Android 2.1 Development Notes

The following is the notes I made while getting android 2.1 working on XP with Eclipse.  It wasn’t as easy as to get up and going as it should be, but the following instructions fix the only hard part — the installer doesn’t create necessary directories.

Dev Environment: Using Eclipse on Windows

Steps:

0. Download and Install SDK
1. Install ADT (Android Development Toolkit)

Didn’t work, I had no targets.

When running android.bat

I got the following:

Starting Android SDK and AVD Manager
Error: Error parsing the sdk

3. I manually created the directories: platform & add-ons in the android directory.  So the android directory now looks like

android-sdk-windows\tools
android-sdk-windows\platforms
android-sdk-windows\add-ons

This allowed android to run launching the Android SDK and AVD Manager, which then gives the error:

Failed to fetch URL https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/repository.xml, reason: dl-ssl.google.com

4. I had to go to the settings section and click Force https:// to be fetched using http://

5. I was then able to see the available packages and selected SKD Platform 2.1 API 7 rev1, Google APIs by Google Inc App7 rev1, and USB driver package rev3

6. I was then able to create a new virtual device (AVD).

7. In Eclipse, I created a new Android Project, and then proceeded to try the Hello World Tutorial

Everything worked fine and I was able to create my application

Overall, I like the design of Android — I still have to do some work with it but, I like the overall concept.

“Fear the Boom and Bust” a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem

This is a great little rap of hayek schoolin keynes on the business cycle.

Hayek kicken ass! Set the Market Free!

Hayek Triangle

Here is a link to Robert Garrison’s presentation (powerpoint) on the Austrian Trade Cycle:

http://www.auburn.edu/~garriro/cbm.ppt

It explains Hayek’s theory of the business cycle and how low interest rates cause boom/bust cycles.

Locked my bike to a Jersey barrier

What do you do when the bike racks are full?

Bike Attached to Barrier

Pipetastic

Yesterday, I went with Andrew Gagne and Dan Matysiak to
Leavitt & Peirce to buy a pipe.

Mission Accomplished!

Piping it up in the yard

The rest of the pictures can be found here: Piping it up in the yard

Sleep No More is a Marvelous Fantastical Production

Sleep No More (Vinicius Salles)

In a previous post, I mentioned that there was a play Sleep No More that I was very interested in seeing. I have since been able to attend, and my quick review is that it is amazing, and I’d highly recommend that everyone should try to see it. I definitely plan on partaking again, and maybe even a third time. I hope to do a more detailed writeup in the future, with many more details and spoilers, but first I’ll need to see it again.

Here’s a quick writeup:

Sleep No More by punchdrunk re-imagines both Macbeth and what it means to experience a play. The play runs from 7pm to 10pm, and concludes with a night club for the audience to lounge and compare stories. Sleep No More, is different from most plays in three very important ways. First, instead of taking place on a stage the punchdrunk have taken over an entire building recreating it into Macbeth’s Castle. Which leads to the second major difference, the audience is allowed to wander throughout the installation, exploring various rooms while the action plays out. You can follow characters around, stay in one location, or mix and match; this leads each individuals experience being strikingly different. The third major difference is that the play actually repeats itself three times, though the final iteration, I believe, has a few small changes. The Actors and Actresses do an amazing job in what has to be an extremely challenging environment.

A significant portion of the experience is exploration and confusion one must confront as audience member. To truly experience this play you must make decisions, and decide if you want to chase a character as they run down a hall or whom to follow. I won’t ruin any of the surprises, because discovering them and being surprised by them is the purpose of the play. With that in mind, I will make a few recommendations that can maximize one’s enjoyment of the play.

To best enjoy this Sleep No More, a thorough knowledge of Macbeth is essential. If one doesn’t wish to read the play, they can review an outline/summarization at SparkNotes. It is key to know the plot and characters as that background will greatly enhance the story, and help situate the activity of the characters as you follow them around. Once the story is understood, I’d recommend watching Polanski’s Macbeth as it is a great rendition and it will help to reinforce your prior knowledge.

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Once the necessary preparation has been completed, you are ready to see the play. If you’re open to seeing it multiple times, then I recommend that you explore on your own and ignore the following advice — the sense of exploration and discovery is worth it.  Whereas if this will be your only viewing, I have a few suggestions to help guide your behavior so that you’ll be sure to see some of the important scenes. Remember that you’ll invariably miss something, the play only repeats three times, and there is a lot more going on than you can see it that short amount of time.  The best piece of advice I can give is to start as soon as possible by following a major character: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, King Duncan, or one of the Withces. Try your best to follow them for the full hour. During the second hour explore, and follow various characters around. In the third hour, once again follow a main character around — make sure they’re a different one than you did the first hour. You can, of course, switch who you’re followig, but to see the most interesting parts I’d recommend only switching between the main characters. There are other character scattered about whom you can interract with, but there are some amazing scenes are on the main storyline, and you do not want to miss them. I’d also recommed buying a glass of punch in the opening room as it’s very tasty, but – be warned – they will want you to drink it while in there, before the play starts.

There are few aspects of the play that I think warrant special recognition. Throughout the play, the audience are instructed to wear white masks. This serves a few purposes, first it allows one to clearly identify who the actors are, and second it greatly enhances the experience of the play. Instead of looking around and seeing fellow audience members standing around, one sees erry looking people wearing masks. This would be greatly enhanced if they also had the audience wear cloaks so that they all look  the same. I also like how the actors interact with the audience. These interactions make for a memorable experience. I also think one interesting idea that they don’t seem to play with, would be to have plants in the audience, that perform key interactions in the play that is having actors wearing masks like the audience every now and then.

To conclude, I really enjoyed this play and I hope that their are more plays that are created in this style. I think that this form of play would work in the heist genre,  e.g.  The Great Train Robbery, where multiple actors are all acting in parrallell and come together for a few key scense.

Superstar Lock Picker Schuyler Towne!

There’s an excellent video included in the article.

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=54836&PageMem=1

“Schuyler Towne is like McGuyver with a Mohawk”
R0x0R

Looking forward to Sleep No More

I ran across a recent article on boston.com: http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2009/10/04/sleep_no_more_allows_audience_members_to_pick_their_own_show/?page=full which describes a play that I’m really looking forward to seeing. Unfortunately the article is quite long winded, I’ve extracted the 3 most important paragraphs that describe the play below. If you want to buy tickets, here’s the link: http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org/events/show/sleep-no-more

Description:

The folks from Punchdrunk boil it down to “Macbeth’’ meets Hitchcock. With all that meeting going on, it’s hard to put a tidy label on these proceedings, but it’s safe to say that “Sleep No More’’ will be a new kind of experience for most theatergoers.

…

This is a show you move through. The creators of “Sleep No More’’ – Punchdrunk artistic director Felix Barrett, co-director/choreographer Maxine Doyle, and executive director Colin Marsh – have transformed the Old Lincoln School in Brookline into a sprawling, labyrinthine set that audience members roam. You choose where to go and when. Perhaps you’ll follow a shadowy form that rushes past you on the stairs to the basement, or the sound of a party on the floor above. You might decide to trail one performer for an hour, or set off to find the three witches you glimpsed earlier. Take one whiff of the spoiled food in the Macduffs’ dining room, and you may run the other way. Go ahead and open the cupboards. Rifle through drawers. Find yourself completely alone in a room with an actor whispering in your ear.

…

For all the freedom enjoyed by the audience, “Sleep No More’’ unfolds within a phenomenally complex structural framework and is 100 percent choreographed, down to where each performer is at a given moment in time, who he or she will meet and where, and how long a particular situation (Punchdrunk’s word for scene) will last. The plot unfolds in around an hour, but the evening lasts for three, meaning situations are repeated and audience members have a chance to encounter all the action.

JChris’s Presentation on CouchDB

I’ve been using CouchDB for close to a year now, but I took some notes for those not familiar with it.

Link to the slides: http://www.slideshare.net/jchrisa/couchdb-local-web-platform

Some Notes:

1. CouchDB is a Local Web Platform – run the application close to the user achieved through replication.
2. Offline By Default
3. http://jacobian.org/writing/of-the-web/
4. • One of the apps referenced: http://c.ixxr.net/swinger/_design/swinger/index.html#/
   • And  a neat presentation on Sammy.js:  http://c.ixxr.net/swinger/_design/swinger/index.html#/preso/jqcon_09/display/1

Amazing Avalanche Video

Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.

There is an excellent writeup in the description section of the video: http://vimeo.com/6581009

Even though I knew the ending due to the video’s title I still found this video to be extremely suspenseful and intense.

Lego WeDo & Scratch

So as part of MAS.714 we were tasked with building a project using the Lego WeDo and Scratch.  Overall the class projects were pretty great.  There were alot of interesting uses of the sensors to create new controls (input devices) that were usted tell interactive stories, integrating the physical and the digital.  One group built a little lego segway which was pretty cool.

Our project — Team Awesome, Marie No & Danny Gagne, used Lego’s to physically represent the game’s state.  I use the term game loosely as you cannot lose.  In this piece of interactive fiction King Duck must defend his crown against you, the Fatman Protagonist (No relation to Hiro Protagonist).  It starts off innocently enough as king duck is chilling on a rock contemplating his awesomeness and declaring his title to all who will listen.  When all of a sudden, Fatman Protagonist challenges King Duck’s rule and they’re off to the scales to see who can rule the kingdom.  Luckily, Fatman has a stash of bananas that he can weigh down King Duck,   and by clicking on the bananas the user can feed the Duck.  Once Fatman wins the scale-off, he becomes the true and rightful ruler of the land.

King Duck vs. Fatman Protagonist from danny on Vimeo.

The scratch project can be found here: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/madhaxor/687936

Script

Characters: King Duck (KD), Fatman Protaganist (FP)

KD: I am the KING!!!
FP: No, I am the king.
FP: I’m the greatest character in the game.
KD: No way!!!
KD: You’re too fat to rule this kingdom!
FP: TO THE SCALES!

Scene Change — TO THE MOON!

Interactive:

FP: <throws banana> hits KD
KD: No!!! You want to make me fat now?

FP: <throws banana> hits KD
KD: TOO DELICIOUS!!!

FP: <throws banana> hits KD
KD: YOU BASTARD!

FP: <throws banana> hits KD
KD: You haven’t seen the last of me, fat man!

FP: The Day is MINE!!

Team Awesome!