Ideas from Mark Stout

When I began this blog back in 2008, it was a log of my adventures in tech.  The idea was not so much that others would  be interested in every one of the entries, but instead, if I solved a problem that solution might be discovered by someone else searching for a solution to the same problem. And then I let it lapse into mostly posts pointing to my most recent column.  Recently, I withdrew the column from InsideNova.  There may be a future column for another outlet; details as they develop. My latest post was more in the old vein. I had a problem with Android Auto , investigated it and found others had reported it.  I also came up with a work around. I just bought my next smartphone; my fourth.  It made me think about the path to here.  I just re-read some of my posts about my first smart phone.  It was a Samsung Instinct back in 2008 . I replaced it with a Samsung S3 in 2012, my first Android phone, and then a LG G3 in 2014.  I k...

I recently purchased a Google Pixel XL 32g phone. It is by far the best phone I've owned. It is great company on my daily commute. The Android Auto app warns me of traffic, plays my podcasts for me, and lets me dictate text messages.  I've combined it with ReadItToMe so that my incoming text messages are read aloud. I noticed on my first afternoon commute though the Do Not Disturb icon was turned on on my Android watch. At the next traffic light I discovered that Do Not Disturb was on on the phone as well. A Google search at home found I was not alone in noticing/suffering this.  The Android Product Forum had mention of it. People first reported this back in November 2016, so hopefully a fix will be coming. Meanwhile, I worked out a workaround using AutoMagic . The flow below detects the launch of Android Auto and then turns off Do Not Disturb by setting the Ringer on, and turning the audio volume up. I have tested it briefly here at home, but not yet on a commu...