We've moved.

We have been having some problems with the mapping of our website, so we have relocated to a better neighborhood.  Please come visit (and bring welcoming goodies).  Let us know you found us by leaving us a happy comment.

Come visit us on wordpress at otto & eddie (http://ottoandeddie.wordpress.com).

How to schedule a blog post in Blogger

Sometimes the creative juices are just flowing, so you may be cranking out blogposts at some impressive post-per-minute rate.  When that happens, rather than inundate your audience with 17 posts about new things you learned how to do (schedule a blog post, create columns in your blog, make taffy, create a card to be proud of in three minutes or less, etc...), you should consider scheduling your posts.  This is especially useful if you know you won't be able/willing to post during a certain period, but still want to provide the consistency for your faithful readers who sit each morning anxiously awaiting your written word (we know you're out there).  So, how do you do this "write now, post later" trick?  Easy.  Read on.

Open up your "Design" portion of your blog, then choose "New post" (or just "Posts" if you're working with a draft you already have saved... but you knew that, right?).  Once you've opened your new post (or clicked "edit" on your draft to work with it), look to the right side.  There is a section called "Post settings" with sections for "Labels," "Schedule," "Location," and "Options."

This part's easy; which one do you think you need to choose in order to schedule your post?  You got it..."Schedule."  (You're so advanced!)  Once you click on "Schedule," you will see that there are two options- "Automatic" or "Set date and time."  This is where you can change when your blog post will actually publish online.  You can choose the date from the calendar there and even set what time on that date you want it to go.  This post, for example, we are actually typing in the middle of the day on December 21st, but we've set it to post online December 25th at 5:30am (that way people think we're up at the crack of dawn working hard writing blog posts for them...which we probably are, but not for this post).  Now click "done" (just below the calendar.)  The one thing you have left to do is hit the big orange publish button... it's okay (really!); it won't actually go live until the date you chose.

So, give it a shot.  Schedule a post.

Top Twenty-Four Apps.

In the spirit of giving at Christmas, we are giving you the gift of the top twenty-four apps all in one little list.  We know... you're welcome.  You should know, though, that there was no way we were going to spend Christmas day typing a blog post (even for you), so we actually typed this last week (twice, if you need to know- we deleted the first one... nice.  Ya, we were pretty happy about that.).  So, you ask, how did we type it last week and have it post on Christmas?  Did we get up at the crack of dawn Christmas morning, rush to the computer, and hit the "publish" button?  Did we hire elves?  Did we actually type it on Christmas after all (you know, third time's a charm)?  No.  No.  And, no.  If you want to know how we did it, click here.

Anyway, on to the list.  So, in no particular ranking, but in the order in which they were published, these are the twenty-four apps we reviewed:

1.    Evernote
2.    SoundHound
3.    Better Christmas List
4.    Postagram/Sincerely Ink
5.    Lose It
6.    ePrint
7.    Pandora
8.    Words With Friends
9.    Alarm Clock
10.  Fantasy Monster Football
11.  Capture
12.  Glo Bible 
13.  Silent Film Director
14.  Grocery IQ
15.  SnapTell
16.  All Recipes/Epicurious
17.  Nike Training Club
18.  Pages
19.  App Advice
20.  Card Shark Deluxe
21.  TripIt
22.  Greeting/Holiday cards by Cardmon
23.  HootSuite
24.  BlogPress

Day Twenty-Four. App Twenty-Four. BlogPress.

[Update]: The developers pulled the app to fix continuing issues. We still love the app and are using it for this update, so we have high hopes that they will get it figured out.

We waited as long as possible to post the review for today's app because it was awaiting an update to make it stop crashing. That update came just a couple of days ago and one of our favorite apps is wonderful again. We are talking about the universal app, BlogPress. Our favorite thing about BlogPress is that we can save an online or local version of whatever post we're working on.  The reason this is key, is that it enables us to begin a post on one device then continue it on another.  The local save option matters because we can work on our post (in the subway or under a rock or wherever we don't have wifi access), save it to our device, then upload it when we're back in range of those wireless signals.  We can then modify it at will and re-save the online version for access from whatever keyboard/touchpad we happen to be using next (we're pretty mobile).  We use this app ALL THE TIME for our on-the-go blogging.  If you want to see it in action, this family here used it to share their New York City vacation with selected family and friends as it happened. It's an awesome app and definitely worth downloading if you do any blogging.  Or, even if you don't and just want a fun and simple way to document a trip... and you can check out Blog2Print, which offers to make your entire blog into a book.  We haven't tried it yet, but it could be fun for something like the NYC trip example above.  Anyway, blog on (with BlogPress).

Day Twenty-Three. App Twenty-Three. HootSuite.

HootSuite is our app for today.  If you don't use Twitter or Facebook, then you can just skip this and look forward to tomorrow's app review (see you then).  However, if you have multiple Twitter accounts or want to be able to see streams from your Twitter, Facebook and Facebook Pages, Foursquare, and LinkedIn accounts in the same location, HootSuite is very useful.

We aren't huge Facebookers and don't use Foursquare or LinkedIn (are they really something we should be in to?), but on occasion we manage multiple Twitter accounts.  To get it all set up at first, all you do is enter in your name and password for each account you want added, then they appear within HootSuite (which is also available as an iPad app and on your computer at hootsuite.com).  Once you have them in HootSuite, you can edit and rearrange each stream as you like.  It's totally customizable, which is great.

We also really like the built-in URL shortener for our tweets (Is there one in the native Twitter app that we just can't find?!?).  There is also a stats portion, where you can see how many clicks your tweets receive... good for those who care, we suppose.  We think it might just depress us... unless you want to follow us on twitter (@ottoandeddie) and click on our tweets a whole bunch!  We'll go sit and wait then check our stats.

Day Twenty-Two. App Twenty-Two. Cards by Cardmon.

If you haven't sent your holiday cards by now, then we have the app for you today!  You can get out the cutest cards on the block in less than 3 minutes with Greeting/Holiday cards by Cardmon.  We had fun this morning playing with the app and creating lovely holiday cards in no time (see below).

When you open the app you choose from a variety of simple templates (e.g., invites, congrats, lovey-dovey, thanks, holiday) to use as the basis for your card.  They look very much like the templates you choose from when making cards to send out via snail mail.  Once you've made your choice, you tap on the portion of the card where the picture goes, then choose to either take a new picture or pick one from your photo library.  We just picked ones from our library.  You can move the picture around, resize it, and even rotate it at will within the card.  When your picture is as you like it, all you have left to do is choose your font (lots of choices), style, and ink color, then share your card.  You can share it in one of four ways: save it to your camera roll to print and send, email it, send it to Twitter, or send it to Facebook.


This app is a must have for anyone who wants to put together a card by yesterday that doesn't look like it was just thrown together by their pets.

Day Twenty-One. App Twenty-One. TripIt.

TripIt is an indispensable travel app, in our opinion (really, who else's opinion did you expect?).  What we like about TripIt is that it puts all of our travel information into one place.  This is wonderful!  Especially when we go on a longer trip and stay in multiple locations or use multiple "frequent this or that miles."
 
To use TripIt, all you do is forward the travel confirmations you receive from hotels, airlines, trains, etc. to plans@tripit.com and within seconds the site takes care of the rest, putting together a whole itinerary for you with everything included!  And... if you are a gmail user, it will automatically update to TripIt by just using that email address when you book your travel plans.  For every entry, the app provides links to information you may need (maps, phone numbers, websites, etc).  If needed, you can also update and customize your entries yourself (for example if you want to add in notes, additional phone numbers, maps, links, etc.).  Once you've created your trip, you can then share it with others (nice for letting parents or significant others know where to find you).

If you travel, you need TripIt.  Period.  It's like having a little travel agent/personal assistant in your phone.   Now who wouldn't want that?  

So, check it out.  Tell us what you think?  Is there something better?  We doubt it, but if you think so, let us know!