Noulakaz
The blog of Avinash, Christina, Anya and Kyan Meetoo.
It seems that Waka Waka has been censored in Mauritius and has not (yet) been shown on the local TV. I want to be subversive today: here is the incredibly popular (and commercial) Waka Waka for you:
Don’t watch it a lot though. Remember, it has probably been censored… Must be for a good reason. Maybe because Shakira sings badly, cannot dance and, dare I say, looks fat.
I have just released my first ever Android application. It’s called World Cup 2010 TV Guide and is available in the Android Market (do a search for World Cup 2010 TV Guide or, better, just scan the above QR code.)
I got my Google Nexus One exactly two weeks ago (Thanks Alam and Dassen!) and I became a fan from the very first sight. The hardware is fantastic and the operating system, Android, which I upgraded to the latest 2.2 version on the same day, is excellent. It is built on Linux and provided all the features one can dream on a smartphone. Let’s just say that it easily matches whatever exists elsewhere…
Android smartphones are programmed using Java using the Eclipse IDE. As you all know, I am somewhat of a Java buff myself and I love Eclipse and all the Java opensource ecosystem. The application itself is not very complex yet I had to spent a few days to understand how Android deals with user interface layouts (DroidDraw helped a lot) as well as with the built-in SQLite database.
Interestingly, I never felt constrained even though I was programming for a phone instead of a PC. The Nexus One is really a powerful device. And it runs Java so well that, now, I know why I spent all those years reading Java books and programming for fun up to 2am :-)
What next?
Who knows? When I bought my Amiga 500 around 1988, it came in a box on which was written “Your Imagination is the Limit” and this really made me understand how malleable and powerful a computer can be when programmed correctly. I am really looking forward to learn how to develop more powerful Android application.
In the meantime, download “World Cup 2010 TV Guide” in the Android Market. And have fun with it!
What do you generally do with your old mobile phones?
It seems that people now change their mobile phones every 18 months in the US. And, as far as I can observed, we do the same thing here in Mauritius. This implies that most of us must have 1-2 old mobile phones in a cupboard somewhere. In many countries, there are myriads of organisations which collect old mobile phones to give them to poor people. Does anyone know if there are similar organisations in Mauritius?
As for the mobile phones which are broken (or really outdated), the solution in recycling. But, once more, living in Mauritius provides no joy: I’ve just noticed that we do not have any Nokia Care points in our island (unlike Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Tunisia.) Hey, BAI people, instead of wasting time and money on buying cars that cannot be used on our roads, build a Nokia Care point. It’s better for the environment.