Well I don’t know about you, but I’ve struggled enough with trying to remember what to say during my phone calls. To fix this, I’m switching to Bubbles.

Bubbles?

And what pray tell is Bubbles, you ask? Well, Bubbles (the full name for all you searchers out there is “Bubble – Pop Up Bubble Notes” in case one is lost in all the bubble popping games the market has to offer; otherwise use the official Android Market link is here) is an app that allows one to link important to-do’s and reminders (now in “bubble” form) to Google contacts so that phone calls can stay productive, memorable, and on-task. Here’s the lowdown.

Once installed on your Android phone, Bubbles automatically grabs all your Google contacts and makes them available on the main screen. Once a few bubbles are created for contacts, they will show up here on the right side. If it makes more sense to filter one’s contacts by bubble reminders only, the second (and appropriately named) “bubblers” tab will do just that. And finally if one wants to see if they have been successfully following up on the bubble reminders, they can check their phone’s call log on the third tab.

To actually create a bubble, one must first select a contact and then hit the “add bubble” button in the bottom left. From here all it takes is a some text and a suitable bubble color, and the bubble reminder is created for the contact.

Now when one accesses the person’s contact card from the main menu, the bubble reminders will appear in order of creation date on their profile. But wait, there’s more:

This is where Bubbles takes personal reminders to the next level. Whenever one makes a phone call to a contact with an attached bubble reminder, the mentioned bubbles will appear on the phone call screen. That way before you start talking, you know exactly what you need to mention in the conversation. When, where, and how long the bubbles show up during phone calls can all be changed in the “Settings” menu.

When done with a bubble reminder, deleting it is as easy as going into the contact’s profile again and hitting the “X” on the bubble in question.

Conclusion

Regardless if you always remember what to say or never get around to saying what you want to, Bubbles is a solid app that can help keep contacts in order and phone conversations on task. You’ll be so contact task-oriented, the only place you’ll use the word “wandering” is a Scrabble board.

The post Use Bubbles and Your Android Phone to Create Memorable Phone Calls first appeared on Techerator.

Thankfully, you can use Gmail’s great filtering feature to either quiet these notifications or make them disappear completely.

Muting Google Buzz Notifications

If you want Google Buzz notifications to appear in your inbox but not increase the amount of unread messages you have, this is the guide you will want to follow.

Step 1: Click Create a filter at the top of Gmail, just to the right of the search bar.

Step 2: In the Has the words: field, enter label:buzz.  To see if it worked, you can click the Test Search button which will immediately show the messages that are affected.  Click Next Step.

Note: Gmail will notify you that you shouldn’t use the label: filter in this field, but it will still work just fine.  Click OK when notified to continue.

Step 3: Check the Mark as read box.  You can also check Also apply filter… to mark additional Buzz messages as read.  Click Create Filter.

You will continue to receive Buzz notifications, but they will automatically be marked as read when they appear in your inbox so you’ll never have an inflated unread messages count.

Hiding Google Buzz Notifications

If you want to use Google Buzz but don’t want to see notifications at all, this guide is for you.

Step 1: Click Create a filter at the top of Gmail, just to the right of the search bar.

Step 2: In the Has the words: field, enter label:buzz.  To see if it worked, you can click the Test Search button which will immediately show the messages that are affected.  Click Next Step.

Note: Gmail will notify you that you shouldn’t use the label: filter in this field, but it will still work just fine.  Click OK when notified to continue.

Step 3: Check the Skip the Inbox and Mark as read buttons.  You can also check Also apply filter… to hide any earlier notifications.

Now when you receive a Buzz notification, it will automatically be marked as read and will also be stored in Gmail’s archive and will not appear at all in your inbox.

Managing Google Buzz Notifications

If you want to still receive Google Buzz notifications but want them to be exclusively separated from the rest of your inbox, this guide is for you. This guide will use the Multiple Inbox feature which is available in Gmail Labs to separate Buzz notifications from the rest of your inbox.

Step 1: Activate Multiple Inboxes in Gmail Labs by clicking Enable then Save changes at the bottom of the list.

Step 2: Click Create a filter at the top of Gmail, just to the right of the search bar.

Step 3: In the Has the words: field, enter label:buzz.  To see if it worked, you can click the Test Search button which will immediately show the messages that are affected.  Click Next Step.

Note: Gmail will notify you that you shouldn’t use the label: filter in this field, but it will still work just fine.  Click OK when notified to continue.

Step 4: Check the Skip the Inbox button.  You can also check Also apply filter… to manage any earlier notifications.

Step 5: Go to Gmail Settings and click the Multiple Inboxes tab.  Enter label:buzz in one of the Search query boxes and you can name it anything you like.  Click Save changes.

Now when you receive a Google Buzz notification, it will only appear in a secondary inbox and not get in the way of your other important messages.

Have any Google Buzz tips?  Share them with us in the comments!

The post How to Manage, Mute, or Complete Hide Google Buzz Notifications in Gmail first appeared on Techerator.