Welp. Guess I can cross ‘learn buttons’ off the colloquial list.
Turns out you can make buttons by slamming out some xml. Nicely played, Google. Next order of business…figure out how to show these in landscape mode.
We’ve got Buttons
Android Hello World
Pushing code to the phone, FTW!
I managed to throw together a quick Hello World using the Android SDK, configure a FroYo emulator, and drop the code to my Droid 2. Not a bad little Saturday, really.
Screen shot from the emulator…
Webcam snap of code on phone…
So it begins. Stay tuned for snippets.
iM tiRed of lazy tech journaliSm
Tech writers are the best. I most certainly don’t read the stuff that hits news aggregates because of informative banter and notable content, I read it for comic value.
Well… comic value and insight into human nature. Most notably: laziness
It seems to me that the easiest way to get published is to talk about a i* killer. Replace the wildcard with either “pod”
“pad”
or “phone”…
…and write a half-assed article about a new product. Guaranteed Google, MSN, Yahoo, Drudge, or whoever else will have that bad boy on the front page.
Protip: Next time you are charged with the task of covering a new Samsung product’s press release, save some time and just go with “End of Apple???” and be done with it. The whole killer angle was spent several years ago…when we nerds were buying Sandisk players, loading Ubuntu on netbooks, and making wild guesses on forums what RIM was going to do with the next generation of BB phones. Oh….the good old days.
FWIW, I’ll put a Droid X up against all three of those products. For the price point, nothing can touch that machine…my Droid 2 included.
New Egg: A Tribute to Angry Birds
In the spirit of the season, I’d feeling merry. Promo code merry. I hope your season is filled with awesome technology, and I hope you take a tip out of my tech tip-book and use a NewEgg promo code for maximum FTW.
I have a sickness. I can’t get Angry Birds out of my head. Even trying to plug NewEgg, I’m thinking about the egg-shooting Angry Bird…
I used my artistic license to color that bird. Only an amateur would think that a blue Angry Bird would drop exploding eggs. Of course, the white Angry Bird is the egg dropper, and the blue Angry Bird is the shotgun-spray, ice attacker. Good stuff.
What can I say about NewEgg that won’t be common knowledge? Promo codes. Savings.com is my first stop before I hit NewEgg… right now, they have a code up that saves between ten and fifty percent. Not too bad, for thirty seconds of work. They usually have a variety of codes up…pretty awesome.
I’m still looking into TVs, hard. I have it hammered down to between 42 and 55 inches, and am leaning towards a 46 or 47…like this guy from NewEgg
$700 for a Samsung 46″ 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV…even the low end of that promo code range puts you in that tele for $630…probably under $600. Makes it hard to pass up.
Anyhow, take a look. Tablet PCs, memory, you name it. NewEgg / Savings.com…do it. I’ll be playing Angry Birds, FWIW.
Too Many Projects, Too Little Time
srsly gyz…
Arduinos, Air-Soft pistols, robot kits, Droids, and soldering irons. Seriously…I need some goddamn free time. Maybe this weekend…
Droid 2 Must Have Games
Games kick ass, am I right? Am I right? (****Spoiler…YES!*****)
Since I haven’t blathered about how awesome Android stuff is in a while, I figured I would ramble about games for a while. So far, I have found four games that are pretty much “must-have.” I hate that term, but it gets me search engine traffic. And traffic is a must-have. (Sorry.) You can find these must-havers on Android Market, but you probably knew that. Let’s begin.
In order of most-must-have, to still-must-have-but-not-as-much-as-most-must-have…
Angry Birds — Q. Why so angry, birds? A. Those egg-stealing pigs, that’s why.
Robo Defense — Tower defense, FTW. I got really, really sucked into this one, keeping it in the two spot. All acheivements, check.
Fruit Ninja — Chopping the shit out of fruit…this game is as fun as it sounds
Doodle Jump — Pretty sure this (like Angry Birds) made some waves on iStuff. You jump a doodle…it is amusing as hell.
I’m still waiting for the non-advertisment-laden version of Angry Birds to drop. Right now, the free app is all that is out there on the Android Market. I’m not entirely sure, but I think I spent less than 3 bucks for the other three apps. Robo Defense has a pretty solid trial version, FWIW.
Well, in any regards, get Angry Birds. Meetings at work become little workday vay-kays. Little bird flinging vay-kays.
If you come across anything that I should check out, hit me with a comment. Or, Tweet that crap over to @swantron. Plug.
Droid 2 Must Have Games
Games kick ass, am I right? Am I right? (****Spoiler…YES!*****)
Since I haven’t blathered about how awesome Android stuff is in a while, I figured I would ramble about games for a while. So far, I have found four games that are pretty much “must-have.” I hate that term, but it gets me search engine traffic. And traffic is a must-have. (Sorry.) You can find these must-havers on Android Market, but you probably knew that. Let’s begin.
In order of most-must-have, to still-must-have-but-not-as-much-as-most-must-have…
Angry Birds — Q. Why so angry, birds? A. Those egg-stealing pigs, that’s why.
Robo Defense — Tower defense, FTW. I got really, really sucked into this one, keeping it in the two spot. All acheivements, check.
Fruit Ninja — Chopping the shit out of fruit…this game is as fun as it sounds
Doodle Jump — Pretty sure this (like Angry Birds) made some waves on iStuff. You jump a doodle…it is amusing as hell.
I’m still waiting for the non-advertisment-laden version of Angry Birds to drop. Right now, the free app is all that is out there on the Android Market. I’m not entirely sure, but I think I spent less than 3 bucks for the other three apps. Robo Defense has a pretty solid trial version, FWIW.
Well, in any regards, get Angry Birds. Meetings at work become little workday vay-kays. Little bird flinging vay-kays.
If you come across anything that I should check out, hit me with a comment. Or, Tweet that crap over to @swantron. Plug.
Awesome Droid Apps Redux
Guess what? I’m posting this via my Droid 2, since Verizon’s 3G is faster than my Bresnan high-speed. Maybe one of their sys admins knocked some servers offline…I bet it is really hard to get around those racks with GIGANTIC CLOWN SHOES. Fuck Bresnan…whatever.
Here is a pic of an angry bird:
I feel your pain, angry bird. I’m picking up what you are angrily putting down. Now to the point of the post. I’m bringin Droid Apps back. You Apple fanboiz don’t know how to act.
Back in the day, I posted a little gem about the Android apps that I deemed must haves. Well, as fate would have it, my title brought me a bit of traffic. SEO FTW. Here is another (hopefully) perfectly titled post, that is dually of value for my fellow Android users.
Here we go…my top 5 Droid apps as of right now.
1) ATK, again. Battery life is still a perpetual issue. Blast your junk processes, and blast them often.
2) Angry Birds. Those birds are angrier than I. Best game I have seen on this damn thing. Bar none.
Tie, 3/4) Nesoid/GameBoid. Emultating the crap out of NES and GBA games. I found a bunch of stuff I used to play when I was a youngster. +1 usage of younster.
5) WiimoteControl. You know what…this will assuredly jump to the number two spot, once I can chop up the code and figure out the motion control aspect. Perhaps number one…who needs a ton of battery life when you can map the crap out of motions and use that as your input scheme I bet ten minutes with that interface combo will sufficiently blow your mind.
Grab one of these phones, root it, and grab those ^ apps. Good times will ensue.
Nerd Wish List
Black Friday is right around the corner. Not to offend anyone, but going to brick and mortar stores for sales is sort of ridiculous. Getting up in the middle of the night, standing in giant lines, jockeying for position, standing in more giant lines…all for the sake of saving money on a set amount of big ticket items. The marketing is blatant…’while supplies last’ is likely to mean that there will be roughly a dozen of the cheap LED LCD TVs that look so attractive on paper. You probably got up and did all of that for nothing.
Take a note from my book: avoid the giant hassle and shop online. I popped over to my perennial favorite http://www.savings.com for a few ideas. As usual, they didn’t let me down.
I am a pretty simple nerd. I have to buy my components on a per-project basis, so my small ticket items are taken care of. I really only have three items on my list, and savings.com has screaming deals on two of three.
Item one…Android Tablet
For development and general coolness, I want a tab. Badly.
Item two…new Android Mobile Device
Read: phone. I want a new one…also for development purposes and general coolness.
Item three is the new Zelda game for Wii. I have a feeling Katie will get me that…but chances are good that she could save some loot by checking savings.com first.
Anyhow…take a look and save yourself a trip.
Wiimote Input For Droid
Nerd cred…oh indEEd
Playing GBA games on a Droid is cool.
Playing GBA games on a Droid via a Wiimote is ubercool.
Once I can figure out the accelerometer input, I’ll post more. In the meantime, I’ll be playing a little Mario Pinball. Suckers.