eWeek coverage of NYLUG Android Event

Darryl K. Taft, a reporter from eWeek magazine, was in the room at the NYLUG event last week, and I didn’t even know it! I am still working on getting some audio, video and slides up from that talk, but in the meantime, some good quotes from the evening below, and after the link…

Freitas, who has worked at Palm as a program manager building Java code, said he appreciates Android as “the first open mobile platform. There’s really a lot to hack on. It’s really the first open platform developer-tools-wise. No one’s ever put the effort into delivering a fully cross-platform development environment.”

and this….

Making a comparison to the iPhone development environment, Freitas said, “There’s a big difference between APIs and a thoughtful platform…The iPhone is a beautiful device and a great user experience.”

However, the iPhone world does not focus as much on providing an ecosystem of services for developers like Android does, Freitas said, noting the OpenIntents.org site, which is a place to collect, design and implement open intents and interfaces to make Android mobile applications work more closely together. In addition, Freitas mentioned the PhoneGap project, which is a development tool that allows Web developers to take advantage of the core features in the iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry SDK using JavaScript.

Read the full story on eWeek

NYLUG (Linux Users Group)

Thanks to the kind invitation of Brian Gupta, I’ll be part of his presentation on Android next week at the New York Linux Users Group (NYLUG). I met Brian at the Android Meetup, where I had given a short talk on “Android Dev 101”. Brian runs the #androidnyc channel on freenode, and is a great fan of hacking the lower levels of the Android platform.

Here’s a taste of what we’ll be talking about:

The talk will start with a review of the internal architecture of the Android platform, breaking down the various components, and examine how they work. Then we will review the latest status of the open source project, including how to get and build the source code, and how to get involved.

At this point there will be a short session introducing application development on the Android platform, walking through the open-source tool chain, including the command line tools and the Eclipse.org IDE based environment. The core application components will be broken down, including the XML-based formats for resources and user interface design. The required “Hello, World!” app will be shown, along with a more complex “Geo Report” app which utilizes more advanced features such as GPS location and the Camera. Finally, application deployment either via the Android Market or through direct web or physical distribution will be demonstrated.

You can find out more about the event, and if you do want to attend, make sure you RSVP… IBM is hosting, and it is mandatory to get in.