Tuesday 6 December 2011

Not really Android related, but I just upgraded to ubuntu 11.10 and had the re-install gnome (I hate Unity). All was pretty good but I just couldn't figure out how to get gnome-panel settings to show. Every report I found on the web says it was <alt>+<right click> but for me it is

<winkey>+<alt>+<right click>.

Anyways, just though I'd add that, as I said, everywhere else says its <alt>+<right click>. Possibly the key binding was in use and it selected another.


On an Android note, if you are on Ubuntu 11.04  and having issues with eclipse (mouse not working!!) then do an upgrade to 11.10. All is good here.

Sunday 9 October 2011

Notes from planet of the apps ...

The planet of the apps conference was a nice event, quite small but a good line-up of speaker (including yours truly). Though the speakers were a bit iPhone centric mostly, most of them seem to worried about 'fragmentation'. I still think there is a lot of misunderstanding about Android out there ...

Some highlights for me were:

Mobile apps dragons den (day1): Nerad Marovac (DN Capital) and Frederic Court Advent Ventures) represent angel investors and helped explain their investment strategies. It was interesting to see their perspective. Some like to go for early stage startups ( when they have have input on the product) and others go for growth stage (where the product is proven and the company needs to expand)

Magic solver: is a market platform that has had quite a lot of experience in building app downloads. The model involves giving free apps out and up selling. People sure do love free ...

App longevity: This was a panel discussion on factors surrounding an apps lifetime. There was a lot of concensus that utility apps would be longer lived, but probably wont attract the sales levels in a short that games do. As well as strategies for keeping people interested (e.g. regular updates, the need for UX).

And of course: Re-enabling the cloud: My Presentation about considerations when choosing a cloud provider. Mainly:
  • Make a decision early on the data you want to keep as storing it forever just leads to increasing costs.
  • Be careful of lockin to a cloud API. Platform as a service (PAAS) providers (e.g. Azure, App-engine) generally have customised APIs, that will likely require significant recoding of you want to move. Though this is likely a function of their limited age and more are building support for standard APIs
  • Here are the slides PPT, ODP


Here are some notes I made in Vectoroid for anyone interested (they are a bit unstructured): Day 1
Day 2&3

Sunday 2 October 2011

Planet Of the Apps Presentation. R-enabling the cloud ...

I will be presenting at the "Planet of the Apps" Confrence (website) on 6th October. The topic is "R-enabling the cloud, continuing the natural migration from PC application to mobile app" (programme).

The conference has a great line-up speakers, and no doubt will be very informative. Hope to see you there. Bit of a shame about the overlap with DroidCon, but hey its mobile week (http://londonmobileweek.com/), so there bound to be some crossover with other events. Perhaps it should have been "mobile month".

DroidCon UK, 6-7 October 2011

Looking forward to the upcoming DroidCon UK (6-7 October 2011) (http://uk.droidcon.com). It promises to be a must see for Android developers with loads of presentations from Google, HTC, SONY Erricson, and loads of community members. Hope to see you there:

Droidcon London Oct 6-7

Thursday 28 July 2011

MyPOD reviews

There have been a couple of fair reviews of MyPOD recently and I just wanted to send a shout out to the authors, Thanks guys.

http://www.androidauthority.com/podcatcher-roundup-top-9-best-android-apps-for-playing-podcasts-16817/

http://rascallings.blogspot.com/2011/07/android-app-review-mypod.html

We all know that while being highly functional - there are some edges to smooth out in the MyPOD UI. Credit goes to these bloggers for taking the time to look at the functionality and give it a fair review.

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Using VectorPaint For VJing

While re-writing the VectorPaint library I have also been experimenting with using the library in a VJing application. The save drawings are sent via OSC to a processing sketch and render on the screen. This is a snapshot at MixedMedia - a monthly event in Sydney for VJing.

Friday 27 May 2011

shortcuts script for common debug tasks

I have been using this script for a while, it allows me to make shortcuts for common android debug tasks (e.g. logcat, shell, installing/overwriting/removing apks). There are probably better ways of doing it for the shell script experts out there, but it suits my purposes... and it's pretty streamlined.

There are aliases for common devices and common apps so i can start stuff with a few characters

So the first parameter denotes the function.
l = logcat
r = replace app (keeping data)
s = shell
i = install
u = uninstall
o = overwrite (uninstall then install)
ks = kill-server
ss = start-server

The second parameter denots the device (which are configured in the first if statement):
a = all connected devices (from 'adb devices')
f = first device (in 'adb devices' list)
e1 = emulator-5554
(the others are my hardware devices)

Then there are app package name shortcuts ... (the 3rd if statement)

To start logcat on ny nexus 1, I type:
ad l n1
And to overwrite an apk on all connected usb devices - it type (the 2nd 'a' param stands for 'all connected devices'), really useful when testing before a release ...
ad r a /path/to/apkfile.apk
Basically it's nothing too high tech, it just makes things much quicker and easier when i am debugging. If you have any suggestions then i am keen to hear them...

So without further ado, here is the script:
#!/bin/bash

# toggle this to test command output without execution 0=no exec
EXEC=1;

DEVICES='f'

if [ $2 ] && [ $2 = 'g1' ] ; then
 DEVICES=("HT848KV04600")
elif [ $2 ] && [ $2 = 'hero' ] ; then
 DEVICES=("HT9BSL901147")
elif [ $2 ] && [ $2 = 'arch' ]  ; then
 DEVICES=("A10-4BE40002-9FF80000-015F2F44-0D01601E")
elif [ $2 ]  && [ $2 = 'n1' ]  ; then
 DEVICES=("HT018P805702")
elif [ $2 ] && [ $2 = 'e1' ]  ; then
 DEVICES=("emulator-5554")
elif [ $2 ] && [ $2 = 's' ]  ; then
 DEVICES=("I5500b2e40b3c")
elif  [ ! $2 ] || [ $2 = 'a' ] ; then
 DEVLIST=`adb devices`
 DEVICES=()
 for D in $DEVLIST; do 
  if  [ $D = "device" ] ; then 
   DEVICES=(${DEVICES[@]} $PREV)
  fi
  PREV=$D
 done
# take the first device if not specified otherwise take all
 if [ ! $2 ] ; then
  DEVICES=${DEVICES[0]} 
 else 
  DEVICES=${DEVICES[@]}
 fi
fi
echo "using devices:" $DEVICES

OP=''
if [ $1 ] ; then
 if [ $1 = 'u' ] ; then
  OP="uninstall"
 elif [ $1 = 'i' ] ; then
  OP="install"
 elif [ $1 = 'r' ] ; then
  OP="install -r"
 elif [ $1 = 'l' ] ; then
  OP="logcat"
 elif [ $1 = 's' ] ; then
  OP="shell"
 elif [ $1 = 'ks' ] ; then
  OP="kill-server"
 elif [ $1 = 'ss' ] ; then
  OP="start-server"
 elif [ $1 = 'z' ] ; then
  OP=""
 elif [ $1 = 'o' ] ; then
  OP=""
 fi
fi
PRG=$3;
if [ $3 ] ; then
 if [ $3 = 'mpp' ] ; then
  PRG="package.name.1"
 elif [ $3 = 'st' ] ; then
  PRG="package.name.2"
 elif [ $3 = 'stp' ] ; then
  PRG="package.name.3"
 elif [ $3 = 'mp' ] ; then
  PRG="package.name.4"
 fi
fi

if [ ! $1 ] ; then
 echo "ad    extra"
 echo "CMD = o (overwrite)  extra=apk | l (logcat) | r (reinstall) extra=apk | i (install) extra=apk | s (shell) | u (uninstall) |  ks (kill-server) | ss (start-server)"
 echo "CMD = z (zipalign )"
 echo "DEV = g1 hero arch n1 s a(all)"
 echo "PRG = mp mpp st stp"
 echo "------devices---------"
 CMD="adb devices"
 echo $CMD
 if [ $EXEC = 1 ] ; then 
  $CMD
 fi 
else 
 if [ $1 = 'z' ] ; then
  NEWFILE=`echo $2 | sed "s/.apk/_z.apk/"`
  rm -fr $NEWFILE
  CMD="zipalign -v 4 $2 $NEWFILE"
  echo $CMD
  if [ $EXEC = 1 ] ; then 
   $CMD
  fi
 else 
  for DEV in $DEVICES ; do
   echo $DEV
   if [ $1 = 'o' ] ; then
    CMD="adb -s $DEV uninstall $PRG"
    echo $CMD
    if [ $EXEC = 1 ] ; then 
     $CMD
    fi
    CMD="adb -s $DEV install $4"
    echo $CMD
    if [ $EXEC = 1 ] ; then 
     $CMD
    fi
   else 
       CMD="adb -s $DEV $OP $PRG $4"
    echo $CMD
    if [ $EXEC = 1 ] ; then 
     $CMD
    fi
   fi
  done;
 fi
fi

Monday 7 March 2011

Silent mode timer UI changes - review & lessons learnt

I have posted about the silent mode timer before - it's a small app to disable silent mode using a timer. It's useful for situations like meetings and going to the cinema when you just want to have silent mode on for a short period of time and not mess around with schedules or flipping upside down, etc.

After releasing a UI update recently I discovered how difficult it can be to convince users of the benefits of a new (better) UI. When your users know your product there is generally going to be some resistance when it gets changed. Eventually I have realised that if there is going to be change, then you have to make sure that all the features your existing users like should be the highest priority.

The goals of the UI re-write were to reduce the amount of buttons on screen while still enabling the fastest way to set a timer and just get out (that's all the app should do).

The features that were lost in this case were:
1. Some convenience buttons on the side of the time setting widget to increment/decrement the time by 15min. In the first version
2. 12 hour time.

These features have now been restored by popular demand ...

There were many features people had requested to be added in the first version (automatic prompting, calendar integration, set a timer by end time). Some of these were easy to integrate in the new interface (all except the calendar integration).

But with all the (new and old) features, does it still live up to the basic goal of simplicity? Well the users will be the judge. Some have left but more new ones have also come.

The moral of the story? Well i guess it's that no matter how well you try to make things better, the main thing you need to create is a sense of attachment to an application, and familiarity is key. Changes probably need to be made in transitional style, or if there is a complete overhaul, the option to revert to the old style while people get comfortable is highly important.

The new app can be found on the market here:
Free: https://market.android.com/details?id=co.uk.sentinelweb.silenttimer

Paid: https://market.android.com/details?id=co.uk.sentinelweb.silenttimerpaid

It would be great to know what YOU think too ;)

Friday 4 March 2011

ADB with Acrhos 10i internet tablet on Ubuntu

I recently bought Archos 10i Internet tablet for testing the upcoming drawing software release (more soon on that) and there is an extra trick to getting it working with ADB:

1. Get the Vendor id by typing:
lsusb 
The line we are looking for is:
Bus 002 Device 007: ID 0e79:1411 Archos, Inc.

2. Add the vendor id (0e79) to /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules as per normal
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}=="0e79", MODE="0666"

3. And the extra trick is as per this link: archoss-solution-to-adb-connection-bug.html
You also need to add the vendor id to ~/.android/adb_usb.ini (you need to check the file doesn't exist first).
echo "0x0e79" >>~/.android/adb_usb.ini

4. Then we restart the ADB server and the device should be shown:
adb kill-server
adb start-server
adb devices
The last line shows:
List of devices attached
A10-4BE4XXXX-9FF8XXXX-015FXXXX-0D01XXXX device