Tag Archives: development

Chameleon is now a Kickstarter project. Help make it reality with as little as $1!

  By admin | May 17, 2012 - 12:40 pm | Uncategorized
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Those of you who’ve been watching our website for more than a little while might remember an article from a couple of months back talking about Chameleon. More than just an UX overlay, Teknision’s project looked like something that could really revolutionize the way we interact with our Android-based tablets, making Google’s OS a more personal and “alive” experience.

Back then, Chameleon’s developers said that they were in talks with several Android manufactures interested in integrating the UI into their products, which made us optimistic about the project’s future. However, it seems that the negotiations haven’t come to a happy ending, and the guys at Teknision have decided to take the app’s fate into their own hands.

Chameleon has therefore become a Kickstarter project, meaning that anyone can now financially back Teknision’s app and help it become reality. The next 29 days will be crucial for Chameleon’s future, and, if we all lend a hand to help the project get $50,000 in funding by June 15, the overlay will find its way to Google Play by September.

At the time of this article, there are less than $3,000 raised for the project, but we here at Android Authority are almost positive that the money necessary to fund Chameleon (and then some) will be raised in time. After all, it’s not every day you get the chance to see something that could personalize your tablet interaction at a level so deep that you’ll feel your gadget actually knows your preferences, tastes, and needs.

I’m not going to get into much detail about Chameleon and what makes us so enthusiastic about the app, as my colleague Bogdan has already done that back in March, but take a good look at the pics from this post and the video at the end of the article. Now tell me that isn’t exciting and beautiful, and it’s not something you would like to have on your tablet instead of the basic UI offered by vanilla Android, or Touchwiz or Sense UI!

You can help Chameleon become reality with as little as $1, and each and every donation will be much appreciated. If you pledge $5 for the project, you can get your hands on the app in August, before its expected release on Google Play. A $10, $50, or $1000 pledge will earn you special “prizes”, like a limited edition Chameleon “I’m a Backer” T-shirt or a custom DNA11 Finger Print Portrait.

Finally, if you really want to stamp your mark on the history of Android, you can pledge $5,000 or more for the Chameleon project, and earn all the above prizes, as well as a brand new Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 tablet. Not to mention the gratitude of every Android user that will get to play with Chameleon.

What are you guys waiting for? Go to Kickstarter and have a look!


NEXT: Chameleon Wants to Redefine the Home Screen. Samsung and HTC, Look and Learn
billboard TouchDroid Project Putting Android on HP TouchPad to Go On Despite Hitting Bumps droid-razr-AA Motorola Preparing new Project for the Droid Razr

This article, Chameleon is now a Kickstarter project. Help make it reality with as little as $1! , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


Chameleon is now a Kickstarter project. Help make it reality with as little as $1!

  By admin | May 17, 2012 - 12:40 pm | Uncategorized
Leave a comment

Those of you who’ve been watching our website for more than a little while might remember an article from a couple of months back talking about Chameleon. More than just an UX overlay, Teknision’s project looked like something that could really revolutionize the way we interact with our Android-based tablets, making Google’s OS a more personal and “alive” experience.

Back then, Chameleon’s developers said that they were in talks with several Android manufactures interested in integrating the UI into their products, which made us optimistic about the project’s future. However, it seems that the negotiations haven’t come to a happy ending, and the guys at Teknision have decided to take the app’s fate into their own hands.

Chameleon has therefore become a Kickstarter project, meaning that anyone can now financially back Teknision’s app and help it become reality. The next 29 days will be crucial for Chameleon’s future, and, if we all lend a hand to help the project get $50,000 in funding by June 15, the overlay will find its way to Google Play by September.

At the time of this article, there are less than $3,000 raised for the project, but we here at Android Authority are almost positive that the money necessary to fund Chameleon (and then some) will be raised in time. After all, it’s not every day you get the chance to see something that could personalize your tablet interaction at a level so deep that you’ll feel your gadget actually knows your preferences, tastes, and needs.

I’m not going to get into much detail about Chameleon and what makes us so enthusiastic about the app, as my colleague Bogdan has already done that back in March, but take a good look at the pics from this post and the video at the end of the article. Now tell me that isn’t exciting and beautiful, and it’s not something you would like to have on your tablet instead of the basic UI offered by vanilla Android, or Touchwiz or Sense UI!

You can help Chameleon become reality with as little as $1, and each and every donation will be much appreciated. If you pledge $5 for the project, you can get your hands on the app in August, before its expected release on Google Play. A $10, $50, or $1000 pledge will earn you special “prizes”, like a limited edition Chameleon “I’m a Backer” T-shirt or a custom DNA11 Finger Print Portrait.

Finally, if you really want to stamp your mark on the history of Android, you can pledge $5,000 or more for the Chameleon project, and earn all the above prizes, as well as a brand new Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 tablet. Not to mention the gratitude of every Android user that will get to play with Chameleon.

What are you guys waiting for? Go to Kickstarter and have a look!


NEXT: Chameleon Wants to Redefine the Home Screen. Samsung and HTC, Look and Learn
billboard TouchDroid Project Putting Android on HP TouchPad to Go On Despite Hitting Bumps droid-razr-AA Motorola Preparing new Project for the Droid Razr

This article, Chameleon is now a Kickstarter project. Help make it reality with as little as $1! , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


How to distribute Kickstarter apps: Ask Apple

  By Mike Schramm | May 16, 2012 - 7:45 pm | iOS, iPhone
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Republique is an upcoming iOS title that's made a lot of noise by getting funded on Kickstarter recently, to the tune of half a million dollars, but I've had one nagging question about it: How exactly are they going to distribute the app to all of their backers? The most obvious solution would be to put a password gate inside of an app, but Apple doesn't allow that. If you have to lock content in your app, then you're clearly selling it outside of the App Store, which means you're dodging Apple's 30% cut. So what's their plan? Republique hasn't yet said, only that it's still being decided.

Fortunately, however, here's the answer. The folks behind Zombies, Run! say that all they had to do to distribute an app for Kickstarter backers was ... ask. Apple agreed to let them have two versions of the app on the store -- one just for sale, and another that was free with a password gate in it. There were two limits, however: There had to be at least some content in the password-closed app, so people who just randomly came across it weren't confused. And Apple made the app developers take down any preorders once the app went live, so that Apple didn't lose any sales of its own.

Good to hear that distribution this way is possible -- there are a few other Kickstarter projects that will need to make use of a plan like this when they are released. The key, according to Six to Start, is to get in touch with Apple early, and keep that communication flowing.

How to distribute Kickstarter apps: Ask Apple originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 16 May 2012 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW Bookshelf — The Business of iPhone and iPad Development: Making and Marketing Apps

  By Erica Sadun | May 7, 2012 - 9:00 pm | iPhone
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A recommendation by Chris Forsythe pointed me to Dave Wooldridge and Michael Schneider's book "The Business of iPhone and iPad Development: Making and Marketing Apps" (Apress, 2011).

A practical primer on creating your business plan, the book offers advice on topics diverse as protecting your intellectual property and why testing and usability is crucial for app success.

It's an easy read (admittedly a little choppy in the writing at times) but I found it full of valuable advice, especially for anyone who is thinking about entering the App Store ecosystem but hasn't jumped in yet.

You'll find coverage about competitive research and being realistic about what it takes to succeed in App Store. From pricing your app (free or not), monetizing free apps (iAds and other in-app opportunities), to Freemium models (leveraging in-app purchase), a large part of the book centers on understanding how to sell. A final series of chapters covers marketing issues, like creating pre-release buzz and press releases.

If I have any criticism, it's that the authors sometimes went a little too technical (there's actual code in the book and their intro recommends a programming background) for a general business text. The advice here is perfectly valid for people hiring tech personnel, not just one-man dev shops. There's also a bunch of lists that seem to be there to increase the page count rather than offer a practical value to the reader and the ebook table of contents was set up in an odd way (you have to click on page numbers, not section names). Those are minor quibbles.

I wish the authors had spent more time on the strength of the book (creating a business plan) and less on technical implementation details. That said, there's plenty of good, solid advice and you should not be scared away from purchasing this title if you're not a programmer.

[Full disclosure: Steve Sande and I are writing Pitch Perfect, which talks about how to pitch your app for reviews and has some (but not much) topic overlap with this book.]

TUAW Bookshelf -- The Business of iPhone and iPad Development: Making and Marketing Apps originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 07 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ParanoidAndroid ROM review – Galaxy Nexus gets tablified [Video]

  By admin | May 3, 2012 - 6:25 am | Galaxy Nexus
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Lucky Samsung Galaxy Nexus owners have plenty of screen real estate to work with. With a whopping 1280×720 resolution, and a sharp 316 pixels per inch (PPI), it’s a wonder that Samsung didn’t take bit more advantage of the phone’s specs. Regardless, being the Google phone has its perks, as developer “drcmda” has constructed a ROM that, with a simple flash, turns your Galaxy Nexus into a tablet/phone hybrid.

About the ROM

“This is NOT just tablet mode”, the developer says, “This is an ongoing developer project to make way for a modification that will entirely transform your device, but retain the aesthetics and the experience of your phone.” That’s right! When running the ParanoidAndroid ROM you will be working with a 4.65” tablet. That means apps, menus, and UI are all in tablet format. Even native apps such as the dialer have been optimized to bear their respective tablet style look. This ROM basically tricks your phone into thinking it’s a tablet!

Features 

  • Cyanogenmod 9 source code
  • Re-written Trebuchet launcher for tablet mode
  • Butter-smooth performance.
  • 100% functional android standard keyboard
  • Custom Boot animation
  • Fully functional Google Apps package
  • Available for the GSM and CDMA Galaxy Nexus.

Installation is as simple as flashing any other ROM in ClockworkMod recovery just wipe your data, cache, and dalvick cache before flashing. This ROM means business, but you can easily flash another ROM if you happen to not like your hybrid setup.

Video

So, if you’re looking to soak up some of that delicious screen space on your Galaxy Nexus, why not turn it into a mini-tablet with the ParanoidAndroid ROM? Let us know your thoughts! Butter smooth people, and bacon tasty!


NEXT: Galaxy Nexus Extended Battery DOES Fit In Otterbox Cases (Video)
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This article, ParanoidAndroid ROM review – Galaxy Nexus gets tablified [Video] , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


Early iOS free-to-play title Eliminate shutting down this month

  By Mike Schramm | May 2, 2012 - 5:00 am | Uncategorized
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Here's a weird signpost for iOS gaming. Eliminate was one of the first big free-to-play titles on iOS: It was a core title for Ngmoco when first announced a few weeks after in-app purchases were allowed and helped pave the way to the current freemium-as-standard situation on Apple's App Store. But that part of history is coming to an end, as Ngmoco has announced that Eliminate's servers are being turned off for good.

The app is already gone from the App Store, and an in-game message says that the game's servers are going offline on May 25. That means after that, not only will players no longer be able to play the game, but any money or time put into the title will be gone for good. That's a shame for Eliminate fans, though it's unclear just how many of those there still are. And it means you can go ahead and put another mark on the timeline for iOS gaming: A freemium app that helped kick off the platform to begin with has reached the end of its lifetime.

Early iOS free-to-play title Eliminate shutting down this month originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Deepworld launches Kickstarter project to help fund a Mac beta

  By Mike Schramm | April 23, 2012 - 2:00 pm | iOS
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When I first met the guys making Deepworld, a 2D sandbox-style building game similar to Minecraft, at GDC in March, I told them that the project would be bigger than they thought. They do have extensive experience developing software and servers, but running a game this big requires a significant investment. It looks like they now agree. The game has spawned a Kickstarter project to try and raise some early funds for servers and development.

The group is offering several prizes to supporters, including your own personal servers and worlds, art books and other swag, plus the possibility of getting your own items, name, or even pictures in the game itself. The goal is US$20,000, overall, and as of this writing, the guys have raised about $4,000. They say they want to take the project full-time, and this money will help them do that.

I definitely wish them well. Deepworld looks good, and as I said when I first saw it, the Mac (and iOS) would benefit from a game like this.

Deepworld launches Kickstarter project to help fund a Mac beta originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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techBASIC 2.0 brings sensor data collection, analysis and visualization to iOS

  By Steven Sande | April 18, 2012 - 8:00 pm | iOS
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Image

Scientists and hobbyists who want to use their iOS devices as tricorders now have a new tool to help them to bring that dream to life. Byte Works has released version 2.0 of techBASIC, a US$14.99 scientific and educational programming environment for iOS that can be used to pull in data from internal (accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyroscope) and external sensors.

In case the name Byte Works sounds familiar to some of you, the company has been around for a long time. Mike and Patty Westerfield started the company in the early 1980s, developing the ORCA computer languages for the 8-bit Apple II. ORCA/M became the standard development system for the Apple IIGS under the names Cortland Programmer's Workshop (CPW) and Apple Programmer's Workshop (APW). techBASIC has its roots in another Byte Works product, GSoft Basic for the Apple IIGS.

techBASIC 2.0 is a universal app, so any program you develop on your iPhone can easily be run on your iPad or vice-versa. Launching the app on the iPhone displays a list of included example programs -- the source code for these programs is a nice place to pick up some tips on how to access and use readings from the sensors built into iOS devices. The iPad version shows the list of programs and also provides a window showing the graphical output of your programming efforts.

Gallery: techBASIC 2.0

Of course, you cannot create apps for sale in the app store with techBASIC. However, you can send your code to others through email. I'd personally like to see techBASIC work with Dropbox or iCloud for storing self-created apps online for backup and sharing.

A tap on any one of the program names displays its source code. The example programs are not only useful, but well-commented for educational purposes. In both the iPhone and iPad flavors, techBASIC includes buttons to display the source code, show a console, see graphics being generated by your program, etc... If you need to, it's possible to step through a program to see how it works or to debug an issue.

The documentation for techBASIC is available online, consisting of a reference manual and individual Quick Start guides for iPhone and iPad. There's also a built-in help system with full details of statements, functions, events, graphics classes, GUI classes, sensor classes, and system classes.

Perhaps one of the coolest features of techBASIC 2.0 is the ability to tap into the sensors of your favorite iOS devices. The language provides a way to tap into the accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyroscope, and also to grab your current latitude-longitude, altitude, and more. There's a separate sensor class for the HiJack hardware, a University of Michigan project to add small sensor packages to iOS devices. The techBASIC blog features an example app showing how to grab readings from a HiJack-connected potentiometer. The potential here is huge -- imagine being able to connect HiJack to a thermocouple to grab a temperature log through techBASIC, or to an anemometer to measure and track wind velocity on an iPad or iPhone.

One of the reviewers listed on the Byte Works website notes that she feels that techBASIC is a "mini-MATLAB in my pocket." I have to agree. While techBASIC isn't nearly as high-powered as MATLAB, it's more amenable and affordable to those who want a lot of the same capabilities to analyze and visualize data.

I won't go into a huge, detailed description of the techBASIC language here, since the documentation is readily available. But I will say that this is an excellent development environment for researchers or anyone with an iOS device who enjoys tinkering with hardware. For students, techBASIC is an inexpensive way to learn about programming. Be sure to check out the gallery to see screenshots from both the iPhone and iPad, and watch the video below for a look at techBASIC in action.

techBASIC 2.0 brings sensor data collection, analysis and visualization to iOS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interview with Inglorious Apps, a webOS to iOS developer switcher

  By Kelly Hodgkins | April 10, 2012 - 8:30 pm | iOS, iPad, iPhone
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Inglorious Apps is well-known in the webOS world for its work on Notes, Voice and Glimpse, a multi-tasking app for the Touchpad that lets you divide up the screen and use several different widgets at the same time. Now that webOS is on the decline, the talented development company has ported its apps to iOS and Android using Enyo. Enyo is a multi-platform development tool created by HP/Palm that lets webOS developers write an app for webOS and then port it to the iPhone, iPad or Android devices.

After a few months of diligent coding, Inglorious Apps ported two apps from webOS to iOS. Dock is a stylish screensaver app that displays information like your RSS feed, Twitter feed, headline news and more. Panes is an iPad app that tries to simulate Glimpse for the Touchpad. The first version of Panes, which was a straight port from the webOS app, was rejected because Apple's developer agreement doesn't allow apps that use widgets. A modified version of the app is available, but it's a work-in-progress as Inglorious Apps codes around this restriction.

We took some time to talk to the developer behind Inglorious Apps (who preferred to remain unnamed) about his experience with iOS development and what he thought about the switch from webOS to iOS. You can read our questions and his answers below.

Do you develop full time or is this something you do as a secondary career?

I develop apps part-time. Mostly during my spare time, when I get off my (real) day-time job.

How many hours a week are spent on development, debugging, updates, and customer service?

I spend roughly between 25-30hrs/week total.

You are well-known in the webOS community for your work on Glimpse; were you able to reuse any webOS code to create your Panes or Dock app? Or are they new programs created from scratch?

Yes, Dock and Panes are a direct port from webOS. I re-used a lot of my code. I only had to make a few changes to things that were "webOS-specific."

Where you reused existing code, how long did it take you to port the code for iOS?

It took about 10 minutes to port over to iOS (and Android). It then took about 2 months to make everything work as intended.

What's the major difference you've found between programming for a webOS device versus the iPhone/iPad?

The major difference is in multi-tasking. in webOS, an app stays open forever as long as the 'card' is open. This removes the burden of multitasking from the developer. iOS, on the other hand, multi-tasks differently. So you as the developer have to put a little extra thought/effort into how your app should operate.

What was the biggest hurdle you encountered when you created your iOS Apps using Enyo?

Since I wasn't quite proficient in Objective-C, the biggest hurdle was having to implement a few "webOS specific" features using Objective-C. So, making the apps (Dock & Panes) wasn't quite as simple as copying/pasting my old code.

How is Enyo as a tool for writing iOS apps? Can you easily write code that adheres to Apple's standards? Can you debug effectively without always testing on an iOS device?

I found Enyo to be quite useful. Enyo is a Javascript framework that emphasizes modularity. I think of it as a making an app with Lego blocks. You can make fairly simple to fairly complex apps (like Panes) using Enyo. There's also no problems adhering to Apple's standards. Debugging is very easy. Apps written with Enyo can actually work in Webkit browsers [like Safari or Chrome]. Actually, I do a lot of my quick tests in the Safari browser. Though, it's always nice to test on an actual device, just so there are no surprises.

After reading this article, users will know that your app is written using Enyo. Is there any performance difference between your app and an app that's originally written in native code?

Actually, my app is sort of a hybrid combo of native/non-native. I'm accomplishing a few things (e.g. the web widget in Panes) using native C code. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what "native" means anymore. I think that line is blurred. Sure, depending on the complexity of the app (or task), you may notice slight performance issues. But overall, I do think the average user won't be able to tell "native" vs. "non-native," so I don't think app performance should/would be a source of concern.

How thorough is the Enyo programming environment, especially when it comes to graphics or data stores which may be handled differently on webOS? Do you have to tweak things on the iOS side?

Enyo is quite thorough. The only tweak I had to make was updating graphics (i.e. doubling their sizes) for Retina display.

Are you concerned that HP will stop working on Enyo and won't update it to support new versions of iOS? Do you have a contingency plan if Enyo is abandoned?

So far, HP has shown signs of dedication to Enyo. They're currently working on a more cross-platform friendly version (i.e. Enyo 2), and things are looking optimistic. I'm not too worried about possible abandonment, since Enyo is open-sourced. So, I don't have to sit around and wait for HP to make updates, I can just go in and fiddle around with the code. So no, I don't really have any 'contingency' plans. I'm just hopeful the open-source community will sustain it.

Do you have any advice for other webOS developers looking to write apps for iOS?

I'd advise webOS developers to actually use iOS before trying to develop for it. Coming from the webOS world, the UI paradigm is quite different. I think the most effective way to develop for any platform is to be an actual user of that platform.

Interview with Inglorious Apps, a webOS to iOS developer switcher originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NEC creates amazingly thin Organic Radical Battery

  By admin | April 4, 2012 - 1:56 pm | Uncategorized
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It’s not every day that I get overly excited about a new breakthrough in technology, a so-called “innovation” or a “revolutionary achievement”. Over the years, I have seen many things that didn’t blow me off my feet, but today I have to bow in front of NEC.

The Japanese-based multinational IT company is currently working on an ultra thin (no, scratch that, rather super-ultra-extra thin) “Organic Radical Battery” and, after taking a look at some of the latest photos released by NEC, I must say that, for the first time in a while, I am truly amazed!

The organic radical battery (ORB) technology has been in the works for a while (at least three years now, according to some sources), and won’t be finished until 2013, but trust me, this is something to wait for and something that really deserves the wait.

A 0.012 inch flexible battery made from organic materials? Indeed!

The ORB’s latest iteration is just 0.3 mm (0.012 inch) thick, is flexible and is designed to fit into integrated circuit cards, used for public transport payment or credit cards. Even though the battery is literally as thin as a sheet of paper, it has a 3 mAh capacity, which, for instance, would allow a small screen (the guys at NEC didn’t give any details on the screen’s exact size, so I would guess smaller than a smartphones’s) to be refreshed two thousand times.

The new Organic Radical Battery is made using printing technologies, to integrate circuit boards with batteries and enable negative electrodes to be directly formed on the circuit boards. I’m not sure exactly what that works, as I wasn’t exactly the science geek back in high school, but I think I can safely assume that this too is an innovative technology in its own.

Aside from being capable of “2,000 display screen updates”, the new ORBs should supposedly maintain 75 percent of their charge-discharge capacity after 500 cycles, which is equally better, if not better, than the performance of today’s lithium-ion batteries used in mobile phones.

What NEC plans to do with this technology once it’s finished is still unclear, but a couple of their ideas already sound pretty exciting. According to NEC’s claims, the battery could be printed directly onto an IC (integrated circuit) card during the manufacturing process. Future IC cards could feature teeny weenie displays to show remaining credit balance for credit cards, data transmission capabilities, or enhanced security apps.

I’m not going to comment very much on this innovation, because, honestly, it kind of surpasses my powers of understanding. I just want to say that in today’s technology market, where we so often witness allegations of intellectual theft or copyright infringements, it’s refreshing to see companies like NEC that invent and innovate for a change. Bravo, guys, and keep up the good work!


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This article, NEC creates amazingly thin Organic Radical Battery , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.