Idea Of The Day. A new Idea Each Day. Some Don't Suck.

We post an all new idea every day. If you find an idea you like... do something about it. Make it happen.

Our Latest Posts About: Android

An End to Butt Dialing

Saturday, August 12, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why do so many people accidentally dial you by mistake?

Back in the days when phones had buttons instead of touch screens, people would often make the mistake of putting their phones into their pockets without locking them, and find out they "Butt Dialed" somebody by mistake. You can tell when you've received a Butt Dial when you can hear the other person, but they can't hear you, because their phones aren't even in their hands.

Now that smart phones have touch screens, you'd think that problem would've gone away, but I still get quite a few of these kinds of calls, but people still call you accidentally, simply by touching the screen as they put the phone away. That's the inspiration for today's idea of the day.

What I'd love to see is an option for chronic Butt Dialers... [More]

Continue...An End to Butt Dialing...

Why Are There No Apps for Old Phones?

Tuesday, May 30, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Upgrading your smartphone is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity, because there are virtually no App for older phones.

What happens to all the old smartphones whenever a new model comes out? Some people trade them in. Other people give them to a younger family member, but the bottom line is, as long as they're not broken, somebody else will use them. Unfortunately, they eventually become obsolete, but why does it have to be that way?

The word "Obsolete" seems strange when it comes to smartphones, because they were cutting edge only a couple of years earlier, and they still work, so why can't you keep on using them? The problem is is that you can't find Apps that work on older phones because the App Stores only include the latest Apps. That's just plain wrong.

There's... [More]

Continue...Why Are There No Apps for Old Phones?...

I Hate Mobile Apps With Ads

Monday, May 22, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

It's getting harder to find good apps these days that don't have any ads.

The other day I decided I wanted to play Roulette on my Amazon Kindle, so I went to the Kindle App Store and did a search. Unfortunately, I had a hard time finding one I liked, because most of the Apps were free, and I HATE free apps for one reason... they all have distracting ads.

Why is it so hard finding Apps without ads? When Apple introduced the concept of Mobile Apps, most of the Apps cost about $1, and none of them had ads. Eventually, developers realized they can make more money in ads than they could by selling Apps, so they focused more on free Apps than paid Apps. That's a shame, because I they're obnoxious and distracting.

Speaking of ads, another thing I hate is the way Amazon sells th... [More]

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Automatic Shorthand Text Replacement

Tuesday, April 25, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

If an iPhone can substitute a Cake Emoji for the word "Cake", why not replace shorthand text with real words too?

I've never been a fan of texting. To me, it's a pain in the neck reading the screen and using a tiny keyboard to type. In fact, 99% of the texts I send are from my Mac, where I have the luxury of a full-sized keyboard. That said, regardless of whether I use my Mac or my iPhone, I never use shorthand text like "RU" in place of "Are You", because I think it looks sloppy.

While I completely understand that most of these shorthands started back in the time before smartphones, where people had to type messages using nothing more than a numeric keypad, I think it's pretty strange that people still use things like "CU L8R", instead of typing out "See You Later". It's... [More]

Continue...Automatic Shorthand Text Replacement...

Your Kids Will HATE These 4 Mobile Phone Ideas.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Do you know what your children are doing with their mobile phones? Chances are, you don't, and that's the point.

The fact that most parents have no idea what their kids are doing with their mobile phones is all the evidence you need to see how bad the parental controls are on mobile phones. Today's idea of the day is a step in the right direction, and you're kids will hate all of them.

1. Parental access to every photo on their child's phone. Kids take a LOT of photos. Unfortunately, some of them are not exactly family friendly. If parents had the ability to access and delete every photo a child takes, chances are they would think twice before taking them. This is especially important for parents of very young children.

2. Parents need to be able to turn off texting a... [More]

Continue...Your Kids Will HATE These 4 Mobile Phone Ideas....

A "Close All" Option

Wednesday, February 22, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Don't you wish there was a quick way to close all your programs and documents at once?

At any given time, most of us have a lot programs, documents, and windows open at the same time. This can not only be distracting, but it can eat up a lot of resources, making your computer slower.

Sometimes the best solution is to shut everything down and restart, but that can be time consuming too. I think the best alternative would be for Microsoft and Apple to give people a quick option that simply says "Close All", that systematically closes every window, program, and document, just like it does when you select the Restart, Shutdown, or Power Down in Widows or MacOS, except that after closing everything, it keeps running. This saves the time waiting for it to re-boot.

Safer Texting Buttons

Tuesday, November 29, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Texting while driving is unsafe. Here's how to make it safer.

We all know how unsafe it is to text and drive, yet it's hard to entirely avoid the distractions because although we can try to resist the urge to type replies while driving, it's hard to ignore reading messages as they arrive.

The solution is to make it easier for people to quickly switch from reading and writing texts to simply talking (hands free) on the phone. To make this happen, smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung can show TWO easy buttons on the lock screen when a text message comes in.

One button sends a reply to the sender that says "Call me".

The second button says "Call Now". It doesn't send a reply. It just dials back the person who sent the text.

In both cases, the driver doesn't need... [More]

Continue...Safer Texting Buttons...

A Better Flight Mode

Friday, November 25, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

The problem with Flight Mode is that it's not that useful on a Flight.

Just about every Smartphone made today has a feature called "Flight Mode" or "AirPlane Mode" that is used to quickly turn off all radio communication so that it doesn't interfere with the instruments used on airplanes.

Generally speaking, airlines only require you to use Flight Mode when taking off or landing, because they like to encourage customers to purchase access to their WiFi network to check email, update social media and watch in-flight entertainment.

Unfortunately disabling Flight Mode on the plane (so you can use WiFi and Bluetooth) uses a lot more battery than you'd think, because the phone will continuously try to re-connect the cellular connection. Since there is no chance you'll actually... [More]

Continue...A Better Flight Mode...

An App That Tells You When You're Speeding.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Don't you hate Speed Traps?

I recently received a speeding ticket in the mail that included a photo of my car taken by a traffic camera. What bothered me most was that I'm one of the slowest drivers you will ever see on the road. I make it a point to always go no faster than the speed limit, but in this particular case, I wasn't aware that the speed limit in that particular area was lower than normal. It was a classic speed trap.

If I knew about the lower speed in that area, I definitely would've slowed down, and avoided the ticket. That's when I thought about the idea of an App that runs in the background on your iPhone that could tell you when you are driving over the speed limit. If such an App existed, it could've warned me before I approached the speed trap.

Driving Mode. An Option To Block Inbound Texts While Driving.

Sunday, April 17, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

There should be quick a way to temporarily block inbound texts while driving.

We all know how dangerous it is to send text messages while driving. Even people who don't send messages can be easily distracted if they receive a message while driving.

Most mobile devices already have a quick and easy way to enable "Airplane Mode", so device makers should add a button to disable texting too. After all, more people drive each day than fly.

It's surprising that there isn't already an option to disable texting anywhere in the settings menus on today's SmartPhones. Right now, the only way to disable texting is to turn the entire phone off or use Airplane Mode. While that seems like a simple solution, it also blocks you from using the GPS, and from making or receiving calls in the... [More]

Continue...Driving Mode. An Option To Block Inbound Texts While Driving....

P2P Media - We Should Be Able To Lend, Gift, or Sell Our Digital Media

Friday, March 11, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Wy can't we lend, give away or sell our digital media?

Do you remember going to a flea market and exploring the second hand books, and records? Now that everything's digital, we've lost the ability to (legally) buy, trade or give away media.

As a result, millions of people are building libraries of music, books, and movies that they can never give away or sell to family and friends, without making an illegal copy. The solution is to build a system where ownership of any particular digital copy can be transferred to another person.

The main difference between transferring ownership vs copying digital media is that the media is removed form one account, and transferred to the second. Technically, this also includes the ability to transfer media between two of your own acco... [More]

Continue...P2P Media - We Should Be Able To Lend, Gift, or Sell Our Digital Media...

Portable Music and Movie Purchases

Monday, March 7, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

When you buy something digital, it should be yours to use on whatever platform you like.

When it comes to digital media, the concept of "ownership" no longer means what it used to be. As the demand for digital media continues to grow, companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Sony, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart are all investing heavily in building platforms to sell digital media. The question is... who owns it?

Before the digital revolution, you went to a store and purchased your copy of a book, magazine, movie or record. It was a simple transaction. As soon as you left the store, you could do whatever you wanted to with your purchase. It was your copy.

Unfortunately, buying a digital copy of your favorite media is an entirely different experience. For example, i... [More]

Continue...Portable Music and Movie Purchases...

Tag and Shuffle Multiple Artists, Albums or Playlists

Monday, February 8, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

There should be a way to mix your music by tagging more than one thing.

One of the most popular features of today's music players is the ability to shuffle your music. The trouble is you only have a few ways to do it. You can select an individual artist, album or category... or shuffle your entire collection. So in a nutshell, you don't have that much control.

Let's say you're in the mood for some Pink Floyd, but you'd also like to hear The Beatles and maybe Tony Bennett. Right now, you can shuffle any of them individually, but there's no way to create a mix that contains all three.

The solution is to offer a way to tag multiple items with a checkbox, then combine them on-the-fly into an instant mix. The only way to do that right now is to create a new Playlist, then i... [More]

Continue...Tag and Shuffle Multiple Artists, Albums or Playlists...

Amazon Prime Instant Video Support on Apple TV, Android and Chromecast

Friday, October 2, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

What are they waiting for?

The future of television is streaming, and there's a war going on to control it.

The first winner is Netflix. When they transitioned their focus from shipping physical DVDs to streaming movies over the Internet, they quickly became the gold standard in online streaming. One of the reasons for their growth was nearly universal support for playing their content on just about every platform in existence. You can play Netflix content on every computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, game console, BluRay player and dedicated streaming box in existence.

Now that Google, Apple and Amazon have entered the streaming market, they took an entirely different approach, because all 3 of them are also producing their own streaming devices. Amazon has Fire TV, G... [More]

Continue...Amazon Prime Instant Video Support on Apple TV, Android and Chromecast...

Save or Forward Voicemail as MP3 Files on iPhones

Friday, August 14, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Isn't it strange that there isn't a way to save or forward voicemail on the iPhone?

The iPhone changed the way people use voicemail. It was the first phone to have "Visual Voicemail", giving you the ability to see a list of messages, rather than having to navigate through a series of voice prompts to play back and manage your messages.

Apple made this possible by downloading messages directly to the iPhone, rather than forcing you to call a number to hear them. This not only made it easier to select and play message, but even play them back without relying on over-the-air reception.

Since the iPhone already downloads messages for Visual Voicemail, saving it as an MP3 should be easy for them to implement.

Although you can save a message indefinitely on the iPhone i... [More]

Continue...Save or Forward Voicemail as MP3 Files on iPhones...

Driving Mode Button. Block Texting With One Touch.

Friday, July 10, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

There needs to be an easy way to turn texting off with one button.

Its extremely dangerous to send text messages while driving a car. Even people who have no intention to send messages can be easily distracted if they receive a message while driving.

Countless lives have been destroyed because of texting, so there should be some method to disable texting while driving.

Most mobile devices already have a quick and easy way to enable "Airplane Mode", so device makers should add a button to disable texting too. After all, more people drive each day than fly.

It's surprising that there isn't an option to disable texting anywhere in the settings menus of any of the major smartphones on the market. This option should not be added, but it should be added someplace like... [More]

Continue...Driving Mode Button. Block Texting With One Touch....

FaceTime For Android (and Windows)

Wednesday, May 27, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

FaceTime is fantastic, unless your friends have Android devices.

Before Apple released FaceTime, very few people used video calling on a mobile device, so it quickly became the first true standard for making video calls on iPhones and iPads. Since it was also compatible with the Mac, the standard grew even faster.

This reminds me of the crossroads Apple faced when they decided to release versions of the iPod and iTunes for Windows. Before that, they only worked on a Mac. At the time, they felt that some Windows users would switch a Mac just to use iTunes and iPods.

By opening their platform to Windows, they knew they would potentially lose some Mac sales, but the payoff was a complete domination of the digital music market, which eventually led to even bigger success wit... [More]

Continue...FaceTime For Android (and Windows)...

Autocorrect Should Translate Text Slang into English... Because Kids Actually Think It's Correct Grammar

Saturday, October 4, 2014 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

I don't know about you, but I HATE the way kids write. They come across to me as ignorant buffoons.

I understand why somebody would want to abbreviate as much as possible using an old touchtone dialing pad. I never felt the need to use texting on those kinds of phones, but I could understand why those who did used abbreviations.

Here's the problem. Many of today's kids use that ridiculous way of writing when they are using a full scale word processor, and even when they write on paper with a pen. Teachers are reporting that students often use TextSpeak / Text Slang when they do school work.

The problem is not just with excessive use of abbreviations with strange combinations of numbers and... [More]

Continue...Autocorrect Should Translate Text Slang into English... Because Kids Actually Think It's Correct Grammar ...

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* Note: The ideas on "Idea of the Day" were posted without any formal research into existing inventions.

In some cases, patents may already exist for these ideas, in other cases, there may not be any existing patents and you are free to develop and explore the viability of developing and patenting the ideas.

The authors make no claim that any of the ideas are safe, practical, or suitable for any particular purpose. You are responsible for the results of trying, developing, patenting or using any of the ideas on this site.

For some people, our ideas are just an interesting read, but our goal is to encourage you to take action. If you see an idea that you like, do something with it... Take action.

- Joe

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