I'm OK

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 05:11:44 +0000

This app is designed to help us care for the people we love.
It is designed to be simple to use by an old or a very young person . It has four big buttons:

- The red urgent button, when pressed, will send an urgent SMS to you (you are called the 'guardian') .

- The orange 'call me' button, when pressed, will send an SMS to you asking for non-urgent assistance.

- The blue button will allow the loved one to call you, the daughter, the GP or a friend (as configured). When pressed, it will display a list of important contacts to call. Your Mum needs to press 'My Sister' big button, to call her sister.

- Finally, the green 'I am OK' button will provide you with peace of mind that your loved one is ok. This button needs to be pressed at a specified period (called the reporting/monitoring period) every day otherwise you receive an alarm. For my Mum, I did set the app so she can press the green button, every morning after waking up between 6:00 and 7:00. For your little child, it could be between 3:00 and 4:00 pm when the child finishes school.

You, as the guardian, need to setup the app for the loved one. Once configured, your old Dad, Mum, Grandma or young child will use it. Provided they can switch on the phone and press any of the big buttons.

To set up the app you need to:
1) Store your mobile number (the guardian phone number). This will allow the loved one to use the red and orange buttons.
2) Enter the contact list (maximum 4 contacts). For each contact enter the phone number the name to display on the big button.
3) Store, if desired, the monitoring/reporting period. This is the time period each day when you are expecting the loved one to press the green button.
4) Optionally, you can customise the messages to be sent (as in snapshot)

Voila it should be easy!

If you think it is not easy to use or have an idea for improvement please please let me know!. Your opinion is the most valuable.

Few Tips :
- The larger the phone's screen the easier for the loved one to handle the phone.
- Define few shortcuts in Android Home so the icon of this app can be easily found.
- If possible, do not configure any lock on the phone, as it will make it more difficult to access the app.

DISCLAIMER
This app should help you care for your loved one but please do not rely on it for life threatening situations. Sometimes, SMS are not delivered or delayed by the phone companies.

Recent changes:
- Add a mini contacts for important phone numbers
- Add a one button press to call the important numbers: GP, son, daughter, etc..
- Improve user interface

Time's UP

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:40:27 +0000

Do you want to control how long your son plays games on the smart phone?

Before playing all kind of games, do you want to encourage your daughter to exercise her maths skills?

If you answered yes to the above questions then this app is for you :-)

When my 7 year old son wants to play on my iPad or my Android phone I give him this app. I tell him: first you need to earn it by doing some arithmetic. I set him a target to achieve and a reward play time of 120 minutes. Once he achieves his target, this app starts monitoring the time. After two hours I receive an SMS reminding me that play time is up.

Sometimes, I give my son this app when he wants to watch TV and I want to keep track of the time.

How this app works?
You, as the parent, need to set the following parameters:
- Level of complexity of the math questions. By default, all numbers are smaller than 10.
- The target points to achieve. By default, target is 20 points. For each correct answer, one point is added. For each incorrect answer, one point is deduced.
- The length of the reward play time. By default it is two hours.
- The notification mechanism. How do you want to be notified when play time is finished. By default, the device will vibrate. If you prefer, you can add your mobile phone number to receive a SMS when time is up.

Examples
To set the target to 40 points and reward play time to 60 minutes:
- press Menu -> Settings
- select 'Target and Reward'
- adjust the target seek bar to 40
- adjust the play time seek bar to 60

To enter your phone number:
- press Menu -> Settings
- select 'SMS number'
- enter the number

To set number complexity and the arithmetic operation:
- press Menu -> Settings
- select 'Complexity'
- adjust the seek bar of both numbers
- select 'Operation'
- select add or minus

Setting target or reward play time to zero means the child can play any length of time.

I hope your child will improve in maths and you get the satisfaction that 'play time is not infinite'.

Many thanks

Android apps by Max Mattini

I'm OK

Time's UP