Showing posts with label . Show all posts
Showing posts with label . Show all posts

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Google play – A new face of android market


It seems like Google has also started bringing quick updates for its products and services following the footsteps of Facebook. Well Google Play is not only a new replacement for Android market, but it’s a one stop solution for Google Music, Google eBook store, Google Movies and Android Market. It’s like cloud storage for all your android apps, music, eBooks and movies. Now you don’t need to worry about sync and do not fear of losing them.
Google felt that Android market name was a limitation of its products because people come in android market only to buy or download apps. Google wanted to describe all their products that they have to offer and it’s not only android apps that Google is offering. They have rebranded all of their offerings under one name that Google Play like android market will be renamed as Google Play Store, Google Movies will be named as Google Play Movies (wherever available), Google Music will be called as Google Play Music and Google Books will be called as Google Play Books which will amuse Blackberry fans.
Google Play Store sounds like a place for games, so this name is not getting positive feedback from users but Who Cares! Non android users who never visited Android Market will now visit Google Play because they might be using Google Music or Google Movies. So the whole concept behind this name change is increasing traffic.
Google Play has the same infrastructure as Android Market and there is no change for developers and even for users. People will log in from same credentials. There will be an update rolled out on Android devices running Android 2.2 or higher in couple of days and Android market will be renamed.
Google Play Music (currently unavailable in India) will let you store 20,000 songs and buy new tracks online (just like iTunes). You can also rent Movies and buy books from Google Play. So it’s actually meant to engage people and add more visitors. Google sync will keep your Movies, Songs, Apps and Books available offline too but the amount of data will depend on the internal storage capacity of your device.  So try to use wireless internet while trying to download some stuff from cloud as it might exhaust your mobile data usage.
Official Google Blogs States:
In the U.S., music, movies, books and Android apps are available in Google Play. In Canada and the U.K., we’ll offer movies, books and Android apps; in Australia, books and apps; and in Japan, movies and apps. Everywhere else, Google Play will be the new home for Android apps.
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Sunday, September 14, 2014

Dual Screen Smart Phone – Coming before Chrismas First time in the world

Dual Screen Smart Phone – Coming before Chrismas-First time in the world

A Russian Company YotaDevice is launching a new Android  based Smartphone which is expected to be available in the market by the coming X-mas. This Phone will have screens in both sides and will be the first ever dual screen mobile in the world. The Phone named YotaPhone will have a 4.3-inch 720p LCD display on  front and a 4.3-inch E-Ink display on the back which will help battery saving. It is similar to the technology available in the Amazon Kindle.The  LCD will be used for most of the activities and the low-power E-Ink back screen may be used for viewing notifications, time etc. without draining the battery when the phone is lying idle on a desk.  Running on Android 4.2.2, the phone will enable users to access  all the usual range of apps and Google service. By placing your information on the back screen, the E-Ink display may be used for reading ebooks. In addition to the  dual-screen technology the the device will come with a dual-core 1.7Ghz processor, 2GB of RAM, 12MP primary camera, 1.3MP secondary camera, Bluetooth 4.0 and 32GB or 64GB of internal storage capacity.

 


The EP display in the backside will always be active and is user friendly. Without picking up or even without activating the phone you can easily see notices, emails, tweets, and other information. The EP Display does not go dark to save battery life. Even if the battery is empty, the most recent information on the EPD remains visible. You can use it to save important information. The company is working in the mobile, modems and routers sector since last 6 years but it is her maiden attempt to move into the
smartphone sector.

Features and Specifications of Dual Screen Smart Phone

COMPANY               -    YotaDevice
MODEL NAME         -    Yotaphone
OS                           -         Jelly Bean 4.2.2, Android
CPU                         -    Dual Core 1.7 GHz Krait
FORM FACTOR        -    Monoblock touch with front and back screens
DIMENSIONS           -    133.6 x 67 x 9.99mm
WEIGHT                   -    146g 
DEVICE COLOURS    -     Available in tow colours-Black and white
MAIN SCREEN          -     4.3” 720x1280 LCD, 16.7M colours, capacitive multi
                                       touch
BACK SCREEN           -    4.3” 360x640 EPD, 16 grayscale, capacitive touch
                                       zone below the Electronic Paper Display for gesture
                                       controls
NETWORK                 -    LTE 800/1800/2600 MHz, UMTS 900/1800/2100
                                                       MHz, GSM  900/1800/1900 MHz
CAMERA                     -    Rear 13 MP AF, LED flash, front camera 1MP
MEMORY                    -    2GB RAM, 32GB eMMC
DISPLAY                     -    Colour
DISPLAY SIZE             -    1280 x 720 px
DISPLAY COLOUR       -    HD Capacitive Touchscreen, 4.3 inches
ZOOM                          -    Digital
CAMERA RES.              -    4000 x 3000 Pix.
VIDEO AND RECORDING    -    Yes
VIDEO PLAYER            -    Multi Format
GAMES                         -    Yes
JAVA                              -    NA
BROWSER                     -    HTML
SMS, MMS, EMAIL, IM -    Yes
CONNECTIVITY            -    WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, BT v4.0, GPS w/A-GPS +
                                                      Glonass
VIDEO                           -    1080p 30fps; H.263, H.264 AVC, MPEG-4, WebM
AUDIO                           -             MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, AMR, MIDI, WAV
BATTERY                        -    1800mAh
OTHER                           -    Accelerometer, compass, gyroscope, proximity
                                            sensor, ambient light sensor, FM radio, micro-SIM,
                                            special YotaPhone gestures and Put2Back
                                            applications for the back screen less
Plus Points
Dual Display, E-INK display, Powerful processor, Good connectivity
Minus Points
Poor battery backup, Expensive(High Cost)
Read more »

Monday, June 9, 2014

Java Database Connectivity – MySQL Oracle and SQLite

I have played around with database connectivity with Java for MySQL, Oracle and SQLite. I thought I would share some simple connection setup code with the world.
You will need to download and add the appropriate JARs to your project and or your class path, as well as having a database to connect to, unless you are using SQLite in which case the database is local.

MySQL

First up is MySQL connectivity. This first snippet will check you have loaded the JDBC driver correctly.
import java.sql.*;
public class MySqlLoadDriver {
public static void main(String [] args) {
Connection con = null;
try {

// Load the MySQL JDBC driver
Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver") ;
System.out.println("MySQL JDBC driver loaded ok.");

} catch (Exception e) {
System.err.println("Exception: "+e.getMessage());
}
}
}
The following snippet will set up a connection to the database. Where the host in the example is set to localhost so you may change this to point to your database address or tunnel in to your database using a client like Putty. Also change username and password to your database username and password.
import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.SQLException;
public class SimpleConnection;
{

static public void main(String args[])
{

Connection con = null;

try {

Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver") ;
System.out.println("MySQL JDBC driver loaded ok.");
con
= DriverManager.getConnection(
"jdbc:mysql://127.0.0.1:3306/","username", "password");
System.out.println("Connected with host:port/database.");
con
.close();

} catch (Exception e) {
System.err.println("Exception: "+e.getMessage());
}

}

}

Oracle

Oracle has a two types of connection I have played with Oracle Call Interface and Oracle’s JDBC Thin driver uses Java sockets to connect directly to Oracle. It provides its own TCP/IP version of Oracle’s SQL*Net protocol. Because it is 100% Java, this driver is platform independent and can also run from a Web Browser. Depending on which one you want to use comment out or delete the other line. In the example I am using the OJDBC Thin Driver not the Oracle Call Interface.
import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.SQLException;

public class OracleSimpleConnection {

static public void main(String args[])

{
Connection con = null;

try
{
Class.forName ("oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver");
System.out.println("Oracle JDBC driver loaded ok.");
con
= DriverManager.getConnection(

//"jdbc:oracle:oci7:@//localhost:1521/ORCL","username", "password");
"jdbc:oracle:thin:@//192.168.104.11:1521/ORCL","username", "password");
System.out.println("Success!!");
System.out.println("Connected with host:port/database.");
con
.close();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
System.err.println("Exception: "+e.getMessage());
}
}
}

SQLite

Finally the creation and testing of an SQLite Database, adding in a few things with a simple query.
import java.sql.*;

public class SQLiteTest {

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

Class.forName("org.sqlite.JDBC");

Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:sqlite:test.db");
Statement stat = conn.createStatement();
stat
.executeUpdate("drop table if exists people;");
stat
.executeUpdate("create table people (name, occupation);");
PreparedStatement prep = conn.prepareStatement("insert into people values (?, ?);");
prep
.setString(1, "Gandhi");
prep
.setString(2, "politics");
prep
.addBatch();
prep
.setString(1, "Turing");
prep
.setString(2, "computers");
prep
.addBatch();
prep
.setString(1, "Wittgenstein");
prep
.setString(2, "smartypants");
prep
.addBatch();
conn
.setAutoCommit(false);
prep
.executeBatch();
conn
.setAutoCommit(true);
ResultSet rs = stat.executeQuery("select * from people;");

while (rs.next()) {
System.out.println("name = " + rs.getString("name"));
System.out.println("job = " + rs.getString("occupation"));
}

rs
.close();
conn
.close();

}

}

Useful Links:
http://www.sqlite.org/
http://www.zentus.com/sqlitejdbc/
http://www.oracle-internals.com/?p=18
http://www.orafaq.com/wiki/JDBC#Thin_driver
Read more »

Friday, May 2, 2014

SMS Chat in Gmail – Send Free Messages Without Internet Connection

Google has silently launched their free SMS service in India. Earlier in March 2012, Google has introduced their SMS chat in Gmail, where a Google Talk widget will appear in your Gmail account. So when you chat with someone, you can save their phone numbers in address book and send a SMS if needed. 
This free service will allow the user to send a instant message to his him/her friend. Its just like a instant chat messenger, where you can chat with the other person. But the person has to reply to continue the chat further more. Months ago, this service was launched all over U.S and was pretty successful. The best part of this service is, whenever you don’t have access to Internet, you can ask your friend to chat via Gmail SMS service. This will save your money, bandwidth and can also save your time by sending a direct message to their phone directly. Google has a full fledged version of  SMS chat in Gmail, for the first time today.


Today we were  pretty much surprised with sudden notification from Gmail. It says, Now you can send instant SMS to your friends anytime, anywhere. So digging more into details, You can find SMS chat in Gmail service restricted to only few supported handful mobile operators. Some of them are, Aircel, Idea, Loop Mobile, MTS, Reliance, Tata DoCoMo, Tata indicom, Vodafone (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal. & Assam, other North East areas)

How to Start a SMS Chat in Gmail:

You can send a message to any person you wanted to. But make sure they are already present in your Gmail chat list earlier. You can follow these simple steps to use this free SMS chat in Gmail service. So here we go,
Step 1: Login to your Gmail account and look at the Google Talk widget.

Step 2: Select a person you wanted to chat with, and click on Send Text (SMS) option.

Step 3: In this above screenshot, i have selected my friend Vishal Arya as the person whom i want to chat with. So click on Send Text (SMS) service to save his mobile number.
Step 4: Here we are saving 9000000000 as vishal arya phone number. So when ever you send him a message via SMS chat in gmail, it will directly reach his mobile phone as an SMS.

Step 5: Click on Save and now you can send a free SMS to your friend. Here we are sending a direct SMS to Arya phone, via Gmail. I have sent a SMS saying Hello, which will be replied from his mobile number. Since this number is not a valid number, you cannot expect any reply from him.

Google has mentioned few terms of conditions and guide lines for using this free SMS chat in Gmail service. They have also mentioned few tips and techniques to make the best out of this free service. Its very much important to understand these guidelines before proceeding further. Few of them are,
  1. You are restricted to use only 50 credits per day.
  2. Each message you send will burn 1 credit from your daily quota of 50 credits. And each message you receive as a reply will get you 5 credits with maximum up to 50 a day.
  3. You cannot buy additional credits for sending more messages, but surely you can send a message to your own mobile and reply back to get additional credits.
  4. You can use commands like BLOCK, UNBLOCK, START, STOP and other commands to restrict people sending you bulk messages.
  5. If your credits are decreased to zero, they will be charged again to 50 in next 24 hours.
  6. If you are sending too many messages without any reply from other side, you might be blocked due to privacy issues.
  7. Also sending mass messages may ban you for ever. This is to avoid abuses and hatred in chat messages.
  8. You can use STOP command to block all messages from any Gmail user. For this you need to send a message to mobile operator, and enter the System message number to activate the service asap.
  9. You can even chat with your friends who has no Internet connection.
  10. Limited to only few mobile operators as of now.
Guess you are now aware of all TOC mentioned by Google SMS chat in Gmail. I hope you all are ready to understand these above guidelines and send free SMS to your friends. Please drop us a line on what you think about this amazing service.
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