Dynamic and custom colors on a Zooper Widget Battery indicator

This past week on my Android customization series over at Android Authority, I took a quick look at a way to dynamically change the color of a battery element in a Zooper Widget.

The idea is simple, if your battery level is below a certain threshold, the icon or text turns red, if you have your device plugged in, it is all green and the rest of the time your icon and text is simply white.

Zooper Widget is great for this sort of advanced operation, and we didn't even need to tie into Tasker to get the job done. The only downside is that Zooper Widget's Advanced Parameters can be a little much to swallow the first time you dive in. That is why I not only go through the steps and the thought process, but simply give you the string that will make it all work for you.

Control music and more straight from your Notification bar, Tasker is just that good

Are you getting tired of Tasker yet? I'm not. I let you know about a big update that pushed out recently to Tasker, it included a lengthy list of updates and new features. One of the most up front new features that is either powerful or annoying, depending on your point of view, is the ability to place up to three buttons within the permanent Tasker notification, that fire off your favorite Tasks.

Whether you like the feature, or hate it, this tutorial will help you out.

KeepScreen, a free tool to control your display timeout on a per app basis

Everyone loves Tasker, right? Hold on, I think I heard someone in the back say no. They think Tasker is too complicated and, well, expensive. Fair enough, over on my Android customization series on Android Authority I'll beginning to look at free alternatives for common Tasker task.

To that end, KeepScreen is quick and cheap, let's you decide which apps keep your display turned on and when to let your phone go to sleep.

KeepScreen is free, but it is really old and has had no updates in a while. It still works, and well, but if you prefer an active developer, perhaps there are other options out there for you. (Like Tasker... Sorry, I had to.)

WiFi File Transfer Pro - transfer files between your computer and your Android device with no wires

When it comes to transferring files between your Android devices and your desktop and laptop computers, there are a number of great tools out there. One of my favorite, and most reliable, is called WiFi File Transfer Pro.

WiFi File Transfer Pro costs a little over $1 in the Google Play Store, but I believe it is totally worth it. There is also a free version, it has all the same functionality, it just comes with a 5MB file size limit.

I've talked briefly about WiFi File Transfer Pro before, it was covered in my brainstorming article on transferring files wirelessly, but it was slightly overshadowed by ES File Explorer and how to use ES as an FTP server.

Google improves your security, adds SSL to Chrome Extensions

Google has improved security but ensuring your connection from your Android device all the way to the browser on your computer is secured using normal HTTPS connections. Specifically, Google has added TLS/SSL to their chrome.sockets API.

You may be wondering if all Chrome extensions are secure or not, and for the most part, I think you will find that they are. Standard websockets have been in play for years, and they are fully SSL compliant. This news simply provides developers an alternative, Google-built for Google-products, tool to secure Chrome extensions.

IFTTT - If This Then That is an automation web service that has migrated to Android

IFTTT is not exactly a Tasker killer, but it is pretty slick in its own right. If This Then That is its name, and how it operates. Create recipes for your favorite online tasks and more based on a simple If This happens, Then do That. You can see an example in the image, when you post new images to Instagram, IFTTT can automatically get a copy of them into your Dropbox account.

I've spent a lot of time working with Tasker to automate many of the systems on my Android devices. I've also spent a good amount of time working with IFTTT through the web interface to streamline my online world. It is only recent that IFTTT released their Android app, introducing their own set of Android customization tools.

How to use NFC Tags to fire off Tasker Tasks, using Trigger

Now we're getting into the good stuff. Let's take the Tasker projects that we've already built and use the program called Trigger to enable NFC Tags to fire off our Tasker Tasks.

That was a mouthful. Let's walk through it a little slower. You know what NFC Tags are, of course. Those little tags that are usually about 1-inch circles that look a little like the RFID tags you used to see in all of your movie and cd purchases. Yes, those NFC Tags. Now, what if you could perform almost any action on your Android device just by tapping a NFC Tag to it? That's what I'm talking about!

Huge update to Tasker is rolling out

If you've spent any time at all on this site, you know full well that I am a huge Tasker user. I use Tasker to customize dozens of features and settings on all of my devices. The update is to Tasker version 4.4, which is aptly named as it has many Android 4.4.x KitKat optimization tweaks.

I will absolutely be bringing you new project ideas based on the new features, but for now, let's just overwhelm you with the whole list of updates:

Use Tasker to control your Android display timeout and display rotation

I spoke of display timeout in the past, I still believe that display timeout is a crucial balancing act for mobile device user - if your display turns off too soon, there is anger, if it stays on too long, good bye battery life.

Display rotation is one of those things that we each prefer differently. And that preference differs based on the device in hand as well. For myself, my Nexus 7 tablet is the perfect size for typing in portrait mode, but I cannot comfortably reach the entire keyboard in landscape mode. Pretty simple, the tablet stays in portrait mode except for a few apps.

Use Tasker to bypass silent mode on your Android phone, so you don't miss emergency calls

We walked you through setting up Tasker to automatically silence your phone at night, so you can sleep uninterrupted without ever having to manually silence your phone again. Whether you manually silence your device, use another app, a system setting or use Tasker, you may miss important calls while your phone is quiet.

We are working off of a basic premise today, that if specific contacts, like your parents, call you in the middle of the night, there is obviously something wrong. It's pretty simple, if you receive a call from specific contacts, Tasker simply increases the call volume to make sure you don't sleep through the call.

Custom Tasker sleep mode automatically silences your phone at night

I know I briefly showed you how to do this once before, but that was a long time ago with a different version of Tasker. Don't get me wrong, not much has changed, but this new tutorial is way better, so I figured I would post it.

As is usually the case these days, head on over to my post on Android Authority for the full step-by-step. Head back here afterward, I've got a few new ideas to share.

Tasker makes sure you never miss an Alarm

Hey look, you can use Tasker to make sure you never miss an alarm. This sounds familiar...

I'll keep this one short too, I put together a step by step tutorial for using Tasker to create a Task and Profile. These are the key functions and steps to get any Tasker recipe up and rolling.

Zooper Widgets - Advanced Parameters, this is where the magic is

I know I've been pushing Zooper Widget a lot lately, this is because it is such a powerful design tool for the Homescreens of your Android devices. Zooper Widget becomes significantly more powerful when used as a front end for Tasker functionality, to control almost any aspect of your device.

Over on Android Authority, I've put together a relatively brief walk through of using Zooper Widget Advanced Parameters, I urge you to check it out. Don't get me wrong, I am not just trying to get you to read my stuff, the principles and core functionality that I present over there are absolutely core to getting the most out of Zooper Widget.

Zooper Widget and Tasker, what a team. Learn how to pull system info from Tasker to display on Zooper Widget

Hey look, another great addition to my Android customization series over on Android Authority. It is just a rough example of integration between Zooper Widget and Tasker, showing how to collect system info in Tasker and display it on a Zooper Widget.

The series has been working on a custom built control panel for your Android Homescreen for a couple weeks now, and will extend into next week to finish it all off. The combined ideas, tools and instruction will empower you to move on to the next level of Zooper Widget design and functional implementation.

Tasker and Zooper Widget integration? You got it! Come see how

If you have been following along, you've seen a quick how-to place a Zooper Widget on your Homescreen from the built-in templates, then we got you the de facto design guide for Zooper Widget. Armed with the power to design any Zooper Widget you want, it is time to add some functionality to your pretty widgets.

As I've said before, Tasker and Zooper Widget are able to play friendly, and this is an app combination that can take your Android device to the next level.

Zooper Widget - Your design guide and how to build a custom widget from scratch

You must know by now that I am a huge fan and user of Zooper Widget for the design and function of my Android devices. There is little that Zooper cannot do design wise, and paired with Tasker to add functionality, I have no other widgets running on any of my devices. (Except the stock music player widget, but I'm working on creating my own there too.)

I promise you that a great article on how to integrate Tasker and Zooper Widget is on its way, for today, I want to introduce you to my most comprehensive Zooper Widget guide yet.

Zooper Widget Tutorials - A few things learned from my build your own custom clock using a built-in template post

Zooper Widget is one of the most powerful customizable widgets available on the market. You may have noticed that I am a huge fan of it and have already given an intro and quick how-to on this site. Well, I've gone ahead and created a lengthy hands-on how-to article to help you build your own custom clock widget using one of Zooper Widgets built-in templates.

Head on over to my post on Android Authority to see all the details.

Build a basic clock widget from built-in templates using Zooper Widget

You may or not remember that I slapped together a bit of a Zooper Widget intro and how-to document a while back. Well, I've gone and done it again, this time in a 'follow along' format to create your own Zooper Widget custom clock out of one of the many built-in templates.