Now, they’ve documented a simple method to download the entire contents of Wikipedia and add them to a BytePac connected drive. They’ve even provided a template that you can print to add a Wikipedia themed cover to your storage box.
Is it worthwhile? That’s down to you. If you have a need for an offline version, then it’s a great idea, well documented. Personally, I think I’m happy with the latest online version.
I’ve had my HTC Hero now for over a month, and have already settled on a number of apps, after much installing, trialling and uninstalling. I therefore thought I’d share my results, all neatly categorised.
I haven’t linked to any of the apps, as they should all be searchable in the Android Marketplace.
Oh, and I haven’t listed games (they’re a lot more of a personal choice, I find).
Information
The BBC news widget is particularly useful, providing easy access to the various BBC news feeds.
Movies, by Flixster, uses GPS to good use by displaying nearby cinemas and listing for their current shows. However, when viewing other information, such as trailers, it does appear to have constant network issues and this feature therefore doesn’t appear to work. A shame.
Google Sky Map is a fascinating educational tool that lets you point your phone heavenward and view the stars and planets whilst moving around.
ShopSavvy is a barcode scanner that will then look the product up to try and find prices. Useful for when you’re out shopping.
WikiMobile provides a mobile interface to Wikipedia.
Media
Until an official BBC iPlayer app appears, beebPlayer will help – it will let you view iPlayer TV content, along with listening to live Radio. Sadly, there’s no iPlayer radio content available.
Amazon MP3 provides access and purchasing capabilities for MP3 tracks from the Amazon website. They also have free tracks, although it’s best to look these up on the main Amazon site and then search for them on the app, as there’s no option on the app to list free tracks.
Last.fm is a streaming music player for the popular website, whereas Simple Last.fm Scrobbler will send details of all the music you’ve listened to, to the very same site for statistics purposes.
And for those who haven’t come across Shazam before, it may come as a bit of a revelation. The next time you’re at the pub and can’t identify a piece of music, simply use this app and it will work it out for you.
Lastly, I come to Podcasts. I initially used Google’s own Listen app but that simply failed to pick up new episodes of subscribed “shows”. I’m now trying out BeyondPod, which is only free for the first week. So far, it seems to work nicely.
Messaging
Meebo is a good, all-purpose instant messaging client.
And, if you find the default text messaging software a little bland, you could try Handcent, which includes speech bubble style conversation threads and is generally, well, a little more inspiring.
By default, reminders on Android are a bit lacking – you get a text or a missed call and you don’t get to hear about it after the initial reminder. Missed Reminder will keep nagging you and has a plethora of options, from LED colours to flashing the trackball.
Network
3G Watchdog is an excellent way of monitoring your data usage (you just need to know what your data usage limit is and when it runs to/from).
In an attempt to preserve battery power, the phone will automatically drop wi-fi connection when the phone is in standby. This option can be changed via the settings, but you may want to be able to switch this on/off as required. Wi-Fi Lock is a useful widget to do just that.
Office
AK Notepad is, well, just that – a useful note facility. However, if you want to stick a note on your screen, then I’d recommend Sticky Note.
Integrating with my existing online services, Quick Save will add a facility to quickly add links to Read it Later, and Astrid will synchronise and allow me to update my Remember the Milk to-do lists.
A more recent find is cloudList which allows you to create “tick lists” which can be accessed on both your phone and on their website.
WordPress have released their own app, WordPress for Android, which allows the quick editing of posts.
Sadly lacking is an app for Google Reader.
Social Networks
Facebook have their own App and, for eBay, Pocket Auctions works well.
I’m not mentioning a Twitter client right now, as I’m in the middle of reviewing a number – more on that in a later post!
Tools
Advanced Task Manager provides quick lists of running apps and ways to quickly “kill” them. There’s even a widget to perform an instant kill.
For file management, I’d turn to ASTRO which, erm, does just that.
Profilechanger is not very pretty but does exactly what I want – allows me to change profiles at certain times of the day – in my case, it goes silent overnight.
One the facilities sadly lacking in Android is the ability to backup your data and your apps. MyBackup Pro does just that – both onto your SD card and online. However, unlike most of my other recommendations, this isn’t a freebie. Give the trial a go though!
After a recent post on a forum, extolling the virtues of a number of free Open Source program, I made mention that they were always the same problems being mentioned – OpenOffice, ClamWin, Audacity, etc. SourceForge alone holds over 150,000 Open Source projects, let alone those at Google Code, etc.
So, I was set a challenge – find some Open Source software that most people won’t have come across.
Ok, that was the plan. Now, the limitations (self set). Nothing too technical, nor niche. No games (otherwise I could just easily provide a vast list of them). Oh, and they have to be Windows applications – no Linux, Mac, PHP scripts, etc.
I thought plunging into my Firefox bookmarks would yeald many but, sadly, most were either games or too technical for this list. Or I’ve covered them elsewhere in my blog. So, a number I’ve had to scourer SourceForge for (oh, I wish their search facility was better). And some goodies I’ve come up with too – here’s my 40 (in no particular order)…
TV-Browser A desktop based EPG. It’s German in origin but includes UK channels. I’ve only had a brief play with it so far, but I’ve been impressed.
MP3Gain This is something I’ve been using for years. Now, adding gain to MP3s (i.e. bringing them all up to a similar volume) is something built into many media players and burning products. However, MP3Gain is a standalone product designed to do this one task. And well.
DVDStyler DVDStyler is a DVD authoring program for the creation of professional-looking DVDs. It allows not only burning of video files on DVD that can be played practically on any standalone DVD player, but also creation of own-designed DVD menus.
Arora Yes, it’s another browser! Based on WebKit (like Chrome and Safari), it’s fast and available on a number of platforms. However, the fact that is has recently “elbowed out” Konqueror as the browser of choice in Kubuntu, has made news.
MuseScore An excellent WYSIWYG musical score editor. It’s packed full of features, including importing of data and has a built in sequencer and synth.
SmillaEnlarger Another simple idea, done well. SmillaEnlarger will magnify images in high quality. Useful for “blowing up” part of a photo. And it will go on a USB key as well.
AxCrypt A file encryption tool that integrates directly into Windows Explorer. Simply right click on a file and you can quickly and easily encrypt it, with password protection (or without, for simple sending via email).
WindowsPager If you’ve used Linux any time recently, you’ll probably have come across its virtual desktop environment, where you can easily switch between multiple desktops via an icon in the toolbar. Well, WindowsPager provides a similar facility. It’s not perfect, however, and I spotted a problem with Command Prompt windows, but it’s worth a try – as with most of these products, it’s still being worked on.
Synkron Synkron is a relatively powerful folder synchronisation tool. How you use it, well, is up to you – for something as simple as synchronising a USB key to your PC, or as a quick backup tool.
Hugin I said I’ve avoid anything too technical and, well, this isn’t. It’s just powerful. But if you’re a keen photographer, you’ll love this. It’s a photo stitcher (which can allow you, for example, to make panoramic images) which is a bit more manual that many (but, hence, it’s power).
PeaZip PeaZip is an excellent compression program, like WinZip and 7-Zip. It also has file encrytion facilities and a portable version is available. Of course, 7-Zip is also Open Source, but PeaZip does, at least, offer an alternative.
Scribus Scribus is a desktop publishing tool, similar to Microsoft Publisher. It has an easy to use interface but Scribus also supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, Spot Colors, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.
Appetizer This is an application launcher which allows organizing your shortcuts and folders into a convenient dock. It supports plugins and skins, so is completely configurable to your own taste.
Storybook Storybook is novel writing software for novelists, authors and creative writers. It will help you to keep an overview of multiple plot-lines, records characters and locations and will generally assist you in structuring your book.
InfraRecorder InfraRecorder is free CD/DVD burning software. It offers a wide range of powerful features, all through an easy to use interface and Windows Explorer integration. A portable version is also available.
BonkEnc BonkEnc is a free audio converter and CD ripper which integrates various popular formats and encoders. It currently supports MP3, MP4/M4A, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC and Bonk files.
RedNotebook RedNotebook is a graphical diary and journal helping you keep track of notes and thoughts. It includes a calendar navigation, customizable templates, export functionality and word clouds. You can also format, tag and search your entries.
GminderGminder is a simple, but effective, desktop version of Google Calendar. It waits in your system tray and alerts you when you have an upcoming Google Calendar event. GMinder supports multiple calendars and allows you to configure how you want to be alerted. Since it downloads your events, it works offline and enables you to preview your agenda of events. New events can be added to your Google Calendars using a Quick Add feature.
Fwink This is an excellent webcam application that takes still images from your camera at timed intervals and puts them on your web site with FTP. You can add effects like text messages, time stamps and an overlay image.
PopTray PopTray is a full-featured, customizable, e-mail notifier which works with POP3 accounts but also has plugins for Hotmail, Gmail, etc. It includes spam management and will handle multiple accounts.
calibre Got an eBook? calibre includes library management, format conversion, news feeds to eBook conversion, as well as an eBook reader sync feature and an integrated eBook viewer.
Process Hacker Process Hacker is a feature-packed tool for manipulating processes and services on your computer. Think of it as being like the Task Manager that appears when you press CTRL/ALT/DEL but a lot more detailed.
JavaRa JavaRa is a simple tool that does a simple job: it removes old and redundant versions of Java.
TweetMyPC Make use of Twitter in other ways – send commands to your PC, allowing you to shutdown, log off, transfer files, etc.
Xmind Xmind is brainstorming and mind mapping software. You can even embed results in your blog.
MonitorES A fabulous idea – when your lock your desktop, MonitorES will automatically put your monitor into standby and, optionally, pause any media players, mute sound and change your Instant Messaging status’.
Sweet Home 3D This is a free interior design application that helps you place your furniture on a house 2D plan, with a 3D preview
iColorFolder Bored of your folders? With a quick right click, iColorFolder will allow you to change their colour – useful for grouping together. You can also change your default folder icons with a selection of “skins”.
Data Crow Weird name, but useful application. Data Crow is media cataloguing software – audio, software, book, film and photo collections.
winsupermaximise This is another “simple but handy” utility. It adds a system tray icon which, once clicked (or you can press a hotkey combination), will “super maximise” the current window – that is, it will resize so the title bar is actually above the screen boundaries, thus saving those extra pixels that you don’t want to waste. A great utility for Netbook owners, in particular.
PhotoGrabber This application makes it easy to download tagged pictures from Facebook. It only takes a few clicks!
Cache My Work CacheMyWork is a handy utility that enables you to reboot Windows without losing your place in your work. It builds a checklist of currently open applications, and will restart the apps you’ve selected the next time you logon to the computer.
SheepDog SheepDog is useful whenever you have an application or window that you can’t access because it is located off your visible screen – when activated, SheepDog will re-position the offscreen windows back onto your main screen.
Vanity Remover This application removes all sub-folders (and the folder itself) where vanity is found. In other words: Recursively checks for and deletes empty folders. Simple as that.
HKTunes HKTunes (formerly iHK) allows you to control iTunes using global hotkeys. For example, you could change the track and music volume while playing a game. It has a tray menu and a GUI to let you select hotkeys.
Synergy+ Synergy+ lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, without special hardware. All you need is a LAN connection. It’s intended for users with multiple computers, where each system uses its own display. It’s a little like having a 2nd or a 3rd desktop…
Desktop Google Reader Desktop Google Reader is a desktop client to Google’s popular RSS aggregator services. It is focused on on the most important things you do with Google Reader – read, mark as read and star items. In addition and in combination with the notification system Snarl it gives you nice popup notifications on your newly arriving news feed items.
ZScreen ZScreen is a screen capture program that allows you to upload screenshots, pictures, text & files and put the URL in your clipboard in a single keystroke.
Rainmeter Rainmeter is a desktop customization platform. Through Rainmeter, you can enhance your Windows computer at home or work with skins: handy, compact applets which float freely on your desktop, much like Windows Sidebar gagdgets, or dashboard widgets for the Mac.
ClipMan Clipman is an extension of the standard clipboard shipped with Windows. You can store all the items copied in a list or send them back at the clipboard. If you want, you can also edit the images in the list.
At the moment I’m juggling 3 MySQL databases. It could very easily be more.
I usually use phpMyAdmin for backing them up but restrictions on port forwarding has meant I can’t do this whilst at work1. So, I wrote myself a script to do this. And optimize the tables as well.
An extract of the script is below… mine allows me to choose the database and compression type and then populates the appropriate database fields (username, password, etc) but for generic usage purposes, the script below should be fine for other people to use and build upon.
if ($compression=="None") {$comp_cmd=""; $comp_ext="sql";}
if ($compression=="Gzip") {$comp_cmd=" | gzip"; $comp_ext="gzip";}
if ($compression=="Zip") {$comp_cmd=" | zip"; $comp_ext="zip";}
mysql_connect($host,$user,$password);
mysql_select_db($database);
$query="SHOW TABLE STATUS FROM ".$database;
$result=mysql_query($query);
$num=mysql_numrows($result);
$compressed=0;
$i=0;
while ($i < $num) {
$table=mysql_result($result,$i,"Name");
$gain=mysql_result($result,$i,"Data_free");
if ($gain!=0) {
if ($compressed==0) {echo "<br/>Compressing tables...<br/><br/>\n";}
echo "Table ".$table." - ".$gain." bytes gained<br>\n";
$query="OPTIMIZE TABLE ".$table;
$optimise=mysql_query($query);
$compressed=$compressed+$gain;
}
$i++;
}
if ($compressed!=0) {
echo "<br/>".$compressed." bytes gained in total<br/>";
} else {
echo "<br/>No tables were optimised.<br/>";
}
$backupFile = "backup/".$name."_".date("Ymd").'.'.$comp_ext;
$command = "mysqldump --opt --extended-insert --complete-insert --hex-blob
--host=".$host." --user=".$user." --password='".$password."' ".$database.
$comp_cmd." > $backupFile";
exec($command, $ret_arr, $ret_code);
if ($ret_code==0) {
echo "<br/>Database backed up: <a href=\"".$backupFile."\">download</a>.\n";
} else {
echo "<br/>The database could not be backed up - the return code was ".
$ret_code.".\n";
};
Before running the above, you need to populate the following fields…
$database – your MySQL database $user – your MySQL username $password – your MySQL password $host – your MySQL host name $name – used to name your backup $compression – this is the type of compression you wish to apply and should be either None, Zip or Gzip.
When run any tables that require optimizing will be, well, optimized and the details output. Finally a backup is made of the database and a link displayed so that you can download it.
Downloads are placed in a folder named /download, so make sure you add write permissions for this folder. The filename will be xxx_yymmdd, where xxx is the name you specified in $name and yymmdd is the date. Obviously the extension will be based on the type of compression you requested.
Whilst trying to write this code I came across various scripts and resources which did something similar but often didn’t work (grrr) for one reason or another. In particular, often the backup files are create empty if you have the MySQLdump parameters wrong. One thing you might spot that I’ve worked around – and here’s my tip for the day – is that I’ve placed single quotes around the password. This was because one of my passwords had an ampersand in it and, well, MySQLdump doesn’t like it.
Enjoy, play and let me know how you get on!
and I have a tendency to forget if I leave it until the evening at home [↩]
I recently reviewed the excellent BytePac, allowing you to store and access old hard drives via some simple cardboard packaging.
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