Introducing EliteBomb Lite (for Legacy 1.6 Devices)

December 5, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I’ve been getting emails from users of legacy devices still running Android 1.6 asking why they can’t install EliteBomb, and I decided to port the application over to that version. This will be available in the Android market as “EliteBomb Lite” soon. EliteBomb lite is a copy of the free version, but without the ability to select from you contacts (which uses APIs introduced in 2.0). I don’t have any plans of porting over EliteBomb Plus to 1.6 at the moment. EliteBomb lite will be supported by advertisements, and will offer all other features present in the free version of EliteBomb, including SMS limit removal. If you have a device running a version of Android higher than 1.6, I do not recommend using EliteBomb Lite, as there are no benefits to using the Lite version. Unlike the regular and the Plus version of EliteBomb, EliteBomb Lite doesn’t even request the permission to read your contacts, since that feature isn’t available. EliteBomb Lite uses the maxSDKVersion attribute in the Android SDK in order to hopefully prevent the application from being used on version of Android greater than 1.6. Even though setting the maxSDKversion value is typically a bad idea, I believe it will help prevent people from installing the Lite version on their device if they don’t have to, since the Lite version provides a lesser user experience than the regular, free version. If you have a legacy device, expect to see EliteBomb Lite in the Android market soon. Also, here is the high resolution application icon that I created for EliteBomb Lite:

UPDATE: EliteBomb Lite is available in the Android market. Users of devices with versions of Android greater than 1.6 will not be able to see it listed.

Filed under Android, Android Applications, EliteBomb, EliteBomb Lite, My Applications, News, Updates Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Just Signed Up for Groupon, Checking it Out

December 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Groupon logo.
Image via Wikipedia

So, Groupon is the latest thing that everyone has been talking about lately. Basically, there is a new, localized deal every day on Groupon, which gives a huge discount on certain goods and services. The deal doesn’t start until a certain number of people say that they agree to buy it. This is a win-win situation for both consumers and sellers of goods, as the buyers get a great deal, while the sellers/retailers get a guaranteed minimum number of customers. I personally haven’t found anything worthwhile on Groupon yet, but since it’s been the subject of tons of media attention lately, I decided to create a free account and take a look around. Although I’m new to the site myself, I recommend signing up and judging it for yourself. If you’re interested in checking it out, click here.

Filed under Groupon, Miscellaneous Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Updating Content Ratings on All My Applications in Android Market

December 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The Android market now requires all developers to set a content rating in the Android market, selecting which age group the application is appropriate for. I am currently in the process of updating the content ratings on all of my applications so that they will continue to be available to all audiences in the Android market.

Filed under Android, Android Applications, My Applications, News, Updates Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

New High Resolution InfiniteSMS Application Icon

November 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Following the trend of creating high resolution application icons, I finished creating a new, high resolution application icon for InfiniteSMS. Personally, I don’t like this one as much as some of my other icons, but I didn’t want to spend too much time working on a new icon for InfiniteSMS when it’s more important to make sure that the application works well, and supports as many Android devices as possible. For this one, I was going for a cold, icy look, to match the light blue coloration of the existing InfiniteSMS icon. Anyways, here is the new high resolution icon for InfiniteSMS:

Filed under Android, Android Applications, Graphics, Image Manipulation, InfiniteSMS, My Applications, News, Updates Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What I Think About the New YouTube Widget

November 27, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Don’t get me wrong… I absolutely love the new YouTube application (well, new to me, considering I’ve been stuck with the archaic version in Android 2.1), and the application itself is a huge step forward from how the application used to be, and, I must say that it has one of, if not the best touch screen video player controls on any mobile device. However, there is one major flaw that only recently caught my attention: the style of the new YouTube widget. At first, it doesn’t look that bad. It tries to stand out by using the YouTube logo as part of the outline of the widget, and it has a very unusual gradient and outline (for the Android platform). Unfortunately, being creative and having a non-native feel are probably the worst traits of this widget. The left and right margins of this icon are very slim, causing the widget to feel cramped, and not fit in with most of the other Android widgets. In addition to that, the borders of this widget are really ‘sharp’ looking, in comparison to other widgets. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Take a look at the Google Search widget, the news and weather widget, the Google Buzz widget, the “Power Control” widget, or almost every other widget that comes preloaded with Android. Also, I don’t think I like the partial transparency of this widget, as it just doesn’t ‘feel’ right to me, since most other widgets are fully opaque with subtle transparent drop shadows and anti-aliased rounded corners. Functionality wise, the widget is great, since it’s mostly just a redesign of the previous YouTube widget.  While the widget looks great alone, when it’s on a mobile device, next to icons and other widgets, it feels cramped, the borders are too noticeable, and it doesn’t feel very native. Really, YouTube did an excellent job functionality wise with both the YouTube application and the widget, but I think there is always room for improvement, in particular, they could allocate more room for the title of the video by moving the record button under the search icon, and having them on top of each other, and moving the separator for the video information over to the right. Then they could go back to the old styling of the widget’s background, which looked similar to what was seen in the ‘power control’ widget. However that’s just my opinion on the new widget, and I’m sure that there are plenty of people out there who love the new look. My biggest complaint, however, is the slim margins on the sides of the widget.

Filed under Android, Google, Mobile, Rants, Reviews, Widgets, YouTube Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

FiOS WEP Calculator Site Moved to New Domain

November 21, 2010 by 1 Comment

You may remember that, a very long time ago,  I created a Java application that calculates the default WEP keys of most Verizon FiOS routers (I have a blog post about it on this blog). I had the application and the site for it hosted on Webs. Needless to say, Webs is terrible for hosting anything serious, and the old website I had was very basic, and only  a single page. Despite the ridiculously simple layout of the site, the complete lack of any kind of manual search engine optimization, what-so-ever, and any content other than a download for the FiOS WEP Calculator application, my FiOS WEP Calculator site has maintained the number one spot in the Google search results for “FiOS WEP Calculator” for over a year, and has received a very large number of hits and downloads. Today, I’m proud to announce that I have finished the process of moving the site over to my new domain, with it’s own subdomain on this website. All of the old content is still on Webs, but the main page that contains the link now contains JavaScript code that redirects all visitors to the new website. In addition to that, I added a note on the page, after the previous description of the applicaiton for all users of browsers without JavaScript support, stating:

Update: I now have my own dedicated domain name! Click here to visit the new site!

This will ensure that if anybody linked to the old website, all visitors will know that I migrated to a new domain name, and likely bring more traffic to this website. As of today, I am proud to announce that my new FiOS WEP Calculator website is now the number one result for a Google search of “FiOS WEP Calculator”.

Filed under FiOS WEP Calculator, Java Applications, My Applications, News, Updates, Websites Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New “ShareThis” Feature!

November 19, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I’ve added a new feature to all posts on my site called “ShareThis”. You can now choose to share posts with friends on tons of different social networks and blogs, including Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Blogger, and Google Buzz. You’ve probably seen these buttons on, like, every single blog ever written already, and I’m proud to announce that they’re now on my site as well. To try it now, simply click one of the share icons at the bottom of this post. I’m hoping that these share buttons will bring even more visitors to my site. Not only that, but these buttons are also a really fun feature that lets you share posts that you find interesting with your friends. Check it out! The default selection of networks listed under the posts is subject to change, as I may add or remove preset networks based on recommendations from visitors, as well as my own intuition.

Filed under Blog Updates, News, Updates Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Transitioning to the New Domain

November 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I’m currently manually porting over all of my posts from my old WordPress.com sub-domain. Until I’m done with that, all of my old content will still be on my old website. I’m not sure whether or not I will leave the content up, since I want to make visitors aware of my new site, but for now, I’m going to continue working on copying all of my old content over. Thank you for your patience. Also, if you would like to help me pay for the site, you can choose to do so here.

Filed under News Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Clippy Now Has Its Own Page on My Blog!

August 23, 2010 by Leave a Comment

It’s about time I made a page dedicated just to Clippy, which, at this rate, is becoming a larger project every day. This page will be used to explain the purpose of Clippy, list it’s features, and talk about useful tips and tricks that can make using Clippy a better experience. The page is still under construction, but I’m pretty happy with how it looks right now, and I’m planning on updating the page and adding new content as I continue to work on the Clippy project. Even though Clippy already has many useful features, and it can probably be useful on a daily basis, Clippy is still missing a lot of functions that will take it from “Pretty Good” to “Great”. Because I’d probably forget to add features to the page later, I added some features that don’t exist yet/don’t work right to the list of features on the Clippy page. These features are marked in red text, so that you can easily identify them. If you have any feedback about the page, or any suggestions for content that you believe I should add to it, feel free to let me know.

Filed under Android, Android Applications, Clippy, Clippy Public Beta, My Applications, News, Updates Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,