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In the car this morning

• Me: *beep*! I beeped your nose!
• Nora: But Daddy, it's not my birthday!

• Nora: I eat my leg. Nom, Nom Nom.
• Nora: that not taste good.

10 Best Android apps

I keep looking for articles on “the best Android apps” to install, and I keep running into horrible lists that make no sense. So I figured I’d add my voice to the mix, to try to add in some helpful advice.

First, a couple of notes:

• Task killer apps are stupid. If you use one, consider stopping. You’re missing the point completely, and I hope you like missed email notifications, SMS/MMS messages, push notifications from your favorite apps, etc.
• I have yet to find any apps that are worth a monthly subscription just for the app. (i.e., no associated web service or desktop app). There might be some out there, but if there are, they’re not on my radar.
• If you make a similar list, and don’t include links to the Market, shame on you (I’m looking at you, PC Magazine). It took me all of 30 seconds to find, copy and paste every link in this post, and I don’t even have an editor.

So without further ado, my list:

1. Barcode Scanner -or- Google Goggles. Get one or the other. They’re the best way to scan QR Codes, and if you don’t have ICS and an NFC-enabled handset, they’re also the best way to quickly share contact information, apps, etc.
2. Any.DO. It’s a todo list manager on steroids. Works great, excellent looks, syncs with Google Tasks/Calendar.
3. Google Authenticator. Also, enable multi-factor authentication on your gmail account. Really. Do it now. Your lack of compromised accounts in the future will thank me.
4. Chrome Beta. If you’ve got Ice Cream Sandwich on your handset, get Chrome. It’s far and away better than the stock browser. I tried a couple of other alternate browsers (Dolphin HD, Maxthon), and hated them. I love Chrome.
5. SoundHound. I like it more than Shazam because of its ability to auto-share to social networks. I have a separate personal Twitter account just for SoundHound to share to; nice when I’m driving and don’t have time to look at the screen. Hit the listen button, then go back and look at Twitter later to see what song it was.
6. Swype. Best keyboard for Android that I’ve ever used.
7. Titanium Backup. If you’re rooted, you need this app. Full application + data backup, which is helpful if a new version of something you have is broken (or just sucks. I’m looking at you, Tweetdeck). Also, good for reinstalling all of your apps after you switch ROMs.
8. Tweakdeck. When Twitter bought Tweetdeck, everyone knew that the app would languish. And it has. Minimal updates, features removed that users liked. Paul from Modaco has put together Tweakdeck, which is functionally equivalent to Tweetdeck (and looks almost identical), and has restored all of the features that Twitter removed from Tweetdeck.
9. Google Voice. It’s been years and years since I gave anyone the phone number that I got from my mobile carrier; I consider my Google Voice number to be my “real” number. Start with the “call once, ring everywhere” feature, and then add in free visual voicemail, free text messaging, call screening, selective automatically-send-to-voicemail, and spam controls. Definitely worth the asking price (which, incidentally, is $0.00).
10. Rings Extended. One of the original “use any sound file as a ringtone” apps, and still excellent. It’s one of the first apps I install on every new handset I get, and it works perfectly.

• Nora: Only trains, Daddy! No hop, no jump, no swing, no slide. Only trains!

• me: Nora, it's only 30 more sleeps 'til Christmas.
• Nora: oooooooh!