I really like my Nexus One.
Android OS is awesome.
Having said that......
Got 48 minutes ?
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/64111786
Watch the video ( or not....whatever ) and post your thoughts on Google.
Watched it last night after seeing your post.
There's also episodes covering Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg which i'll watch when I get around to it.
I can definitely see how Google and Facebook can be evil. Both companies collect a vast amount of personal information and this information is what marketers thrive on for their companies to make tons of money. Since neither company is selling a service directly to consumers nearly 100% of revenue comes from advertising; which Google and Facebook can provide personal data for.
I'm not seeing Big Brother, more like Big Brothers.
To be honest, I am a little worried about Google, Facebook, etc, but I don't think we can really do much about it. I am just going with the flow, and I often think to myself, what would they want with a mundane guy like me? Pretty much nothing but hits on the ads they throw before me.
They may or may not be evil, but I don't let it bother me too much. Everything that rises has to fall.
Jykinturah said:
To be honest, I am a little worried about Google, Facebook, etc, but I don't think we can really do much about it. I am just going with the flow, and I often think to myself, what would they want with a mundane guy like me? Pretty much nothing but hits on the ads they throw before me.
They may or may not be evil, but I don't let it bother me too much. Everything that rises has to fall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A very good post, put very well
Google Evil? Dangerous? Big Brother?
There's no shortage of rhetoric (some highly technical but opinionated nonetheless) being thrown at Google especially with respect to how dangerous, evil, or invasive it has become. Staunch arguments are frequent claiming that Google manipulates information and the public and that it is destructive in several of its motions. And of course, some of the warnings are that Google might become some distorted information tyrant in the not too distant future, so be on your guard. I’m going to take a somewhat different stance here, not so much in defense of Google, but rather what it is we should really be focused on with regards to “Dangerous Corporations” especially within the corporate environment of 2011.
I would like to address this big concern with Google as a highly dangerous entity. First of all, how dangerous can it possibly be? Second, how dangerous can it get considering the fact that it doesn’t create anything tangible? Even if it were to maliciously spy on a large swath of the browsing public, how dangerous could it possibly get? Before readers jump to quick answers, first consider this: Google is an internet giant with more than just a roomful of employees. It is an exceptionally large corporation, a Mega Corporation with employees everywhere, a massive collection of people all of whom no doubt do not share some common ideology other than the fact that many of its employees most likely want their employer to stay in business, to succeed, and stay healthy in many ways. Google's collective force and vision, its business path, might mean further expansion to some employees, it might not mean anything of the sort to other employees. People get alarmed when they hear reports about events and information pertaining to the likelihood that the Google network is becoming either overly invasive or that it stands to become a monopoly as such. Remember, Google doesn't produce anything we can touch. Like many parts of those items attached to the internet it was assembled rapidly. Despite its size, it could also be rapidly disassembled if it suddenly were to become a reckless player. A major shift from a company like Google, still a very new company, towards outright invasive behavior and/or a zealous approach to gathering information could amount to a quick business-death-sentence, especially if substantiated reports of such behavior gather any sort of media momentum. This is part of the risk when a company provides a virtually invisible service. Its business hull consists of select intangible parts adjoined to one another, fragile pieces held together by rivets of trust. And Google can't afford to lose trust. If Google makes big waves in certain areas then it simply won't last no matter how big it is. A ship that size could potentially go down quickly.
Regardless of how Google tracks information, even if much of that collected information might appear to be very personal, again I ask the question: How dangerous can Google get? Also, does it in any way monitor itself? Short of any moral code or company mission that is firmly grounded on safe and best business practices, is there a design fail-safe within Google itself that won't or can't allow it to push the information envelope too far, even if the behavior of its directors or the motions of its business plan become increasingly suspicious? Google prompts a host of questions. But the age is changing. Given the information landscape of today. Given the competition of internet entities that provide similar services. Given the demands of intelligence and this new trump card called The Patriot Act that is available to play. Given the speed of communication and the outright responsibility that the media has to report accurate information and to make it quickly available to the general public. Given the fears that many people have about protecting their own personal information, and their own identities, and that being tracked or monitored by anything that might end up looking like a "Big Brother" will not be tolerated. And given the high value people place on keeping their own business private. Fears, values, information, and communication all meet at a crossroads. And through it all Google has to walk a business tightrope.
Some people who post blogs and articles won't explain exactly why Google is so dangerous, much of the language there is speculative or is based upon items that are minor details, small events. They often note that Google engages in strange and conspicuous business practices, or that it engages in mysterious activities and/or full fledged propaganda. There are people within the media who have even made the wild claim that Google may be the most dangerous corporation in the world. And if you're one of those people who thinks so, then I must say clearly here that Google isn't even in the discussion, at least not in adult discussions that prioritize those most dangerous of corporate culprits, those big players that perform grotesque looking things in real time and real space. In that realm, Google isn't even in the ballpark. It's not even in the stadium parking lot. To crack that Top Ten list takes some doing. Where is Google killing? Where is it polluting? Where is it exploiting and laying waste to landscape and economy? Where is it destroying? And if readers think that Google is fully engaged in a propaganda war thereby deceiving the public somehow, then those readers who think thus haven't witnessed the impact of real propaganda, especially when it occurs on the front edge of a stealthy business rapier.
Companies come and go. Some get absorbed, some get passed by, some have an eminent failure for their business plan, and some can’t see around the next corner. A few grow to immense proportions. And size often causes alarm with some people whether it be Google, Microsoft, General Electric, AT&T, US Steel, The East India Trading Company, Wal Mart, or Nike. Some of that alarm comes with a solid foundation based upon ugly facts especially if a large corporation leaves behind a ghost town in its business wake. But size shouldn’t necessarily draw too much alarm if that corporation doesn’t produce anything tangible even if it has in fact become a Mega-Corporation. Similar to Facebook, you can’t touch what Google primarily does in function. So size isn’t a big issue with me knowing that first, Google might be the clear cut favorite for search engine use right now, but there are still some players out there such as Bing and Yahoo. Second, Google provides services not products, and many of the services that it does provide are still free. And that’s important. And so long as those services remain free I find it difficult to go off onto any super critical tangent especially when I’m drawing value out of what it provides. Nobody is forcing me to use Google, there are alternatives.
If you want to consider danger, then consider this: Exxon/Mobil and British Petroleum are easy to criticize given their history and what it is that they do. And not lost to many people is their advertising machinery, especially evident when they blanket television screens with the soft look of fresh and sometimes young innocent looking faces, endearing spokespersons who tell us about the future, about possibilities, and all the good works that these gentle giants are currently tackling in order to help get us there. Some of this is presented to the public like a gentle broad stroke, a reassuring pat down the back reminding us about all the hard that they are engaged which will move us towards a greener earth. I see this green research and these new developments for what they are, a flimsy shroud, a cheap looking corporate rain check that keeps the future at bay, a future that should have already passed. In the real world of the here and now these behemoths ravage the planet. Make no mistake, that's what a propaganda network looks like and it's very dangerous stuff. It's also forced upon all of us despite any beliefs or personal opinions any of us have. We have to deal with it on ugly levels day after day then endure it somehow. I could talk at length about what entities like those really do, about their real impact on earth, sky, and water, and about what their real contribution is to society. How they change the landscape, how they transform government and distort foreign policy.
But back to point, unfortunately those are Mega-Corporations that provide products (products that destroy). If someone feels the need to get critical when discussing the implications of size and power then those might be more appropriate places to start, not with an internet giant that concerns itself with how information is gathered, collated, and disseminated. If Google had some weird political platform that it hoisted like a black flag, then it would be time to get worried. So pushing the problem of size aside, right now the water is calm enough for me. And right now they offer free services that I value. I use their search engine frequently. I pull information from it, I apply it to what I’m doing, and occasionally I find new things that I can use and integrate into my site. Sure, I could have used another engine and perhaps retrieved similar looking results, but I didn’t. So on a personal level, and perhaps albeit myopic, Google deserves loads of credit. A positive write up is the only way I know how to repay them.
Daniel A. Pino, author of the new book The Western Arc
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Related
warning- first post, longish, but even glancing at it is much appreciated!
Hi all,
First post here - hoping I don't ruffle any feathers in asking but I've chosen this community as it has been helpful in the past and often is in the first few google search results when I'm hunting for answers.
I lucked out last year when I was working for the State Parks system (seasonal) as a State Ranger- saw an opportunity to turn paper inspection logs (of water craft launching on state waters) digital. Dusted off the programming skills (hadn't done much since VB6, and even then- my hay day was back with VB3.0) and came up with a working concept.
The state was well receiving of this - but I'm not a programmer by nature- now faced with developing software to be run by hundreds of individuals simultaneously across the state instead of just my working concept. Additionally, the state I reside in is the leader in vessel inspections- many other states are modeling after us and are interested in the software. This means the software will likely end up in the hands of thousands and the database receiving millions of entries per year.
I'm a one man show here and the people that brought me on would prefer keep a separation between myself and IT so that the state's IT folks don't muck the project and, well, ruin the best thing I have going for me. That leaves me with the internet for answers and every waking hour devoted toward not messing this up
The information that is logged contains many things that change frequently, as we're checking the condition of the vessel. Dirt, plants, accumulations of water, etc. all vary. Additionally, the trailers that these vessels arrive on can vary too.
This leaves me with no clue how to structure my tables. I can take baby steps for now as we're in the pilot phases of this deployment (~5 bodies of water max, maybe 50,000 entries this summer)... just need to figure out something that'll work for now.
Currently I have just a single table, no keys defined. I search for information with sql statements, filter by registration number as well as the time since I figure there can never be duplicates for a vessel and a particular time of a certain day. I've looked at the Northwind example and several others but they have a few fields that simply don't change. The boat reg# will not change, we don't collect owners names so that can't remain static... I may set it up with an autoincrement field but that would be the first column of a single table. I want to do this at least semi-legit, can anyone see a reason to have parent and child tables given the circumstances?
Thanks- I know this was a jumbled mess but any assitance would be so greatly appreciated.
sounds like you need to read about normalization, and get a pen and lots of pieces of paper and draw your tables out.
are you developing on android? you didn't really mention anything about this from the glance i took - the line height here is a little too close together for me to be able to read it all properly. if so, sqlite really doesn't manage fulltext searches all too well and the relevant info has to be put into a separate table. if you need that ability you're going to have to do some reading on sqlite.org
the simple answer is, no one can answer the question except you. you need to group the data together in a way that's sensible for your application.
and yes, it was all a jumbled mess. i'm sure you haven't thought it through clearly in your head yet as you can't explain it!
you could make this really funky with photos, gps coords etc etc, but again, without a solid foundation, you'll be redesigning your tables every time you want to update. so think it through!
oh, and one more thing: security.
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oh, and one more thing - you do realise that with giving all that information you have, you're showing your bosses that you're not really that comfortable programming. that puts you in a dangerous position.
Thanks for your reply-
No worries on them realizing I'm not the all-star programmer, the prototype I developed last season / after I got laid off has already demonstrated its worth and enormous savings annually. Since being brought back on (now specifically for this project) last week, I've worked to turn a functional concept in to something a little more reliable.
This includes cleaning up my code (through continued learning), adding helpful features (none that will take weeks to code), and developing a database that will last AT LEAST a season.
My software was developed for windows mobile 6 classic last year on an Ipaq 111. The state has purchased several new ES400's by Motorola per my suggestion since they were already running WM and were more reliable than any cell phone (plus barcode, finger print, etcetc).
Every bit of the code seems to be fine and not require any modifications, it's just working on my database. In 2012 all devices (over a thousand- if pilot goes ok) will be live on one central database - I will do this through occasionally connected functionality offered with SQL Compact....
In the mean time, the state was hesitant to invest in a server and data plans for each mobile device... leaving phase I as a daily syncing operation. I'll basically have to sync .SDF files from each individual PDA and then merge the SDF files in to one, which can be reloaded to each PDA again. Hopefully I can accomplish this programmatically.
I suppose that last bit is outside the topic of table structures. I've given it the afternoon to think over and I'm not sure I can benefit from multiple tables with no static fields short of vessel registration #. This may demonstrate my lack of understanding for databases in general. I'll get there some day.
Good news?
http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/google-pays-12-5-billion-for-mororola-mobility-20110815/
hellmonger said:
Good news?
http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/google-pays-12-5-billion-for-mororola-mobility-20110815/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it will be good for new motorola's devices but I think they wouldn't do anythink for our phone because of make an update cost money and they can't win by doing this because this phone is no more for sale.
I can't decide if this matters. On the one hand, we're now two corporate restructurings removed from a company that gave a **** about the XT720 (Motorola [small **** given] > Motorola Mobility [no ****s given] > Google [patent warfare]). On the other hand Google has legendary awful customer support. It seems like a heads Sanjay wins, tails I lose situation.
i'll say it's extremely good news
this should help improve Motorola's phone to have unlocked bootloader and stock AOS, without all the bloatware they always put on it
I don't suppose we'll receive an update for an unlocked bootloader, no? Probably not because it seems Motorola will continue to operate separately from Google
tharan.a said:
I don't suppose we'll receive an update for an unlocked bootloader, no? Probably not because it seems Motorola will continue to operate separately from Google
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never seen any indication that Google disapproves of the bootloader lock. They do disapprove of the lack of updates, but I'm sure we missed the boat on that.
Mioze7Ae said:
I've never seen any indication that Google disapproves of the bootloader lock. They do disapprove of the lack of updates, but I'm sure we missed the boat on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, couldn't have said it better myself. Most phones have support that barely lasts 2 years. I think this is the end of the XT720. On the brighter side, this will help google fight of apple and microsoft which were just trying to dominate the market with the patents. I see this as a good move for android/opensource as a whole!
With the capability to manufacture its own hardware, Google will be better equipped to take on the iPhone. That should be good.
Google World Domination Coming soon to a world near you.
Will be taken over within:
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3 years 124 days
Google needs Motorola to take over your living room
Google Evil Agenda
My original prediction:
Posted by Urgo at December 16, 2004 11:31 PM
"Don't Be Evil?" video - beta version
Google Xistence
For the past year now I've been predicting that within the next ten Google will 'take over the world'. Most people I tell this two think I'm crazy and this will never happen saying that Google is the best company ever and they will never turn evil. I tend to disagree.
Let me take just a few minutes to explain why I think this, and then at the bottom of this entry is a link to a flash video I found today with someone else thinking the same thing.
Facts - Google owns:
- Google is the most used search engine
- Gmail, while maybe not the most used email provider (maybe it is now?) it is definitely the most highly desired
- Orkut, while mostly blown over now is still a thriving social network site
- Google News is viewed as a #1 news site for many people
- Blogger is one of the leading blog sites and blogs are all over the news these days
- Keyhole offers a satalite imageing service
- Google Desktop Search
- Google Adsense - probably the most widly used advertising on the web these days (used even on this website although I haven't seen any return yet)
- And much much more, plus all the things normal people like myself have come up with such as the random google image in the right sidebar.
My point to all of this is the following:
Through GMail Google stores and never deletes your email. They catalog it and can do a LOT with that data. With time google can write robots to parse the data to find out every bit of data about you, who you know, what you talk about, etc. Gmail bundled with Orkut Google really has a solid grip on your social network with more detail and structure than email alone. Google knows who [email protected] really is, where he lives, what his passtimes are, etc and can link it up with your email conversations. Now to get even further into your life they have the Google Desktop Search which has already been called on being invasive bypassing security on people's PC's and cataloging files that it shouldn't.
Step back for a second, Google now knows who you know, what you talk about, details about every person, everything you say on your computer, what files you have, what is in each file, basically all of your Digital Data. Oh, also if you use the google search bar (IE plug-in) in advanced mode (default.. plus ohh! I want advanced features....) they track every webpage you go, although the desktop search tool does that as well. 0wned.
Next we start to see Google's current revenue. Blogs, Keyhole, Adsense. Wow, if the inflated stock doesn't make them enough $$$ then this sure helps. Although I don't believe Google charges for blogger right now they are setting themselves up for it in the future if blogging ever takes off as a legitimate news source... News.. Google news is one of the most used news services to gather news from many sources, sorted automatically for relevance...
Now, just think if Google DID want to turn evil (assuming they aren't already) how much of the market they already own. In the 90's people switched search engines all the time, but moving email providers, etc is a lot harder to do. In a few more years they'll have people so dependant on them and their products just like Microsoft people will be stuck with Google for better or.. worse.
More info on Google being evil is at google-watch.
Wow, well this was supposed to be a very short blog entry promoting a clip I saw today but I had to get my rant over with. Other then the Google-watch site that’s been around for a while, today on mefi I stumbled into a 10? min flash movie someone made giving a detailed rundown of a possible scenario that Google might take in the coming years towards world domination. I personally haven't come up with a scenario myself, and I am uncertain if this one is how its going to happen, but I was happy to see that others feel the same way as I do, that within the next ten years Google will takeover the world, or in this movie, the media forcing the New York Times offline.
Please take the time to watch this movie, and ignore the somewhat cheesiness of it. I really think they are being insightful and this COULD happen.
Flash Movie Of How Google Will Take Over The World
Google Plans To Kill Web In Internet Takeover Agenda
Google's Motorola Takeover Bid To Draw Antitrust Scrutiny, Analysts Say
I forgot that Motorola Mobility makes cable-top boxes. That's a plus for GoogleTV which I think is also Android based? Or is that Chrome based? I forget.
Today's android news keeps getting more and more interesting. First google and moto and now Cyanogen and Samsung.
"Steve Kondik, better known as Cyanogen, the father of CyanogenMod, has posted an interesting update to his professional life on his Facebook page. Steve, who has founded the largest family of custom Android ROMs on the planet, has just joined Samsung Mobile to presumably work on Android-related goodies for one of world's largest electronics manufacturers." -Android Police
(Can't post links yet, check Android Police)
Two developments which hopefully do nothing but improve the quality of the Android OS.
Good..Now Google control both software and hardware can make better opened source devices...stupid moto is dying , may google takes over and unlock all the moto build mobile deveice bootloaders
I was thrilled when reading about it. One of the main problems is that Moto seems to fail to optimize their hardware with the software. Meaning that, despite having powerful specs in several of their phones, it stills ends up being laggy and buggy. How is it that the Nexus S with its single core can outlag the Atrix? or even the Nexus One? resolution, graphics and processor needs to be better developed for usage.
Other than the bloatware, I find the Motorola developers really fail to take advantage of the specs and integrating it with Android.
Hopefully, the Moto and Google developers can get together and finally fix this problem. Specs mean nothing if the phone can't use it efficiently.
I'm pretty sure everyone will celebrate if Moto announces that they are switching to google stock, and turning motoblur into only widget apps, instead of a launcher apk. It still boggles my mind how companies can continue to push such applications, and this applies to Sony Ericcsons terrible Timescape app. it was already a trainwreck on the X10.
UPDATE ON MARKET!
Changes Include a new inventory system and online creature list changes!
Let me know what you think of the update!
CHECK OUT OUR NEW FORUMS! It is a place to put big reports, feature requests, or just talk about the game in general!
FORUMS!
I'm making this thread in the hopes some ppl will try it, give me some feedback, etc. I have a small group of about 5 people who have been helping me make this in the past 3 weeks, and It's come a long way.
OK, so here it is.
ScanDroid Kingdoms is a Barcode Battler, with RPG elements.
You scan barcodes to create your creatures. You currently can have as many as you like.
You can then battle your creatures against "Barcode NPCs", or battle online against other people on the ScanDroid Network.
You can take advantage of your "Daily Scans" to gain items, exp, or currency.
You can also share your creature via QR code for others to scan and battle, instead of using the online listings.
There is an Item shop, where you can buy things with currency.
Currency(ScanCreds) are gained when you scan for anything in the game.
Soon to be added:
Quests
Leaderboards
Equipment
Crafting
Online Trade House/Auction House
Skills for both Players and Creatures
Friends List
Messaging
I also have a donate version on the market, if anyone finds this game fun and wants to help keep it going at a fast pace, I'd appreciate it.
Currently there is NO difference between the free and donate versions.
Once the game is out of BETA, there will be differences.
Free version will not have multiple creature management, and will have a level cap(will be a higher one, like 40 or so). It will not get all the quests the Donate version will get either. But that is down the road.
I hope you like it and please respond if you have tried it, let me know what you think, and I'll try to do what I can to make the game more to your liking! I am trying to make this game as much a community project as I can, as I find that others seem to have great ideas I would have never thought of.
Here's the link: Market Link
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You can also just search for "ScanDroid Kingdoms", its one of only a few in the results on the market.
Thanks to anyone who tries it, and I hope you have fun!
P.S.---If you want to help with development, please contact me. We have a large Google Plus Huddle where we toss around ideas, and those who are on the huddle get testing versions ahead of the market!
Big Thanks to the other Eko Gaming Members:
Tseng
Kirothak
Legend
Tachi
Neverwhere
Been playing this for a while and so far I'm liking it. I'm also on the beta team for Barcode Beasties.
There's a few things not quite right and/or lacking in your game. I don't seem to get "daily scans" only scan accumulated through online battles. Sorry if I'm misunderstanding this but to me "daily scans" would indicate we get an amount of scans allocated to us every day. In the online battling feature it would be handy if we could see the other creatures level as well as their name in the listing of potential opponents, it would save us loading an opponent up, seeing they're too far above us in level terms then having to go back in and load another.
I also have a question. are we allowed to re-scan codes ever ie. is it a once per day scan limit or is it a persistent limit that never allows us to scan the same code twice??
Anyways, loving the game and hope it does well, would love to see your game and Barcode Beasties combined but I suppose you both being in competition so to speak will cause both games to have to strive for excellence.
Dan.
dannylingus said:
Been playing this for a while and so far I'm liking it. I'm also on the beta team for Barcode Beasties.
There's a few things not quite right and/or lacking in your game. I don't seem to get "daily scans" only scan accumulated through online battles. Sorry if I'm misunderstanding this but to me "daily scans" would indicate we get an amount of scans allocated to us every day. In the online battling feature it would be handy if we could see the other creatures level as well as their name in the listing of potential opponents, it would save us loading an opponent up, seeing they're too far above us in level terms then having to go back in and load another.
I also have a question. are we allowed to re-scan codes ever ie. is it a once per day scan limit or is it a persistent limit that never allows us to scan the same code twice??
Anyways, loving the game and hope it does well, would love to see your game and Barcode Beasties combined but I suppose you both being in competition so to speak will cause both games to have to strive for excellence.
Dan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for the reply!
OK, so first:
You get 20 scans per day, refreshed at the start of each day.
Also, due to a very recent update, you can have a chance to gain an extra scan upon winning a match. Before, you would win a scan after EVERY win of match, which gave too many scans to them.
Having the level of each creature next to the name is a feature I have heard about quite a bit lately, and I am truly looking for a solution to have implemented in the next few days.
Also, it saves all UPCs in a db, and does not allow you to scan the same one twice, to keep ppl from figuring out what codes give what and keep ppl scanning in different places and situations.
Also, I saw Barcode Beasties hasn't been updated in a long while(market shows nov 10, 2010.) Is it still be worked on I take it? Also, I consider Barcode Beasties to be a different game for the most part, and the direction our team has planned for this game will take it so far off course from Barcode Beasties that they won't even be able to be compared after a while.
Thanks for the input, hope to hear from you again.
If you are interested in joining up with us on beta development, let me know, I would be glad to have you on board. Email me at [email protected] If you are interested.
Installed the game and gave it a try, so far everything seems great.
A little more flashiness to the UI might be in order, by no means does it look bad. A WP7 style setup for the buttons would fill in the blank space left by the smaller buttons currently, give the entire application more flow. (Mainly referring to the buttons in Barracks/Battle etc... change from small grey boxes to WP7 style buttons with large graphics)
The barcode scan portion works great, had no problems there.
Battle wise everything was fine, however the battle text was a little slow. Perhaps having an option to speed up the battle text, or make it go to the next round via tap interaction?
Definite thumbs up for this app. Plays well, no errors encountered as of yet, and I really enjoy the concept. Cant wait to see how it grows.
ellessidil said:
Installed the game and gave it a try, so far everything seems great.
A little more flashiness to the UI might be in order, by no means does it look bad. A WP7 style setup for the buttons would fill in the blank space left by the smaller buttons currently, give the entire application more flow. (Mainly referring to the buttons in Barracks/Battle etc... change from small grey boxes to WP7 style buttons with large graphics)
The barcode scan portion works great, had no problems there.
Battle wise everything was fine, however the battle text was a little slow. Perhaps having an option to speed up the battle text, or make it go to the next round via tap interaction?
Definite thumbs up for this app. Plays well, no errors encountered as of yet, and I really enjoy the concept. Cant wait to see how it grows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for trying it. The UI is fairly new right now, but we are trying to find ways to make it easier and more appealing. I will take the idea you had and see if it can help us at all.
Good idea for the battle text, ill add it to our bugs/feature tracker.
New Update has been posted!
Changes Include:
Bug Fixes(Of Course)
Online Creature List now shows levels under names
NEW Inventory System to test out!
Also, as with any update during the BETA, please contact me([email protected]) if anything is not working properly, and Ill do what i can to fix it ASAP!
Also, still looking for a couple more people who want to join the teams beta testing division, so we can get the updates tested a little faster so I can send them to the market quicker!
Intro
Most "bills splitting" apps out there only provide marginally useful information: when you are done using them, you know that A owes you X, B owes you Y and you owe Z to C. Then, probably, A owes something to B as well, and maybe C owes something else to B. Why is it all so complicated? You just wanted to split a few bills!
Chip In provides an alternative to that: follow a few simple steps, and you'll be splitting bills in no time!
First, add as many people as needed (i.e. your friends) using
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Then, for each friend, add the bills they paid for (using
). When adding a bill, you can specify both the amount of money spent, and the people splitting that bill: this way, you can even add expenses that only involve a part of the people.
When you are done adding bills, the numbers next to each person is the amount of money they should receive: people with negative balances should each place the displayed amount of money in a common plate. Then, people with positive balances each take the displayed amount of money from the common plate.
Still not clear? Here's a quick example.
The quick example
Alice, Bob and Charlie go for a picnic. Alice brings $15 worth of food, Bob bring $10 worth of beverages, and Charlie brings a $5 cake. Incidentally, only Alice and Charlie eat the cake, since Bob is on a strict diet.
What they do next is use Chip In to split the expenses:
Three people are added (Alice, Bob and Charlie).
A bill is added for Alice: $15 to divide between Alice, Bob and Charlie.
A second bill is then added for Bob: $10 to split among the three of them once again.
Finally, the third bill is added for Charlie: $5 to divide between Alice and Charlie.
At this point, the final balances are:
Alice: +4.17
Bob: +1.67
Charlie: -5.83This means that Charlie needs to take $5.83 out of his pocket and figuratively place it on a common plate: Alice and Bob then proceed to take $4.17 and $1.67 from it. After that, the plate should be empty (actually, because of rounding operations, there may be some cents left/missing!).
Think of what would've happened without Chip In:
Alice would have owed $3.33 to Bob, and $2.5 to Charlie, and would have expected to receive $5 from both Bob and Charlie.
Bob would have owed $5 to Alice, and would have expected $3.33 from both Alice and Charlie.
Charlie would have owed $5 to Alice and $3.33 to Bob, and would have expected $2.5 from Alice.
Sigh.
On the algorithm
This algorithm has been successfully used multiple times to split road trip and holiday bills between three engineer friends (who else could've come up with it?), and was eventually formalized by one of them (i.e. myself) with this app.
The underlying algorithm is actually rather simple, and basically assumes that there's a common fund everybody is using. People paying for something are taking money away from the common fund, and everybody should contribute to the part of the fund that is used to buy something regarding them. Converting those notions to mathematical formulas is almost trivial. But, since you don't need any of this to use the app, I won't bore you with the details!
At first, using Chip In may seem a little counterintuitive, but it takes little time to get the hang of it! And, at that point, splitting bills will be the funniest part of the holiday*!
* Results may vary
Notes
Please keep in mind that, although the app version is 1.x, many new features are yet to come: I am already working on them! If you have any particular request let me know, and I will try to add as many as possible (provided that the ratio #ofRequestsForFeature/ComplexityOfFeature is large enough )
Current TODO list
Store sessions on main memory
Parse simple math expressions for the "amount" field
Improve overall graphics
Support multiple languages (EN, IT available so far)
Screenshots
Download
Version 1.0 is available for download on Play Store.
Is this an app that splits multiple bills? or just one bill in multiple ways?
Dry Bones said:
Is this an app that splits multiple bills? or just one bill in multiple ways?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It certainly can split multiple bills (and that's when this app is most useful). You can enter as many bills as you want, specify who paid for each of them and who should share each expense and, when you're done, you get a list of numbers: those are the amounts that every person should put (negative balance) or take (positive balance).
If you read the example reported above, I'm sure you'll understand how it works in no time!
Also, what exactly does 'multiple ways' mean? I'm not sure I can answer your question if you don't give me a better insight on what you meant by that!
Hope this helped!
_darkjoker_ said:
It certainly can split multiple bills (and that's when this app is most useful). You can enter as many bills as you want, specify who paid for each of them and who should share each expense and, when you're done, you get a list of numbers: those are the amounts that every person should put (negative balance) or take (positive balance).
If you read the example reported above, I'm sure you'll understand how it works in no time!
Also, what exactly does 'multiple ways' mean? I'm not sure I can answer your question if you don't give me a better insight on what you meant by that!
Hope this helped!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is there a take when its a bill to pay? thats the one thing I dont understand. Shouldnt it be negative all the way?
Dry Bones said:
Why is there a take when its a bill to pay? thats the one thing I dont understand. Shouldnt it be negative all the way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There actually is an assumption I may not have mentioned before, thank you for pointing it out!
The assumption is that, for each bill / expense, one of the people in the group has already paid for it in advance! This app's main goal is that of splitting already paid bills among different people.
But, since you mentioned it, I'm going to explain briefly (I will elaborate as soon as I can) how you can split bills that still have to be paid among different people:
1) add people
2) add bills (the same way you would add people)
3) for each bill, specify the price, and select the people sharing it (make sure you do not select the bill itself (or any other bill) when selecting people
Let's say that Alice, Bob and Charlie are roommates. At the end of the month, they need to split some bills (Internet $25, electricity $20) three ways. Moreover, Bob and Charlie need to pay for a new desk ($36) they are going to share.
You can now use this "new" method explained above, where you enter people and bills in the same screen.
What you get eventually is the following screen (if it's not clear how I got there, please let me know!)
[the following screenshots are rather large: I wrapped them all using the 'hide' tag!)
While this is useful, my app was created for a different (yet similar) purpose. In the same scenario described above, let's say that Charlie decided to pay for everything, and now wants to receive what is due.
Using the app (and the "standard" method), he gets to this point
As you can seen, what Alice and Bob are required to pay is the same, but now Charlie will receive the "extra" money he used to pay the bills (i.e. the part of money he "lent" Alice and Bob).
Some more twisted example may have Alice pay for the electricity bill, Bob for Internet and Charlie for the new desk. In this case, when they want to settle things, the result would look like the following:
In this last case, Bob will have to put $8; Alice and Charlie will then take $5 and $3 respectively.
I really hope this clears it up: if it doesn't, please keep asking! You already made me realize I didn't stress some parts enough, I'd love to know if there is more!
Some of the things that BIG TECH (Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and others) uses to identify you:
1. IP address
2. Browser Fingerprinting
3. Device Fingerprinting
4. Location, Nearby scanning, Beams, GPS
5. Advertiser ID
6. Always Listening (voice commands)
7. Your demographic details
IP address
This is the same for all devices connected to the same WiFi network. This address is called the Public IP address, which is the address assigned to your WiFi router by your ISP. Using this, Big Tech can track all the accounts that use the same IP address. So, Big Tech knows who all are living in the same household, who all are working in the same place (if you connect to your work WiFi), etc.
Browser Fingerprinting
Websites can track full details of your browser, which in conjunction with other forms of tracking (like cookies), can be used to create your virtual profile, your interests, your online activities, etc. Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc, have trackers in pretty much all the websites, so even if you don't use your account in those sites, BIG TECH can still track you by connecting the dots.
Using Private/ Incognito browsing isn't all that private as one is made to believe.
Device Fingerprinting
This is similar to, but more advanced form of tracking compared to Browser Fingerprinting. They record details of your device like make, model, display resolution, operating system, time zone, GPS, sensor data, Information About Things Near Device (i.e Wi-Fi Access Points, Cell Towers, Bluetooth-enabled Devices, etc.).
You can change your browser, network, location, etc. But you are unlikely to change your device as frequently. You can be easily tracked using Device Fingerprinting.
Location/ Nearby Scanning/ WiFi/ Low Energy Bluetooth/ GPS
You can change your physical location, but it is highly likely that you will move with your family. So even if you use completely new accounts, they can still track you through your family members' accounts. That's how Facebook recommends same 'Friends' to you even if you use a new account.
Your device is constantly communicating with the tech around you - mobile towers, WiFi routers, Bluetooth devices, GPS, etc. That setting of 'Scanning Always Available' under Location Settings helps in improving this accuracy.
A new technology is in works that will allow tracking of your device even when it is switched OFF! Spyware is essentially being installed at the hardware level and your devices would be under surveillance 24x7.
Advertiser ID
As the name suggests, this is your Virtual Identity containing your interests, online activity history, etc that is provided to advertisers (even if anonymously) for targeted advertising.
You CAN reset this ID on all devices (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, etc.) to reduce the amount of information advertisers know about you (even if anonymously).
Always Listening
The most privacy disrespecting feature. Your gadgets are constantly listening to you, waiting for your commands. All your personal conversations are recorded. Next feature will be Always Watching! They will develop some interesting application for this feature (like they did for identifying the music around you) and sell you devices that is constantly recording you using cameras!
Your Demographics
Name, Phone number, Date of Birth, Gender, and other details that you provide when creating your account. They have pretty much made it mandatory to give correct information without which you cannot create an account.
Your personal details, contacts, meta data of pictures and videos on your device, etc everything will be linked to identify you from your virtual identity.
CONCLUSION
No matter how hard one tries, he will leave several footprints about himself if using tech. The only way to avoid tracking is to completely give up on use of gadgets and communication devices. VPNs/ TOR Network won't protect you.
FUN FACT
ALL BIG TECH companies, including chip makers are American companies!
Software: Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc.
Hardware: Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, Apple, etc.
Social media: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, etc.
Streaming Services: Amazon, Netflix, etc.
News channels too (there are no journalists anymore; only media-persons)
....you name it: all are American companies! This isn't a mere coincidence!
So you know where all the data goes! And who does all the spying!
I bought a brand new phone and set it up WITHOUT any account. I have installed a few apps, including Revanced Extended with microG (not signed in to any account).
Guess what:
The YouTube feed is pretty much filled with the same recommendations and content from channels I have subscribed to on my other devices where I have signed in. 🫣
Here's another example:
How was my store visit inside a shopping mall tracked?
I was inside a shopping mall yesterday for a few hours. One of the shops/ store is an outlet of a well known electronics retail chain. I have purchased something there several months/ years back. I was inside this store yesterday too, but only...
forum.xda-developers.com
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Exactly what was written in OP.
Fake narrative building, creating false public perception and influencing people's mindset is why this is done. Everyone knows who controls all the technology and who has all the money in the world.
Yet people believe in the Chinese CCP crap because the biggest spy in the world has created an infrastructure that sells such stories to them.
That's all metadata! And you can stop most of it by installing Adguard with some common filters and setting require VPN for all connections. (this setting is hidden on quite some China OS Chinese phones).
And the same inforamtion is tracked by Chinese phones on global OS.
If you have a China OS Chinese phone - your actualy message content is censored and tracked. Get two China OS phones and send a message with some text about Winnie the Pooh and Xi Jinping - good luck receiving it...
You can notice that after any text message you receive the China OS spyware will send information to Chinese servers.
But yeah - it's okay for their global phones. Just not for the ones for Chinese market (=China OS). Cannot remove their dialer software because than their phone content analysis wouldn't work anymore and so on.
Just be happy you don't live in China. Spying there is on another level - but they are quite transparent about it. Everyone knows about it - unlike Europe/USA where people aren't so aware of what is tracked and what not.
It will upload any website you visited and much more.
And yeah an Iphone China OS or Samsung China OS will spy/censor just like a China OS Chinaphone. It's government policy (and that was the reason for google back some years to pull out of China/not start there. But that was in the good old don't be evil times - which are sadly over.
extremecarver said:
That's all metadata! And you can stop most of it by installing Adguard with some common filters and setting require VPN for all connections.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some day it will be known that VPN was a big scam. It was just a tool used by spying agencies.
extremecarver said:
Just be happy you don't live in China. Spying there is on another level - but they are quite transparent about it. Everyone knows about it - unlike Europe/USA where people aren't so aware of what is tracked and what not.
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Click to collapse
That is the whole point. As mentioned in the last section of OP, everything you do online is being tracked continuously. Just that one country does it openly, while the other does it stealthily, covertly, and on a much much larger scale.
Tor was created by DARPA / Department of defense. They track everything.
immortalwon said:
Tor was created by DARPA / Department of defense. They track everything.
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Click to collapse
And they have made people believe they cannot be tracked.
TheMystic said:
Some day it will be known that VPN was a big scam. It was just a tool used by spying agencies.
That is the whole point. As mentioned in the last section of OP, everything you do online is being tracked continuously. Just that one country does it openly, while the other does it stealthily, covertly, and on a much much larger scale.
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Click to collapse
Local VPN surely isn't scam. You can check rules yourself. Other VPN depends on the provider
Thread Locked.
This thread like other threads of this nature has gone into politics and is locked.