Tag Archives: nfc

10 more open source Android apps which every developer must look into

Published May 31, 2012 | In Android/Java

Sometime back, I listed top 10 Open source Android apps, which every developer must look into. It’s been quite sometime since I wrote it and now I am adding a few more to the list.

Ubuntu One

Ubuntu One is a cloud storage service by Ubuntu. They have released an Android app which allows you to upload files to the cloud from your mobile and also manage your Ubuntu One account from your phone.

You can learn how to upload files, make Rest API calls, store auth tokens, detect WIFI activation etc by browsing the source code.

Source code Url: https://code.launchpad.net/ubuntuone-android-files

Mixare

Mixare is an open source Augmented Reality Engine for Android. It is pretty well build and complete.

You will learn how to draw custom shapes on top of the live video feed captures by the camera by browsing the source code. You can also learn about creating Plugin models in Android apps.

Source code Url: http://code.google.com/p/mixare/

Desksms

DeskSMS is an android app that forwards all your text messages and call history to your GTalk, GMail, or a convenient website and browser extension. It written by koushikdutta.com, the author of Rom Manager

You can learn how to read, send and forward sms and call log by browsing the source code. In addition to the android app source code, checkout the other browser extension source code as well.

Source code Url: https://github.com/ClockworkMod/DeskSMS

Call Meter NG

Call Meter NG/3G is an Android application summing up your call and text logs.

You can learn how to read call logs, SMS logs, MMS logs and data logs by browsing the source code. In addition to it, you can also learn how to create variable length widgets, which is one of the cool things about the app.

Source code Url: http://code.google.com/p/callmeter/

Scrobble Droid

Scrobble Droid is an Android app, that keeps track of music you listen and sends the details to Last.fm

You can learn how to track music that is currently playing in Android by browsing the source code. In addition to it, you can also learn how to consume Last.fm API from ndroid.

Source code Url: http://code.google.com/p/scrobbledroid/

Gmote

Gmote is an Android app that turns your Android phone into a remote control for a computer, allowing users to run movies and music at a distance.

You can learn how to transfer touch and other gestures from phone to computer and also about music streaming between phone and computer by browsing the source code.

Source code Url: http://code.google.com/p/gmote/

Ema Personal Wiki

Ema Personal Wiki is a notebook with linkable pages for tracking your ideas, todo lists, tasks, bookmarks, brainstorms etc. The notes are stored in markdown format and can be synchronized using Dropbox account.

You can learn about using markdown and syncing files using Dropbox Api by browsing the source code.

Source code Url: https://github.com/janwillemb/Ema-Personal-Wiki

Chrome to Phone

Google Chrome to Phone Extension is a project consisting of a Chrome Extension, Android App, and supporting AppEngine server that enables users to send links from their Chrome desktop browser to their Android device using Android’s Cloud to Device Messaging service.

You will learn about using C2DM and sharing url from browser by browsing the source code.

Source code Url: http://code.google.com/p/chrometophone/

Android Tetris

It is a Tetris clone for Android.

You will learn about drawing on the canvas by browsing the source code.

Source code Url: http://code.google.com/p/androidtetris/

NFC Tic Tac Toe

This is a sample Tic Tac Toe game implemented using NFC.

You will learn about transfering data using NFC by browsing the source code.

Source code Url: https://github.com/iBadrinath/NFC-TicTacToe

Posted in Android/Java | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

Transferring data from Android using Audio

Published Apr 7, 2012 | In Android/Java, Events/Conferences

Just came back from monthly Bangalore Android meetup. Today I gave a talk about transferring data from in and out of Android using the audio jacket.

About the talk

In the talk I mainly discussed about the way by which you can transfer data in and out of Android using the audio.

I also discussed about the ways by which you can read this data in Arduino from Android.

Continue reading »

Posted in Android/Java, Events/Conferences | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

How I designed my wedding invitation

Published Jan 21, 2012 | In Random/Personal

Well, as most of you know, I am getting married in a couple of weeks. One of the important things which I needed to do for my marriage was to print the wedding invitation card.

I am not that good at writing stuff that needs to be put on the invitation card, so instead I did what I do best. I wrote code 😉 Yes both figuratively and literally 🙂 Need proof? check the photographs.

My marriage Invitation

Code

After deciding that I wanted to write code, I had to decide the language. Initially I thought of writing an HTML document with tags. But somehow I was not convinced that HTML is a real programming language (okay, I am not here for a language war 😉 ).

After giving some more thought on it, I decided to do it in JavaScript. It was also fitting that I do it in JavaScript, since I had been mostly a web developer through out my career.

After a few minutes I had the basic version. After a couple of revisions, I finally came up with this version.

Update: I have also posted an explanation of this code, if in case JavaScript is not your cup of tea.

Screenshot

After completing the program (which I nicknamed as the “program that changed my life”), I had to decide how to print it on the card. Navneet Nair, who works with me, suggested me to put a screenshot of my IDE with the code inside.

Even I liked the idea and that’s how I decided to take a screenshot of my IDE and have it printed as the card.

Vim/Vi

This was a pretty easy decision to make. I was typing the code in vim (macVim to be exact) and after trying out a couple of color schemes, I finally settled on the desert color scheme

Envelope

The next step was to design the envelope. I did a basic version in Photoshop, by picking up some quotes from the programmer Ryan Gosling meme and placing them in comic sans font 🙂 I then asked Navneet if he would like to change anything. He looked at it and said that he would like to change everything 😉 He then did a quick design in Illustrator with the quotes and it came out very well.

NFC

I wanted to increase the geeky quotient of my wedding invitation a little more and that’s when I thought of embedding NFC chips in the card.

I first heard about NFC in Google’s IO last year and first saw it in action at DroidCon organized by HasGeek a couple of months before. I got hold of the person who had a stall at DroidCon and bought NFC stickers from him. They were a little costly but added a lot of geekness to the invitation 😉

I then used the NFC Tag Writer Android app, to write a url on these NFC chips. If you tap an NFC enabled phone on my invitation, it will automatically open up a url which has information about my marriage, address and map to the marriage hall etc.

QR code

After doing the NFC stuff, I realized that most may not have a NFC enabled phone. That’s when I remembered about QR codes and generated one.

If I had time, I could have loved to customize the QR code a bit, but I didn’t have much time, so settled with the default one. You can find it at the back of the envelope.

Printing

After designing both the card and the envelope, I worked with a person from a print shop called PrintWorks who helped me get it printed. They were very helpful and delivered stuff on time and I highly recommend them.

Files

All my design files including the JavaScript source file are available at github. Feel free to use them for your own wedding (if you are not married yet 😉 )

Credits

There are couple of people who helped me to get this card designed and printed. A huge thanks to all of them.

  • Navneet Nair, who works with me at Yahoo.
  • Swamy from PrintWorks
  • Kiran from hasgeek

Ohh, btw don’t forget to be present for my wedding 😉

Update:  The following are some of the words which people said after seeing my invitation 🙂

  • Amazing..
  • The geeket card ever..
  • Collector’s piece..
  • I am gonna frame it ..

Posted in Random/Personal | Tagged , , , , | 58 Comments