I’m only nitpicking the application right now, which may come off as “negative,” but hopefully these issues will change in future updates.

**Before I started writing this blog post, a SPIDERSS question forum came up to fill out. Do you know how hard it is to use the G1 keyboard while the layout is still in portrait mode? I wasn’t even able to submit my answers or choose all my answers correctly… not cool.

I’ve only used the SPIDERSS Browser for at max, 20 min, but I’m wondering how much longer will I keep using it? First, the program has A CURSOR! All Android phones are touch screen, a cursor is not needed. We also see a hour glass while the program is thinking…

Wow, this turned out to be a lame review, because I don’t even want to use the application until layout issues are fixed, the cursor goes away, and the program itself becomes user friendly!

Rooting your G1:
In order to root, you will need to downgrade your phone before you can upgrade/flash to a new ROM build.

How-to-Root, Hack, and Flashing your G1/Dream – found on xda-developers.com.
Easiest How To for: Root, Hero, Recovery, Partition (no computer), etc – found on xda-developers.
GetYourDroidOn – How to root WIKI… includes list of Hardware, builds, guides, developers, and more.
GUIDE: In the beginning… There was ROOT – Explains all things (and terms) ROOT! – found on xda-developers.

Partitioning your SD Card:
Most ROM builds after Cupcake, or enhanced Cupcake builds, need you to partition your SD/SDHC card.  This will allow your phone to place your applications on your SD card rather than taking up space/memory on your phone. HOWEVER, some people do experience a lag when using this feature, and you can also shorten the SD card’s life span (and your Android phone, too).

[HowTo] Partition SDcard w/parted,goto ext3/4 & Install ROM from adb. no liveCD req’d – A kick ass guide to partitioning your SD card w/o using a computer all from your Recovery Image’s terminal screen. Please Read carefully!!! Best Recovery Image to use: Cyanogen 1.4 (Instructions on xda-developers.com)

How to Partition SD Card With Ubuntu For Dummies - Found on xda-developers.com
If you don’t feel comfortable using the Recovery Image, such as 1.4, use this guide. The only thing you will need to do “extra” is download and burn a copy of Ubuntu to a CD/DVD. By using the CD/DVD your just burned, you can run the Ubuntu OS on your Mac/PC without having to install Ubuntu to your computer directly. Just follow the instructions and it’s a piece of cake!

Roms & Theme Sites/Information

AndroidSpin – In my opinion, this is the best “go to” site for updated all things ROOT.  It’s home of the original “Android ROM Information Database.”  This links you to any and all ROMs listed on xda-developers.  The ROM database gives you detailed information on the ROM capabilities and more.  It also includes what versions of Radio/SPL files needed to run the ROMs on your Android phone.  AndroidSpin also lists all known developers and where/how to contact & follow their ROM progress.
XDA-Developers -Dream/G1 Android Development – The go to forum site for all things ROM news and questions/answers.  Before you ask a question, please search the forums first. Your question has probably been answered over and over, so check just to make sure.

If you think I am missing anything that should be included, please let me know!

A huge thank you (and keep up the great work) to all the ROM developers, and the people who provided the instructions/codes on how to update your Android phone.  If you use any of their work to create your own ROM builds, please give them the credit they deserve!

This is an alpha release for Qik, so I’m sure the sound and video quality will improve.  I’m not sure how many frames per second there are, but if you have decent lighting, it should look pretty clear, even though it will blur while you’re moving the camera around, but I’m not complaining!  Live streaming on my way home from work (fueled with road rage), here I come!

*Yes, I know the sound cuts out at the start of the video and I’m not sure why.  Also, because the sound is lower than normal, you will need to turn up your headphones, AND I promise future videos will not be pointed at my computer screen for 75% of the video.

My Focusrite Saffire is almost 4 years old, and I thought it was starting to die on me, but I didn’t have the funds to purchase a new audio input device.  I finally bit the bullet and went to Guitar Center after a few weeks of research for something new.  When I was talking with the sales associate, explaining my issue, he said contact Focusrite to see if they have any solutions, but I can still take something new to test my issue.

Before I even thought of getting something new, I did look on forums for anyone experiencing the same issue, but I found nothing.  I did find some solutions I did use as temporary fixes.  I tried replacing the firmware, the drivers, reinstalling Audio Hijack Pro, and the quickest fix was to stop ‘hijacking’ the Saffire’s audio and restart it.  If worse came to worse, I’d unplug & re-plug in the Saffire from the computer, but the Saffire isn’t under warranty and it might be easier to simply replace it.

For the record, this issue happened on multiple machines running the same exact setup.

I tried the Native Instrument’s Audio Kontrol 1, a USB audio interface.  Everything worked fine as far as Skype calls and my audio coming in to the AK1, until I would turn on my MacBook Pro’s internal webcam. The audio going to my headphones would start giving me a weird hiss/record skipping sound, but the audio being recorded, which was also being sent to a live streaming website, sounded just fine.  For whatever reason, when the webcam turned on, it messed up the headphones. I took it back to Guitar Center, tested another AK1 and the same issue happened.  However, it wasn’t my computer that caused that issue, because a M-Audio USB device we tried didn’t have any issues with the same set up.

The assistant manager helping me let me know of PreSonus’s FireBox, another firewire interface, which was ten dollars more than the Audio Kontrol 1, so I did the exchange and tested it out the next night during my show.

FIVE MINTUES INTO RECORDING, my audio starts to do the same issue as the FireBox.  Was it something from Skype that was causing this to happen? Was my computer doing too much for it to run the Saffire? Or, was it an issue with Audio Hijack Pro’s software?

When this issue came up again, I was worried it may be my firewire input itself, because my Apple Care warranty is up tomorrow, June 16th, 2009.

I thought I was screwed, but I had one last resort, and that would be Ambrosia’s WireTap Anywhere.  “WireTap Anywhere is a suite of components that lets you take the audio output from any Mac application or hardware input device and bring it into your favorite audio recording application.”  I received a copy of it in September, a friend won a copy at the New Media Expo, but didn’t have a Mac, so she let me use it, but I never got around to really testing it.

Well, after re-watching the video tutorials, I figured out how to route my audio for everything to work.  Over the weekend, I tested the new set up quite a few times and didn’t have any audio hiccups with the Saffire, what so ever.  With that said, I was still under my return warranty and returned the FireBox yesterday.

Now this isn’t a slam against Audio Hijack Pro, because the program is a wicked program, but it hates firewire.  I did see some websites that included mentions of firewire not being supported, but that was when the program was first released.  Will I use it again? Probably, depending on what it’s needed for, and the fact it records each audio source individually, but I wish I figured this out sooner and didn’t assume that my Saffire was on it’s way to audio device heaven.

—————————-

——————————————————————-

I happened to be up, due to my insomnia, early Saturday morning and checked my RSS feeds one last time and saw that JesusFreke had updated his blog.  The new post contained the new JF Cupcake build.  I downloaded the new OS and loaded it up on my G1.  That kept me up even longer… oh well.  Also, I’ll admit, due to my error, I did “brick” my phone a few times attempting to move my apps to be run and stored on my SD card. That in itself was a nightmare. I did enjoy banging my head on my desk more than enough times trying to learn Terminal, but I have yet to figure it out and stopped for right now.

I recorded my first video this afternoon while my youngest cat, Lucy, drank water out of my hand in the bathroom (spoiled much?). The video app a.k.a Camcorder runs great for what I expected and uploads straight to YouTube.  The camera itself does not do that well in dull lighting, so I didn’t expect the video camera to be any better.  As long as I have decent light, I don’t think I’ll have any major issues using it.

I’m not promising a great or halfway decent review, but I may do something next week discussing about what I enjoy from Cupcake so far and tricks I’ve learned while messing around.  In the mean time, please check out a few of the reviews sites that are out there!

Android And Me – 50 Screenshots of Cupcake
Android And Me – Interview with JesusFreke
Android and Me – Beginners Guide For Rooting Your Android G1 To Install Cupcake
JesusFreke’s AndBlog – Download JF’s new Cupcake build!
Know Your Mobile – HTC Magic Review (The next Android phone to be released with Cupcake)

**More links will be added once the reviews start rolling out. Feel free to send a comment if you have a review that you want included.

——————————————————————-

—————————-

1)  Twitter’s Mobile Website

——————————–

Before I picked up my T-Mobile G1/Android phone, I had an HTC Excalibur/Dash and Twitter’s mobile site was my main mobile client.  I was using the $5.99 hack to access the ‘edge’ network and rarely used the wifi to allow the java clients to work, so I don’t have any clients I truly enjoyed on the Dash.  The mobile client works on nearly, if not all phones with some sort of browser access. It’s plain & simple and doesn’t contain normal Twitter features, such as reply and direct messages.  If you still want to use the website and your phone can allow it, use the regular twitter.com website.

—————————-

2)  Tweetie

——————————–

This is a new OS X application that is a huge success on the iPhone. I tried it for the first time right before posting Part 1 of my Twitter posts, and I wanted to spend a little time before talking about it. I’ll admit I didn’t spend enough time with it, because I don’t quite get it, yet.  Where I want icons/buttons for retweets, replies, direct messages…etc, they are hidden in the menu or you need to right-click on the post itself to see your options. If I’m using my laptop, I tend to forget to right click.  I’m going to keep plugging away with Tweetie and I will try and do another and better review if I continue to use it…

—————————-

3) Twidroid

——————————–

Twidroid, as well as the next application, Twit2Go, are apps that run on Android based phones.  Right now Twidroid is my favorite application to use on my G1.  Twidroid has smooth scrolling, your main modes of Twitter communication (timeline, replies, direct messages and refresh) are buttons at the bottom of you screen and to do your @replies, direct messages and retweets, there is a button that displays a menu on the right side of a tweet.  Twidroid also allows you to search, follow/unfollow, send pictures w/Twitpic and it also allows you to have your tweets updated at set intervals.

—————————-

4)  Twit2Go

——————————–

Twit2Go, in my opinion, is very similar to Twidroid. It’s faster in some spots, such as loading new tweets, but the scrolling smoothness isn’t all there that I like. It utilizes the tap/hold function to access tweet options and if there is a link in a tweet you want to access, you find that in that same tweet options menu that pops up.  One thing it has over Twidroid though, if you want to view a single person’s profile and tweets on Twit2Go, you don’t have a minimized viewing area that’s taken up by the direct message and unfollow button as well as back and refresh buttons.  I don’t use Twit2Go all the time, but I will turn to it for a change from Twidroid here and there.

—————————-

5) Loquacious (demo)

——————————–

I just re-downloaded this on my G1 and the one complaint I had originally for this program, even though it was the demo that I have been using, was the scrolling issues. Well, I just tried scrolling and I can tell you, that problem has been fixed. Loquacious has two pluses on top of other Android Twitter clients. The first plus is, Loquacious allows you to control multiple accounts without having to re-login and keeps all accounts/passwords stored for easy switching. The second plus is it allows you to filter the accounts that show up on your timeline. You are able to filter by the program/source of the tweeter, as well as let you choose which user’s tweets show up in your timeline. If you have users that only post the music they are listening to or YouTube videos they are viewing, you can make sure you don’t have to see those updates to the point of deleting them from your following list.

I know there are other programs out there and I’m willing to try them.  If you have a suggestion, leave me a comment and let me know.