Archives par mot-clé : Tech

Ubuntu Planet, Ubuntu, À Bicyclette, GNU/Linux

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

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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!

 
Trucs & astuces, Communautaire

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.

 
Ubuntu, GNU/Linux

Hello Planet Android, from Quebec Canada

Hi there, I just recently got an HTC Dream phone and decided to join Planet Android to maximize the fun & sharing.

I am not going to say getting used to have a full computer + phone in my pocket, and on top of it being always connected was easy! But fun, yes. Useful, yes. Time-sink, yes 🙂

My main operating system both at home and at work is Ubuntu, so I’ll be posting about my personal and professional use of Android withing that context. I’ve started with the wiki page on portable Android devices, and I also post to the Android group in Identi.ca.

It’s puzzling that there don’t seem to be geographic-specific community groups for these, specially when you know they are, well, geographically tied to phone providers and GPS-enabled. If anyone in Quebec province (or in Canada, as Rogers provides service across Canada) is reading me, I’d like to hear ideas on where we can set a local resource: Google groups ? AndroidCommunity.com ?

I’ll start with my list of essentials as I am in week 3 of using this little marvel – which isn’t without its quirks. So stay tuned, and looking forward to read other non-developer stuff in Planet Android.

 
Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet, GNU/Linux

Common Cut & Paste

I like DoctorMo’s motto – Common Everything.

My vote goes out to Common Cut & Paste across all applications in Gnome, though. Sounds trivial, but it ain’t, I know.

Although I commented on his post, I wanted to elaborate on this. But the truth is that plain and simple, there seems to be no coherence between cut, copy & paste functionality across applications in Gnome. I am not sure where to begin reporting this, perhaps as bugs in separate applications. Maybe within freedesktop.org. I already mentioned this internally to our Desktop Experience Usability team (DUX as we call it), it seems the task is not easy. Or is it ? I’d like to focus on this one thing that annoys me, maybe others can join me 🙂

 
Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet, GNU/Linux

New Ubuntu mirror in Colombia now available!

See for yourself under System > Administration > Software Sources > Download from: Other…, scroll down the list and check under Colombia:

Ubuntu Colombian mirror

See the announcement here – great to see the Ubuntu Colombian LoCo team rocking! Thanks to the Mathematics department at Universidad Nacional in Colombia and for all involved in making this possible.

If you want to setup an official Ubuntu mirror, check:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/mirror