The main driving factor for these smart devices in all of our pockets is the need to stay connected. You may think that it is the iPhone that caused it, but even if Apple didn’t release a phone, we would all still have some sort of device. The thing is, most of us do have an iPhone in our pockets, and a percentage of us also have an iPad, but it can’t quite fit into my pocket anyway.

One great thing that we all are benefiting from is the “apps”. We love our phones because of what it CAN do, not what it does. No matter if you have an Android phone, or an iPhone or something else, chances are that you have been to that phones’ “App Store” and either loaded up on free games or apps, or purchased them. This is what makes our experience with the device meaningful.

The Apple Side

Let’s look first at the Apple App Store. This thing is a monster, and really started it all in my opinion. As this blog posts, the Apple App Store has over 208,802 (numbers from appshopper.com) apps with over 3 billion downloads! That’s insane! Think of the app store if it was a brick and mortar store down the street. That would be a VERY successful business no matter what it sold! The cool thing is, it basically sells other peoples wares. Anybody can have an app in the App Store and that’s what has made it (and the developers) so successful.

Of those hundreds of thousands of apps, about 8,000 of them are made for the iPad. That’s still a pretty good number considering that the iPad has only been out for about two months! And the numbers are only going to rise. As of this weekend, Apple is claiming that 2 million (that’s 6 zeros!) iPads have sold in the US and internationally. Here is a small timeline from ipadinsider.com

• April 3rd – 300,000 WiFi iPads sold on launch day
• April 8th – 450,000 iPads Sold total 5 days after launch, 3.5 Million iPad Apps and 600,000 iBooks downloaded
• April 10th – 500,000 iPad Units sold in its first week
• May 3rd – 1,000,000 iPad Users in 28 days since launch
• May 31st– 2,000,000 iPad Owners after its International Launch

This mobile device seems to really be hitting home. I personally have one, as well as a few co-workers and our office has one, and the question I get asked the most is “do you like it and use it?” I can always answer with “yes!” It’s a pretty great device and if I wasn’t a “power user” then I think I could get away with JUST having an iPad. But what really makes it great? Again, it’s the content that it provides, aka, the apps!

Sure I use it for browsing the web (using the built in safari app) but I also use it to stay connected to social networks, and games are awesome on it with the large screen and multi-touch. Productivity apps certainly have their place too because it’s literally all at your fingertips.

The Android Side

Enough about the Apple side of things, let’s take a look at the second biggest heavy hitter (soon to be the first???), the Android Market. The Android Market has more recently started to grow by leaps and bounds. It is not quite as mature as the Apple market but with the amount of devices being offered with Android, (vs. Apple only putting iPhone OS on iPhones and iPads) Android is slowly becoming the next big thing.

Currently Google’s official numbers for the Android Market are over 38,000 but they don’t publish numbers often. A third party app tracker for android (androlib.com) has put the total app count closer to 60,000 apps but again, it’s not official until Google says it is. That is still a lot considering the popularity of Android devices has been slowly increasing over time. It didn’t hit as big as the iPhone but with ever evolving device capabilities, the competition is getting fierce. It is pretty much a one-to-one on the newest android phones to the iPhone in terms of capabilities and features. And in terms of tablets, the iPad isn’t the first tablet to the market, and will certainly not be the last. Android OS tablets are currently in the making and soon to be sold. When that happens, the same great experience from the Apple side will be on the Android side and another boom will happen within the market.

Android devices differ from iPhone in that, they come in all shapes and sizes. Most cellular companies offer multiple phones that have Android OS and each of those phones have different feature sets. They have more introductory types of phones that ring in at $100 or less yet is still considered a “smart phone” and they have the heavy hitters like the Google Nexus One or the Droid Incredible or HTC EVO. The heavy hitter phones are the devices that are striking directly at the heart of Apple by being “iPhone killers”. They are introduced to offer a replacement for the iPhone and I know several iPhone owners who are going to make the switch to android specifically because of the HTC EVO.

The End Result

Devices and OS’s aside, more and more if you see an app on the iPhone you can get the same one, or similar, on an Android device. This is a benefit for everyone! Developers, or Businesses who hire them, can get their app out there into an ever growing market. I still know a few people with a Motorola Razr or some other “dumb phone” but as technology increases, the smart phones of today will be the free phones of tomorrow and they will be in the hands of everyone. What is more beneficial, relying on a typical ad campaign for your services, or offering the customer a rich mobile experience to help drive them to your site, or business? In the future, I think that having an app will be the only way to survive in this market.

There were some bug fixes and flow changes but most excitingly, there are new specials added! What we did was look at all the feedback that came in about the game, and compiled a list of those plus all the original ideas that we had for the game when we were first building it. That is pretty much what was included in this update.

All the Specials On screen

During 1.0 development, it was a common thing to hear “let’s get this into the app store first dude” when people would come to me with ideas for the game. Despite what it may have looked like to them, I mentally logged those requests and worked away without telling anyone what I was doing so I could see their surprise when they got the beta builds (I’m sneaky like that).

Now to get to the meat of the stuff! New Specials were a fun way to keep players addicted to the game. Sure bombs, wilds and empty squares are fun, but why not have more stuff? In this update, one of the specials that we have added is Lightning.

Lightning is cool because if you use it on a corner (like the previous specials) it will pick a random color, and then use that color to change all the squares diagonally both ways, that one color. So you build a big X. Depending on where you use it, it pretty much just creates a bunch of squares! Sweet!

Another new special is the Laser. When used on a corner of a square, a laser will pick a random color and then shoot up, down, left and right and change all the blocks that it hits, that random color. This is really handy when you have an empty square that your trying to clear out but cannot make a rectangle on one side of it. (Like when it is the third square down and the first and second squares are different colors.)

Another special we added is more of an ability. You can now use Hints to help you find an available rectangle. You get 1 hint for every level up you do, and using them doesn’t cost you points like the mix does.

We also changed the UI (User Interface) a little so we could fit the hint button and counts on the menu. Along with UI changes, now the mix looks sweet (meaning you now know its mixing because I guess that was confusing before).

An additional feature that was added that is a UI change is the Level Meter. Now you can tell how much longer until you level up. Depending on your strategy, that will allow you to prepare for the next level.

Help on the new Bars

We have also added a Demo mode. This is where you learn the ropes of the game. Users are required to do the demo mode the first time they play. This will help with the confusion and people missing out on a fun and addicting game.

Demo Mode

Remember how you could leave your game and come back later to continue? Well now you can do the same thing! Well, I should define that a little bit I guess. Now you can leave a Challenge game, and start a Timed game and then close the app and it will remember your settings for both! You don’t have to lose your progress just because you want to try another mode.

The last thing we added is in the form of a Special. It is unlike the other specials. It is known as the Muncher and it will pick a random color and then start munching squares and turn them to the random color it selected. But watch out, those guys fall down the empty squares. They will go in random directions until they are full (which depends on how large of a rectangle you use to activate them).

We still have some great new features to add to the game, as well as other games and apps in general to do, but we always enjoy your feedback. Got an idea? Want to see something implemented? Shoot us an email or Check out the Quadrangle Page

Best iPhone apps at AppStoreHQ

Arduino has an Integrated Development Environment based on the same environment used in Processing. Arduino can be programmed in the IDE using a language like AVR C that is based on the same language used for Wiring. Today I will show you how to get started on the basic “hello world” of microcontrollers. A page provided by the people who make Arduino’s explains more about what it is and can be found here.

To get started you will need a few things:

• An Arduino board (or most any one of the many clones out there which I will discuss later)
• A compatible computer and OS (OSX Linux and Windows are supported)
• The IDE (downloaded from Arduino.cc)
• An LED (not all clones have a built in LED on pin 13)
• An appropriate resistor for your LED (resistor values can be calculated here more info below)
• A breadboard and some patch cables

Arduino is an open source hardware device which means that it is freely available for people to get the schematics of it and create their own flavor. For this blog, I am using a seeeduino which is an arduino made by SeeedStudio and has a few advantages over the traditional arduino, like extra analog I/O and more surface mount parts which makes for a lower profile. Arduino clones are usually designed for a specific purpose, like the Roboduino which has everything setup so you can plug in PWM cables for motor controls, or the Stickduino which is about the size of a pack of gum but has all the same power as a traditional arduino. Usually, all of these clones can use the IDE for development but sometimes the method of connecting the arduino may be different.

It is the special purpose clones that might not have an LED built in on pin 13 and for this you would need an external LED and resistor to follow along, but if you have one of the many clones that are the same form-factor as the original arduino, you should have an integrated LED somewhere on the board.

If you do not want to use another LED and you have one built into the arduino then you do not need to have a separate LED and resistor or breadboard and patch cables. If you have an LED built in and have a separate LED, resistor, breadboard and patch cables, then you can blink each one individually or at the same time using the same way that I will cover below. Having a breadboard and patches handy is also great for prototyping or just playing and is good to have around anyway. Most places that sell arduino’s will have breadboards, and some will have the male to male patch cables that make it easy to plug and play into the arduino and breadboard. A breadboard is basically like a Printed Circuit Board that you don’t have to solder anything with. It has a bunch of 0.1″ holes that are wired like a typical prototype PCB.

Once you have everything you need, it’s easy to get started. First let’s make sure you have the correct resistor for your LED. Visit led.linear1.org and let’s put in some numbers.

What I have is an LED that has a forward voltage of 1.7v and an output of 20ma so I plug these values into the calculator and it get back a 180ohm resistor. If you happen to have 180ohm resistors laying around, you can use those. The rule is a plus or minus 10% is still ok, And if you go with higher ohms it will just mean less power gets to the LED. So in my case, I have a 220 ohm resistor sitting here so I will use that since it is higher than what is recommended and will not burn out the LED but still allow enough power to get to the LED to light it up.

Now we need to setup everything. If you are using the integrated LED then you are ready to go and can skip to the code section. For the external LED you will need to plug some things into your breadboard. First, let’s plug in the LED. I have mine put against the middle rail so I have plenty of access to the power and ground rails if i need to use them. And so I can put things in front of it, namely things that will come off the breadboard and connect to the arduino itself.

Next I will plug in my resistor to two spots on the breadboard, but one of those spots will be one of the lanes that a leg of the LED is plugged into. This is so we can make sure the power goes through the resistor at some point on its way through the LED. You can select either leg of the LED to connect the resistor, just so it is on one and only one of the legs. Otherwise we will not actually be limiting power.

Now we will plug in our power and ground into our breadboard. We will need to know which leg of the LED is the anode (+ or power) and which is the cathode (- or ground). The anode is usually the longer leg of the LED, also on some round LED’s the cathode side is flat on the body. For my setup, I will be putting the resistor on the cathode, for no specific reason. Now I will plug the supply wire into the lane the anode is on and I will plug in the ground wire to the lane the resistor is plugged into and the LED is NOT plugged into.

Now we can plug in the wires to the arduino. I will use the GND pin just past pin 13 on the right side of the Arduino and plug in the supply line to the digital pin 3 marked with a PWM on it. The integrated LED is usually connected to pin 13 and we will utilize that when we get to coding.

Next go to your computer and open the arduino IDE. I am using version 0015 which is current as of this writing. In the IDE, navigate to File > Sketchbook > Examples > Digital and select Blink. This will open up the blink “sketch” so we can upload it to our arduino. In the arduino IDE, a “sketch” is what we call the program that will be uploaded to the arduino. Next plug your USB cable into the arduino and then the computer so it can be found by the IDE. Once we have it found, we will need to setup the IDE to connect to it. Click Tools > Board and select the arduino you are using. Diecimila should be good if you do not know or have a standard arduino. Next click again on Tools > Serial Port and select the serial port that is created by the software on the arduino. If you do not know then you can unplug the arduino and click on Tools > Serial Port and see what is there, then plug it back in and click on Tools > Arduino and select the new one that shows up. Once everything is setup, your IDE should look something like this:

With the arduino plugged in and the IDE ready to go, we can upload the sketch. This is done by clicking the “Upload to I/O board” button or going to File > Upload to I/O Board or you can use the keyboard shortcut, which differs based on your operating system. What this will do is compile the sketch and then upload the compiled version to the arduino. Once there, you should see the LED on your arduino blink. But, if you do not have an LED integrated, your board might just look like it does when it is not plugged in. To solve this, we will change a little bit of the code.

First lets talk a little bit about what the code does:

int ledPin = 13;

this just sets up a variable to make it easier for us to know later in the code, which pin is the LED pin.

pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);

This is how we tell the arduino that we are going to be writing to “ledPin” rather than reading from it.

digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);

This is how we actually write to the “ledPin” and control the LED. Note that this line is used twice, once it sets HIGH and once LOW. Basically it is saying HIGH sends power (5v) to the pin or you can think of it as turns it on. Sending LOW sets the power to 0v, or turns it off. HIGH and LOW are reserved words for the IDE and do not have to be defined.

delay(1000);

this tells the arduino that it needs to wait 1000 milliseconds, or 1 second, before going on.

Now we need to add code to make our external LED turn on. Lets first define a pin so we don’t have to use just the number later in the code. Under the “int ledPin = 13;” line lets add a new int and call it something useful like redLedPin and set it to our pin number, which should be 3. It will be the pin number you plugged the supply wire into. Next, we need to set our pin to output, so under the current pinMode call, lets add one that sets our new redLedPin to output. Now we are ready to make the LED turn on and off however we want. I am going to make my redLedPin turn on when the other LED is off. So now my code looks like this:

We can upload our code to the arduino and test it out. On my setup, I have pin 13 turning off when pin 3 turns on, and pin 13 turns on when pin 3 turns off. That is just the beginning. Now you can add all sorts of stuff to your code, or to your breadboard and have all sorts of fun. Some examples may be adding a button to make the LED’s turn on, or adding a potentiometer to adjust the fading of the LED. But the possibilities go on and on and on. Comment or email if you have questions.

Of course I am talking about electronics, and more specifically, micro-controllers. A project I am working on needs to take a COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) item and do special things with it. What am I working with? It’s a temperature controller. Sure, you can see the temperature on the unit itself, but I want to see that in a database. That database is going to reside on a web server somewhere. And the only access I will have to that web server and database is on the computer on the other side of the room.

The answer? You got me. Just kidding, it’s micro-controllers. I am going to use an arduino (or a clone) and then use and xbee radio (on the zigbee protocol) and communicate the data to a similar setup that connects directly to the computer. Ahh, now you get it, resistance comes in the form of adversity and complications in moving the data. Nope, the resistance comes in the form of a set current being passed to the already installed temperature probe. That probe is placed wherever we need temperature, in this case a vat of beer, and the voltage returned from the probe is a value derived through the resistance. So I pass 5 volts in and depending on the temperature, I will get somewhere around 1.335 volts back with something like .0049 volt increments per degree.

That’s just an estimate. How did I find all this? Well, first you take the COTS temperature controller and google it. That gives you its good max and min ranges. But then you have to google the temperature probe as well because it can (and in this case does) have different ranges. Next you hook up a DMM (Digital Multi-Meter) and see what those voltages are because the white papers do not specifically list them. In our case its 0 – 5 volts which is excellent because that’s the exact range our micro-controller runs on.

In the googled white papers I got a list of the resistance, in ohms, returned by the probe for each degree from -40 to 100C but I don’t need the ohm, I need the voltage because I can’t measure resistance on the micro-controller. So now I have to either formulate the voltage based on known max and min values, or just set up a hash table. The first way sounds better and also more precise. The second way, well to me just seems like a cop out.

Currently I am working on making that first way happen. I have most of it ready to go but need to test with multiple temperature units, since we will be watching more than one vat of beer. So hopefully soon we can check out the current temps for our favorite beer at the local brewery and we can do it through a web interface from anywhere in the world!