djByron [Dan Byron] husband, father, christian, musician & technophile ( but not a dj )

A month ago: I was a HTC EVO owner who loved being able to use Google Voice on a call-by-call basis (outgoing calls).

This week: I purchase a Nexus and upon setting up Google Voice (like I had done a few times before) I find to my dismay that it completely overtakes my phone.  Meaning all calls and text/sms messages are now being sent from my Google Voice number.

Being that the phone is a week old on Sprint I couldn’t find a straight answer to my problem of being able to toggle Google voice on/off and at the very least send text messages from my Sprint number.

After logging in to my Google Voice account settings I found that the deep Sprint / Google Voice integration had been enabled during the setup process of the GV mobile app.  Granted this might be what most people want to happen, but I did not.  I disabled the integration from the GV website and signed out on the GV app on my phone.  This finall allowed me to make calls and send SMS/MMS from my Sprint number.  Now at least I was back to ground level.

But this didn’t solve my problem of having the OPTION of making calls via Google Voice.

So I stumbled upon something iteresting…
I went to the Android Market (on my phone) and found that the Google Voice app had the option to “install”.  Funny, wasn’t Google Voice already installed on my phone (yes)?  I went into my phone’s settings and found that there was no option to remove the current Google Voice app so I began to connect the dots The Voice app that ships with the Sprint Nexus S 4G must be made especially for the partnership between Sprint and Google (voice).

SOLUTION!!

I decided to take a chance and install the Google Voice app found in the Android Market.  (When I say “chance” I mean only in the sense that I could end up bonking up the current Voice integration or end up with two versions of the Voice app on my phone).  Upon installation I ran the newly installed Market version of Voice and I got the familiar setup dialog asking me how I wanted to make calls.  Among these options was the option I was searching for: “ask every time I make a call”.

Now my phone is set up as it was when I was using my EVO.

• All text/SMS/MMS are being sent from my Sprint number (note of course that I can still send SMS via the Google Voice app if I want to go that route).
• All calls begin with a prompt “Call with Google Voice” OR “Call without Google Voice” so I can choose how I appear to callers.

For those who may be wondering why this was an issue with me to begin with.  I tend to give my numbers out selectively.  Family and friends have my carrier number while business clients / co-workers have my Google Voice number and I like to be able to call as one of those two identities on a call-by-call basis.  I know that GV has the option of grouping and blacklisting (spam) callers but I’m not ready to all my eggs in the Google basket at this point.

This is absolutely crazy!! A “wall” of sand as far as the eye can see, then pitch black…

[visit post if you don't see the video]

Too awesome. TomTom promotional video with Darth Vader and a second with Yoda. Assuming this is really James Earl Jones?

Thanks: Adam

This is amazing!  Pay special attention to the fact that the bass drummers are sharing responsibility in doing those rolls. Wow!  Saw another video where it stated “these guys all have day jobs but drumming is their life”. Can you say “practice”?!

Love stop-motion and this is no exception. Top video is the end result, second is how they did it.

The making of:

via:  boygeniusreport

I laugh every time I see this.

“You’re in love…” (watch the eyes)

Come on Google… Give us this option!!

Parenting is something you can never mentally prepare for, never physically prepare for (phew) and never truly appreciate until you’re in deep. It starts off a little hard (rough nights, never-ending diaper changes and manuals), gets a little easier with toddlerhood and when they finally become little people it gets interesting.  They converse, they comprehend, they play, they pretend, they test boundaries, they whine and they love . Ah yes, the love. While it’s hard some days and there will always be questions, I can say without a doubt I’m so glad to be ‘dadding’ two boys.

‘JCB’ Song by Mizlopi.
HT Vince