FoxFi Android app is a free wireless hotspot which requires no rooting or tethering account

About a year ago I  tried to find a way to make my phone a WiFi hotspot without having to root my device or pay Verizon even more than I already do. I didn't find anything at that time. So, when I needed to connect to the Internet on my laptop while away from a WiFi connection I would use PDANet and connect with a USB. 

When you have an actual 4G phone with 4G coverage, PdaNet works remarkably well. I bought the paid version which is worth every penny (right now only $7.95 for a full license).

Then, a few weeks back while researching something else, I ran across some info on the FoxFi Android app, which claimed to be a free WiFi hotspot for Android which did not require rooting. Well, let me tell you, I'm rooting for that. (Sorry.)

So, I loaded it onto my Motorola RAZR HD and tested it. It seemed okay, but not as fast as when I have the wired PDANet connection. But then again, from a convenience standpoint, I felt it was worth purchasing. After all, it was only another eight bucks or so.

I went through the motions to buy the upgrade, but instead of taking my money, I was directed to a page which asked me to re-enter my PDANet serial number. I opened my main Gmail account, searched for PDANet Serial Number and there it was. I entered it and now have a fully unlocked version of the no tether plan or rooting required WiFi hotspot.

But, it still seemed a bit slow.

Then, after a little more research, I discovered that there was an add on for FoxFi called, cleverly enough, the FoxFi AddOn. With so many different phones and devices the developers state repeated disclaimers that it may not work on your phone, or the add on may do nothing. However, one feature of the FoxFi AddOn, which I don't even know that I actually need, is that it creates a proxy server on your phone so your carrier can't detect that you're tethering. I downloaded it and it automatically runs in the background when you open the FoxFi app.

Well, I'm not sure what happened, but now the FoxFi free wireless WiFi hotspot is smoking fast. Watch-a-movie fast. I saw that others made that claim after downloading the AddOn. So I'd get both if I were you. Oh wait, I am you.

Now, when I need to get online and there isn't WiFi available, I switch on my 4G, open FoxFi on my phone, open my laptop and Voila! I'm connected.

Highly recommended, unless of course you have a device that it doesn't work on..then it sucks.


Is Google Keep really better than OneNote, EverNote and other Note Pad apps? Methinks no!

When I first heard about the Google Keep note pad app, and how it synced with all of my other Google stuff, I thought that it should easily fit into my life and replace my reliance on ColorNote, which I've found to be pretty damned sufficient for my needs.

Primarily, I need a note pad app to, well, take notes. Jot down ideas, grocery lists, jokes, whatever. And ColorNote works great in that regard, but hey Google is firmly attached to my life, and to be able to easily access it on all of my devices and my laptop sounded like a great idea.

However, the "easily" part isn't working out.

The Google peeps need to spend a bit more time thinking about their interface and how it interacts with users.  Or at least make it easy to find answers to simple questions.

I downloaded the app and creating new notes or lists was quite simple. Okay, I have a couple of notes that I want to access on my laptop. Being a Google app, it stands to reason that I only need to log into my Google account, Gmail, etc. and there should be some sort of button to push to access my new Google Keep account. Let's look.

Okay, right there in the Google menu bar is Google+, Search, Images, Maps, Play, YouTube, News, Gmail, Drive, Calendar and More. Nope, none of those indicate Google Keep is lurking below them. So, I'll click on More. And there I find: Translate, Mobile, Books, Offers, Wallet, Shopping, Blogger, Finance, Photos, Videos and Even more.

Damn it! If you claim that it's "easily" accessed on your laptop or P.C., I'm thinking that it should be easy and obvious where the notes are located in the account with which the app is associated. None of the More's say anything about Google Keep. So let's try the "Even mores."

Wow! Another page jam packed with a crap load of links to Web, Mobile, Media, Geo, Home and Office, Social, Specialized Search and Innovation. But, again, not one gives a strong indication that they are in any way connected to Google Keep.

So, now I have spent, nay, wasted quite a bit of time trying to do what I was originally told was "simple."

Oh, I'm sure some of you will email me and them me that I'm the "simple"ton because it was easy for them to discover where there stuff was, but hey I'm just telling you how it was for me.

So now I'm thinking that I must have missed something in the app that told me exactly where to go to view it online. Here's a screen capture from my RAZR of the opened app (wanna know how to do a screen capture on an Android device? Click here.). Do you see anything? Me either.

After clicking on the menu in the app and then on Help I was taken to the web, where I also got no help. I found a page which informed me that Google Keep is an app that lets me easily create notes on the go and since it syncs with Google I can access them virtually from anywhere. HOW?????

Although I'm going to dig deeper and figure this out, shame on Google for making it so difficult. With my ColorNotes app, I "simply" email my notes to myself and guess what? I can access those notes virtually anywhere by simply opening my Gmail account.

I'm thinking that maybe I won't even bother keeping Google Keep.

NOTE: I just read another review of the Google Keep app, and discovered that you can access it through your Google Drive account (even though there is NO DAMN LISTING FOR GOOGLE KEEP WHEN YOU GO TO YOUR DRIVE PAGE) by accessing https://drive.google.com/keep/. If you put the Google Keep notes in that location, don't you think that there should be a Keep button to push on the Drive page? Me too.