October 9th, 2012Top StoryHow to Turn Your Phone Into a Mind-Reading Personal AssistantBy Whitson Gordon
What You'll GetThe purpose of this setup is to make your phone give you information as you need it, rather than you having to constantly ask it about traffic conditions, your calendar events, and other important stuff. When you're done, your phone will be able to:
Plus more. Here's how to set it up on both Android and iOS. On AndroidAndroid users are lucky, since many of the above features are available in Google Now, one of the coolest new features of Jelly Bean. However, you can grab a few other apps to enhance the experience, too. Here's what you'll need. Never Be Late, Keep Track of Your Calendar, and Travel Smart with Google NowLet's start with Google Now. Google Now uses your search history and location to determine what you're interested in, where you're going, and gives you tons of information based on those things when they really matter. It's technically only for Jelly Bean devices, but Ice Cream Sandwich users can get it too with a simple little hack. Once you have it, here's what you need to do to get the most out of it:
Once you've done that, Google Now will start popping up "Cards" based on the things you search for and what it knows about you. Here are some examples. Note that for each of these, you can tweak its settings by going to "Show Sample Cards" at the bottom of the Google Now screen. Traffic: When you search for a location, Google Now will bring up a map with travel time and traffic information. It'll also do it automatically during your commute to and from work (if you've set those locations in Latitude). By default, it uses driving directions, but you can change it to public transit directions in the settings. You can also change the priority of the card depending on traffic: by default, it'll show up higher on the list if traffic is heavy, and lower on the list if traffic is normal. Appointments and Other Events: Google Now will also scan your calendar for events and let you know what's coming up next. If that event has a location, it'll give you the travel time and traffic information for getting there. It'll even take that information and calculate when you should leave, notifying you at just the right time so you won't be late. Public Transit: If you use a lot of public transportation, you can have Google Now notify you when you're near a bus or subway station, as well as give you schedules on when the next bus or train arrives. Flights: If you search for a flight number using Google, Google Now will hang onto that info and give you a card with that flight's status, departure and arrival time, and terminal—plus driving directions to the airport. Travel Info: If you're traveling, Google Now recognizes you're not at home and provides you with all sorts of travel tools, like a quick translation card, quick currency conversions for the country you're in, and a card that tells you what time it is back home, if there's a time change. Of course, for more translation powers, you might also want to check out Google Goggles, which can translate text from a picture you take on your phone—perfect for signs, menus, and other things you find in your travels. Google Now does more than this, too, including weather updates, sports scores for teams you've searched for, and nearby places, but these are some of its smarter functions. To see everything it can do, tap the "Sample Cards" button at the bottom of the Google Now interface. Get Reminders at Just the Right Time with SpotyI pass by the grocery store every day, yet I often forget that I meant to stop in and grab milk on my way home. Spoty is a location-based reminders app that fixes this problem. You input different locations into Spoty—like the grocery store, the bank, your house, and others—and it'll send you your important notifications when you arrive at the place in question. So, it can remind you to pick up milk at the store, remind you to do laundry when you get home, or do anything else you can tie to a specific location. Spoty is the cheapest and simplest option for this on Android. Not only does it give you reminders, but you can even set it to send a text message when you arrive at a location, so you can let someone know when you're almost there to pick them up (no need to dangerously text them while driving). That said, a few other to-do apps perform this same functionality. If you're already a user of Astrid or Remember the Milk, two of our most popular to-do list apps, you already have these features built-in. Astrid users will need Locale and the Locale plugin installed. You can also perform similar things with automation apps like Tasker and On{X}, if you so desire. Track Packages and Price Drops with SliceIf you buy everything online (like I do), it's hard to keep track of when everything's coming to your house, or when something drops in price after you've bought it. Slice is a simple app that does all this automatically: it scans your email inbox, grabs receipts as they come in, and offers you a simple interface for tracking all your packages. It'll even notify you of price drops, if the merchant in question honors price adjustments. If you buy anything online, Slice is invaluable to have. Find Nearby Hotspots with Yelp and OpenTable
Store Your Gift Cards, Tickets, and More with PassWalletGift cards, coupons, and other passes are great to have, but it's hard to remember to bring them with you whenever you go shopping. PassWallet solves this problem, bringing support for Apple's Passbook to Android. Whenever you stumble upon a service that supports Passbook—like Fandango movie tickets, Starbucks gift cards, Target coupons, and others—PassWallet will import them, allowing you to have them with you at all times. Unfortunately, PassWallet does not send you notifications when you enter a participating location, like Passbook does on iOS. However, since we're including Passbook in the iOS section below, we thought PassWallet was at least worth a mention. Stay Up to Date on Travel Arrangements with TripIt
On iOSiPhone users have to do a bit more work than Android users, but the iPhone also has a few features that Android and Google Now don't. Here's what you'll need for a mind-reading personal assistant on iOS. Never Be Late Again with GoTime
Make Your Calendar Smarter with Cue
Get Reminders at Just the Right Time with Checkmark
We like Checkmark because it's very easy and quick to use—all it takes is a few taps to do anything. However, if you already use the built-in Reminders app on iOS, it can do location-based notifications as well—it just takes a few more taps to work, so we don't find it as efficient. Let Your Friends Know You're On Your Way with TwistSo you've made sure you aren't late and you have all the info you need for your next appointment, but maybe traffic hits and you're going to be a little late. Twist is a smart app that keeps track of your current location and where you're headed from your calendar, and automatically texts your friends when you've left and what your ETA is—and if it changes, it'll keep them up to date. That way you don't have your friends calling you asking you where you are when you're trying to get there as fast as you can. Remember Your Gift Cards, Coupons, and More with Passbook
Then, when you enter a business for which you have a voucher, it'll let you know. So, if you have a Starbucks gift card and you walk into a Starbucks, you'll get a friendly notification reminding you that you have some unused balance on your gift card. You don't have to remember anything. Find Nearby Hotspots with Yelp, OpenTable, and AroundMe
If you don't like either of those apps, AroundMe is also worth a mention. It has a great database of businesses, can tell you what's nearby, and gives you easy access to driving directions, phone numbers, restaurant menus, and lets you make a reservation. the only thing it doesn't really have is the big community that Yelp and OpenTable have, so you can't see which places are good (and which places are duds). That said, it's very good for finding the nearest ATM, post office, or other location like that. Track Packages and Price Drops with SliceIf you buy everything online (like I do), it's hard to keep track of when everything's coming to your house, or when something drops in price after you've bought it. Slice is a simple app that does all this automatically: it scans your email inbox, grabs receipts as they come in, and offers you a simple interface for tracking all your packages. It'll even notify you of price drops, if the merchant in question honors price adjustments. If you buy anything online, Slice is invaluable to have. Stay Up-to-Date on Travel Arrangements with TripIt and Just Landed
If you aren't traveling, but you have to pick someone up from the airport, Just Landed is an awesome app. Like GoTime, it will tell you when you need to leave based on your current location and your travel time to the airport. However, it'll also track the flight in question, letting you know whether it's early, on time, or delayed, so you'll get there right as they land. Survive in a Foreign Country with Google Translate and Currency Converter HD
Your phone can't really read your mind, but armed with the right information, it can know a lot about where you're going, what you're doing, and what you need to know at any given moment. With this system, you should be able to spend a lot less time looking things up and a lot more time getting things done, which is exactly what smartphones are for in the first place. Title image remixed from VLADGRIN (Shutterstock).  |
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