Android device for a light switch? Future SmartHomes? - General Questions and Answers

MOD Edit: Please do not post links for fundraisers as they are against xda rules.
Found this yesterday and thought I'd share...
Supposedly its an android based lightswitch wifi enabled and programable (with smartphone). What do you think? Maybe some cool things could be done with IFTTT (if this then that) website. I was thinking a link to alert you via lights when security alarm is triggered...or even emails or anything really. I like the idea but not sure how practical it actually is. Anyways just thought someone smart could do some amazing things withit... and it could mean a smart home possibly.

Interesting
It seems like a very interesting thing...
This could be very handy for large houses I guess...

chuck_ said:
It seems like a very interesting thing...
This could be very handy for large houses I guess...
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Click to collapse
I hope that even if this one doesn't reach its goal that someone will come out with something else more apt to make the smart home a possibility. The dream home of mine would have something similar to this in every room. I could just talk to it and it would pull up a holographic image for me. Like future web surfing. Ahh but that is neither here nor there. At least with this campaign if the budget is not met I get my 75 dollars back with how they set it up. That is a plus. It is the first time that I have ever contributed to one of this things and I like to be the person who gets things first so if it does or doesnt work I will be okay.
As far as large houses I think that you may be closing off the posibility of something else. The video shows that you can link switchs so I could turn on the light in my hallway and bathroom at the same time... or whatever combination I so chose/preferred. Also with the way the base thing is setup it makes future addons so much easier... although I hope it is not something that is so easilly removable that a child could do it. I would love to be able to just pull out my existing switch/outlet without having to turn off the power and just plug in a newly designed whatever may come next product. That much seems to be a little undersold if you ask me.

spinn360 said:
I hope that even if this one doesn't reach its goal that someone will come out with something else more apt to make the smart home a possibility. The dream home of mine would have something similar to this in every room. I could just talk to it and it would pull up a holographic image for me. Like future web surfing. Ahh but that is neither here nor there. At least with this campaign if the budget is not met I get my 75 dollars back with how they set it up. That is a plus. It is the first time that I have ever contributed to one of this things and I like to be the person who gets things first so if it does or doesnt work I will be okay.
As far as large houses I think that you may be closing off the posibility of something else. The video shows that you can link switchs so I could turn on the light in my hallway and bathroom at the same time... or whatever combination I so chose/preferred. Also with the way the base thing is setup it makes future addons so much easier... although I hope it is not something that is so easilly removable that a child could do it. I would love to be able to just pull out my existing switch/outlet without having to turn off the power and just plug in a newly designed whatever may come next product. That much seems to be a little undersold if you ask me.
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Click to collapse
I can picture what you say, about the holographic stuff, but i guess there's a long way (or maybe not so long) to go.
Yeah, the features they say are amazing, and that about the upgrading would be very neat.
Sorry if my answers seem vague, but i'm really tired and I have a lot of work to do...

chuck_ said:
I can picture what you say, about the holographic stuff, but i guess there's a long way (or maybe not so long) to go.
Yeah, the features they say are amazing, and that about the upgrading would be very neat.
Sorry if my answers seem vague, but i'm really tired and I have a lot of work to do...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its all good. Get your work done and get some rest. I am starting to shutdown for the night my self.

I was really hoping that people would see this as something. Maybe its just me, but I see some great potential for future innovations from this starting point. I guess there is a lot of other things going on right now that maybe attention is focused on instead though so I get it.
Does anyone else use IFTTT? I saw a xda video on Youtube where a man teaches how to use it with a belkin wifi plug in. For nearly this same thing I am talking about, but without an android device.
Here it is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpT6QryQn2w
The potential for wireless devices is greatness. We should be looking forward to many many more of these I hope.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appinventor.ai_spinn360.Android_Smart_Home_Device
Made a fake nLine model based of from assumptions from app inventor. Check it out on the play store if you want!

Related

im done with PDA's

Had enough,
sure i shall miss the stuff you can do but tbh for me most avg phones are closing in fast,on ability and im sick to death of crashes,bugs,reinstall's
it jusy aint worth the headache,im off to find a decent Phone
well the more normal "smart" phones catch up
the more advanced their software will be and
the more issues they will get
:s
we're doomed if we do and doomed if we dont
yer your right just phone and msn n email will do me these days
If I would put the energy that I put into my PDA (to get it work properly to keep in touch with my mates), into the relationsships with my friends, they would like me more than now... Most of them don't care if I call then via VoIP or Skype if at least I DO call...
I had a few of things that bugged me about having a PDA ,but i compromised them in the belief that ,they it will be far more worthwhile to have one and live with the issues
but the faults list grows and the good point just arent enough
TBH I don't know what the fuss is about. I have an XDA mini which is fabulous. Never crashed in 6 months and I'm running Tom Tom aswell. The only problem is that it's not working properly now, but that's since it got soaked in my pocket riding from Newcastle to Edinburgh on the bike in the rain. It's still going and it handles everything I do and more without question. I'm sticking with my PDA phone to save me carrying two things around with me (I need all the stuff when I'm running a business).
I have had my last 3 HTC devices from a friend who has bought them, had problems, and bought the next one that comes along thinking things will get better.
I never have these unreliability issues he always has, and they are the exact same devices he has had.
I put it down to the type of person, and knowledge of the device.
Sure, you shouldn't need to be a technical person just to use a PDA, but it obviously makes a difference.
Maybe you just need to stick to a Palm or Blackberry
Jace - I'm interested to know which device you used.
I used the xda2s and the xda exec and got really fed up with both.
I'm not remotely technical and just wanted a good phone that does email and few other bits when needed.
Got the xda mini in July this year and have never looked back. It is a pure phone that does the few extra things I need without issue.
If possible I suggest you try it as you may be surprisingly pleased with it.
HPJ
In a way, I could understand where the original poster is coming from. But don't get me wrong I love windows mobile devices, but if your like most people, we just want things to work. So when things don't work, your either the type that'll find ways to make it work, or the type that'll just find another device. We have to be honest, those of us that come in and out of these forums on a daily basis with hacks and solutions and those of us looking for hacks and solutions for our windows powered devices are among the few that'll actually take the time out to do so. If you think about it, It can literally take up to 3 months are more to actually get the device operating exactly the way you wanted it. Mabey that's just a little too long for the average person.
I too have felt like the OP, contemplating over and over again, after the countless amount of resets, whether or not I should just go get a fancy nokia n series or something, but I have grown found of my wizard, and its kinda of fun hacking away at its OS to see it become highly operational, kinda like the way M$ should of made it out the box. Just my two cents.
Here is a story about a friend of mine (no point posting my opinion as part of the reason I love my Jamin is the fact that I can tweak it and make little apps for it - so I don't care even if it does require reset on occasion).
Any way this friend has a company phone (a simple Nokia) and he gets a lot of calls on it (part of the job). Trouble is this phone doesn't have BT so my friend complained that at the end of the day his ear heart.
The thing is, this particular friend always told me that Phone edition Pocket PC devices are too unstable, too big and generally useless as phones.
One they he got a MIO a701. At first he told me he was just using it for the BT so he can speak through the hands-free.
Now he just won't give it up. Even when his headset broke he still refused to go back to the regular phone.
Once while on a lunch break 2 minutes walk outside the office, he wanted to log in to his account on our server but for some reason the device couldn't connect (faulty GPRS settings). He begged me to use my Jamin.
I wouldn't let him, arguing that his work station was just an elevator ride away.
Eventually he broke, and admitted that he just couldn't give up the convenience.
HPJ
I have owned a MDA Compact,which was ok but when i up dated the ROM from the TMobile site it fried the unit,
I then got an Exec,i have found that ok for my needs,(being phone,email,msn,web browsing)
but i agree with the above comments for some one not so minded tech wise,then maybe an incorrect choice of device for me
Basically an out the box unit ,is ok,just ok
but to make it decent takes some effort to get the best from the device
Ok they cant make the device suit everyone out the box,i undertsand that
however freezing up and soft resets a plenty,they are just too unstable for me
beofre my job required me to be away for long periods and the Exec fitted my needs ,now i think ill just be happy with less abilitys and more stability
The smartphones and nokias are gaining ground fast,for my needs maye they are better
The upside for me is the way you can alter and personalise the devices
but to be used day in day out as also my main phone there are far to unstable
In my case i had a compact which went tits up after a simple ROM update,
then an Exec which would freeeze and be a bit moody but then when the shutdown.battery problem started ouccruing(got new battery now)i just said to myself
you know what aint worth the hassle
dodgy pics a cheap nokia can match and beng a brick etc etc
maybe id be more suited to a smartphone or just a humble phone but me and HTC Pda just dont work out
I suppose at this point in timei dont have the time to mess around too much with the units
So my ideal maybe my Exec for away from home times and other certain situs but day to day maybe a an all singing all dancing mobile
ntornics said:
its kinda of fun hacking away at its OS to see it become highly operational,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You hit the nail on the head. You find it fun, and actually know how to get into the OS and mess around with it. There are plenty out there like me who haven't the faintest clue. We want our xda's to work out the box, and thats all. We come on this forum to 'take' information: get interesting apps, ask silly questions etc. I've very rarely ever actually contributed as such.
And then, when something doesn't work, we either continue to bang our heads against a wall trying to get a fix (from you guys, not from ourselves), or we move on.
Getting my xda mini s was my last attempt, and I am glad to say that it has never crashed; is never slow on answering a call; does not look like it belongs in a laptop case; and email works perfectly. The only thing I would like would be a today screen like I see so many screen shots of on here, but I haven't a clue and it would probably slow the thing down anyway :wink:
These devices are so young anyway it's no surprise they have problems. Can't wait to see what's gonna be around in 5 years time.....
good point mate
ive just read the hermes prob thread & ive had the exec battery problem
nothing is flawless in life,but it dont help that they release these products with faults
your mayor phone makers dont release units with big issues
i think id seen the light when having the exec battery problem came along and while a new battery arrived,i used a nokia 3250 it was such a nice change to have a device that preformed its functions
i just think we accpet a lot in PDA's that maybe we wouldnt put up with in a PC,Car or phone
we think its a trade of for there many functions for some problems but were do you draw the line
how many soft resets do we do?freezes?
anyone reading this do you feel ive just picked the wrong devices?,if so what do you think may have been with hindsight a better option?
Can't wait to see what's gonna be around in 5 years time.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what today hang around for 5years time?
apart from social deseases ?

[Q] Things that irritate about phones in general

Although the subject is rather troll like I hope I can do it in a non troll way.
There's a number of things that are really hacking me off about phones these days. I thought I'd have a major slam out to let off steam with the off-chance that someone might say "Ah but if you try X you can avoid that".
...some of the challenges in the mobile phone area these days...
1) Battery capacities aren't good enough as we all know. Getting through a single day is really the basics for me. Why not have hot swappable batteries? For me I expect to be able to go for 3-4 days. I don't know why... I just kind of expect that kind of efficiency.
2) Samsung Galaxy series... seems amazing but the batteries overheat, no?
3) So many people are ignorant of security to the point that most people are walking around with devices and apps that can just completely own you. Yeah there's sandboxing but it doesn't really work, it's been sidestepped. The iPhone just hides what's going on, rarely fixing the issues.
4) Licensing, all that stuff. Companies reinventing the wheel, fighting, all the rest. You can't buy a phone that does X and Y because company X won't license tech X to company Y
5) Trying to get everything perfect in one device... it's a bit of an ask but needed for portability. If things were separate we could have the better of most worlds, but that doesn't seem possible
6) Closed source. Just a bit irritating to see the inefficiency of it all in general. Bit of a hash moan but for those who can imagine better it seems like the dark ages in some areas still.
7) Closed source binary blobs. See Replicant on Samsung phones as the best we can do... the modem is arranged such messily and it's just not true a solution because of that. Kind of irritates me that there is no phone that can really guarantee it's not recording my phone numbers, conversations and credit cards because it's fully open source. Certainly an issue for companies. Companies in general are happy to rely on the word of Blackberry for thier integrity but for those of us who can imagine a solution that is secure by design it's not the best.
8) App whitelisting. Similar to the reactive rather than proactive security we tend to see as the trend in general. Manually checking all apps in the app store, trying to block and check them all.... doesn't seem the best. We've also had censorship. There are alternative stores, that's good.
9) Wakelocks. The Dalvik VM not managing or helping us track them down. Further, it's hard to tell if the app that you want to use is going to shaft your battery... once installed it's hard to tell if the app is ruining your battery too. It's messy.
10) IMEI security is a pain in the butt. It slows down the criminals but it also slows down everyone more so. In the case of Turkey it's another way to screw people with tax. Again, imperfect design.
11) As a man, if you have a phone at waist level that reduces your sperm count. Almost nobody notices or cares.
12) Just the usual society things... people looking at phones rather than each other. Can't really complain about that... the interface of looking at a screen is a bit basic. I've had speech recognition available to me... but I don't use it because there's always people around me and I'd rather be quiet... just one of those funny inventions
13) Screen don't work in bright sunlight still. We've got Motheye coming though which is great but we've had eink for ages and still no eink phone. Further, it can't be hacked onto an existing phone. Some of us aren't interested in games and movies and are focussed on getting stuff done. I feel Mirasol & PixelQi are being blocked or delayed as they try to slow things down until the point we've run out of ideas to make things better so only then does that tech get deployed.
14) Networks interfering with phones. I always go prepay because it's cheaper if you do the maths in many countries and also it allows for freer trade. Networks are always trying to get thier fingers into the mobile phone pies. Thank you Samsung for helping get against that, and also custom ROMs.
15) Apple are great but it's not clear what's going on behind the scenes.
16) eink displays would help battery life. A NookTouch can last for a month. How much would that help a phone on standby? Yet no eink display or anything like that.
17) Great to see the back of proprietary connectors but they still come back sometimes.
18) I hate the way things are made to break. Watch out for this. There's usually one thing on a phone that is designed to break. Sometimes it's a moveable part, like a ribbon cable in a slide phone. Sometimes its the USB connector. You can't buy port savers. When they fail you're screwed. Mitigate against this if you can. Try to figure out what the weak spot on your phone is.
19) Lock in software. I have an old backup phone... but I still have to keep the sync software... bit annoying. One day it probably won't work on Windows9 or whatever. People say throw it away but that's just it, throw away society. No, fix it, get it to work and be in control.
All of these things can be mitigated against. But you have to think about these things when you select your new phone.
If the commercialisation of the industry, cut throat tactics and so on aren't good enough as they are for me one thing you can do is buy a slightly older, but popular phone. In my case I never buy a new phone and instead go for something that I already know is popular with the hacking community. I know you guys can give me an insight into what I'm really looking for in life. As an example my last phone was a Galaxy S i9000. Way out of date in a sense. That's the way I find the best way to go. Go with something popular. That way you have some real support like a real man able to handle things yourself, not AppleCare and a 1 year limit. A philosophy for life. You can't have it all but with a bit of thought you can do a lot to get a bit closer to it all.

Hey guys!

Got my hands on a verizon 32 gig blue SGSIII. Just got it activated, had to have one shipped in since it wasn't in stock.
Goodness, it's light. I've already forgotten it was in my hands a few times.
I do miss my physical keyboard - a lot. I won't ever get over this, but in the short time I've had it that's all I don't like...and knew that going in.
It'll take me a while to get situated and oriented, and a few days to clear out my 64 sdcard for it.
Can't wait to get to a hotel tomorrow so I can get some power for my laptop and back the device up and start exploring it.
Tempting as it is to install apps (can't wait to re-play my games on this lovely and large display) I can wait until I can pull the device structure onto my computer.
Just wanted to give a shout out and say hi, looking forward to fun stuff with you all in the future!
Sent from a digital distance.
Blue6IX said:
Got my hands on a verizon 32 gig blue SGSIII. Just got it activated, had to have one shipped in since it wasn't in stock.
Goodness, it's light. I've already forgotten it was in my hands a few times.
I do miss my physical keyboard - a lot. I won't ever get over this, but in the short time I've had it that's all I don't like...and knew that going in.
It'll take me a while to get situated and oriented, and a few days to clear out my 64 sdcard for it.
Can't wait to get to a hotel tomorrow so I can get some power for my laptop and back the device up and start exploring it.
Tempting as it is to install apps (can't wait to re-play my games on this lovely and large display) I can wait until I can pull the device structure onto my computer.
Just wanted to give a shout out and say hi, looking forward to fun stuff with you all in the future!
Sent from a digital distance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congrats! You may have missed the bootloader drama but you are just in time for the good stuff. Enjoy.
Thanks!
I was gonna try to play with it unrooted stock for a while, but found something that's a dealbreaker.
Can't turn off "presidential alerts" under emergency alerts. So, looks like i'll have to make time to go through the process now.
Any spyware I should axe while i'm at it? New to both verizon and samsung, but not to bending Android to my will. If anyone feels like posting here obnoxious intrusive crap to remove, i'm open to suggestions fom those more familiar with my new purchase then I am yet.
Thanks!
Blue6IX said:
I was gonna try to play with it unrooted stock for a while, but found something that's a dealbreaker.
Can't turn off "presidential alerts" under emergency alerts. So, looks like i'll have to make time to go through the process now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"dealbreaker"? Gosh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System#What_the_national_level_EAS_would_not_do
In a The New York Times article (correction printed January 3, 2002)[1] "No president has ever used the current [EAS] system or its technical predecessors in the last 50 years, despite the Soviet missile crisis, a presidential assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing, major earthquakes and three recent high-alert terrorist warnings... Michael K. Powell, the then chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which oversees the Emergency Alert System, pointed to 'the ubiquitous media environment,' arguing that the system was, in effect, scooped by CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and other channels... [FEMA] activates the alert system nationally at the behest of the White House on 34 50,000-watt stations that reach 98 percent of Americans... Beyond that, the current EAS signal is an audio message only—which pre-empts all programming—so that viewers who were watching color images of the trade center on Sept. 11 would have been able to see only a screen with a generic text message along with a presidential voice-over, if an emergency message had been activated."[1]
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Click to collapse
There has only been a test in 2011 of the system, with mixed results. The likelihood of such a notification in the future is incredibly low, but it's only for major emergencies of national implication.
Still, if you really, really need to uncheck that box . . .
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1829681
Blue6IX said:
Thanks!
I was gonna try to play with it unrooted stock for a while, but found something that's a dealbreaker.
Can't turn off "presidential alerts" under emergency alerts. So, looks like i'll have to make time to go through the process now.
Any spyware I should axe while i'm at it? New to both verizon and samsung, but not to bending Android to my will. If anyone feels like posting here obnoxious intrusive crap to remove, i'm open to suggestions fom those more familiar with my new purchase then I am yet.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like the post above says thats kind of a stupid dealbreaker. Its not like youre going to get text messages like its the presidents twitter page. If you are that paranoid about it turn the phone back in because 'they' might be tracking you with it.
Sccrluk9 said:
Like the post above says thats kind of a stupid dealbreaker. Its not like youre going to get text messages like its the presidents twitter page. If you are that paranoid about it turn the phone back in because 'they' might be tracking you with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appreciate if you'd take your hate and assumptions elsewhere, it is counter to the culture of XDA.
My issue is I hit a box I can't uncheck, an option that isn't optional. What it is, is irrelevant to the fact that it's something I couldn't change.
The dealbreaker reference is towards keeping the device unrooted stock.
Sent from a digital distance.
No hate, just assumptions which is my bad. Didn't mean to come off like that and for that I'm sorry. Just been looking at dev topics too long where some people are oblivious to everything.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
No worries, appreciate the reply back!
So, rather then litter the forums with duplicate threads or encouraging duplicates, i'll just toss random questions and happenings in this one regarding my experiences with the device.
At least until i've had time to go through this sub-forum for the device more.
Feel free to answer any questions or not seen here, or comment on anything in this thread.
I just got home and my otterbox defender was here. Never had an otterbox before, so - wow.
Insane level of protection. Before it was so light and fragile feeling. Now, I like it so much better. A little bit of weight, a little bit of bulk, in just the right amount.
I feel like this device was made with the intention of sticking it in this case.
...And putting it in the holster, makes like the completion of armor for the device, what with the hard plastic shell shielding the screen from harm.
Seriously thinking about cutting the belt clip off and just leaving the smooth armor shell piece to pop on and slide the device into my pocket with. Seems like the perfect tweak to make it just right.
I feel likw even after only having it for a few hours that my future devices will take into account whether or not I can get one of these for it.
Okay - the drawback to having a screen big enough to actually use a soft keyboard on is the denial of one handed use.
No matter how I hold it, I just can't manage the device with one hand.
Now that I have the otterbox on it, i've been willing to try shifting my grip one handed during use, but really doesn't help much.
My other device is much smaller and I can use the whole screen comfortably with one thumb.
This one, not so much. If I have to reach across the screen, my palm will hit something before my thumb can get there.
I do think the benefits of the larger screen on my eyes and the actual enjoyment of the device far outweighs this inconvenience - but it does bug me.
Blue6IX said:
Okay - the drawback to having a screen big enough to actually use a soft keyboard on is the denial of one handed use.
No matter how I hold it, I just can't manage the device with one hand.
Now that I have the otterbox on it, i've been willing to try shifting my grip one handed during use, but really doesn't help much.
My other device is much smaller and I can use the whole screen comfortably with one thumb.
This one, not so much. If I have to reach across the screen, my palm will hit something before my thumb can get there.
I do think the benefits of the larger screen on my eyes and the actual enjoyment of the device far outweighs this inconvenience - but it does bug me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may like this then Again you may not. But hope it helps. http://flygrip.com/
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
bgolden84 said:
You may like this then Again you may not. But hope it helps. http://flygrip.com/
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know, I had seen that before but it wasn't something I could really use with my other devices.
I may have to give it another look, given that this SGSIII is about what that thing was designed for.
Thanks for reminding me of something I had written off long ago.
bgolden84 said:
You may like this then Again you may not. But hope it helps. http://flygrip.com/
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is actually pretty damn cool.I just wonder if it would annoy me for my phone to not sit flat on its back.
Edit: Oh wow. $30 for a little piece of plastic. Eek. I don't think i could live with myself if I spent that much on this.
I wonder how much that flygrip thing hinders getting it in/out of a pocket??
When you do get around to trying ROMs let me suggest the Synergy ROM. It is actively developed, offers all the good of Samsung's skin along with most of the great tweaks that make rooting so worth while. Moving from the DX to this phone has been great largely in part to this ROM.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792499
Sent on the fly.
azumandias said:
When you do get around to trying ROMs let me suggest the Synergy ROM. It is actively developed, offers all the good of Samsung's skin along with most of the great tweaks that make rooting so worth while. Moving from the DX to this phone has been great largely in part to this ROM.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792499
Sent on the fly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appreciate the heads up. Today is the last day of return without penalty, think i'm gonna keep it.
Right now It's just rooted, awesome quick guide here somewhere and I was able to bang it out in a few minutes while I was packing my truck to hit the road again for work.
When I get the chance, i'll pop a custom recovery in to block ota's - but right now exploring touchwiz and deciding what I do and don't like.
One thing bugging me is the device never seeming to be able to resume playing music after a call without having to mess with it... no matter what player I use.
No slight against the devs who put so much of themselves into the great works they've made for this device, but most likely I won't sample the roms available and just craft my own. I'll never get what I want unless I build it myself.
Thinking this time i'll just build from source instead of hacking apart a manufacturers version of Android.
Most likely i'll wait until i've got what I want or very near to before playing with other devs works. In large part to keep myself from being influenced by the directions they've taken.
I still haven't recovered all the files I hosted before goo went down, so getting all my works back up and available from my other device is taking up the time I can allocate to dev at the moment.
My laptop is on it's last legs, so until I can replace it ( not long now! ) can't get any real dev done anyway. Just small stuff. Can't keep it cool enough to compile a kernel even sitting on a hotel A/C vent to make it through the whole compile process of a gingerbread kernel without overheating and crashing...ICS is beyond the capabilities of my available hardware at the moment unfortunately.
Work is keeping me mad busy travelling the country ( USA) but i'm starting to have little bits of free time here and there around the constant exhaustion.
Pretty soon I should not only have the physical ability to stay awake long enough to learn something, but also the necessary hardware to do the learning on.
Meantime, it's ten or fifteen minutes of research here and there trying to familiarize myself with the device and the ICS source on my laptop for as long as I can keep it from overheating and shutting off.
It's okay, though, there's a lot to catch up on without needing to dive in and do for me at this point anyway, so the lack of acceptable hardware is more of an annoyance then a hindrance.
I figure i'll just keep adding random notes and observations to this thread to look back on later.
Comments, criticisms and suggestions most welcome from all of you out there!
How did you "thank" your own posts?
Sent from a strange blue box hurtling through time and space.
Haro912 said:
How did you "thank" your own posts?
Sent from a strange blue box hurtling through time and space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no clue, it's showing I thanked both mine and yours, but I hadn't even seen yours yet and it already showed thanks for it?
Okay - palm swipe for screenshot is virtually impossible with the raised edges of the otterbox defender around the screen.
Might also be my not having cut out the otterbox screen protector yet, so has two on it and touches suck sometimes.
Well, just threw cwm on it, to block the ota.
...and found picture in picture video vieqing - so cool. I'm watching a movie right now while typing his on he S3. That's foward pogress and leveraging multi-tasking capabilities.

[Q] How to make having a smartphone worthwhile?

I held off of getting s smartphone for a long time, because I never could see any decent reason to have one. Finally, considering it would be convenient for playing music on the go, I ended up getting one. I've had one for a year, and it still doesn't feel worthwhile. Granted sometimes it can be nice to use a terrible version of a web-browser without having to have a computer around, but that hardly makes it worthwhile.
When I finally did get one, refusing to get an apple product I went with Android, and haven't been too impressed with it. Can't even change the volume steps, not even custom roms touch that, making it really useless as a music player (and people told me Android is supposed to be customizable). Wanting to make it worthwhile, I asked all my friends what cool apps there are, and consistently got the reply that there really isn't any. I've scoured the Google Play Store and Fdroid countless times with the same result.
I end up with the vast majority of my apps being stuff for my phone like Nova Launcher, Kernel Adiutor, Better Battery Stats, etc, etc. Those help make the phone usable, not worthwhile. I've only found one game ever that I enjoyed playing on a mobile device, which was Quizup (before they ruined it, now there's really nothing). Is there anything entertaining? Is there anything more interesting than a graphic calculator emulator? Is there anything more useful than a flashlight? Or is a smartphone as useless as I had always envisioned it to be? Just a tinker-toy for tech enthusiasts. Is it just a phone with a few interesting but not useful things and garbage battery life in return (despite doing everything in my power to maximize my battery life and put others with the same phone to shame)? I'd prefer the much more massive battery life and better voice quality of my ancient Nokia phone. I don't want to give up on it, but I need help keeping up hope. Even Tasker is sitting around not doing anything particularly useful. At least it can make phone calls unlike a useless Android tablet. Someone please help me make it worthwhile.
Hey, what was that movie with that one guy that was in that other movie with that chick from that TV show?
How far is a league?
Why is a booby trap called a booby trap?
Where the hell am I and how do I get to where I need to go?
Boy, I wish I could hear "Handle With Care" by the Traveling Wilburys right now. I haven't heard that song in ages.
A phone is something you make calls with. A smartphone is the wealth of the world's knowledge at your fingertips.
The problem with that is that a smartphone is a cumbersome device for giving input and getting output. Even with getting as good of a tiny touchscreen keyboard as you can get (which is still bad compared to a real keyboard) and voice input (which is usually even worse in my experience with several Android solutions as well as Apple's), you still have super buggy difficult to navigate watered-down info on a tiny screen that takes more scrolling than the miles of it I've put on my mouse.
I'm never too far from a computer that I've ever had to use or would have liked to use a smartphone to get that information. I've had the world's information at my fingertips, but why would I want to use a smartphone to get it? I've tried using it for convenience, I've tried using it to augment using a computer, but I've quit trying. Maybe it would be useful if I forgot to plan things ahead of time, or forgot to bring a camera or something. But I'm looking for a way for it to be consistently useful, not something that might come in handy one day and cost me hours of charging every day. I'm still not seeing it.

Giving Away One SuperR Kitchen Licence

I had 2 laptops and about a week after switching over my kitchen to the better laptop, I had to sell it. It's clearly stated at every stage of obtaining the app and when switching computers that you may not jump back and forth between the device host. Things are a bit rough right now so I won't be able to use the app for a long time. 1-3 months is long for me. So.! I might as well let another member have it and make good use of it. I 'll need a new one anyway. The first person to make me laugh. It's yours.
Laptop meaning
Some people are difficult to make them laugh, but I'll give it a try, who knows.
Do you know what laptops are made for? If you respond portability, you are right. Saying for entertainment, you are right again. For business? Hmm, well, yeah. To be able to watch a Youtube video at any time? Yes, again. To be able to play a game? Well, yes, you can play a game on it too even if it's not a rocket computer or one from NASA, as you have probably seen on the internet (I'll give you a tip, they have there 100gbps download speed, so you can download any new game within less than a second. That speed is faster than you can move your eyes ). Okay, so what can't you do with a laptop? I mean, really, you can have it with you even when you are in bed on your back (but be careful, it's not very light, so if you will fall asleep, you will probably need to call your wife to take care of you). So yeah, even the name says it "laptop", but your pc won't call you "Hey, idiot, put me on your lap, I have to irradiate your most precious organs", that's up to you.
It's nice from you to do such a thing, also, most of times we want upgrades, but be careful if you put it into your kitchen. Maybe he will sign a contract with your microwave and put you into trouble
Much more than i expected. Thanks. Needed a laugh.
Alright i'll pm you with the details...
Just as soon as i change my XDA password!

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