Google Android Developers Rejoice!

In a huge move, Google has sent out emails to thousands of Android developers stating that if they have an Android app with 3.5+ stars and 5k+ downloads, they get a FREE (as in beer) phone! Here is the mail:

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Subject: Device Seeding Program for Top Android Market Developers
From: android-market-seeding@google.com

Due to your contribution to the success of Android Market, we would like to present you with a brand new Android device as part of our developer device seeding program. You are receiving this message because you're one of the top developers in Android Market with one or more of your applications having a 3.5 star or higher rating and more than 5,000 unique downloads.

In order to receive this device, you must click through to this site, read the terms and conditions of the offer and fill out the registration form to give us your current mailing address so that we can ship your device.

You will receive either a Verizon Droid by Motorola or a Nexus One. Developers with mailing addresses in the US will receive either a Droid or Nexus one, based on random distribution. Developers from Canada, EU, and the EEA states (Norway, Lichtenstein), Switzerland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore will receive a Nexus One. Developers with mailing addresses in countries not listed above will not receive a phone since these phones are not certified to be used in other countries.

We hope that you will enjoy your new device and continue to build more insanely popular apps for Android!

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I thought I was a phanboy before... Google, you Rock!

Motorola S9 Volume Control Issue Solved!

My Motorola S9 headset failed during a recent workout. My symptoms were: low volume, unresponsive buttons. since it was well over the warranty period, in frustration I decided to peel the black + - phone rubber button off of the unit (I figured why not, the thing is basically useless as it is). I then noticed that there is a little screw that connects the ear-bud housing to the head set that appeared to be corroded. I took out an exacto and started scraping the screw and noticed the base of the screw appeared have corrosion or something that extended to one of the wires. I scraped some of this substance and immediately the volume went to full (I had started a tune in advance - I suppose I could have shorted the whole unit, but I was taking a chance on that like I said). I cleared away the corrosion, tested the unit, then covered the screw and the cavity with super glue (I'm not sure if that is a smart move or not). As I type I am once again listening to my wireless bluetooth headset once again!

Shameless plug for ToMarket Android App

OK, some of you know that I have an Android App in the Android Market called ToMarket. It is a convenient little shopping App that has a bit of a following. As I decide where to go next with it in it's evolution I have a new website called www.ToMarketWeb.com that will host web services and possibly an online version of the app. Chaeck the site out - log into the forum and say hello if you like.

SQL Order By using columns of Strings that may be numbers...

Had a column of type string that may be numbers that are entered by the user of an application. The user is allowed to sort, but using the standard "order by colname asc" can give this nasty list:

1
12
19
3
4
44
7
acorns
beer

Changing the command to read "order by cast(colname as signed) asc" makes the list much prettier:

1
3
4
7
12
19
44
acorns
beer

This syntax was using MySQL, but should port nicely elsewhere.

Command Completion at DOS Prompt

I always search for the trick to make your command prompt have auto completion when when you hit the tab key, so I am writing it down here for everyone to bask in the auto-complete glory...

1. Run regedit (start->run type regedit and hit enter)
2. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor
3. Click the "Command Processor" item and in the right pane double click "CompletionChar"
4. In the value data textbox, enter 9 and press ok.
5. Close regedit and restart any command prompts you want to tab instead of type in.

Enjoy!

Have WSDL, need server

Today I had the need to create a proxy Web Service in place of one that was being developed. I had the WSDL file of the soon to be developed service, but wanted to stand up a service that would help me debug the client I was developing. Turns out it is as simple as running a command line command:

wsdl.exe /server

I'm running Visual Studio 2008 so the wsdl path was (which I had previously added to my path):

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\Bin

After running the tool, I had a ready-made .cs file with the correct interface, which I then easily used to stub out some mock data for my client code.

Cyanogenmod v4.2.6 Released

So it looks like cyanogen released a new version of the Android including the r2 AOSP code. Some of the fixes include:

* Update to AOSP-1.6r2
* More art from Eclair
* BT OBEX FTP fixes
* Revert some recent kernel changes that caused instability
* All locales available again
* Many many more bugfixes

Doesn't look like he spent a whole lot of holiday time churning out anything terrific on this one - understandably. But we do wait for more 2.0 code inclusion despite the great Google Maps release last week.