Database Develop

[APP] XBMC Remote7 - An Xbox Media Center browser and remote for WP7

Hi All,
First time posting here, I've been developing an Xbox Media Center remote for Windows Phone 7 as A) It's fun and B) The other available ones are crap.
My app is called XBMC Remote7 and I'm about ready to submit it to the market place, I was wondering if there's anyone around that uses Xbox Media Center and has a WP7 phone (Developer or otherwise unlocked) that would be keen to give my app a go and give me some feedback?
You can browse your media libraries and control Xbox Media Center via a virtual remote.

I have both. are you on gpforums as well?
my device is not developer unlocked so will need to download it from the marketplace.

More pictures (I can't link to external image sites yet )

And that's all the pics
@powersquad Hey yeah I'm a member on GP. Hopefully this will be on the marketplace within a few weeks

cool. can you please update this thread when it's in the marketplace. I use WMC on 360 a lot and have a samsung focus. will provide feedback every now and then.

Does will have a free version?

orb3000 said:
Does will have a free version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There will be a free trial version that limits the amount of media items you can view. Everything will work the same as the full version you just won't get all your movies and music etc. in the lists.

Ok that sounds good, if you post a download link I can write an article on our portal
let me know

Here's the free trial version if anyones interested - mediafire.com/?89eda202b9fe9fz
You need Xbox Media Center 10.0 or newer and must have the web interface enabled in the settings menu.
Would love some feed back!

Here attached as well, thanks!

Going to give those a go and I'll report back ... Looks pretty decent from the screen shots though.

Aaron McCarthy said:
Going to give those a go and I'll report back ... Looks pretty decent from the screen shots though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you get on?

Can you please check the stick for this sections guidelines and edit your OP accordingly?
~~Tito~~

Thanks to some awesome feedback from williammel I've been ironing out bugs and tightening the UI.
Will post up a new build soon and really looking to get this on the market place within a few weeks.
Any feedback is appreciated

It's named 'XBMC Media Center'

Looks really nice! Would give it a try, but I have no unlocked device! So I will wait till its in Marketplace!
btw, hope your app will not spy the phone/owner identity like the other remote apps

I'm not able to test the app, but I'm using the XBMC remote for iOS. And I would love to see some kind of listview for the movie library. It takes to long to scroll through pictures and descriptions of every movie, if you have a bigger library.

Sure thing good idea The long list selector makes this less of a problem on WP7 but it can still be an issue on larger libraries.
The first release will essentially look the same as the screenshots in the first post, but I've already started working on extra "skins" that can be changed by the user that completely alter the look and feel. I'll put in a large library/minimalist skin

dstruktiv said:
Sure thing good idea The long list selector makes this less of a problem on WP7 but it can still be an issue on larger libraries.
The first release will essentially look the same as the screenshots in the first post, but I've already started working on extra "skins" that can be changed by the user that completely alter the look and feel. I'll put in a large library/minimalist skin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you mentioned it.. I'd like to see a way to switch from Banner/Poster mode in the app. Basically, when you are caching the image, perform some sort of guess based on the LxW of the image, and determine if it's a banner or poster. And then display it accordingly.
The other XBMC app I have made me switch to banners. Now yours is making me switch to posters. It would be an awesome feature to support both.

I have four XBMC devices in this house and a HD7 that is developer unlocked and running nodo update.

Looking for beta testers for new Honeycomb App - What to Watch on Netflix

***** Updated June 3, 2011 *****
Thanks again to everyone who helped with the beta testing. Just wanted you to know that I just posted version 1 to the Android Market. It's free and you can get it here:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.greggreno.whattowatch
-Gregg
***** Updated May 5, 2011 *****
Uploaded a new version to the same location. Here are the changes:
- Improved the scrolling position after adding more titles to the bottom, but still not perfect
- Fix bug leaving the Netflix registration window open
- Set maximum title list retrieval to 50 at a time
- Fixed bug with extra Edit Search Criteria icon showing in apps list
- Fixed size and look of loading images
- Added ability to turn off ads by buying an unlocker from the Android market
Netflix still hasn't fixed their problems with TV series and getting the data right in their API
***************************
Hi all. I've been working on a new Honeycomb only app called What To Watch, and I'm looking for some beta testers. Anyone interested in helping out?
I wanted a better way to browse for Netflix movies and also manage my queues. For example, I wanted to do something like "show me all Sci Fi movies available on Instant with a 3 star rating or higher, rated PG-13 or R, sorted by release date". I couldn't find any other web site or app to do this, so I figured I would build it myself.
There are 3 main sections:
1) My Searches - this is where you can create your own searches and save them for later. I create two to start with. Click on one and it will display the list in the panel on the right, 25 at a time. Once you click on one of the My Seaches items, you can edit it by long pressing it or clicking the Edit button at the top. Note that this uses a beta API from Netflix called OData. It's the only API that lets you do sophisticated searches like this, but unfortunately it is subject to change from Netflix and it may not always be current with the main Netflix library.
2) Netflix Queues - what you would expect. For example, what is in your DVD and Instant queues.
3) Top Lists - this comes from the Netflix web site rather than the API. It shows what the top titles are for each category. This method won't show the star ratings until you drill into a particular title.
You can download the apk here (note this is case sensitive):
http://jigawattlabs.com/temp/WhatToWatch.apk
Known issues:
This is the first release. Should probably call it an Alpha!
Authenticating with Netflix isn't quite right yet. You may wind up with the web browser still open after exiting the app, and you may get another instance of the app. But just exit everything and it should be ok
There is a bug with the Netflix API with TV series and specials. This is a problem on their end, so you might get some unexpected results when browsing TV shows
I would appreciate any and all comments in terms of general UI impressions, bugs, performance, usability.
You can reach me directly at [email protected].
Thanks!
-Gregg Reno

I just tried it out, seems to work great. I just wish there was a way to actually watch Netflix on my zoom

Thanks for trying it out. I'd love to be able to watch netflix movies as well, and I think we will see that at some point. Hopefully once Netflix makes that possible, I can integrate that into the app.
I'm also going to implement a friends feature, where you can mark your favorite movies and share it with friends, and see what their favorites are.
Comments from other folks are welcome!

My first impression of the app is that it has some shared elements with amazon's web page, which is great. But the reason I say first impression is that it isn't registering with netflix.
Sent from my Xoom the way it should be, rooted and with SD card.

chbennett - thanks for testing. Can you give me some more info on the problem you had registering? When clicking almost anything it should prompt you to register. If you say ok, it should take you to a Netflix web page. You may have to log in and then it should prompt you to give permission to the What To Watch application. If you approve,it should take you back to the app and you should be able to run any of the searches on the left.
Where did you run into problems?

I installed it on my XOOM. Log in into Netflix without any problems. Searching also good, but could be good to add additional information about movie like Availability (for some of it shows when it will be available in stream).
It's a pity that we still missing Hulu or Netflix apps on our XOOM. Get used to watch it on my iPad(

greno1 said:
chbennett - thanks for testing. Can you give me some more info on the problem you had registering? When clicking almost anything it should prompt you to register. If you say ok, it should take you to a Netflix web page. You may have to log in and then it should prompt you to give permission to the What To Watch application. If you approve,it should take you back to the app and you should be able to run any of the searches on the left.
Where did you run into problems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically all it did for me (ill try it again) was stall out on the "registering with netflix" in app pop up, going no further.
Edit: still doesn't work
Sent from my Xoom the way it should be, rooted and with SD card.

Great app! Forcecloses when I click on New Instant Choices under Top Lists category
Also when going into the Instant Que list; I click one of the movies and it takes me to the description. I can also click on Similar, Drop from Instant or Add to Disc. If I choose Drop from Instant and click the back arrow it still shows in the Instant Que listing. Can we have the option of clicking the Instant Que button on the top left corner in the movie description to go back to the Instant Que listing and if we do happen to press the back arrow could the Instant Que listing automatically update with the removal of the movie?

Kozdoba - I will be adding additional information like directors and awards, but I'll also look at adding availability. Do you have an example title in mind I can test with?
bishop72 - thanks for finding the problem with the New Instant choices. I'll look at that one, but it may be because that's a really big list and I'm not handling it correctly. Also, good idea about removing titles from the instant titles if you click the remove from instant button. But the problem with that for me is if I remove it from the list, it should probably close that title window because it's no longer in the instant queue. Maybe someone hit the remove button by mistake and they want to re-add it?
Also I notice that there is some type of caching going on with the adding and removing from queues. When you add or remove, it does that action and then sends another request to netflix to get the current status. But it may not register that quickly. So you may hit remove from instant, and then I get back a status from Netflix saying it's still in the instant queue. If you click it again, it shows up ok.
I appreciate the feedback - good or bad!

greno1 said:
Kozdoba - I will be adding additional information like directors and awards, but I'll also look at adding availability. Do you have an example title in mind I can test with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look this series soon will be available online.
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Death_Note/70081003?trkid=2361637

downloaded the apk to nook but just got a parse error failed to load. I really love my netflix and was looking forward to tablet style look on nc.

The app installed fine, the Netflix login auth worked fine as well. The fit & finish look good as well. Some of the images and searches render a bit slow, but that could be my wifi. I will play with it more through the day and report back.

I believe i heard that Netflix was going to do a live stream with Netflix only productions, so a Top List of Netflix Original or something would be good.

Everyone - thanks for testing and for the comments. I really appreciate it! It's interesting it worked for some but didn't work for dbolton. Not sure why that is.
dbolton - can you post a screen shot of your error, or email it to me at [email protected]? I also took a few screen shots so you can see what it should look like:
http://jigawattlabs.com/w2w/screen1.png
http://jigawattlabs.com/w2w/screen2.png
kiteOregon - once Netflix posts a list of their own content in some type of list, I'll definitely look at adding that. For the Top Lists section, I'm just using the Netflix RSS feeds linked from the bottom of the page. Modified it somewhat to return no more that 50 at a time though since it would load too slow.
Thanks again!
-Gregg

Thus far all is working well. I really like the interface too, great job!
I am going to keep tinkering with it and let you know if I run into any issues or have any suggestions.
Thanks for the great app!

chbennett said:
Basically all it did for me (ill try it again) was stall out on the "registering with netflix" in app pop up, going no further.
Edit: still doesn't work
Sent from my Xoom the way it should be, rooted and with SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I heard that Netflix was having problems with authorization from 3rd party apps. As a work around the suggest launching your browser and log into Netflix. Leave the browser running, and then launch the app and try to register again. Can you let me know if that works?
-Gregg

garyh2 said:
Thus far all is working well. I really like the interface too, great job!
I am going to keep tinkering with it and let you know if I run into any issues or have any suggestions.
Thanks for the great app!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Working to add more features.

somehow I now have a 'edit search criteria' icon (same as main apps icon) in my app drawer as if it were a separate app.

My initial reaction is very positive, but I have the same issue as garyh2. When I tell it to uninstall, I am informed that it is part of the main application so obviously I left it there. This is a weird bug though...
The only other thing I noticed is that the placeholder icons that appear before titles and images populate are slightly larger than the images and titles that replace them. This doesn't really cause problems but is slightly distracting.
I really like the power search function and the ability to save searches and haven't really seen this functionality elsewhere. Good job!

Thanks garyh2 and vidriera - ill take a look at that. The edit screen is a separate activity rather than a fragment, which is probably its somehow getting its own icon. Just one of the differences with honeycomb I need to figure out.
Also good point about the loading graphic. I'll fix that too.

[Q] Linux like workspace switcher/screen splitter

I wanted to know since the tab has a screen that is 3x as big as a Galaxy S (3 phones put side by side on the tab) is there an app or a home launcher or something that will allow me to have multiple things running on different screens.
For example, I need to take information from one document and organize with another and I can easily switch between them on Windows and Linux.
I then need to tag along to other places and want to continue to edit both documents on my tab, I have to keep opening one document then remember a sentence or piece of information for a second and close that document and open the second one to continue typing it up.
It is a real hassle and very time consuming and frustrating. Our tabs are pretty big and I would like to utilize it to the fullest of its capabilities as a tablet/big smartphone.
What my suggestion is if anyone feels like making an app that I can do just this and more on my tab, they couod design an app that works like the home screen.
For instance you open a document, email, or webpage and want to look at another document or note you made for yourself or another email. All you do is swipe to the left or right and it is a clear home screen or something to that effect or maybe a list of documents, notes, emails, webpages you can open. You then choose/open what you need and can continue with the first page having the second one open for reference or whatever the case may be.
You can then easily switch between the 2 or however many pages you have opened just by swiping the screen just like you would your homescreen.
If someone knows of such an app or had the resources to make one please let me know.
Also this would make for a great multi-tasking app if made correctly.

What might be an issue here is that most programs themselves are going to detect the loss of focus and handle things. Either saving/reverting to front screen/closing down completely, or leaving things up and running.
I can see what you're after, more a 'cards' type thing, and it might be possible, but you'd have to override what the OS is sending to the apps (don't send the lose focus thing), or get the apps to handle things differently.
Either going to be impossible, or trivial. And even if it was possible to be hacked, apps are going to be assuming their running and might use more power. The way it works at the moment is to assume you're being shut down, and handle that gracefully so you're using minimal resources on a phone.

If one were to change how android handles the multi-tasking, would this sort of app be possible?
Another question is, are there any document editors that can do something like this?
I have an iPod Touch and an app named iFile, and it has multi-window type thing that I am describing where I can open many pages and view many documents at a time.
That's the main thing I want it for, editing documents without having to open and close constantly.

I was thinking of this the other day. This would be something you'd have to build into a ROM. It'd be a nice mod, and since Android already takes screenshots for the recent apps bar, it wouldn't be too hard to implement once the source is released. My thought is it would be a four or five finger gesture left or right. It could possibly zoom out similar to how the screens zoom when you drag an icon on the launcher so that the other tasks could be visible at the same time. The normal activity lifecycle would continue as usual (i.e. onPause() would be called as soon as the gesture starts, and onStop() once the activity is off the screen). A screenshot would be used in place of the actual Activity until the gesture is over (meaning the Activity has "snapped" into place).

Eink [NST] Optimizations (Apps, launchers, SetCPU...)

So there are a few threads of apps that plain work on the NST, but I want apps that are optimized (i.e. black and white/no animations/useable). Below are my findings.
Battery drain
First off, let's say you've rooted and installed some basics gapps. I found that some things seems to cause some pretty fierce battery drain (I remember on my G1 that calendar sync was buggy, resulting in constant syncing attempts and bad battery drain). Now this is on a per-user basis, but I basically removed everything but the core gapps files and gmail. Here's a list of stuff you can "safely" remove (remember, ALWAYS backup).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Launchers
I've tried them all, but the ADW with the minimalistic black theme is the best IMO. You can make the background white of the app drawer, remove all but one page, and turn off everything that moves (I set all the options to max/0 to ensure that I do not see any animations of any sort).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Navigation
So depending on how you achieved root, you may or may not have button savior installed. I didn't want extra stuff cluttering up my screen, so I removed it. For those of you who want a high contrast eink button savior, you've got it here. Buy the pro and support the dev. If you want to use the hardware buttons, you have to get this (which you may already have if you have rooted via Nooter).
I set the top left button as back, top right as menu, bottom left as pagedown, and bottom right as pageup. The page up and page down are from the normal left side, so they appear as LEFT_PAGEDOWN and LEFT_PAGERIGHT. I also disabled the BN menu when you press the N and made it just go to ADW.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apps
Sorry to disappoint, but since I want to get rid of as many distractions as possible, I only have a few:
Android PDF Reader: Has optimizations for eink devices, is quick to redraw, and page up and down work.
Sparse RSS: I've been working with the dev and have gotten page up/down to work. I have a dev build if interested, but I'm sure he'll publish an update soon with it working on the market (1.3.1 does not work, but the next version should have the fix).
Some of the other random eink optimized apps floating around the Apps section here.
SetCPU: Allows for changing the governor and you can underclock if you wish. I have to 600 MHz, and it's fine for reading. I setup the scale up preference to 80, and the Powersaving Bias to 300. Feel free to look up and mess around with these...it's pretty safe.
Coolreader: Has some nice eink optimized settings (can change how the page is partially refreshed/how often/etc. You can also set it as the main reader app in the NookSimple Tools apps, so when you click the book in the top left if opens Coolreader. The standard BN library and reader aren't bad, though (except for PDFs that are not meant for reflow, like tech. documents).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Hi,
Here is a NST optimized (and slightly customized) version I did for Simon Tatham's Puzzles Collection (including source).
github.com/marspeople/sgtpuzzles/downloads
ace7196, could you post the "page up/down" patch for Sparse RSS? Also, I've noticed a interface bug (also present in NewsRob) when you go back to the article list, it loses which list position it was previously, that is pretty annoying.

Here's the latest release dev build of Sparse RSS.
I know the left side buttons for page up/down are mapped, not sure if he mapped the right side equivalent as well.
Also, I've noticed on a few rss readers (as mentioned above) that once you touch the screen and make is scroll, the titles of the articles change, but not that content. I only plan on using the hard keys, so now that I have an RSS reader that works with that...

What is the checkbox under Feed URL when you're adding a feed? Other than that, seems to work great!

Tired_ said:
What is the checkbox under Feed URL when you're adding a feed? Other than that, seems to work great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure....try checking it

ace7196 said:
Not sure....try checking it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Installed it on my phone, turns out it's "Only Sync over Wifi". Kind of a useless setting for us Nookies, but it's good to know I guess.

Sparse RSS is really great though the right buttons are not mapped.
Also, is there a way to remove the "Goto link" bar at the bottom of each page?
It blocks the last line of text on every page. It is also kind of distracting and I will never need to go to the full page or use the onscreen touch buttons since the buttons are mapped

Got email from the author that right button support will be added, and will be published this week (will let you know when).

Latest Sparse RSS Reader with left and right button support:
http://code.google.com/p/sparserss/downloads/list

Launcher
too add...
I'm finding Relaunch as optimized launcher.
I'm happy with it, give it a spin.
(well you might need to spend some time in enabling adb to install non market apps)
I've attached the screens (not screenshots taken in nook, but a pic by phone)
the home, app list and the settings

marspeople said:
Here is a NST optimized (and slightly customized) version I did for Simon Tatham's Puzzles Collection (including source).
github.com/marspeople/sgtpuzzles/downloads
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone happen to have an APK kicking around for this eink optimized version of Simon Tatham's Puzzle Collection that MarsPeople made so long ago? I've been using the regular version for years and just ignoring about half the puzzles since they require color. It would be great to have an eink version.
I contacted the author, but he doesn't have an APK anymore. He did point me to his other GitHub, which is still up and has his modified forkof the source, but no APK. I don't have any environment for building Android apps and I don't relish trying to set one up for Eclaire.
https://github.com/marcelogp/sgtpuzzles

is this a keylogger or other spyware?

Noticing that sometimes my screen doesn't respond on the homepage but if i hit home it looks like an overlay shrinks down to bottom of screen and ibsee the home screen again, then it works. Recent change, no new apps installed. Malwarebytes says no suspicious packages.
Noticing same thibg w fingerprint reader too. Doesn't wotk. Close app, reopen and now works.
Almost like something sitting on top of the android interface.

tomplatz said:
Noticing that sometimes my screen doesn't respond on the homepage but if i hit home it looks like an overlay shrinks down to bottom of screen and ibsee the home screen again, then it works. Recent change, no new apps installed. Malwarebytes says no suspicious packages.
Noticing same thibg w fingerprint reader too. Doesn't wotk. Close app, reopen and now works.
Almost like something sitting on top of the android interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hard to imagine without a visual...Are you on stock firmware or a custom rom? Any mods installed?

Screenshot, please.

Thx guys. Cant screenshot b/c nothing works except home button.
Stock not rooted at&t

Do you have a friend with a phone camera?

I'd take your device to either a Samsung Service Center or back to the retailer for a replacement unit if possible. As there is a chance that you were sold a faulty unit.

tomplatz said:
Thx guys. Cant screenshot b/c nothing works except home button.
Stock not rooted at&t
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you get into recovery or download mode? I would try a factory reset or flash stock firmware with Odin to rule out firmware/software issues first.

Check which apps have permission to draw over the screen, also try see if it happens in safe mode.

Thanks, where do i check that? Under app permissions there is no draw over screen

3dots-Special access-Apps that can appear on top

Well, are there other options for defining a keylogger or not? I am almost sure that a huge number of manufacturers initially integrates various keyloggers into their programs, especially for software manufacturers under MAC. No wonder, but sometimes it’s really worth it, only if you use this application exactly as you should. In any case, I don’t think it’s a toy, it’s illegal, the main thing is to coordinate it, like this application https://www.refog.com/, it’s convenient because you install it yourself and are responsible for it.

Treitors said:
Well, are there other options for defining a keylogger or not? I am almost sure that a huge number of manufacturers initially integrates various keyloggers into their programs, especially for software manufacturers under MAC. No wonder, but sometimes it’s really worth it, only if you use this application exactly as you should. In any case, I don’t think it’s a toy, it’s illegal, the main thing is to coordinate it, like this application https://www.refog.com/, it’s convenient because you install it yourself and are responsible for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No one really has an idea. For all you know, all the custom ROM developers in XDA could be inserting keyloggers into the ROMs and no one would notice. Normally such keyloggers are required to be enable in 'Accessibility' in Settings; however most developers here could easily integrate it into the system and name it to be something less malicious. i.e. "qualcommaptlog", "Audiolog".
I'm just blindly making accusations. But I expect that this topic should be discussed widely among developers.
If my comment here gets deleted or this thread gets closed.. I'm going to assume that my accusations above are correct.