Archives par mot-clé : Advocacy

Ubuntu Global Jam in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

If you’re in Montreal or nearby this weekend… you must know:

ugj09_button_orange_250x148_en

And I won’t be the only one 🙂

All details can be found on the Quebec Team Ubuntu Global Jam page.

Where:

École de technologie supérieure (http://www.etsmtl.ca/)
1100 rue Notre-Dame Ouest
Salles/Rooms A-1300 & A-1238

When:

Friday Oct 2- Sunday Oct. 4 (check the Quebec Team Ubuntu Global Jam page for full schedule info)

See you there!

 

Help me get Identi.ca on ShareThis

ShareThis is an interesting service that presents a few dozen online sharing services and social web site in one convenient dialog, so anyone can share the page they are looking at.

If you’d like to see Identi.ca added to that service, fill the form at:
http://sharethis.com/publishers/submit_service/

Here is the information you’ll need:

… and of course your name, email and comments.

Here’s the comment I’d suggest adding, make sure it’s not identical or they may think some automated script is sending them repeat requests!:

Hi, I’ve noticed the identi.ca micro-blogging service is missing from your list of sharing tools. I’d like to request this to be added to ShareThis. You can find out more about identi.ca at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identica

Thanks in advance for considering my request.

 

Veloid, THE Android software for users of bike sharing – including Bixi

I’ve been looking at any apps that would help someone find available bicycles with their Android-based phone.

I previously tried Velimap and MyCityBikes and liked them but they didn’t support Bixi. I contacted both their authors but didn’t get much further.

Yesterday I came across Veloid which suppor Bixi but also bike sharing networks in another 30+ cities! I find this very interesting for anyone traveling with their Android phones 🙂

I really like the interface, although the option menus differ from standard dialogs. The official website has a very nice flash animation that shows best all its features, this is an example of it using Bixi:

Veloid showing 2 Bixi stations

I also came across SpotCycle, developped by 8D Technologies. Recognize the name ? 8D is the creator of the parking meter systems in Montreal, which also run Linux internally. Proudly Québécois 🙂 And no, I am not affiliated to them in any way. Although minimalistic, Spotcycle works well and does its job. It only supports the Bixi networks in Montreal and Ottawa, though.

I am still confused as to why there is no obvious licensing information on most apps found on the Marketplace. I wish I could easily see if an app is GPL or not and I’d like to be able to report bugs and other stuff easily. I guess I have too many bad habits from Ubuntu 🙂 Perhaps any Ubuntu + Android users have found how to do this before me ? Granted I haven’t looked much into it I have the best excuse as I recently welcomed a 5 member in the family. It seems many Marketplace apps users only feedback mechanish is the comments section.

Anyways, I lacked the time to take any interesting screenshots today but I’ll try to post some more soon. Meanwhile, enjoy biking!

 

New discussion group for Android users in Canada

If anyone’s using an Android phone in Canada and wanting to get some help or just share their experience, come by to this new group:

Google Groups
Android users in Canada
Visit this group

I’ve found it surprisingly hard to find any information specific to the Canadian launch of Android phones by Rogers, other than Android in Canada, and most discussion elsewhere deals with the U.S. models or marketplace.

I just started the group so it’s mostly empty, but I’ll be sharing some of the trouble i am having, as well as some of the blog posts about new features, etc.

 

Taking Android screenshots from Ubuntu Jaunty

I’ve just added a detailed guide on how to take Android phone screenshots from Ubuntu Jaunty to the Ubuntu community documentation.

I kept following other guides and blogs without success until I came across this bug report about a missing udev rule for the Android devices. Ew!

I also noticed many guides indicate Eclipse + Android plugins (latest release, manually installed) are needed for this which is not the case! Dalvik Debug Monitor (ddms) works just fine without any other third-party, manually installed apps. This is what it should look like once it « sees » your phone:

ddms

It’s weird that taking screenshots isn’t easier, as this effectively prevents documenting and illustrating many interesting features. I hope the guide makes it easier for anyone to share their findings in using their Android devices. This should also help prepare training or support material, hint, hint 🙂

device

The above screenshot shows missed calls, USB connectivity status, Change Settings shortcut in notifications, TwitDroid pending dents (despite the name, it supports identi.ca which is what I use it for), Wifi connectivity status, Vibration mode, cell phone signal, battery status, alarm enabled and the current time, all in the status bar.

I also have a few widgets on the desktop (if that’s what it’s called…), otherwise I am using the default launcher and configuration.

Unless something specifically involves Ubuntu, I’ll mostly be posting only to Planet Android, which I recently joined. See you there (or here).