Introducing Marvin --- Eyes-Free Interaction On Android

5:33 PM Mr Dollar'Ria

Android Eyes-Free Introduction

1 Video: Introducing Project Eyes-Free For Android

Device Used: T-Mobile G1 from HTC

Project Eyes-Free turns your Android into an eyes-freecommunication device with one-handed, single-touch access tocommon tasks. Applications from this project can be usedstand-alone; they can also be used together through the Eyes-Freeshell. This collection of videos will cover the latter scenario.

We will refer to the eyes-free shell as Marvin in honor ofDouglas Adams' famous paranoid android--- our Marvin says 


Brain the size of a planet and they expect me to make phone calls?
The Marvin home screen provides single-touch access to useful information via acollection of talking mini-applications. In addition, commonlyused applications can be placed under shortcuts for quickaccess. Finally, the call button automatically launches theeyes-free Talking Dialer --- all of these applications arecovered in detail in subsequent videos.

Author: T.V Raman<raman@google.com >

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An Introduction To YouTube Channel EyesFreeAndroid

5:26 PM Mr Dollar'Ria

The next set of articles on this blog cover the videos we have posted to channel EyesFreeAndroid on YouTube. Each article links to a particular video thathighlights a given aspect of eyes-free interaction on Androidusing the built-in screenreader and related access tools.In thefuture, I'll make sure to post such descriptions as soon as thevideos are uploaded, so watch this space! ( at the time thevideos were posted last year, I did not have this blog)

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Eyes-Free G1 --- My First Talking Android!

8:59 AM Mr Dollar'Ria

In the first article in this series, I'll cover the T-MobileG1 from HTC, my first accessible Android.Note: I've since moved on to the MotoRola Droid, but that is fora future article in this series.

I'll try to use a consistent outline for these articles where possible --- in general, you can expect articles covering a particular Android device have separate sections that address the hardware and software. Note that the softwware bits --- the Eyes-Free Marvin Shell and our free screenreader TalkBack, our common across all all Android devices.

The G1 Device And Eyes-Free Use

Here is a brief summary of my experience with the G1hardware:

  • The G1's keyboard is easy to use once you get used to thelayout, you can effectively touch-type with two thumbs.
  • It is possible to do many functions without having to pullout the keyboard, thanks to the track-ball and buttons on thefront panel.
  • The front panel has 5 buttons and a trackball:left-to-right, these are:Call, Home, Menu, Back, andHangup.
  • The menu button is something you will use very oftenwith Android applications. When you try out a new application,pressing menu lets you explore the application via the track-ball.
  • The track-ball takes some getting used to, it can move overmultiple items in lists if one isn't careful.
  • This was the first time I used a touch-screen, and the G1opened up many user-interface innovations.

Eyes-Free: Marvin Shell And TalkBack On G1

The Marvin Shell is my default home shell on all my Androiddevices. Note that TalkBack works fluently with the defaulthome-shell that comes with Android; however the Marvin Shell hassome nice touches that make it ideal for efficient eyes-free use--- for examples, see YouTubechannel EyesFreeAndroid.Here is a brief summary of my G1 setup, along with examples ofperforming some sample tasks. A word of caution first on whatdoesn't work yet:The browser is not yet TalkBack-enabled, and as aconsequence, browser-based applications such as GMail will notwork (yet).

  • I have option accessibility checked (see theAndroid settings menu). Within that same menu, I have TalkBack,SoundBack and KickBack enabled.
  • I also have the Eyes-Free Shell available on the AndroidMarket installed, along with the suite of Eyes-Free applicationsthat accompany it.
  • Pressing the Home button on the front panel switchesto or restarts the Eyes-Free Shell.
  • Many common actions can be performed by touch-gestures on theEyes-Free Shell, see the relevant YouTube Video.
  • You can enter Marvin's application launcher bystroking down on the home screen. Once in that launcher, you canuse the circle dialer to quickly jump to a particularapplication; you can scroll the list with the track ball. Onceyou've found an application, you the call button on thefront panel to launch the application.
  • Here is the StrokeDialer for keypad input in action. As an example, I strokeright to get a Y and that selects the YouTubeapplication. Launch it by pressing call on the frontpanel.
  • When you launch the YouTube application, TalkBacktakes over --- as the end-user, you continue to get spokenfeedback and typically are never aware of the transition.
  • Note that many Android applications use the touch screen forrapid interaction. Taking a few minutes to get oriented with thetouch controls for an application you plan to use often can make task completion more efficient. Caveat: we dont yet have an exploration widget to aid in this --- typically, I've had the user interface described to me. Notice that once you know that the YouTube UI uses a landscape orientation and that the bar for controling playback appears on the bottom, you can easily use your finger to slide along the bottom of the screen to control playback.
  • TalkBack provides fluent spoken feedback for many commontasks, such as Instant Messaging using Google Talk, or for SMSusing the built-in Messaging application.
  • Another useful Android feature to leverage is the StatusBar --- here is where applications post notifications,e.g. a missed call, or an upcoming calendar appointment.
  • You open up status bar by bringing it down--- think of it as pulling down a screen. Place your finger atthe top of the screen and stroke all the waydown.
  • You can now use the track-ball to scroll through anyavailable notifications and hear them spoken. This isparticularly useful with Google Calendar.

And of course, there is much more to say than will fit in asingle blog article.

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Welcome To Eyes-Free Android

8:01 PM Mr Dollar'Ria

I'll blog about my use of Android phones here.The tools I use are being developed as part of project Eyes-Freeand you can meet up with other users on GoogleGroupEyes-Free.All code developed as part of project Eyes-Free is OpenSource, and the core Access API, and associated adaptivetechnology is part of the Android platform starting with Android1.6.

What You Can Expect To See On This Blog

Android runs on a variety of mobile phones and devices varywith respect to their various hardware features, e.g., keyboards,trackball etc. This blog will focus on tips and tricks forgetting the most out of various Android devices, based on mypersonal experience.

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The Beauty and the Beast - Apple MacBook and Dell XPS M1710

5:37 AM Mr Dollar'Ria

A couple of years ago I bought a Dell XPS M1710. At the time this was one of the fastest laptop computers around. It is primarily designed as a gaming/multimedia laptop. The design is made to appeal gamers (see picture). As a developer I need a high performance computer. So this was a perfect choice for me, at least this was what I thought. As it turned out it, it has not been as good as one could imagine. There have been many problems with it during the years. The biggest problem are the fans. When running Windows Vista they are quiet at first. The first time you use Maven, or similar, the fans are up to full speed within seconds. I have tried several fan control applications but these did not solve the problem. The problem only manifested itself in other ways. I also tried to use Linux. With Linux things are much better. Linux does not seem to strain the CPU so much as Windows Vista. Fortunately Dell support gave me two new fans. Another problem is the battery. At full capacity they last for about 2 hours during normal work. after about 18 months a needed to buy a new one. This is not really acceptable. Speaking of power; I had to replace the power supply as well. As with the fans this was replaced by Dell. Thank God I had paid extra to get full support. Or I should thank my colleague Darius who convinced me to pay some extra bucks to get the full support.

Before Christmas it was time to buy a new laptop. I was a little tired of the bad quality of my Dell computers, so I decided to try something new. I decided to buy me an Apple MacBook Pro instead.  By selecting a 15” screen I was able to fit in a Solid State Drive (SSD) within budget. Although not so big, it is only 128 Gb. But since I use an external hard-disk for data, this is not so much a problem.

Now here I am sitting by my brand new MacBook and writing this article. I have about 7-8 hours battery capacity. According to the specification I have only 7 hours capacity, but I think the SSD gives me some extra time. The SSD is supposed to use less power than a normal drive. Of course this would degrade over time, but it is in par with my Asus netbook computer. So for I am very satisfied with my new computer. It was not so hard to get used to as I initially anticipated. Many people have told me about their frustration when switching to an Apple computer. I am familiar with Unix and Linux and many things could be achieved in a bash shell. In my daily work I use VirtualBox to run Ubuntu Linux. My fear was that the performance would be to bad and get annoyingly slow. But so far I am not frustrated by slow speed. In fact I was surprised. I have been using VirtualBox on my old XPS, but it was to slow to be really joyful. What more is there there to say? The MacBook works like a charm and is really fun to use. It is fun to compute! ;-)


The Beauty
 
The Beast


The Beauty and the beast

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First android-based tablet pc for india

2:02 AM Mr Dollar'Ria

Notion Ink, a Hyderabad-based technology start-up, has developed the first touchscreen tablet which uses Google’s open source operating system Android, Nvidia’s yet-to-be launched Tegra processor chips and a power-saving display screen from the US-based fabless developer Pixel Qi.

The tablet PC developed by six IITians and an MBA will be showcased for the first time at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show in January 2010.

“After the evolution of desktops, laptops and notebooks, the next innovation is going to be a complete touchscreen you can write on. And, we thought we needed to take the first step. It took us a year to come up with the design, requirements and proposed technologies to make this device a reality,” says Rohan Shravan, founder and director (creatives) of Notion Ink. The company was floated in February 2009.

Called Notion Ink, the new tablet has a 10.1-inch touchscreen. In terms of portability, it is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra processor chip, weighs 770 grams and offers features like Bluetooth, a 3-megapixel digital camera with autofocus, video recording and 32GB data storage.

“Theoretically, it can work for 25 days if one just listens to music. To be precise, it has 48 hours of standby, eight hours of high-definition video and 16 hours of Wi-Fi internet surfing usage time,” claims Shravan.

For designing the device, the company collaborated with Bangalore-based National Institute of Design. “We wanted to adopt an operating system which would make our device ‘talk’ to any other device. And we chose Google’s Android. But India doesn’t have people working on Android and those who have, charge Rs 1 lakh per resource per month (like Tata Elxsi or Sasken). So, we opted to train 46 students from the Hyderabad-based information technology institute BVR IT who are now working full time with us,” he adds.

Notion Ink has filed two patents — one for the design and the other for technology — in India, Taiwan and China, which makes it easy to tie up with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in Taiwan. It is yet to file 67 patents, most of which are for user interface, hardware changes and software optimisation . It is also working on creating digital books, songs, movies and media content for the device.

Four Taiwanese companies have already evinced interest to manufacture the device. “We have global ambitions, so the US is a very important market for us, and that needs networking. For this reason, we are going to showcase our product in Las Vegas,” Shravan says, adding they are planning to launch the smartpad commercially in June 2010.

The company would adopt a complete service model, wherein the Taiwanese OEM will have 90 days to manufacture and Notion Ink another 90 days to pay them back after selling the devices. It is targeting to sell 1.5 million units of the tablet PC in the first year of launch. The device is tentatively priced at below $400 (Rs 18,800) in the US and below $300 (Rs 14,100) in India (with subsidy from telecom operators).

“The device will be bundled with internet services by telecom operators. Already 10 telcos in the US and four in India, which offer 3G services, have shown interest. We will be finalising one telco for the US and one for India during the four-day Mobile World Congress, which is scheduled to be held at Barcelona, Spain, from February 15, 2010,”

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Newsflash! Microlog for Android - microlog4android

10:38 AM Mr Dollar'Ria

As you might know, Microlog has support for logging on the Android platform. However it has been living a rather discrete life in the shadow of the rest of Microlog. The other day I chatted with one of the other Microlog developers (Jarle) and we decided that it was suitable to create a new project for Microlog support on Android. We aim to re-use the Microlog core, but to optimize and such for the Android platform.

But why should I care? Android already has built in logging support that works rather well. I think that there are a couple of reasons for using Microlog on Android:

  • Log4j API
  • Resource effective
  • Remote logging

Many people are used to the Log4j API when it comes to logging and prefer it over the Java logging API (which is used on Android). I have spoken to several users of Microlog and they have praised that it uses the Log4j API.

The Microlog has been built from scratch. It has been designed to be used on devices with a small amount of memory and with reduced processor capacity. Log4j on the other hand contains a lot of legacy code and has been used on computer with many times the capacity of an embedded device. For example Log4j contains a lot of classes that are there for being backward compatible with older releases.

The Microlog library has support for logging to remote servers and devices. This is not something that is built into the logging API found on Android. Remote logging is something that is very appreciated in Microlog. My guess is that it would be nice for Android developers as well.

As mentioned before, the project was registered a couple of days ago. Notice that we are in the startup phase and no release is available yet. We decided to use Kenai.com, since SourceForge does not meet our expectations. The project is called microlog4android. As always; any contributions are very welcome. Please contact me if you are interested in the project.

It would be interesting to know what you think of this idea. Is this something that is missing on the Android platform? Or is the built in logging enough for you?

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