Database Develop

New Google Maps with Latitude

Google updated their google maps program with a new function called latitude.
go to http//google.com/latitude to download
More details below:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5145901/google-latitude-friend-finding-maps-on-smartphones-and-pcs
MODS feel free to move this, but I haven't seen anybody post this yet.

Warjcowski said:
Google updated their google maps program with a new function called latitude.
go to http//google.com/latitude to download
More details below:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5145901/google-latitude-friend-finding-maps-on-smartphones-and-pcs
MODS feel free to move this, but I haven't seen anybody post this yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nice find

Im using it now, its cool that you can turn it off, hide, sign out etc, i think it will come in handy at some point....added to the collection

I am trying to install this on my phone, but every time I try to install it's failing and saying please reinstall and opening internet explorer with download page.

installing as we speak.... question though which I didnt quite understand from the page I read on it. In order for me to see someone on the phone... say... my wife... she also has to have this program installed? It would be awesome if it was a simple as putting in someones phone number and you could get a trace on them haha... like in the movies

trying to install but it keeps giving me an error saying it cannot find the URL required during the Midilet install. help?

I downloaded this but will the Manila/TF2D tabs still point correctly to Google Maps?

-haze- said:
I downloaded this but will the Manila/TF2D tabs still point correctly to Google Maps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only one way to find out I guess

I'm for instead of new features, they fix it for VGA. If you have a vga or larger screen, allow us to zoom in more than a 2 block radius. I miss being about to zoom to 2 house wide zoom.

The file GoogleMaps cannot be found...
Anybody getting this when trying to get this to work via contact menu?

Aaron McCarthy said:
installing as we speak.... question though which I didnt quite understand from the page I read on it. In order for me to see someone on the phone... say... my wife... she also has to have this program installed? It would be awesome if it was a simple as putting in someones phone number and you could get a trace on them haha... like in the movies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah she have to have this installed. And you need two Google account. One for you and your wife. Run the program then hide it in the background. The stalking begins.. Lol

You can also view from igoogle. It says that it's unavailable in my location, but if i go to m.google.com/latitude in my browser, it takes me back to igoogle and latitude works.

Installed yesterday, working like a charm. Like a couple others have mentioned, it only gives me the download if I use PIE.
It's really pretty cool, especially the "exit but hidden" feature. I hate having anything in my task list

I'm running into a ton of bugs with this, on the PRoven 1.14a ROM.
THe first time I run it, all is fine. But the second time, I get a lot of nonsense in the menus. The left softkey says "your phone number" or "los angeles," depending on which screen I'm on, then brings up functions that don't seem to make any sense ...
If I uninstall, then reinstall, all is fine the first time I run it. And it goes wacky the second time again.

Here's the cab if anyone wants it.

This is an awesome feature...wife and i tested it today. Now my two oldest kids (sitting on WM devices) can't get away with the stuff my wife and I did when they start high school next year. I am so happy I'm not old. I'm such a ninja father!

th1nm1nt said:
This is an awesome feature...wife and i tested it today. Now my two oldest kids (sitting on WM devices) can't get away with the stuff my wife and I did when they start high school next year. I am so happy I'm not old. I'm such a ninja father!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know that there are others out there like me...

aha ninja father's
But do they have google maps always on?
If the wm phone is off it isn't possible to look where they are or am i wrong?
I installed latitude but i'm the only one on the map (i know i don't have any friends. but it would be nice to look where my kids are.
Then it will be Xmas tomorrow, they get a nice wm machine

Installed it and it works like a charm. Combined with the new radio (for better GPS locking), its an awesome application.
Thanks!

<shameless plug>It's included in viBranZeOS 1.0 ROM</shameless plug>

many themes in the market application

why are there so many themes in the market application? should make a seperate to Theme market. too many themes in there. its annoying

I agree its getting old. It seems like every time I go into the market I have to sift through 15 themes to find anything good.

I agree. There has got to be a better way to handle distribution of these themes.

what's worse is that a lot of them are made by the same people. RSD keeps making themes for the phone and then selling them for a dollar. i'm sorry but i don't think you should charge for a theme, no matter how much work you did. i make themes too but i'm not gonna tell people that they have to give me money in order to try it. most themers do the stuff cause it's fun not cause they wanna get rich

It's easy money. Make a theme, upload it, charge 99c and make some money... now everyone is on it. Tis a shame they isnt more categories on Market, so many of them are misplaced. I wonder if Google plan on doing anything about it? You can literally spend 10-15mins scrolling down until you reach the bottom.

+1 I have to sift through so many themes they are annoying!

Then there are the comic books, the other day there had to be like 20 of them submitted at once.

In some ways the 'openness'* is part of the problem. I've not investigated how you put a program etc on market place and what the uploader has to do, to charge but it seems like people can charge what they want. I saw one earlier which seemed to be pictures of cars (and another for bikes) and he wanted $4.99.
I wish it was a little more regulated... I never thought I'd say that!! or atleast no facility to charge for apps.
Or even if Google could add new categories...
* I know all the tethering apps have been removed so clearly it's not 100% open

DynaMight said:
* I know all the tethering apps have been removed so clearly it's not 100% open
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is actually nothing open about the market. For example, if the market had an api, I could write an alternative market client with a capability to filter out all these annoying themes/videos/comics. The point is that the market, like GMail and all the other closed applications on the G1's Android build, is a closed value-added product.
Unfortunately since Market client is closed-source, we can only hope Google gets the message and builds in some sort of filtering in a future version. They did pretty promptly address the comment spam issue, which shows some promise.

I too am sick of the themes and everything else associated with the alternate home screens. Hopefully as the market matures they will address the issue.

which apps so far have disappointed you?

which apps so far have disappointed you?
For me so far its Opera Mini, Meebo, and Palringo
Opera Mini was just a direct port with little tweaking for the Android OS
Meebo just needs a few more bugs fixed and a few UI improvements and more settings, even without the last 2 it'd be great if it simply kept you signed in.
And Palringo is in the same boat as Meebo.
What about you?

i personally cant believe there are so many different fart apps.. even paid ones..
but as far as things ive tried that have disappointed me, meebo was a disappoint with the logging off.. it logs off and locks up as much as the actual aim im prog that came on the phone..
theres also been a couple of games that ive opened and they were just garbage, i cant remember any of them atm except battleship though

I have the same complaints about Skype as you do about Opera Mini. Skype Lite can't make free skype-to-skype calls and there is no integration with Android OS whatsoever. So if I want to see if I have received any new messages, I have to switch to the app and check it manually.
Also the game called eggs was disappointing. The beginning was good, but the author completely ignored users' comments.
My BackUp Pro was also a waste of money. I thought it did more than just copy apk files to SD card and zip it.

I just was disappointed with the introduction of paid apps. As much as I love many of the apps I have paid for, it destroyed the market. There are now thousands of horrible apps, and apps that once were free that now cost money.
Many apps deserved support and donations, but not forced. Apps like Power Manager. Works great, and I would have no problem donating to them, but to turn their app into a trial, forcing people to update to their now paid version is just wrong. Android was all about Open Source, helping fellow users. When a dev puts hours, days, weeks, even months into developing an app, most certainly should he be rewarded for his efforts. Charging $5 for a fart soundboard is ridiculous. The dev couldn't have spent more than 5 minutes on it and expects users to pay for a joke of an app.

tehseano said:
I just was disappointed with the introduction of paid apps. As much as I love many of the apps I have paid for, it destroyed the market. There are now thousands of horrible apps, and apps that once were free that now cost money.
Many apps deserved support and donations, but not forced. Apps like Power Manager. Works great, and I would have no problem donating to them, but to turn their app into a trial, forcing people to update to their now paid version is just wrong. Android was all about Open Source, helping fellow users. When a dev puts hours, days, weeks, even months into developing an app, most certainly should he be rewarded for his efforts. Charging $5 for a fart soundboard is ridiculous. The dev couldn't have spent more than 5 minutes on it and expects users to pay for a joke of an app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I have to agree with you. I was hoping paid apps will give more incentive for developers to create good stuff, but instead all it did was make free apps paid.

Also the game called eggs was disappointing. The beginning was good, but the author completely ignored users' comments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree with you on that one... I just played it on Iphone and it's light years ahead of Androids version. It has sound, pause/resume option. It really bugs me when dev. puts out a game and doesn't bother to port it properly, even for a game as simple as that one.
I am also very disappointed in the apps that used to be completely free and now have been turned into trials and demos.
So far... the only app I don't regret paying for is BetterCut, everything else was junk.

Remote (RDP client) disappointed me so much, it continues to have connection issues.
Opera Mini was pure crap, I can't see why Opera didn't make an effort to port (truly) Opera Mobile instead. I might have paid for that if it was any good. Now I just wait for Fennec to be ported.
Barcode scanner for non-QR codes is disappointing. Other scanners, like SnapTell, can do so much more. All Barcode scanner can do is look it up on Google. I can do that myself by typing in the numbers below the barcode. The QR code reader is the only reason I keep that program.
FBook is disappointing. The interface has been mangled and it's more focused on uploading pictures than it is giving users the full Facebook experience. It's little more than a web-view portal for Mobile Facebook, and sometimes slower than using the browser.

jordanjay29 said:
Barcode scanner for non-QR codes is disappointing. Other scanners, like SnapTell, can do so much more. All Barcode scanner can do is look it up on Google. I can do that myself by typing in the numbers below the barcode. The QR code reader is the only reason I keep that program.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you would like to try this usage: I'm developing an free online service to log purchases and see statistics. Also, I've implemented a shopping list feature I use all the time (my girlfriend too). The goal is to integrate it with Barcorama and use the barcodes to quickly log the purchases, e.g. right after returning from the supermarket.
So perhaps you want to start logging stuff with costpad.com
sorry for the offtopic post...
have fun,
hypest

Karolis said:
I have the same complaints about Skype as you do about Opera Mini. Skype Lite can't make free skype-to-skype calls and there is no integration with Android OS whatsoever. So if I want to see if I have received any new messages, I have to switch to the app and check it manually.
Also the game called eggs was disappointing. The beginning was good, but the author completely ignored users' comments.
My BackUp Pro was also a waste of money. I thought it did more than just copy apk files to SD card and zip it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mybackup Pro also backs up AK Notepad, your call logs, your system settings, text messages, and something else I'm forgetting.
I don't use it to back up apps at all, just data.

My Backup Pro limitation (???)
thecolorifix said:
Mybackup Pro also backs up AK Notepad, your call logs, your system settings, text messages, and something else I'm forgetting.
I don't use it to back up apps at all, just data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YEAH - it's great to backup & restore call logs, MMS, SMS's and phone setting and homepages (although the widgets for some reason does not load during recovery!)
But before I forget. You cannot save a backup filename that contains the character '-' ...How weird is that?
When I contacted the app-dev, this was the response:
"These characters are not allwed due to file system"
On Tuesday, February 23, 2010, i wrote:
> Hi
> When I try to save a data backup file with a filename that contains a '-', this '-' gets removed. Can this please be fixed. Like : LastBackup-phone gets saved as LastBackupphone.
> Thank you
Weird huh? I think it's a lazy dev!

I find it hard to be disappointed by free apps, but of the apps I've paid for the biggest disappointment has been the Mediafly app. When I first downloaded this app, I used the free version regularly and daily to subscribe and listen to all my favorite podcasts. I used it so much that I decided to purchase the app and within a week the app was completely broken.
It still downloads podcasts fine, but it makes it impossible to actually listen to the downloaded files. The streaming only works about half the time. It won't resume playing a file in the middle (I was once amazed at how I could resume playing a streaming podcast flawlessly upon initial release - no more; it doesn't resume anything now.) It will seemingly randomly delete podcasts that I haven't even listened to for no reason, even though I have it set to never delete anything. Bottom line, what was once the perfect app is now junk.

ColorNote

Hi,
Am pretty new to Android and came across this really nice App/Widget called ColorNote. An all in one package that has a lot of features and comes in a reasonably sized package.
I'm sure many of you are already using this. The reason for the post however is not to promote this, but to ask if anyone either knows of a way to contact the author or know of an alternative to this.
What I need is an app with all the features of the above, but with a widget that is NOT a sticky post, but with something like a flip pad. That is the widget shows page 1 of the notes and then I either click an up/ down arrow to move between pages or click on the tip of a page to move between them as in the app here -> http://www.appbrain.com/app/simple-notes/hu.monsta.simplenotes
Can someone help me?
Thanks

Evernote is one of the best note taking apps. You can do voice notes, text notes and pictures. Web, desktop and phone apps. My only real complaint is that you can't write checkable lists on the phone app, but they are adding new stuff all the time. Oh and it doesn't have a widget, but you should still check it out.

springpad is also pretty good.. has awidget where you can scrol through different notes...

I use colornote for checklists. I like it. Its very clean and easy to use.

I have been trying to embrace the cloud using Springpad on my phone, CR-48 (meetings/note taking computer at work), my W7 work desktop and my Macbook Pro personal laptop. It's been working out well so far.

Colornote is nice for taking quick notes, like during a meeting or something.
For everything else, I also use Springpad. In the past I've gone through Catch (formerly 3banana) and Evernote both but I feel that Springpad is superior to all of them.

Just to add an extra choice, I've been liking Simplenote
Andronoter is a free Android client of it, www.simplenoteapp.com is the web interface.

Crossword Puzzles

Edit: Sorry, I had to remove this app when it was brought to my attention recently and I found it was NOT the appI had thought it was :-( It does NOT display properly on the NST/G. Still looking for the one I remember and if I find it I will update this post.
I stumbled across a brief reference to this app buried in another thread from long ago and thought I'd bring it back into the light. Market apps for crossword puzzles seldom work well on the NST, many of them having issues with partially disappearing keyboards.
The app attached below is actually from the Nook Color! It installs and runs just fine on the NST (probably NSTG as well). It has a nice, clean UI--with a custom keyboard that doesn't disappear. Puzzles can be selected by difficulty level.
The drawback: there seems to be no way to get more puzzles. But for casual use, it's great--and the price is right

This app appears to work on the Glowlight Plus also. However, it seems to be pixel mapped, so it appears very small on the higher resolution screen.

are there any services that generate hints?

Great idea! I will gladly support any effort to port/fork/customize/make such app better.

On my Glow3...

Renate said:
On my Glow3...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've actually learned a few things since my original post (shocking!). Just a cursory inspection of the apk file reveals the stored puzzles in res/raw. There appear to be 100 of them and they are actually in a known format (.puz)!
I've not tried adding anything yet (it's probably not that simple), but here is a site with lots of information about obtaining .puz files for use in Across Lite (a puzzle creating and solving platform): https://communicrossings.com/crosswords-sources-web-sites
Maybe I'll pursue this. I do actually have a very old Crossword app that works well across all my devices and can download new puzzles daily from a variety of sources. I don't even recall where I got it but it has clearly been "modified" in some fashion by someone. Most features work on the NST except for updating the list of puzzle sources. For some reason this fails on the NST although it works on other devices. Probably an SSL issue. But as there are quite a few sources in the "old" list, it's fine for the NST where I don't generally spend a lot of time doing puzzles. But it's there when I need a break from reading or just idle entertainment waiting in a doctor's office, etc.
Edit: I lied. There are actually 189 puzzles (easy, medium, hard, themeless).

nmyshkin said:
I've actually learned a few things since my original post (shocking!). Just a cursory inspection of the apk file reveals the stored puzzles in res/raw. There appear to be 100 of them and they are actually in a known format (.puz)!
I've not tried adding anything yet (it's probably not that simple), but here is a site with lots of information about obtaining .puz files for use in Across Lite (a puzzle creating and solving platform): https://communicrossings.com/crosswords-sources-web-sites
Maybe I'll pursue this. I do actually have a very old Crossword app that works well across all my devices and can download new puzzles daily from a variety of sources. I don't even recall where I got it but it has clearly been "modified" in some fashion by someone. Most features work on the NST except for updating the list of puzzle sources. For some reason this fails on the NST although it works on other devices. Probably an SSL issue. But as there are quite a few sources in the "old" list, it's fine for the NST where I don't generally spend a lot of time doing puzzles. But it's there when I need a break from reading or just idle entertainment waiting in a doctor's office, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the crossword app that works across all of your devices same as the one attached to the first post of this thread? You have my support in doing this man. We think similar in approaching the problem. I would also have started from the file type and then go further. I need to look up that platform and attached link. Say if you need any help with this. I need to check crosswords in my language and is there any available site to download them. It might be futile effort for NST without keyboard change. As for SSL problem it starts to be such pain in the a$$ that someone is going to lose patience and find the way to solve it by programming or find the way to obfuscate it through NST as dashboard and any newer phone as server for example. That was also one of the approaches I proposed for missing GPS. Now I rarely need GPS on NST however making it better in terms of book and newspaper device I am all for it.

SJT75 said:
Is the crossword app that works across all of your devices same as the one attached to the first post of this thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, that app of questionable origin is different.
SJT75 said:
You have my support in doing this man. We think similar in approaching the problem. I would also have started from the file type and then go further. I need to look up that platform and attached link. Say if you need any help with this. I need to check crosswords in my language and is there any available site to download them. It might be futile effort for NST without keyboard change. As for SSL problem it starts to be such pain in the a$$ that someone is going to lose patience and find the way to solve it by programming or find the way to obfuscate it through NST as dashboard and any newer phone as server for example. That was also one of the approaches I proposed for missing GPS. Now I rarely need GPS on NST however making it better in terms of book and newspaper device I am all for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I started to look at this and got a couple of surprises. First, on initialization the app creates one binary file in the data folder. That's all. So any puzzle substitution/updating would have to be done by taking the app apart and then putting it back together with apktool. Not very convenient, but I suppose if you did a good number of puzzles at once it might be worthwhile.
However the real surprise was looking at the app running. It's nothing like I remember! So I'm not sure what I'm looking at now. Maybe I've got yet another crossword app among my files. Better download from the earlier post and see... Although the package does say com.encore.crossword. But the short of it is that the app I was looking at is a no-go on the NST. The puzzles are half-hidden behind the keyboard and no amount of persuasion in either word or gesture (rude or not) will convince the puzzle to scroll up.
Edit: nope, it's the same app I posted earlier in this thread so long ago. It seems impossible but there it is. I wouldn't have posted it if I had seen how it was bolluxed up on the NST. I have no explanation.

Huh. Your 15 x 15 looks better than mine.
I did a once over trying to fix the app.
I chopped down the keyboard a bunch.
Still, the whole layout is a mess.

Renate said:
Huh. Your 15 x 15 looks better than mine.
I did a once over trying to fix the app.
I chopped down the keyboard a bunch.
Still, the whole layout is a mess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I did a little fiddling but could not convince it to show the entire grid as accessible along with the keyboard. It really must be coded just for the Nook Color/Tablet display.
I am baffled as to its appearance. I am getting older, but its nothing at all like I remember. I never would have posted if it had looked that way when I first tried it. But its definitely an app from the Nook Color, that much is evident from the package name. Just a mystery.

From little bit I have read about this ancient version of Android what nmyshkin reported about behavior of the application led me to believe that is developed as NDK app. I believe it is easier to make new app starting from scratch if you gathered enough knowledge about that crosswords file type and if download sources are not behind paywall. I would start with calculating size of standard on screen keyboard and then put rest of the screen for use by the crossword. It might be little small that way although but if field input is letter sized from some regular NST font I believe it can be squeezed. Other option might be that you do not make keyboard input at all but select input square and then use gesture in input field resembling writing. You would also need erase button. Then you would have more space for crossword but had to program input interface for the app. IIRC Opera does support gestures so maybe you could get the idea how to make that interface there.

Since the thread contain nonworking app can we consider it as place for discussion about either rigging that one or finding or developing new one for NST?
You already mentioned modified keyboard so I guess changing crossword layout is not out of question too. I didn't check .puz file type so obviously I have no idea about it but I did skim little through the site nmyshkin posted here. There are also other options there so it might be good to consider them also. Firstly using browser with JS woodoo. I do not know much about that but I have gained an impression you have previously make some good stuff using similar approach. Second option is using .PDF file type for puzzles. It might work considering that NST have some limited PDF reflow ability. Maybe that can allow us to adjust crossword layout? Problem is that it seems like it is slightly abandoned file format for puzzles although it was possible to have even interactive ones in that format. Can"t say what the term interactive means. Hint, letter reveals or something else. If it means connection to a server on net that will most likely be to big bite for old NST in the future.
Just a stray thought inside puzzle letters shown are real letter font used on NST or pictures generated in app?

Looked little about crossword file format. It seems that .puz is albeit old and easier to view/change using tools as simple as Notepad somehow proprietary. On the other hand it is claimed that .jpz is more versatile but even if it is so it seems to be some hybrid between Java and XML.There is also third format .ipuz that is completely free but as I understand it is originally for Mac which I do not have. Now if I delve into this what is the opinion of others? Consider it as a poll. 1, 2 or 3?

The New York Times apparently uses .puz
I'd give that some weight.
NYT links to this download: https://www.litsoft.com/across/alite/download/index.html
That file format seems to be (mostly) documented here: https://code.google.com/archive/p/puz/wikis/FileFormat.wiki
It could be edited by hand but there are binary parts and checksums.
Edit: Well, I take that all back. NYT (just yesterday!) stated that they are dropping .puz format.
NYT Games No Longer Available on Across Lite as of Aug. 10 (Published 2021)
Starting next week, we will no longer provide downloadable .puz files.
www.nytimes.com

I understand that up until now adoption by influential publisher (which regularly paid to owner of file format for software and rights to use) kept .puz in game. Format is simple and already have been reverse engineered by others which irked rights owner to the point of threatening with lawsuits left and right. They should have invested more in development of format and software instead. Second format .jpz is supposedly better but had so far lagged in adoption on the market.

Ha, ha!
Cross words over New York Times puzzle change
The US-based publication is cutting third party support for its popular crossword puzzles.
www.bbc.com

Well I can anticipate two things. First its a good time to start torrent search for old crosswords files archives. Second is that I believe we can find alternative sources on the link nmyshkin posted earlier. Still that doesn't resolve dilemma which file type is a way to go. Based on previous statement Rennate made on other topic I presume she would like .ipuz as open and free standard.

Just a link to share. If someone need old crosswords it appears someone already had made a database. link