Android Device Information

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.

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

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

Android and SQLite Tip

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...

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

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).

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

• http://arthurkoziel.com/2008/10/22/working-virtualenv/
• http://www.b-list.org/weblog/2008/dec/15/pip/
• http://www.saltycrane.com/blog/2009/05/notes-using-pip-and-virtualenv-django/
• http://clemesha.org/blog/2009/jul/05/modern-python-hacker-tools-virtualenv-fabric-pip/

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

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

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:

1. Select the Install Ubuntu item (don't press Enter yet)
2. Press F6 and select (X) the apic=off option
3. Press F4 and type nomodeset as input
4. 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:

• http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/910
• https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/395932

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:

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

Then you should be good to go.

Delicious

I finally created a Delicious account.

http://delicious.com/ben_edwards

Chrome Browser is Fast

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

Google Phone

I am looking forward to the Google Phone.

RedbirdApps.com

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

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

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.