[GoogleLabs] Script Converter, Scribe and Breadcrumb

Google Labs is a playground where users can play with some of the cool experiments done at Google. Once the idea / product gets stabilized, they will be graduated from the labs. Some of the products graduated from the labs include Google Maps, Google Suggest, Google Reader, etc. Script Converter, Scribe and Breadcrumb are some of the tools recently launched in the labs. Try them out today.

Script Converter

Script Converter is an awesome tool which allows you to read a text / a complete web page in a script of your choice. This does not translate the text. This will be handy if a person can speak a particular language but can not read / write in that language. For example, I can understand spoken Telugu but can not read / write Telugu scripts. If I want to read a Telugu web page, this tool will help me to view the page in English scripts. The tool can also auto-detect the scripts used on a site. Open the twitter page of @agaraadhi. Check out the same page with English script here.

Scribe

Scribe is an auto-completion tool which was launched last month. It provides text completion suggestions based on the information already typed in the document. This also helps in saving the keystrokes. Scribe is available as a Chrome extension as well and can be used as a auto-completion on all the web pages.

 Breadcrumb 

Breadcrumb is a less known tool on Google Labs which enables you to create a variety of mobile learning applications and allows you to make your application work with only few annotations to the plain text. Annotations can be used to control the flow of text in the application. It provides an interface where in you can type the text and a mobile application will be created based on the annotated text. User guide / documentation is not available yet. Some of the use cases of this tool could be 1. Help data-center technicians troubleshoot problems on the datacenter floor. 2. Decision making system for the new employees of a team 3. Alternative for flow charts. () and [] are the annotations supported so far. click on the screenshot below to know more about the syntax.

-- Varun

Unix commands on Android using BusyBox

BusyBox is an utility application which executes on an embedded Linux system to provide you with a bunch of handy Unix / Linux tools. It is designed to be a small executable which makes it ideal for use with embedded devices. The application is also known as “The Swiss Army Knife” of embedded Linux. If you have a rooted Android device, this application is a must-have one. It offers some of the popular Unix tools like grep, awk, sed, etc on your Android device.

Pre-requisites

• Your device should be rooted. Check out these instructions to root your device with a single-click. Complete guide for rooting.
• Download and install the latest Android SDK from here. This comes up with all the tools needed for development and testing of your application. Make sure the driver ‘ADB interface’ is installed on your machine. In most of the cases, the driver will be installed directly once you plug-in the device.

Installation Method-1

• Connect your Android device to your PC on debug mode. Enable USB debugging on your phone. Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging.
• Download the latest version of BusyBox binaries for ARMV6l from here. Rename it to just busybox and copy to the root folder of your SD Card.
• Download the BusyBox installation script from here. Copy the same to the root folder of your SD Card. Now, you are all set to start the installation.
• On your laptop, open a command prompt and enter “adb shell”. Get into super user mode by typing su.
• Move  to the SD card where the binary and the installation script are placed. cd /sdcard.
• Execute the installation script sh ./installbusybox.sh.
• Check if the installation is complete by issuing a grep command. “getprop | grep dns”.

Installation Method-2

• If you don’t want to take the pain of downloading the binary and then the installation script, try out this method-2. This method eliminates most of the manual steps done above.
• Download and install the application “BusyBox” from Android market. This is not the actual application rather it is an installer for the BusyBox utility.
• Open the application. It will list down some of the recent versions of BusyBox utility. Select the latest one and click on install. Allow the Super user permission when asked by the installer. That is it. You are done.
• This method is quite simpler when compared to the other one. But, the installer is problematic with some of the custom ROMs.

Check out the complete list of commands supported by BusyBox here.

-- Varun

[How to] Change fonts on Nexus One

Few days back, I had rooted my Nexus One using the article I had posted about rooting the Nexus One. One of the main reasons behind that move was the inability of Android to render the text in my mother tongue (Tamil). The plain vanilla Android 2.2 does support only a limited set of fonts and it has no support for Unicode yet. DroidSans is the default font used on Android devices. Fonts are placed inside /system/fonts folder of the Android system. After rooting my device, I tried installing few fonts which support Unicode char-set and my Nexus One is able to render Tamil characters now. However, some special glyphs of the Tamil language are not getting rendered properly. This is something to do with the position of the characters. Anyways, now I can read my favorite Tamil blogs on my dearest Nexus One.

  

Nexus One displaying Tamil characters!!

Here are the steps to be followed to change fonts:

• First requirement here is that your device must be rooted.
• Find out the font which supports Unicode char set. I have used “Arial Unicode MS” for rendering the Tamil characters.
• Download and install the latest Android SDK from here. This comes up with all the tools needed for development and testing of your application. Make sure the driver ‘ADB interface’ is installed on your machine. In most of the cases, the driver will be installed directly once you plug-in the device.
• Connect your Android device to your PC on debug mode. Enable USB debugging on your phone. Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging.
• On your laptop, open a command prompt and enter “adb shell”.
• By default, /system partition is mounted as read-only. Need to re-mount the same in read-write mode. Follow the instructions here to do this.
• Take a backup of the DroidSans font in super user mode. “adb shell”  > su > mv /system/fonts/DroidSans.ttf /system/fonts/DroidSansOriginal.ttf
• After that, you have to push the Unicode font you have selected by executing the command “adb push <path to your font file> /system/fonts/DroidSans.ttf” So, we are just replacing the DroidSans font with the new one. The font you are choosing should support the characters originally supported by DroidSans. Otherwise, this is what will happen.

-- Varun

One-Click root for Nexus One

If you are a tech savvy person, probably the first thing you will try to do on your Android is rooting it. Rooting is the process of gaining root privileges on your Android device. It enables an user to override protected features of the Android Operating System. After rooting the device, one can install the unofficial firmware images. There are different ways of rooting the device. The common method is to unlock the boot loader using the fastboot command. Remember, this will void the warranty. You will even see a warning from Google before doing this. Our friends at XDA have developed lots of tools to ease the rooting process. Quick rooter for Android 2.2 is one such popular tool. It does not install a full ROM, but, meant to be flashed over an existing Froyo installation. Rooting gets further easier with the new application “Universal Androot”

One-Click root

• Universal Androot is the application which does the magic. The beta version of it can be downloaded from the developers site. Open the application after installing it.
• Just click on the “Root :-)” button to unlock your device. Kudos to the developer. It works. “SuperUser” application will also be installed after you root your device. This is used to allow / deny when someone request for root access.
• The application also provides an option to unroot your device. It is working with minor issues.

Supported devices
Google Nexus One (2.2), HTC Hero (2.1), HTC Magic (1.5), Dell Streak (2.1), Motorola Milestone (2.1), Motorola XT701, Motorola XT800 (2.1), Motorola ME511, Sony Ericsson X10 (1.6), Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro (1.6), Acer Liquid (2.1), Vibo A688 (1.6)

Disclaimer: I am not responsible if you mess up your phone trying this application.

(via xda-developers)

-- Varun

Building Android apps using your favorite scripting language

Android market is growing day-by-day with lots of cool new applications. Google is trying to make the application development as easy as possible by launching a WYSIWYG designer for Android apps – Android App Inventor recently. However, the developers were restricted to only one language Java. There is an interesting project hosted on Google code named as Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A) which will remove this language restriction. The project (which was formerly known as Android Scripting Environment) allows you to build applications using any of your favorite scripting languages like Python, Perl, Javascript, etc.

 

Some interesting facts about Android Scripting

• Android Scripting works on the principle of cross-compilation. Interpreters are written for different scripting languages which will interpret the scripts and execute them as native Android application.
• APIs are available for Python, Perl, Javascript, JRuby, Lua, BeanShell, Tcl and Shell. These APIs are simplified interface to many of the APIs available to full-fledged Android development. API Reference.
• The scripts can be run as background task or from a terminal.
• Install the application ‘SL4A’ from here. The application has a script editor and a terminal interface. Check out the advanced topics here.
• The project is hosted on Google code. Anyone, who wants to support their own scripting language, can write the interpreters for the same.

I wrote a Hello, World application using Perl. What are you waiting for? Get your hands dirty. Start building apps using your favorite scripting language. Enjoy scripting!! :-)

-- Varun

[How to] Fix the 3G issues on Nexus One

You can’t get everything right on the first go. Even the most successful products enter with minor defects. Google’s first attempt to launch a smart phone was no different. First version of Nexus One (T-Mobile compatible version) shipped had issues with 3G connectivity. The connection was getting lost often. Though Google claims to have fixed this issue with an OTA update (for the pinch-to-zoom capabilities), some of the users continue to suffer 3G connectivity issues. I have this problem on my Nexus One – the mobile network connectivity continues to hop from 3G to Edge and to 2G even with the same signal strength.

 

How to diagnose the problem?

• Its pretty easy. The network notification bar jumps from 3G to Edge and back to 3G often (even from the same location). However, one can not conclude just by this. There may be actual signal problems in the place. But, there is a technical way to diagnose this problem.
• Android phone has a number of hidden interfaces (interfaces which can not be launched by a naive phone user). ‘Phone info’ is one such interface which gives you information about your phone connectivity as well as the mobile network.
• As the ‘Phone info’ interface is hidden, there is no straight way for the user to launch this interface.
• How do I launch these interfaces? Any application available in Market? ‘Any Cut’ is an awesome application which comes handy here. ‘Any Cut’ allows you to instantly create shortcuts for nearly any function that your phone has to offer. Install the app from the Android market.
• Open the ‘Any Cut’ application. New Shortcut > Activity > Phone Info. A new shortcut will be created on the home screen. (Organize the shortcut using folders)
• Open the shortcut ‘Phone Info’. This will open the hidden interface ‘Phone Info’.
• ‘Phone Info’ shows information like the IMEI number, Current network, Signal strength, GSM service, Network type, etc. Monitor the signal strength. Whenever there is a network hop, check out the difference in signal strength. If there is no significant change, then there is problem on your mobile.
• ‘Phone Info’ can also be launched by dialing “*#*#4636#*#*”

Fix for the problem

• Open ‘Phone Info’. Follow the above steps.
• Set the preferred network type to ‘WCDMA only’ (3G). This will force the device to use 3G networks only. The default option will be ‘WCDMA Preferred’.
• But, this fix comes with a cost. Your phone will not have receive signals in places without 3G network.

I will be on WiFi 90% of the time, the remaining 10% of the time I have been using this fix. It is working smoothly in cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. However, when you travel inner parts of the state, you will not have 3G network everywhere.

Are you guys facing the 3G connectivity issue with AT & T compatible version also? Have you figured out any other solution for the same? Share them on comments.

-- Varun

RIP Google Wave!!

Google Wave is now history. Google has decided to discontinue Wave but the technology behind that will be used in other products. I was one of the beta testers for Google Wave and have developed quite a lot of extensions for it. It is sad to know that Google is stopping the development on Wave. From the Google’s official blog post:

“Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. In addition, we will work on tools so that users can easily ‘liberate’ their content from Wave.”

“We celebrate our failures” -- Google’s CEO Schmidt

-- Varun

[How to] Control Powerpoint presentation with your Android phone

Ever had the pain of asking someone to control the slides when you are giving a business presentation? Here is an awesome solution for you -- an application in Android market to help you control your presentation from your Android phone. While there are lots of applications available in the market to control your PC from the Android device, Gmote stands out from all of them in terms of the features offered. Using Gmote, you can control the presentation on your PC / laptop, play media files, browse through the contents on your laptop, etc. Gmote application requires a server to be up and running on the PC side. Gmote client runs on the Android device and communicates with the server on your PC. Gmote client can talk to the server over WiFi as well as the mobile 3G network (which not many applications support). Another good thing is Gmote has support for Windows, Linux and Mac.

 

Installation procedure & Configuration

• On your android device, download and install the application ‘Gmote 2.0’ from the market.
• Download the Gmote server from here. Need to have admin privileges to install the same.
• Start the server on the PC which you want to control.
• Gmote server will prompt you to set a password to your PC. The same has to used while connecting from the phone.
• After that it will show the Media Path selector. Choose the location of media files which you wish to run remotely.
• Start the client on the Android device. It will prompt you for the server details and the password.
• Done. You are all set to control your PC from the phone.

Controlling the presentation from the phone

• Make sure you have done all the configurations mentioned above.
• Select ‘Browse’ from the menu and navigate to the power point file (.ppt / .pps)
• Choose the option ‘Play on Computer’ from the file browser.
• Click on the power point file to launch it on your PC.
• Once the presentation is launched, Gmote remote control screen will be shown.
• Press the play button to start the presentation. Use the left and right keys to navigate through the slides.

What else I can do with Gmote?

• Use your Android phone as a remote mouse / keyboard for your PC.
• You can play the media files on your PC from the phone.
• Streaming of media files on your PC to the phone.
• You can control the DVD drive on your PC.
• Browse through the shared files on your PC.
• Open a web page on your PC from the phone.

Check out the help page of Gmote. The only other application which comes closer to Gmote is RemoteDroid.

-- Varun

Watching live TV on Android

Lots and lots of applications are being added to Android market everyday and the market is growing rapidly. The count of apps on market has just crossed 100,000 and more than a billion downloads. You can find application for doing anything and everything with your smart phone. Here is the list of cool apps which will help you watch live TV on Android:

 

• Apalya TV. This application is built by a Hyderabad based startup “Apalya Technologies”. Apalya’s Mobile Video Delivery Platform seamlessly streams video content to Consumers, integrating Mobile Operators, Content owners and Mobile advertisers. The app brings most of the regional channels in India to your smart phone. Channels supported: IPL, Zoom, SVBC, Raj TV, Time TV, Makkal TV, E TV, etc. The audio and video quality are quite good if you have a descent internet connection. Download the app from Android market.
• SPB TV.This application is built by SPB Software which is long known for building Windows mobile applications. SPB TV offers 100+ international channels. The application costs $9.95 from the Android market. There is a free version of the same “SPB TV Lite” with limited channels.
• Sky+. This application is for the users from UK. It is not really a live TV app but will allow people with Sky+ and Sky+ HD boxes to record their channels on the move.

-- Varun

‘Quick Settings’ for Android

The word simple proves to be powerful yet again. Though Android has a nice consolidated Settings menu, you have to take the pain of going through the entire menu even for some of the frequently used ones. Here is an awesome application “Quick Settings” which will help you in changing the settings really quickly and from a single place. It is a nice all-in-one application. Simple but a very useful one.

Some of the interesting features of the application:

• Quick access to brightness, volume control, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, APN settings, etc.
• Battery meter and the phone memory usage indicator.
• LED Flashlight. You can use your camera LED as flashlight. This was earlier available only on rooted devices. This application brings the feature to non-rooted devices as well.

Try it out yourself. I am sure you will be amazed with this. Thanks to @psam for the tip.

-- Varun

Android 2.2 Froyo – What do I like about it?

Google has been rolling out the Android 2.2 (code named Froyo) update to all the Nexus One users over the air. I got the update yesterday and have been trying the new things on Froyo. Trying to reconcile what they said it will have and what it has.

View Full Album

Here is a list of things I liked about Froyo:

• Performance improvement & enhanced browser speed. Performance improvement is one of the main features used to advertise Froyo. But, I could not notice it clearly as I never had to wait for any operation even with the older version of Android 2.1. Search seems to be very faster than the previous version. Rendering on browsers seem to be faster with the V8 Javascript engine.
• Flash Player 10.1. Flash player seems to be friendly with the browser. I have tried out few flash gaming sites like miniclip.com and I was able to play some of the most addictive PC games on mobile. Played for around an hour and Flash player managed to run without any crashes. Now, I can play TED videos directly from the browser. :-)
• Improved Camera and Gallery. Camera interface has been revamped and it looks cleaner now. It has been made easy to control zoom, flash, white balance, geo-tagging, focus and exposure with the new interface. Another cool stuff with the camera is the flash mode for videos which means that videos can be shot at night as well.
• Android Cloud to device messaging. Android Cloud to device is a  mechanism which allows sending messages from cloud to your device. I tried sending some bookmarks from Google Chrome to my phone using ChromeToPhone extension. Once the message is sent from the Cloud, it will open the browser / Google maps on your phone with the web page / location. This is an awesome feature. 
• Apps on SD Card. Though Froyo supports installation of applications on SD card, most of the developers have not implemented this so far. Little disappointed over that.
• Improved User Interface for GMail, GTalk, Calendar applications. Changes have been made with the objective of improving the accessibility. 
• Misc. Other noticeable features include Tethering & Wi-Fi Hotspot, Contacts grouping on Call log, Enterprise support, etc.

Froyo is not a major update but has a set of significant new features. I am loving it. The next major version of Android 3.0 (code named as GingerBread) is likely to focus more on the User Interface to avoid the fragmentation problem.

-- Varun