GOOGLE ANDROID MOD

Android users are still waiting for developers to truly unlock the potential of expanded notifications. While the standard Google applications like Calendar, Gmail, Messaging, and Google+ have embraced expanded notifications, only a handful of third-party apps have followed suit. Surprisingly, the apps that would most benefit from the new alert system are not the ones that utilize it. Facebook could show more of messages when someone writes on a wall, and Twitter could show full tweets with options to retweet or reply, but neither app does that. Similar disappointment awaits those who wish they could pause a song in Spotify or Pandora, something Google Music has done for several weeks.

The few cases of innovation in Android notifications have mostly come from independent developers or smaller studios. While the official Twitter app has done nothing with expanded notifications, Twitter clients Echofon, Plume, and Falcon Pro all show rich alerts and provide shortcuts to retweet or reply. Even Google has implemented more options into its Google Voice app, but alternative messaging client Go SMS does provide links to reply to messages. Aside from Foursquare and Evernote, few of Android's most popular apps not built by Google have expanded notifications.

Lesser-known apps have experimented with Jelly Bean notifications and produced some excellent results:

- Battery Widget Reborn can show a chart detailing power level, an estimate for when the battery will run out, and disable power-hungry features like auto-sync or Bluetooth.

- PlayerPro, PowerAMP, and Songza follow the example of Google Play Music by including playback controls in the notification area. Album art, song titles, and buttons to pause or skip are included.

- Beautiful Widgets has an optional expansion that shows current temperature and a forecast for the next few hours.

Android Jelly Bean notifications - Google+, Songza, TuneInMore than six months have passed since Google first introduced its enhanced notifications in Android 4.1, and it's disappointing that more apps haven't jumped on the bandwagon. Ad-supported apps unsurprisingly haven't embraced the feature because it's counter-productive to their revenue goals to limit the amount of times someone opens an app and is exposed to an advertisement. But in the interest of improving customer experience, or at least adding another feature available to premium or subscription apps, static notifications keep apps from living up to their full potential.

The desire to put more ads in front of users appears to be the only plausible reason, because difficulty isn't the issue. At their "What's New in Android?" Google I/O session, Google developers Chet Haase and Romain Guy detailed how easily the Android 4.1 notification system could enhanced apps with bigger content views and actions. Google has since posted templates to ease the process and guidelines to show how to best implement notifications.

The absence of actionable or expandable notifications is not a dealbreaker for apps, but it is a nagging reminder that the developer has overlooked one of Android most distinguishing features. Android 4.1 devices have the potential to provide incredibly useful shortcuts and additional context when users drag-down to the notification area; it's time for developers to stop dragging their feet and take advantage of these features.

More features:
- Widgets: Easy access to preset brightness levels.
- Tasker/Locale Plug-in! Set brightness based on time/place/etc. To disable, configure for 100% brightness.
- Brightness slider uses logarithmic scale for fine-grained control.
- Drag the app icon to your desktop to use for toggling on/off.
- Prompts to confirm very low brightness settings.
- Option to disable soft-key backlight (does not work on all phones).

NOTE:
*** If you accidentally make your screen go BLACK ***
1. Pull your battery or (Nexus7) hold power button for 10 seconds
2. Uninstall the app to reset your bad brightness setting
3. Reinstall the app and use it normally again

Make your friends jealous, place a perfect weather report on top of your Instagram photo.
Sharing options : ★ Facebook ★ Twitter ★Instagram ★

Escaping for the weekend and your friends are staying home? Make them suffer with a beach photo and weather conditions from Hawaii or Malibu.
Photo from a morning session of seaside jogging? Make your friends jealous.
Traveling across sunny and colourful Thailand when it's a cold and dark winter in Minneapolis? Show them who is the real player here!
Snowboarding in Colorado in deep powder and sunny 25F when your mates are closed in an office space with no chances for holidays? YOU RULE!

How does it work? - InstaWeather Pro is your weather overlay App for Instagram!
Thanks to InstaWeather Pro you can share on Instagram the weather report and forecast from the place where your are now – on top of your favourite photo that you have just snapped with your Android phone.

Picture shared through Instagram, combined with all the important forecast data and place name, gives full view of actual outside conditions!

You can easily choose your favourite skin from 9 available with various weather data: from current temperature and simple info about the location to very detailed forecast with air pressure, temperature, rain, wind power and direction.

You can also choose the period of the displayed forecast: today, next few days or a whole week.

It works with Celsius & Fahrenheit, kilometres, miles and many others.

Install and share the weather with friends! Let the weather be always good for you!

Make your personal weather report NOW!!

If you are running the latest ParanoidAndroid ROM, you can get PIE Control, a new way of accessing your home buttons.

Now, the good news is that you don’t need to install ParanoidAndroid ROM to get this feature.  You can install LMT launcher app on “any” Android smartphone/tablet device and also even customize the buttons (up to 10 buttons + another 10 for long-press on the buttons).

Step 1. So, let’s get to it.  First, you will need a rooted Android smartphone or tablet.

Step 2. Next, download the latest version of LMT launcher from XDA.  Then install it using ES File Explorer app.

Step 3. Open the LMT app, and hit “Start/Stop TouchService” to start the LMT launcher.

Also, you can set “Autostart TouchService” to value 1 if you want it to start when your phone/tablet reboots.

Step 4. For the gestures to work correctly, you will need to set “Set gesture input”.  Refer to the device list below and choose the right value for  your device.  If you don’t see your device in the list, try a device with similar display specs.

Step 5. Test your new PIE control by swiping from the center right-side edge of your screen.  You should see a “basic” PIE control like shown here.

Step 6. You can change the color of your new PIE control in Settings under “Pie Colors”.

Step 7. Also, the PIE Control defaults to the right side of the screen, you can also activate it for left side of the screen (for left handers), bottom of the screen, or even have it activated for left, right, and bottom.

Step 8. Next, you can customize the PIE Control buttons any way you like by going to PIE Settings and setting them up to 10 buttons and also 10 longpresses.

Step 9. When you add an app, you might not see the logo of the app.

Simply set “Show app images” in settings to 1 or 2 to make it show app logo.

Voila!

Step 10. If you set all of your buttons, you should see a nice PIE Control with 10 shortcuts!

Step 11. You can also add gesture shortcuts easily.  First, make sure “Set TouchService mode” is set to value 1 otherwise they will not work.

Step 12. Next got to “GESTURES” tab and add your favorite shortcuts.

Step 13. Also you can go to “ISAS” tab and set invisible swipe shortcuts.

Once you are done setting your PIE Control and gestures, you are set to go.

Enjoy and go show off to your iWhore friends how much better your Android is.

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