ReTUNES. The Android iTunes remote control review.

I like my new HTC ONE M8 but I really don't have any music on it. I know it has an awesome audio processor and it probably sounds good but it doesn't carry my large iTunes library. More importantly, it doesn't stream music to my 12 speaker set-up like my iPhone. For me, Google's Music is not a suitable substitute for iTunes. You can't Chromecast to multiple audio receivers simultaneously or have multiple clients play your library at the same time (through Match or Network sharing). Thus, iTunes is still relevant. At home, I still rely on my multi-room, multi-speaker iTunes Airplay set-up. I like to listen to music across my three floor house in various rooms and I use my iPhone or iPad to control the music. Now, there is an option for Android and it works pretty good with the HTC ONE. That app is called ReTunes.

ReTunes is basically a smartphone remote control for iTunes. Meaning, it will allow you to control a computer running iTunes. It is the Android equivalent of the iOS Remote Control app that Apple provides for i-devices.If you have a centralize iTunes server with multiple AirPlay set-up, this app is pretty much it for Android users. The user experience is comparable to Apple remote app.

I think it is best to go over screenshots to discuss some of the functionalities.

First of all, you need to enable the iTunes remote control via a numeric key pairing. Simple set-up. You also have to be on the same Wi-Fi subnet.

You then select the paired iTunes machine/server. You can pair multiple computers and I've paired it to three. I don't know what the maximum number is but I doubt most people will have more than three iTunes servers running in their household.

Playback, track, searching, selection is the same as you would use on your desktop but in a smartphone UI. You can even enable visualization, shuffle,etc. 

It does an excellent job as a remote control. What else would you want? Well, for  me, the primary reason to use this is to control my Airplay speakers. I love how I am listening to music in my living room and select the basement to simultaneously play in the basement. As  I walk down the stairs, I can shut off the living room while the song is still playing. Once I free up the living room, my wife or anyone else can initiate control over the living room.

Lastly, one surprising feature is how ReTunes picks up my iTunes Radio station.

There you have it. One really good iTunes remote app for the Android ecosystem. If you are Android user stuck on iTunes, this is the app you should have on your primary homescreen. It is that good.

Link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.squallydoc.retune&hl=en

HTC ONE M8, Android Kit Kat SD Card issues. Originally 128GB sdxc review

This blog post was originally meant to be a review on a new SanDisk 128GB micro-sdhc card with my new HTC ONE M8. Let me repeat, that is 128GB micro-sdhc! How insane is that with that much storage on a micro-sd? The whole idea was tantalizing. In reality, it didn't turn out the way I hoped for. SD cards are pretty much useless on the new HTC ONE.

The latest version of Android, KitKat 4.4.2 has rendered my nice, 128GB sd card useless. Yep, the smart folks at Google, in their infinite wisdom have closed one of the biggest compelling feature of Android (over iOS) for this user. Why oh why you must ask? Well, I suppose they want to get serious about security and are now implementing a sandbox model where apps only have write access to their germane folders.

In short, this means, I can't even benchmark this sdcard. Most benchmark apps can't write to the root of the sd card which is a big no-no. I can't even copy files from an OTG USB drive using ES File Explorer. Forget about doing something like this pictured below. Everything is borked now. File Explorer/Manager apps are pretty much useless. I can't even copy files around on the Phone itself. The workaround is to root the phone and patch it which I'm not going to do.

There are hundreds if not thousands of articles, posts, blogs about this issue so I won't re-hash it. So why is this a big deal? Well, now I have to tether my phone to my laptop if I want to copy files. Yep, this is the same iTunes-iPhone argument Android users have been making years. I have to use the HTC desktop Sync Manager to copy files over which is really cumbersome and slow. And the Desktop app has no method of moving files around so I'll have to delete and re-upload.

So how about just popping out the sd card and copy files from my laptop? Sure, I can do that if I have a handy paperclip at a moment's notice as pictured below.

In short, I am highly disappointed. An expensive SanDisk Ultra 128GB micro-sd card is pretty much useless to me now. Not exactly useless but highly under-utilized on the HTC ONE M8. I'm thinking about just popping back the 64GB sd card I had before and call it a day. I figure I could use the 128GB card on another device (Dell Venue 8 Pro or one of my cameras) so I can have full enjoyment of it.

The HTC ONE (M8) 2014 model Preliminary overview / review

For as long as I can remember, I have been a dual OS phone user. First with Windows Mobile and iOS. Then with iOS and Android. I've always carried two, three phones on me at all times.

I've owned and carried several Android phones through the years - Moto Droid, Droid Incredible, Galaxy Nexus.  None of those phones kept my interest besides the fact they were partially work issued. Now, in 2014, my latest work issued phone is the HTC ONE (M8). This is HTC's current flagship phone. The company is riding on this phone to be a success. Will it?

I can pretty much pick any phone I want that runs on Verizon - LG 2, Galaxy Note 3, etc but I chose the HTC One. I chose the HTC One for it's incredible build quality and overall compromises on features. Is it the fastest? Does it have the best camera? Does it have the largest screen? The answer to those questions are no.The Samsung Galaxy Nexus left a very bad taste in my mouth (due to Verizon and Google's handling of the updates and poor battery life) that my main concern was battery life and overall usability. Stock Android isn't a big draw to me any more (aka Nexus 5 and stock Android) and HTC Sense 6.0 doesn't offend me much.  And I'm still stuck with Verizon (due to work) so this was my best option.

I'm going to be playing with this phone for a while and report back with my findings. But for now, here is a first review.

Spec wise, you can read about it all over the Internet as this is a fairly recent new flag-ship phone from HTC. Quad-Core SnapDragon 801 processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB Storage, 5" 1080p LCD display, yada-yada. This is my personal review from a dual OS, multi-platform agnostic user.  Since I'm a dual OS handset kind of guy, the Android vs iOS debates are pretty silly.

Android Wear and the Moto 360

Google recently announced their new wearable platform, Android Wear. They will concentrate on watches first. The platform is suppose to extend the reaches of the Android eco-system to wearable gadgets.

One of the first announced piece comes from Motorola in the form of the moto 360.

And apparently, it is frothing with enthusiasm on the Internet. Really? Elegant? Classy? Yep, those are the remarks I've been reading. Really? The watch looks like cheap Movado, Citizen, mall watch knock-off. And another comment, why does the guy in the coffee shop  (pictured above) needs a cappucino AND an expresso? I get it, they want you to think he is some cool,hip dude with a cool, hip watch in a cool, hip coffee shop.

I have pretty high standards when it comes to wristwatches as many people know, I collect them. But this moto 360 is really ugly. It is the kind of watch you see on lay-away at the local mall.

I don't know enough about Android wear to even speculate but in terms of wrist-watches, I'll definitely stick to my mechanical Swiss made Chronometers. It must be my age but I don't see the appeal in these items as they're disposable. Unlike an IWC or Breguet, these aren't the type of heirlooms you want to pass down another generation. Unlike a Rolex Sea-Dweller, Omega Planet Ocean, Blancpain 50 Fathom, or Panerai Luminor, these aren't the type of watches you want to take rock climbing or snorkeling. I like patina on my watches. I wear my Omega Seamaster Professional SM300 to fix the car, rigorous housework, or anything dangerous. So what if my $2,000 beater diver's watch gets scratched up. It gives it a natural aging patina. Electronic gadgets? They look like crap when they're all scratched up. Battery life? Who knows. All I know is when I am on vacation, I don't even want to think about an electrical wall outlet. Which reminds me of my youth; backpacking abroad. I remember having nothing but my Rolex GMT Master II in Bali for a week. I never had to plug it in every night. Never took it off to do any physical activity. I can't imagine the same thing with one of these electronic watches that need daily recharging.


It must be the sign of the times or I am getting old.This is an area I won't even get into.

Links: 

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/sharing-whats-up-our-sleeve-android.html

http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/18/google-android-wear/

http://motorola-blog.blogspot.com/2014/03/moto-360-its-time.html

MiiPC Kid Friendly, Family Android Desktop Computer Review

The MiiPC is a Kickstarter funded Android PC designed for families.  After a long wait, I finally got this in. Like with many Kickstarter projects, expect delays. It is now finally in my hands.

What is it?

It is a desktop PC running Android. It has a similar form-factor to the Ouya. The idea behind this is to empower parents to control their kid's computer activity with a simple computer. Apps and website usage can be controlled remotely by parents using their smartphones.

Spec-wise, MiiPC is SFF (small form factor) Android 4.22 Desktop PC measuring 4.7 x 4.7 x 3.1-inch.
It's powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Marvell New Armada SoC with 1GB of RAM, 4 to 8 GB of flash storage, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. The system features  front SD card slot in front. In the back, it has two USB 2.0, HDMI, analog audio I/O, Ethernet and power.

Chromecatch turns your Mac into a Chromecast receiver

There are lots of software/solutions that turns computers, NAS, and other devices into Airplay compatible end receivers. Now, there is one like that for Chrome "casting." It is called Chromecatch. It is a $3 app on the MacStore and there is an iOS version that turns your iPad into a chromecaster.

What does all this mean? The same functionality of the $35 HDMI Google Chromecast dongle can be replicated on a computer. $3 sure beats $35 if you want to experiment with this functionality.

The Cast icon shows up on Chrome devices if you are on the same network. I tried it with both computer, iOS, and Android devices. Unfortunately, Google half baked Chrome casting so it isn't available on the Samsung Chromebook.

Here is my Samsung 7" Galaxy Tab casting youtube to a Macbook Pro Retina. The Galaxy tablet is handing off the youtube to the Macbook.

It supports Google Play Music, Youtube and the SDK samples of Google Cast. I didn't try Netflix. I can't tell you how useful this except to say it can be done. Maybe I'll install it in my bedroom 27" iMac which is currently being unused.  I still prefer Airplay any day of the week.

You can download and purchase it here.  http://www.chromecatch.com/

Update: Apparently, you can do this for free with  Leapcast. Maybe I'll install it on one of my Linux box with a follow-up.

App Store Generation

The app-store generation is here. The other day, I was at Frys looking at their selection of kids learning software. $20-$30 for cd-rom based software. Worst, many of these applications were designed 15 years ago for Windows 95 and MacOS 8.6.

How the hell do stores get away with selling this stuff? They are not alone, I found similar disparities at other "office" retail outlets.

These apps were designed in the Macromedia Director days where multimedia cd-rom was the big thing. I remember, I used to develop some of those "educational" titles.

Fast Forward to 2013 and you now have a different climate altogether. My kids prefer playing on the iPad versus running a virtualized Windows 98 session to see Mickey Mouse. Many of those apps don't work in 64 bit environment and my video cards have a hard trouble of going to 256 colors and 800x600. Apps on the Apple App stores range from free to $5 for a high quality title from publishers like Disney. 

For example, the Lightning Mcqueen Cars' and Toy Story reading book app cost 1/5th of a similar CD-Rom title. Moreover, the mobile apps outclass their desktop counterparts in terms of features, useability and interactivity.

This brings me to meat of my post. The app-store model will be the prevailing model for this generation.  There is no denying that there you get better selection, flexibility and ease-of-use.

I've been visiting and touring private elementary schools ($25K+ yearly tutitions) and I see a trend with them moving over to tablets as well. It is simply cheaper to run software applications on a tablet than a desktop computer.

There are some apps that have no desktop counterpart. Many of the Astronomy apps use gyroscope, GPS, the built-in cameras, and augmented reality to teach you celestial astronomy. Simply point your iPad to the night sky and spend a few hours with your children exploring different star systems. And the app itself cost less than $6.

No wonder Tablet sales are exploding.

Samsung shamelessly copies IOS Passport

Ok, Let me get this straight. Many companies have "digital wallet" apps and features. I'm OK with that but let me share something with you guys.


Here we have Google's and Microsoft's digital wallet icons.

Now we have Apple's passbook and Samsung's new "Wallet" service.

Let me think. Someone in Korea thinks that a blacked squared bevelled stiched, leather pouch, with angled passes; including a movie ticket, plane ticket, and coffee ticket using the colors blue,green and yellow is the only obvious way to design an wallet icon.

This has been the line of defense. " There are so many different ways you can design an icon and obviously, this is the only way to design a wallet icon!"

Even some Android blogs, including Android Authority, thinks it is rather shameless.

Is there a Perfect Linux tablet

Will we ever see an awesome Linux tablet or Phablet? Ubuntu and many have been promising glimpse of an Ubuntu mobile OS to challenge Android and other players. I've seen countless dual boot devices that boot Android and a Debian. Yet, I have not been really impressed with anything I've seen. I'm hoping that changes in the near future.

Portable Linux has been the holy grail for me for the past 10 or so years. As far back as 2001, I wanted a portable UNIX like small form factor computing device. I've been using Windows CE as far back as 1996 and I had transitioned to UNIX in my career around that period. I wanted a UNIX version of  a Palm Pilot or HP Jornada. I've seen so many products failed in a span of ten years that I conclude that we may never see the perfect Linux MID (Mobile Internet Device). You can call it whatever you want, a phablet, a UMPC, a tablet,etc. I am talking about a small portable device that runs the Linux kernel and a full blown working distro with all the great GNU applications. Android doesn't really count. It uses the kernel but it adds so many layers that it doesn't really count. Basically, I want to run the great GNU open source applications that I've been running for over a decade: ImageMagick, FFMPEG, Postgres, MySQL, Apache.

The Sharp Zaurus was the first Linux based PDA that didn't gain any traction.

Nokia made a great line of PDAs. The N770, N800, N810. They were slider based PDAs with the potential but failed to gain any traction in the market place.

Chinese and Taiwanese companies like SmartQ attempted to make some Linux only PDAs. They also failed to gain any traction. The Stylus for a 5" form factor does solve a lot of problems.

The problem with these older devices is that they did not have an ecosystem in place.  Hence,they failed to gain any  mass consumer adoption. This doesn't bother me too much because I know I'm part of a fringe group on consumers - uber geeks.  Companies rather maximize profits and cater to the general public. Unfortunately, what really killed them for uber geeks like myself was the poor performance and the technology wasn't quite ready.

Well, the iPad changed a lot of misconceptions.  ARM architecture is now good enough for my needs.  It has a great app ecosystem and the hardware is fairly robust. Touch technology is pretty fast and we now have high-bandwidth cellular connectivity. Yet, it still isn't Linux. However, iOS is still based off OSX. If it gave end-users direct access to the Darwin kernel through an accessible interface, the iPad would be the perfect device.  We all know Apple will never open up iOS like that so I hunt for the alternatives.

I've been following the mod scene in Android for a while. There is CHROOT and Linux on Android projects but they are quite not native Linux. They run in a looped file-system and are accessed via VNC that makes them feel as if they are running in an emulated environment.

I got one of those HP Touchpads during the great $99 firesale and the first thing I did was install Debian LXDE to see if I could realistically run Linux on a tablet. It was a great exercise. I installed Debian and carefully picked the applications I wanted tailored for my needs. I had LibreOffice, GIMP, MySQL and a full DE (Desktop Environment). Look at the pictures below. Looks cool, huh?

Well, the reality soaked in. A modern Linux distro like Debian and Ubuntu simply sucks on a tablet. X Windows apps are designed for mouses. We are kidding ourselves if we think otherwise.

I tried installing a few open-source multi-gesture and touch-screen input aides. Apps like Easystroke allows you to draw gestures to simulate mouse clicks and key commands. However, in practice, they never worked quite the way I like them to.

The console is the most important application in any *NIX operating system. This is the application where I spend 80% of my time in. Guess what? It is horrible with the onscreen keyboards I've used. I've downloaded quite a few of them to get my cursor and function keys. They don't quite work either.

This brings me back to my iPad. I need a console most of the time to SSH into remote servers. Applications on the iPad like iSSH solve most of the on-screen keyboard issues with tactile multi-gesture functionality and adjustable keyboard transparencies.

Still, the iPad isn't quite there for my needs. I still want to run GNU applications and install whatever I want.

So I concluded, a touch-screen only Linux tablet will never, ever be ideal. The fact remains, traditional *NIX Desktop Environments require a real keyboard and mouse/trackpad. CHROOTing Linux on-top of Android doesn't really cut it.

What now? I'm carefully eyeing out Transformer style X86 tablets running the ATOM Clover Trail. However, Linux doesn't run on Clover Trail yet. Acer makes a Windows 8 tablet, the W510, that has an attractive price point. This may be the foundation for a working Linux tablet in the future.

If Ubuntu can work on their UNITY UI , many of the general tasks applications can be served by that. And when I dock, I'd want a more traditional desktop UI like Linux Mint's Cinnamon or Gnome 2.

As a geek, I can only speculate. It will be interesting to see what 2013 and 2014 brings us. Pricing is also important as well. Some of these tablets are approaching $600-700 with keyboards. At that price, I would rather buy myself an 11" Macbook Air, keep my iPad for entertainment, and forget any hopes of an all-in-one Linux based ultra light device.

Galaxy Tab 2 7"

People ask why I didn't get a Nexus 7. Well, I already own a Galaxy Tab 2 7" and I saw no need to get another small tablet. I got the Tab 2 at launch and have been using it ever since. I decided to keep my Tab 2 for the reasons below.

I use it primary as a video player.  I started to use my Tab more during the winter when I wore coats with larger pockets. I'll be using it a bit more until warmer weather comes along.

The Tab 2 is a nice little device. It pretty much plays any video I throw at it ( WMV/MKV/AVI) with the default player. Sure, there are other players on the market but it is nice to know the default player handles them.

USB OTG works out of the box; without rooting. I normally have 64GB on my internal SD card slot and I can add more. I often have up to 256GB of portable storage (bus powered) . Sure, you can dock a 3TB external desktop drive but it is nice to know you can use a cheap OTG adapter and a few USB sticks for days of video playback.

Galaxy Tab 2 vs Nexus 7? Well, 64GB on board (via microSDHC) is hard to beat. Nexus 7 has a better screen and faster processor. It also has the ability to use cellular connectivity on the $300 model.

This particular OTG dongle has 3 USB ports and various flash card inputs. I often use my TAB 2 as a remote console with a USB keyboard.

There is one major drawback. The tablet only supports FAT and FAT32 through external storage. This means you can only store video files smaller than 4GB. There are a few other tablets that support NTFS or EXT3 which overcomes this limitation. Ultimately, this means you cant store a 6-10GB mkv file on a SD card.

The TAB 2s are currently being discounted right now and I've seen them go as low as $180 at CostCo. 

If you are looking for an alternative to the Nexus 7, take a look at the TAB. It also has another nice feature that is unique to itself; an infrared sensor that makes the tablet a large universal remote control.

PHP 5, MySQL web server on Android

Want to run a web app server on your smartphone or tablet? Specifically, run a full fledge PHP-MySQL Web Server straight from your Android device.

Well, there are a few pre-built apps on the Google App Store. In the past, there were a few lightweight HTTP servers running customize apps like AirDroid or PAW. These new ones have full PHP and MySQL run-times.

I tried a few and settled with Bit Web Server. I also tried KSWEB.

Bit WebServer also comes with PHPMyAdmin (PMA) installed and you are ready to go.
You can install Drupal and Wordpress as well. I got Code Igniter running without any problems.

A few notes. These apps tend to be a bit buggy. They can force-quit or hang under load. I can't really blame them as the fault may be with Android OS itself or the hardware I am running. I've tried them with the Galaxy Nexus and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. I've been reading that the OS (Jelly Bean and ICS) may starve the apps due to power savings and other reasons such as auto close.

I can't really complain though. I'm not running anything mission critical. If the app crashes, I simply restart it. It comes in handy show off web apps.

Moreover, it runs LIGHTTPD instead of Apache so PHP run as a CGI.

The apps range from $2 to $3. Yeah, you're paying for open source software and may have an issue with it. However, think about the time you are saving without having to resort to building PHP/MySQL from scratch and make it work on your phone. I have no problem with the pricing.

Just add a keyboard and you are ready to go!

Links:

Bit Web Server
KSWEB.

iCade Jr for iPhone Review. Awesome retro goodness in a small package

I've always raved about the iCade cabinet for the iPad. I simply love mine. See my earlier posts on it. Now, ION, has made the iCade Jr. specifically designed for smartphones.  Advertised for the iPhone 4 and previous iPod touches, this retro game controller/dock/cabinet also works with some Android phones and the iPhone 5 (with caveats). 

For comparison, here it is next to the full sized iCade (for iPad and tablet).

It works awesome just as a stylish desktop dock accessory. You can route a USB charging/data cable underneath and have it simply sit on your desk.

The operation is very simple. This is a bluetooth device and all you need to do is pair it with your phone. There are games that are compatible and designed to work with the iCade controller. ION has a list of games that are compatible with the controller. 

As I said earlier, this device works with other phones beside the iPhone 3GS/4/4S. You can use it with the iPhone 5 and other smartphones (of similar dimensions) by simply flipping back the top cover. It is not as pretty as an enclosed case but it works. If you are on Android, this dock may only work with phones with similar width dimensions as an iPhone. Moreover, the only supported iCade game app I know for Android is MAME4ALL.

Here it is with the iPhone 5 running some MidWay arcade classic games, Defender.

It is also designed to work in landscape mode. Here I have Namco's arcade versions of Galaga and Pacman.

And if you have MAME4ALL installed, you can play hundreds of retro mame games as well.

I gotta say, after a few minutes of playing with it, it is one cool retro toy to have around. This is great for old phones you have lying around that you don't use anymore. I plan to either use my old iPhone 4 or HTC Droid Incredible (fits perfectly).

Link: ThinkGeek's iCade Jr Product Page.

repost: Awesome retro accessory for your tablet

When I first started this blog, I was raving about how great this accessory is. Well, I got another one and I can say this is still one of the best gadgets to get a tablet user. I figure I'll repost why I love this gadget.

The iCade retro arcade cabinet for your tablet (works with iOS, Android, and webOS). Works off bluetooth and is compatible with many games; specifically MAME.

Running old school Mame games like Zaxxon, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong and Street Fighter is totally cool. It also makes a great display fixture for your man cave.

Running MAME off a smartphone (Galaxy Nexus)