My newest side project: A QR-code Generator for Android Apps

Posted on by Craig

I recently decided to add QR codes to my two android app description pages and figured it would take me only a few seconds… boy was I wrong. It turns out that there is no easy-to-use tool that creates QR codes for Android apps. There are many tools that easily convert a given text String into a QR-code, such as http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/, but encoding an Android app into a QR-code actually requires a special format in order for the Android device to open the proper page in the app market. I’ve gone ahead and solved this problem with my own implementation of a simple Android App QR-code generator.

The web application can be found at http://www.androidqrgenerator.com. Feel free to let me know what you think of it!

Fmlfeed.com has officially launched!

Posted on by Craig

Fmlfeed logoThis post is actually about a month late but my latest project, Fmlfeed.com, has been officially launched!

Fmlfeed is my personal submission to the Hackernews’ November “Launch an App” Month. The idea behind the movement was simple, build any app and launch it in one month. I had gotten pretty lazy lately so I decided to use this as a way to force myself to launch a new product – Fmlfeed.

Fmlfeed came about as a simple playful idea while I was playing with some of Facebook’s APIs. The app simply tracks all new public facebook statuses that contain the phrase “fml” and posts them to a newsfeed (*fml stands for “fuck my life” , made popular by fmylife.com). I do some basic filtering on the statuses to reduce the number of uninteresting posts and the result is an endless feed of fml’s! The number of statuses that contain the phrase “fml” is amazing, there are easily 15-30 new statuses published to fmlfeed every minute (and this is AFTER filtering out roughly 50% of qualifying statuses)!

Continue reading →

GTHive Updated to 1.1 (and open sourced!)

Posted on by Craig

This update brings about a much needed and requested feature: auto sign-in!

GTHive now automatically logs into LAWN whenever the device connects to the Georgia Tech wifi network as long as it has the required login information saved. This functionality doesn’t even require the application to be open at the time of the connection, allowing the login to take place behind the scenes and never bothering the user.

A BIG thanks goes out to Guy Hoffman of the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology. He came up with the original idea for this functionality and contributed a huge portion of the code that made this happen. Be sure to check out his website at www.guyhoffman.com!

On an unrelated note, I have decided to open source GTHive. You can find the full source at www.github.com/craigsc/gthive.

BlowMe 1.0.1 Released!

Posted on by Craig

BlowMe has officially been released on the Android market! I began working on BlowMe as an exercise in learning the audio recording capabilities of the Android platform but it quickly evolved into this simple application. The application functions as a flashlight for your phone, preventing the phone from sleeping while it has focus and forcing the screen to maximum brightness, but it also has one added twist: you have the ability to turn the light on and off by blowing on your phone!

The app reads in audio data from the mic and analyzes the data in real-time to determine when it is being blown on, then simply turns the light on or off. I believe that utilizing audio as a means for users to interact with mobile applications has great potential and this app proves that it is definitely possible. I plan on exploring this area further so be sure to watch this space for more updates!

Find more information about BlowMe here.

GTHive Now Available

Posted on by Craig

gthive promoI’m happy to announce that GTHive is now live in the android market! This application is built specifically for Georgia Tech students who want an easy way to log into the Lawn wifi network securely and quickly. Let’s face it, 3g networks just aren’t fast enough when you’re spoiled by tech’s super fast internet but logging into lawn is such a pain. This app should remedy that situation and allow you to utilize the speed of Georgia Tech’s network without having to log in every time.

I have added a few extras into this application, including the ability to enable/disable ISS (the GT inbound security service), auto-enable wifi and connect to a network on login, and storage of your login credentials for an even easier login. I realize that some people might not want some of these features enabled so they are all optional and can be set via the settings menu.

This release is compatible with all devices running Android 1.1-2.0.1, but I only have one physical android device (a Droid) so there is a possibility of issues on other device models. If any of you experience any issues or bugs with this application then PLEASE let me know! I can’t fix bugs if I am not aware of them so don’t be shy.

If you want to see a specific feature in the next update then feel free to email me at feedback@craigsc.com. Go jackets!

Hello World!

Posted on by Craig

Hello everyone! Please feel free to look around but keep in mind that this website is going to be in a state of disrepair for these first few weeks while I get everything worked out. If any of you are looking for information on any of my applications or projects then please see the navigation bar above (I’ll be slowly adding them over the next few weeks). Feel free to email me with any questions you may have at craig@craigsc.com.