Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Blackberry Applications - Internet Access

When I started developing application for blackberry one of the first things I tried was to access the camera, take a picture and upload it to the server without saving it locally.

Following the guidelines and checking examples I managed to write that. It worked superbly on a simulator. The moment I copied that to a actual device, boom, the upload isn't working anymore. I was stuck. After some effort I found that you needed to append a connection string after every URL for the blackberry internet access to work properly.

The connection string can be obtained as follows


public static String getConnectionString() {
String connectionString = null;
if (DeviceInfo.isSimulator()) {
if (USE_MDS_IN_SIMULATOR) { //Define the Boolean constant
connectionString = ";deviceside=false";
} else {
connectionString = ";deviceside=true";
}
} else if (WLANInfo.getWLANState() == WLANInfo.WLAN_STATE_CONNECTED) {
connectionString = ";interface=wifi";
} else if ((CoverageInfo.getCoverageStatus() & CoverageInfo.COVERAGE_DIRECT) == CoverageInfo.COVERAGE_DIRECT) {
String carrierUid = getCarrierBIBSUid();
if (carrierUid == null) {
connectionString = ";deviceside=true";
} else {
connectionString = ";deviceside=false;connectionUID="
+ carrierUid + ";ConnectionType=mds-public";
}
} else if ((CoverageInfo.getCoverageStatus() & CoverageInfo.COVERAGE_MDS) == CoverageInfo.COVERAGE_MDS) {
connectionString = ";deviceside=false";
} else if (CoverageInfo.getCoverageStatus() == CoverageInfo.COVERAGE_NONE) {

} else {
connectionString = ";deviceside=true";
}
return connectionString;
}

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Google HTML 5 Demo of Quake

Google Engineers demo usage of HTML5 to play Quake II on the browser.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Life

Was watching the new episode of How I met your mother yesterday, the gist of it was about Barney going on and on about how the group is breaking up with Robin moving out and Ted spending time with other and so on.

Seeing that I was reminded of my last weekend's trip to Mysore. It was meant to be about us friends. We have known each other from last 8-9 years and have grown pretty close to one another. Well for one it didnt turn out that way.

4 of us went on the trip. Me 2 of my friends and one of my friends husband, who over time has become close to us and is almost part of our group. The only reason I went was to spend time with my friends. One had already dropped out saying he had to go to Chennai to get US Visa.

My friend who is married has twins who are 11 months old. My Friend bought them on trip with us. There was no way she could have left them, thats a different thing. The point i want to make here is that the trip which was supposed to be about us actually became about the kids.

We hardly spent time together. Most of the time was spent talking hush hush as the kids were sleeping in car or keeping them entertained when they were awake.

After the whole thing I was just thinking, what the hell happened. The answer was so obvious. Life happened to us. We are no longer the carefree people we used to be. Everyone of us has responsibilities that we need to attend. When we were kids growing up seemed to be fun. A day when I no longer had to study, do homework or be afraid of teachers. Looking back it now it feels like a very distant past. For one I definitely do not miss the childhood. The only thing I miss from those years are the innocence. How nice it was to think that there are tiny people inside the TV who are doing things.

Well I guess one just has to accept that in life you need various people during your growth and move on. You cannot expect anyone to stick with you. Well this always reminds me of Blade Runner, where in spite of the technology being that advanced we notice that humans have lost the very basic thing that makes us who we are, social relationships.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Weekend Trip to Mysore and Chamundi Hills

Over the weekend me and my friends happened to be in Mysore. One of my friends wanted to see the famous british clock in the Jagmohan palace.

The palace was a walkable distance from the hotel where we stayed. The Hotel KVC International was pretty good. The best part of the hotel was the food, it was extremely good. The rooms are equipped with a 32 inch LCD with full cable and nice double bed.

We had a lot of expectations and went to the jagmohan palace. The entry fee of 20 Rs per adult was very cheap. We went in and were amazed at the way the palace is maintained. For a palace that host so much treasure from the Wadiyar dynasties, the display is pathetic. Along with the famous british clock, the palace house lots of photographs from that era, indian and western paintings, musical instruments used in the palaces and some cookery items.

Having such a good treasure of items our government does not know what to do with it. The painting are still in the frames which they were originally put in, hanging from the walls illuminated by tube lights or bulbs placed in such a way that their glare reflects off the painting when you try to see them.

That is the state of the place. About the items, the painting by Raja Ravi Verma are the main attraction there. Other than that there are some photographs of the Maharaja's.

The weather is Mysore was extremely hot. Though it rained in the evening, the city was extremely hot.

The next day we went to chamundi hills and man wasnt it crowded. It looked like the whole world was there. Luckily if you pay 100 rupees you will get a direct entry with a small queue.
Even Chamundi Hills was very very hot and crowded. From Chamundi Hills back to Bangalore.
That was the weekend spent with friends.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Some Must Watch Series's

Dexter

A series based on the character 'Dexter' created by Jeff Lindsay. Watch Dexter for an amazing story about a blood splatter analyst who moonlights as a serial killer of serial killers.

Supernatural

A series created by Eric Kripke about 2 brother who hunt supernatural things like demons, vampires etc. Watch this for an amazing chemistry between the lead actors, the music and the one liners of Dean.

Burn Notice

A series about a spy who is burned by an agency who plan to recruit him. The series follows the story of Michael after he is burned and dumped in Miami. Along with his ex-IRA Bomber Girlfriend Fiona and an old friend in Sam, Michael tries to figure out why he was burned. All the while he keeps helping people in need acting as a private investigator. Watch it for some great tips by Michael and some really neat stories.

Thursday, February 04, 2010