Post: #1

Well obviously I can't help myself, as I said in my other thread about respecting others' beliefs that I was gonna take a break from LOP for a few days. I think I really just need to take a break from debating with religious fanatics and quit wasting my time in arguments that even if I presented 100% irrefutable facts for everything I said, would not get the slightest consideration from any such individuals.

So instead I thought I might share this neat little trick I figured out that let's me have LOP headlines on my Android phone. I am an IT nerd for those who haven't surmised as much (or seen another thread where I said that) so I am always playing with tech, even if it is being used to spy on me. What do I care, I have nothing to hide and I have always been vocal with any dissent so if that is enough to make me a target I am already skrewed. So be it.

Anyhow, so most of us who like free email service that doesn't suck use (or have used) GMail. So take your current Gmail account (or create one) and while logged in, look at the More section above Gmail (but below your browser's URL window) and check out Reader. This is Google's RSS reader. I haven't used it in a while so I can't give instructions (sorry but Google is always good about having useful help docs so check those out) and subscribe to LOP as a Feed (I think you can just give it http://www.lunaticoutpost.com and it finds the RSS URL for you).

OK so that is the part that you need to have setup before you do any steps on your phone. So I will assume at this point you now have an LOP feed in your Google reader associated with your GMail account. Now you can bust out the phone. In the Android market, look for the Google Reader app (there are a bunch but I think the one that just says reader is the Official Google app, I would go with that as some of the 3rd party ones totally crash your phone or bog it down severely).

So you are almost done, now just hold a long press on your home screen and go to the Widget chooser. Pick the "Reader Ticker" widget (not the unread items one) and in the setup pick your LOP feed that you created earlier and that should be it. You should now have a nice little RSS widget flashing LOP headlines across it as new headlines come in. I know it's not as functional as the forum or as a custom app could be, but it's great when I just want to surf headlines real quick and see what is going on. Then you click on the thread title to open the full link in the browser.

Not sure if you can do this with an Iphone, Windows Phone or Blackberry, but if you can get google reader on any of these platforms you should be able to come up with something. Not sure if other folks are already doing this but just thought I would share as that is what I do. Enjoy guys!

EDIT: I did not mention but you need to have the Google account that you used to subscribe to the LOP RSS associated to your phone. If it is an extra one just turn off all of the sync options except reader and GMail and you will be G 2 G.

Post: #2

Oh and if ya found it useful this thread, kinda curious if many other folks will find this of interest. If you have questions post them here and I will do my best to get back to you in a timely manner but I pop on off LOP all the time so don't be upset if it takes a bit to get back to ya. I always come back eventually. PM if you are worried I didn't see it. Thanks.

Post: #3

Just bumpin my thread again cuz I see it getting views but no bumps. No worries, I like to try things for myself also before I go posting about it or saying "thanks this is cool" so this is just to get this seen before it dies into obscurity. Thanks guys!

Post: #4

Just me, getting this up there for reading, but I guess my little personal method is not as popular as I had guessed (I remember people asking for an LOP app a ways back) but I am gonna keep bumped for a lil anyways just to see. Thanks folks.

Post: #5

Awesome idea! Thank you!

Post: #6

i have it, cant say i use it that much thos. its alright, but the fact that replying to feeds cant be done from within the reader sucks; you may as well just go to the website, as the feed doesnt display all the information that the site does. it is less data, so quicker to refresh, but its not the same.

i should write an android app to do that... maybe i will..

Post: #7

That would be sweet! I don't know squat about writing Android apps (though I have heard the SDK makes it pretty simple) so this was just the solution I came up with for those of us who are savvy using Android but not crazy hacker programming whiz kids. Update us if you do I will be glad to beta test for ya!


Hollow Closet Dweller  Wrote:

i have it, cant say i use it that much thos. its alright, but the fact that replying to feeds cant be done from within the reader sucks; you may as well just go to the website, as the feed doesnt display all the information that the site does. it is less data, so quicker to refresh, but its not the same.

i should write an android app to do that... maybe i will..