first post using Blogger application on Motorola Xoom

Google's Blogger app lets user choose among the accounts that have been recorded the one that will be used, then among all the blogs that have been recorded on the account, the one on which the post will be done. Pretty simple and direct.
By the way, Xoom's virtual keyboard (HoneyComb) is a real pleasure to use...
Blogger app let's you embed a picture from the album or just taken using the camera.
Labels can be added, but have to be entered as text : there's no completion when the first letters have been entered ...

Notion Ink's Adam : recovery fix for bricked devices

Notion Ink has published a detailed procedure to recover an Adam tablet that has been brick during the first firmware update. The procedure is here on Android Police site : Updated: Notion Ink Halts Adam Update, Gives Recovery Fix For Bricked Devices

(Adam picture : Notion Ink blog's Adam unboxing)

Adam tablet - pre-order confirmation

I've received a « Confirmation from Notion Ink » for my pre-order on their Adam tablet.

Here is the contents

Dear [my first name]

Greetings from Notion Ink Support Team!
We heartily congratulate you for being one among the first owners of ADAM. Kindly take a note of your order details.

Shipping Address:-
[my address here]

Amount Transacted: [the amount]
Order Number: [the order number]
Registered Email Id: [my email]
We have successfully received your order, your adam will be shipped as per the timelines indicated at the time of order. If you ordered for 3G models, we will send the one as per the country specified in your shipping address along with the compatible charger.

Please quote your Order Number & use your registered email address for all communications. For any assistance write to preordersupport@notionink.com

Regards,

Notion Ink Support Team

Android tablet - Notion Ink's Adam pre order have started

[UPDATE 2010 12 11 06:36] STRONG CONCERNS have been issued about Notion Ink's Adam tablet pre-ordering process. Details are in the comments. You MUST definitely read them BEFORE ordering.



Notion Ink's Adam pre-orders have started a few hours ago.

There are 4 models, and the delivery delay is about 6-8 weeks

[UPDATE 2010 12 11 06:56]

«

Your credit card will be charged at the end of this process. You may cancel your order any time before the device ships, subject to a 5% cancellation charge.

»


Notion Ink's Adam pre-ordering « The detailed Warranty Terms & Policies, Support Details & Procedures will be shipped along with the product. »

«

The detailed Warranty Terms & Policies, Support Details & Procedures will
be shipped along with the product.


Shipping & Payments:
1. Notion Ink holds no responsibility for the shipments delayed or lost due
to unforeseen & unavoidable reasons arising due to Man Made or natural
circumstances.
2. The user indemnifies Notion Ink for Shipments lost or returned due to wrong
address provide to Notion Ink, in such cases any extra charges or penalties
applicable will be borne by buyer. Notion Ink suggests all the buyers to
provide the complete address with ZIP CODE & CONTACT NUMBERS to avoid
such circumstances.
3. Any Customs duty, clearance charges, handling charges or taxes levied by
the customs or the Government of destination Country will be borne by the
buyer & Notion Ink suggests that these charges can vary from 0% to 100% of
invoice value as per Country norms.
4. Any Returns coming to Notion Ink, due to wrong address or refusal due to
charges arising as stated in point 3, will attract a charge of reshipping &
penalty of 10 USD along with any charges paid by Notion Ink not limited to
customs duty, handling charges, taxes & service charges levied by shipping
partner.

Warranty Policy:
1. Every product purchased from Notion Ink Web store is entitled for 1year
International Limited Warranty under following Conditions-
a. Unlimited Email Support (preordersupport@notionink.com)
b. Limited Telephonic Support
c. Limited warranty of 180 days on Battery, entitle for replacement if the
Battery life is less than 50% under normal conditions.
2. To avail the Technical Support, you need to write an email & a Customer Care
Executive will get in touch with you within 24hours for further assistance.
3. In case your products needs a physical inspection or repair, you need to ship
the product with return shipping paid to Notion Ink’s International Service
Centre’s along with an transaction number of 9USD payment made on Notion
Ink Website as International Service Assistance Fees. Notion Ink upon receipt
of the product will communicate with you on the basis of diagnosis & will
assist you further. This entire process can take 3-10 working days or more
depending upon the problem diagnosed.
4. Notion Ink upon diagnosis of the problem can replace the product with new*
product of same model (* New product can be new, refurbished or equivalently
functional compared to the product submitted)
5. If a submitted product is found tampered with or damaged or abused or under
conditions of illegal use as per NI policies, NI reserves the right of refusal to
warranty claims & can apply a fees as per the diagnosis.


Return Policy:
You can initiate a refund process within 7 days of your product receipt under the
following conditions stated in below points.
1. If the product is defective/ Dead on Arrival/ Incorrect, you must contact
Notion Ink at preordersupport@notionink.com & open up a case for
Return, In this case you need to ship the product back with all the original
packaging, accessories etc along with the letter from yourself stating the
reason. After the inspection of the product & evaluation of your case,
Notion Ink will refund the entire amount minus 5% service fees of the
invoice value. You can also opt for the replacement product at no extra
cost except the 5% Service Fees of invoice value.
2. Notion Ink offers a no questions asked return policy. If you wish to return
your product under this policy, you must open a case by emailing
preodersupport@notionink.com & ship the product back & a Letter
with reason for return to Notion Ink & after evaluation of your case & the
product, Notion Ink will refund the amount after deducting the Shipping
fees & service fees of 5%.
3. If in any of the cases the product is found tempered, Notion Ink Reserves
the right to refuse the refund or deduct a fees up to 75% of the cost of the
product as per the evaluation report of product plus a inspection fees of
9USD.
4. If in any case the Product packaging is found damaged, Notion Ink
reserves the rights to deduct a amount of 5% as repackaging Plus 3% as
restocking fees of the final invoice value.

»

Android - what an Android tablet just can't be

There's a lot of Android tablets announced out there. According to their specifications, most of them are unable to bring a somewhat new user experience beyond the one Android phones already bring.

An Android tablet just can't be an Android phone with some interfaces (USB, HDMI, ...) and a wider 7+ inch screen but limited to a 800x480 resolution.

Track Site - description of the goal and functions

Do you ever want to add a note to an article you just read while crawling the web ?
Or just add a mark on an article to remember to read it later ?
Or wonder what is the best folder to store a new bookmark ?
Or can't remember the login you used to register on a website ?
Or the mail address you used to subscribe to the site's newsletter ?
...

Most browsers does not allow to add meaningful notes on bookmarks !
So here is the "Track Site" app.

This App allows for sites's bookmarking, giving them a name, adding an optional description, and optionally adding some tags.
Those information are stored in a plain text file ("/sdcard/sites.ini").
A html file of all bookmarks can be generated ("/sdcard/track_sites.html").
And bookmarks can be shared with others by email or SMS.

Look for "Track Site" on Google's Android marketplace and on Archos's AppsLib marketplace.

Aldiko - the free ebook reader on Android (epub format)

Aldiko is a great Android App to read your ebooks right on your mobile phone.

You can import the epub ebooks you already own from the sdcard. Non epub format DRM-free ebooks can be converted to epub format using Calibre software.

As editors like O'Reilly, Manning, Mark Murphy's CommonsWare have started to release their books in DRM-free ebook format, the mobile as an ebook reader is becoming more and more a reality.

The QR-code to access the Aldiko app on the Android Market is here.

The app is also announced to be available on the alternative SlideMe app market on the Aldiko blog post but I can't find it.

Track Site - approved on Archos's AppsLib

TrackSite, the application I've submitted for the Archos's Developer Contest, has been approved on AppsLib.

I'm happy since it's my first Android application. It a strong encouragement that helps me continue making improvements on Track Site and continue my learning journey on Android.

Track Site - my app for Archos developers contest

A developer's contest was organized by Archos for the Archos 5 IT's launch, as it's Archos's first Android device.

I have submitted the Track Site app whose goal is to allow more information to be associated to site's bookmarks than just the name. Track Site provides support to add an optional description and any number of tags.

Here are some screenshots :

Archos's solution to ADB connection bug with Mac OSX since 1.4.xx firmwares

Archos support proposes a solution to the bug on ADB connection mode with Mac OSX 10.6.2 with firmwares updates since 1.4.07 to the latest 1.4.16 :

You actually need to modify or create the adb_usb.ini file

In terminal, you need to type :
echo "0x0e79" >~/.android/adb_usb.ini
Then
./adb kill-server
and
./adb start-server


I just modify the first command in order to preserve the original contents of the ~/.android/adb_usb.ini file by issuing the following command
echo "0x0e79" >> ~/.android/adb_usb.ini


Here is the result :

$ adb devices
List of devices attached

$ adb devices
List of devices attached

$ more ~/.android/adb_usb.ini
# ANDROID 3RD PARTY USB VENDOR ID LIST -- DO NOT EDIT.
# USE 'android update adb' TO GENERATE.
# 1 USB VENDOR ID PER LINE.
$ echo "0x0e79" >> ~/.android/adb_usb.ini
$ more ~/.android/adb_usb.ini
# ANDROID 3RD PARTY USB VENDOR ID LIST -- DO NOT EDIT.
# USE 'android update adb' TO GENERATE.
# 1 USB VENDOR ID PER LINE.
0x0e79
$ adb kill-server
$ adb start-server
$ adb devices
List of devices attached
A5S-xxxx0004-xxxx0000-0403xxxx-1500xxxx device


All works perfectly.

Archos 5 IT - driver ExtFS for Mac OSX

I just install the Paragon ExtFS for Mac OS X driver.

The driver doesn't work if MacOSX 10.6.2 kernel starts in full 64bit mode : there's nothing in the Finder and Disk Utility shows an Archos device but the filesystem is grayed (not available).

After restarting Mac OSX kernel in 32bits mode, the Archos device becomes visible in the Finder.

First tests copying small files to / from the Archos 5 IT seems to work properly but sometimes it seems to take a long time to prepare to copy ... a little bit strange behavior.

Archos 5 IT - firmware 1.4.16 - bug on ADB with MacOSX still exists - driver ExtFS for Mac OSX

Le nouveau firmware 1.4.16 ne corrige toujours pas le bug dans la connexion en mode ADB sur Mac OSX 10.6.2

« adb devices » ne trouve pas l’A5IT

Bug déjà signalé sur la 1.4.08 (http://www.jbmm.fr/2009/11/26/2-firmwares-sinon-rien/) et la 1.4.09 (http://www.jbmm.fr/2009/11/28/et-hop-un-firmware-archos-5it/)

Avant de décider si je repasse à nouveau en 1.3.07, je vais tester le driver Paragon ExtFS for Mac OS X signalé par ArchosLounge.net dans son article Archos 5IT et le Mac : LA solution !


---------------------- English version -----------------------

The new firmware 1.4.16 still doesn't solve the bug in the ADB connection mode with Mac OSX 10.6.2

« adb devices » doesn't discover the A5IT device

Bug has been signaled on 1.4.08 (http://www.jbmm.fr/2009/11/26/2-firmwares-sinon-rien/) and 1.4.09 (http://www.jbmm.fr/2009/11/28/et-hop-un-firmware-archos-5it/) firmware versions

Before deciding to reinstall the 1.3.07 firmware, I will make a try with the driver Paragon ExtFS for Mac OS X which has been reported by ArchosLounge.net in Archos 5IT et le Mac : LA solution !

Archos 5 IT and Mac OSX - when it comes to connecting in ADB mode

The filesystem used by the Archos 5 IT is ext3 as stated in the FAQ

As MacOSX does not support anymore, one way to connect the Archos 5IT to the Mac is by using ADB - Android Debug Bridge. Here are the Archos 5IT support instructions.

As stated, everything works directly with MacOSX, nothing to install.
To make a check :

• connect the Archos 5IT to the Mac using the USB cable
• open a Terminal (you'll find it in /Application/Utilities)
• go to the directory where the Android SDK has been installed, and from here, go to the tools sub-directory (you better add the Android SDK's path to your PATH)
• just do an « adb devices » command
• the answer should be something like
  
List of devices attached
0123456789ABCDEF device

  where the device is the Archos 5IT
  

Instructions to use ADB can be found on Android's Developers site and on Android wiki. In short, exec a « push » to put a file on the device and a « pull » to get a file from the device.

Using ADB, you can even access the full Archos 5IT filesystem.


ADB support bug in the Archos 5IT latests firmwares

The 1.4.09 and 1.4.08 Archos 5 IT firmwares both have a bug in the ADB support that makes the device not be found and ADB mode not working at all.
You have to stay back on Archos 5IT 1.3.07 firmware in order to use ADB connection mode on Mac OSX.

Archos 5 Internet Tablet

I purchase an Archos 5 IT 32 Gb device and it's nice.

The 5 inches display makes web browsing a real pleasure. And the device is really nice for it's multimedia capabilities, one strength of Archos. Internet access based on wifi b/g/n is very fast.

The device comes with Archos versions of Android 1.5 Cupcake. Everything works well, but the integration with the other parts of the system needs to be improved. Which will probably be done with the coming Donut 1.6 upgrade.

Archos and Android - Archos 5 IT - Developer contest

Archos proposes a new version of it's Archos 5 PMP based on Android : the Archos 5 Internet Tablet.

As the device is based on Archos's version of Android 1.5 Cupcake, Archos has setup it's own version of the market : AppsLib.

And to help developers to adapt their applications to the Archos 5 IT device, a developer contest was organized.