One of my favorite things about the HTC Hero is its customizability. Lately I’ve been using a free app called Timerrific to make sure my phone does what I want it to do, when I want it to do it. Leaving work at night? Tell your phone to switch from vibrate to that custom ringtone you love, right at 6pm every day. Don’t want to drain your battery during the workday? Tell your Hero to dim its screen brightness if you frequently check your e-mail.

There are options for weekday, evening and weekend settings, as well as a number of tweaks: ring volume, vibration, screen brightness, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Airplane Mode, etc. Personally, I tell my Hero to switch to low volume (20%) when it’s my bedtime – I like to have the volume on just in case I get an emergency call from family or friends. But it’s up to you.

All of these apps can be found in the Android Market place.

Congress is a fantastic source all things congress. Find news, look up Senator’s contact info, and track legislation. This is all really political geeky stuff. This app has won a number of awards and is published by a great organization called the Sunlight Foundation.

Huffington Post is one of the most widely read progressive political news sources and is updated throughout the day. Some of the best progressive reporters are now at Huffpo and many big political names post commentary there. You’ll also find tech news, sports, style, travel, business and some salacious entertainment news if that is your cup of tea.

The Hill is the super inside the beltway, Washington DC, insider congressional news source. If you want to know what political hacks in DC are reading then this is for you.

Enter OurGroceries.  It’s a site that allows you to create and update a variety of shopping lists in the cloud.  Once you’ve loaded the app onto your BlackBerry or Android phone, any entries you make either online or on your phone are synced in all locations.  As a single guy, I find this app really useful, since I tend to remember I need to replenish my pasta supply at inopportune moments – now I can just quickly update my list using my phone.

I imagine it’s a huge boon to those of you who do the shopping for the whole family.  For example, the next time your spouse/significant other/roommate/child greedily devours the last of the chocolate ice cream while you’re on your way to the market, he or she can at least update the shopping list on OurGroceries.  Since syncing is instantaneous, you’ll know you need more once you get to the store.

As you shop, tick off what you’ve loaded into the cart using your phone, ensuring you get everything you need.  No more arriving home and realizing you’re going to have a hard time making brownies since you forgot to buy the eggs on your list.

Multiple lists are also supported, so you can maintain separate lists for the supermarket, the discount warehouse and the drugstore.

I’m using the Android version of the app and it’s great – easy to set up and the syncing is seamless and immediate.  Both the app and the online site are models of simplicity.  OurGroceries has already helped ensure that I’ll never run out of peanut butter again…

That being said, my e-book storefront of choice is Amazon. Why? Glad you asked. Amazon has a really nice platform that allows their customers to read their Amazon-purchased books on many devices. I often will buy an E-Book on my desktop and need to take it with me. That’s where my HTC Hero comes in. Using the Amazon Kindle for Android app, I am able to read all my purchased books right on my phone!

Sounds great right? BlackBerry Tour users can download the the Kindle app for free as well. For more information go to: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000468551

Happy Reading!

At first glance, it seems a little hokey – what am I going to use it for, doing a Web search on a package of frozen peas?  And you could do that, if you want to find out more about your frozen peas.  But it does make it easier to do a search online.  For example, scan a book barcode to read a synopsis or add it to your Amazon wish list; or if you’re comparison shopping, you can quickly look up prices at other retailers online.

But the handier and to my view more useful application of Barcode Scanner is the ability to install apps to your Android phone without having to search.  Many of the various online sites that write about new Android apps include a barcode that will link to the app being discussed. It’s a fast and easy way to get straight to the app you’re looking for without having to do a search in the Marketplace from your phone.

Here’s what an online barcode looks like – obviously not very useful if you don’t have the scanner.  But I’ll do my best to include the barcodes in future posts about Android apps.  So get this and start scanning!

This is what makes the already great Android Market even greater! Take for example the Facebook app. The latest Market version is 1.2, if you haven’t already – go and download the update. 1.2 brings new functionality such as being able to browse your inbox without having to access it through the  browser.

To check and see if any software updates are available:

From within the Android Market, press the Menu Button -> Tap Downloads. Here you will see a list of your downloaded apps. If an update is available, you will see “Update available” to the right of the app name.

Tap on the app with the update available.

Tap Update to begin the update process.

Install the app and then scan the barcodes from all your different cards and store it in your phone. If you set up an account online, it’ll even back up your cards and barcodes. The cashier can then scan the barcode directly from your phone – and if there’s any problem scanning, the membership number is displayed in an easy-to-read size for quick manual entry.  I find this is especially handy when traveling – last time I was in Southern California, I had to sign up for a rewards cards at a market I’m unlikely to visit more than once a year. I have no idea where the card is now, but it would’ve been really easy to store it in my phone instead.

An aside: if you’re concerned in general about retailers monitoring your buying habits, just use a fake name and address when you sign up for your rewards card.  For example, my liquor store discount card thinks I’m Barney Gumble…

A nifty addition: you can search for products using barcodes or photographs. The photograph function feels a tad gimmicky, though it does work. Take a photo of something using your phone and the image is submitted to Amazon; in a few minutes, you’ll get an email back with whatever match to the photo is found.

The barcode reader works like a charm – simply scan the barcode on a product and if Amazon sells it, it’ll pop-up nearly immediately, ready to be ordered.  Happy shopping!

Open Spot is a very clever idea that can help users find open street parking spots. Using your HTC Hero’s GPS capabilities, Open Spot is able to locate you and show available parking spots in your area. When looking at the map you will see 3 different pins representing available parking spots.

• Red pins are freshly-marked spots.
• Or ange pins are spots marked over 5 minutes ago.
• Yellow pin s are spots marked over 10 minutes ago.

You can help your fellow Android community by marking available parking spots when you make one available. Sharing is quick, easy and can earn you “karma points”.

I’m very excited about Open Spot especially since I’m in downtown San Francisco all the time. Parking can be a bit difficult to find – especially on the weekends. Instead of driving around the block many times , I can now tap into the Android community for help.

“Start helping others find parking, and together we’ll all save time, save gas, and reduce pollution.”

**To download Open Spot with your Credo Mobile HTC Hero, press the Home button -> press the Menu button -> Tap All programs -> Find and tap Market -> Search for Open Spot.

But the HTC Hero has a some things going for it in this regard that may help.  First of all, it charges via a mini USB cord, rather than a unique device-specific adapter.  Charging can be done either through an electrical outlet with the adapter and cable that come with the phone – or by plugging the phone into a USB port on your computer.  I just keep my phone plugged into my computer while I’m at the office.  This is especially handy if I go out after work – my phone is fully charged and ready for action.

If you’re a gadget-head like I am, you’ve probably got some extra USB/mini-USB cables lying around.  If not, you can pick one up for a couple of bucks at your local electronics shop or online.

Of course, the other way to manage battery life is to only turn on the services you need.  If you’re not using Wifi, turn it off; if you only use Bluetooth in your car, turn it off when you get to work; turn off GPS when you’re not using maps.  And this is all made very easy to do with the Android Power Control widget.  Add the Power Control widget from the widget gallery (Press Home button -> Menu button -> Tap Add to Home -> Tap Widget) to one of your home screens and you’ll have quick access to control power functions that can suck up juice even when you’re not actively using them.

From left to right:

Wifi – Off/On
Bluetooth – Off/On
GPS – Off/On
Sync – Off/On
Screen Brightness – Cycles through Low, Medium and High with each tap.  I have my screen set to Auto Brightness control, so I generally don’t make other changes.  Keep in mind that using the Brightness control in the Power Control widget will deactivate Auto Brightness; to re-enable, you’ll need to go to Settings/Sound & Display/Brightness.

So, in spite of moderate-to-heavy use throughout the day and evening, these tips mean my Hero is always ready to go.