Related
NC with CM7 - my first android device. I'm finding that a lot of the widgets I have tried don't seem to refresh. I was really looking forward to homescreen "mission control" with all kinds of info live updating. Things I have tried that don't refresh:
-Yahoo Sportacular - It is still showing some game from 3 weeks ago even after opening the app. Also, is there an option to make it show all scores, not just my favorites?
-HeavensAbove (satellite & space station tracking) - only refreshes if I open the app
-News - I forget the exact name of this builtin android widget, small black box is supposed to be showing news stories, but is a week behind
There are a couple more that I can't remember at the moment.
So, is this a general android issue, a problem with each widget, problem with the nook, ???
Also made sure the sync option in android is set.
I did a couple searches in the forums and couldn't come up with anything.
Thanks!
itesla said:
NC with CM7 - my first android device. I'm finding that a lot of the widgets I have tried don't seem to refresh. I was really looking forward to homescreen "mission control" with all kinds of info live updating. Things I have tried that don't refresh:
-Yahoo Sportacular - It is still showing some game from 3 weeks ago even after opening the app. Also, is there an option to make it show all scores, not just my favorites?
-HeavensAbove (satellite & space station tracking) - only refreshes if I open the app
-News - I forget the exact name of this builtin android widget, small black box is supposed to be showing news stories, but is a week behind
There are a couple more that I can't remember at the moment.
So, is this a general android issue, a problem with each widget, problem with the nook, ???
Also made sure the sync option in android is set.
I did a couple searches in the forums and couldn't come up with anything.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You using a task killer? If so, stop.
and you might try removing and re-adding the widgets.
No, no task killer. I haven't installed or used one.
I've had issues with widgets too: I tried to add multiple battery widgets, however, none of them would appear under the widgets category in the long-press add to home screen.
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
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.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Note: This version of the app has hit its token limit, for more info on my plans and its future, check out this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=56228193&postcount=553
Hello guys! From the creators of Sliding Messaging Pro, I would like to announce one of our new projects: Talon for Twitter!
This one, along with klinkdawg's EvolveSMS are the two brand new apps that we have been creating the past few months. They are full of polish, features, and beautiful design and KitKat style! Both of these apps are availible on the Google Play store today, but lets get to know Talon a little first
Talon for Twitter - Google Play Store
-----------------------------------------------------
Play Store Description:
Get fully immersed in your Twitter with this beautiful, feature PACKED Twitter client with a design that actually makes sense!
Created with Android 4.4 (KitKat) in mind. Includes full screen layouts, stunning animations and more! Of course that doesn't mean earlier versions of android get left out! The only thing that wasn't able to be recreated in Android 4.3 and below was the transparent navigation and status bars... Sorry! It just isn't possible
Beautiful, up-to-date layouts, designs, and neat animations isn't the only thing Talon has going for it though! The list of features is enormous as well, doing everything you could ever want from a Twitter app right off the bat. Even though it is new, I have added every single major and minor Twitter feature that I think is absolutely essential plus a ton that most people wouldn't even think of. Here is a pretty comprehensive list of its features:
Twitter features:
- Live streaming support
- Support for 2 accounts
- View your timelines (main, mentions, direct messages, links, and pictures)
- View retweets, favorites, Local and world trending, user profiles, Twitter lists, and more
- Favorite users
- Search Twitter
- Delete, favorite, retweet, quote, and reply to statuses
- view replies to statuses
- Update your profile picture, banner, location, and user description
- block, follow, and add users to lists
- search for your friends to tweet at
- Attach pictures to your tweets
- Attach locations to your tweets
- And the list goes on
Customization features:
- Extremely powerful developer theme engine (Read the second post )
- Choose between either "Talon" or "Hangouts" layouts
- Choose from 3 beautiful base themes (light, dark, and pitch black)
- Custom text sizes
- Night mode
- Auto-Refresh options
- Custom notification settings
- And many other goodies in there as well!
App Features:
- "Talon Pull" to be always listening for interactions (mentions, retweets, favorites, new followers, and direct messages)
- Expandable, actionable, and dynamic notification system
- Full app popup
- Full emoji support
- View in-line Twitter and Instagram pictures
- View in-line YouTube thumbnails
- Native YouTube player
- In-app browser
- Complete landscape and tablet modes
- Advance to new pages in a "windowed" viewing mode
- Never leave your timeline with in-line replies, favorites, and retweets
- Actionable toast bar so you always know where you are and can jump to the top
- Hiding action bar
- "Do not disturb" mode
- Widget for main timeline
- DashClock Extension
- Draft system for unsent/failed tweets
- Google style pull to refresh for quick refreshing
- Save tweet pictures
- Share content with other apps, to and from Talon
You will never go back to your old Twitter client again!
Enjoy Talon and don't hesitate to contact me with questions, requests, or bugs!
Thanks!
Contact me (Luke Klinker):
Email: [email protected]
My Twitter: @lukeklinker
Talon's Twitter: @TalonAndroid
Google+ Beta Page
Emojis
Here are two different emoji plugins for you to choose from, choose whichever suits you best, install it and never worry about it again!
Sliding Emoji Keyboard - Android
Sliding Emoji Keyboard - iOS
Permissions Explained:
- Write to Storage: Saves pictures to your SD card and writes them into the cache.
- Read from Storage: Used when backing up settings.
- Location: Used for trends and attaching locations to tweets.
- Network Communication: Obviously have to be able to interact with Twitter
- Network State: Used so the user can toggle background sync to only over WiFi.
- Run at Startup: Re-schedules the background refreshes.
- Keep Awake: Used for background refreshes and waking the screen.
- Vibrate: Used for the notifications.
Credits:
- Jacob Klinker: to many things to list! Tons of ideas, support, and inspiration
- Aaron Klinker: Icon Design
- Other open-source libraries and resources used can be found under the 'Get Help' section in settings.
-----------------------------------------------------
Screenshots:
-----------------------------------------------------
Closing Comments:
I have worked really hard to bring you guys a great experience right from the start this time and it really shows, from the login screen to the timelines, you will be fully satisfied with the design, execution and finesse that Talon brings to your phone. It isn't going to take months to get up to speed like Sliding Messaging did. I have designed this to be efficient, fast, and just work, right from the start. I learned a ton from that app and Talon goes to show just how much.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do, sound off in the comments with question, concerns, suggestion, or whatever else you feel like saying about the app!
One more thing to say before I leave you here, please remember that this is XDA, and you are all expected to be a little bit different Android users, if you are having a force close or something, I would like you to be able to post a logcat of it. If you are wondering about why I did something the way I did, then I will probably explain it to you in a programming sense instead of how I would to a normal user on the Google+ beta page or something, because that makes much more sense to me, is easier on me, and you should be able to understand it a little bit better... Just keep that in mind and stay on topic please
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
1.) Push Notifications
I am just going to say this now, before anyone asks: Push notifications will not be coming to Talon unless something changes with the Twitter APIs. I have created "Talon Pull" with is simply an always on, listening/streaming service that will receive new tweets from Twitter whenever your Twitter handle is included. To read more about this option, look at the "Talon Pull" section below the "Reasons" section.
Reasons
This will be the more technical part of this post, if you don't want to read and understand it, then you will have to just accept my answer from above. If you don't accept that I know what I am talking about... Then by all means, read on, I will try to keep it as simple as possible.
To access Twitter, they have provided us with the REST APIs (currently version 1.1). These APIs allow developers to communicate with Twitter in real time by just submitting requests to get data from the network. They make it relatively simple - if you know what your doing - to obtain the data that they allow you to get and store, but there are plenty of limitations to these APIs, which make sense: Twitter is a completely free service and make their money off of advertisements. They want people to use their official Twitter products (such as the web or their own Android app) to access their services because they are able to place advertisements in them and that is the only way they make money. So they just aren't going to make some things available for 3rd party developers.
One of those things is their push notification system. As I said before, they allow us to access their services with these REST APIs, but they also have a Streaming API available so that a 3rd party service, such as this one, could be "always connected". Sounds great right? Maybe, maybe not. More testing probably needs to go into it, because it is very new in Talon. For the past few weeks though, I can say that it doesn't seem to take up much more battery than sycning on an intervol does. So try it and let me know. I have done the best I can to optimize this service, but if you want to know more about it, read below in the "Talon Pull" section
What these streaming APIs should be used for is a server side interaction that would then connect to GCM (Google Cloud Messaging) and send push notifications from there. I would love to say I am working on something like this, but it isn't possible for a developer like me. I don't have the time, resources, or knowledge to set up a complex server like this. The knowledge I could get, but I am a 20 year old kid, working off of this 1 MB/sec internet connection while being a full time college student at the University of Iowa. I wouldn't be able to handle the upkeep of the system like this or the traffic. I just don't have the backend necessary for this type of thing, and there aren't many developers who do. So push notifications from the server side? Way out of the question.
That leaves only one thing to do: wait. Maybe Twitter will open up some kind of push notification service to it's developers, but I wouldn't count on that. The ideal thing for them to do would be to set up their own GCM server for us to communicate with, but I don't see that as being likely at all because of the advertising. That would take away one of the main draws for their app, leaving it with almost nothing that 3rd party developers can't do. For now though, "Talon Pull" seems to be working well and I would encourage you all to try it out. Battery seems to be fine, the one drawback is that you must be connected to a datasource right when the interaction happens or it won't be saved or shown.
Talon Pull - My solution/workaround
As I said before, this is NOT push notifications. Push notifications are sent to your device to notify you from some kind of server. They aren't always on, and only turn on when your device receives the info from the web service.
Talon Pull on the other hand, uses Twitter's Streaming API to just create an "always on" service to be constantly listening for and streaming tweets that contain your Twitter Handle. The way this works is that you are signed in with your API keys after you turn on the option to enable Talon Pull. I then just create this "listener" that Twitter's servers will send new tweets to. Luckily, they will take care of most of the filtering of those tweets on their end, to reduce the load as much as possible on your device (because before the filtering, it literally will receive every single public tweet that is happening. It was amazing when I first flipped and saw the tweets flowing over my log haha). So we filter it down to as few of tweets actually reaching your device as possible, then I start broadcasting the notifications when you receive the new ones.
Overall, it is a relatively simple process, the problem with it though, you have probably already realized, you have to be constantly connected with a data service or the app won't know when to receive the new tweets. Obviously that is the part that is going to end up taking the battery (if it does), not "bloated" or "un-optimized" code as some of you I sure believed. So far though, through my testing, it doesn't seem to have a very big impact on battery overall, but I suppose that it potentially could if you are using Twitter that much more than I do.
If there was a better way, I wish I could find it. I think that this is the method that most 3rd party services use to send you those fake "push notifications". So there ya have it, hope you learned something. It works well and it is the only way to get a lot of information like who favorited or retweeted your statuses
Conclusion
Thanks for the read, if you made it all the way, hope that gives you an idea as to why push notifications just aren't even an option at this point and what my solution to that problem has been, even if it is not ideal. It works, and it seems to be working quite well for me.
So just know: "Talon Pull" isn't quite the same as push notifications, but it is as close as you are going to get and is working better for me than I would have ever imagined. Enjoy!
2.) Translucency
Why aren’t my status bar and navigation bar translucent like in all of the screenshots?!?
This is an Android 4.4 KitKat feature only. Get a new phone/ROM if you want it.
3.) Theming Support and Limitations
We have created a pretty powerful theme engine for Talon and EvolveSMS this time around, but it isn't without its limitations.
The main app color will always be orange. Don't ask to change it. That isn't something I can theme dynamically or read from an add on package, themers can change the orange glow on the in-line buttons (favorite, retweet, and send), but that is as much as your are going to get with that one.
4.) Viewing users who "retweet" and "favorite" your statuses
This is another thing that isn't going to happen at this point. It isn't possible to get the user ID's or their names with the current version of the API's.
Maybe Twitter will open this up in the future, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.For now, the best you will get is the numbers on them
The only way to get this information is through the use of "Talon Pull" and the Streaming API's. When you get a retweet or favorite, it will be put in the interactions drawer on the right side of any activities with drawers.The only way to get this information is through the use of "Talon Pull" and the Streaming API's. When you get a retweet or favorite, it will be put in the interactions drawer on the right side of any activities with drawers.
5.) Clearing the Cache
If you know much about caching in Android, then you may wonder why in the world I would want to clear it every time you switch themes.
The answer is pretty simple: to vastly improve the performance and the smooth scrolling in the app, I save the profile pictures according to the current theme's style, whether that is circle (like the "Talon" layout) or square (like the "Hangouts" layout). This preference is also available to themers in the add-on themes.
By caching them directly as circles, it alleviates the need to do it on the fly which could consume quite a bit of processing power on older phones and would just be a complete waste to render them like that every time.
You may think it is a hassle, but you would be thanking me if you knew the difference it makes.
You can also view the current cache size and clear it manually from "Advanced Settings".
6.) Battery Consumption
If you use Talon a lot throughout the day, it is going to take up battery, simple as that. I find that on a 30 min refresh intervol for the different timelines and manually going in and browsing/updating throughout the day, it takes about 4-5% of my battery. I would say this is pretty normal because there are days that Google+ takes up to 10% with just casual browsing.
If that isn't acceptable for you though, then there are a few things you can do to reduce battery consumption:
1.) Turn down the refresh interval on the timelines. This is the big one. It is those background services that are going to drain your battery.
2.) Turn off "Refresh on Startup".
3.) Turn off "Talon Pull" and "Live Streaming"
4.) Don't have it sync the second account's mentions
And if all else fails... Get off Twitter and do something productive for awhile =D haha any app that accesses the internet and refreshes as much as a Twitter client is inherently going to use more battery in the background. There are ways to reduce it, but not always ways around it!
7.) Custom ROMs Immersive Mode
My custom ROM has "Immersive Mode" and Talon doesn't seem to play nice with it! What's up with that?!
The way that immersive mode works in your ROMs currently isn't so hot unfortunately. There is a reason Google didn't put it into the whole system because app developers would have problems implementing the "translucency" with conflicting system stuff.
Not to fret to much though, I was able to get things working smoothly with it in Talon. The problem was that my ListView's are expanded through the different system bars. This can be a big problem if you try to switch to "Immersive" in the middle of doing something in the app. You will notice the margins get all wanky on the top and the bottom of your lists.
It can be easily solve though by just restarting the app by swiping it out of your recent apps screen. Sorry, but that is the best I am going to be able to do here, Translucent bars an "Immersive Mode" just weren't meant to work together.
Theming in Talon
Theming in Talon for Twitter
Real quick, before you get to far into the content, I want to let all you developers know about one of, if not the standout feature of Talon and EvolveSMS: one incredibly powerful theme engine.
Along with these apps, me and Jacob have completely redesigned and rethought our old "Theme Engine" from Sliding Messaging! Although the Sliding Messaging one was cool and great for the average user to customize, it was slow, cluttered, limited, and just bad design from a developer perspective. This won't be an issue with these apps though. We remade everything about it to bring you the ultimate themeing and customization experience, without the bloat and slowdowns. You won't be disappointed when you see what it can do!
All this theme engine takes is a little bit of knowledge about layouts and resources in Android, along with the Android SDK to compile and distribute your package as an APK, then you can make both of these apps into literally ANYTHING you want. We are able to read the layouts, drawables, and some of the colors directly from your compiled package and place them in our apps! Sweet huh, you thought this kind of design your own thing was only for homescreens
And the best part: it is completely free and you can easily share these themes with anyone when you are done by just sending the APK or putting it on the Google Play Store!
For more info on these and to start making Talon really your own, check out these links:
1.) Talon Theming Example/Walkthrough on GitHub
2.) Google+ Community Theming Section - A great place to share so anyone can see and use your themes, not just XDA users
3.) Google+ Theming Post
gonna try it out soon
Amazing Twitter app, absolutely loving it so far. It is just stunning, and kudos to going with transparent navbar instead of immersive, it looks fantastic and doesn't require a gesutre to get to.
Yeah, I completely agree that transparent is the way to go over immersive on something like this, it takes more work, but definitely with it!
Why do you only support for 2 accounts? It's just a question!
Pac-Man said:
Why do you only support for 2 accounts? It's just a question!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, a little embarrassing, but because the logic behind coding more than that gets way complex... haha
klinkdawg24 said:
Well, a little embarrassing, but because the logic behind coding more than that gets way complex... haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't worry! But I hope you'll add multiaccount. There're a lot of people that love it
Anyway it's a good app with a perfect design. My sincerelly congratulations!
Enviado desde mi Nexus 4 mediante Tapatalk
Will love to try it, I paid for falcon and then it got free
Hoping for xda version
Maybe I'm just stupid.. How do you pull up replies to others tweets? Beautiful app btw... Love it...
wow this app looks beautiful, would love to try it, unfortunately, i dont have a credit card and can't purchase from google play. Will there be a free or xda version coming soon? if not is there any way for me to try this out? signed up for the beta as well
I got the app a couple of hours ago and it's amazing.
Just a few things..
Where did the Talon Pull notifications go when they are received? I have to manually to update the timeline anyway.
You have to pull down for too long in order to update. You should adjust it
You should definitely implement threaded DMs, that would be pretty cool
Great app btw,
donwhall70 said:
Maybe I'm just stupid.. How do you pull up replies to others tweets? Beautiful app btw... Love it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
right now, you can only look backwards at tweets, looking forward will come when i figure it out haha
alkspo said:
wow this app looks beautiful, would love to try it, unfortunately, i dont have a credit card and can't purchase from google play. Will there be a free or xda version coming soon? if not is there any way for me to try this out? signed up for the beta as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, because of the token limit, this app is going to be paid, I thought about an XDA version with different tokens, but that would just go against Twitters rules still
Kage0x said:
I got the app a couple of hours ago and it's amazing.
Just a few things..
Where did the Talon Pull notifications go when they are received? I have to manually to update the timeline anyway.
You have to pull down for too long in order to update. You should adjust it
You should definitely implement threaded DMs, that would be pretty cool
Great app btw,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.) They go to the interactions drawer on the right, make sure you are on the newest version and it will work better (1.01)
2.) i changed it for the version im releasing now
3.) yeah the dm's have a lot of work i know!
Version 1.05
(up in ~2 hours)
Well, day one is coming to a close and i have added some nice stuff for all of you
There was an update earlier that solved some issues with the Talon Pull service not working and tweets being saved twice in some places. That was version 1.01.
Changelog for 1.05:
Correctly mute retweets
- Higher quality images on timeline
- Dismiss all on interactions drawer
- In-app browser is now optional
- Lowered swipe length for Pull to Refresh
- Option to display both screenname and name on timeline tweets
- Open app from clicking icon on widget
- Finished German translation
- Fixed contact images on layout change
- Attempted fixes for Play Store crash reports
I hopefully got the force closes that were reported today taken care of. Although there weren't many, which makes me happy
Let me know how this version works for all of you!
hi mate
the last update is wonderful
it fix almost every complain ppl have.... BUT.....
PLEASE and i repeat PLEASE don't use the same way of plume to manage DM
the DM must be in threaded conversations, with the ability to delete entire threads, just like a normal "sms" application does, and just like tweetbot does.
please fix the dm section and this could be the real deal for android users.
faremoney said:
hi mate
the last update is wonderful
it fix almost every complain ppl have.... BUT.....
PLEASE and i repeat PLEASE don't use the same way of plume to manage DM
the DM must be in threaded conversations, with the ability to delete entire threads, just like a normal "sms" application does, and just like tweetbot does.
please fix the dm section and this could be the real deal for android users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DMs will get a big rewrite, but I have a few other things I need to do first
klinkdawg24 said:
DMs will get a big rewrite, but I have a few other things I need to do first
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very nice app. I only have two "issues" Local Trends is displaying trendings from another country. The same happened to me with Falcon Pro so, I guess you both use same location service. It would be nice to have an option to select trends manually for people who is living in another country and wanna know what is happenning in their "home"
The other issue I found is that I think data loading is faster in other Twitter clients especially with timeline refresh
OK, this gets better and better.
The pull to refresh is better than before, but it still needs some improvement. Take a look at how the one from the gmail app behaves. That one is perfect. But this is just a minor issue, so it's not a big deal
Regarding the DM issue, could you at least change the order in which they are displayed, or at least give us the opportunity to do so? It's kinda weird to have the old ones first. But it really depends on long will it take to rewrite the whole thing, if you're going to do it
Also, I really think mentions notifications from the Talon Pull should go directly into the mentions tab instead of the additional drawer, but maybe that's just me
awesome. perhaps the only competitor falсon. you can do that display images if given a direct link to it? (everywhere)
view who retweet/favorite. display real-time, I mean like 20:14, but not 14 minutes ago. thx, man.
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.