.  These tips aren’t hard and fast, but rather just to help you think.  I’m sure there are some who have strong opinions and may, GASP, disagree with me.  Oh, I suppose that’s fine by me.  I’m used to being disagreed with!

I have been doing some research and writing on tablets so I hope these suggestions help!

1. What do you want or need a tablet for?

I’m not trying to make you rethink buying a tablet.  I’m just saying that your needs or wants have something to do with the tablet you should get.  Here are a few examples along with a possible tablet that may fit the bill.

If you are looking at recording video AND taking good pictures, may I steer you towards one of the many Android tablets on the market?  Rumor has it that the cameras in the iPad 2 are designed for facetime chatting but not necessarily the best for photographs. (the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has an 8 MP camera but check out some of the other Android tablets too)

Are you looking to do some graphic design-type work?  Believe it or not I’d suggest a Windows tablet.  They’ve done some good work with the use of a stylus and perhaps installing some real software that you can really design with can be helpful.  (try the Eee Slate EP121)

2. Size does matter!

Depending on how portable you need your tablet to be, or transversely, how much viewable screen you want or need, the size really does matter.  If you want to be able to tuck your tablet in your pocket (careful, don’t break it!), try a 7 inch HTC Flyer or Galaxy Tab.  If you are planning on watching more video and want something bigger, try a full sized iPad 2 or Motorola Xoom.

3. Which operating system do you use on other systems?

This question could be asking about what you are used to or, even more importantly, what other systems will you be connecting your tablet to.  Either way, it could be important to think about.  For instance, if you are an Apple fan, and you have an iMac, iPhone and an iPod Touch, you may be wanting to get an iPad to complement what you are used to.  Plus it may be easier to get your devices to do what you want together if they are of the same, um, breed.  Just a thought.

A few more obvious questions you need to consider are:

• What kind of budget am I looking at?
• Am I looking at a mobile Internet carrier and, if so, which?
• What do the reviews say about the company or the specific device? (here‘s one review site to check out)

There you go.  Now when you go shopping you’ve got some thoughts to consider whilst deciding on your perfect tablet for you.

photo by robertnelson (click image)

This article was written by a guest author by the name of William.  William runs WesWare Online and has a passion for BlackBerry protective products and all things smartphone related.  I hope you enjoy!

Smartphone use is still on the rise in the U.S. and will only increase in the foreseeable future. More users are taking advantage of these powerful devices that bring convenience and productivity to our lives.

Regardless of what mobile device you use; one thing that is common among all the top smartphones is that they are not cheap to own. Even with subsidized pricing and deep discounts offered by carriers, the long term cost of owning a smartphone is still considerable, especially if you need to replace an uninsured device due to unforeseen damage caused from a hard drop, a hungry dog, or even the infamous toilet dunk.

Even though I am a bonafide CrackBerry addict and love my BlackBerry so; Android and iPhone users suffer from the same syndrome and many have come to rely on their devices as a necessity rather than merely a convenience.

Because of the expense, relative ease of damage, and our growing NEED for our smartphones, protecting them from damage must become important to us.  So how do you protect your investment and preserve the great functionality of your smartphone that you so desperately depend on?

Keeping your device functioning properly should be the primary goal and nobody wants to sacrifice the features that make a smartphone “smart” just to keep it safe from inevitable mishaps that occur everyday. Premium case designs are the answer and will provide the best level of usability and protection. Consider the following when choosing a protective case.

1. Is the case compatible with your device? Obviously, if the case doesn’t fit properly it won’t provide adequate protection. Access to all your device’s features like ports, LED indicators, and buttons are important to preserve functionality while the case is installed. A snug, secure fit is also essential to prevent “under the case” damage caused by shifting. Check product descriptions to make sure the case your getting is designed precisely for your particular device.
2. Is the case ergonomic and comfortable? Smartphone manufacturers do extensive research into the lives of users to ensure their devices are comfortable and easy to use. Factors like size, weight, button placement, and overall feel contribute to how usable the device is. If you add a case to your device, the “natural” feel will be altered, so choosing a case that provides a good comfort and grip is essential. User reviews are the best resource for determining the usability and comfort of a case.
3. What level of protection does the case provide? Consider your lifestyle and choose a case that will provide the proper protection for all the events you partake in your everyday life. Cases can range from heavy-duty, multi-layer designs to simple snap-on designs. Thus, many users require several different case styles to accommodate different circumstances.
4. Does the case include screen protection? Screen protection is an absolute necessity. There is nothing worse than discovering an ugly scratch across your display that renders you screen useless and is usually unfixable. Your options are limited to screen replacement or complete device replacement; both of which are expensive options. Many cases include some form of screen protection but some do not. Again, check the product descriptions for a mention of included screen protection. If it is not specified that it is included, then it probably isn’t. In any event, get screen protection!

Thank you William for these tips for finding the perfect case for our smartphones.  One other tip I’d add is that if you can’t find a case perfect for you that has screen protection, you can always find screen protectors sold separately that you can apply along with a protective case.

Check out William’s site WesWare Online (blog) which is mostly about BlackBerry protective product reviews but also includes tips, news, and opinions focused on the BlackBerry smartphone as well as general Web 2.0 topics.

Hey fellow Android users out there!  Have you begun to experiment with different launchers yet?  Yes, you can actually replace your phone’s stock launcher (since I have an Evo, the stock launcher is HTC Sense, which is cool in and of itself) with a third party and often free launcher of your choice.

There are many to choose from and there are several articles in the wild comparing many of the best.  I thumbed through many articles from veteran Android users who had much good advice and I finally came to the launcher that works for me (for now).  It’s called ADW.Launcher and yes, it is free.  Here’s why I like it so much.

1. Customizable Dockbar

I love having the ability to choose what programs I have linked to in a dockbar.  This bar stays in the same place no matter what homescreen I am on and it is slightly slimmer than the HTC Sense bottom bar.  I can drag and drop any program icon down there and I can place whichever one I want in the middle.

2. Homescreen orientation

This was a huge improvement for me over the stock launcher because I can set it so the orientation of the homescreen switches depending on how I am holding the phone.  My sister has an Evo Shift and that phone does this but I don’t think the original Evo does (anyone know for sure?).  ADW.Launcher lets you choose.

3. Customizable app drawer

The major thing I like about the customizations I can do to the app drawer is I can modify the number of colums and in doing so modify how many app icons are visible on the screen at one time.  If I set too many, they’re too small, however I can fit more than the default cutting way down on scrolling.

There are other modifications you can do so take the time to poke around.

4. Swipe up/Swipe down actions

You can set certain actions to take place when you swipe up or down.  When I swipe down, the notifications tray slides down, saving me from reaching all the way to the bar.  I have it set so when I swipe up, the notifications bar hides.  You can also set other actions, such as opening an app, so again, poke around.