Ben Edwards Blog

Android Device Information

2011-01-14T14:17:00.000-06:00

Started a new blog to catalog information about all the different Android devices on the market.

The Android device information blog simply provides information, including technical specs, about all the latest Android devices.

Check it out:
http://android-device-info.blogspot.com/

Swappa makes it easy for anyone to buy and sell fully functional, gently used Android devices.

2010-12-15T20:50:00.002-06:00

Swappa has launched (quietly for now)...

Swappa makes it easy for anyone to buy and sell fully functional, gently used Android devices.

Every day, hundreds-of-thousands of new Android devices are sold and activated. When this happens, perfectly good, not-so-old Android devices are set aside and often forgotten about.

Swappa's goal is to make it easy for both buyers and sellers to benefit from gently used Android devices.

Swappa is the ultimate Android device marketplace.

Aisle Express app available in the Android Market

2010-10-16T14:33:00.004-05:00

The Aisle Express app I've been working on for the past couple months has finally hit the Android Market.

Android and SQLite Tip

2010-08-14T22:40:00.002-05:00

Most Android examples dealing with SQLite have the database being created in the beginning. But what if you want to include a SQLite database file, already filled with data, with your .apk?

This article shows how to prepare a SQLite file that can be included with your .apk and then used for a content provider. This should come in handy for an Android project I'm working on now.

Working on a new Android App...

2010-08-12T21:12:00.002-05:00

I'm working on a new Android app for a startup in here in KC. They are a great group of people who have some great ideas. I look forward to sharing more, in the form of an app in the Android Market, as soon as I can.

Things that sound cool about the new iPhone 4

2010-06-08T08:30:00.003-05:00

Okay, I am definitely not an Apple lover. I guess you could say I am an Android fanboy. At work I do a fair amount of trash talking to my Apple mobile development counterparts. So in good spirits, I'll make a list of things about the new iPhone 4 that sound pretty cool (not having played with the device yet).

The phone (hardware) itself looks great. That's one thing Apple does amazingly well. The rounded edges and stainless steel "band" give a look of a phone I'd like to hold.
The battery life sounds pretty excellent. This is another thing Apple does well on their mobile devices (including iMacs). Now battery life on my Android devices has always been completely satisfactory (more than a full day of normal/heavy usage). However, with the complaints about the newly launched EVO battery, this is definitely a step in the right direction.
The screen sounds pretty amazing. It's probably way cool from an engineering perspective than a practical point of view, but they obviously have raised the bar. Too bad it's still smaller than the best of the Android devices.

Things that didn't make the list:

Multi-tasking: sorry, this is old news. Android does it well and has done it for a while.
iBooks: sounds like cool features (keeping context synced across devices), but I just don't care.
AT&T still the only carrier: give me a break.
Still no "side loading" of apps. Terrible.
I don't really care about the lack of Flash, but Android's got it.

One thing that I don't know about yet is how snappy the iPhones will be with multi-tasking.

Now even with this amazing new phone from Apple, here's a problem they have in their "war" against Android. If you want a better carrier, a cheaper phone, a keyboard phone, a red phone, a smaller phone, a bigger phone, a faster phone, a smarter phone, a customizable phone, or any other trait that defines a "better" phone... you gotta go Android.

Django 1.2

2010-05-18T08:24:00.003-05:00

Django 1.2 has been released!

http://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2010/may/17/12/

One of the great new features that I am most excited about is support for multiple databases within a project.

Django Smuggler Import/Export

2010-05-10T21:15:00.003-05:00

Just started using Django Smuggler (http://github.com/semente/django-smuggler) for importing/exporting data from the Django admin (in JSON or XML). It's very easy to get going. And it's very useful.

Easy install:

sudo easy_install django-smuggler

It's an excellent, do-one-thing-well utility. Check it out.

Android Development in Kansas City

2010-04-26T21:26:00.002-05:00

I just setup a new site advertising my mad Android development skills: kcappdev.com.

If you are looking for Android application development and/or testing in Kansas City, go to kcappdev.com.

They Make Apps

2010-02-09T21:17:00.002-06:00

http://theymakeapps.com/

A newly discovered site for finding Android and iPhone developers.

For Sale: Technology and Website for creating and selling user-customized Android applications

2010-01-30T12:59:00.008-06:00

For Sale: Technology and Website for creating and selling user-customized Android applications.

See everything in action: http://redbirdapps.com

The web-application allows anyone to create, purchase, and share their own Android application (no programming required).

The technology behind the site is for sale, including: website code and Android code. (The company/domain is not for sale. There are no obligations to existing customers.)

The buyer could have their own site up and running, creating Android apps and charging customers within days.

The app currently built by the site is an "Android Business Card" (check out the above URL for a full demo). The system could also be modified for building and selling other customizable Android applications.

The ability to monetize is built into the site. Users can build and test their application for free and pay to get a releasable and shareable version.

Similar services that build applications for the iPhone are charging $199-$499 per app. Getting a developer to build an app similar to that produced by the site would cost several thousand dollars.

The technology behind the site: Python/Django, Android SDK, Amazon S3, and Google Checkout for charging. I have developed all code behind the site and can make transitioning it fast and easy.

Email bennybeta (gmail) for offers and inquiries.

If you are an entrepreneur interested in the mobile apps space this could be an excellent opportunity.

If you run an Android-targeted website and are interested in a referral fee, please spread the word.

Working with VirtualEnv and Pip

2010-01-26T21:15:00.004-06:00

I've just begun working with VirtualEnv and Pip for my Python project package management. So far I'm impressed. Rather than just rehash the tutorials I've read I'll just point you to some good ones...

Okay, here's a few commands I've used...

virtualenv --no-site-packages env

pip install -E env yolk

source env/bin/activate

yolk -l

pip install -E env -e svn+http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk/

pip freeze -E env > requirements.txt

pip install -E env -r requirements.txt

Happy New Year with AndTip.Me

2010-01-02T07:35:00.004-06:00

I just launched a new site on Jan.1 2010 (Happy New Year) called AndTip.Me. The site is for Android users to get and share tips for using their powerful mobile devices.

The site is still in progress, but the cool things is how fast it was put together and launch (thanks in large part to the power of Django). Basically the site went from idea to launch in less that a week with only a couple hours a day of work (probably about 12 hours total).

So if you are an Android user, learn some new tips and tricks at http://AndTip.Me.

I'll try to do some more posts on the technologies behind the site, including: Haystack, Whoosh, django-comments, django-voting, and Amazon EC2.

Ubuntu 9.10 on Dell Studio 1555

2009-12-24T09:33:00.006-06:00

I recently got a new laptop, a Dell Studio 15(55). Of course the first thing I did when I got it was wipe it (remove Windows 7) and install Ubuntu 9.10.

To make a long story short, I had some problems with the laptop display (though plugging in an external monitor worked fine). The issues had to do with Intel's GMA and integrated graphics support.

The first problem was during installation. After the initial live boot/installation menu (pic below) I would get a blank (lit black) screen.

First I used Ubuntu's alternate installer. Then on the installation menu:

Select the Install Ubuntu item (don't press Enter yet)
Press F6 and select (X) the apic=off option
Press F4 and type nomodeset as input
Press Enter to install

After installation or a restart though you'll still get a blank screen until you permanently set the nomodeset option.

These resources helped me solve the problems:

To get things working I had to set the "nomodeset" option in the Grub2 (boot loader) configuration.

When using the default kernel-mode-setting (KMS) option in Ubuntu 9.10, users with Intel 82852/855GM cards will find that they are unable to use the Xv extension for playing videos. This may show up as high CPU usage or stuttering during video playback, or a failure to play videos at all with some applications. As a workaround, users can add the option nomodeset to the kernel boot options in the grub config (for GRUB 2: edit /etc/default/grub and add nomodeset to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX, then run sudo update-grub; for GRUB 1: edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and add nomodeset to the line beginning with # kopt=, then run sudo update-grub), to disable the use of KMS

From the above excerpt:

For Grub2 (the default for Ubuntu 9.10), edit /etc/default/grub
Add nomodeset to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX
run sudo update-grub

Then you should be good to go.

Delicious

2009-12-16T08:38:00.001-06:00

I finally created a Delicious account.

http://delicious.com/ben_edwards

Chrome Browser is Fast

2009-12-13T20:14:00.002-06:00

The Google Chrome browser for Linux (Ubuntu) is incredibly fast.

Google Phone

2009-12-12T13:47:00.001-06:00

I am looking forward to the Google Phone.

RedbirdApps.com

2009-12-05T15:22:00.002-06:00

I've "soft" launched my latest endeavor: redbirdapps.com.

Our first application we call the Better Business Card for Android. This product grew from the idea that if you have a smart phone, you shouldn't have a dumb business card. The goal is to merge the purpose of the business card with the capabilities of your mobile phone.

AWS RDB

2009-11-29T13:48:00.003-06:00

Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently released it's latest kick-ass cloud service: Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service). It is, simply stated, a managed EC2 instance of a MySQL database service.

I'm creating my first RDS database now for a new site/service I'll be releasing soon. My only request, so far, would be that they add support for it to the AWS Console.

South for Django

2009-11-18T20:30:00.002-06:00

Just made good use of South for database migrations for my Django application. Like most good things in the Django community "it just worked." Magnificent.

Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)

2009-11-01T12:44:00.002-06:00

I upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) today. The whole process, including downloading about 1 GB worth of packages, took little more than an hour. And so far it's flawless. I wonder if the upgrade to Windows 7 is similar?

Droid compared to iPhone

2009-10-31T09:06:00.002-05:00

TechCrunch has an excellent comparison of the iPhone and the Motorola Droid (coming very soon).

http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/10/30/smartphone-showdown-iphone-3gs-vs-motorola-droid/

New AppEngine Features

2009-10-13T20:37:00.001-05:00

The latest version of Google's AppEngine (1.2.6) contains two nifty new features: the ability to receive incoming email (which is turned into an HTTP request) and the ability to delete an app.

http://googleappengine.blogspot.com/2009/10/app-engine-sdk-126-released-with.html

Django and OpenID

2009-09-07T21:03:00.004-05:00

I finally got Django + OpenID working (quite easily in the end) using django_openid_auth (after some struggles with some of the older Django + OpenID packages).

django_openid_auth is actually made by the developers of LaunchPad, who help out quite a bit on Ubuntu.

New Redbird Logo

2009-08-30T21:07:00.003-05:00

New Redbird logo... excellent work Brett...

Some Android Sites

2009-08-17T14:59:00.004-05:00

A list of some of my favorite Android sites:

Android Phone: T-Mobile myTouch 3G

2009-08-11T21:02:00.002-05:00

I got a T-Mobile myTouch 3G phone today. So far it's awesome.

The new phone required signing up for a new T-Mobile account, in addition to my Verizon account. Now I wish Verizon would hurry up and start offering Android phones. It looks like the first will be the Motorola Sholes.

Birdseye in the works...

2009-08-09T21:34:00.001-05:00

Very much in progress:
www.birdseyemobile.com

Simple Android

2009-08-03T20:44:00.001-05:00

Simple allows programmers to quickly write Android applications by using the components supplied by its runtime system. Simple programs are form definitions (which contain components) and code (which contains the program logic). The interaction between the components and the program logic happens through events triggered by the components. The program logic consists of event handlers which contain code reacting to the events.

http://code.google.com/p/simple/

Working on new redbirdsoftware.com

2009-07-26T07:20:00.006-05:00

I'm working on a new website (www.redbirdsoftware.com).

The site is hosted via Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2)
The server's operating system is Ubuntu Linux
The site is written in Python, using Django

Powerful combo...

Early Android 2.0 "Donut" build available

2009-07-26T07:18:00.001-05:00

Android's official code repository has been updated with a bunch of new Donut (Android 2.0) code. One big improvement is support for CDMA wireless networks, e.g. Verizon and Sprint.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/26/early-android-2-0-donut-build-available-up-and-running-on-g1/

Android Phone Avalanche

2009-07-12T14:09:00.002-05:00

There's currently only 2 Android Phones on the market. By the end of the year (less than six months away), there will be almost 10 times that number. I am going to get me one.

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/05/28/google-at-least-18-android-phones-coming-this-year/

Google Chrome OS

2009-07-08T20:29:00.003-05:00

Wow, Google's announcement of Google Chrome OS, a Linux-based operating system for netbooks on up, has certainly sparked a lot attention.

A few of my thoughts in no particular order:

I have yet to see an software that runs "in the browser" that is anywhere near as good as my IDE for development
I love Ubuntu, but I would consider using a Google OS, but only if its better
Apple doesn't care much
Add this to the long list of things that is chipping away at Microsoft, but it is no nuclear bomb

One terrible article I read said "this is the beginning of an era of Google dominance, the likes of which we’ve never seen before." By "the likes of which we've never seen," he really means "since Microsoft was so dominant less than a decade ago." And he thinks "Apple is shaking in their boots." Wrong, wrong, wrong. I think Apple absolutely loves it when Microsoft and Google pick on each other.

Whatever... it's exciting to wonder and imagine, but we'll have to wait six to twelve months to see how exciting this announcement really is.

iPhone vs. Android Development

2009-07-03T06:43:00.002-05:00

David Green gives a thorough, though somewhat biased, review of iPhone vs. Android development.
http://greensopinion.blogspot.com/2009/07/android-versus-iphone-development.html

Smart Phones: Open Source, Android, and iPhone

2009-06-21T20:28:00.004-05:00

I'm not an iPhone hater, I'm really not. I definitely understand the appeal and right now iPhone is the undisputed champion of smart phones. But it's just a matter of time before more open (e.g. open-source) platforms take back a lot of ground. I'm betting on Android.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=808

Flex Drag-and-Drop: The Definitive Tutorial

2009-06-20T13:44:00.001-05:00

Flex After Dark has just published a new (our first) tutorial on how to Drag-and-Drop in Flex.

Drag-and-drop lets you move components and transfer data in a Flex application via the mouse and ubiquitous "click-drag-drop" paradigm. All Flex components support drag-and-drop operations with the proper enablement.

Click here to learn how to Drag-and-Drop in Flex at Flex After Dark...

Digg Profile

2009-06-20T13:16:00.000-05:00

My Digg profile: http://digg.com/users/bennybeta

Google App Engine 1.2.3 with Django 1.0

2009-06-20T08:21:00.000-05:00

Up until recently Google App Engine only had pre-1.0 Django support built-in. You could of course jimmy it to work with 1.0, but it was a little unnatural. Now with GAE 1.2.3, Django 1.0 support is baked in. Google App Engine + Django = Nice!

http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine/browse_thread/thread/fab4e52646994dff/93bdf272719b724c?pli=1

App Engine Task Queue API

2009-06-19T06:35:00.000-05:00

You can now perform offline processing on App Engine by scheduling bundles of work (tasks) for automatic execution in the background.

http://googleappengine.blogspot.com/2009/06/new-task-queue-api-on-google-app-engine.html

Ubuntu Fixing "Papercuts"

2009-06-15T19:37:00.000-05:00

Canonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, is launching a new project to improve the usability of the platform. The developers aim to identify and resolve 100 minor bugs that negatively impact the Ubuntu user experience before the release of the next major version in October.

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/06/canonical-to-boost-ubuntu-usability-by-tackling-papercuts.ars

Google Maps API for Flex/Flash

2009-06-11T20:58:00.000-05:00

The Google Maps API for Flash lets Flex developers embed Google Maps in Flash applications. Similar to the JavaScript version, this ActionScript API provides a number of utilities for manipulating and adding content to maps through a variety of services, enabling you to embed robust, interactive maps applications on your website.

Flex-Spy

2009-06-10T19:34:00.000-05:00

Flex-Spy allows you to inspect and dynamically change most properties and styles of the visual components in your Flex application. You can - for example - try out a specific width or a background color for your component before changing it in your code.

Mahalo Flex

2009-06-04T20:44:00.000-05:00

I am now the proud, but reluctant, owner of the Adobe Flex page at Mahalo.com. I'm not sure if I like that anyone can claim any topic, but I plan to be a good steward of the page. Also, I am willing to hand off ownership of the page to a deserving, Adobe-employed maintainer if asked.

Adobe Forums

2009-06-04T20:42:00.001-05:00

I am now a top contributor on the Adobe Flex Forums. I don't feel too bad tooting my own horn because it's a reward for helping others learn Flex. Besides getting help on the forms, another great way to learn Flex is at Flex After Dark.

ImageMagick Conversion

2009-06-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

One great thing about Linux is that you can find efficient command line tools for just about anything. Currently I've been using ImageMagick's convert command line tool to convert all the pages in a PDF to separate images of just about any format. It's great and takes almost no time.

convert -quality 90 -resize 800x600 -density 300x300 Fxad_DragDrop.pdf Fxad_DragDrop.png

Note, the density parameter is important. Adding "-density 300x300" significantly improved image quality, while adding "-density 600x600" consumed my machine's processor until I killed the process.

Fly

2009-05-25T21:14:00.001-05:00

Fly Framework

Dajax = Django + Ajax

2009-05-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

Dajax is a Ajax library for Django. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but this is my reminder to do so.

Flex After Dark using 960.gs

2009-05-17T21:13:00.000-05:00

The Flex After Dark website has been updated and is now using 960.gs, the CSS framework. I have to admit, at first the idea of a "CSS framework" just sounded kind of ridiculous. But after struggling with semi-complex CSS layouts over a couple of weeks, I started to get it. Overall, I'd recommend looking into a CSS framework, and 960.gs seemed the best simple-to-effective ratio for me.

My Adobe Profiles

2009-05-12T21:04:00.000-05:00

Adobe.com has a single login system, but makes you maintain several profiles for different areas of the site. I've collected them here for no particular reason.

Help Profile:
http://community.adobe.com/help/profile/index.html?id=6BAD62AE4A035821992015C3

Forums Profile:
http://forums.adobe.com/people/BennyBeta

Adobe Groups:
http://groups.adobe.com/people/db90bd70b5

Flash Remoting for Python

2009-05-07T21:26:00.001-05:00

AMFast (Flash Remoting for Python):

AmFast is a Flash remoting framework for Python.
AmFast can use AMF to communicate between Python and Flash, Flex, and any other system that supports AMF.
AMF is a binary object serialization protocol used by Actionscript based applications.

http://code.google.com/p/amfast/

First AppEngine Deployment

2009-05-07T21:23:00.001-05:00

I got my first app up and running Google AppEngine (GAE) this week. Overall the experience was pretty good. The only hangup was that it took a while for the app's indexes to build (over an hour). But after that, everything is humming.

I will do some more lengthy write ups in the future about the application and the experience, but for now I'll summarize:
AppEngine + Django = Nice.

Speaking of Dropbox

2009-05-04T21:32:00.000-05:00

Speaking of Dropbox... you can use it as a host for a static site.
http://andothernoise.blogspot.com/2009/05/using-dropbox-as-host-for-static.html

Get Dropbox

2009-05-03T14:47:00.000-05:00

Dropbox is a free, ridiculously easy service for syncing files across computers. If you use more than one computer regularly (e.g. desktop, laptop, office) it will painlessly keep files in your "dropbox folder" on each system synchronized.

How it works:

Install the executable (it stays in your sys-tray)
Select your "dropbox folder" on your system
Drag files into the folder
Booyah, you're in sync

You can even browse, download, and remove files from the web-based interface. They've done it right.

If you're not already using it, it's definitely worth checking out. Use this referral URL and we both get extra space:
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTczMDMyNzk

Linked In

2009-04-26T20:30:00.001-05:00

My LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bennybeta

Ubuntu 9.04, Django, Google AppEngine

2009-04-26T14:59:00.000-05:00

Today's tasks:

Upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04 (done)
Get Django 1.0 working on Google AppEngine (done)
Work on Feed aggregator for Flex After Dark (in progress)

Ubuntu 9.04 Is Here

2009-04-23T21:15:00.000-05:00

Ubuntu 9.04 is here! I plan to upgrade to Jaunty Jackalope this weekend. Last time I upgraded from 8.04 to 8.10 it took a few hours, but mostly for the downloading. Overall it was an easy and pleasant experience. I'm looking forward to trying out the latest version of Ubuntu and Gnome.

If you're still using Windows... why? Do yourself a favor and try out Ubuntu. You can download it, put it on a CD/DVD and try it without having to install it. You'll thank yourself (and the thousands of developers behind Linux).

Haystack with Whoosh Support

2009-04-20T20:51:00.000-05:00

Haystack is a pure-Python library for adding search to your Django application. It has support for Whoosh as well. I'll be looking into this as a possibility for Flex After Dark's search functionality.

Before Website Launch

2009-04-07T20:30:00.000-05:00

Before you launch your next website, make sure you perform these essential checks and test cross-browser compatibility. Both links courtesy of Smash Magazine, a great resource.

Creole Parser

2009-04-06T21:31:00.001-05:00

I'm using a Python package called CreoleParser extensively on the Flex After Dark website. The package helps with parsing Creole, a wiki markup syntax. It is a truly excellent package in terms of functionality and organization.

I'm on Twitter

2009-03-29T14:49:00.001-05:00

I'm on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bennybeta

Whoosh

2009-03-21T12:13:00.000-05:00

Whoosh is a fast, featureful full-text indexing and searching library implemented in pure Python. I'm currently taking advantage of this awesome package to add search support to Flex After Dark.

The package is especially nice for a couple of reasons:

It's pure Python, so it's easy to setup and use
It's similar to Lucene, which I've used before
It works, and works well, exactly as you'd expect it to (no surprises so far)

Two for Soup

2009-03-12T20:53:00.000-05:00

I read two posts almost back to back pertaining to Beautiful Soup (Python tag parsing) today, so I thought I'd share them together.

First, Beautiful Soup and Python 3.0... http://www.crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup/3.1-problems.html

Second, Beautiful Soup used in a very simple web crawler... http://www.trailbehind.com/trips/view_report/118

Monopoly... Optimal Strategy

2009-03-12T20:49:00.000-05:00

I'm a big fan of board games, including Monopoly. The problem is I can never get anyone to play with me. I guess one reason why is because I find articles like the following interesting: a surefire strategy to winning a game of Monopoly (http://www.amnesta.net/other/monopoly/).

Sudo Humor

2009-03-05T08:47:00.000-06:00

Nerd humor:
http://xkcd.com/149/

Flex After Dark

2009-02-28T14:32:00.000-06:00

I'm currently working on Flex After Dark, a site for learning about Adobe Flex and related technologies. I'm just getting started, so stay tuned for some updates.

Technologies I'm using for the site include: Flex, Python, Django, Ubuntu, and EC2.

Ben Edwards Blog

2009-02-28T14:30:00.000-06:00

This is the blog of Ben Edwards.