nullium

Nice Simple Photo Widget 1.5.0 Released

2016-06-29T23:15:00+08:00

Nice Simple Photo Widget has been udpated to 1.5.0 with a new feature and several improvements. Tapping on the widget to switch photos is a frequently requested feature, and now it is here. :) An update is also made to the built-in file browser so that it would work well in the latest Android systems.

I will publish minor updates for StyleNote and IsoPix to update their file browsers very soon as well, then my focus would probably be on the StyleNote major update/rewrite.

The complete changelog is as follows:

Version 1.5.0:

- New feature: Added an option to allow changing the current photo with a single tap on the widget
- Now the widget will look at the photo's EXIF data (photo setting saved by some cameras) to determine the photo orientation and rotate the photo automatically
- Improved the built-in file browser to make file/folder selection easier and more versatile
- Improved the reliability of slideshow photo update
- Some other minor improvements and changes

JustKana Released

2016-06-19T04:47:00+08:00

Right, I am back. Like I said, I have been working on a new app to catch up with the latest Android app development technology. And today, the said new app - JustKana, a Japanese alphabet learning app - is finished! I wasn't able to finish it as quickly as I wished, but I did read and learn so much in the process. I am happy with that.

I have always wanted to learn Japanese mainly because I love animes. Unfortunately, however, for various reasons I never got past the Japanese alphabets (Hiragana and Katakana) stage. Now I made this app for myself and everyone who wants to start learning Japanese, I have no more excuses to not master the alphabets already. :)

JustKana's features:

• Beautiful Japanese alphabet tables - study both hiragana and katakana easily
• Human pronunciation - hear how kanas are pronounced
• Kana writing animation - watch and learn the stroke orders
• Kana writing practice - practice your writing right in the app
• Progressive quiz - memorize alphabets easily and progressively with customizable test scope
• Detailed performance report - learn effectively by understanding your strength and weakness

Get JustKana via Google Play

I am now ready for my next project - probably am gonna work on a major update/rewrite of StyleNote next. Anyway, before that, I am gonna need some sleep. :)

Return and Shoutout

2016-04-24T19:00:00+08:00

So, I was on hiatus due to some personal problems for quite a while, but I am back now. I am currently working on a new app while catching up with the latest Android app development technology. Of course, I won't forget my existing apps - I will update them afterward.

I would like to give a shoutout to all the supporters of my apps even tho I haven't been able to update them for a while. I would also like to thank for doing an Appliv review on StyleNote.

Alright, back to work!

Nice Simple Photo Widget 1.4.0 Released

2014-12-04T15:07:00+08:00

Nice Simple Photo Widget has been udpated to 1.4.0. There are two major additions.

The first one is the ability to launch a photo viewer app of your choice when a photo is single-tapped on the photo browsing interface. So now if you want to show off your photo in another photo viewer app, you can do that with just two taps: one tap to open the widget's photo browsing interface, another tap to open a photo viewer app of your choice. You can choose the photo viewer app in Settings.

Another addition is the option that allows you to show all photos in the sub-directories in the slideshow mode. It should be a useful option if you have lots of photo albums distributed in several directories.

I wish the photo widget users would find the new features useful. Enjoy. :)

The complete changelog is as follows:

Version 1.4.0:

- New feature: Now you can use a photo viewer app of your choice to view a photo when you single-tap on it on the photo browsing interface
- New feature: Now the slideshows can optionally show all photos in the sub-directories as well
- New feature: Added the "every 4 hours" slideshow interval
- Rearranged the options so that the slideshow options are now separated from the single-photo display option
- Now photo updates with the "every day" interval will less likely to be missed: it will now happen as soon as 24 hours are passed since the last update (so not necessarily happens at the 0th hour like before)
- Fixed an issue where the bottom buttons in the color picker dialog were not shown on some devices in landscape orientation
- Fixed an issue where Chinese wasn't used by default as the interface language on some Chinese systems which do not use a standard Chinese locale setting

Donation Page Created

2014-12-03T01:00:00+08:00

A few users asked me whether they could donate to me to show their appreciation of my work, so I have created a donation page to accept donations. The thought of wanting to support me via donations is encouraging by itself. Thank you all again for your support in any form!

StyleNote 2.2.0 Released

2014-11-30T00:03:00+08:00

StyleNote 2.2.0 has been released! It includes a feature wanted by quite a lot of users: homescreen widget scrolling. It can be used on Android 3.0 or newer systems. With this addition, now you can read your long notes directly on your homescreen without launching the editor. Since this feature involves some fundamental changes to StyleNote, it has been added as an "experiemental" option and is disabled by default for now. The option that enables this feature can be found under the "Homescreen Widget Preferences" section of the Options/Info screen (accessed via the "3 dots" menu button located at the top-right corner of the main StyleNote interface).

As this is experimental, please disable it and report any problem if it doesn't work for you, so that I can make sure everyone of you can use it. You can either email me or make use of our user forum. Thanks. Of course, this feature will "graduate" eventually and become a standard feature (i.e. enabled by default) in future updates. For now, please test it out! :)

The full changelog of the new version is as follows.

Version 2.2.0:

- New feature (experimental, for Android 3.0+): Option to enable homescreen widget scrolling (just do not enable it if it doesn't work for you but please report any problem via the user forum or email)
- New feature: Option for different back button behaviors for the note editor
- New feature: Option to choose a custom backup file path
- Now the traditional Chinese interface will be used for systems with non-standard Chinese system locale settings
- Fixed an issue with custom note margins
- Fixed an issue where the note text on a widget sometimes may disappear after being updated
- Fixed a potential error which may occur when pasting a very large piece of text
- Fixed a potential error which may occur when notes are being sorted
- Fixed some potential errors

IsoPix 1.4.0 Released

2014-09-30T02:10:00+08:00

IsoPix is updated to 1.4.0 with several new features. The interface is now even more customizable. Also, you can now copy a selection once and paste it as many times as you like. It should be handy for many users. You may check the changelog below for other additions in this update. Enjoy!

Version 1.4.0:

- New feature: Function to set a default palette to be used for new images
- New feature: Option to set the default zoom level
- New feature: Option to remove the on-screen menu and back button
- New feature: Option to copy once and paste multiple times
- New feature: Option to adjust the button icon sizes
- New feature (Pro): Option to set the transparent background checkerboard colors
- New feature (Pro): Option to show the position information when using tools
- Now newly saved images should be shown immediately on the official Android gallery app

Rapid Dictionary Launched

2014-08-16T14:00:00+08:00

So I learned and did some web programming. It was an fun adventure. Today, I am happy to announce that Rapid Dictionary is launched!

Rapid Dictionary instantly gives you the English word definition as you type the word letter-by-letter. That means sometimes you only need to type in the first few letters of the word to get the definition. Try it out - it is quick and easy to use. :)

There is also a English-Chinese dictionary version of it that instantly gives you the Chinese definition instead of the English one.

As it generates the word definitions so rapidly, while I am using some of the most robust technologies out there to build the web app, I am not sure if my little server can cope with the heavy load if it gets popular. Maybe I don't have to worry about it being used by many people at the same time - oh well, we will see. :)

Enjoy!

On a side note, I will do some Android programming now, meaning I will push out some updates of my apps and widgets soon. Stay tuned.

Nice Simple Clock 1.9.0 Released

2014-01-31T03:00:00+08:00

Happy lunar new year! Today is the first day of the year of the horse. To celebrate, I release the Nice Simple Clock 1.9.0 update which includes a new option for including the Chinese lunar calendar date. :) Naturally, this new option is for Chinese systems only.

Not using a Chinese system? No problem! I have also added a new feature that could be useful for everyone: in addition to specifying what app to launch when the time text is clicked, now you can also specify what to launch when the date text is clicked. For example, you may launch an alarm app when the time text is clicked and launch a calendar app when the date text is clicked. Hopefully it would be a useful addition for some of you. The following is the complete changelog.

Version 1.9.0:

- New feature: Click-to-launch option for the date text (under "Other Settings")
- New feature: Chinese lunar calendar option for Chinese systems (under "Date")
- New feature: Option to use English date and am/pm display for non-English systems (under "Other Settings")
- Fixed an issue where the weekday wasn't properly displayed when the system setting is used for date display
- Reduced the app file size

StyleNote 2.1.0 Released

2014-01-08T15:00:00+08:00

StyleNote 2.1.0 has been released!

In additional to the notebook ordering/sorting feature which has been requested by a number of users, you can now also sort the notes by note title, modified time, or creation time. They should help you organize your notes in StyleNote better.

In the Pro version, I have also added the word count function and a few new note list customization options.

You can check out the full changelog below to learn about all the new features and improvements in this update. Enjoy! :)

Version 2.1.0:

- New feature: Automatic note sorting by note title, last modified time, or creation time (under "Notebook Preferences" in "Settings & Help")
- New feature: Custom notebook ordering (under "More notebook options..." in the notebook menu)
- New feature: Option to show creation date/time on the note list (under "Notebook Preferences" in "Settings & Help")
- (Pro) New feature: Automatic notebook sorting by name or creation time
- (Pro) New feature: Advanced note list customizations including spacing between notes and note highlighting border size/color options (under "Notebook Preferences" in "Settings & Help")
- (Pro) New feature: Word/character/paragraph count (under the toolbar menu in the note editor)
- Now the note customization preview is also available in the free version
- Improved the saving and storage of heavily-formatted notes
- Now the default note title and body text, when unchanged by the user, will be shown as hints instead of actual text in new notes
- Now auto-saving will not be executed if the note is not modified at all
- Now the user will not be asked to confirm to exit the note editor if the note is not modified at all
- Attempted to remove the unwanted underlining styles introduced by some input methods

IsoPix 1.3.0 Released and Pro On Sale Announcement

2013-12-22T13:00:00+08:00

My productivity was epsilon for a while, but now I am back to work. I feel I am gaining momentum again. :)

IsoPix has been updated to 1.3.0 with lots of new pro features. The free version has also been updated with a new feature and improved as well. All the changes are listed at the end of this post. Some of the new icons in this version are generously donated by a IsoPix user called PixelGeek. Check out his website if you like pixel art. ;)

I have also decided to increase the price of IsoPix Pro soon. I have seen drawing apps with less features cost almost twice as much as IsoPix Pro, so I think it would be fair for me to adjust the price of IsoPix Pro as it is getting more and more mature since the first version. To thank the support of all the existing IsoPix users, the price will remain unchanged until the end of 2013 (hence it is on sale in a sense :)), so you may consider going Pro now if you like IsoPix. Once you upgrade to Pro, you will be able to enjoy the Pro version including all the future updates without any further payment.

Here is the full changelog of IsoPix 1.3.0:

Version 1.3.0:

- New feature: Save/load color palettes (color buttons' colors)
- New feature (Pro): Changing image canvas size
- New feature (Pro): Pasting/importing from another image
- New feature (Pro): Option to have 18 color palettes slots instead 6
- New feature (Pro): Option to show file/image info on the interface
- New feature (Pro): Option to customize grid size
- Improved the speed of rotating and flipping a copied selection
- Updated some icons
- Changed the look of the color palette (buttons)
- Reorganized the menu items
- Pop-up help messages will now stay longer than before
- Fixed an issue where a part of a large copied selection may disappear after being rotated in some situations
- Fixed an issue where links cannot be clicked in the readme
- Fixed some potential errors

Nice Simple Battery 1.6.0 Released

2013-09-25T09:00:00+08:00

Nice Simple Battery has been updated to 1.6.0. Now you can draw the small battery cap on top of your battery icon. It looks like this:

Additionally, there is a new option that allows you to use a different color to draw your battery icon when the battery power level is below a specified level. This should be useful to remind yourself to charge your battery when the battery is running low.

Hope you would like these new feature in this update. Here is the changelog:

Version 1.6.0:

- New feature: Option to draw the battery cap (under the "Battery Icon" section)
- New feature: Options for using a different color when battery is low (under the "Advanced Settings" section)
- Now clicking on the preview can change the power level displayed in the preview
- Applied a number of bug fixes and minor changes

Nice Simple Clock 1.8.0 Released

2013-09-07T11:00:00+08:00

This week, I have updated the Nice Simple Clock. The new "year offset" feature is for special calendar systems that are being used in certain places around the world. Also, if you would like to see 13 instead 2013 for the year display, you can also subtract 2000 from the year using this new option.

Additionally, I have added a few new time formats and new date separators in this update.

Here is the changelog:

Version 1.8.0:

- New feature: Custom year offset option for special calendar systems (under "Other Settings")
- Added 3 new time formats and 3 new date separators
- Applied a number of bug fixes and minor changes

Nice Simple Photo Widget 1.3.0 Released

2013-09-01T01:00:00+08:00

Nice Simple Photo Widget 1.3.0 has been released. This update fixes a major problem where some photos do not fill the whole widget properly on some devices. It also includes a new frame size as well as an option requested by a number of users - the option to open the configuration window with double-clicks instead of single-clicks. This option actually already exists in Nice Simple Clock, and it has been proven quite useful to prevent the configuration window from being launched by accidental clicks.

Here is the changelog:

Version 1.3.0:

- Major fix: Photos are now always auto-scaled to be as large as possible within the widget
- New feature: Added the minimal frame size
- New feature: Now you can choose to open the widget configuration with double-clicks only (new option under "Other Settings")
- Some other minor improvements and changes

By the way, I have made a demonstration video to illustrate how to add a widget to your Android homescreen/desktop. The instruction is applicable to Android 4.0 or higher. I hope new widget users would find it useful as they ask me how to do it from time to time.

StyleNote 2.0 Released

2013-08-25T23:00:00+08:00

StyleNote 2.0 has been released!

As a major update, there are many new features and improvements. The main interface has also been redesigned.

Better backup options, note search function, bullet point support, style templates, and dropbox cloud storage support are the key additions in this update. I am too tired right now to describe the new features one by one, but at the end of this blog post you can find the complete changelog.

Current users may check out the new instructions in the settings screen to learn about the new bullet point support. The settings screen can now be accessed from the main menu which can be opened via the 3-dots icon at the top-right corner of the app. Other new features are (hopefully) pretty straightforward to use.

If you encounter any problem, please let me know. You may also check out the FAQ and ask questions in our user forums.

Enjoy! :)

Version 2.0.0:

- New feature: Custom-scope note searching
- New feature: Notes & settings upload/download to/from your own Dropbox account for cloud backup or note sync among different devices
- New feature: Notes & settings export to HTML files which can be directly viewed on any computer
- New feature: Notes & settings import from exported HTML files
- New feature: Option to encrypt the exported files as .snb2 encrypted backup files
- New feature: Regular auto-backup to your SD card (Pro users can use Dropbox for auto-backup and customize the frequency)
- New feature: Bullet point list support which inserts bullet points automatically
- New feature: Bullet point cross-out button that can cross out the whole line of a bullet point with one click
- New feature: Style Templates for saving/loading your note color and size customization
- New feature: Widget option for center-aligning the note text on a widget
- New feature: Now you can specify a set of secret question and answer for password resetting in the future
- New feature: Now you can click on URLs (links) on the note list and launch the web browser
- New feature: Now you can send/share text to StyleNote from other programs
- Redesigned the main interface
- Many other improvements and minor changes
- StyleNote now requires Android 2.1 or newer (Android 1.5 and 1.6 can still use StyleNote 1.6.3 which can be downloaded from nullium.com)

New Website Launched

2013-08-18T00:00:00+08:00

I have been working on this new website for a while so I am very excited to release it at last.

The blog part of this website is now hosted on Github while the forums are hosted on my own Linux web server. Having my own web server also means that I will be able to create stuff that requires a server, which wasn't possible before. We shall see. For more technical details on what are used to build this new website, you may check out the updated about section.

While I have experiences in general computer usage and coding different kinds of software, I am pretty new to website development and Linux server management, so I really learned a lot during the process. I am quite happy with what I gained tho it was hard work.

The overall design is finished, but parts of the website are still under construction. In particular I plan to create individual pages for some of my apps in the creations section. I shall work on them later after I update the corresponding apps.

Checking my old blog, I found that I haven't published anything in the last several months. I can easily list many excuses, like day job being more demanding, myself being burned out, not having enough spare time, and so on. However, honestly, the main reason is simply me not being good enough - I was not good enough to manage my time and myself. I am determined to improve and try to be productive again. I will try my best to update here more frequently and this blog will be a platform for me to track and publish my own progress.

Lastly, besides the new website, I have also been working on StyleNote 2.0 lately. I will probably release it within the next few days if things go as planned. So, stay tuned. :)