Technology

Everyone knows the secret to success — personal and business alike — is good communication. But in what form If you're trying to communicate with a group in real time, you're no doubt familiar with the old standby: conference calls. You know: those mind-numbing phone meetings in which talkers overlap, voice quality is terrible, half the people aren't paying attention and somebody's dog barks intermittently throughout the call.

When we think about Android launchers, we tend to think about programs that add oodles of options into our home screen environments. But a new and still under-development Android launcher aims to do just the opposite — to strip your home screen down to its bare essentials and turn it into an ultra-efficient launching board for getting where you need to be.

It's called Niagara Launcher, and while it's still technically in beta and "unreleased," it's available to anyone to download and try out for free from the Play Store. I've been using it on my phone for a little while now, and I've gotta say: It absolutely is not your average Android launcher. And for plenty of people, that could be a good thing.