First I started with the basics trying to learn the activity cycles, create(), pause(), resume() and all that. Next I jumped right into libgdx(open source game development framework) and starting to make the “Simple Game” that was up in the wiki. I read every little details and did exactly what was asked to do. But when I launched the game it said “Unfortunately, My LibGdx Game has stopped”. I had no clue about what went wrong. Was it something to do with code, had I made correct settings ? Oh God, what in earth I chose to make an Android Game for my Freshman Design.

Thankfully Libgdx is cross platform and I tested the code with the desktop version and it worked! Just like that, no change in code, nothing and it worked like magic. And then I realized that there was nothing wrong with me setting up the classes and calling them. It was Android Emulator that had problem.

Days passed by, I used desktop version to test my code, but Android Emulator never worked. And then 3 days ago, I found out that Android Emulator did not support Open Gl 2.0 ! What I am new to this Open gl and all but seriously? Android emulator does not support it? And how do game developers make slick and 3d games? After more research I found out that, Android Emulator do supports 2.0, but that was just recently on April 09 2012, around one month back! See this article.(http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2012/04/faster-emulator-with-better-hardware.html) All we had to do was add new Hardware for our emulator called GPU emulation and say it yes.

And that’s it folks, my journey to making an Android Game continues and I will update you with all the problems I face and the solutions I come up.

May the Code be with you. (Does this sound any familiar?)

Here is the instructions for setting up Open GL ES 2.0, in case you were wondering.

Lets give an example with two hypothetical programmers. Programmer A and Programmer B

Programmer A : Relatively new in game development. Trying to make a simple game utilizing Open GL. Game does not need too much of graphics. Time to complete is around 2 months.

Programmer B : Having a good experience in game development and graphics. Has lots of time to develop a game. Wants to make a game with powerful graphics that is supported by the newest Android models.

In which category do you fall ? Are you A type or B type ?

If you are A type than you should use Andengine. It is relatively easier to setup and start coding even if you are a beginner.

B types need to use Libgdx, it allows more powerful game development with total control of Open GL.

One more thing to consider is do you want your game to be crossplatform or not?

Libgdx is crossplatform making it possible to make games for Andriod, Html and Desktop where as Andengine is just for Android.

Which engine are you going to use?

And if you have used either Andengine or Libgdx, what is your opinion regarding them?

Please commet below.

Ever heard that song called “Friday” by Rebecca Black, remember the line “which seat can I take”. Probably you are wondering how Rebecca Black and Android Development got connected together. I guess all the young generation out there has heard about Rebecca Black and how she got notoriously hit in YouTube. Well I am trying to develop an Android App for my freshman design project and was thinking about in which version to develop my app. Well even though I am just starting to get to know android and till now have not done any significant projects, the fact on which version to develop hunts me down like the friday song. I was thinking about app development and suddenly I saw some Rebecca black meme, which flashed back the horrible memory of watching the video. So there’s no connection at all, except in my mind and now after that you read this article, the song is going to haunt you too while doing app development creating a connection probably.

I have just started to think about the basics of my Android application. We are doing it as a group project and it might make the work easier. But still for a complete newbie like me, its definitely not going to be an easy journey. Let’s see what grade I get for the class at the end of the term. We have decided to make a game, it is the most successful category I guess. We did some brainstorming and came up with some ideas. Looks like the most popular category inside the games section is ‘Casual Games’, and the ones that are really popular use some kind of physics based engine, accounting gravity and stuffs, like Angry Birds, Cut the rope, Paper Toss and the list goes on. So we are trying to create a casual game using laws of physics. Lets see how far we can get with this project. But what troubles me is that, even if we succeed in making a proper game, polished and tweaked ready for the market will it get successful? Even more if we develop it in Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread and then by the time it gets finished, Gingerbread becomes obsolete?

I did some research and found out that around this time last year Gingerbread had reach to only around 1 percent of Android devices, which now is around 6o percent. What if same thing is going to happen with Ice Cream Sandwich? Will it be more wiser to develop for ICS and hope that it will reach a greater market in coming days? Just for the record according to Google ICS has 2.9 percent market as of April 2 .

With all these statistics to figure out, I am confused what to do. But just as a newbie developer I should not think too much about this I guess, and developing on 2.3.3 sounds a good option for me. First of all I am not sure even if we can come up with a game at first place or not. And even if it comes out, just hope that 2.3.3 is still there and the users like our game. Even if 100 people download our game, it would be great. Let’s hope for the best

And now there is Intellij IDEA, said as third party development tool in the android site. Well so Google, is Eclipse your first party tool?

Intellij Idea “offers smart, type-aware code completion.” as stated in the official site. Here is a picture comparing it with other editors.

The link to the editor’s Android plugin: http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/features/google_android.html

Though the Android Dev Guide doesnot provide documentation for these tools, who cares, no one is going to read that documentation any way. I think Intellij IDEA is also good editor for developing android apps. The features are pretty good and why not try something new than always coding in Eclipse. What do you think? Would you develop in this editor despite the Android Dev Guide documentation?

This post is for newbies in Android development who have just started to think about developing Android applications in their mind and have no idea about where to start and how to gather all the resources. The first hurdle is to get used to the development process including the installation of necessary softwares and the necessary procedures to run and build the app. Though it’s not that hard to install the necessary files, you have to go to multiple sites across the web to get all of them.

Developing Android app requires you to install JDK, Eclipse and of course the Android Development Kit. Android Developer blog, the official blog from google, has the necessary instructions and links to files regarding the process. However going through the blog  at first, you will have an information overload. The very purpose of the article is to get you started in the Android Development world. This article will not teach you how to code but just explain the necessary steps in creating and running a sample Android Project named “Snake” from scratch, (installing the necessary softwares to running the app in the virtual android device).

 The information provided in this article are for anyone who is starting to code Android Apps. You don’t need to have knowledge of any programming language including Java or XML or any other to follow the steps stated in this article. The instructions are just to get you started in Android Development, and is applied for both pro and newbie programmers. This article uses the conventional Eclipse software, which is the suggested IDE for starters in Android Development. Alternative to Eclipse is IntelliJ IDEA, more information can be found on http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/

All that said, lets start

Step 1: Download Eclipse if you have not installed it already. Regarding the version of Eclipse it should be 3.6.2 (Helios) or greater. There is newer version 3.7 called Indigo, but to be safe I would install 3.6.2.

And don’t be confused with Eclipse version and packages. 3.6.2 is the version of the IDE where as packages are different products of the same version. For Android Development it is recommended to use either, Eclipse Classic, Eclipse IDE for Java Developers and Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers. So you have to install either three packages of version 3.6.2 or greater.

Link for Eclipse Classic 3.6.2 :

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipse-classic-362/heliossr2

Step 2: Download the Java Development Kit (JDK), or update it to the latest version from the oracle. You need this to install Eclipse. By the way its the main component in developing any java software, as JDK name itself is enough to say that.

Link for JDK 7 u3:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk-7u3-download-1501626.html

Step 3: Install the Eclipse software in your system if you have not done already. Recommended package is Eclipse Classic. The installation process is the simplest. Just extract the files and that’s it !

Step 4: Download the Android Development Tools (ADT), which is a plugin for the Eclipse IDE. For that you don’t have to download anything. Just open Eclipse, than select Help > Install New Software.. . Click Add. In the repository Dialog input ADT plugin as name and following URL for the location:

https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

Then Click Ok.

 Step 5: Create a Virtual Android Device by Clicking Window > AVD Manager. Click New. In the Create new AVD dialog, input “Android” or whatever you like. In target choose the android version you would like to run like Android 2.3.3 or Android 4.0.3 . And Click Ok. Now you are ready to Run your app on the desired version of Android.

 Step 6: Now you can finally create an Android Project and run it. First select File > New > Android Project..

 In New Android Project dialog input your desired name for Project Name, then select Create project from existing samples. Then click Next.

 Next select the desired Target for you app, in my case I have installed only Android 2.3.3 and 4.0.3 sdk, so only those two appear. After selecting the android device you want to build the app on Press Next.

 In the next dialog, select Snake as your sample and then click Finish.

 Step 7: Now it’s time to run the app. By now the app in my case “Snake” will be appear in the Navigator located in the left side of the Eclipse Window. Select it. And then select Run menu and then Run or press CTRL + F11. In the dialog box Run as, select Android Application and press Ok.  If you have followed all the steps till now, Android Emulator will start up. It will take a few minute to load up the emulator. And then voila, the app will be displayed.

 And that’s it. Now you have the basic experience in starting to create, run and test your first Android app.

Thanks for reading the article. If you have any questions or problem in doing any of the steps above please comment below.

]]> http://www.pythology.com/first-experience-in-installing-eclipse-for-android-and-running-a-sample-app/feed/ 0 http://www.pythology.com/four-robots-hubos-covering-come-together-by-beatles/ http://www.pythology.com/four-robots-hubos-covering-come-together-by-beatles/#comments Wed, 04 Apr 2012 02:22:45 +0000 Basanta Kharel http://www.pythology.com/?p=48

(Read More...)]]> Watch the first ever humanoid robots covering the all time hit band Beatles. These robots from Drexel University called ‘Hubo’ demonstrate the cutting edge technology and research going on in humanoid robot technology. This video was created by the Music & Entertainment Technology Laboratory (MET-lab) of Drexel University.

MET-lab student Matthew Prockup created the musical arrangement for drum kit and three “Hubophones”, novel percussion instruments designed and constructed by the lab for this performance.

Designed and developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Technology (KAIST), HUBO, now seven in number, is a part of humanoid research collaboration with KAIST, Drexel and seven other universities in the states.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.- series) is now used on 2.9 percent of the total Android Devices, according to the official source at android developer site. The data was based on 14 day period ending on April 2 2012, based on the number of Andriod devices that accessed Google Play.

This steady growth of increase from 0.6 percent in January is showing that after all ICS is slowly getting market. The latest mobile phones like Galaxy S II and HTC Sensation which have used 4.0 as the software have contributed in this increasing market. Soon 4.0 will dominate the android market.

However as today, Android 2.3 series or “Gingerbread” is still the most popular version and is accounted of 63.7 percent of total devices. One more thing to be noted is that version 2.3- 2.3.2 that used API level 9 was just 0.5 percent. Said that, the most used API Level is 10.

All the developers are now in a dilemma whether to develop for ICS or Gingerbread. Market of Gingerbread  is now almost stagnant but comprises of more than half of the devices where as ICS can outnumber that stats any time soon. Last year around this time, 2.3 had just 1 percent of the market. What I suggest is that, make your codes run for Gingerbread with API Level 10 for the time being but be ready to jump to ICS any time, or even start coding for ICS as a side project. Or if you are the lazy one just wait till ICS gets a significant market. This ever changing platform version is one of the main reasons why developers fear to get their hands on Android Development.

What’s your opinion about this? Will you keep working with Gingerbread even if you have just started a new project or wait until ICS controls the market, which can be any time soon.

Siri is not just any Voice Recognition Application that you have used or heard about before. It’s a Holy Grail of Artificial Intelligence and human like speech. We have never before come across an application that is both intelligent and can talk like a human being at the same time, even answering silly questions to perfection like, ‘Why did the chicken cross the road’.

Till now there were 3 ways to interact with devices, Keyboard, Mouse and Gestures. Siri with the power of Human Speech, the most effective way of human communication, is going to be a game changer in many fields including Smart Phones, Search and other technologies. Some day technologies like Google Search will become obsolete unless they will find some ways to get around.

With pasts as back as 1966, Siri is an outcome of work done by many different groups including DARPA, SRI International, many Universities and Apple of course. Dag Kittlaus , Siri Inc.’s former CEO and co-founder and Adam Cheyer, Siri Inc.’s former VP Engineering and co-founder are considered the two fathers of Siri which now belongs to Apple. But it was the ingenuity of Apple that brought Siri to a whole new level, making it possible to realize it’s potential and bringing it to the public by including it in iPhone 4S.

Siri is just in version 1.0 now. With Apple as it’s Godfather Siri is heading towards bright future, as a technology that will be an inevitable part of our future. Either be Artificial intelligence or Context awareness Siri would have it all and would be a synergy of what technology will have to offer us.

Here’s a list of what Siri can do till now. (Courtesy to Brian Roemmele, Alchemist & Metaphysician at Quora)

• Does Things For You- Task completion:

- Multiple Criteria Vertical and Horizontal searches
- On the fly combining of multiple information sources
- Real time editing of information based on dynamic criteria
- Integrated endpoints, like ticket purchases, etc.

• Gets What You Say- Conversational intent:

- Location context
- Time context
- Task context
- Dialog context

• Gets To Know You- Learns and acts on personal information:

- Who are your friends
- Where do you live
- What is your age
- What do you like

Computing technology has changed. Long gone are the times of 30+tons, Eniac computer. Now is the era of  Ultraportable Laptops aka ‘Ultrabooks’.

Apple started the trend of Ultrabooks with it’s range of Macbook airs. And like always it became the trend setter. But there seems to be a confusion in the web regarding whether to call Macbook Air ‘Ultrabook’ or not. It seems that ‘Ultrabook’ term was coined by Intel, yes Intel that made the legendary core i7, and it has made some criteria for the Ultrabook.

Intel’s So Called Specifications.

• Thickness – Less than 20 mms (.8 inch)
• Screen Size – Less than 13 inches
• Weight – Less than 1.4 kg (3.1 pounds)
• Battery Life – More than 5 hours
• Price – Should be under $1000 (this is the main reason for not considering Macbook Air as an Ultrabook, though the Macbook Air 11′inch falls under $1000 mark.)
• Boot time – faster than ever before, and should use Intel’s Rapid Start Technology that uses flash storage in laptop’s Motherboard. ( That means AMD based notebooks could never be Ultrabooks, and another condition not fulfilled by Macbook Air)
• Intel Sandy Bridge mobile processors that include i5 and i7 ( The second phase would have 20 nm, Ivy Bridge mobile processors set to be released on mid 2012