MakeUseOf » push email

Get Push Notifications On Your Mac Desktop with Boxcar

Nancy Messieh — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 22:30:35 +0000

Boxcar is already well known for being one of the first solutions to bring push notifications to your iOS devices for Twitter, Facebook and more. They recently added a Mac desktop application to their arsenal allowing you to receive notifications of new updates on Facebook, Twitter, your email accounts, as well as RSS feeds, Gowalla, Foursquare and more.

The convenience of having all notifications set up and centralized using one app definitely makes the app incredibly useful, particularly if you already use it on any of your iOS devices. The app’s settings are simple and straightforward, and it comes with a mute feature, allowing you to quickly and conveniently stop notifications for as long as you need to without having to the exit the program.

If you’ve never used Boxcar before, the first thing you’ll do upon launching the app is sign up for a new account through their website. All it takes is your email address and a password.

The next step will be to add the services, allowing you to receive notifications on your Mac. Through the Boxcar website, you can then add each service individually. The complete list of supported services is Facebook, Twitter, Gowalla, Foursquare, Google Buzz, Google Voice, Reddit, and Github, as well as any email account, RSS feed. You can also receive notifications of app recommendations from Boxcar, as well as updates from OMGFacts.

To add Twitter, make sure you are logged into your Twitter account on the web and authorize the app. You can then be notified of mentions, reweets, follows, DMs and even when you’re added to lists or when your tweets are favourited.

When you receive a Twitter notification, you can reply or retweet from within Boxcar itself.

In addition to the standard Twitter notifications for your account, you can also receive notifications of Twitter’s trending topics or a specific Twitter search of your choosing, or even tweets from a specific Twitter list.

Adding your Facebook account to Boxcar uses the same method as Twitter – by authorizing the app to access your account. In order to use Boxcar with Facebook you have to grant the app access to your basic information, to post to your wall, access messages in your inbox, posts in your news feed and manage your events.

To receive push notifications of new emails in any given email account, Boxcar generates a forwarding address for you to add to your email account.

After you add the Boxcar specific forwarding address to your account, you will receive the verification code as a notification within the app.

Since adding new accounts or adjusting their settings are all centralized through the Boxcar website, if you’re already using Boxcar on your iOS device, you’ll find that, upon downloading and logging into your account, all of your accounts already added to the app. All notifications can be accessed and deleted from the Boxcar window by clicking the icon in the status bar.

As far as the Mac app itself is concerned, Boxcar sits quietly in your status bar until you receive a new notification. Like with the iOS app, you can choose different notification sounds for different accounts, making it easy to differentiate between the notifications even if you can’t see your screen.

By installing the Growl plugin each notification will be accompanied by a standard growl notification, allowing Boxcar to blend seamlessly into the Mac environment. Like with any other application you can configure your Boxcar Growl settings by going to System Preferences > Growl > Applications, highlight Boxcar and click Configure.

Settings for the app itself are limited to starting the app at login, playing the notification sounds, showing notifications using Growl, using a black and white icon in the status bar, and setting a keyboard shortcut to pull up the notifications window.

Are you using Boxcar to get push notifications on your Mac? How do you like it? Let us know in the comments.

Using Yahoo Go to Stay Connected On Your Mobile

Ryan Dube — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:01:43 +0000

For mobile users who have access to devices like the Smartphone, iPhone, or any other Internet-enabled mobile device, there are a wide range of mobile applications out there to choose from. Yahoo is competing in the mobile arena with the Yahoo! Go application, which incorporates an array of mobile widgets packaged inside a single mobile application.

A while ago MakeUseOf published a quick Yahoo! Go Review, which offers a good overview of what’s included in Yahoo! Go. Below, you’ll find some sample shots from the application and a description of the kind of mobile connectivity you can accomplish by using this application.

Yahoo! Go Keeps You Connected to All of Your Online Activities

Once you install Yahoo! Go, the first thing you’ll notice is a pretty cool, well-designed “carousel,” which lets you scroll through the list of applications that are loaded by default.

The nice thing about the carousel is that with just one finger, you can scroll left or right through your applications. Depending on your phone’s keypad or navigation buttons, you can then “select” that application to open it.

Yahoo! Go comes preloaded with a number of basic apps like email, weather and maps, but you may also want to add specific applications that you use a lot, like for sites such as Yahoo Buzz, Facebook or eBay.

To add more widgets, you can scroll to and select the “add widgets” application.

Here you’ll find a long list of applications, ranging from very cool to very lame. For my purposes, I’ve added Facebook, eBay, Yahoo Buzz and several other small apps like a tip calculator, Yahoo Answers, and a shopping tool for checking product prices. There are enough applications in the library to really tailor Yahoo! Go to the sort of things that you like (or need) to do when you’re on the go.

Using Popular Applications Like Facebook and eBay

My favorite part of using Yahoo! Go is the fact that I can immediately connect to a simple mobile version of Facebook and eBay, two applications that I use a lot. Facebook takes a little work to get set up – you need to submit a request on the mobile app for a PIN, which you receive when you log into your account on the Internet.

Once your account is set up, reading Facebook updates from your friends (and adding your own) is easy, and very addictive!

As you can see above, on the screen to the right, you can quickly update your status from your phone, updating your friends and family instantly without the need to find a computer. You can also scroll down to view your friends updates and even post comments to their “wall” from your phone.

Another application I use constantly is eBay. This app is excellent for when you’re shopping, yardsaling, or at an auction and you want to check out what similar items are going for on eBay. Setting up this app is nowhere near as complicated as Facebook, you simply sign in and you’re good to go.

If you’re into buying a lot of items on eBay, the “items I’m bidding on,” and “items I’m watching,” sections will give you an advantage. No matter where you are, you can keep an eye on when the auction for items you’re interested in are going to end, and you can time your final bids accordingly.

Common Yahoo Widgets

Of course, I find that I use the more common Yahoo widgets the most. If you’re normally a Yahoo user anyway, and have a Yahoo email account, news settings, and weather preferences, you’ll get much more use out of Yahoo! Go. For example, whenever I’m bored in a doctor’s waiting room, I always find myself pulling out my phone to read the news.

Within the news app, you can also select specific news sources that you’re most interested in. For example, above you can see that I’ve added two feeds from a couple of my favorite paranormal websites. If you’re more interested in what people are saying, rather than mainstream news reports, then Yahoo Buzz is the place to check out. Of course, you can access that from Yahoo! Go as well, as you can see on the right in the image below.

On the left, above, is the calendar application, which is plugged directly into your online Yahoo calendar. This means that when you’re in your office and you’ve entered a list of appointments and event dates that you don’t want to forget, you can access those calendar entries from your mobile phone by using the Yahoo calendar widget.

Useful Yahoo Widgets For Travelers

Whenever I’m on a trip, the apps that I find are the most useful are Yahoo! Maps and Yahoo! Weather. It helps that both applications save all of your normal Yahoo preferences from when you use them online, so even when you’re on your mobile device, all of your normal location settings are preloaded for you.

Unlike Google Maps, Yahoo hasn’t yet integrated cellphone triangulation technology into them so that you can zero in on your current location, but Yahoo maps does have the ability to utilize any GPS technology that you might have installed on your phone. As you can see above, you can display weather for multiple locations at once, and of course you can look up the weather (and forecasts) for any location in the world.

The “OneSearch” widget is the heart of Yahoo! Go. From this one location you can perform a quick search for phone numbers (like the local pizza delivery place), access your address or phonebook, or quickly read up on the latest news.

While there are plenty of choices out there for mobile users, Yahoo users in particular will find Yahoo! Go to be one of the most reliable and useful ways to stay online even when you’re on the go.

Do you use Yahoo! Go, or do you prefer other mobile all-in-one applications? Share your opinion in the comments section below.

20 Apps That Should Be On Your Mobile

Aibek Esengulov — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 02:32:55 +0000

A list of useful mobile apps that bring excellent features to your phone. Enjoy!

1 UnwiredBuyer – Receive last minute eBay notifications and place bids directly from your mobile. Definitely a must-have for every eBay junkie. (US and Canada). Video Demo.

2. Soonr – Need to access your PC directly from the handset? Enter Soonr, a free mobile client that brings remote PC access to your phone: search files, view documents, check emails, run programs and more. US only. Video Demo.

3. Mosio – How old is Yoda? What was Einstein’s IQ? … and for all other questions simply send SMS to Mosio and get a quick reply shortly after. Screenshot. US only.

4. Plusmo – Super-fast mobile feedreader with lots of cool features. Video Demo. Another similar app is Viigo.

5. Fring – Really cool mobile app that lets you place free calls or chat with anyone from your Skype, ICQ, Google Talk, MSN, Twitter, or SIP contacts. Video Demo. You can also get same stuff with Nimbuzz.

6. Mobical – Over-the-air mobile data backup and restore service. Store and backup your contacts, synchronize data between multiple handsets and more.

7. Jajah – Dirt-cheap international call from your handset. Video Demo.

8. AllFreeCalls – Not just dirt-cheap but totally free international calls to over 50 countries. Available in US, UK, and Ireland.

9. Emoze – This one lets you push emails to your mobile. Works both with web-based emails (Gmail) and desktop clients (Outlook). I have covered a bunch of email to mobile apps here.

10. Directory Services - These services offer everything from the nearest Dominos and Movie theater schedules to the driving directions and maps to any address of your choice. There are plenty of good ones: Free411, Goog411, TellMe, and DialDirections. Although i have to warn you in advance, all of them are for the US only. European? See below.

11. Google SMS – Via SMS directory service with lots of extra features: dictionary lookup, currency converter, translations, flight schedules, stock quotes, etc. . Europeans can try Google SMS.

12. Foonz – Handy service to make group calls and send group SMS messages for free.

13. Nutsie – This ingenious app brings your iTunes music library to your mobile. Video Demo. Also check out MunduRadio to access hundreds of digital internet radio stations from any web-enabled mobile phone. Video Demo.

14. Podlinez – Any podcast any time from your handset. Completely FREE. Sorry folks, again US Only.

15. mShopper – Lookup prices and deals for any product right from phone. Quite handy for price lookups while window shopping Video Demo.. US only.

16. Trumpia – Send message to friends and get it delivered to their email, instant messenger, and mobile phone. Recipients can send replies from email, IM program or as a text message. Video Demo.

17. SoLow – Addictive auction service where the winning bidder is the one who has the lowest unique bid. Today’s auctioned items: 250$ cash, Vail Ski Holiday, and Necklace by Laura Shape. US only.

18. BooksInMyPhone – The best mobile book service out there. Comes with an excellent book reader app that makes mobile reading quite convenient. Also see DialyLit.

19. Jott – Voice-to-text transcriber with a bunch of cool features. Dial toll-free number and “Jott” yourself memo notes, Or “Jott” messages to a group of friends. Jott will transcribe your messages and send it to indicated emails.Video Demo. US only.

20. Qipit – Use phone camera to capture documents and convert them to well-formatted PDFs. Forward ready PDFs to your email or even send fax it anywhere you want. Video Demo.

4 Easy (and different) Ways to Forward Emails to your Mobile

Aibek Esengulov — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 01:38:35 +0000

I have this urgent need to read my emails as soon as they land on my inbox. I realize it’s counter- productive and very distracting, however there is just something about it … You know that feeling, don’t you?

Anyways, here I would like to go over 4 different ways to forward, access and reply to your emails directly from your mobile handset. In other words, staying connected to your Inbox whenever you’re on the go.

Each method works slightly different and depending on your needs you may choose one over the others. However no matter which application you choose it’s totally free (in some cases carrier data fees may apply).

(1) Consilient Push

Push is basically an email client for mobile phone, in a way it’s something like Outlook for Windows. Push enables user to send/receive emails, view/save attachments, customize inbox appearance and more.

Pros:

Send/Receive emails from up to 5 email addresses (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, any POP3 or IMAP4 account).
View attachments (Text, HTML, PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT, GIF, JPG/JPEG and BMP.)
Use dialpad keys as navigation shortcuts.
Highly customizable: themes, backgrounds, email notifications, wallpapers, etc.

Cons:

To use Push you need to have a data plan. This also means that your carrier may charge you for the data usage.
Doesn’t work on all phone models.

Video demo:

(2) TeleFlip

Unlike Push, Teleflip is not meant to offer full email packgage, it’s basically a service that ensures you get important emails as soon as they land in your inbox. It allows you to specify what emails you want to be notified about and forwards them to your phone as text messages.

Pros:

Receive and Reply to emails as text messages.
No downloads, No special phone, No software to install.
Specify what type of emails to forward to mobile.
No data plan required.

Cons:

Currently available only in US and Canada.
Teleflip forwards emails as text messages so there is a big chance it may not be able to forward attachments. As I am based in Denmark, I wasn’t able to test this so I am leaving it to you. Please let us know in comments.

Video demo:

(3) Flurry

Flurry is quite similar to Push, maybe less flexible when it comes to visual customization but has couple of additional features: 1. Offers options to subscribe and follow-up on favorite blogs. 2. Before sending an email to your mobile Flurry also compacts it to ensure quicker (and less expensive) data transfer.

Pros:

Send/ Receive email from multiple email accounts.
View email attachments.
Text message notifications for new emails.
Import your email contacts to Flurry.
FeedReader: Subscribe to news and follow-up on favorite blogs.

Cons:

You need to have a data plan.
Your emails are stored on Flurry’s servers (see image below).

How Flurry works:

(4) Do-It-Yourself (DIY)

In case you prefer to forward all (or some) emails to your mobile but don’t want to involve any third party services this one is for you. All you need to do is simply go to your email account and create a custom ‘forward to’ filter that will take incoming email and forward it to the email address of your mobile phone. That’s right, each mobile number has a corresponding email address. Everything sent to this address comes to your mobile as a text message.

The main challenge here is to find out the email address that corresponds to your phone. For instance, if you have a Verizon phone than your phone’s email should be ‘phone_number@vtext.com.’ To locate the email address for your phone check out extensive carrier list at email-unlimited.com