After running into issues trying to use the adb tool in the Android SDK, I figured I would document what worked for me so the next person doesn’t have to suffer .

First, you need to install the Android SDK. That part is pretty straight forward, just use the bundle download at the link here http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html. The only issue I found with this step is that the system tool ‘monitor’ doesn’t actually run on a Windows 7 installation that has a user name with spaces in it. That one messed me up big time. The simple workaround is to use the ddms tool in the tools folder. It will warn you that it is deprecated, but just ignore the warning.

Next big obstacle that was not at all obvious to me was that I had to install Samsung USB drivers to get the debug mode working. I found the drivers at the link here Samsung USB Drivers Note that the drivers at this link must be a bit outdated since first time I connected my phone Windows 7 spent 15 minutes going out to the windows update site and downloading updates and applying them.

Final obstacle was to understand how to make it all come together. Here’s the steps I had to take;

1. Start ddms so it is running.
2. Connect your phone via USB. If the device drivers need updating, let them update before going to the next step.
3. Open a command prompt and switch to your sdk folder then the platform-tools folder and test adb to make sure it sees your device. The command below should display your device, if it doesn’t, recheck all your work.

   adb devices

4. Once you know adb sees your device, issue the backup command line as follows:

   adb backup -f Backupfilename.ab -all -share -apk

5. You will see a prompt on the phone to permit the backup. If you enter a password, the backup will be encrytped, if not it will not. Either way, you need to approve the backup on the phone by selecting backup my data.

For a loaded phone, the backup will take some time so be patient and let it run.

The Wunderlist Task Manager is available for Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone and Android devices and they are all synced together via the cloud.

★★ Key Features

● Free ☆ Wunderlist is completely free for every device
● Cloud sync ☆ Your tasks are synced with your free Wunderlist account
● Email reminders ☆ Ensure your tasks never slip your mind
● Mail2Task ☆ Send tasks to Wunderlist from your email inbox
● Organize ☆ Sort your tasks into lists
● Due Dates ☆ Assign deadlines to your tasks
● Focus ☆ View a breakdown of your tasks with our filter views
● Notes ☆ Give your tasks further detail
● Prioritize ☆ Star important tasks
● Personalize ☆ Make Wunderlist your own with our included background wallpapers

It’s a great tool that does exactly what one wants for tasks. Recommended.

I’ve been using Waze for several months now, both the iPad version and the Android version (they are basically the same on both platforms), and have to say I love it.

It uses the power of social media to help you decide the best route to travel by using reports from other Waze users to both calculate your best route and visually show you where the traffic is on a 3d-like map display. The whole concept of using user reports of traffic in real-time is awesome and marrying that to route navigation and calculation sometimes seems like magic. Waze has sent me home on numerous different routes (including ones I never would have thought of on my own) by taking into account user reports of traffic and accidents along the various possible routes.

Waze is free and I highly recommend it.