Vyrotek|Bridging the gap between code and wealth

So if you haven’t heard, the deadline to turn in your Android app has changed to April 14th instead of March 3rd. This is great news! Im not quite sure why Google decided to bump it back but it gives more people time to submit worthwhile apps. Perhaps they are planning on releasing some new additions to the API that they want exposed to developers before the due date… who knows.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I am actively working with the Android SDK along with some friends to create a submission to hopefully win some cash. I originally started working on one idea with some friends but most of us just got too busy and things just werent progressing fast enough. We also wasted a lot of time talking about different ideas and what to go for. This same thing has happened in the past many times though. We usually come up with an awesome idea, but then no one really takes charge and the idea and any progress dies. You’d think that you could get away without having some kind of CEO figure when you’re all good friends working towards the same goal. But, even between friends it seems you still need to apply the same principles that exist in the workplace. People get distracted, people have different opinions and ideas and without someone with a schedule and a vision nothing really gets done. Thats why its so easy to just work on stuff by yourself. Meetings are easy to arrange and your opinion is always right ;) . Even with this early fallout I was still determined to develop something new for the Android competition.

What am I working on now? Well, an Android app of course. I actually just started working on something by myself once things got too quiet with the other idea. I played with the SDK and learned a little bit of everything that I would need to get something basic working. First I went and learned how to make a REST service using .Net and WCF. I went with REST because I learned online that parsing SOAP wasnt not an ideal thing to do on a mobile phone to be doing. If youve ever used any sort of public webservice from Yahoo or Google youll notice that almost everything is in REST too. So, I wrote a whole datalayer wrapped in a service and created a small proof of concept for an idea I’ve had for some time now. I had my idea written down on a couple of Google Docs to get all my thoughts and questions down somewhere so I wouldnt forget anything. I ended up sharing this with some friends and ended up with their support.

So now we’re going for it. We’re going to try and create the next big thing. One friend mentioned to me that the new mobile frontier is our chance at making it big. We were too young to be able to do anything when the internet first came out, but the mobile net is just waiting to boom. Hopefully we’ll get our project done on time and if we’re lucky we could make off with a great prize and HUGE opportunity to be part of something big.

I’ll share details about the actual idea soon :)

If you haven’t heard already, Google wants to give me lots and lots of money! Why you ask? I’ll tell you!

Many people thought Google was secretly developing a ‘GPhone’ that was going to rock the cell phone market. Well, it turns out that they weren’t doing that at all. Instead, Google joined the Open Handset Alliance and just came out with their own Smart Phone OS called Android! And more specifically, Google wants to give away lots of money to Android developers in the form of a competition. This is how it works:

In the Android Developer Challenge I, the 50 most promising entries received by March 3 will each receive a $25,000 award to fund further development. Those selected will then be eligible for even greater recognition via ten $275,000 awards and ten $100,000 awards.

I have been playing with the OS all this week and I must say that it is very easy to work with. Sadly, it’s in Java and the only phone emulator plugin is for Eclipse. But, other than that it was pretty simple to get a basic ‘Hello Android’ app up and running. They have all sorts of simple API’s to get images from the phone camera and even an API to get the phone unit’s current GPS location. Google is looking for many different kinds of applications ranging from Social Networking (ugh) to Games to Humanitarian benefits. A group of us have come up with an idea already and it will rock all the other entries… that’s assuming we actually find time to make it. Yay for free money!