How to use neato! to send stuff from your browser to your webOS phone [video] 65
by Dieter Bohn Mon, 30 Aug 2010 1:08 pm EDT
We were pretty jazzed up about neato! for webOS last week and now that it's here, we thought it might be useful to show you all just how cool it is in video-form. What neato! does is let you a bookmark to any browser that you can use to send 'stuff' to your Pre or Pixi. Just have neato! running in the background, click the bookmark, and then:
- URLs: If you don't highlight any text in your browser, the URL for the page you're visiting gets opened up directly
- YouTube & Google Maps: If you happen to be looking at a YouTube video or a Google Map page, neato! will open those apps up directly
- Text: highlight some text and neato! will send that text to the neato! app on your phone so you can copy it
- Apps: Yep: highlight the URL for an app and you can send that to your phone to open it up either in the App Catalog or in Preware for direct installation
It's hard to 'get' until you've tried it, but trust us when we say it's well worth the $1.43 asking price. Check out a video showing how to do all of the above, after the break!
65 Comments
I'll check it out.
Can anyone help me with this app? I misread the directions and accidental deleted the app on my phone. Any way to get it back short of downloading it again?
nice. So I can use my hotspot as the link between the PC and my phone and it works?
Sorry if it was explained in the vid but I'm in a public place with my volume down.
Nope! As long as your phone has an internet connection, it can get data from your computer's browser. They don't have to be on the same network.
Oh my Zeph...
You done it again! Awesome stuff! Keep it up!
I'll check it out.
,
Ok newbie question...i followed the video and all worked great until putting link in my bookmarks. I can't seem to figure that out?
btw...im using windows explorer
I have a favorites bar. Isn't that the same as a bookmark bar. I tried to drag it to my favorite's bar and that didn't work.
Are you having trouble getting the neato! link on your browser?
Once you launch the neato! app, click "generate URL".
Then, go to that url on your computer (Looks like http://zhephree.com/neato/id/a1b2c3)
When you visit that URL on your computer, drag the blue neato! link to your bookmarks bar, OR, right click the link and click "Add to favorites"
Now just click that Favorite in IE and you're good to go!
got it working...thanks!
In my opinion, Neato! just needs some nifty browser plug-ins before it's perfect.
I've got some tricks up my sleeve! I promise it'll be perfect soon.
Awesome. Neato! is the best $1.43 I've ever spent.
This app is full of win.
Thanks!
Cool. Istalled. I'll test. I want to send stuff the other direction too, and I'd like extensions in browser instead of using bookmark. I clean up my browser by hiding the bookmark bar
Working on a way to go from phone to PC.
I used a bookmark because of it's cross browser, cross platform compatibility. This allowed me to write code once and have it work on pretty much every browser in existence. Extensions would require me to write one for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and god forbid, IE. Lots of work and effort. However, I'm looking into this possibility, but it's a low priority right now.
Adding features and correcting bugs are at the top. Thanks for downloading, btw!
yeah thanks for the app!
yeah i understand. just making sure the request is out there.
for user reference, go to the url the app gives you. that url isnt the one for your bookmarks/favorites, the link on that page is. took me a few minutes to figure that out.
if neato! is off on the phone, would it be possible to create a back log of everything sent to neato while it was off? and when the user turns it on, everything then comes to the phone?
Stuff is queued up, but it's not 100% reliable. Working on a better method for that. It's a feature I really want to include.
cool
+1.
Would be nice to sync Neato backlogs. With an ability to edit, rearrange, and change online too!
this app is slick!
Ah, yes, the actual URL is a javascript bookmarklet. The landing page for your /neato/id URL is going to get an overhaul. Just wanted to launch and get the functionality up first. Better instructions coming.
can the landing page detect browser? Eventually, the landing page should redirect to the extension/plug-in installation page for whatever browser your using. And all info can be there as well.
I want this app. But - I'm in unsupported country. Thanks Palm :-(
Nice... Bought it. A couple of suggestions:
1. it would be nice if the bookmark had a favicon.
2. not sure why but sometimes I click it (the bookmark) and it doesn't do anything.
Otherwise... very nice utility... :)
agreed. the app icon would be neato!
Thanks!
1) I'd love for it too, but javascript URLs can't have them. I think IE lets you pick one manually.
2)What browser are you using? Also, sometimes text snippets don't always send. There's a few bugs. Working on some fixes!
I'm using firefox 3.6.x on mac and linux (ubuntu)
is there a favicon you can provide for me to install it manually? (like the pic itself?)
In an unrelated comment, we really need a better commenting system that at least notifies you of you've received replies... can I get an AMEN? :P
This is awesome!!!
Very intriguing app. I might be picking this one up.
Quick questions though. Is there any security risk with this type of application? Can I use it with multiple computers (setting up bookmarks for each of them)? Guess the question that could answer both is if the URL itself is unique to neato! and will only work when it is running?
Thanks for making such a cool application. And props to PreCentral for explaining how the app works.
As long as you don't give out your URL or your Bookmarklet to anyone else, it's secure.
The URL is unique to your phone, so if you visit your custom URL (the /neato/id one) on another computer or web browser, and copy the bookmarklet over again, it'll still send to your phone as expected. So, bottom line: you can put the bookmarklet on as many computers or web browsers as you want.
What if your URL was compromised and you wanted a new one. Would uninstalling and reinstalling the app allow you to generate a new one?
Unfortunately, right now, no. I'm working on a way to change your URL and ID, but it won't be ready just yet
Pretty sweet. Thanks for making this possible. I do have one request: Add an user option which map program is used for Google Maps links, for instance BFGMaps.
What happens if Neato is NOT running on the target phone? Will it queue up so that when the person does launch Neato it will open up queued items?
The reason I am asking is because it would be cool to send something to my wife's Pre, but I don't want to have to call her or text her first to tell her to turn on Neato.
I changed my default app for handling addresses from Google Maps to Sprint Navigation in hopes Neato! would launch Sprint Nav instead of Google Maps when I click it while on a google maps page on my PC's browser.
It launches Google Maps regardless of the default app set up on the Pre. Would be awesome if it could honor the default app.
Great app!
That's interesting... I expected it to work that way. I'll get on a fix for this soon. Thanks!
Cool. It would be awesome if it went from phone to browser. The thing that most often sends me onto the computer is when I try to open something on the phone and it doesn't work. I'd love to send those problem pages directly from the phone to the PC browser.
That functionality is on its way! Hopefully sooner than later
I think i could use it more the other way around
Zhephree, is it possible to have neato! Running in the background on the Pre rather than than showing in the notification area?
Unfortunately, no. It's a limitation of webOS.
What about with a patch like mode switcher?
Note that you can paste that URL from Neato directly on the Preware main screen - no need to go into the Install Package menu.
-- Rod
And soon, it'll be even easier :)
The video demo convinced me to spend the $1.43 much more than any of other talk the program got. Seems like a great little app :)
Awesome! Thanks!
Love love love Neato! If you're waiting for that special app to take the leap into paid apps this might just be the one! Just think about how much gum you can buy for $1.43 and compare that with the endless usability of this app.
Bought it, thanks to the video. Good marketing, Dieter. Great app, Zhephree! Look forward to being able to send both ways! If app is not running when you send, will you receive once you load the app or will it just go no where?
Is there a limit to the amount of text you can highlight and send to the Pre? It seems to not send anything if its over a couple of sentences.
Oh, and really cool by the way--I see this as being a favorite app. Great job!
Awesome demo. I don't have an immediate need for it, but it's so cool I'm buying it anyway!
bought it. txh. great to be able to send useful url links from P|C to Pre. wish it could copy more than 120 characters of txt to send to phone.
all I can say is "awesome". It works so neato
It works with pdf documents, too!
- PDF: If you happen to be looking at a pdf document, neato! will open them in the pdf viewer!
It works with pdf documents, too!
- PDF: If you happen to be looking at a pdf document, neato! will open them in the pdf viewer!
Thanks for the demo and for the app
I have some great uses for it. Because it brings up the "text" you send on a large screen, you could :
- If you loose your phone, you can send a "contact XXX at #### for a reward..." message to your phone.
- Get your wives, kids,... neato link and send them messages. My son ignores text messages if he is in the middle of something. Using Neato, it is harder to ignore...
love it as well - another suggestion/request- would it be possible to not just send snippets of text from a web page but somehow send snippets that you wrote, on your computer, via neato? occasionally @ work I want to write a personal email and I'm still much faster typist on reg keyboard than on the pre -- would be nice to whip out a fast note and neato! it over to the pre rather than email it to myself, then open, cut and paste (because my work emails auto-add a long notice at the end of each email that I always need to delete) into a new email... I know right now theres the ~120 char. limitation anyway, but it sounds like that might be fixed soon...
one more trick.
I have found that I am unable to send text from certain pages (like some text in an email using gmail). To get around this:
1) create a file called neato.html on you hard drive
2) edit the document with a text editor and paste text you want to transfer to your phone
3) save the file
4) open the file using your web browser
5) select the text and click on your Neato link to send the text to your phone
6) repeat as needed
Tried this and I get a mesage in neato- "cannot display local files" any ideas? thanks!
Is there any way to delete stuff from my history? I have a lot of garbage in there from when I was testing this app and didn't think that it was working (it was working).
What does the "Reload Dashboard" button do?