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.

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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.

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1)  Twitter’s Mobile Website

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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.

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2)  Tweetie

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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…

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3) Twidroid

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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.

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4)  Twit2Go

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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.

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5) Loquacious (demo)

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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.

Twitter and TwitterFox

1)  Twitter’s Website
Where every user starts and where I come to almost daily to update my follower’s list and add saved searches to my sidebar. One thing I’ve found out while creating multi-accounts and changing the themes and backgrounds, if you change the background from the default front page, you can get the search in your sidebar.  If not, you’re scrolling to the bottom to find the search link.

2)  Twitterfox
If you use Firefox, this is a must have. It chills out in your status bar, displays little pop-ups of new messages and it lets you use multiple twitter accounts.  Once you add your accounts to Twitterfox, to change the names, click on your current username in the upper right hand corner and it’ll show your usernames.

Twhirl

3)  Thwirl
Before using Seesmic Desktop, I used Twhirl and I still do depending on what I feel like using.  Both of which run on the Adobe Air. Twhirl is a multi-user application that lets you move each user window to it’s own place on the screen. It does support Growl for OS X or use it’s own bubble pop up gimmick.

Seesmic Desktop

4)  Seesmic Desktop
I just started using Seesmic about two weeks ago and right now it is my favorite application at the moment.  If you’ve used Tweetdeck, it’s very similar to that, but it doesn’t have the capital letter (ex. I) and then a spacebar issue where the space won’t happen after a capital letter, such as ‘I,’ but maybe it’s just an issue on my end). Seesmic supports multiple user names that can show up in your main timeline, or you can opt certain ones out.  There are collapsible menus for your accounts, custom user lists (Tweetdeck also has this) and searches.  You can max the Seesmic window and custom tweet updates, such as @replies, direct messages and custom searches.  You’re able to update your status to your designated username with a drop down menu, but I am finding issues doing retweet and @replies.  Even if I try and retweet or reply, I’ve been running into the problem of the username changing from the one I had it set on to another open username.  I’ve sent out quite a few tweets on the wrong accounts, but the delete function is always a great thing to have just in case!

That’s it for now. Next week, I’ll talk about the Twitter Apps I use on mobile devices and the new OS X application Tweetie, by Atebits.  I’ve only tested Tweetie for a few minutes before writing this up and I need to get used to it’s features and where to find everything that’s hiding in their menu items. It’s pretty confusing for me at the moment, maybe it’s due to the fact I’ve never used the iPhone app before.

I’m under the covers on a bright Sunday morning. The fan is on because I can’t sleep, or work, if a fan isn’t on. However, when I’m at home working, I don’t need a fan on, unless IT’s warm in my studio/computer room.

I couldn’t take it anymore and I’m sitting up with the covers off of my head. There are two reasons for this! I was over being cold and IT’s hard typing on the phone to do an update when the covers are messing up my ability to type.

This is the first blog update I’ve done on my Android G1. I’m using an app/program called PostBot. A couple things that need changing for PostBot: IT needs automatic punctuation and automatic capitalization when typing ‘I’ or the start of a new sentence. A spell checker could be handy, too.

Being up for an hour after sleeping for six really takes a toll on your body. I’m going back to dream land.