Decide 4 Me - LITE update released!

I've released an update to my Decide 4 Me - LITE app today, and coming with it is a complete overhaul to the look and feel of the app.

I've changed it to behave like the full version of Decide 4 Me.  Now instead of the small buttons and limited functionality, there is a lot more built into the LITE version.  There is now a scenario picker view where you can see all of the available options in the LITE version, and some of the included ones in the upcoming full version.  I also added a KENO MODE which can randomly choose up to ten unique numbers for you to play Keno with!

The rest will have to wait for the full version which is nearly completed.  I've got a couple really big surprises in store for it, so keep checking back for updates!!

Decide 4 Me is coming along nicely!

I've been working hard at designing the full version of my Decide 4 Me app for the Android platform.  As I am including tons more functionality, it has forced me to do a complete overhaul and redesign of my code, which is a good thing.  Not that my existing code in Decide 4 Me - LITE was bad, it was just too simple to support the features I want to include in the full version.

I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag just yet, but it's going to be a really cool app, one with more features and more advanced than any of the competitor apps out in the market.  This app will literally be able to make any decision for you that you could possibly imagine with the sheer number of decision scenarios it contains.  Since it will be a paid app, albeit very inexpensive, I want to give the user a huge amount of value for their money.

I am so excited about this, I can barely contain it!

In order to get the word out about the full app when it is released, I will also be overhauling the Decide 4 Me - LITE app to have the same functionality, however the number of scenarios will still be limited.  Trust me, this app is going to be worth every penny!

-Nathan

Decide 4 Me - LITE Released!

I've finally published my first Google Android application!

It's called Decide 4 Me - LITE, and it is perfect for those times when you can't decide what to do!  My lite version is supported by ads using AdMob, and the price is free.  The lite version has options for HEADS/TAILS, and A/B/C/D.

I'm releasing a paid ad-free version very soon that will have many more options and new features.  If you have any suggestions for the full version, please feel free to send them my way!  More heads are better than one ;)

I'm an independent developer, so your support means the world to me!!  Check the link below for its listing on Androlib.com.  It has screenshots and a QR code to go to the market directly.  I've also included that on this post, so if you're really interested, I've taken the work out of finding it for you :)

Thanks for using it!

-Nathan

http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-kmartburrito-decide4melite-wmAj.aspx

Vacation in Colorado!

I'm sitting here in the kitchen of our family's Condo in Winter Park, Colorado. It's nearly 1AM, and like usual, I've outlasted all others and am the last one awake. I can't believe how beautiful this place is. It's breathtaking to me to walk out and see the mountains all around me. Honestly, I wish that I could be here and see them every day. I really hope that someday (sooner than later) I can move out here and call this place my home. There's just something about it that I can't put my finger on, it's just pulling me out here more every day.

Unfortunately, the Winter Park resort hasn't gotten much snow lately, so there's about 30% of the park open, which kinda sucks, but it is what it is. I suppose you can't make the snow fall. The good thing is that we're coming back out in February, so I think I might go to the mountain and snowboard one day this trip, and save my four day pass for when we come back out for the three days.

In any case, I'm just glad to be here and be away from work and the stresses of everyday life. Being a grown up really isn't that much fun :/

Other than that, I'm going to really enjoy this week here, and it's not too bad that Christmas is on Friday either! I love this time of year, although it seems like there's a lot going on and it can be a little overwhelming at times.

Enough for now, I'm going to finish what I'm doing and hit the hay!

My mind is completely blown by this. We're REALLY small.

I've been watching Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" special lately, and I must say that while I thought there were lots of stars(suns) out there, I had no idea the magnitude of what I was about to learn.

We live on the outskirts of one of the Milky Way galaxy's spiral arms. The Milky Way galaxy alone has about 400 BILLION other suns. All could have planets, some might be like ours.

To blow my mind even further, with the update of the Hubble Space Telescope's latest camera, it has spotted THREE THOUSAND other VISIBLE galaxies. If each of those galaxies had about the same amount of suns,that equals out to be 1.2 QUADRILLION suns. That's just how many are VISIBLE to a camera. Estimates are that there are up to 500 billion other galaxies. How many suns is that? 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, or 200 sextillion SUNS.

Damn we're small.

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/021127a.html

http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/galaxies/how-many-galaxies-in-the-universe/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos:_A_Personal_Voyage

Scientists have discovered a new massive ring around Saturn

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/10/07/space.saturn.ring/

Scientists at NASA have discovered a new ring around Saturn. This ring is thought to be composed of ice crystals and fine dust particles, so it's not immediately visible to the naked eye. It does, however, radiate some heat, and one of NASA's telescopes picked up the heat signature and created this photo of it. As you can see, Saturn is in the middle of the photo, and this ring is friggin HUGE!

They say it would take a billion Earths to fill this ring. How's that for feeling small?? :)

On a related note, I just learned recently about Carl Sagan, and have started watching his 13 part TV special called "The Cosmos." He was incredibly intelligent, and his words just ring true. It's amazing to me that his story has had to be modified very little since that first broadcast in 1980. He truly had a great grasp for what's out there. How inspiring and at the same time humbling.

One thing I learned from him is that every star you see at night, every twinkling light in the sky, is a Sun not that much unlike ours. It may dwarf our Sun in size, or be hundreds of times bigger, but it's a sun in its own group of planets. There's billions of them. Wow.

Google Android OS to take the number #2 mobileOS spot by 2012

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/print/9139026/Android_to_grab_No._2_spot_by_2012_says_Gartner?taxonomyName=Mobile+Devices&taxonomyId=75

This just in, people are starting to agree with my prediction it seems.

Computerworld.com has released an article today saying that the mobile Google Android OS that is just starting to make appearances on other cell providers besides T-Mobile will be the #2 OS in the world by 2012. Guess who #1 is? It's not Apple, but rather Symbian OS, which is used on Nokia phones, popular overseas more so than in the US.

Why is this? It's partly because the OS is open source, it's partly because it's backed by Google, it's in part due to the fact that the Android OS runs on a multitude of cell phones and other devices made by different manufacturers. However, mostly, it's due to the fact that the OS is so heavily integrated with Google's "cloud" computing apps that it is releasing and will continue to release over the next few years, such as the upcoming collaborative team based working tool, Google Wave.

It's projected that there will be 40 devices released next year that will run Google Android. There will still be only one iPhone.

As I said before, some big changes are coming!