How to supercharge your Android device’s abilities with Tasker

Recently, we took a look at five apps to augment your Android experience with the help of a little artificial intelligence and automation.

All of those apps were nifty little utilities that targeted a particular area of smartphone usage and added some heuristics to it to make your phone smarter still. But when it comes to automation on Android, very few apps can claim to be in the same league as the grandaddy of them all - Tasker. Grab the free 7-day trial from the developer's website before you proceed.

Tasker can detect when you're at home, for instance, and enable or disable certain settings on your phone to make it function better in that environment. It can launch apps automatically and perform actions based on apps being launched by you. The uses of Tasker are plenty, and we'll take a look at some examples in this article.

Tasker is essentially a programming tool that allows you to create mini applications on your phone for your own usage. It has a steep learning curve and is only for the more advanced smartphone users among us. But for those who enjoy a challenge, Tasker is (really, really) fun to play with and a genuinely useful tool to have in your arsenal.

An introduction to the interface

By default, Tasker has three tabs along the top-Profiles, Tasks and Scenes-and a Home tab at the bottom. A profile in Tasker is a group of contexts organised with the 'AND' logic. You can, for instance, create a profile that is only active on Sundays, when your phone is plugged in and the screen is turned on. This profile will only work when all three contexts are true.

A task is what a profile will do once it triggers. So, for example, you can set your journal app to be launched when the profile above is true. If you set it up that way, Tasker will launch your journal app every Sunday when you plug the phone into a power outlet, thus making it much more likely that you'll stick to that journaling routine you've been trying to get into.

As part of a task, you can set Tasker to throw up a custom-made window with buttons and text fields of your choosing-to take some input from the user, for example, or to give them some options-and that is called a scene. For the purposes of this article, however, we won't be looking into the scenes aspect of Tasker.

There is a fourth tab on the top that is only visible if you turn off beginner mode in the app's preferences, and it's called "Vars", which is short for "variables". A variable can be any word preceded by a percentage [%] sign and can hold any value you assign to it. For example, you may want to assign the values "off" or "on" to a variable %BATT_SAVE_MODE, which will indicate whether the phone is in a low power state or not.

The Home tab at the bottom denotes the default project in Tasker. Any profiles, tasks and variables you create will go in the default project. In this article, we'll stick to just that one project, but as you start to get comfortable with the app, you can always go back and reorganise things in whichever way you want.

When you create your first profile in Tasker, you will notice that it can have application, day, event, location, state and time contexts. Let's go through each one in order:

• Application: You can set a profile to be active when an app is running or not running. You can select multiple apps for a single profile, so it'll fire when either of those apps is active.
• Day: Selecting a day of the week or month will make that profile active on that particular day every week/month.
• Event: An event in Tasker terminology is any action that your phone can perform. The screen turning on, the alarm clock firing and the wallpaper being changed are all events. An event context triggers the task only once, as soon as the event occurs.
• Location: Tasker allows you to use your phone's location features to create profiles that will only be active in certain locations, or ones that won't be active in specific spots.
• State: The state context is the most used one in the app. It refers to various modes the phone may be in that may activate a profile. The phone being connected to a WiFi network, paired with a Bluetooth device or connected to an external power source are all examples of states. A state differs from an event in that a state profile is active throughout the time that the device is in that state.
• Time: The time context will let you define profiles that will only be activated at a certain time or between certain hours on any given day.

Next, let's dig into creating a profile...

Creating our first profile

To start with, let's create a profile that will maximise your phone's ringtone volume whenever a call comes in. This will put an end to the annoying issue of your phone's ringer volume accidentally getting lowered while the phone is in your pocket. It'll also give you a chance to figure out how Tasker works.

While in the Profiles tab, tap on the Add [+] button to create a new Tasker profile. Tap on 'Event Phone Phone Ringing' to select that context. Tap on the Back arrow on the top left corner to move on to adding a task for this profile. Tap on New Task and then on the return key on your keyboard to proceed without naming your task.

Tap on the Add button on the Task Edit screen and then tap on 'Audio Ringer Volume'. Drag the slider to level 7 to make sure the sound is maximised. Again, tap on the Back button to save the action and go back to the Task Edit screen. You can now add more actions to the same task to perform them in order. For now, hit the Back button again.

That's it. You've now created a profile that'll ensure that your phone will always ring at full volume whenever a call comes in.

Getting up to speed with Variables

Wait a second, what about those times when you have intentionally set your phone to silent mode? Unless we inform Tasker to not run the action when the phone is in silent mode, it'll increase the volume nonetheless and take you out of your silent profile. The way to achieve that is with variables.

Go back into the task you created for your profile and tap on the ringer volume action. Enable the 'If' field by tapping on the checkbox next to it and two new text fields will appear below it. In the field on the left, you need to enter the name of the variable and its value in the one on the right.

Tap on the small tags icon next to the checkbox to bring up all the built-in variables that ship with Tasker. Scroll down the list and select "Silent Mode"; this should add the variable "%SILENT" in the field on the left. In future, you can just type that in manually, if you remember the variable names.

Tap on the button in the middle and it'll allow you to select a condition operator. The one we want is "Matches", which will check if the value stored in the variable is equal to the one we are about to enter in the field on the right. Take a look at the rest of the options on this list; you may want to use them in more complex profiles later.

In the field on the right, type "off", and then back out of the Action Edit screen. As you can see in the action summary on the Task Edit screen, you have now created an action that will maximise the ringer volume when a call comes in, but only if the variable "%SILENT" matches the value "off"-i.e., when silent mode is disabled.

Creating complex profiles

With that out of the way, let's move on to a profile with multiple contexts and see how that works. We'll be creating a profile that triggers when we're driving and receive a text message. How about we send an auto-reply informing the sender that'll we'll get back to them once we're off the wheel? Hey, it's just good manners!

Add a new profile with the event trigger 'Phone Received Text' and add a task with the action 'Phone Send SMS'. The first thing it wants is the number the text needs to be sent to. How do we give it the number of the last texter? Through the magic of variables, of course!

Tap on the tag button next to the Number field and select the "Text Sender" option. This will insert the variable "%SMSRF" into the appropriate field. In the message field, type in whatever you want to send as a reply. Try this: "(Auto Reply) Hi, I'm driving right now. I'll get back to you later."

If you go ahead and save this profile, you'll find that it's more annoying than useful, because so far, we've only set it to respond to every single text message you get with the response above. To take it a step further, you'll need to add another context to your profile.

Go back to the profiles screen and tap on your newest one. Tap and hold on the event context you've already added and add a state context as well. Select the 'Net Bluetooth Connected' state and enter your car's Bluetooth name in the Name field. Enter it as it is, without any quotation marks and in the correct case, and then back out of the State Edit screen.

Assuming that your car has a Bluetooth feature that your phone is paired with, it'll now automatically respond to any text you receive while driving with our pithy reply. Are we living in the future yet? You bet we are!

Creating Complex Tasks

Let us now turn our attention to tasks that do multiple things by creating a battery preservation profile. Create a new profile with the state context 'Power Battery Level' and drag the 'To' slider to 14 (while leaving 'From' at 0). This will create a context that fires when your battery level falls below 15 percent. When you get to the part where you have to name the task, call it something like "Conserve Power".

Naming tasks is useful in two ways: 1) it allows you to get to them quicker, through the Tasks tab; and 2) it makes them reusable, so you can have the same task linked to multiple profiles.

Now add the following actions to your task (in any order):

• Audio Haptic Feedback Set 'Off'
• Audio Silent Mode Mode 'Vibrate'
• Display Auto Brightness Set 'Off'
• Display Display Brightness Level '0' (or whichever is the lowest usable level on your phone)
• Net Auto-Sync Set 'Off'
• Net Bluetooth Set 'Off'

Exit out of the Task Edit screen. You now have a relatively complex task that will automatically turn off some battery consuming features of your phone when it starts running low.

But we can kick things up a notch by disabling GPS, mobile data and Wi-Fi, and also turn them back on when you plug your phone in for charging. Tasker natively does not provide actions to turn off GPS and mobile data, so you need to install a third-party plugin to make it work.

Let's take a deeper look at Tasker plugins...

Working with Plugins

There are plenty of apps on the Play Store that provide Tasker plugins for you to automate interaction with them, and I'll leave you to experiment with them on your own time. For the purposes of this article, we'll take a look at the most versatile and powerful Tasker plugin of all, Secure Settings.

(Note that the Secure Settings plugin requires root access for some of its features, but the parts we will use in this article do not need that privilege.)

Once you have Secure Settings installed, go back into our "Conserve Power" task and add the 'Plugin Secure Settings' action to it. Tap on the Edit button next to Configuration. Select "Mobile Data" from the list and select the 'Off' option. Hit the Save icon (the one shaped like a floppy disk on the bottom left).

That done, follow the same steps as above but select "GPS" instead of "Mobile Data" this time. You now have a task that will turn off both GPS and mobile data along with all the other features mentioned above.

Linking profiles together

If we just wanted to turn off Wi-Fi when the battery was low, it would be a simple matter of adding another action to the task above. However, we want to do something a little more intelligent! How about we set Tasker to check you're connected to any Wi-Fi network and only turn it off if not? That makes much more sense.

Create a new profile with the name "Wi-Fi Disconnected" and with the state 'Net Wifi Connected' and simply enable the 'Invert' option at the bottom of the State Edit screen. This will make the context trigger when you are not connected to any Wi-Fi network. The invert feature does the opposite of whatever you set up a context to do.

In the task, add a 'Net WiFi Set 'Off'' action. You now have a simple profile that will turn off Wi-Fi when it is not connected to any network. Go back to the Profiles tab and tap on the on/off toggle next to your newly created "Wi-Fi Disconnected" profile to turn it off.

Now go back into the "Conserve Power" task in your Tasks tab and add another action to it. Select 'Tasker Profile Status' from the list and then type "Wi-Fi Disconnected" in the Name field. Choose 'On' from the Set drop-down menu. Back out of the Action Edit screen.

You now have an action that will turn on the "Wi-Fi Disconnected" profile you'd created and manually turned off a moment ago. That profile, in turn, will not turn off your phone's Wi-Fi until you disconnect from active wireless networks.

Creating exit tasks

When you create state-based contexts in Tasker, you can also create exit tasks that'll be performed when your phone goes out of those states. For example, we've just created a profile that is activated when your phone's battery level goes south of 15%. If we add an exit task to this profile, it'll fire when the battery level climbs back to 15% or more.

Tap on your battery conservation profile on the Profiles tab and tap and hold the task you created for it. In the menu that appears, select "Add Exit Task". From here on, it's as simple as adding any other task. Create one with the name "Restore Power" that has actions that reverse all the changes we made above. Don't forget to add an action that turns off your "Wi-Fi Disconnected" profile and turns Wi-Fi back on. You should have eight actions in your task when you're done (as in the screenshot to the right).

Now we only have one thing left to do in our profile. If your battery level falls to 8% before you plug the device in, do you really want to wait for it to get back up to 15% before all those essential features are turned back on? Of course you don't.

Go back to the Profiles tab and tap on our profile, and then tap and hold on the battery level state context you added in the first step. Tap on 'Add State Power Power' and select "Any" from the Source drop-down menu (which it should be by default) and tap on the Invert checkbox.

This not only means that your profile will now trigger if your battery level falls below 15% and it is not plugged into any power source, but also that the exit task will fire when either of those conditions becomes false. So as soon as you plug your device in, no matter its current battery level, it'll restore all those battery consuming features that make your phone useful.

Miscellaneous examples and ideas

The most common question people who are new to Tasker ask is why they need it. To be clear, you don't... necessarily. Tasker, due to its complexity, is obviously something that will only appeal to the most skilled of Android users. However, even such users may not realise just what it's capable of. To help you along, here are some specific things I use Tasker for. Feel free to use them to come up with your own ideas.

Daily attendance: When I get to the office every morning, I like to use an attendance register app to record my employees' absences, but I tend to forget it once I am there.

I have a profile called "Attendance Control" that triggers on 9:00 AM on weekdays and simply activates another profile called "Attendance". That profile then keeps checking to see if I'm connected to my office wireless network and if Nova Launcher is the active app (so it knows I'm using the device and am currently on the Home screen). When those conditions become true it launches Attendance Tracker and turns itself off. I never miss the daily attendance now (much to the consternation of my staff).

Increase brightness for some apps: I have a simple profile set up that checks if my clock, gallery, video player or YouTube app is launched and maximises the brightness of the screen instantly if so. It also restores it back to automatic brightness once those apps are quit (thanks to a strategically placed exit task).

Go home when display is off: Perhaps my one defining characteristic is that not only am I a lazy person, but I like to optimise my laziness. So instead of tapping the Home button when I'm done using my phone, I just turn off the display. A Tasker profile then waits for a minute to see if I turn it back on, and if not, goes to the Home screen automatically. (This is a little bit more advanced than anything we've talked about here, so feel free to ask me in the comments below if you cannot figure it out yourself.)

Bluetooth in the office: My office Mac is set to automatically unlock when my phone is in range, but I'd hate to keep Bluetooth turned on even outside my office. A simple Tasker profile enables Bluetooth on my phone when it connects to my office wireless network and turns it back off when it disconnects. You can do the reverse if you want to make your phone work with your car's Bluetooth feature.

Charging confirmation: By default, Android makes no noise or vibration when you plug your phone in. It's pretty crazy, to be sure, but a Tasker profile takes care of it for me. When it detects that the phone is plugged into any power source, it vibrates and makes a tiny beeping noise. No more plugging your phone in and checking in an hour later, only to find that you'd left the switch turned off.

Enable GPS for maps: On iOS, I always recommend leaving GPS turned on throughout the day, because it's useful and the OS makes sure that no apps misuse it. On Android, however, random apps will wake up the phone and drain power if you leave it enabled, so I have a Tasker profile that only enables it when the Maps app is launched and quickly turns it off afterwards.

Summing up

Despite its length, this article only swims on the surface of what Tasker is capable of-perhaps it snorkels a bit, but that's the extent of it! But it should it be enough to get you started with your own experiments with this very powerful automation tool. It really does allow you to take care of some of the issues with your phone rather than wait for some third-party developer to come up with a solution.

For those of you looking to learn more about this app, check out the very detailed wiki maintained by the app's developer on its website. It should answer most of your questions; if not, try the forum. And whether you are a Tasker veteran or someone just getting started with it, if you come up with interesting profiles and tasks that can be of use to others, feel free to share them in the comments below.

10 ways to pay without ever whipping out your wallet

Jon Norris is a freelance content specialist for audience.io and writes for the Fueled blog. This post comes courtesy of Fueled, a mobile design and development company based in New York and London.

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The mobile wallet dream may still be a way off for the average consumer, but a cashless and cardless utopia is closer than ever before for the adventurous technophile.

Making a purchase in-store, paying back a generous pal, and even transferring money to a foreign country can now be done from the screen of a smartphone - and this niche market is heating up.

If you want an early taste of the coming mobile wallet revolution, here are ten apps and services to test drive.

Peer-to-peer payments

PayPal

The granddaddy of online payments is still alive and kicking, processing north of $300 million per day. Now boasting apps on all major smartphone platforms and a mobile-friendly website (as well as a separate card reader and merchant products), PayPal is the most established mobile payment service.

Although PayPal's main selling point - send money to someone using just their email address - still works exactly as it always has, a reputation for hit-and-miss customer service and higher fees than challenger services is beginning to make the poster child for mobile cash look a little over the hill.

That said, it's still leaps and bounds ahead of most financial institutions with its new fully-native checkout service for merchants.

GoCardless

Ostensibly a no-nonsense system for collecting recurring fees, the UK only company GoCardless is a great way to collect one-off payments, with flat fees of 1 percent, capped at 2.

As the name might suggest, GoCardless is all about ditching credit cards altogether by relying on the Direct Debit system to power payments. Payers simply provide their bank account details and the payment will be sucked from their bank account and into your own.

There's no mobile app, but the responsive forms throughout the site ensure that you'll have no problem arranging payments from a smartphone browser with no plastic involved.

TransferWise

Jetsetting type with friends littering the globe? Clever crowd-powered currency swappers TransferWise will not only charge you much lower fees than a bank, but will give you a much better exchange rate too.

This financial sorcery is actually deceptively simple - when you make a transfer, the money never leaves its country of origin. Your deposit is matched with another in your recipient's country, and sent out domestically.

A usability dream, TransferWise's mobile site will have you flinging payments around the globe in minutes.

Your bank of choice

With most big banks now sporting a mobile app of their own, you no longer need to go in-branch or use ATMs to make transfers. In the United States, Chase, Bank of America, and many others have mobile apps that can take care of most day-to-day banking tasks. Some even allow you to cash cheques by taking a picture of them.

Barclays in the UK has a dedicated app, PingIt, to take care of simple money transfers between individuals.

Venmo

For those who like payments with a social networking twist (don't all yell at once), Venmo offers free peer-to-peer transfers from its app to mobile numbers, email addresses or Facebook accounts.

You'll get a feed of transactions going on between contacts, and this service has some of the most competitive pricing around - Venmo balance, bank and debit card transfers are totally gratis - you'll only incur a fee if using a credit card.

Going shopping

Square

If PayPal is the granddaddy of online peer-to-peer payments, Square is surely the grandmomma of card-reader dongles. Effectively turning your iPhone or iPad into a cash register with a tiny card reader inserted into the headphone jack, Square is the progenitor of similar products from Verifone, Groupon and even PayPal themselves.

Now processing tens of millions of dollars per day, Square has branched out into entirely cardless payments, allowing customers to settle up simply by checking-in at the store via the Square Wallet app. When they check out, the cashier confirms their identity and the Square payment system handles the rest.

Coin

Coin isn't a purely phone-based solution - instead it's a credit card that can imitate any of your other plastic, letting you leave them at home and simply select which you'd like to charge before swiping.

Coin is inextricably linked to your smartphone, both in the sense that the Coin app lets you manage your various cards and add new ones to the device, and in that a low-power Bluetooth sensor connects the two, and sounds an alarm if you leave your card behind.

Coin is US-only for the time being, and is expected to launch this summer.

Google Wallet

Another US-only option and the only NFC-powered app to make our list, Google Wallet does just about everything you might want from a mobile wallet app. Pay by tapping your phone at the checkout, send money to friends with just an email address; you can even order a plastic card that will let you withdraw your Google Wallet balance from ATMs.

Initially conceived as a partnership between Google and carriers (who would ship the app on their smartphones), Google Wallet had a few false starts and some major staff changes before re-emerging as the standalone product it is today.

With NFC becoming standard across smartphones (Apple being the notable holdout here), and tap-to-pay now baked into the Android operating system, Google Wallet's second coming could become a force to be reckoned with.

Clinkle

This mysterious startup, famous for raising one of the biggest rounds of seed funding in Valley history (a cool $25 million), is promising to change the way we view and use currency wholesale. This lofty ambition is backed by a secretive product that was impressive enough to ensnare some of the highest profile investors around.

Nobody is quite sure what form the finished product will take - it's a mobile app, it lets you send money to friends, and there are whispers it has something to do with Bitcoin and other algorithmic currencies.

The details are scarce, save an infuriatingly-cryptic promo video, but if you're a mobile wallet enthusiast, Clinkle is one to keep an eye on.

TabbedOut

Built specifically for the restaurant and bar crowd, TabbedOut allows you to pay with your smartphone at any establishment that supports the app, as well as a bevy of other smart features. You can see your tab in real time (great for avoiding that end-of-meal bill shock after one too many bottles of wine), add a tip, split the bill with fellow diners, and pay straight from the app.

TabbedOut also lets you build a relationship with your favorite eateries - you can leave written feedback once you've paid your bill, and you may get vouchers back for next time!

This year could well be the defining chapter of the mobile wallet story. The contenders are growing both more numerous and more usable, and increasing adoption means consumers are now almost as likely to have a smartphone in their pocket as they are a regular wallet.

The question is, who will win out? Several carriers have launched mobile wallet products which have flopped (UK network O2 announced the closure of their wallet product just a few days ago), and no company has emerged as a clear leader yet.

The NFC question also remains - a solution cannot be truly mainstream these days unless Apple supports it, and the iPhone is the last big NFC holdout.

It's foolish to throw around predictions in a market this immature - the only thing that's certain is that 2014 looks to be a mighty interesting year in the mobile wallet space.

1M infographics have been created with Infogr.am and now you can use it right from Microsoft Excel

Infographic creator Infogr.am is celebrating a milestone today: 1 million graphics have been created on its platform. In conjunction with this news, the company is also releasing a Microsoft desktop app that pairs its service with Excel.

One of the winners from our conference in April, Infogr.am makes it easy to take data and creating infographics quickly in an organized and creative manner - something much better than what you can typically get from using Excel. Company co-founder Uldis Leiterts tells us that Infogr.am 500,000 users are currently making 100,000 new infographics each month.

Other interesting statistics Leiterts pointed out to us include: content created by Infogr.am's users are seen by 3 to 4 million unique visitors monthly with a 25 percent growth month over month. Infographics are available in every language and from all countries, with the exception of North Korea.

As we mentioned earlier, the company helps to create better looking infographics than what you would get from Excel - and let's admit it, when you produce a chart or a graphic, it looks flat and doesn't pop out (you can always tell what was created in Excel). Infogr.am says that there are "many creative people" in finance, education, and other industries and feel that by integrating its service into Excel, it will help workers create better designed data visualizations.

All data created with Infogr.am's desktop app will be stored in the cloud, synchronizing automatically. Once integrated, users can take their Excel data and, instead of using the de facto chart creation tool, can elect to use Infogr.am's service.

Other spreadsheet software integrations are planned, but the company hasn't released any timetables for its execution. However, it does say that it finds Google Drive interesting.

Infogr.am launched in May 2012 making it easy for journalists, marketers, PR professionals, and others to create graphics. It is going head to head against the likes of Visual.ly which revealed in 2012 that it had seen 2 million visitors per month and over 11,000 charts and tables created, and that 500,000 people have used its Twitter Visualizer tool since its launch in July 2011.

Infogr.am app for Microsoft Office

Photo credit: Thinkstock

Non-profit crowdfunding platform Watsi raises $1.2M ‘philanthropic’ round to fund medical treatment worldwide

Non-profit crowdfunding platform Watsi has raised $1.2 million in its philanthropic seed round from a bevy of noted investors. The investment gives the organization funds needed to help it pay for medical treatments around the world.

Considered to be donations to its cause, it's a bit unconventional for most startups - but then again, Watsi isn't just any company. It's noted as being the first non-profit admitted into Y Combinator and during its Demo Day, Watsi's founder Chase Adam declined to accept investor money, instead he requested that the crowd make donations to one of the causes on the site.

Investors include Y Combinator's Paul Graham, Vinod Khosla, Ron Conway, CMEA Capital partner Saad Khan, global seed fund InnoSpring/TEEC Angel Fund, Flixster founder Joe Greenstein, and Tencent. Additionally, early employees at Google and Facebook, social entrepreneurs, and leaders at the "world's fastest growing companies" also contributed.

The involvement of Graham probably shouldn't surprise anyone. He has a strong affinity for the organization - after all, his first and perhaps only board seat is with Watsi, something he called one of the "more revolutionary things that I'd seen the Internet used for."

Watsi says that this round signifies a change in the future of non-profit fundraising. It gave itself a three-month deadline to raise capital and targeted leading technology investors and philanthropists. "Our goal was to convince leaders in technology to throw their weight behind scaling social good the same way they scale for-profit ventures," says Adam.

If you're not aware, Watsi functions similar to Kickstarter, but looks to provide healthcare services to anyone in need. 100 percent of all donations will go to fund medical care for patients - the organization does not take a cut - and to date, it has helped more than 500 people in 16 countries. So while most funding announcements you might read on TNW involve investors taking shares of a startup, this is different - the funds are being used to invest in the wellness of others.

The $1.2 million will go towards supporting Watsi's operations for the next 18 months. It's will not be used to help the organization achieve financial sustainability. Rather, to meet that goal, it has said it plans on implementing "various activities to raise organizational funds, including asking donors for an additional contribution to Watsi when donating to a patient, forming corporate partnerships, and licensing software."

See related: Catching up with Watsi: Y Combinator's first non-profit graduate

Photo credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Yahoo bundles up its fantasy games into a new Fantasy Sports app for Android and iOS

Yahoo has launched its newest Fantasy Sports app for iOS and Android that comes with a new redesign and mobile drafting. This is the first app that integrates technology from the company's recent acquisitions, Bignoggins Productions and Loki Studios.

In a blog post, Yahoo's Product Director of Mobile Fantasy Sports Ron Belmarch writes that users can sign up, draft a team, and win the league championship from wherever they are. The app also includes notifications to help keep fans up-to-date on what's happening with their favorite team.

The company says it recognizes that Draft Day is one of the most important dates for fantasy football players. The updated app includes mock drafting capabilities to prepare users for the actual thing - and it's not just for football as this feature will be implemented soon for basketball, hockey, and baseball.

When the time comes, users (or managers, as they're called) will be able to handle the competition and get the players they want from any device they have. Mobile drafting lets them pick players, set their queue, check the results, and even chat with other managers to perhaps plan a strategy or execute a trade.

This mobile app is the first since Yahoo acquired Bignoggins Production and Loki Studios earlier this year. Players should be able to see the integrations when they use the Fantasy Sports app.

With Bignoggins Production, the technology behind its popular Fantasy Monster and Draft Monster apps has been used in the Fantasy Sports app. Yahoo acquired Loki Studios for its location-based mobile gaming offering.

Yahoo Fantasy Sports for iOS and Google Play

Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Entrepreneurs gather in Eden for the first Summit Outside

Last Friday, my friend Shak pathed, "Productivity at tech companies must be low today. Half the folks are headed to Utah while the other half are looking for an ice cream truck."

Told to pack for a camping trip but not much else, 850 like-minded individuals showed up in Eden, Utah last Friday for the first Summit Outside event, hosted by the Summit Series team famous for its weekend retreats like Basecamp and Summit-at-Sea. For Outside, attendees were encouraged to disconnect, with the promise of "finding a better connection."

Without WiFi or outlets, a group of the world's most Internet-addicted human beings found immense freedom letting go of the digital world and reconnecting with nature.

It was the first major event held in Eden, Utah since the 45-person team purchased Powder Mountain for $40 million earlier this year. Weekend tickets started at $2,000 and went up to $12,000 depending on housing options like a 10-person dome, quad tent or air-conditioned RV.

Summit donated a portion of ticket sales to local nonprofits and attendees made optional donations at registration. In total, Summit Outside raised nearly $100,000 for Ogden Valley and Weber County nonprofits, including the Weber School Foundation, Ogden Valley Land Trust, Weber Pathways, Weber County Fire Officers Association and The Nature Conservancy.

When the mountain purchase was announced, there were several complaints from local townspeople who were dubious of the team's ability to preserve the mountain's old-fashioned charm. Change is still a thing you should believe in, as the event drove more than $2 million dollars into the local economy and resulted in over 300 local jobs.

Upon arrival, attendees geared up for the weekend with free Nike Fuelbands, headlights, tin cups and camouflage backpacks for carrying around their new Tom's sunglasses. After chucking bags into tents and strapping on hiking boots, attendees were delighted by surprises at every turn like a sonic meditation deck, a late-night noodle truck, a flash sale of coconuts and LeWeb founder Loic LeMeur giving office hours in the middle of a forest.

Attendees stopped by the activity tent to sign up for paint ball, hiking, horse-back riding and mountain bike riding - or a knot tying workshop with Philippe Petit, the man featured tightrope-walking between the World Trade Center towers in the documentary Man on Wire.

Somewhat retired, Petit decided to climb the stage at the event's closing plenary instead.

Each morning on Powder Mountain, we practiced yoga on The Lotus Deck, overlooking Ogden valley. Teachers included Sasha Bahador, Founder of ShaktiLife and Kenneth Von Roenn III, Creator of Skanda Yoga.

Just a 5-minute walk down the hill, Taylor Kuffner's robotic orchestra, known as "The Gamelatron" was tied to trees in a forest of hammocks, providing an oasis of relaxation for weary Summiteers.

One of the more popular surprises was the Duck Pond, a hedonistic escape from the killer content and outdoor adventure experiences. Aerated and perfectly clean for swimming in, the Duck Pond served as an ideal cool down during the 90 degree days. Summit's Chief Reconnaissance Officer Thayer Walker says the Duck Pond will be a permanent structure for the years to come.

As entrepreneurs do, the Summit team members are building a permanent community that didn't exist before, a home they're proud to live in, and one they can call their own. "Our goal is to create a center of gravity for the innovators, entrepreneurs, and thought-leaders of the world," says Summit co-founder Jeremy Schwartz, pictured below with fellow co-founder Brett Leve. "We hope Summit Eden will become a community built around a shared ethos that emphasizes collaboration as tool to drive positive, multidisciplinary output."

Many will compare Summit Series to TED, Davos or even Burning Man, but lining up such energetic entities side-by-side is boring. While there were quite a few speakers at Summit Outside who have also spoken in Long Beach, and people important enough to fly to Switzerland each year, and a lot of dust and dancing in The Electric Forest, what's more interesting is why events like this exist, and how The Summit Series team has brought such magical experiences to life that are shaping a generation of change-makers.

Content

The Summit Team offered content and activities ranging from a 3-hour mountain biking tour to a discussion of the female hormonal system to an hour-long talk about the recent Trayvon Martin trial. When asked to reflect on a high point from the weekend, Shervin Pishevar, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Sherpa Ventures, answered:

"The Trayvon talk. Cheeraz [Gorman]'s tears opened a flood gate of love and truth. It changed hearts and minds and planted the seeds of a new social justice movement. Our nation still needs a process of reconciliation. There's too much locked within our hearts. We need to get in that circle we formed in the forest and widen to all so we can all feel what we did that day."

Humans weren't the only ones leaving Powder Mountain with new flight patterns. Summit partnered with Earthwings, a raptor nonprofit, to release two rehabilitated birds of prey into the wild at the event.

Summit also partnered with Pack and Pounce, a local animal shelter to create a puppy pen where attendees could adopt puppies destined to be put down. 9 puppies were adopted and saved.

The event could've been called the "Summit of Love" - not because of the plethora of mountain-top sessions - but because love was on everyone's lips, particularly speaker and therapist Esther Perel, who wins the award for giving the most talks in a 48-hour period.

As entrepreneurs, we are used to giving all of ourselves to our companies and careers, then we come home at night with just leftover scraps of our energies for our loved ones. How will we ever have as successful relationships as we do careers if we keep carrying on like this? Esther didn't have all of the answers, but she made us realize that if its a fulfilling love life we want, we need to explore the possibilities of adjusting our current priorities.

Production

The Summit team's production talents are extraordinary. On Saturday night, attendees were invited to have dinner around a quarter-mile long picnic table in a field. The walk to dinner was led by jazz musician Jonathan Batiste.

For many photo-takers, this visual feat and delightful feast was a highlight of the weekend.

The Summit team knows how to throw a party too. After dinner, the electronica ensemble Thievery Corporation played a 2-hour set before 50 fans jumped on stage for a late-night dance party. There were all dozens of artists and DJs, like Big Boi, RAC, Sean Glass and DJ Equal, who played until the wee hours of the morning for sparkly-pantsed dancers. To listen to all of the artists who performed this weekend, SoundCloud's David Noel made a playlist for you.

Curation

While Summit is often knocked for being exclusive, its curated community creates an environment for some of the world's most ambitious people to open up professionally, emotionally and physically. "It's going to be a place on Earth that becomes a sacred space for growth and development," says Nicole Patrice De Member, the Founder of Toi and the woman responsible for introducing Summit to Greg Mauro, the entrepreneur and Eden, UT resident who brought the Powder Mountain opportunity to the team. "The people who need love will end up here. We want the world to be a part of this. It's not a secret journey, but you still have to go on that journey to get here."

Summit designed the event with serendipity built-in so that porch-front dinner conversations, afternoon walks down dusty Main Street, or late night discussions in the tea hut became places where we shared journeys of success, failure and personal hardship. "No matter where I went or what I did, I stumbled upon some of the most amazing, interesting people I've ever met. It's a magical experience unlike any other," says Summit first-timer Ryan Matzner, Fueled's Director of Strategy.

The first night of Summit Outside I stood next to a stranger as we waited for our camp mates. I said "Hi" and gave him a warm hug the way you might a friend. He said, "Thank you, I really needed that." He then told me his father had just passed away that morning. And instead of canceling plans to be with his immediate family, he decided that his first step towards healing was to be with his Summit family. In a place so loving, empowering and supportive, I understood.

Summit Outside was the team's first big event on Powder Mountain - and for most in attendance, those 72-hours were a transformational experience. The Summit Team's passion shines through everything it touches, and they've fortunately chosen to build their home in one of the most beautiful settings on Earth. In Eden, once again, we feel like we're just at the beginning of it all...

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