Good way to start making own Android based Media Center - java

i heard the rumors about google tv and stuff, but after falling in love
with android and the sdk i tought "why not to have android on my tv".
Some days ago I was looking for hardware for my mini-pc media center computer.
I think it is possible and i think is a good idea too - using android on
custom media center computer, but the question is - how? What type
of hardware i need to make it real. Connecting Htc desire HD to TV
is not the solution :-)

Your first bet it to see if there is enough driver support on http://www.android-x86.org/ to do what you need with the hardware you have. If you get the basics, video, sound, network and some form of remote control through an IR driver you'll have to figure out what features you'll want in your Media Center application.
Off the top of my head, this is what I would do:
Get Android running on my box, ensuring it can connect to my network, display to my TV and play sounds.
Determine all the codecs I want to play, and play each of the movies on the machine to verify.
Work on UPnP support to stream movies/photos/music from home computer.
Wait patiently until Flash support works on Android-x86 to play hulu
I think you get the idea. This isn't a trivial task but would be really interesting to see if you can come up with something to rivals Boxee.

Related

Using smartphone's TV antenna as an antenna for sending and receiving RF signals

I saw a video on youtube talking about a project to see people through the wall in this website with MIT references and videos and I thought it would be interesting if I could make an android app on my phone. My cell phone is the LG L Bello which has an Analog TV antenna and I think it increases my chances of it working or not? Do I need to open my phone to apply changes for this to work? I want to know how I do this, or how I find someone/forum/tutorials that can help me with this task or just start.
Similar question
Things I already know about this:
I know that I probably have to root the phone.
In other posts, I realized that I have to recompile the kernel and write a new Bluetooth driver and firmware for your Bluetooth module,
How do I do this (Posts / Tutorials)? and then how do I use this in my android app?

kinect API for controlling web applications

I would like to connect a kinect (sorry) to a PC so that users can interact with my webapp via gestures. I don't have a clear idea about what level of programming is involved in order to achieve this, but a JavaScript API would be ideal (Java would also be tolerable).
I've had a look at DepthJS, but the installation/setup alone has almost defeated me. At a minimum I need the user to be able to move the cursor and click, but ideally I'd also like them to be able to use smartphone gestures such as pinching.
Is there an API available that provides these features, can be installed/setup relatively easily, and can be programmed with JavaScript? I don't know if this makes any difference, but I'll be doing the development on Ubuntu.
Kinesis leverages web technologies developers already know best HTML/CSS/JavaScript. So you can reuse your existing code and existing team to build gesture enabled applications on top of Kinect for Windows SDK
Zigfu provides a browser plugin called ZigJS for Kinect and will enable HTML/JavaScript Kinect apps using hand gestures.
OpenKinect is an open community of people interested in making use of the amazing Xbox Kinect hardware with our PCs and other devices. They are working on free, open source libraries that will enable the Kinect to be used with Windows, Linux, and Mac.
Don about that
At a minimum I need the user to be able to move the cursor and click, but ideally I'd also like them to be able to use smartphone gestures such as pinching.
You`ll find many examples about Mouse cursos tracking. I think that connecting mouse to kinect is one of the first that kinect developer is trying to achive. This is very simple thing. You just connect cursor with one join, track him and scale it to monitor resolution :)
But I'm not sure that you want it . Even as a minimu. I remember that on channel9 I was watching movie about websites controlled by kinect. This technology exists for 100% and it's preaty stable. So you need just to look there.
IMO focus on api`a/frameworks for that. Cause connecting mouse to kinect just for using this on websites has many disadvantages
Microsoft released new SDK 1.8 with Kinect.js library last September. I'm sure this is what you need http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kinectforwindows/archive/2013/09/16/updated-sdk-with-html5-kinect-fusion-improvements-and-more.aspx

communication project using android

i'm doin my project in 8th sem telecomm engineering, and i'm plannin to create a DUPLEX(not confident whether it'd be full or half) communication app using bluetooth and wifi as channels,something more advanced than a simple walkie talkie, and i was wondering if this is possible for a one man army??? also i was wondering if it is possible to do so with android versions 2.2 and above... can i just program the bluetooth settings in app in such a way, that, it doesn't pop up for user permission to accept a voice message from the calling party??
and is there a possibility for creating multiple channels(one for Forward Voice Channel and one for Reverse Voice Channel) using bluetooth or wifi?? here's a list of few knowledge i possess:
JAVA: basics, done some gui in desktops, know some imp classes,only SE6...
WIRELESS COMMUNICATION: learning it this semester, stuff like how base station accepts incoming mobile station request and redirects it to dest, mostly 1g in our portions...
OPERATING SYSTEMS: general, looking forward to learning android and linux os...
C,C++,DSP,and SOME ELECTRONICS...
oh, and iwoul like to implement these well within 7 months duration...
people please ENLIGTHEN me with your wisdom and references to useful websites ASAP...
my THANKS AND WISHES to thee...:)
The first big problem i see is that on using wifi for this, and as i understood it is some sort of (advanced) walkie-talkie app with no rooter inbetween the communicating phones, you have to implement adhoc-wlan on your android device, which is not supported by android, so you will need a rooted device for that, and the implementation of adhoc-wlan on android is definitve possible (have a look at this code: http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/) but nothing easy (i have done it myself for an university project).
And you asked if you can avoid the permission pop-up for an incoming message, but on an android phone activating your bluetooth or pairing it with an other device will always ask for permission from the user.
I cant help about the multiple channels you were asking for.
As Answer to your big Question: "is it possible for a one man army?" i would say generelly yes, but it depends on how much other stuff you have to do. Since you were writing this is an project for university, i dont know if this is your only project and you can invest a lot of time in it. If so i guess it is possible, but it will be an quite big project and you should be willing to work yourself relativly deep into networking stuff.
On google.Code you can find some projects similar (at least the wifi part) to what you think about to do, take a look at them...

Android flash vs Java

I've been thinkin about games on android and was thinking - isn't it EASIER to make a game in flash than in android using Java with android SDK ? I've only experience with Flash/AS3 and it's quite easy to create user interface, animations, layout and to write scripts.
As of Flash CS3 there are motion detection objects, so we can create really interactive games.
However I've not seen any flash game related for a phone( I mean with orientation and so ). Is there something I am missing like flash too slow on a android enabled phone?
This applies to applications too. I would like to hear opinions about Flash vs Android :)
you can create game in flash and adobe air will convert it in apk. adobeAir is version where you can create any game and just 2 or 3 step that convert it in apk.so you can publish it or play it in your android phone
Flash is not supported on Android 2.1 and lower, and some manufacturers no longer provide software updates for their older devices. I think Flash will also probably be slower (which may not be an issue if your game isn't very computation/graphics heavy) and consume more battery. It also doesn't take advantage of multi-core processors right now, but that may change in the future.
On the other hand, if you write your game in Java for Android, you will be limited to one platform.
As a compromise, you could try something like Haxe, which allows you to compile your code into flash, Java and C++, among others.

The best way to play swf-files (flash) in my android-program?

I have to play flash (swf) in my program when the user clicks on a link. Which is best? Concentrate on android 2.2 and use the Adobe Flash Player, or what do you recommend? I have tested WebView, but can not play swf in the emulator. HTC has a custom flash player but it feel like a limitation.
Some code samples to play swf in android that works for as many users as possible?
Have you considered using Flash to create an AIR app for Android rather than using Java? If you have to download and run external swf files, this seems like a path of least resistance to me. Of course, this requires learning ActionScript, but it's not difficult if you know Java.
It's hard for me to give you a solid recommendation, much like toggy-tog-togs answer. B/c we don't know exactly how many swfs or what kind of swfs you are playing.
I mean, if your application is pretty much just playing swf's and you need a UI to run it, it might be worth looking at Air and Flex.
However, to address that first problem you had. I haven't tested it myself, but I am nearly 100% certain, that your emulator won't play flash content in a webview b/c you don't have flash player installed on the emulators. :-) Android supports Flash content but only after you download and install the player from the App store.
So you might want to try running your emulator and installing the Flash player app. I don't even know if that is possible but you ought to try it out. :-)
By the way, the Android emulator is trash, if you are serious about developing for the Android platform, you really have to pick up a device or two to debug on.
Good luck!
So your using JAVA if you are then it is best to open up the browser that is the easiest but if you are wanting to use it in the application (This is less loading time if it is included in the package) but it costs try using JFlashPlayer (It Costs For the full version) http://www.jpackages.com/jflashplayer/download/ This runs very fast on the android platform. Hope I could help.

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