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What is Swansong?

Swansong is a mobile app for Android Smartphones that helps you never lose your phone again!  Just get the app from the Google Play market and Swansong will send you an email containing your phone’s GPS location the second your phone dies!  You’ll never lose your phone again.  That’s not all though, Swansong will also send you an email containing your phones GPS location if you send it a text with just the phrase “swansong”.  Swansong helps keep you and your phone in a very healthy relationship; lost, stolen, dead or alive, you’ll always have the security of knowing exactly where your phone is.

Superbowl 2013 Swansong Launch Sale

For Superbowl Sunday 2013, Swansong is being discount to just $0.99!  What a great deal.  Check it out on the Google Play Store, here!

External Links

Download Swansong or Swansong Trial on the Google Play Store:

Official Swansong Website:

http://www.swansongapp.com

For the longest time, I could not seem to get passed the error “Your username and password do not match” on my Droid 3 from Motorola.  You would think, being an Android phone, logging into its own services should not be a problem whatsoever.  The first you need to know is: no, you are not entering the wrong password–you just need to be entering an “application specific password” because you have 2-step verification enabled in your Google Account.  The good news is there is a work-around (besides just buying an iPhone, which is the easiest and best solution).  In this article I attempt to describe how to add a Google account to your Android device, when receiving the common error of “Your username and password do not match”.

This problem is directly related to Google’s new “2-step verification” account settings.  I really enjoy the extra verification, but there are some things you need to know if you want to use it and this error is plaguing you.  The easiest way to fix this problem is to simply disable “2-Step Verification” from Google, but the real fix is getting an application specific password for your android device.

Disabling Google’s 2-Step Verification (quick fix)

This Google article explains how to disable their new security feature:  http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1064203

Or just go here and disable the 2-step verification.

Creating an Application Specific Password for your Android Device (real fix)

1. Login to your Google Account Settings page.
2. Go to the Security tab.
3. Click the Edit button next to 2-step verification.
   
4. Click Manage application-specific passwords.
   
5. Under “Step 1 of 2:” type in a Name in the name field (this doesn’t matter so much, just for your own records… example  ”Android Device Login”)
   
6. Click Generate password.
   
7. Use the resulting password as the “password” field when adding your google account on your Android device.  (Include spaces in the password)  (The username is still your Google Account email)

Now when you use your login name and this new generated application-specific password, everything should work!  The two-step verification process is a very good idea now that so much is tied to your Google Account these days.  I hope this helps someone; it took me a while to figure out what was actually going on, but the fix described above definitely worked for me.

Smarterer is really cool!  It lets you take tests online and it is really well put together–I was really impressed!  I started taking tests on all the things I really should be an Expert or Master at, and the best I got was an Expert in computer hardware.

Luckily, I’m also at least proficient in all the programming languages I use on a day-to-day basis (C, C#, C++)–I even got Proficient in HTML

The questions are all user submitted, ranked, tested and approved.  I really like the concept behind this network, especially if it continues to grow and trend.  I first learned of this site on singularity hub.  See their article When Resumes Aren’t Enough: Prove To Employers That You Know Your Stuff With Smarterer by Peter Murray where he discusses the power of Smarterer and how it came to existence.

I’m sure I’ll have more to post about this after I’ve played around more and made some of my own questions.  For now I still have more learning to do.  For example, I don’t even know if I can retake a test yet

Happy testing.

I got the above email today from Microsoft informing me of their amazing new low prices.   I don’t buy my movies through XBox currently, but this ad lets me understand I can.  Well Microsoft, I don’t know what a “Microsoft Point” is worth.  This email, as you can see, is yet to be opened.

Here is an example of an email I have opened.  Note how quick the subject line gets to the point–and it speaks a language everyone understands.  What’s with everyone trying to roll-their-own currency lately?   I know what a dollar is worth; I do not know what “Microsoft Point” is worth.

Today I got a message from Grooveshark; they want me to pay.  Personally, I only care for streaming online music where advertisements are on the sides of the screen, otherwise I’m not interested.

At work today I used Pandora instead of the usual Grooveshark.  This will probably continue until I find a better alternative.

Here’s the request I got on Grooveshark today:

It makes sense, they probably want more money now that they have people hooked into using them–I’m just not down for that.  Upon clicking continue with the $0 TV selected, I get this “Video Engagement” popup where some annoying 40 second YouTube video starts playing.  I immediately pause the video, because I don’t support that form of advertisement.  I try to skip through the ad, but then I’m presented with this message saying they know I didn’t watch the advertisement:

Ok, whatever.   This is when I gave up and just CTRL+T’d to Pandora.

The original company I endorsed was very different then what Grooveshark is today, but I guess that can be expected as the company grows in popularity.  For now I’m using Pandora, because their advertising is less annoying, but I’m sure something better than both Pandora and Grooveshark will come along soon enough.

Logitech still hasn’t realized I don’t want this to appear every time I start my computer.  I don’t want to register, I just want to use my new $100 mouse.  Where is the Don’t Ask Me This Again option?  I guess even when you buy Logitech’s top of the line products, it doesn’t matter–they just haven’t figured it out yet.  I don’t want bloat.

WTF - How do I not register ever?--this is day one stuff and super annoying, pops up every time i start...

Amazon is actually selling this mouse for really cheap now-days.  Under $70.