Just read an interesting article about embedding page data right into the link and some kind fellow on Slashdot created an example ... just wondering if I can host the <<same link here on Blogger>>. For some odd reason or another the link does not show up in the normal way so i have surrounded it with guillemets... and I'm running FireFox on Linux: it won't work on me so I need your feedback... Does it work for you?

--edit to highlight link

Orbitals 2 ready for release, ADBassist conversion and OSIA

Hi all,

   Just a little update on Orbital Live Wallpaper (source), after messing around with the internals (there was some shifty maths going on in the background) I've been able to separate out the transition away and the transition back to orbit. This allows the transitions to form some interesting patterns. I have also added a new transition (I was hoping for two, but just want to get the updates and fixes out) and a couple of color schemes. Hopefully I'll be releasing this weekend.

   Secondly, I've finished converting ADBassist from gtk to swing... I choose gtk initially to get brownie points in the Ubuntu App Challenge and also with the ulterior motive of learning something new. The Java wrapper for gtk was certainly easy to use and I think some things like images and layouts were a touch more user friendly to use but all in all I felt limited in what I could do and was uncertain how well it will handle background processes when I get them going soon. I also felt a touch bad making an application with platform dependencies that were not strictly necessary... that is, I wouldn't've minded using gtk if I got any extra capability, but it seemed not to offer anything I was using (dbus support is the only thing that springs to mind, and I wasn't using that).

   Finally there is also an upcoming open source event in Melbourne (so if you're not from Australia you might not be all that interested) this week. It totally looks more like an event for managers than techs, but it has potential to be interesting and most importantly there's free food! Although there is zero chance of me being there by 5:30, but I'll defiantly rock up at some stage before 8. Well, I'd better go rsvp and try to prepare the release of orbitals. Details below:

"What does the NBN mean to the Open Source Software Industry"
Date:  Wednesday 22 August
Time:  5.30 pm for 6.00 pm start to 8.00 pm
Venue:  NBNCo Discovery Center
            1010 La Trobe St, Docklands

Please help make this event a success by promoting it through your own channels as appropriate.

Event Program:

1. Presentation by NBN Senior Staff on opportunities that likely to arise from the NBN.  
There will also be other NBN personel who will be able to answer questions.

2. Presentation by Kanchana Wickremasinghe, Senath Ltd.

Kanchana will talk about Senath's use of Open Source software to deliver the Cloud based PaaS Durga Platform.

3. Update on OSIA activities.

4. Networking opportunity with other guests

Refreshments available.

Following the event, you are also invited to join others for dinner somewhere in Melbourne.

** Please note: RSVP by 20 August is essential. Email osia-events@osia.com.au. **

Ubuntu app showdown

I think there's about 4 days left in the Ubuntu app showdown and my entry is finally starting to resemble a functional program :)
For my entry I have chosen to write a GUI wrapper around the Android sdk tools, mainly adb, but also the sdk manager and the virtual machine manager. It's called ADBassist, check out the code: https://code.launchpad.net/~puzzleduck/adbassist/trunk.
At the moment all it does is download the sdk, update them to get adb, run adb and create a new tab for each device... now I've got to keep the tabs up to date (I will probably poll adb every 5-10 seconds for a device list for now, but monitoring dbus for USB events would probably be a smarter/better way to go).
I will also spend the weekend setting up the individual device tabs with useful functions such as an apk and other files upload facilities (adb push), file download and backup (adb pull), device status (adb shell df -h for example) and advanced functions like reboot and mock locations... maybe even screenshots and/or remote control.
Finally a release mode testing would be super... In turn each possible avd is downloaded, a virtual machine created for each, apk is installed and run on the virtual device in turn... It's a nice dream anyway :)
Oh, and in other "big" news ADBassist now has a logo... Bask in the glory:

Open Stack meet up.

Hey all,

Just found out about an Open Stack meet up happening through Linux Users Victoria. It's on tomorrow (Tuesday May 15) at 6.30pm.

I'm not sure what to expect as I haven't been before, but I'm defiantly going to head on over and check it out... I've included all the details below:


6:30-8.30PM, Gryphon Gallery, 1888, Building 198, Graduate Centre, corner of Grattan and Swanston, University of Melbourne.
We will have John Dickinson, Swift Project Technical Lead giving us a talk about Swift via WebEx. We'll also have WebEx available to remote or persons that cannot attend. Food and drinks will be provided, Looking forward to seeing you there.

 I'll do my best to remember to report back ;)
Cheers,
   Ben.

Announcing the first release of the Orbitals Live Wallpaper app for Android

It's been a rollercoaster of a ride but it's here:
The Orbitals Live Wallpaper.


Orbitals LWP is the second spin-off from my original Target Live Wallpaper app.

Orbitals introduces a windows 8 style loading bubbles along with standard and knotted orbits (inspired by the Trefoil knot).

The color schemes are mostly tech/oss inspired and include Ubuntu, XDA, Slashdot and more.

The color scheme, trail length and speed of the orbitals will vary randomly and changed after every touch.

Let me know what you thought out even better let every one know by rating in the Google Play Store or donating.

So get cracking and check out the video below, the source code and the app itself in the market (or have a look at my other work)

Screens:

 

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83A9zcTSBV0

Source: https://github.com/PuZZleDucK/Orbital-Live-Wallpaper/

App: http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=orbitlivewallpaper.puzzleduck.com

Installing a custom rom on the Huwei U8510 ... using nothing but my linux!

All the instructions for rooting and installing custom roms for the Huwei U8510 seem to be for windows users, so here it is the world exclusive ;) Huwei U8510 rooting and custom rom guide for linux!

Sanity checks:
1. Android SDK & tools installed (i.e. "adb" and "fastboot" work)... check!
2. Prerequisite knowledge: you knew "adb" and "fastboot" were terminal commands... check!
3. "adb devices" returns the u8510 and only the u8510 (just a precaution i like to take)... check.

Roms:
- Spanish
- deBranded
- Zad

Recovery (kudos: Lebo):
- Recovery

Other info tying it all together but with busted links (kudos: Leandros):
http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/18158/how-do-i-root-a-huawei-x3

Step 1: Download roms and Recovery.
Step 2: Replace SD card (goldcard may be required... I'm using mine), copy roms onto sd card.
Step 3: prepare phone, go to settings > apps and disable "fastboot".
Step 4: Unplug USB.
Step 5: Boot into fastboot mode (reboot and hold Volume Down + Power).
Step 6: Plug in usb. Verify fastboot with "sudo fastboot devices". Your devices serial number may be "??????????"... mine was.
Step 7: "sudo fastboot erase recovery".
Step 8: "sudo fastboot flash recovery recovery.img".
Step 9: "sudo fastboot reboot" ... Steps 7, 8 and 9 should result in "OKAY" feedback.
[Optional]. Backup. and Wipe.
Step 10: Start flashing roms... WOOT!!!

Step 11: Smile smugly to yourself because you did it and didn't need to touch those nasty Windows and you'll never again have to see that ugly Vodaphone logo.


Rom1: De-branded
Faster, cleaner UI, nicer lock screen, faster camera, Android 2.3.5, 2.6.35.7-perf kernel, SU, navigation and market.

Rom2: Eclipse
Feels faster again, same lock screen, same Android and kernel, english-as-second-language, androidlost, goomanager, market, brut-maps, SU, xda-app, nice status bar update (numeric battery display).

Rom3: Zad
Custom boot animation <3, same lock, Android 2.3.3, same kernel, horrible jellybean app drawer (can't wait to drop ADW over this ugly sucker), astro, market, xda, brut, SU, Titanium, goomanager, cpu master and MerkaMarket (Spanish market?). ADW improves things somewhat.

Rom4: Spanish
Fail to install... maybe one day,

but for now,

 the winner is:

...

Eclipse... only the Zeam version... I never use it (except for in demos), but I like Zeam. :D

These messes I'm in and out of.

It's been a while since my last post so I thought it was about time to do a quick roundup of the current (shambolic, but fortunately improving) state of development in my apps.


Stalin Phone... Where it all started.

I started working on a video recording version of Stalin Phone some time ago and got caught in a bit of a snag. It seems that video recording is not possible without a VideoView object from the layout (failed attempts included declaring a new video view in code). This puts me in a bit of a pickle as Stalin Phone runs in the background with no UI. I have come up with a couple of possible solutions to this since I last worked on it. One possibility is to use a custom toast notification with an embedded video view, possibly this might fall when the toast is dismissed but I could probably set it's timeout high enough to outlast your average call. Secondly (and preferably) I could try replacing the current notification with a custom status bar notification... the snag here being that I am not yet sure how much raw access to the custom layout I will have (i.e. Can I directly grab the video view or do I only get access to a handler).

This leads into another couple of side projects I started to explore the world of status bar notifications.

Photo-A-Day... Simple notifications.
This is probably the most likely project to finish first as I haven't so much hit a snag as I have got distracted.

I now have the framework for the app set up, just need to add shared preferences storage (started), resume on power up and a little bit of cut and polish :p



Motivational Puzzles demonic offspring: Pseudomonarchia Daemonum...
 I've also refocused motivational puzzle into a demonic motivational piece based off the demonic book of names... Maybe an angelic counterpart should be on the books for the future.


The experimental Puzzle Cam has also halted in its tracks for the time being as the rom I'm running (BCM) has flakey camera support at the moment. Last time I was working on it I was close to cracking the camera preview frame (fuzzy green images in triplicate), but not quite yet and I'm not sure when I'll pick this one up again. Low priority.


Finally we come to my two babies: Target Live Wallpaper and Mou5e Live Wallpaper.
Not much happening on the mouse lwp, but target lwp is almost exploding with new features. Well at least two anyway. I made some progress with the fireworks module, fireworks now explode better and fall back towards earth after explosion.
I'm most excited about the last feature (mainly because I just nailed it about an hour ago): importing custom models... For now it's importing a hard coded sample, but once I integrate xml parsing it should be a sinch to import any model from Google sketchpadsketchup to use as the 3d model. Woot!

Also just added "orbitals" checkout the video below to see the demo :D