Also, I get many emails/sms/calls about double notifications and the blacklist message showing in the notification. Please read the introductory dialog carefully. It explicitly says to disable notifications in your  default sms application!!!!

As always email/sms/call anytime for tech support. I’m always around….

Call filtering and sms filtering both appear to be quite stable at this time. There are still some kinks to work out of the UI, particularly effecting app stability. Have no doubt that the app is extremely stable at this time, but there are always new things to tweak and add. As of today I know of several things I need to address. Tonight I will focus on improving app stability.

I really want to finish MMS support, but why start a new, extremely complicated, feature when there are many needed stability issues to tweak to perfection. While MMS support is 90% done, I need to focus on making sure the app NEVER crashes and performs perfectly. Then and only then will I add MMS support. I expect this to be soon.

T-Mobile has proven tricky. The incoming telephone number has a 1 in it. I have compensated for this manually, but I want the process to be automatic. As of now BlackBook works with T-Mobile when the T-Mobile option in the main settings is checked. The option allows for a 1 to be stored in the contacts telephone number. For some reason even with the 1 in the contacts telephone number SMS filtering is not working.

SMS delivers a bundle. In the bundle is the message and the senders address(telephone). I have a feeling the senders telephone number does not have a 1 for SMS messages. This means T-Mobile is all over the place. There is definitely a 1 in the incoming telephone number, but most likley not a 1 in the incoming SMS message? Strange, where is the consistency?

If I cannot make T-Mobile detect automated I am going to make the T-Mobile option more obvious. I will also make it so when the option is disable and enabled the telephone numbers of all the contacts are re-adjusted automatically.

• Global notifications replacement. Blacklisted and non blacklisted sms notifications are handled entirely by the application
• Dummy text messages
• Call filtering
• Call number masking
• Send calls to voicemail, with two distinct methods configurable in the main settings
• Silence contact
• Import/Export contact information. At this time only the first line of the postal address it exported.
• Support for full postal address in the application, with full address being imported
• Customizable login number
• Fully integrated SMS client
• SMS client themes
• Advanced memory tactics. The entire UI layout will has been redesigned to reduce memory use up to 10x. This will substantially reduce, if not eliminate, memory related freezes
• Photos support that import Facebook images from the main contact book
• New custom menus!

I have many things I need and want to add:

• MMS support! I know, I promise I will add it
• More SMS themes
• Blinking lights on system notifications
• Customizable dummy message
• Group SMS messages
• Password recovery. Possibly a secret gesture on the main screen? May replace main login method, or supplement it
• Contact export to email
• More custom menus rather than default
• More ui enhancements
• Compatibility with 2.2
• Compatibility with smaller and tablet size screens

1) Photo support

2) Group sms sending

3) SMS auto responder

4) Message linkify (ex. hyperlinks)

5) I want to try send to voicemail using a clever hack to work around lack of such a feature in the sdk (this may prove to be a waste of time)

6) MMS support, which is not high priority because although it is an important feature it is used substantially less than SMS. Also it is remarkably more difficult.

And as always more code cleanup for efficiency.

Please comment if there are features you want me to add to the list of todos.

There is still a lot of work to be done with the application. I will be completely revamping the entire user interface. The main page will predominantly remain the same, for now, as it is based on some coding from my previous app that I think looks appealing. The contact settings menu will take on a more traditional look, along with the main settings menu. As of now sms filtering works basically flawlessly, call filtering works fine with the most frustrating drawback being the missed call notification that is programatically unavoidable. Silence mode works as expected, and notification vibrations have been added with some more options added to the main settings menu. MMS support still needs to be implemented.

Blackbook will remain in Beta for some time. At least until the 15th of July. There is a kill pill in the code and as of right now the app will no longer function after the 1st of July. I will modify this code to allow it to function till the 15th, but please note this requires you to upgrade your software from the marketplace. I most likely will keep Blackbook in Beta until I get MMS working, which I will start working on after I revamp the UI.

Landscape mode for text message client

Call log

Contact import

Silence mode option

Notification vibrations

Settings menu completely revamped

I will post a report when I test on the Moto Droid.

It is comprehensive. It filters incoming and outgoing text messages. When a contact is in the blackbook receives an incoming messages it is not shown in the regular message inbox. It can only be viewed in the blackbook application. There are two options associated with text messages; notifications and dummy text messages. Dummy messages will replace the deleted message with a message saying Spam Filter has removed unwanted content. The notification  also has similar content. These features can be disabled.

Notifications will replace the default notification for your text message app. Notifications are handled for regular text messages as well as blacklisted contacts. Notifications for regular text messages are similar to the notifications produced by your default text message application. They will include the contact, and the message and link to the messaging application. Notifications for blacklisted contacts will say Spam has been detected and removed successfully. When you get a notification like this it should signify that you have a new discrete text message that can be viewed in the Android Blackbook.

Android Blackbook has no icon. It does not show in the recent applications quick launch dialog that shows when you hold the home button. It is completely hidden and can only be accessed by entering your secret code into the dialer, and pressing call. The default secret code is 123 and can be configured in the application. The only way to see that the app is installed in the applications menu in settings. In their The icon is a warning sign and the title of the app is  System Error. It is for all practical purposes discrete!!!

I will continue to work on this app aggressively. I will post again as I get more done.

The app will use the same UI I created for VirtualBox manager, which will substantially reduce the amount of time needed to code the app.

I am currently installing Fedora, and will install a comparable BSD system for analysis. When proper formatting of the commands are determined I will update VBM with an option to select the type of host being connected to.

Also, users are extremely annoying when they leave negative comments for a bug, then do not update the comment when the bug is fixed. The nice thing about the Android market is that you can mark any comment as spam, and frankly a comment that was left about a bug that no longer exists is definitely spam.

I expect, and hope that Google updates the market establishing better standards. It would be nice to develop for the Android full time, but currently that is not even a consideration.

The Pro version will soon have the ability to login to individual machines, hosts or virtual machines, and scan for running processes. It will display the status of the running process and give the ability to start, stop, or reset it. Theoretically the list can be the entire contents of ps aux, but at first I will probably restrict it to Apache, Mysql, Sendmail, and Dovecot. The user can start, stop, and reset the processes the same way virtual machines are controlled in the current application. I should be done with the new features within a week or so.

Downloads look promising. In the first week there were about 250 downloads. I think this should grow being that first week downloads is always random. Users searching for random keywords to see what apps exist. As a reputation builds downloads should also be driven by word of mouth and hopefully a listing in the tops apps. In time, we’ll see. The paid version is off to a slow start, but as the free version grows in popularity I expect sales to pick up given the powerful features only available in the Pro version.

I have fixed a couple of potential situations where an i/o exception can occur. I have also added enhancements that clarify a particular action based on the current state of setting. All in all the depth and feedback offered by the application is improving.

Without substantial feedback/comments by actual users, I see very little confusion using the app and no bugs. Every action performs accordingly. The primary situation I think users may encounter is the inability to login. In such a situation the connecting dialog will just continue to spin. VirtualBox Manager is designed for users to first login to a host using password authentication. Therefore for each host the first connection must be made to an ssh server with PasswordAuthentication set to yes in /etc/ssh/sshd_config. Withe the correct host/port/username/password set in the app, and port forwarding properly configured in a users router/network a connection will occur. The user can then click the menu, and select generate key; which generated a new 1024 bit DSA key. The user can view the private and public keys directly from buttons in the menu. There are strategic dialog boxes that state the user can then upload the key to the server, which automatically appends it to the bottom of ~/.ssh/authorized_keys2. Pressing upload automatically enabled key login for the particular host. Enabling and disabling key login is done via the hosts configuration options accessible on the main screen.

There are many checks to prevent confusion. A user cannot enable key login unless there is a key. Keys cannot be displayed/uploaded before they are created; which would be an i/o exception. There is also a warning when a user tries to generate a key when a key already exists. This can cause a problem that will prevent other hosts from loggin in; if the key changes it will no longer match the public key stored on the host. A dialog will appear explaining that password login will be re-enabled for the host, and that when the key is uploaded password authentication will be used. If a new key is generated the user must disabled key authentication for other hosts configured in the app; once logged in to other hosts using password auth the user can easily upload the new public key to the server, reestablishing key based authentication for the respective host.

After a public key is uploaded to the server password authentication can be disabled. This substantially diminishes and practically eliminates the possibility of a brute force intrusion.

The pro version adds support for 20 hosts, and 20 machines per host. This is done using a ScrollView wrapped around each activity. Its a logical addition. If users request support for more hosts it can easily be added.

I want to change the oncreate structure to each of the three activities. I want to initialize the buttons in a background thread. While the UI is fast and there is no visible delay I would like to code the oncreates as such. Frankly given the speed of recent phones I don’t think there will be any visible differences. Theoretically on a slower processor the activity would display with no button, and then as the thread processes the views they will display on the screen one by one.

I will add some additional features in time, but until comments start rolling in a new project is in the works. Linux Manager Pro. I’ll posts as it develops.

One feature removed was the disabling of auto correction on the input menus. Since domain names, usernames, and passwords do not require auto correction, I wanted to disabled the feature. But the ability to disable the feature was not available in Android 1.6 therefore the feature is not currently available in the current packages. As more phones shift toward >2.1 I will re-enabled the feature and push the update to the Marketplace.

The entire application is much more stable after some recent updates. If the password is correct, and the private and public keys match then there is only one reason the system will not login; signal strength. I have noticed it does not work with 1X and only works where there is a reasonably strong 3G connection. I will try figure out how to program a timeout that publishes a notification that the connection failed due to signal strength.

More updates to come. I also want to implement a robust server management tool that reads for common processes using ps, and give the user the ability to see if they are running, restart, or shut them down. ect…. I may integrate this into VirtualBox Manager pro or just as a standalone application.

VirtualBox Manager Pro is excellent for serious IT departments that require minimum security requirements. Using pub key authentication the use of password authentication can be completely disabled. This is a huge security enhancement over the free version. VirtualBox Manager Pro is available for $19.99, and is targeting IT departments rather than the individual. Home users can utilize password authentication to a great extent without detrimentally exposing a server to internet based threats, whereas IT departments host servers that are business dependent.

Try VirtualBox Manger Pro today to experience a stable, intuitive, and fully function VirtualBox remote management solution.

VirtualBox Manager Pro currently supports DSA encrypted login. Once the user logs into a host, using password authentication, the menu contains options to generate a new DSA key, and upload it to the host machine. Uploading it to the host machine automatically appends it to the users authorized_keys2 file. Once uploaded VirtualBox Manger will automatically use DSA encrypted authentication to connect to the host. VirtualBox Manager pro is design to use a single encryption key for all configured hosts.

VirtualBox Manger Pro will be released at 19.99 and is targeting corporate level IT departments. When it is released it will encrypt the passwords stored in the applications settings, and will also prompt for a password to gain access to the application. This feature will be enabled or disabled based on security requirements. Also there will be an options dialog to choose the size of the encryption key to generate; it is currently set at 1024 bytes.

In time I will enhance the UI. I want to add a variety of notifications throughout the application to enhance communication, troubleshooting, and general usability.

VirtualBox Manager Pro will be released soon to the Android Marketplace.

• I have fixed a bug on the delete hosts page
• Enhanced the header images on the delete hosts page and machine page
• Tweaked the keyboards in the input data menus
• Added references to the host as well as the machine in various dialog headers
• Some code cleanup trying to do more in the oncreate rather than in methods
• Fixed a bug in the help pages and customized the info respectively

As mentioned, therefore is a lot of code I have already written dealing with rsa key login. Now that the program is in a stable release state I plan to cleanup the code and then start looking at completing encrypted login features.

I should have this update implemented in the next couple of days. I will also set a toggle in the main menu to enable a main application password required before connecting to any host. Although I may reserve this feature for the enterprise level application.

The header and background images have been updated. They are dynamic in that on different Android devices both with fit the screen. Each host button begins immediately after the header image, and are dynamically create in the main methods onCreate. Actually the only view in each if the three layouts is the header imageView. Other than that table rows and button views are dynamically populated, collapsed and expanded. I’ve tested different screen sizes in the emulator and the header/background image, and the buttons are dynamically fit to the size of the device screen. The very first thing the application does, on first run, is measure the screen. It happens to work very nicely overall.

Currently the application supports seven hosts. In the onCreate each button for the seven hosts is create and collapsed. When a new host is created the table row is inflated making the view visible. Essentially the default state of all buttons and table rows is invalidated, and then when they are added by the user they are validated.

The delete host activity uses the validation state of the host buttons to populate the layout with views. Like the main activity 7 table rows and buttons are created, and subsequently invalidated. Then the oncreate validates views based on the validation state of buttons in the main activity. The delete host activity is actually a callActivityForResult. In the delete host activity the users can click the host button, as well as the delete button. If the user click the host button finish() is called and upon return that host’s preferences menu is inflated. I though it logical to do. The delete button calls finish(), passing back the array index of the host to be deleted. Deleting the bottom most host is easy, but deleting a host right smack in the middle of the list was a bit tricky because of the dynamic nature of the host buttons. Because all the buttons are built in the onCreate when a user deletes a host in the middle of the list the hosts below the selection need to be shifted up to accommodate new hosts being at the bottom of the list. The code to delete a button in the middle of the list is easily twice as long as the code to delete the bottom most host.

Then of course is Jsch; the meat and potatoes. Jsch is a java based implementation of ssh. After several weeks if getting used to their code, implementation became rather straight forward. There is no documentation by the writer; examples and the source code itself are your only references. Ultimately the examples are useful, and when it came to come more complicated method calls the source code was also nice and neat. Overall I rate Jsch very high when it comes to the functionality of an API. Jsch is used by VirtualBox Manager to connect to the host. Upon connection it executes “VBoxManager list vms”. I then pipe the InputStream through a variety of methods, using traditional stdout manipulation binaries to format the data. Once formatted the data populates strings. These strings serve as the title for the buttons in the Machines class as well has a means of identifying a particular virtual machine to control. VirtualBox Manager reads all the virtual machines in the users home directory. The way Linux runs, VirtualBox must be part of a particular user group to run. Typically all virtual machines are run as a particular user on a host therefore logging in with ssh conveniently gives access, in all but unique/custom circumstances, to all the virtual machines on the host. While VirtualBox Manager will read all of the machines, it will only populate views with the first 7. I will be expanding the limit of hosts, and machines in upcoming releases; this will be a straight forward code expansion. I will recode the main and machine activity to display a different index of various arrays created holding button views.

When a machine button is pressed a dialog opens with various options. These options are those of VBoxManage controlvm and VBoxManage start. It runs very quickly on Verizon, and all my hardware testing was done on a Droid Incredible.

As of now I know of one or two little bugs that I want to address. I will probably fix them tonight. I will make some upgrades here and there to version 1, but I will be enhancing the ui, and cleaning up the code when I release version 2, which will be a paid app; most likely 99 cents or so. I have many ideas for ui upgrades!

Ultimately before releasing version 1 I was working heavily on RSA encrypted login. There is a lot of code in version 1 pertaining to this. 90% of the code is done, with a couple of bugs holding back release. If I can get the RSA login portion of the code working it will be release in an Enterprise level package that will be priced accordingly. As of now I see three versions of the app; the free version, an enhanced non commercial version, and a commercial version.