There are already a lot of companies that already provide cloud based storage services to the internet audience, in particular Box.net, dropbox and even Apple’s iCloud. The exciting difference about Google’s proposition, is that it will offer not just access to everyone, it will also allow for a greater degree of collaboration, no matter what platform you are using.

One Drive to Rule them all

There was a lot of hubbub around the centralising of privacy data for all Google Services, but clearly the pain has been worth it. By having one place where we can access everything, makes it simpler and easier for everyone to enjoy. Why can’t I have one place with all my music, my books, and my videos. Why can’t I have one place with my photos business docs and separate for my personal ones. Simplicity and accessible power is the promise of google drive,  and I hope it can deliver.

Drawbacks and Wishlist

You can access all your docs using a web browser

Sadly it looks like Android developers are not yet included in the current api, which means that native support for the service is not going be coming in the short term. potentially this will be something that is built into Android’s next release Jelly Bean. I would love to have a folder on my google drive, where I can save my progress from Angry Birds Space and be able to play it on my laptop, Xoom Tablet, or my phone. That would be amazing!

What I am looking forward to:

You can edit or sync the docs to your pc / mac

One interface for all my docs.
Being able to share anything with anyone easily
Having my content in one place.
Being able to directly collaborate on documents directly from my laptop.
Being able to search anything within the device, including images.

For a great overview about what Google Drive will be able to do, check out the youtube video below:

Visit the Google drive page to be notified when its ready to be rolled out to your account.

Google Drive on your tablet

Related posts:

1. Google Drive.. in bound
2. Google Tv #Hackathon at Google Campus
3. Android devs see red at Google maps tax

Developers from all over Europe have come to the new Google Campus in techcity, to get their heads around Google’s new TV platform.

If you are wondering about what Google Tv will be able to do later in the year in the UK. Head on over to the Google TV home page:

Developers: If you want to create the next Angry Birds ( or facebook) for Google TV- then head over to the Google TV Publishers page to get started.

The Hackathon

The morning started with an open introductory keynote, from Google Campus, Londroid and several webservice providers including LoveFilm.com.  The discussions concluded with a group brainstorming exercise where the group was encouraged to share some ideas.  Finally developers were let loose on the Google Tv developer devices which have been stationed around the campus.

We are all looking forward to see what the teams will come up with at the end of the hackathon, when the final apps are presented tomorrow. Thanks to efforts of sponsor ( and android developers) Novoda and Londroid- for organising!

Google Campus

Google’s new Campus building the perfect setting on this Saturday morning for the event. What could be better than an open source building, to build on an open source platform?
Google have designed campus from the ground up to embody its open source ethos. They have taken out a lease on a building in tech city and refurbished it and made it the perfect launchpad for the next Facebook ( or Google!).  Already at about 90% capacity, startups from all over Europe have flocked to take advantage of the networking opportunities and services
Some of the services on offer include:

• Blisteringly fast internet connection
• Co-working space and desks that can be rented by month.
• A great coffee shop!
• One of the best education libraries I have seen.
• Meeting Spaces.

To find out more information – head over to their page: Google Campus

Google TV

Google TV is the up and coming platform for google that is set to revolutionise the way that you watch interact with your tv.  Look out for my handson demo of Google Tv coming soon.  In the mean time- you can check out the introduction to Google TV here:

If you are wondering about what Google Tv will be able to do later in the year in the UK. Head on over to the Google TV home page:

Developers: If you want to create the next Angry Birds ( or facebook) for Google TV- then head over to the Google TV Publishers page to get started.

Related posts:

1. RNIB: Hackathon Apis
2. Isobar O2 #CreateLondon Hackathon Day 1
3. Android devs see red at Google maps tax

Learn, Code, Create and now user grid

The next event is coming up this weekend where ApiGee are going to be launching their brand new UserGrid service in London.  Join other developers, entrepreneurs and designers for April Fool’s Sunday hackathon to bring your next best app idea to life in a day. Create or join a team or code solo. API teams will be there for technical guidance, brainstorming and feedback. Learn something new, network and win prizes, Free food and beverages will be served.

Here’s the place to register: http://apihackathonlondon.eventbrite.com/

Here’s how the describe it..

Usergrid is an open source cloud platform for mobile applications, providing user management and social graphs, database services, activity streams, and analytics. We’ll be letting anyone who has signed up for the hackathon into the private beta and we’ll be on-site at the hackathon to answer any questions or help you integrate Usergrid with your app.

High Street Hackathon

Have you ever wanted to find a way to hack the high street- well nows your chance. The Spring Hackathon will be happening on 27 April where 6 small and medium size companies are going to be coming in and challenging teams to build something to revolutionise the high street ( again in 48 hours)

Visit: http://hackathoncentral.com/register/

Why go to a Hackathon?

The reason that I attend them is they are a really great way to have a lot of fun, meet new people, discover some amazing app ideas, have a laugh and also learn and create with lots of different technologies and platforms.

The good news is that there are a tonne of really great android apps ( and on other platforms too) coming out as a result of these events and I can’t wait to share what they have created with you.

Related posts:

1. RNIB: Hackathon Apis
2. Isobar O2 #CreateLondon Hackathon Day 1
3. Instagr.am coming to Android

The real magic happens when you add it to your tech’ed up mobile phone and thus connection to your apps, and internet connectivity. Some of the ideas talked about are going completely change the way that people, buy, shop, advertise, discover and connect with each other.

Some of the top experts in NFC  are in the room, from companies like Google, Isobar, Kovio,  o2, Proxama and Blackberry. We also have entrants from all over europe, who have come in just participate in the event and win some of the stunning prizes.

Day 1 Roundup

Most of the first half of the day was taken up by lightning talks from experts to try and help them teams resolve their ideas into something that was commercial and innovative. The standout talks by Google and Proxama illustrating how NFC is already being used by companies like Nike, LG and even Lexus were mind expanding. I really loved the idea about how in Taiwan it is already being used for Taxi bookings, illustrate how juicy the technology is and ripe for adoption.

The Event

The hackathon is being hosted in Shoreditch Studios in London and I have been pleasantly surprised by how well its been organised, clearly a lot of thought and effort has gone into it. From having ample food available the whole time, with treats every few hours. So far we have had our own Ice cream cart parked outside, which gave us a great opportunity to chill out on the o2 deck chairs outside and take a break from coding.
Last night when energy was starting to flag, we were treated to our own private pick and mix sweet trolley that would make old Woolworths blush. Not forgetting the Hoolahooping, with Radiohead and Galaxy tablets as prizes for the well earned winners.

Some of the Ideas

Here is a list of a small selection of the ideas that I thought you might be interested in:
Personalization-LG are using NFC in car to automatically switch phones into car mode and connect to the inbuilt home entertainment system.
Advertising-Already pushed out around London, Clear Channel, Proxama and Isobar have rolled out a network of nfc enabled Bus stops which allow users to find out more about the advert by tapping.
Managing Receipts-In san-francisco, a company has already started piloting electronic receipts via NFC- Love this idea especially as it will be real tree saver.
Loyalty- In Nice, France, the government has partnered with local retailers to build NFC infrastructure for loyalty cards ( aka Carte Magique)
Automated Shopping- Purchase Tickets and NFC handles automated check in to your social networks too.
Sales- Lexus have rolled out the technology in their showrooms in Dubai that let people demo their new car entertainment systems from within the car.

Yes- NFC Bingo is awesome…….. trust me, we are hooked.

Our Team is going to spend the next few hours tidying up our ideas so we are ready for the big presentation at the end of the day.

Thanks to the brilliant efforts of Isobar and o2 we have an amazing event and tools to really explore what NFC can ( and probably will end up doing)

For those of you interested in finding out about future hackathons, join the UK Hackathon and Jams Meetup group

Related posts:

1. Create London #NFC Hack day for mobile
2. Android Workshop Day 1 Start
3. RNIB: Hackathon Apis

BlueVia- Location Based Messaging and SMS
Link: BlueVia Developer Portal

Hashblue- Give o2 users who have opted in to share Sms
Link: Hashblue Developer Portal

Quickblox- Location Based Messaging, chat and rating for Android.
Link: Quickblox Api

Ordinance Survey- Free OS Opendata- Free Location based Data for Commercial and not for Profit.

Link: Ordinance Survey Openspace Developer API

If you have some other really good api’s feel free to tweet @ukandroid, or @RNIB_innovation to share!

Has this sparked off an idea for an accessible app? If it has then Vodafone has a Mobile Accessibility 200,000EUR prize fund, which you can enter by going to the Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility.

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2. Google Tv #Hackathon at Google Campus
3. Isobar O2 #CreateLondon Hackathon Day 1

Even though this is an introduction course, the sheer scale of android means that you have to go at quite a whack to get everything in.

The main things that I picked up is that instead of learning by reading and experiments, you actually learn by doing. As the day has gone by I have become quicker and feel much more at home in android code. Its this confidence that is the hardest to get especially when starting a new language.

It’s also a great comfort to have a few other people around doing the same thing so if you do come across a hiccup, ( such as a missed full stop) that breaks your code, it’s easy to get a second pair of eyes to help you.

Its clear from above why paired programming can be so effective.  With more than one eye on the code, the quality is better and mistakes are found 10x quicker.

Big day ahead tomorrow so I am going to head out to the gym for a good workout( or at least a a jacuzzi )

Head over to their site to  find  out more about starting your android journey with Android Workshop 

Related posts:

1. Androidbloke is going to Android Workshop

Myself and 15 other developers, are setting out on a journey that by the end of the next 2 days of intensive training under the guidance of Richard Leggett(check out his blog here) , veteran android developer with a lot of apps under his belt.

The group is made up of developers from a variety of backgrounds. Some developers are moving from Java, IOS backgrounds (yeah!) , however the majority are Flash Developers and Web developers moving across to android.

So we have all got our Eclipse’s Engaged and we are all ADT’d up and are ready to roll!

Android workshop is going to be running some more courses for beginners and more advanced android developers- make sure you sign up to their mailing list to find out about future course

Related posts:

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2. Isobar O2 #CreateLondon Hackathon Day 1
3. Create London #NFC Hack day for mobile

I am always keen to support initiatives and training schemes that help build Android’s development community.  The more people that know about Android development, the better the quality of products.  I get quite a few intros from various training companies, however Android workshop stuck out for 3 main reasons.

1. It has a great instructor who has worked on apps such as the awesome “Jamie Oliver’s Meals
2. It is based in the centre of London’s Tech City at the Tech Hub
3. You don’t have to be on a corporate spending account to do it, as its currently £375 for two days training.

The course is primarily aimed at those that have done another programming language before such as Java/ PHP/ Flash/ IOS.  I am already getting prepped and have whipped out a copy of java for Dummies, just to make sure I am able to make the best of the 2 days.

For those of you going, looking forward to seeing you at techhub on the 24th and 25th! For those of you looking to register, there are only a few spaces left as the guys at AW want to keep things small.  You can get your ticket from their eventbrite page:

Here is a link to the Android workshop main page

Related posts:

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Google announced yesterday that they were seeking to introduce charges for developers whose apps use more than 25,000 hits a day on the Google maps api.  These charges will be phased in starting from January, where developers will start to receive their first invoices from El Goog.  In return Google Maps will offer increased features for Enterprise and a service level agreeement under their “Google Maps Premier” service. 

Google defended the decision by saying that it only affected 0.35% of users.  I think this figure is quite misleading given that every website, blog which uses a store finder needs to sign up for a google api key.   Therefore a high percentage of those “heavy users” will in fact be Android and Iphone app developers who were encouraged by google to create location based services. 

Dubbed the “Map Tax”, developers are up in arms, not just about the charges but at how little time they have been given to make changes to their app.  One developer I spoke to said that since his app was free, he would have to introduce charges and that would definitely get him below the charging threshold. 

What seems more likely is that developers will look to use alternative services such as Nokia’s newly launched Maps service( partnered with Microsoft) which works across multiple platforms including Android and IOS.

relook at the level of hits required before charges hit, potentially pushing it up to 50,000, as those developers are far more likely to keep using the service. 

It seams to be a crazy mixed up world where Nokia and Microsoft are being chosen as a safe haven for developers to escape being charged by Google.  Whatever next?

I hope that Google, will seriously

Here is the source to the announcement

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We’re all used to the iPhone, with its industrial design of glass and brushed metal and the Xperia Arc could be described as the same. It’s a black on aluminium offering, though its arc shape and wide screen display make it different enough to give it its own identity.

Screen wise, the iPhone and the Arc share little in common. The iPhones excellent 3.5in screen and retina display is beautiful and is untouched for close up text and zooming in. The Xperia has it beat with a 4.2in LED screen with Bravia imaging technology that displays colours beautifully. The fact the Arc’s screen is so close to the glass, really gives the colours a sense of vivacity on screen. Its wide screen size also is great for watching films on.

1GHz of single core processing power powers the engines of these machines. They both cope really well with the general day to day tasks and media playback despite being slightly slower than some of the current offerings from other manufacturers.

However as far as operating systems are concerned both machines use latest releases of their current systems. The Arc uses the latest Android 2.3.3 with some amazing Sony inspired tweaks( including Facebook inside- more on that in another post) , making it a fast and responsive piece of technology. Apple’s iPhone 4’s iOS operating system is still one of the best and really is as attractive and intuitive as there is still.

Sony steams ahead in the camera spec, with a glorious 8.1mp flasher that even makes the most of bad light with its impressive Exmor R sensor. It outshines the 5mp camera of the iPhone and even will put many regular cameras to shame with its inclusion of cutting edge features including smile detectiona and auto scene selection. By the time the iPhone 5/4S sees release later in the year it will hopefully be sporting the new Android Ice Cream Sandwich update- however little things like having an accelerometer and front facing camera would have been some great touches to add.

The Apple is a thicker more solid device, as anyone who ever held one will tell you, it feels like quality. The Xperia design goes for light in the hand and sleek for the pocket/ handbag-it just oozes class and sophistication.  Although I personally wouldn’t have you holding much hope of its survival if it thrown onto a concrete surface- probably not a phone that would be at home on a construction site!

The Xperia Arc is one of the latest Android phones to give the iPhone 4 a run for its money.  Sony have come forward and said that they will keep offering the latest Android release  updates on it for at least the next 18 months.  Like many other Android handsets are already pushing new boundaries including Social media integration, which Sony seems to be leading the pack.

Look out for our full Sony Arc hands on review soon!

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2. Sony goes Large with Xperia S
3. Official: Ice Cream Sandwich for Sony 2011 phones