HTC Sense 7 0 Custom Navigation Bar

Youve probably heard already about the new cool HTC Sense 7.0 feature called Themes Generator. In fact thats not the only surprise in the newest HTC custom user interface. In the sixth version of the Sense UI HTC opted for extensive configuration options of the Android Navigation Bar. Now in addition to the existing three main on-screen buttons you can choose a 4th button with a specific function.

To enter these settings you need to go to Settings ---> Personalize ---> Change navigation button. As you can see, HTC gave us a couple of options there:

• Back
• Home
• Recent apps

These are the default on-screen buttons and you cant disable any of it. Plus we got several more, but you can enable only one at a time:

• Turn off screen
• Auto rotate
• Notifications
• Quick settings
• Hide navigation bar

According to the screenshot you can not only add a 4th button but also re-arrange the position of all buttons. That means you can have your extra button either on the right or left side of the navigation bar or between other buttons.

The "Turn off screen" button can be really handy in case you want to switch off your screen really fast, without moving the finger outside the screen area. In combination with HTC Motion Launch Gestures (double tap to wake-up in this case) you dont need to use power button any more!

The "Auto rotate" feature doesnt seems like something I would access few times a day. Personally I would prefer to have a "Rotate" function there to force the screen orientation I want to use in a particular moment, no matter how I keep the device (horizontally or vertically).

The "Notifications" button is a great alternate for the swipe down the status bar gesture when you want to access notifications.

The "Quick Settings" button, just like "Notifications" button allows you to quick access the pull down menu without having to swipe down from the top of the screen.

Last but not least, the "Hide navigation bar" button is one of my favourite. It allows you to completely hide the navigation bar and visually enlarge the home screen. To bring it back you just need to swipe up from the bottom part of the screen. Cool, isnt it?

Do you have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

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Harley Davidson Ride Planner uses Google Maps APIs to help motorcyclists cruise the highways and byways

Posted by Heidi Skinner, Social Strategy Manager at the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company

(Cross-posted on the Google Geo Developers Blog.)

Editor’s note: Today’s guest blogger is Heidi Skinner, Social Strategy Manager at the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company. Read how Harley-Davidson uses Google Maps APIs to help motorcyclists plan and share road trips. Harley-Davidson is one of many customers sharing their story as part of our cross-country road trip, Code the Road.

Hitting the open road on your motorcycle isn’t what it used to be—it’s better, thanks to the Harley-Davidson Ride Planner mobile app and website that use the Google Maps APIs to help you plan trips, share them with others and get the most out of your route along the way. Its one of the many ways Harley-Davidson helps more people ride more miles.

Motorcyclists are a varied bunch. Some like short drives through urban centers, while others favor long rides through mountain ranges. They plan their rides with the same care as they plan their honeymoons or vacations. On the Ride Planner website, powered by the Google Maps JavaScript API, they can build their routes using Google Maps and choose the kinds of roads they favor, including Harley-Davidson Great Roads, which are some of the best roads in the country to ride on as rated by other Harley-Davidson riders.

The Google Places API lets them add important places—gas stations, hotels and attractions. We also use it to call out relevant places people might want to visit, like the hundreds of Harley-Davidson dealerships across the country that offer official Harley-Davidson merchandise, riding gear and parts and accessories as well as great restaurants, landmarks, campgrounds and other points of interest.

After people build their trips, the iOS and Android apps grab the information. The Android app uses the Google Maps API for Android to display the map, route and turn-by-turn directions. The Google Places API for Android lets people see and change their planned stops and attractions. The Google Maps SDK for iOS and Google Places SDK for iOS do the same thing for our iOS app, providing the same user experience across both platforms.

People can share their rides as well. Members of the Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.) plan rides for as many as 500 people, who follow the route on the mobile apps. The apps also tie into mobile device GPS systems for navigation, and motorcyclists can export rides using GPX format into the built-in GPS on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

The app has been a huge success—people have planned hundreds of thousands of rides on the website, and the apps are each downloaded between 3,000 and 5,000 times a month. To help celebrate this momentum, we’re excited to be part of the Code the Road road trip with Google.

On June 8, members of local H.O.G. groups drove their Harleys alongside the Code the Road bus from our headquarters in Milwaukee to the nearby Harley-Davidson Museum. At the museum, we celebrated with a big party, including live music, tours of the bus and museum discounts for attendees. It was a great time with a great partner.

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Google Apps Marketplace gets a fresh new look

Posted by Chris Han, Product Manager Google Apps Marketplace

The right apps help organizations get work done. That’s where the Google Apps Marketplace comes in, with hundreds of third-party apps that integrate directly with Google Apps for Work –like BetterCloud, which automates management of your domain, or LucidChart, which helps you create beautiful diagrams within Drive.

And today, the Google Apps Marketplace is getting a virtual facelift to make it even easier for administrators and employees to find applications to help them get work done.

The new navigation bar enables you to easily find specific apps by browsing the most popular app categories, such as Sales & CRM or Task Management.

From Asana (a team task management tool) to Zapier (a way to connect apps you use and automate tasks), you can find the right app to solve your organization’s needs. Check out the new Google Apps Marketplace and learn more about how to manage apps for your organization.

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Google Apps for Work creates over three quarters of a million pounds worth of efficiencies for creative agency Imagination

Posted by Simon King, European Operations Director for Imagination

Editors note: Today we hear from Simon King, EMEA Operations Director for Imagination, a full-service, independent global design, communications and experiential agency serving clients that include Ford, Shell and Canon. With 1,200 people working across 20 global offices, Imagination uses Google Apps to increase efficiencies and save money. Learn how they’ve created efficiencies worth in excess of 800,000 pounds to the business over the past 5 years by adopting Google Apps.

Our team works together across the globe to deliver creative campaigns for some of the world’s most well-known brands. But imagine this: a team of 1,200 sharing a 750,000-asset library that’s virtually impossible to keep track of. Now add a manual and time consuming recruitment process and you’ll begin to understand how technology is every bit as crucial to our business as creativity. Google Apps for Work offers the exact tools we needed to overcome these challenges.

Google Drive has created efficiencies worth in excess of 100,000 pounds per year to the business by more than halving the time we spend searching for files in our cloud-based asset library. We no longer waste time with daily file searches hampered by misfiled, duplicated or out-of-date data, as each and every uploaded asset is tagged with metadata that makes it instantly searchable. With an average of 28 searches per day, each one taking just one minute to complete, the Google Drive asset library has revolutionised the way we work.

The cloud technology also means any member of staff with authorised access can download any file, no matter where or when it was created. Today our teams operating in 80 different countries can access the entire Imagination portfolio – anytime, anywhere – knowing they’ll be able to find the right files instantly. We’ve used it to create presentations in Moscow hotel lobbies, and review work in Sydney that was created a few moments before in London, all by easily pulling up files in our asset library on Google Drive. As one of our EMEA Client Services Directors explained to me, “Having the entire Imagination portfolio wherever I am is a game changer for business development.”

We also use Google Forms to simplify the process of recruiting. Google Forms have replaced a lengthy and time consuming paper-based recruiting process, with the digital system creating efficiencies worth in excess of 60,000 pounds every year in our London office alone. Each of the completed Forms triggers an email to relevant staff members, giving us a single, simple way to procure resources. By linking Google Forms and Sheets, our staff can manage critical resourcing no matter where they’re working, whether it’s from home or in an airport lounge. It’s added increased rigour to a crucial business process, and removed the potential for errors.

Google Apps reduced the time to get new joiners productive — we simply share access to Google Drive, using Drive’s advanced security settings to share relevant information with the right people, and they’re ready to work. From day one, they have instant access to more than 25 years of Imagination’s work and experience, and with two-factor login authentication, we can be sure we’re protecting confidential information.

As one of the early adopters of Google Apps in 2010, we’ve made use of all it has to offer to reach our primary goal: Transforming business through creativity. The technology has helped us minimise the back office challenges and maximise how we communicate and share our achievements with our colleagues globally. Google Apps has helped us create a real competitive advantage and save thousands in the process. Imagine that.

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Growing from a team of 4 to 400 with the help of Google Apps and Chromebox for meetings Q A with Anthony Casalena founder CEO of Squarespace

Posted by Anthony Casalena, Founder and CEO of Squarespace

Editors note: We sat down with Anthony Casalena, Founder and CEO of Squarespace, to talk about how they get work done with the help of simple and modern tools, including Google Apps for Work and Chromebox for meetings.

In 2003, Anthony Casalena had the idea to simplify the process of creating a website and started building Squarespace out of his dorm room at the University of Maryland. Today, millions of people use Squarespace to share their stories online. Here, Anthony shares how the company creates simple, powerful products and continues to grow their global team with the help of Google Apps and Chromebox for meetings.

How does Squarespace work and create?
As a company, we’re committed to respecting the intricacies of the creative process at work. It means waiting to release software until we’re happy with it, having respect for delicate ideas before they reach maturity, and tightly integrating small, multi-disciplinary teams on projects from the outset. As a company that believes in the benefits that technology can bring, we’re also highly reliant on modern tools and development processes. We integrated Google Apps with Squarespace 7, as we already use it to run so much of our own company.

When did you start using Apps at Squarespace? Why?
We started using Apps seven years ago, when the company was around four people. Before that, we used a mix of things I set up myself – such as a tiny mail server run off a box in our office and very basic shared file storage. We were overwhelmed with spam, concerned about security, and constantly had to upgrade our software. I used Gmail for my personal mail and knew it was fast and had great spam filtering. When Google Apps became available, it was a very natural move for us.

How do you continue to share information as the company scales?
Information sharing at scale is something we’re constantly iterating on as an organization. By integrating lightweight solutions such as Google Docs and Sheets for many processes, we’re able to seamlessly share information throughout the org without worrying about something getting out of date. Everyone can see live updates. If someone goes on vacation or transitions to a different role, it’s easy to transfer information and pick up loose ends.

Open communication seems really important to your culture. How do you maintain it?
Right now, we have more than 450 employees spread out across three offices. To keep connected to our remote offices, we use Hangouts. After being frustrated by endless IT issues and wait times when setting up basic conferencing across our offices, we started using Chromebox for meetings a few months ago. Now I can walk into a room, press a button and have a meeting right away. This works for us because we’re minimalists when it comes to the tools we want in our ecosystem. We want to use tools that are modern and simple — and we want to use as few of them as possible.

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Reaching customers with kiosks and digital signage just got simpler

Posted by Vidya Nagarajan, Senior Product Manager, Chrome & Android, Google for Work & Education 

Editors note: To learn more about managing intelligent Chrome devices, join our Chrome product team for a Hangout on Air on Thursday, November 19th at 10AM PST.

More and more businesses across the globe are using DIY-service models and integrated mobile, digital signage and kiosk technology to personalize their customer experience.

While the customer experience is enhanced, the administration experience needs to stay simple. That’s why we developed the web-based Chrome Device Management Console, which allows business owners to remotely manage their fleet of devices across all their storefronts. "We tried many different solutions, using Google for signage was the easiest to push, control and manage throughout the enterprise,” said Alan Mariotti, Vice President of Technology and Security at Chico’s. In fact, IDC found that Chrome customers they spoke to averaged a three-year ROI of 319% for Chrome devices when used in kiosk mode, with an investment break-even time of approximately 4.8 months.

Today we’re introducing a more streamlined console just for digital signs and kiosks called Single App Chrome Device Management (Single App CDM), priced at $24 per device per year. Single App CDM offers ongoing reporting that monitors the health of your kiosks and signage at all times. You’ll get alerts if a device goes down and can remotely reboot the device without dispatching a technician. You can also get live updates about system usage and capture screen grabs to see exactly what viewers see.

Single App CDM can be used with a variety of Chrome devices – like the ASUS Chromebit, which is available for purchase today – to share relevant content quickly and simply, with the flexibility and security to seamlessly integrate into a broad spectrum of signage configurations. For example, the menu boards at a coffee shop or cafe could be powered by Chrome devices like the Chromebox, Chromebase and Chromebit, running a Chrome Kiosk app that displays relevant, dynamic content. Combined with our rich partner ecosystem of Chrome Kiosk apps from StratosMedia, Telemetry, Arreya, SignageLive, Wondersign, Nutrislice, Chrome Sign builder and many others, we have a solution to support any scenario.

To learn more about how other organizations are using Chrome OS to deliver signage, check out this new IDC white paper.

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