Glitch Tech

Checkbook HD v1.0.7

2012-03-05T10:54:00.001-06:00

Checkbook HD is now at v1.0.7. This is the first time I have felt comfortable enough with the app to give it the version of at least 1.

In version 1.0.7, there are three new systems: Budgeting, Searching, and Split Transactions. These systems are what they sound like. The budget system allows one to create and track spending based on categories. Searching allows one to search by text strings, date ranges, accounts, transaction status, etc. Split transactions allows one to assign multiple categories to a single transaction.

Also in v1.0.7 is a fix to a major issue that has been plaguing Checkbook since the webOS update to 3.0.5. The fix should take care of the majority of the long loading issues. I've also implemented a fix into the Import/Export systems that should take care of some issues they were having.

MakerBot Replicator

2012-02-19T11:15:00.000-06:00

Just bought a MakerbBot Replicator. I am very excited to say the least. Odds are I'm going to burn though the initially provided 2kg of abs plastic with a week or two of arrival. It'll be pretty fun (and frustrating I'm sure) to build new parts for my robotics work and costume bits. I know one of the first costume parts I'm building is going to be for Mass Effect 3 costumes, the M-5 Phalanx. More to come when the 3d printer arrives.

EnyoJS Released

2012-01-25T15:20:00.001-06:00

Today HP released Enyo as open source. They also announced Enyo 2, which will increase its cross platform and browser compatibility (along with many more great changes). That makes today a great day. With this release, I can code once and deploy a web app to webOS, Android, iOS, and other WebKit enabled browsers with ease.

With Enyo 2, I'll be able to write it once and deploy it on all those systems and on any web browser with modern web runtime. Enyo 2 currently does not have UI elements built in but that is planned for a March 2012. With that release, it'll be fun to see what I can convert at work to use this new and awesome framework.

I'm not the best at reporting all that is going on, so I direct you to enyojs.com. That is where the framework now exists (and on github, that is linked from the enyojs homepage).

webOS - Open Source

2011-12-09T13:02:00.001-06:00

So webOS, my favorite mobile os, is becoming open source. Good. I am eager (and slightly fearful) of what is to come now.

The bad is all the unknowns of a big company open sourcing a product they don't seem to care for at times. Will HP only opensource it and then forget it or will the entire ecosystem flourish under this license? Will the software die without a dedicated hardware platform?

The good news is it'll be easier for me to write my apps for multiple OSes and for the web in general. So eventually Checkbook (and whatever other apps I decide to build/open up) will be available in all sorts of places and on many operating systems. So Android people, when HP opens enyo up, prepare for a big change in your Checkbook app.

http://www.precentral.net/hp-open-source-webos-no-hardware-plans-or-partners-announced
http://www.precentral.net/open-source-plan

Website Redesign

2011-06-09T23:34:00.003-05:00

I recently redesigned the GlitchTech Science website. While I did not add much design related content, I did update several chunks of code that control it. The site now uses jQuery UI in several areas. ~~The most visible items are the left side navigation (I still need to tweak it more) and~~ The home page blog view.

I'm not fully happy with the navigation system on the site yet. It is functional and I do like it better than the previous system. For those who didn't see it, the previous system was a top bar with mouse-over drop downs. It was easy to move your mouse outside of the drop down element and loose the stack. Not the best way to do things. Now the sidebar relies on mouse clicks on the arrow buttons. Clicking one opens a section; clicking again closes it. Clicking the title of the section has inconsistent behavior. If it is a link, it will take you to that webpage. If it isn't, it doesn't do anything. For now, that is disabled as it really sucked to use. In a future revision I need to make it a more consistent interaction. I'd also like to make it so a section will open up automatically if it contains a link to the current page.

The blog view uses the RSS feed from my Blogger account to render the content. It uses MagpieRSS to parse the XML content. The content is then formatted and placed in a jQuery UI Accordion system. This allows me to have three of the most recent posts rendered with all the content present and then have a list of links to past posts in a fourth divider.

Besides those visible changes, I also changed a few areas of the PHP code running things. I'm most happy with my changes to the navigation code. Before it was a jumble of links manually typed out. Now it is a recursive list generator based on the array passed in. The array can be nested as deep as needed, too deep of a nesting makes for a horrible list to navigate. If you would like the code, it is available at http://glitchtechscience.com/code_samples/arrayToList.php.txt.

GlitchTech Checkbook - Finance Management Application for Android Devices

2011-06-02T21:06:00.000-05:00

GlitchTech Checkbook, a financial management application, allows you to efficiently track your finances on your Android-enabled device. Checkbook allows you to create many different accounts, and each account can hold thousands of transactions. Track incomes, expenses, and transfers between accounts with ease, and back up your data with Google Spreadsheets. Checkbook is currently in development, with new features added often.

To get GlitchTech Checkbook, choose a method below:

Download 'GlitchTech Checkbook' from the Android Marketplace
Scan the image below with a QR Code reader

GlitchTech Checkbook
QR Code

Analog Line Follower + Custom PCB [Part 1]

2011-04-22T22:02:00.002-05:00

For the final project in my analog electronics course, the assignment was to make an analog circuit. This circuit had to have at least three transistors or op-amps and do something. Some groups are making amps for their guitar, others are build analog computers. I decided to rebuild one of my first robots in analog form.

Originally this bot used an ATMega8 to follow a line on the ground. It used a couple photo-resistors and LEDs to determine if it was on the line. The Thing worked pretty well, but had some trouble on low contrast surfaces.

In its analog rebirth, I am using only transistors to make the same logic decision as before. I'm also only using a single photo-transistor to follow the line instead of several photo-resistors. This version of The Thing will use a home made PCB instead of a tangle of wires soldered directly to the pins.

I started off by using other analog robots as resources to figure out what sort of design I needed. After a lot of digging and some testing I eventually ended up with a schematic and parts list in Eagle CAD (awesome circuit design program). Using Eagle awesomeness, I turned it into a single layer PCB design.

Board schematic [Eagle CAD]

Board design file [Eagle CAD]

I decided to make my own PCB instead of using a breadboard. The process of actually making my own board would give me brownie points, if not actual points, on my final project.

I thought about ordering a short run but the production and shipping times for sites like BatchPCB would put delivery after the project was due. The cost of doing a short run elsewhere was too high for me to consider as well. So I went with etching my own at home.

My first search brought me to the Society of Robots website and a guide there on making a PCB. It listed all of the steps but was very vague on some of the materials or curing periods. I ended up following a guide posted by the Cal Poly Robotics Club. To my surprise, Radio Shack still carries etchant solution and copper clad boards. The etchant is actually a ferric chloride (MSDS). I picked up a bottle and a board and started to work that night.

Using a laser printer available on campus, I printed out my design onto some glossy paper and ironed it onto the cleaned and scrubbed board. After a lot of soaking and scrubbing and more soaking, I got most of the paper off. Next time I need to use lower quality paper, it did not want to break down/dissolve/act wet even after an hour submerged and scrubbed. About 95% of the ink traces were intact. I fixed those that weren't with some permanent marker.

Inked copper clad board

The etching process went much quicker. I poured about 1/4 to 1/2 in of etchant into a plastic container and microwaved it for 30ish seconds (outside of course, I don't know what the heated chemical odors could do to me and I would rather not experience them first hand). I tossed in the board and kept the liquid moving the whole time. Every so often I would take the board out and gently wipe it off with a paper towel. This helped speed up the process greatly. After 20 to 25 minutes, the board was done. I washed it off with soapy water to make sure the etchant was gone. Then I washed the board with acetone to get rid of all the ink.

Etched and cleaned board

A few basic tests with a multimeter showed that all the traces were good. Nothing connected where it shouldn't have either. Not bad for my first try. The next step is to drill out the holes and solder in the components. Sadly, I forgot to purchase a bit small enough to work. The smallest I have is 1/16in and I need something closer to 1/32in bit for the through hole components.

I'll be checking Ace for a tiny drill bit tomorrow. I'm bringing along a few components to make sure the sizing is correct.

Franken-Pre

2011-03-11T16:55:00.001-06:00

I totally want to make a Franken-Pre since I now have a Pre 2 and a Pre- (original pre). A Franken-Pre is the Pre 2 (currently GSM) with the required hardware from the Pre- to run on Sprint's network (CDMA).

It would involve opening both phones, swapping a board, and then installing custom software to function. And I would have to install a new variant of the software when ever webOS is upgraded because I would not be in the regular update palm.

You know, this would be a lot easier if Sprint didn't suck and not have any newer webOS phones than the Pre- and Pixi-.

For those interested in the process, here are the guides.

Hardware Guide: http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/Sprint_Pre_2
Software Guide: http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/WebOS_2_Upgrade

Towers of Midnight

2010-12-29T00:15:00.000-06:00

Just finished Towers of Midnight, the 13th book in the Wheel of Time series. It is also the second the last. Everything is finally falling into place and the Last Battle is here. Won't say more because I always say too much. Hopefully it won't be too long before the final book, I've already read the entirety of the Wheel of Time twice in as many years. A third go round next year may be a little too much :)

The Great Line Following Event Details

2010-05-29T07:38:00.000-05:00

Who: Science City in cooperation with the Kansas City Robotics Society

What: World record attempt to have the most robots following the same line at the same time.

When: Saturday, June 12 th 2:00 PM Sharp. Registration will open at Noon. We will close the course no later than 5:00 PM

Where: Union Station- Sprint Festival Plaza (The big room upstairs.) There is no admission fee.

Details:
Show up early to get your robot registered and timed. Robots will be placed on track from fastest to slowest. Track will be a 400+ ft continuous loop of 1 inch wide black gaffers tape placed in the middle of 3 inch wide white gaffers tape. Turns will be in 30 degree steps over no less than a 3 ft radius. There will be at least 6 ft of clearance for larger sized robots. Robots should avoid anything that might damage the stone flooring or peel up the tape, or interfere with the other robots. Please feel free to decorate and characterize your robot. Awards will be given.

This course has been tested to be friendly with many of the popular line following robots, including Lego, Vex, Pololu and others. Experts will be on hand to assist early arrivals needing to debug their robots. This is a great event where we all win together.

See you there!

I'll be there with my hexapod. Hopefully, it'll be walking properly by next weekend and fully ready by the event :)

Checkbook is a Featured App

2010-01-15T09:25:00.000-06:00

Checkbook has become a featured App in the webOS App Catalog. This means when you open the catalog you see Checkbook right at the top of the screen. Hopefully I'll get a bunch of purchases from it. Now I wish I had gotten an update out before now with some on the new features and fixes I am working on. Well back to work, maybe I can finish this off quickly and get the update out asap.

Engaged

2010-01-02T23:13:00.002-06:00

If you want information, go over there ==>

Checkbook for webOS

2009-11-26T21:56:00.000-06:00

A few days ago Checkbook for webOS appeared into the webOS App Catalog. Since then there has been over 700 downloads of the app at $1.99 each. I've had nearly zero bug reports on it (only a few people who didn't understand the interface on it) so I count that as a success so far. I hope it continues to be a useful product to people and more people download it. I still have a few features to add to it before I call it a success though.

The problem I now have is that I have no clue what type of app to work on next. I don't have anything I personally need (which is what drove me to create Checkbook). Anyone have any suggestions of an app you would like to have on your webOS device?

2009-11-20T19:32:00.002-06:00

Just sent an updated version of Checkbook to Palm for review. Hopefully this one passes. Apparently the last one failed due to a bug on their side.

In other news, migraines fracking suck. I'm going to bed.

Work and No Work

2009-11-13T23:03:00.000-06:00

I've technically was just laid off from my job of 3ish years at Interworks. I say technically because they hadn't had work for me for the past month and a half. Good news is I already had a new job at KU as a web developer. The full time guy who assigned me my latest project seemed amazed at what I was doing with it. heh

I was also recently accepted into the Palm App Catalog. Since it is still in beta, I only had to pay 5$ to be in the developer program instead of 99$ for my first year. If I can get my app, Checkbook, pushed out before the catalog leaves beta I can avoid that 50$ fee as well. Checkbook has a Beta version over on PreCentral.net (see link in the last sentence for the app page) as well. If you have a Palm Pre, Palm Pixi (releasing officially on Sunday), or any future webOS device you can try it out. It'll be 1.99$ when it hits the app catalog. That price will only remain until I get it fully out of beta with the primary features I want in it. Then, depending on the user base and demand, the price may go up.

Well I need to get back to work on homework and Checkbook.

2009-11-08T15:20:00.000-06:00

Major goodness for my webOS application, Checkbook. I've managed to remove the majority of the loading time for the transaction page. This doesn't really matter for anyone with little data, but for heavy users with thousands of transactions it can reduce the load time by seconds at least. For example, I had 15 second load time on my primary account before modification. After it, I have a one or two second load time.

webOS Development

2009-11-05T19:13:00.000-06:00

I am currently working on an app for webOS-enabled devices; right now just the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi. The app is called Checkbook and it is what the name sounds like. I just got contacted by Palm earlier this week to be in their app catalog. (Yay!) So now I am flooding my beta testers with version updates to get it ready for a paying customer base.

Halloween

2009-10-30T23:54:00.000-05:00

http://twitpic.com/nmpo7

I carved a pumpkin and now have seeds prepping to be baked. I still have no clue what to dress up as tomorrow though. I have three costumes I could wear, but I'm not sure about any of them.

Experimental Papers

2009-10-26T23:12:00.000-05:00

I am terrible at writing papers. I am even worse at writing a report on physics experiments. It takes me forever to create something understandable. For some strange reason though, I enjoy working on them. I love it when my words finally make sense and explain the concept. Today I am working on a paper about Michelson interferometry. It is a pain to get going, partially because a program I am using to generate graphs of my data is not cooperating, but I like it.

It's a brand new day.

2009-10-21T17:50:00.000-05:00

So a few days ago my video card went wacky. I purchased a new one from NewEgg and got it today. It is installed and functioning quite well. The card I now have uses a GeForce GTX 260. I haven't had a chance to see how it compares to my old one yet, been a bit busy with updating my application for the Palm Pre and other webOS enabled phones.

The app is called Checkbook. Here is the little blurb describing it that was sent into Palm so I hopefully can get into their app catalog.

Checkbook, a financial management application, efficiently tracks finances on your webOS-enabled device. Checkbook allows up to 100 different accounts, and each account can hold thousands of transactions. Track incomes, expenses, and transfers between accounts with ease, and synchronize your data with Google Spreadsheets for free. Checkbook is currently in development, with new features added often.

I just released version 0.7.99 today and added some new features and made it work better with Google Documents, where it can export data to right now. It can also import from there, but I need to work on that more before I am happy with it. I registered a domain name and and getting hosting soon so that I can make it a 'cloud' application. That won't appear until after it goes to the app store probably though since I am a little busy with college and work as well.