Database Develop

App request with bounty

slightly edited double posting from CDMA development (tangent from a conversation in there)
If you've used webOS you'll know what I'm asking for here. If you haven't used webOS there are plenty of videos on youtube to look at to get the general idea of how it multitasks which is where it excells.
Open a web browser, press menu>bookmarks and look, finger scrollable preview windows of webpages, now in your head replace that with preview windows of currently running processes... add the ability to swipe + drag a process down to bring to foreground or up to kill that particular process. Very fluid, very easy, very natural.
Very intuitive idea and well executed in webOS. I would love to see a general port of this function added to android in form of an app or possibly a homescreen replacement, most ideal would be replace the worthless "add to homescreen button" on the senceUI dock, as longpress on the homescreen is another way to do exactly the same thing. Shade out your homescreen and put these previews over the top of your homescreen, drag in a direction as mentioned above, or hit the "add to homescreen button" agian to return to your homescreen.
I will make a bounty of $50 USD (a fair amount IMO) to anyone who makes it exactly as I describe... guaranteed to be a killer app and in no way infringing on webOS patents, as it's only replicating a function provided inside webOS similar to their "synergy" that android has copied almost bit for bit in idea.
also after all designing and beta testing is complete ... you put it out on the market you will be getting even more money, pm me if interested and details on the bounty I am offering. (I don't ever check this side of the forum so be sure to PM)
will be paying with paypal, so please have an account before responding.

I think there is already an app out there very similar to what you described
Can't remember what it's called though.
all its missing is the "previews" i think

Lennyuk said:
I think there is already an app out there very similar to what you described
Can't remember what it's called though.
all its missing is the "previews" i think
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
taskOS, I'm aware of it... the previews and the drag to foreground is what I'm wanting, and a little better way of starting it

johnsongrantr said:
taskOS, I'm aware of it... the previews and the drag to foreground is what I'm wanting, and a little better way of starting it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would imagine (though admit, I don't *know* definitively) that application previews wouldn't be possible without support from the application itself.
The reason I say this is because Android applications are essentially "sandboxed", and all inter-application communication is via "intents". Therefore, I believe that it is probable that in order to display a preview running apps, those apps would need to be coded with an "intent" to supply that preview.
As I said before though, I don't know with 100% certainty, but I'm sure if I'm wrong someone will chime in!
Regards,
Dave

i see sort of what you're saying. Bookmarks in the web browser save thumbnails of the webpages bookmarked to your sd card, but like you said it's not inter-app.
Each app would probally have to supply that thumbnail, or try and make an additoinal app that creates thumbnails when an app is in a foreground for x amount of seconds would proablly be needed, and reading the taskOS thread it sounds like it's probally not supported by the sdk. Something to look into... my offer still remains if a solution is found for this and is implemented, he's the closest example and it sounds like it's his goal as well so he will probally get the pot if he implements this and a few other things.
also find a way to twist that into senceUI as mentioned as a "root only" update.zip version to remove the explicit need for a hardware button

App
phandroid[dot com]/2010/02/18/spb-mobile-shell-5-0-coming-to-android/
Something like the top video?

Wow that looks cool

deejay300 said:
phandroid[dot com]/2010/02/18/spb-mobile-shell-5-0-coming-to-android/
Something like the top video?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, thats actually what I'm looking for... guess I'll look into it thanks
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/android-software/
winmo version
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/pocketpc-software/mobileshell/

foxmeister said:
I would imagine (though admit, I don't *know* definitively) that application previews wouldn't be possible without support from the application itself.
The reason I say this is because Android applications are essentially "sandboxed", and all inter-application communication is via "intents". Therefore, I believe that it is probable that in order to display a preview running apps, those apps would need to be coded with an "intent" to supply that preview.
As I said before though, I don't know with 100% certainty, but I'm sure if I'm wrong someone will chime in!
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my idea would be to take a screenshot of the device every time you push the home button, then use this screenshot for the task. remember how the iphone does the animations when closing tasks?

deejay300 said:
phandroid[dot com]/2010/02/18/spb-mobile-shell-5-0-coming-to-android/
Something like the top video?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I can tell from the video, that's more like a preview of live widgets rather than running apps which is going to be possible since widgets are by definition live on home screens.
Regards,
Dave

kendong2 said:
my idea would be to take a screenshot of the device every time you push the home button, then use this screenshot for the task. remember how the iphone does the animations when closing tasks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would probably work - the issue though (for me anyway) is that the screenshot wouldn't show the current status of the app, but the status just prior to shifting anyway.
If I'm running say Spotify, I'd want my live preview to show what I'm currently playing, not what I was playing when I put the app into the background. If it couldn't do that, I'm no better off with the screenshot than I am with a simple Spotify icon,
Regards,
Dave

good google reader app?

Hi, I have rooted nook touch and now want to find a handy google reader app.
I have tried the following apps:
newsrob: This is the app that is closest to what I want except that the cons is unacceptable.
pros: font is large and clear. plenty of configurable functions (sync, display, etc.)
cons: no on screen pagedown/up button and the page scroll is very unresponsive. Often need
4 - 5 times try for a scroll.
greader pro:
pros: plenty of configurable functions (sync, display, etc.), screen zoom in/out
cons: font is dim. no on screen pagedown/up button and the page scroll is unresponsive, a bit better than newsrob?
easyrss:
could not remember clearly the pros and cons. Still not handy though.
google reader website:
tried several browser but the font is small. page scroll is hard though.
I found that the biggest problem for google reader apps on nook touch is that
the page down/up is difficult.
I want an app or web browser solution that satisfies:
large/clear font
on screen pagedown/up button.
Thanks.

I went with newsrob because of the font size changes. I only tried a few others including google reader. I found the site http://fulltextrssfeed.com/ useful for getting the full article rss feed address instead of just the summary. It is nice way of gaining the full article to read when you are away from wifi.
I will stick with newsrob until I find something better.

do you have the problem of unresponsive page scroll?

I've been working with the dev to use the NST page up/down, so here it is. Note it does not sync with Google Reader, but it's easy enough to grab the OMPL file from the site and download it via dropbox/etc.
Enjoy
It's my favorite by far so far (for the NST). Note scrolling with the finger still has issues...seems to be a screen issue with our device. Hard keys are better anyways

ace7196 said:
I've been working with the dev to use the NST page up/down, so here it is. Note it does not sync with Google Reader, but it's easy enough to grab the OMPL file from the site and download it via dropbox/etc.
Enjoy
It's my favorite by far so far (for the NST). Note scrolling with the finger still has issues...seems to be a screen issue with our device. Hard keys are better anyways
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a bit confused. Is the apk you are offering modified to allow use of the hard-keys? Or are you just saying that you like this app even though it does not currently have hard-key compatibility but that you hope that hard-key use is forthcoming by this dev?
[update]
I downloaded the apk. Hard keys do not seem to be working.
[update 2]
I spoke too soon. Since I'm right handed I tend to only use the right side hard keys.
The left side hard keys work but, the right side hardkeys do not work. Left side's better than nothing!

I've been testing several google reader apps, and here is a quick comparison of the best ones I've found for the NST:
NewsRob
Pros:
- Works with side buttons (for both article and page switch).
Cons:
- Annoying article list bug: when you go back from article view, the article list is not at the same scrolling position it was before.
- Free version forces to sync all your google reader feeds.
- Font sizes are less than ideal.
SparseRSS
Pros:
- Simple and lightweight.
- ace7196's build have support for left side buttons.
- Free and open source.
Cons:
- Also have the article list bug.
- Doesn't sync with google reader and doesn't support folders.
GoodNews
Pros:
- Works with side buttons (sometimes needs pressing twice).
- Only app I've found that doesn't have the article list bug.
Cons:
- Offline sync doesn't download images and is quite slow.
- Interface is not very e-ink friendly (you can tweak the apk files, though. I removed most ugly color gradients)
For now, I am sticking with GoodNews and only missing offline images feature, but it is very nice anyway.

I use gReader, its contrast is not great, but can sync with google reader and can adjust font size

marspeople said:
GoodNews
Pros:
- Works with side buttons (sometimes needs pressing twice).
- Only app I've found that doesn't have the article list bug.
Cons:
- Offline sync doesn't download images and is quite slow.
- Interface is not very e-ink friendly (you can tweak the apk files, though. I removed most ugly color gradients)
For now, I am sticking with GoodNews and only missing offline images feature, but it is very nice anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you post the modified apk? I would like to try GoodNews. Thanks

sugarwaterdown said:
Could you post the modified apk? I would like to try GoodNews. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go. It seems the developer will soon launch a 4.0 beta version, which I am eager to try.

official google reader app?
I just got a nook touch and used official google reader app last night, that seems to be pretty good. Has font size settings and the text is very readable, not grayed out like some websites in the browser.

Page-like reading?
Hi, I've been following this post for a while. I love my NST but I would really like to have a RSS reader that allows me to read in a page-like format, scrolling with the e-ink screen sucks and google currents and feedly do offer a page-like reading experience (much closer to an e-book) but both require newer version of Android. I've tried every other application out there without much luck so if anyone has some suggestion I'd really appreciate it.
Daniel

Hi,
I really would love to have Pulse News on the Nook and you can even install it. But probably due to the fact that it uses Flash for its animations, the app crashes right after the splash screen where I presume the Flash starts.
I noticed on my HTC that you can disable Flash in the Pulse-settings. Is it somehow possible to modify the settings without starting the app? Or maybe make an APK where Flash is disabled by default or something like that.

I have Pulse installed on mine, only that it's an older version of it that I download somewhere. Try some apk's, one for sure will work but the market version won't.

I still like SparseRSS the best, simple and fast.
Two issues:
-Frequently get "error: broken pipe" or "error: line 2.."
This probably happens to 1 out of every 10-20 feeds, so after the refresh is done, I have to individually refresh each one that returned an error.. a hassle.
-No folders - any plans for folders in the future? Hard to use when you follow 50 rss feeds

philofellow said:
Hi, I have rooted nook touch and now want to find a handy google reader app.
I have tried the following apps:
newsrob: This is the app that is closest to what I want except that the cons is unacceptable.
pros: font is large and clear. plenty of configurable functions (sync, display, etc.)
cons: no on screen pagedown/up button and the page scroll is very unresponsive. Often need
4 - 5 times try for a scroll.
greader pro:
pros: plenty of configurable functions (sync, display, etc.), screen zoom in/out
cons: font is dim. no on screen pagedown/up button and the page scroll is unresponsive, a bit better than newsrob?
easyrss:
could not remember clearly the pros and cons. Still not handy though.
google reader website:
tried several browser but the font is small. page scroll is hard though.
I found that the biggest problem for google reader apps on nook touch is that
the page down/up is difficult.
I want an app or web browser solution that satisfies:
large/clear font
on screen pagedown/up button.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi philofellow
i dont know have anybody told you that
NewsRob.4.8.7.Pro
can download full article
and the font is big enagh
and you can use the physical button to scroll pagedown/up
is that you need?
my english is poor
thank you

desc4d said:
Hi, I've been following this post for a while. I love my NST but I would really like to have a RSS reader that allows me to read in a page-like format, scrolling with the e-ink screen sucks and google currents and feedly do offer a page-like reading experience (much closer to an e-book) but both require newer version of Android. I've tried every other application out there without much luck so if anyone has some suggestion I'd really appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly an RSS aggregator solution for the NST, but you can use Calibre on your desktop to read RSS feeds and create an .epub from them. You can then set Calibre to email it to you, or create a dropbox script, or something similar on your desktop so you can retrieve the files remotely.
I'm doing this for several newspaper "subscriptions".
The big plus is that I can use the native B&N reader with all its associated features.

Newsrob has very small font. Is there a way how to make it larger?

Is it so small that you can't see it? Or is it as small as the smallest font for reader?

how to scroll down a article in sparse rss? I can't swipe and the side buttons neither work. thanks for a hint.
Runs now fine, sorry for spamming.
Has anyone tried rssdemon?
edit2: rssdemon is perfect for the nst!

brendan10211 said:
Is it so small that you can't see it? Or is it as small as the smallest font for reader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the font used in the list of unread items is too small and probably cannot be changed. I can change the font while reading particular item but not the font used in the list.

A new reader app

There are any number of things that annoy me about the stock B&N reader.
I've been writing my own reader app from the ground up.
It's missing a lot of features, but it's still become my standard reader.
I have a lot of technical references in PDF.
At least my reader will allow me to see them in landscape mode fit to width.
The app has adjustable overscan to get rid of the paper margins.
For EPUBs, there are 17 font sizes, 30 margin sizes, 21 line spacings.
EPUBs or PDFs can be viewed in either orientation.
The app is eInk smart but runs on standard cell phones too.

I assume that you plan on making this app available to the community at some point. When you are ready for other users to test, I would be glad to volunteer.

Yes, as soon as I get rid of the worst bugs, I'll let this loose.
It doesn't have text search or word lookup or annotations or bookmarks.

From MY perspective, bookmarks would be priority #1, followed by dictionary look up. I have never used annotations or word search, though I am sure others have.
Just my $0.02. Other's opinions will vary.

From MY perspective, dictionary look up would be priority #1, and never bookmarks, as I am Russian speaking person. I have never used annotations or word search.
Just my $0.02. Good luck in your efforts.

I'm still working on this.
One of the things I found most lacking was good navigation on large PDFs.
It can get a bit hairy dealing with the table of contents on some PDFs.
Sometimes a page number is more specific than a TOC entry and sometimes it's the other way around.

Will you be supporting mobi files as well ?
It seems it's hard to find a nice reader that support both epub and mobi ...

No, it will not read MOBI.
MOBI is a really stupid format based on database files for Palm OS.
EPUB is a halfway reasonable format.
HTML based reflowable text and a table of contents.
What more do you need?
Of course, all the manufacturers (like Kindle) are pushing for whiz-bang HTML5 formats.

Renate NST said:
No, it will not read MOBI.
MOBI is a really stupid format based on database files for Palm OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I really liked Palm
just kidding, nostalgia kicked in
2) I already have some books in MOBI format, that's why I'm asking.
Yes, I know I can convert them to EPUB ...
Thanks!

Finally ready for a super pre-alpha preview.
Very short user manual:
Hit the right screen edge or PAGEDOWN for forward a whole page
Hit the left screen edge or PAGEUP for backward a whole page
Hit the top screen edge for the navigation menu
Hit the bottom screen edge for table of contents view
Hit the middle of the screen when viewing PDFs to go down a chunk of one page
(These 4 edges are actually the edges of the page view.
When the TOC is showing, the left edge will be somewhere in the middle of the screen.)
There are separate config dialogs for EPUB and PDF.
In TOC view, the +/- are indicators and not controls.
The app tries to keep everything as compact as possible.
TOC scrolls with a drag, selects with a push on a chapter title, dismisses with a bottom push in the page side.
You can call up navigate, page forwards and backwards while the TOC is showing.
A single empty square and the title indicates that the PDF has no TOC.
The eInk special handling only works with 1.2.1 software.
If you are using nofresh/fast refresh/whatever, then no guarantee nor interest in what it will do.
It may be self-delusion, but it seems to me that the text is clearer than the stock reader?
You can just install this as a regular app.
You can set it as default for EPUB or PDF separately.
Unless you're me, you shouldn't get rid of the stock reader just yet. :cyclops:
Hmm, I'm not sure if it will handle Last Reading Point correctly if you are using the stock library.
Oh! It will list all the fonts on your system, but it won't handle the fonts that the underlying library files don't like.

Renate NST said:
Unless you're me, you shouldn't get rid of the stock reader just yet. :cyclops:
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First problem: On my nook it didn't show up in adw so I can't run it

richardcoop said:
On my nook it didn't show up in adw...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it wouldn't, would it?
The stock reader doesn't show up there either.
For an application to show up in a launcher its AndroidManifest.xml would have to have:
Code:
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
File viewers normally don't have that, they are invoked by other intents.
Use your "Last Read" icon, a library application or a file manager to open an EPUB or a PDF.

Renate NST said:
Finally ready for a super pre-alpha preview.
I
It may be self-delusion, but it seems to me that the text is clearer than the stock reader?
You can just install this as a regular app.
You can set it as default for EPUB or PDF separately.
Hmm, I'm not sure if it will handle Last Reading Point correctly if you are using the stock library.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think the text is clearer!
Doesn't remember the Last Reading Point for me but not using the stock library.
---------- Post added at 10:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:58 PM ----------
Also, looses my place when the screen saver kicks in.

Thanks for the good work Renate. I think the display is better than other epub/pdf readers and maybe stock reader too. As most of my reading is done with my Glow version in bed, a "Night Mode" switch for white font on black background would be great if possible?
Thanks again.

richardcoop said:
Also, loses my place when the screen saver kicks in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the integration between a reader app and a library app is close.
Tracking of last point is usually done in the library app.
I was planning on adding a single LRP directly in the reader for files that aren't tracked in the library.

Is it possible to run this on an Android 2.3.4 installation or its code assumes a Nook?
The reason I ask, is because I have a Kobo Glo with android installed, and I would like to check it there, if it is e-Ink optimized.

The problem with supporting eInk is that the interface classes in Java are all different.
Even in the Nook 1.1, 1.1.5. 1.3 are incompatible with 1.2.1
(Notice that the latest 1.3 on the white Nook uses an older scheme than the 1.2.1)
They all use android.hardware.EpdController in /system/framework/framework.jar
I have no idea what the Kobo is using.
I can guarantee that the application posted above will do no special eInk handling as it checks the system build fingerprint for compatibility.
If you are using Nook 1.1.5 or 1.3 it will also not do any special eInk handling.
The application should work on any device if you copy over these two library files:
/system/lib/libpdfhost.so
/system/lib/libbndeviceinfo.so
I have this app running on my (old) Kyocera Rise (cell phone).
It should run (without any special eInk handling) on your Kobo.
Anything further would require research and programming.

Renate NST said:
Hmm, I'm not sure if it will handle Last Reading Point correctly if you are using the stock library.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does not handle Last Reading Point correctly when using the stock library.
Great work! I used this for all of 10 minutes and the potential is evident. With some more of your excellent development work you will have a real winner on your hands.
Question, as this obviously will not read books with B&N DRM, is there some way to make this reader the default when using your library app and allow the stock reader to be the default when using the stock library? Perhaps a setting in your library app to use either the "device default" (stock or other) reader or Temblast Reader specifically when a book is selected.
With regard to the text being clearer than the stock reader, I don't notice a difference. However, I am using the Tweaked Modded ROM, which states:
"Forced all rendering to be done on the GPU." I noticed the text was darker using this ROM when I first installed it. Perhaps your reader essentially does the same thing? This might account for the those who notice the text being clearer when using your reader.

David0226 said:
"Forced all rendering to be done on the GPU."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, that's not what I explicitly did, but maybe it's effectively what I did.

Font display doesn't seem as good as stock reader upon closer inspection.
For PDF reader I still use two particular versions of Repligo and ezPDF-Reader both: fast, full of options and pinch in-out for zoom on txt/image based files and more, opening all pdfs.
The epub reader is suffering on some files with wrapping longer lines so I get remainder lines with two or three words, unless fonts are much smaller even with little margins so back to AlReader and FBReader I'm afraid.

RIP GenieWidget (aka News&Weather)

I posted recently about the weather section of GenieWidget dying. Now it looks like the whole shebang is gone
I even updated mine (which had the dedicated browser) to what appears to be the last version for Eclair (1.3.04) (which opens selected stories in your default internet browser). Still no dice. Google has left this old version on the ash heap of android history.
So...now what? I still have a working BBC News app (though the annoying ticker at the top is stuck on an ancient story...), a copy of the once-free NewsHog that still works, and the NPR app. All three of these have scrolling issues even worse than those of the old GenieWidget (which was actually almost tolerable with the OC kernal).
I've been looking around. Anyone have news apps with some breadth like the old GenieWidget that still work?

And the winner is......
Well, maybe not exactly a "winner", but it's sort of an OK substitute. After much searching and trying out, I've come up with two candidates. One is the old NewsHog (the older free version that will still run on the NST). This is the most similar in coverage and some sources to the Google GenieWidget. No weather, though. It has longer article summaries than GenieWidget did and you have the option of opening the full story in either the built-in reader or your browser. The built-in reader has scrolling issues. You need to keep your gutters really clean and develop a quick thumb flick at the bottom right corner of the screen (similar to the BBC News app)--or open stories in your browser. The issue there, of course, is the slowness of the entire process every time you want to pursue a story.
A second candidate is called News Republic. The market version will not run on the NST but I did find an older one that will. The interface is completely graphic. You choose news categories that you arrange in tiles on the app "homescreen". Each category tile takes you to pages (swipe across to move from page to page) that look like newspaper pages, with varied length columns (some with images) mushed together to make a rectangle. The columns have teasers to the stories. Selecting a column brings you to a nice reader which--TA-DA--actually scrolls beautifully (makes you wonder why these other people could not get it right.....). The downside is that it takes a long time to get it set up the way you want it (you do not need to set up an account). Also, there are a lot of fluff tabloid-like sources and categories, so you end up removing a lot in the initial set-up (the video section wants to work with its own player, but then just gives up and says the video could not be opened). And...there are not as many solid traditional news sources. No custom categories. AdAway works to block ads as I occasionally see a blank rectangle with the words "advertisement" along the bottom.
So, that's what I have found so far. I've attached both older apps in case you want to try them for yourself.
Edit: Some time in July 2016 this version of NewsHog stopped updating custom news categories so you only have the provided categories to choose from
Edit: Some time in February 2017 all versions of News Republic that will run on the NST became unable to log in. Another dead one. App removed from the attachments below

[APP][NST/G] Google(ish) News

5-31-21 I've ceased development on this app because I think there is a better alternative. See post #7.
*updated to version 1.3, adding error trap for discontinued or blank feeds*
It's been awhile since the demise of the last working version of Genie Widget (aka Google News and Weather) but not so long since the big G retooled news.google.com so that our browsers can no longer deal with it and also put the kibosh on the Google News RSS feeds. Sigh.
I have a work-around
Google News 1.3 for the NST/G exploits the "alerts" that Google offers on news topics. These alerts can be optioned in the form of RSS feeds. My app downloads the HTML source for the feed, picks out all the good stuff and trashes all the rest, then builds up a local HTML document which is easily displayed by our browsers (I highly recommend Opera Mobile for ease of scrolling and general all-around function). You can build up your own topics, change your mind, mix them about, read that one more story you didn't get to the first time around, etc. I'm not saying that your browser will negotiate every target link. Some newspaper sites have just become too much. That was true even when Genie Widget was still working. But updating Opera Mobile for TLS 1.2 solves much of that. See this post for details.. The beauty of this app is in the simplicity. It's entirely browser-based once the feeds are downloaded, so you're not going back and forth between the app and your browser (like the current Google News app.......). Designed for both portrait and landscape.
Requirements
1. Android 2.1 has a security issue with opening local HTML files. In order for Google News to work properly you need to address that. Included in the zip below is a tiny app, android-open-in-browser-0.0.4-4-debug. Install that. It's not my app but I have used it for years and wish I could credit the originator.
2. This is a Tasker-generated app. If you already have one of my other Tasker-generated apps or have previously installed GApps, you don't need the two Google maps library files included in the zip and can delete them. If you do need them, copy the two files into the locations shown below:
/system/etc/permissions/com.google.android.maps.xml
/system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar
Set permissions for both files to rw-r--r-- and reboot. Without these files resident, the app will not install.
3. Create a folder in the root directory of your sdcard: Google News (exactly as shown)
4. Install the app itself, Google News.1.apk
How to use
Before you run the app you need to select some news categories, set up the feeds, get the URLs, blah-blah-blah. All of this is covered in the PDF included with the zip. It may seem a little annoying at the start, but it goes quickly once you get started and it's not like you have to do it every time you use the app. You're just setting up your news topics, just as if you were using the current Google News (either the app or the web version). Once you have your topics and URLs and have edited the included text file google_rss_feeds.txt, copy that into the Google News folder of your sdcard.
Note: recently (June 2019) the big G has not been very consistent with the RSS feeds. Some days they are "empty" but come back the next day with lots of stories. Some feed topics simply "die" and a minor change in the topic will resurrect them (change "World" to "World news", as an example). Version 1.3 includes a trap for these eventualities so that the app should not crash, even if your first feed comes up empty. To inspect/edit your feeds, point your browser (on your PC) to your Google Alerts page. If you are signed in this will be found among the options on the Google home page, in the upper right corner where the "apps" grid is shown.
Now you're good to go. Start the app, make sure you're connected to WiFi. There are only three buttons on the app screen. The first one, "Fetch the news" does just that. You will see a little toast that the first news category is being prepared. Once that is done, you will be taken to the browser and that page will open. Meanwhile the remaining pages are being downloaded and reconstructed in the background.
The news page is very simple. I tried to aim for readability over all other considerations (this is the reason the news items are in bold black, even though they are the external links). I have my Opera Mobile set to 100% page zoom. It looks good to me, but you could probably get away with 75%. External websites are another matter. At the title bar left is a drop-down menu button that gives you access to your other news topics. Since no fixed navbar schemes work under Android 2.1, there is a duplicate drop-up menu bar at the end of the page. The use of NoRefresh, or to a lesser extent FastMode, is a plus.
Edit: you cannot use this app with Opera Mini. It lacks the ability to open local HTML files.
The second option on the opening screen, "Read old news" sounds a bit daft, but I just thought maybe someone might have been looking at the topic pages, saw something that interested them and then got interrupted. So this option opens the first local file in the browser again and you can navigate from there. Strictly speaking, WiFi is not needed to browse the local files once they have been created, but it is needed to pursue any stories.
The third option simply dismisses the app screen.
Whew! So this is new...and I think I exterminated all the bugs, but I did not try other browsers. I'm open to suggestions and would appreciate feedback.

Google alert change? No option for RSS alerts anymore...
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

v619284 said:
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm away from home right now but my copy of the app is working so the RSS feeds must still exist. I'll have to sit down with my instructions in front of the computer and see what mischief they've done. Thanks for letting me know.

v619284 said:
If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so I've run through the instructions sitting at my PC. Everything is correct although Firefox no longer wants to open the RSS feed page as anything other than an xml "text" file. That just means the image on page 4 needs updating.
As far as page 3, everything is currently exactly as shown. Just to be sure, you have to be signed in to Google on your browser before you do any of this. Then when you get to the screen depicted on page 3 you need to change the "Deliver to" option to RSS feed. But even before that, it's important not to get sucked into the email alert business back on page 2. Do NOT click on "Create Alert" there, only on "Show options". That's how you get to the screen I show on page 3.
When you finally get to click on the little RSS symbol shown on the lower half of page 3, you (at least on Firefox) may end up at a page of xml code, or perhaps your browser may show a news feed page. Regardless, the URL shown for the page is the same and it's what you need to copy, just as described on page 4.
Let me know if you are still having issues with this.

v619284 said:
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So a few days after I wrote my last post, the app stopped working for me. It just hangs on "Preparing......News"
Google has apparently changed the format of their RSS xml file. Right in the middle of something else at the moment, but I will get it fixed.
Nope, nix that. After fooling around with the app and an xml file from the Big G, I find nothing out of place and it seems the app is now working again
They're just messing with us.
Edit: Indeed they are. Today I caught another malfunction but this time looked at the Tasker routines for an error. Google is sending out (at least today) RSS feeds with empty content fields. That messes up my app. So I wrote an error trap for that. Updated in first post. Have to watch the big G like a hawk....

v619284 said:
If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whilst looking around for a solution to a different issue, I came across this: https://medium.com/@cassandragraft/...tion-not-appearing-heres-the-fix-bf842ca32b88
It appears to address the issue you describe. I never encountered the issue, but obviously some people have.
The Big G is making me very angry lately. Even version 1.2 with a new error trap is crashing. I'm finding that some of my feeds are "empty". The skeleton of the RSS file is there but there is no content populating the file. A category as ordinary as "world" is simply blank. This is new and very annoying. Just a change of topic to "world news" brings up a list of stories longer than your arm. I encountered this before with "science" and fixed it with a slight change in name, so I should have seen this coming. It's a nasty game Google seems to be playing....
Anyway, if the app crashes on the first topic it leaves an overlay artifact behind when you exit. To remove this, go to the App Manager and force stop the app. I will work on a fix which will alert you to the effect that the feed appears dead but allow the app to complete the download of whatever is still working and exit properly.
Grr....
Edit: App updated to v1.3 in first post. I hope that solves the problems. For now.

As I mentioned in my edit of the first post, I think my app is exhibiting creakiness already owing to Opera Mobile's increasing difficulty negotiating many websites.
I have an alternative to suggest, however, that is totally browser based. It seems to work "OK" with Opera Mobile although text display is a bit small with a default zoom of 100%. In Opera Mini, however, it shines, especially with NoRefresh.
Thanks to XDA member @SJT75 , I found out about a list of text-only news sites. One of them is a text version of Google News! The list is at: https://greycoder.com/a-list-of-text-only-new-sites/
While the Google News option does not allow for custom categories (hey, there's an app for that!), it does cover all the usual suspects. Even better, all of the links lead to text-only versions of the sources. Occasionally you go to a page and find it could not be fetched by whatever mechanism the author is using, but pages (even those error ones) include a link to the original source
Also notable on the list are the NPR and CNN sites. Both work well.