BitDroid was my first Android app, since it has evolved with the platform since Android 1.5 it has changed a lot over the years, for the better. Android has grown in leaps and bounds, most notably since the introduction of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). As a result Android has started to look (and work) much, much better than before. I had restyled BitDroid before after it broke horribly on all Android 4+ devices due to changes in the underlying system.

Here we go again…I’m writing.

After promises of a wireless charging kit, expensive 3rd-party options, getting a semi-official version months and months later from Samsung/Verizon and numerous delays, I decided to stop waiting. I don’t particularly care for wireless charging, I think it is pretty cool, but it is a bit slower than just plugging in a device. The cost has been a major issue for me, even if the device came with it built-in like the Lumia 920 and Nexus 4, the docks cost 3x as much as a standard wall adapter, I just didn’t think it was worth the money.

I upgraded my aging T-Mobile G2 (HTC Desire Z) in November, and boy what a difference 2 years makes.

I’ve done a few of these lists before, and it is interesting to see how my tastes and usages have changed depending on the device, and how some apps persist. Check out my previous lists: My Top Apps for 2010 (T-Mobile G2 running Android 2.3.x [Gingerbread]) and Android Apps - What I Use (T-Mobile G1 running Android 1.6 [Donut]) or dive right into the (mostly) new apps below, in no particular order.

Cameron has just turned 2 years old. I have been speaking to him almost exclusively in Spanish since birth. As a non-native Spanish speaker, I have, of course slipped up here and there and spoken to him in English, either out of frustration or out of laziness. I have pushed through, despite the first few months, where it seemed to have no effect and I would only get smiles back, regardless of the words used. Now he has been speaking for quite some time, almost 1.5 years. His first Spanish word was “agua”, which unsurprisingly enough is the first word for many Spanish speakers.

After completely rewriting BitDroid, I was sure to take advantage of all the new features that Android 4+ devices have to offer. One of those features I hadn’t used before was AsyncTask which helps to load data in the background without tying up the UI thread. Android 4+ devices force this behavior, in order to increase the speediness of applications, and prevent the user from wondering if the app is doing anything or not.

Rapido 1.2 now works with Android 4+ devices! I also added the option to send/share to Rapido to make posting messages, and especially ones with links even faster.

Rapido or fast/rapid in Español was built, like many things, out of a frustration with existing software. I use both Facebook and Twitter frequently, but find it obnoxious to open up either, type a message, copy it, then open up the other app, paste it, and send it. I know you can setup both Facebook and Twitter to cross-post messages, but I don’t always want to send the same update to both, so that is a less than perfect solution.

I’m not sure exactly what to call this awesome trend of having our devices (phones, mostly) share information, send information or interact with another device: Cross-Device Messaging? Cross-Device Communication? Cross-Device Syncing? A combination of the three? Either way, it is awesome.

In the last few weeks I have discovered a few services that take boring and menial tasks and turn them into automatic automated awesomeness. The general rule is: “If it is too difficult to do or remember, most people won’t do it.” Basically, any amount of complexity or repetition added to a task makes it easy to put off and not ever do, especially things we need to do, like letting your wife know when you’ll be home from work. Here’s where IFTTT and on{X} come into play. They allow normal people (non-programmers) to easily setup simple tasks that can automate some of our life both online and off.

Push notifications have almost completely replaced text messaging and email notifications for me. I used to love text message reminders, but now I get annoyed that I cannot take action on those items. For example, I get a message from twitter, the most I can do is click a link. When I get a push notification from twitter I can read it, then dismiss, or I can touch it, get the full twitter app experience and find out more about that particular tweet, user, hashtags or people mentioned. This gives me a lot of power that a simple text message cannot.

I had the opportunity to write up a presentation about the Controller part of ASP.NET MVC. With Pro ASP.NET MVC 3 as my guide I whipped up this presentation and some sample code. Feel free to download/read/learn/look at it as you please.

If you are reading this on a desktop computer, the screen shots are for you. If you have a smartphone or other smaller screened device let me know in the comments how it looks and what does/doesn’t work.

Just got some cool new HTML5 stickers to show off. Now it’s time to add some new features to my site.

As Android has grown in popularity and the range of devices has widened, many of my friends and family have been getting Android phones. This list is supposed be a starting point for those getting a new Android phone or really wanting to get the most out of the phone they already have.

I’d been wanting a quick and easy way to compose a new email. I tried my hand at whipping up a simple program that just installed a homescreen shortcut, but ran into namespace issues and didn’t feel like putting more than an hour into it.

I started a list of goals at the beginning of this year of things I would like to do or accomplish.  We're about half-way through 2010 and I wanted to update my list to see how I'm doing.  Some goals are not ones that I simply achieve and then move on, so I'm not marking those off completely.

My second first update has been released and is ready for immediate consumption/updating. I've added a dashboard and an "action bar" after reading up on Android's Evolving UI Patterns on the Android blog. The dashboard and action bar will continue to evolve as it is developed.

I did it, I got all the kinks worked out, made myself a fancy icon, and put menus all over the place.

I was interested in android development before I bought my first Android device. It wasn’t until recently that I tried to do something more than the typical “Hello, World!” intro app.

A tweet from Alisha!

I've been asked by a few people for recommendations of Android applications that I use.  I've made a few lists, but this one is the most comprehensive of those lists.  Most links below go to Androlib which have QR codes for you to scan with your phone.

• Advanced Task Manager (free) - Great for killing hanging processes and keeping yourself from needing to reset the phone.
• Astro File Manager (free) - because everyone needs a file manager
• BookmarkBR (free) - Backup utility for your browser bookmarks.
• CalWidget (free) - Quick at a glance widget for home screen.
• Documents To Go Full ($29.99 $14.99 for a limited time) - Kinda spendy, but great if you need to open/edit docs or spreadsheets or view pdfs on your phone.  I've done a few homework assignments in a pinch with this, very handy to have.
• Draw! (free) - Great drawing app to entertain kids with.
• Foursquare (free) - Great app for checking in and letting the world know where you are, much, much better than their mobile website.  You can view offers and other foursquare specific things within the app.
• FxCamera (free) - My wife loves this because she can make "polaroid" pictures with it.
• GDocs (free) - Great if you need offline access to your google docs. Allows editing of Google Docs and quick access to Google Spreadsheets.
• Google Voice (free) - Great app for checking your Google Voice messages.  Its also great that it can take over your phone and make calls as your Google Voice number.
• GPS Status (free) - Get better information from the GPS radio, compass included.
• Live Bookmarks (free) - A great desktop widget for quick access to all of your browser bookmarks.
• Reveal Reader (free) - A simple scripture reader for for those interested in the LDS Standard Works, and other church-related publications including hymns.  Support for bookmarking and in-app downloads, so you don't have to go hunting for the files yourself.
• Ringdroid (free) - customize mp3 on your phone and make them into ringtones 
• Seesmic (free) - Great for twittering, nice big compose screen, integration with the share menu and it doesn't have a huge footprint.  Twitter updates come in pretty reliably, yfrog/twitpic/etc image preview saves time.
• Shazam (free) - Good for identifying songs on the radio or elsewhere.
• Skydeck (free) - Great if you want to keep a backup of your messages and calls on the web, check out their check out their site.  Their app also has a caller id function that identifies calls from people not in your contacts.
• TextEdit (free) - Small little application lets you jot down notes, w/o internet access.
• Voice Recorder (free) - Record audio and email it.
• Yelp (free) - Great for finding a place to eat.

So, I'm taking a class that requires me to create a blogger account, which I have, as of a few years ago, and to post about said assignment.  Here it is.