If you have the Moto X, and if you are like me, you’re loving it. Smooth running, great battery life, etc. You may have also noticed that you got an “update” to an app you never installed and didn’t even know you had – Motorola Spotlight Player.

That’s because you didn’t have it. There was no associated app icon or widget. When I first saw it in my notification drawer, I chuckled a bit and thought it had something to do with the recent SOAK. But then I tapped on it and immediately realized that something entirely different was going on.

  As Android Central’s Jerry Hildenbrand puts it –

 “After installation (yes, you’ll install it, too) you have a new 1 x 1 widget and three new activities in the software. Tapping the widget will show you two of them — the page that tells you Motorola can’t wait to show you how all this works and that your Moto X loves you, and a page where you can opt in or out of the service — which Motorola swears will have no ads.”

   Some people have freaked out about this. I’m not one of them. Some hate when apps force install. Me, not so much when it’s an app that’s installed on a device I already love, from a trusted company. Sure, it may end up being lame, but I can opt out and uninstall if I think it is.

   So sit back and relax, fellow Moto X’ers, and wait until the 29th to see what this is all about (or, “aboot” for my Canadian family and friends!). From what I’ve seen from Motorola thus far when it comes to all things “X”, I’m banking on it being pretty awesome!

 Today, you may have noticed an interesting banner in your browser, received an email from them, or (if you’re on Google Plus) got a notification.

  Well, it seems Google is taking advertising to another level. As they put it, in simple terms, they might start including your picture and name.

From the Terms of Service update page –

• First, clarifying how your Profile name and photo might appear in Google products (including in reviews, advertising and other commercial contexts).
• You can control whether your image and name appear in ads via the Shared Endorsements setting.

  I’m going to start this post off in the most cliche’, worn-out way possible by saying:

Let’s face it. We’re all busy. We all have hectic lives with busy schedules, especially those of us with kids. From work to soccer practice(s) to PTA meetings(s) – our lives are so jam packed with activities that we often find ourselves wishing for at least 2 more hours in the day just to get it all done.

 Fact is, we all feel that way at some point, don’t we? So we have to find ways to stay organized, on time and on task. As for me, I’m a calendar junkie. My Google Calendar is packed with monthly recurring events (bills, automatic withdrawals), appointments, meetings and simple to-do’s.

 Which brings me to my question – do you use To-Do or Task Management apps like Evernote, Todoist, or GTasks?

 Over time, I have tried each of those 3 apps only to find myself ignoring them over time in favor of Google Calendar. Don’t get me wrong – each of the 3 task management apps I mentioned are awesome in their own right – from the over-all completeness of Evernote, to the simplicity of GTasks. But the funny thing I’ve always been faced with – these apps aren’t really doing anything that I can’t accomplish by simply using my calendar. A quick reminder? Just jot it on my calendar – it has reminders enabled by default anyway. A recurring event? Calendar. Meetings? Calendar. Appointments? Calendar. But what about associating a document or file to a reminder? Yep, you guessed it – calendar.

 I would be lying if I failed to mention that I don’t use calendar exclusively for organizing notes and tasks, or general day-to-day what not. For those types of things, I simply use Google Keep. But my question is really this – why download and use yet another application just to keep track of my “busy life” when I already have one? And isn’t adding another thing to have to log into and keep track of only simply adding to the chaos, even if only in a minuscule way?

 The fact is, everyone’s lives and experiences are different, thus everyone approaches handling things differently. I personally always try to find the most simplistic, organized way to keep it all together. The less I can add to my plate in an attempt to keep the kitchen organized the better. My mind functions on this logic – why have 2 or more apps to accomplish what I can do (and have been doing) in 1?

 Or maybe I’m just not busy. At least not as busy as some of you. But every day, week, and month when I look at my calendar I sometimes feel like I’m looking at a map of a foreign land through the eyes of a general preparing for battle, and I sigh… But could it be that I’m really not that busy? Could it be that you’re really not that busy to warrant using a task manager app?

 Could it be that we all only think that we’re busier than we actually are? When discussing this with a close friend, he said to me, “No one is as busy as they think they are.”

   I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a sports fanatic, but I love NFL football and MLB (Cincinnati Reds!). As I’m sure is the case for a lot of you, I don’t always have time to be plopped down on the couch watching games but I would like to know what’s going on – especially with my favorite teams.

It didn’t take long for me to notice since my first tablet purchase (a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1) that I spend more time on my tablet than I do my cell phone. In fact, over time, my cell phone has become more of what it was originally created to be – a phone.

 As such, over the past couple of years I’ve always wanted a way to be able to send and receive text messages from my primary device of choice – my tablet. Especially on those nights when I’m reading something on my tablet or playing a game. If I get a text message, I want to be able to simply view it and respond to it from my tablet. Not that I’m simply that lazy. It’s really my linear way of thinking – I like things simple and streamlined.

 I know – First World Problem, right?

 Well apparently I’m not the only one who thinks along these lines as there are plenty of apps out there that will help facilitate this. Some are a bit quirky in my opinion. They require you to register and receive a randomly generated phone number that you now have to tell everyone you know about. For those types of apps, typically there is a free version that will generate you a different number over time, or you can buy a paid version to keep the original randomly generated number.

 Nah….not what I was looking for.

 Through trial and error over time, I did settle originally on Mighty Text. Mighty Text did exactly what I needed – allowed me to send/receive texts from my tablet using my cell phone number, and I could even send/receive from any desktop computer! However it seemed as though, as time passed, that Mighty Text got slower and slower with sending and receiving messages. And, as of late, it simply no longer seemed to function.

 Then I found Dinamotxt, and have not turned back! Dinamotxt offers exactly what I need – sending/receiving texts using my tablet while using my same cell phone number. Dinamotxt also offers the ability to send/receive via desktop like many others, but I’ve found it to be very slow when initially loading. But, I was only looking to use it for tablet texting anyway.

 Perhaps my favorite thing about Dinamotxt is that it’s very fast! My phone and tablet send/receive text messages literally within a second of one another!

 Add to that the PopUp feature – you can enable incoming text messages to open in a small pop up window from which you can respond – and customizable theme!

 Yes there are countless other apps of its kind out there. Please feel free to let me know your favorite and I’ll give it a try! In the meantime, it you’re looking for a way to text via your tablet, I recommend Dinamotxt Web and Tablet SMS.

Download Dinamotxt Web and Tablet SMS from Play