Another day, another experiment on my new favorite toy business instrument – Kindle Fire. Today I went ahead and installed latest (as of this date) incarnation of Android OS – version 4 aka Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). Again, like in case with CyanogenMod 7 (which is essentially Android 2.3.7) installation is extremally easy thanks to TWRP recovery. Just download Kindle Zone ICS ROM put it on your Fire, reboot into TWRP recovery, *backup your existing rom* and flash the ICS.

It boots nicely and looks pretty good. Connects to WiFi with Internet and LAN access (ES File Explorer comes preinstalled and accessed SMB shares on my home network with no problems).

Being a very early version it has it share of problems. Video doesn’t work correctly (MP4 files for example play in fast-forward mode, YouTube can’t connect). Sounds work sporadically and overall moving around the interface has a jerky feeling. But it looks like a very good start and I am looking forward to a more stable release. Meanwhile I am back to CM7

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UPDATE 02/18/2012. Now this is what the doctor ordered. The new update from the same XDA forum thread as above breathed new life into my Kindle. Basically, everything works. And it looks awesome! Here is direct link to the ROM. So now this is my OS of choice for my Fire. Did I mention it’s Cyanogen Mod 9? Did I also mention that there’s Google Chrome now available on Android Marked for Ice Cream Sandwich?

It used to be a bit of a pain to install a 3rd party keyboard on Kindle Fire – you had to work with SQL Lite and ADB Shell and there were a few other requirements. But thanks to Tivan from samsung-tablets.com it’s down to 3 easy steps (one requirement remains: Your Kindle Fire has to be rooted with Android Market app installed). Continue reading 'Russian Keyboard on Kindle Fire'»

I have tons of books on programming and many of them are accompanied by CD with the book in PDF format. A bright idea struck me – why carry around ton of bricks, when I can load electronic version onto my Kindle Fire? And it worked quite nicely, though a (very) little work required beforehand

Continue reading 'How to comfortably read PDF books on Kindle Fire'»

Got my Kindle Fire. I must say – I love everything about this device. It’s fast, powerful, with a very nice screen. There’re gazillion reviews out there, I am not going to repeat them, just mention what I did to make it truly perfect.

Since Fire is powered by Android OS there’s no limit to what can be done with it.

First, I rooted it. Mostly I did it so I can install Android Market. Amazon’s own AppStore is nice and all, but very limited comparing to Android Market (even if it has Market’s apps, usually they’re a few versions behind). Beware though – if you root your Fire, you will lose video streaming capabilities from Amazon, so what I did – rooted, installed Market, unrooted (luckily it’s a one-click operation with rooting app).

Second, even though I like Fire’s home screen with the carousel and everything, I am used to more traditional Android display, so I installed ADW Launcher and got 5 home screens, app drawer and all the bells and whistles. And still kept all Fire capabilities (Amazon video, music & books) via pre-installed apps, now available in app drawer.

And last, I installed Dolphin Browser HD to use instead of preinstalled Silk web browser, since Dolphin is much more capable, and superb FBReader to read my own collection of ebooks. Those two apps are permanently docked in my home screen.

I could go on and on, about how you can stream your own music and videos from your home PC via GMote app, how you can now install GMail, YouTube and any other Google app etc. etc. but that would take forever. The conclusion: Fire is an Android tablet and capable of anything Android Tablet can do.

Well, not really. But if you’re a fan of the original PvZ and just can’t wait for the sequel – check out this beauty:

“Mini Robot Wars” looks like a straight out clone of Plant vs. Zombies, but as clones go – this one is pretty good, give it a try!

Found this gem today:

It’s a Visual Basic IDE environment for developing Android apps. But unlike other similar solutions it does not require bloated runtime running on the device, Basic4Android easily compiles native APK app.

Don’t learn Java, utilize your existing Visual Basic skills instead. And the community of thousands of developers can be a huge help as well.

Also you’re in luck today. Download the trial, play around with it and if you like it - use discount code “bvqbet” to get 50% off any version! Here’s how:

1. Visit purchase link: http://www.basic4ppc.com/android/purchase.html
2. Select Plimus as your checkout option
3. Enter coupon code bvqbet in the coupon code field
4. Profit! You get a 50% discound off a regular price

Happy coding!

If you bricked your Motorola DROID 3 phone while rooting it, installing some custom ROM or doing other fun stuff – don’t despair, there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

(Disclaimer: I am not responsible for anything that happens to your phone. But then again, if you’re reading this, something already has happened to it).

1. Download the Motorola Stock Image (SBF) v5.6.890 HERE
2. Download Motorola Flashing Utility (RSDLite) v5.5 HERE
3. Extract the contents of the SBF file to a folder on your computer
4. Install RSDLite
5. Boot your DROID 3 into bootloader by holding both Vol+ & Vol- at the same time when powering on the phone
6. Select “AP Fastboot” from boot menu by pressing Vol- repeatedly and then press Vol+ to select it
7. Open RSDLite and browse for the XML in the folder where you extracted the SBF file
8. Connect the phone to PC via USB, and when RSDLite  says  ”Connected”, hit “Start“
9. Wait for the phone to finish flashing, and booting (it can reboot several times, let it be)

You’re done! Your phone is resurrected, feel free to root it, install custom ROMs and do other fun stuff again.

NOTE: You phone may require activation after the flash, just follow original Verizon activation steps (if you’re not prompted to activate your phone and still have no connection just dial *228 and follow the instructions).

CREDITS: Thanks chevycam94 for original SBF-ing instructions and files. As a matter of fact these instructions are pretty much exact copy of first 9 steps of his instruction on how to flash his custom ROM Steel Droid – check it out!

Let’s say you have a table with some dates and numeric values e.g.:

2011-08-19	16
2011-08-22	45
2011-08-24	62
2011-08-25	88
2011-08-27	17
2011-08-28	35
2011-09-01	10
2011-09-02	79
2011-09-03	70
2011-09-07	83

As you can see not all dates are in the sequential order, 24th comes after 22nd etc. But in many cases you need this data to be sequential, for example if this data feeds a chart you need to fill it with missing dates and 0 for a value. There is an easy way to achieve this. Continue reading 'TSQL: Filling missing date range'»

When Infragistics UltraWebGrid is not in LoadOnDemand mode, you need to rebind the grid to the data source in PageIndexChanged event for paging to work. What’s neat – before the rebind, grid is still on the old page, effectively giving you “BeforePageIndexChanged” or “PageIndexChanging” event in server-side code:

Protected Sub xuwgGrid_PageIndexChanged(sender As Object, e As UltraWebGrid.PageEventArgs) Handles xuwgGrid.PageIndexChanged

   'Page hasn't changed yet, collect data from the old page
   'Or cancel the rebind and remain on the old page

   'rebinding the grid to the datasource
    BindGrid()

   'New page is in effect

End Sub

When Infragistics WebDataGrid perform AJAX operations such as sorting and paging – it sends grid data directly to page’s DOM. But it also allows you to send your own custom data via server-side GridResponse object and its client-side counterpart. This feature allows you to establish effective link between server and client to perform custom operations otherwise available only during full postback or partial postback via update panel. There’re multiple cases where this can be used, let’s take a look at 3 most common:

• Updating a related control with server-side generated data
• Running a server-side generated JavaScript
• Handling server-side errors, for example Session timeout

Continue reading 'Affecting page during WebDataGrid AJAX calls'»