Database Develop

My idea for a cool nexus desk setup -unimportant :)

So, i have an idea im trying to make work.
I just recently bought a $10 clamp stand for 7-10 inch tablets that happens to fit my nexus 7 perfectly, and along with it came an idea to expand my current computer/desk setups abilities.
1. The stand has a weighted, rubber, 360 degree rotatable holster, that is waited enough to safely hang my nexus 7 off the edge of my desk, without risk of it dropping, making it look as if it is attached to the desk itself. that is where it is at the moment.
2. Face-recog: I want to get this interface on my computer, however for now face recognition works wonders on my nexus to unlock it when i sit down, when paired with (3.) i no longer have to touch my power button to wake the device (at expense of battery, which as my nexus is stationary, is no longer necessary)
3. Camera-motion-detection-wake: there is an app on the app store i bought to detect motion even on lock through the camera, when it does, it wakes the device which immediately starts face recognition, when i sit down, face detection will unlock my device.
4. (IDEA) Face recog for computer: If there is an app on the app store that can lock a windows/fedora/mac/ubuntu/mint device while the tablet screen is locked, i want to know about it. However to use multiple programs in sync, a face unlock program is available for windows as long as you have a webcam, if you set up your nexus as a wifi camera through an app on the play store, the nexus, and windows will be seeing the same image through the nexus to unlock your computer, and tablet, simultaniously. --Currently in motion to complete (4.)
5. Because of the voice recognition capability of the nexus 7, it would then extend your abilities to quickly gain knowledge on a subject without opening a window and using google, because of hot word detection, this makes it much easier to use on the nexus seven. (IDEA: i am currently looking for an app that seeks hotword detection while not inside of google voice so i can open google voice from my home screen (or any app) using voice)
6. Assistant, Speaktoit: This application is a degree more advanced then google now, and is freely available on the app store. i will be using a feature to replace google now with assistant by speaktoit, eliminating the need for me to press a button to continue to talk to my assistant.
7. XMBC: xmbc media center was recently released for android, and is installed on my nexus 7 currently, with it i should be able to keep a movie, show, music, or weather up without sacrificing productivity on my computer.
8. SPB shell: this nice, expensive, but nice, shell has a very advanced tablet interface that grants much more potential to a device that is using it. I currently have purchased this as it provides me immediate information, and a sophisticated note widget which i can keep on my desk, as my tablet is now stationary.
9. (IDEA Motion detection wake for both tablet and computer): motion detection can be performed the same way as step 4, using a program that uses the nexus 7's camera to wait for motion detection on my windows computer, both my tablet and computer, will wake the screen, and unlock upon me sitting down at my desk.
10. 1 keyboard, 2 devices: Using the wifi keyboard app originally created here on XDA-Developers, which is now freely available in the Play store. You can use your computers keyboard on both your computer, and your tablet, making your tablet much faster at completing tasks, as you are no longer limited in speed by an on-screen keyboard.
11. Instant messaging: This frees up your computers screen for productivity, while you can then chat on the tablet, using the same keyboard.
12. Audio from both devices, 1 headset: streaming your computers audio to an android device is simple, however streaming audio from an android device to your computer is much less complicated even than that. If you intend to use headphones, using an app that sends the audio from your nexus, to your computer, would allow you to use your tablet more effectively, as you would not miss notification sounds.
13. Talkatone: This allows you to place free phonecalls inside of the US on your tablet as long as you have wifi, with sprint and t-mobile, you can even keep your regular phone number, and recieve calls meant for your phone, on your tablet.
This setup with 2 nexus 7's will only increase computer productivity, same with 3, same with 4, and free up your screen space on your computer for things you want to do, while having things like (music, youtube, videos, social networks, weather, downloading) all on your tablet/tablets.
I will have a video of this setup working, how it will look , and demonstrate any increase in productivity, in the next week or so on youtube, and will embed it here for any who are interested.
I do want to ask though, if any of you out there that read this know of any applications i may not have heard of to help this process, or any other thing the nexus can do to increase productivity when stationary by your computer, Please feel free to add on or aid me in any way, i want this to look as nice as possible.

Send Commands to Android Auto from Phone

Does anyone know if it is possible to send a command to the Android Auto inteface?
For instance. "Play"
Right now if you play music on the phone after connecting to android auto for instance using Tasker, the music will play but the Android Auto interface doesn't pick up that music has started playing. It will notice if you manually click on the Music button at the bottom but until then it has no idea that music started playing.
So. No song info on the main screen. All headunit control buttons don't work.

The Android Auto protocol allows a Headunit to send a Play command and that tends to be triggered by a physical Play button on the HU.
But you still need an Android Auto compatible audio app to actually DO something with a received Play command.
Google COULD choose to allow any normal audio app to work under Android Auto, but they choose not to, IMO because it increases competition for Google's Play Music app.
I think that a third party Android Auto compatible app could act as a "middle-man" between a non AA app and AA. But I'm sure such an app would never be allowed on Play, so there's not much incentive for professional devs to build one. I've considered it, but I'm busy enough.

Alternatives to Android Auto?

As far as I understand it, AA requires installation of several additional Google services on my phone. When I installed LOS on my Nexus 6, I did this to avoid all these Google services and apps. So I am looking for an alternative to AA, that enables me to use some of my apps on my car's entertainment screen, but without having to install these Google apps. Basically, what I would like the most, is a way to change between different audio streaming apps, e.g. change from the podcast player to the music player, without the need to fiddle on the phone's screen. My car's entertainment system is capable of receiving audio streams from my phone via bluetooth, and I can simply switch to that mode by switching from "radio" to "media". But that will, of course, always start the app that was used before. When I want to stop listening to music and start a podcast instead, I still need to use the phone.
Is there any chance of achieving what I want without all the supplementary and unwanted Google apps?

I'm wondering the same thing, I really like the idea of Android Auto, but despise how deeply integrated into the Google frameworks it is.
I know it would likely be a tremendous amount of work, but it would be awesome to have something like Micro G for Android Auto that is completely de-googled and lets us use alternate voice command frameworks in addition to the features you already mentioned.

The major reason as to why Google gave birth to its Android Auto service was the fact that it made navigation easier and much safer. The native Android Auto app for your cars and your phone has big, bold icons and elements to view without squinting your eyes while driving.
1. Drivemode: Safe Driving
2. Waze
3. HERE WeGo
4. Car Dashdroid
5. Dashlinq – Car Dashboard Launcher
6. AutoMate Car Dashboard
7. Microsoft Cortana

Cogereinfotech said:
The major reason as to why Google gave birth to its Android Auto service was the fact that it made navigation easier and much safer. The native Android Auto app for your cars and your phone has big, bold icons and elements to view without squinting your eyes while driving.
1. Drivemode: Safe Driving
2. Waze
3. HERE WeGo
4. Car Dashdroid
5. Dashlinq – Car Dashboard Launcher
6. AutoMate Car Dashboard
7. Microsoft Cortana
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you may have misunderstood the point of this thread. Those other apps may provide a driving friendly interface on the phone display itself, but DO NOT link with Android Auto compatible head units found in most cars without going through Google's proprietary Android Auto app.
I'm interested in a non-Google app (maybe something like Micro G or even a modded version like YouTube Vanced) that emulates the Android Auto server so it can interact with Android Auto compatible car head units without requiring the Google framework or Gapps to be installed.

Fake "Google Maps" and other GAPPS to fool Android Auto

Recently I started to experiment with AA, and I like the idea of being able to operate my podcast and music player on my car's entertainment screen. But, on the other hand, I deliberately I choose LOS once, because I don't want to have too many GAPPS on my phone. So, having to install all the GAPPS that are required to make AA work, doesn't really thrill me.
Would it be possible to fool AA with some fake GAPPS that do nothing more than to resolve the dependencies, so that AA will connect to the car without the need to install Google Maps, for instant? The main goal for this would be making apps like music players controllable on the car's entertainment screen.
I am neither a programmer nor a developer, so this idea might look very naive to you. But yet, it would be interesting to hear what you think of it.

Any Advice For an Audio Player (Local Files only)

I have 1,000 CDs that I've ripped to my PC as WAV. They are basically all of the rock genre (Classic, hard rock, heavy metal, nu metal, 90s grunge, etc.), and because of that, I prefer lossless. I've tagged all of them to the Discogs database, using Foobar2000.
I use this same collection on my PC and also copied to the MicroSD of my Note 9, which I connect to my Kenwood DMX907S head unit through Wireless Android Auto.
The objective is to create several playlists based on tags. Also, I want to be able to normalize the sound, so that regardless of the quality of the recording, all tracks are equally as loud at their highest points within the tracks. For playing on PC, this can be easily done, using Foobar2000. From what I understand, there is an Android App for Foobar2000, but it was not nearly as developed as the PC version and therefore cannot create playlists based on the type of tags I'm looking to utilize.
Tags include:
Genre
Artist
Album
Date Added to Library
Possibly other custom tags (for instance, Live or Studio / Original or Cover)
Are there any Android Auto compatible music apps out there that can create these types of playlists using local files, such that they're compatible with Android Auto? ...AND can manage the sound levels as needed?

I use Bubble upnp as I also use it to cast. Give it a look to see if it does everything you are interested in.

Note10.1Dude said:
I use Bubble upnp as I also use it to cast. Give it a look to see if it does everything you are interested in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I added that app and am currently trying it. I'm noticing that all artists are listed as <Unknown>. Is this because when tagging, I used the %artist% tag instead of %album artist% ? Is there a way to adjust this in the app?

I had some rips that didn't read correctly and ended up using MP3TAG on my PC to fix their metadata. I rip all my CDs to FLAC with EAC, and generally it just works, so I can't be of much help.

Although BubbleUPNP is an excellent DLNA media player, it doesn't support Android Auto and there are no plans to include it anytime soon (I requested the dev for this feature to be added and was told it was basically impossible unless the whole app was rewritten from scratch. That was a couple of years ago now, and unfortunately nothing's changed since).
For local music playback, I'm using 'Oto Music' from the Play Store. It's a very well designed music player with Replay Gain and full AA support, although I'm not too sure if regarding your playlists it could be what you're looking for... In any event, it's a free app and constantly gets upgrades and new features.

Now you got me wondering. I use BubbleUPNP in the car all the time, but possibly only from my tablet via bluetooth. I thought it also worked from my phone via AA... I'll have to re-check that.

Note10.1Dude said:
Now you got me wondering. I use BubbleUPNP in the car all the time, but possibly only from my tablet via bluetooth. I thought it also worked from my phone via AA... I'll have to re-check that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use anyaudio app to get any music app in AA. And you need root and AA AIO TWEAKER to enable it.
[App][5.1+][Alpha] AnyAutoAudio - Use any audio app in Auto
AnyAutoAudio So I was tired of not being able to use the audio apps I normally use in Auto and decided to try and do something about it. This app is the result :fingers-crossed: How does it work? By using the notification listener permission...
forum.xda-developers.com
[ROOT ONLY] AA AIO TWEAKER - The ultimate Android Auto Utility
Meet AA AIO TWEAKER, the new Swiss Army Knife for a less restrictive and more feature-ful Android Auto! How do I use it? Allow root access, choose what you want, reboot, and then forget about it :) How does it work? This app uses SQLite...
forum.xda-developers.com