Random Thoughts/Ideas: In-dash car dock for smart phones

So I had this idea a while ago and thought I would share since it is something that I really would love to have and am surprised it hasn't been created yet. The basic idea is that, instead of having an in-dash GPS and stuff in your car AND a smartphone, integrate the two! I love the form factor of stock GPS systems with touchscreen controls for audio and such, but static information (I'll be damned if I'm going to pay over $100 just to update my maps from last year) is a major bummer.  I love the functionality I get with my phone, but even in the car dock, it just isn't as nice to interact with. I want to use all my phone's snazzy functionality but still have my dash look something like this. I really thought this would be a fairly simple idea, so I did some digging and there are some strides to make it happen. This unit is basically an in-dash dock for your phone. While that is cool, it really isn't that much different that what I have with my car dock and my tape adapter (yeah, I'm old school haha). What I would really like is my phone's screen to essentially be mirrored to the larger in-dash screen. Toyota has done some work in this direction, but it is looking more like an external display for your phone, not 2-way communication (I hope I'm wrong). So my ideal scenario would be an in-dash unit that, while connected to your phone, basically behaves exactly like a larger version of your phone, touchscreen and all.  That would sure make road trips more fun (and GPS always up-to-date). I would think this would be a fairly simple mapping of touches and display and thus, not too difficult to implement. It could even be designed to have basic radio functionality and stuff when there isn't a phone connected so a smartphone wouldn't necessarily be a requirement for use. Sounds easy enough, yes? So get on it car unit manufacturers! :-)        

Test Post - testing tag conversion

This is a test

Getting back into Android Programming: Dart Scorer

The other day I played a few rounds of darts at Corner Pocket and found myself really wishing that I had a dartboard of my own.  I recalled that we used to have one in the basement in Bristol, and I didn't think it was being used so I asked Mom and she said it was all mine. I get to pick it up next weekend, and I am pumped! Knowing that I will soon have access to throw a round of darts whenever I like, I thought it would be cool to go a little above and beyond the normal chalk or whiteboard scoreboard. I searched the Android Market (or Play store or whatever it is called now) and downloaded and tested no less than 5 apps made for dart scoring. Now I am not sure what is most popular in the dart throwing world, but apparently everyone plays 301 or some variant thereof.  Of the apps I tried, only 1 even claimed to score cricket (the game my friends and I always play) and it turned out to be pretty much non-functional.  I decided that the situation presented completely embodied one of the primary advantages of Android that I laud to those around me: at a cost of $0 I can write the app I need myself! Most of the time, apps I am looking for are either too complicated to really tackle or the apps available are close enough but not perfect. This time, there was a complete lack of any app providing the function that I needed AND it seemed like it would be a pretty simple app to put together. So I downloaded all the necessary development software (as I will point out again, at no cost) and tried to revive the Java programming portion of my brain. After programming almost solely in Python for the past couple of years, I was definitely a little rusty. Also, because I hacked it out starting yesterday, there are definitely some conventions I used that I am sure could be done way more efficiently and elegantly. Mayhaps I will continue to revise and improve, but first iteration was all about functioning! I got it to a place that I am pretty happy with and that seems to be functional and error free enough to serve my purpose.

[caption id="attachment_1172" align="aligncenter" width="187" caption="Let's get the game started!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1170" align="aligncenter" width="187" caption="MC is looking good"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1171" align="aligncenter" width="187" caption="And she takes the win!"][/caption]

So the first picture is basically the opening screen (no fanfare here). After you choose the number of players, you see a scoreboard similar to the one in picture 2. The names start out with default names, but when you tap on a name it brings up a dialog to change it. Then you just tap on the space where you would typically make your mark and it marks it! To keep it simple, I just used text so first mark is a slash, two is an X and the empty set symbol means that number is closed out. Tapping on a closed out number gives points to all other players who have not closed out that number. It has a one play history so a rogue finger poke can easily be undone, and it automatically checks to see if the last score marked resulted in someone winning the game (Picture 3). New game resets all the scores, but keeps the names. The only real issue that I am having so far is that the way I set things up in a TableLayout seems to give a little play in the row sizes.  So it will start out with a spacing that I like, then, for example, if player 1 and player 2 each mark a 20, the 20 row will tighten up and get a little shorter pulling everything below up with it.  I've tried giving more absolute dimensions for the rows, but that messes with the display and response to touch so I decided not to worry about it right now. I will call this my Beta Version 0.1 and hopefully it is something I can improve whenever I have some free moments (not that I see many of those in my near future). To do list for the future:

• Fix formatting issue to keep scoreboard static
• See if I can simplify some of the functions I put together
• Increase history so that more than one play can be undone
• Store and display statistics based on player name
• Allow for other dart games

Second run in my snazzy new Newtons and so far so good!

Maize Meeting!

It's that time of year again. Time for the corniest conference of the year, Maize Meeting! Instead of being an hour west of Chicago, this year it was in Portland. Needless to say, the view from our hotel room improved just a bit. This year Danny and I roomed together and we got there early enough to make a beer run after grabbing a bite to eat at Petisco, a local sandwich shop. Unfortunately, we didn't have a mini-fridge in the room so we had to improvise. Yes, that's one of our trash cans lined with a plastic bag from Safeway, haha. As most folks had been traveling that day, the first evening was fairly chill.  We had dinner then the first set of talks. The second talk was especially interesting, but it was pretty warm in the place and combining that with the fact we had traveled all day and just eaten dinner left me semi-comatose. After the talks it was time to head to the informal poster gazing and socializing.  I think I had one beer then packed it in.  Gotta pace myself at these things! Day 2 I had some time to go for a walk and enjoy the cool weather.  Joined back into the talks and had the first afternoon of official poster sessions. Talked to a few interested folks and had a good time. Then it was another set of talks, dinner, and social time! After a good time at the informal poster viewing and socializing, it was time to head to the hospitality room for some hospitable drinks! A good time was had by all, especially when we had contributions like homemade rum showing up. At some point in the evening, Hank had gotten a hold of some rubber bands and started shooting them at the clock to knock the hands back in time.  After quite a few shots, we had one of my favorite interchanges of the evening. Me: Where did those rubber bands come from? Hank: They just keep happening! He probably easily had 30-40 of them, though it seemed like a pretty unlimited supply. Around 4am we started counting the number of people left to see if we had made it to the top 1% (hey, we're scientists!), and I decided that it was close enough for me and I packed it in. Day 3, I got up around 8:30 and Anna and Aaron picked me up to take me out to breakfast.  I can't recall the name of the place we stopped, but the food was good and our waiter was hilarious.  Especially when he told us that we HAVE to check out the nearby drag show, even if it isn't his night to perform.  Don't hear that in Tallahassee! A good combination of late night and beer had resulted in me moving a little slower on day three so after they dropped me off at the hotel, I walked back over to Safeway to get a grande Red Bull for that extra boost I needed for my poster session.  It went well again and I had some good conversations then it was dinner and talks.  Anna and Aaron picked me up to show me a night on the town and we started at one of the local pods of food trucks (fun fact, there are over 700 food trucks in Portland!) including one that was a mobile brewery! Notice the tent behind it? Apparently that small covering is a requirement for alcohol sales. Kinda funny law, huh? A couple of their friends joined us for beer and food and then we left the food truck pod and headed to Hopworks Urban Brewery. There, I had to follow Aaron's lead and get an awesome flight! The waitress even hooked us up with two more beers that weren't supposed to be included. Score! After Hopworks, we stopped by Aaron and Anna's place to let the dogs out, including their cute new chubby puppy that looks like a cross between a tiny bear and a baby seal.  He's so furry and chubby! We left their place and went to Ground Kontrol, a place with lots of awesome arcade games including a floor of pinball machines and 4 person deathmatch Pacman!

[caption id="attachment_1155" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pinball Wizard #1"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1157" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pinball Wizard #2"][/caption]

It was really awesome that I got to take some time and hang out with them.  They seem to keep moving to fun places that I end up visiting! Good times! They dropped me off around midnight, so there was still much hospitality to be enjoyed! I went to the hospitality room and it was fairly empty, which I later realized was because the dance was still ongoing.  Yes, Maize Meeting has a dance, haha. Jonathan and Hank were there and this evening the MaizeGDB temporary tattoos came out. [caption id="attachment_1154" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="The MaizeGDB one was on my right forearm"][/caption] This year I was pretty consistent.  It was about 4am again when I decided that I should pack things in. Sunday, I got up and had some breakfast, caught a few talks including the one from Thelma who is part of the FSU crew. Then it was time to pack up and make the long treck home.  Luckily, all of our flights and connections went smoothly and I got home a little before midnight.  I forced myself to go to bed around 12:30, which was a bit difficult considering the last two nights I had crashed at around 7am eastern time! Luckily, I didn't have anything to wake up early for so I was able to catch up on sleep. All-in-all it was another fun Maize Meeting.  I wish all conferences could be like this one!

Good Morning Portland! A panorama from our room at Maize Meeting

This looks like it should be my next car

Fancy vending machine for all your swimmer's gear needs

Found my old school navigation system when cleaning out my car today