Recent discussions
What is your favourite sandwich type?
Hey everyone, Some of my colleagues and I were chatting over lunch the other day about our favourite sandwich types — and it got us wondering what really counts as a sandwich! Can it be an “open” sandwich where you add toppings to a slice of bread or can it only be two pieces of bread with a filling? And how do you cut said sandwich - are you a fan of the triangle or just go for a straight cut down the middle? As we are a community of food lovers, I wanted to open the floor to you and ask what is your favourite sandwich type and what are your go-to toppings/fillings? Personally, I like a triangle sandwich with brie, rocket/arugula and cranberry sauce but I’m also partial to a classic jambon-beurre with gherkins (and that’s only for the savoury options!). What about you? 🥪 I can’t wait to be inspired by your replies! Chat soon, EmilieHappy New Year!
Happy 2026 everyone 🥂 I hope you all had a wonderful festive break and managed to get some well-deserved rest. Coming off the back of our end-of-year recap, the momentum is incredible. I'm so excited to keep that energy going and see what we build together over the next few months. As many of us settle back into “work mode”, I thought it could be helpful to share some tips for making the transition as smooth as possible: Review your priorities: A quick audit of your January goals or key tasks can create instant clarityWrite them down and triage your to-dos before diving in. Catch up mindfully: Inbox overload is real! Skimming for relevance and archiving low-priority items can help you regain control without losing your whole week to emails. Re-engage with your team: A quick catch-up message or call can rebuild connection and give you context on anything that evolved while you were away. Be gentle on your colleagues: they’re likely easing back too! How do you approach the return to work after the festive season? Any tips, rituals, or practices that help you reset and get going again? Looking forward to reading your tips! Emilie🎬 What actually makes a festive film… festive? 🎄
Hi everyone, As the festive season kicks in — lights everywhere, classic tunes on repeat, tinsel and baubles as far as the eye can see — I thought it’d be fun to chat about festive films. But first… what is a festive film? Is it simply a movie set in December? One built around stockings, snow and last-minute shopping? Or does it need to revolve around the kind of chaos we all recognise this time of year: packed airports (the stress of a festive travel can lead to forgetting one of your kids at home), tight deadlines, school plays (and pantomimes if you’re in the UK), gift-wrapping and giving dilemmas (turns out a Joni Mitchell CD can be a risky choice…). For me, anything set during this period counts — the festive backdrop just raises the stakes in the best way. It’s the most wonderful time of the year…or is it?! What about you? Is Die Hard a festive film? Do you have a personal favourite that others might not consider “festive”? Looking forward to your thoughts — let the merry debate begin! Emilie🎉 Check it out: Community Festival - 2025 edition
Hey everyone, Last December, we wrapped up the year with something really special — our very first Community Festival! We loved reading posts on everything from AI and mobile strategy to the future of Android — and even beyond. ✨ This year, we’re bringing the Festival back ✨ From December 1st-5th, the Festival will be all about celebrating you and the amazing mix of voices in our community. Each day of that first week of December, a different community member will take part and write an article on a particular topic of interest - we’re aiming for a mixture of subject areas, from Android specific to tech-inspired topics. How to get involved: It’s really simple! Just drop a comment below if you’d like to contribute, or send a private message to me or Lizzie. Check our festive community posts below: 👏 [Day 1] Mobile Devices With a Sixth Sense: What Android Can Learn From Detection Dogs by Michel [Day 2] Mission Intune : When Migration Becomes a Mission (Almost) Impossible by Kris [Day 3] Dedicated to Dedicated: Non-negotiables for EMM/MDM in Rugged Android Deployments by mattdermody [Day 4] Managed Google Domains: What, why, and how to upgrade by jasonbayton [Day 5] Community festival: I Tried Living Like It's 2005 for a Week by BenMcc [Day 6] Introducing a mobile first/only digital environment, Android-based by turquet and Yann_ROLAND With cheer and excitement, Emilie (and the Community Team)Are you going to Fal.con next week?
Hello everyone, Are you heading to Fal.con EMEA in Barcelona next week (Nov 4-6)? If so, please share below and perhaps you can connect with other community members at the event. We’d also like to let you know that members of the Android Enterprise team will be there too, so do stop by the Android booth to say “hello”! This is a great opportunity to get your questions answered directly from our team or just to chat around all things Android! One last thing - we’d love to see your event photos (sadly not all of us can make it to Barcelona 🙂), so please feel free to post them in this thread! Enjoy the conference! Emilie & LizzieFrom spooky spirits to scary ghouls: do you celebrate Halloween?
Hey everyone, You might have noticed that spooky season is upon us. We thought we could join the conversation - we might as well! - and have a little bit of fun ourselves! Halloween’s origins can be traced back over 2,000 years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain - this festival was marking the end of harvest season and the start of winter. People believed that the boundary between the living and the dead blurred on this night — leading to traditions of costumes, bonfires, and lanterns to ward off spirits. Celebrating Halloween is pretty new in the UK but, every year, it’s fun to see my local high street turn into a spooky place: from the cemetery ghoul in the estate agent window to the cute pumpkins at the locksmiths - even the corner burritos and tacos shop where you have to order from the booth plays along by plastering a “do not enter” yellow tape on its windows! Kids love Halloween too and can go trick or treating in certain areas. The code to show you’re participating is to have a pumpkin outside your house 🎃 Do you celebrate Halloween? How is it celebrated where you’re based? Is your workplace organising anything or decorating the offices? Bonus points if you share pictures! Emilie
Barcode Scanners - ideas / suggestions needed!
Hi there, I work for a medium sized digital e-commerce platform that holds stock for, picks, packs and ships goods to customers when they place orders on clients websites such as TikTok Shop / Etsy etc etc... All our software (WMS/e-commerce) is completely bespoke and written in-house by our developers. One issue that we have is that our warehouse pickers use a Chromebook and separate USB barcode scanner on their picking trolleys to perform their work however this leads to numerous broken Chromebooks (several every week) and I feel it isnt the most efficient solution. What we are wanting is an Chrome based solution for barcode scanning (1D & 2D) - it needs to be able to get to a webpage where our WMS is hosted and be more rugged than a Chromebook!! I am aware there are Android based "gun grip" mobile computers but what I have seen are hugely expensive (circa £2200 each) and this would be too much for us to swap to. Do any of you have a solution in place that you think might suit us? We want to stay with Android where possible as all our office staff use Chromebooks & Google G-Suite. Any advice or suggestions greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!Food: Pizza guide
A few months ago, we were asked about our favorite food, pizza was the winner! But a few months later, Alex_Muc decided to create the Sushi guide as nobody mentioned. The topic initiated an active discussion, one of the comments was from Emilie_B , asking for my home made sushi. I don't really make my own sushi, but I do make home made pizza. And after Emilie found out about that, she has been pushing me to create a guide. So here it is Emilie! It took me 4 months to not forget to take pictures, but I did it --- Note: I make my pizzas in a real pizza oven, so I don’t know the exact timing for a regular oven. From what I understand, the main difference is how long you bake it. It’s always a good idea to get a pizza stone for your oven – it helps you get a crispier and better-baked crust. This recipe uses flour suitable for a long fermentation, so it’s a “make the dough today, eat tomorrow” kind of deal (sorry!). 🍅Ingredients for the dough Flour The type of flour depends on how long you want to let it rise. The longer the rise, the lighter and more flavorful the crust. You can do a short 1-hour rise, but personally, I find those pizzas a bit heavy on the stomach. Check the W value of your flour – this indicates the strength of the flour: W 150–200: Weak flour, suitable for cakes, cookies, or quick-rising doughs W 200–260: All-purpose, great for bread and pizza W 260–300: Strong flour, ideal for Neapolitan pizza or rustic breads W 320+: For rising times longer than 48 hours, great for poolish or biga starters More info: Understanding W Numbers in Flour – Crusters Guide - Crusters As for brands, I recommend Caputo – it’s available in different W values: Doppio Zero – for less than 8 hours rise (W 230) Pizzeria – for more than 8 hours rise (W 260) Other Ingredients Salt Water at room temperature Instant yeast KitchenAid with dough hook (or your own hands) Flat work surface (countertop, stainless steel, or marble) A digital scale accurate to tenths (e.g., 0.5 g / 0.02 oz) Semola flour – coarser than regular flour; easy to brush off dough, used for shaping Dough box or plastic container for rising Should be sealable, or covered with a damp cloth Avoid stainless steel or glass, as they take longer to reach room temperature after refrigeration Ingredients for toppings Use whatever you like, but here’s what I used for two pizzas: Pizza sauce I recommend Mutti pizza sauce, if available where you live. It has that authentic Italian pizza flavor. Fantastic. Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano, stronger in flavor) Grated mild cheese (my wife insists on “normal” cheese on pizza 😄) Canned tuna Cow’s milk mozzarella Onion Arugula (rocket) Smoked chicken Mozzarela (pull it apart and place it on piece of kitchen paper to let it dry it bit 👨🍳Instructions for Making the Dough I use the PizzApp+ to get the right ratio of ingredients. See the screenshot for my current preference. A higher water percentage gives tastier dough, but it’s also trickier to handle. The amount of dough also determines pizza size (if you flatten it nicely): Around 250 g (8.8 oz) → about 30 cm (12 in) pizza Around 330 g (11.6 oz) → about 40 cm (16 in) pizza I use 235 g (8.3 oz) – just right for us and gives a bit of wiggle room in the oven Steps Pour the correct amount of water into a bowl. Add the yeast and mix until it’s mostly dissolved. Weigh the flour, add salt, and combine everything in the bowl with the water. Start kneading, either with a KitchenAid or by hand. On the KitchenAid, use the dough hook on speed 2 for 8–12 minutes, depending on the flour quantity. The dough should no longer be too sticky. When you press it, the dent should slowly spring back; when you stretch it, it should feel elastic – not too much though, or you’ve overkneaded. Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on your work surface (sprinkle some semola underneath if needed). Let it rest for 15 minutes under a slightly damp towel so it doesn’t dry out. Divide the dough into portions of the right weight (e.g., 235 g / 8.3 oz each) and form balls. Use the stretch and fold technique: stretch the dough, fold it, turn 90°, and repeat (max 4 times). Form a ball so the dough tightens up. Check out a video tutorial for a good visual example, like this one: How to stretch and fold pizza dough Once the balls are ready, place them in your dough box or plastic containers. Let them sit for 2 hours at room temperature. Then move them to the fridge. This stops the rising process and starts fermentation, which improves flavor and digestion. If the fermentation is too short, the pizza feels heavy on the stomach. Take the dough out of the fridge 5–6 hours before baking, letting it slowly come back to room temperature. The dough should know have almost doubled in size and is now ready to be turned into pizza! Instructions for Making Your Pizza Turn on your oven. I use an Ooni Koda 12 pizza oven, set it to full blast to heat it up properly. Shaping Your Pizza Here’s where many people go wrong: don’t use a rolling pin! It presses all the air out of the dough. You’ll end up with a flat pancake – might as well make a sandwich instead 😁 Take a dough ball from the box and place it on your work surface with enough semola underneath. Use your fingers to press the center down and make a small dent, gradually widening it without touching the edges. Work from the center outward. Once it’s wide enough, use the palms of your hands – but make sure the center doesn’t get too thin. Again, watch a video tutorial for technique examples, like this one: The easy way to stretching a pizza - YouTube Once you’ve shaped a nice round (or somewhat round😅) pizza, place it on your pizza peel. Brush off excess semola gently. 🍕Topping Your Pizza Start with the pizza sauce – spread it with a spoon, but avoid touching the edges. That’s how you get those nice puffed crusts. 2–3 tablespoons of sauce is plenty. More might seem tasty, but makes the pizza too wet and heavy (trust me, I’ve been there ). Add your toppings! Finish with cheese so it melts nicely and protects the ingredients underneath from burning. Our pizzas this time: Pizza 1 Tomato sauce Tuna Onion Grated mild cheese Pizza 2 Tomato sauce Smoked chicken Mozzarella Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano) 🔥Baking The stone in your pizza oven should be around 350–400 °C (660–750 °F). Slide your pizza smoothly into the oven. Turn the knob at the back of the oven down to about halfway – this prevents the top from cooking faster than the bottom. Wait 30 seconds, then rotate the pizza a quarter turn. Repeat until it’s gone full circle. Your pizza is now ready! Time to eat! 🍴 Or, if you’d like to keep peace at home, put your partner’s pizza in next and repeat the steps. 😆Between pizzas, crank the gas back up to keep the stone hot. Finishing Touches Sprinkle a bit of oregano on top. Add some arugula for a fresh finish and enjoy your pizza!What app would you recommend to your friends?
Hey everyone, Last week, I came across a previous community conversation about top apps, which I thought was an interesting conversation considering how there is an app for (almost) everything! And, over the weekend, I decided to try a new app called Too Good To Go. I know it has been around for years, but I had just never bothered to download it. Now, what changed is that a new bakery opened in the neighbourhood a few weeks ago. It is part of a chain of bakeries that can be quite pricey, but offer a nice range of delicious baked goods. I tried the app, ordered a bag of baked goods, and it was a great experience: very smooth and easy and I got a very interesting deal. This also prevented wasting food! A lovely new weekend experience, indeed 🍞🥐🧁 What app have you recently tried and would recommend to your friends and to the community? Curious to read your thoughts and recommendations! Chat soon, EmilieWhat does your current desk setup look like?
Hey everyone, I have just had a small work setup upgrade: I got a standing desk! Now, I can alternate between sitting down - which I do when I have to use my second screen - and standing up - which I do for meetings. In terms of the rest of my desk setup, I have a mouse and an ergonomic keyboard, my trusted notebook where I write everything and my coloured pens (I like to categorise ideas by colour). I find that limiting the amount of objects and things on my desk helps me focus - an organised workplace helps me organise my thoughts! What is your setup like? Is it different at home than in the office? What is the thing you love about it and what do you think could be improved? You can take inspiration from a previous conversation about workplace setups (and meet Lizzie’s desk buddies). Chat soon, Emilie
