david jorgensen

Calendar Widget 1.5

David Jørgensen — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:33:30 GMT

Been working really hard lately on the Calendar Widget.

Just to give you an idea of what is happening, here's the changelog.

NEW: Added Froyo support
NEW: Added support for multiple calendars (Google Calendars only tho)
NEW: Added support for 12 hour clock
NEW: Entirely new preference screen
NEW: Now support danish localization (you want to help with more languages?)
Changed: Removed HTC specific onClick support (may add onClick support later)
Changed: General clean up in code
Bugfix: Current week was showing wrong week

Have fun!

CalendarWidget bugtracking

David Jørgensen — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 08:50:47 GMT

Hello all..

I know I have been laying low for quite a while, but I am hoping to get back into the project soon.
Because of that I have just set up a bugtracking system, which should help me keep track of the progress.

Of course, I would like you to report any bugs, features and enhancements you'd like to see as well.

The bugtracking system is located right here

Username: widgetuser
Password: 12345

If you are reporting a bug, please provide me with as much information as possible, so it'll be easy for me to recreate the bug, and hence faster to fix.

Also, this bugtracking system may be closed down if I find a better system somewhere else. If you know a better system or just an easier, more efficient system, please let me know.

Calendar Widget Issues

David Jørgensen — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:55:11 GMT

First of all I would like to apologize for the lack of updates lately. Specifically I needed some time away from development since I grew tired of it. I am still not completely back on track yet, but a friend of mine have agreed to help me with development. Perhaps together we can push out some updates soon.

A couple of issues have come up on the Calendar Widget, and I will just try to mention a few of them here.

After a certain amount of time the widget will stop updating (mine did it after 12 or so days)
I have yet to find a solution, but until I do, I suggest you remove the widget and add it again

Here is the top list of things that are on the top priority TODO list

Widget stops updating after a certain amount of time (above issue)
Enable multiple calendar support
Enable support for Outlook calendar

Android and Google Calendar Widget

David Jørgensen — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:44:09 GMT

After a way too long period of silence on my website, I can now return to tell you that I've begun working on Googles mobile platform: Android. It all started with me getting quite interested in the new HTC Android smartphones. And of course, being a gadget guy I, of course, had to have one. This also seemed like a good alternative to the infamous iphone.

Well, to be honest, the iphone is not really an alternative, since I could never dream about getting myself an iphone. yuck. :-)

Anyways, I quickly got into the Android platform (and hence Java), and decided to create a calendar widget. This decision was taken after hearing lots of people not fully satisfied with the calendar widget that HTC had delivered (which only displays 1 event).

After little over a week in development I am now almost at a point where I feel it's *almost* ready for an "official" release, and below is a screenshot of how the widget looks right now. EDIT: The screenshot below is from the first official release (v1.0) on Android Market.

I am planning to redo the design, however I need a better design before doing that.. ;-)

Google Calendar Widget v1.0

I'll let you know once it's released to the public, but until then I will do a small changelog.

It's released. Go get it.. :)

UPDATE
Version 1.0 (11-10-09)

Released on Android Market. Have fun!

Version 0.993 (30-09-09)

Changed: The way the events are displayed. Font and size.

Version 0.99 (28-09-09)

NEW: Added EULA
NEW: Added ability to view weeknumber instead of weekday

Version 0.98 (19-09-09)

Bugfix: Accidentally set the time to 00:00 on events happening right now

Version 0.97 (13-09-09)

Changed: Agenda list from current day till current week agenda
Changed: Some functionality in the new API making it more efficient and fast
Changed: Allday events will have their time shown as 00:00

Version 0.96 (08-09-09)

Changed: Opening the HTC calendar is now done by "clicking" on the current date (left side of the widget)
NEW: Now able to opens the HTC calendar on todays agenda list by "clicking" on the events (right side of the widget)

Version 0.95 (08-09-09)

NEW: Now opens the HTC calendar (month view) when "clicking" on the widget. This will most likely only work if you have an HTC phone (not testet on other phones)

Version 0.94 (05-09-09)

Added: More update intervals (15/30 minutes). NOTICE: Selecting an update rate below 1 hour *may* cause an increase in battery usage (battery usage not tested)
Changed: Added a zero to dates (in the event list) on dates before the 10th

Version 0.93 (05-09-09)

NEW: Added completely new CalendarAPI. This API gets it's data from the built in Calendar (if one exists) instead of going online and getting them through HTTP. NOTICE: The actual content provider in Android is still "private", so the API may break when the next version of Android arrives (should be fixable though should it happen)
NEW: Automatically determines which API to use. If you have the internal calendar, that calendar will get priority. It will ask you for login credentials if using HTTP API

Version 0.90 (not released to test)

Bugfix: Widget would not update properly after a restart (Thanks Espen)

Version 0.89 (not released to test)

Changed: Functionality regarding the network availability check

Version 0.87 (31-08-09)

Bugfix: Issues with the event comparer caused it to sort wrongly (Thanks to m.klinge for helping me out)

Version 0.85 (31-08-09)

Added: Network availability check. Should prevent the HTTP connection from timing out, causing the widget to override itself with "No events coming up.."
Bugfix: Sorting was wrong when dealing with recurring events
Changed: When adding the widget the first time, the "current date" is updated right away, instead of waiting for the events to finish

Version 0.80

Initial release to test

USA Day 18: Bryce Canyon National Park

David Jørgensen — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:53:05 GMT

Moab to Bryce Canyon (~265 miles)
Today we were heading for Bryce Canyon. I had absolutely no expectations about this place, but what an awesome surprise. More on that later.

The trip to Bryce Canyon was like the previous many many miles we had gone. It didn't feel long because of all the landscape changes taken place, and the weather was great.

In the beginning of the trip today we were mainly going on flat desert while you could spot mountains in the horizon. Then we went through some.. .. hmm.. i would not call them canyons but lets just say there were rocks on both sides of the road. Hard to describe the actual scenarie, so I will provide pictures.

Rocks

After 100 or so miles we came to Dixie National Forest. Instead of desert or rocks on each side of the road, we now had trees. The instant change in landscape happens so fast, you just think to yourself: "What the hell was that?"

View over the forest

This is one of the things I found really interesting about USA. The constant change of landscape. How fast it goes from rocks to big big forests to desert, to forest again. I think this is also the reason that these long trips that we have been on, never seemed so long and most certainly were never boring (apart from one time).

Anyways, Dixie National Forest is situated partly on a small mountain, and of course we had to go over the mountain. Not a problem. I like these wonderful trips through forests while having a kickass view. So we went all the way up the mountain, where we nearly reached 10.000 feet, then it went a bit down again, a little up again, and suddenly. A MAJOR change of scenarie. This one happened even faster than the one earlier today.

Canyon

Suddenly we were in the middle of a canyon (actually above it). It wasn't Bryce Canyon, but man, the view from up here was just amazing.

Finally we got to Bryce Canyon, and yet again, what an amazing and surprising sight. This was nothing like I could ever have imagined: "pfft. another canyon. just another hole in the ground". Boy was I wrong, and a good thing that was.

Bryce Canyon: Sunset Point

Bryce Canyon is filled with hiking trails, and if I ever get the chance to get back here again, I will make sure I have the boots and the time to go through them all here. It's such an amazing place. It's soo quiet in the canyon. So deserted. So desolate. So awesome.

We took one of the shorter trails, because this was a place I could not go to without seeing how it was like at the bottom. We went down from Sunset Point, and took the around 1.3 mile hiking trip. It took about an hour, and it was GREAT. Mia did great. She did not complain (that much), but I just knew she would be missing something if she did not come with me down there. And I was successful in talking her into it. I think she's happy I did convince her.

Down we go

We also went to some of the other view points located in Bryce Canyon, but neither of us needed to go on any other hiking trips, and the sun was beginning to set. It was time to find our hotel and relax a bit.

USA Day 17: Monument Valley

David Jørgensen — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:57:22 GMT

Page to Moab valley (~300 miles)
Today we were heading to a place that I was really looking forward to. Monument Valley. Made famous by the old western movies with John Wayne. It is said to be the most photographed place in the US.

The trip today was going to be long, as there were over 100 miles to the place we originally were going to sleep last night. So we were up early to get on the road.

There are over 100 indian families living in the valley right now, and it is quite an interesting place. It is owned and driven by the indians themselves. From the viewpoint on the top you can see a lot of the valley, but you are allowed to go down there, either with your own car or by paying for a ride in one of the jeeps taking tourists down there.

Monument Valley

We were warned before hand to not go down there in our own car, as the roads down there are not paved. But seeing the roads from above it didn't look that bumpy or anything. So naturally we decided to take the 17 mile drive in our own car.

Monument Valley

This has got to be the most crazy thing we have done so far. The roads here are so crazy you cannot believe it. These 17 miles were the ones on our entire trip that took the longest. From we started our "journey" down there and got back up again, almost 3 hours had passed. I have never driven a car so carefully as I did on this rather short "journey". Major holes everywhere forcing you to zig-zag your way through the valley, and you are forced to drive on the other side of the road to get past some places. 3 hours of sitting almost on the dashboard in the search for holes that would not cause damage to the bottom of the car. 3 hours zig-zagging in 120°F. I did actually hit the bottom of the car once or twice, but dont tell anyone.

Rain God Mesa

Since it was so hot, we decided to take the top off before driving down there. A bit of advice here. If you are driving a convertible KEEP THE TOP ON ALL THE TIME if you decided to go down into the valley. We quickly realized that dust from other vehicles quickly gave the inside of the car a layer of dust, so we put on the top again. I have never seen a white car so filled with dust as when we got back up again from the valley. We had to wash the car before returning it, or else they would know we'd been in the valley. haha.

A rock

We finally came back up from the valley. As I mentioned nearly 3 hours had passed driving those 17 miles. Sitting on the dashboard scouting for holes, driving 1 - 5 miles in hour and cramming so hard on the steering wheel that my hands were numb. I needed to rest, so we went into the gift shop (of course there is a gift shop) and bought a little gift.

We took the top off as we were heading out. We figured that the wind would probably take most of the dust inside the car, and then we'd find a carwash to take care of the outside of the car.

Parrot perhaps?

We moved on and as usual the road was long but it was also very inspirational when it comes to the view. Yesterday my father told me that there should be a place called "Hole in the Rock" which is supposed to be a danish guy deciding to blow a hole in a rock to build a house. When he got kids, he blew more holes in the rock to build rooms for them. My father was looking for it, because he believed it was near where we were at the time (Page).

As if by accident we actually found this place. Unfortunately it was closed, so we could not go in and visit the family. That was really too bad, but it did look nice from the outside.

Hole 'n the Rock

Moab was unfortunately a place we did not have a lot of time in. After around 9 hours in the car, we were beat. We could not do anything, and just needed to relax. I have no idea what is in Moab, but I know there is horse back rides and such. Because of our changed plans of going to Monument Valley today instead of yesterday, Moab unfortunately turned out to be a place to sleep. Nothing more, nothing less. However, neither of us had regrets for what we did. Monument Valley was fantastic. Too bad we were too late for Hole in the Rock.

Continue to day 18

USA Day 16: Page

David Jørgensen — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 04:13:41 GMT

Grand Canyon to Page (~180 miles)
We started the day by checking out the rest of Grand Canyon. We had only seen the west side (coming in from the south). Today we were going to check all the viewpoints on the eastern side as we were heading out the east entrance.

There is really not much I can say, so I will just leave you with some pictures and some facts.

Canyon

Grand Canyon National Park was founded in 1919, and some say that it is perhaps one of the most amazing beautiful natural wonders of the world. It was first occupied by the Indian Anasazi tribe, and is around 277 miles long.

The Canyon is generally 1 mile deep and varies from 0.1 mile to 18 miles across.

Yup. That's me.

Oh, we did come across a viewpoint where a watch tower is located. The downstairs is (of course) a gift shop, but the tower itself is actually, well, a watchtower. The inside of the tower is covered with beautiful paintings made by the original indians.

Just amazing

Leaving Grand Canyon we more or less accidentally found out that the place we were going to sleep was 100 miles from the place we originally we going to. The travel agent did tell me that some of the hotels we had to stay in were booked, so she booked rooms at other hotels. We were lucky to find out in time as the trip would have been 200 miles longer.

The original place we were going to was "Monument Valley", which is about 30 miles from the place we were going to sleep. Kayenta. From Kayenta there were 100 miles to our relocated hotel. So if we were to stick to the original plan we had to go 207 miles east to Monument Valley and then 130 miles back to the hotel in Page.

The Dam

That may not have been a big deal if not we were going all the way back past Monument Valley the day after. So we decided to skip Monument Valley today and go directly to Page. Turns out that Page has this very big dam, which we went to and it was really nice. There were also some very nice viewpoints along the Colorado river. Btw. Just a wee bit further down the river is where the Hoover dam is located.

View down river

The entire way to Page is actually Indian land. It's more or less owned by the Navajo Indians. All along the road to Page there are small shops where they sell beautifully made pottery and necklaces. Very pretty. And they are cheap. Do not hustle with the price. I believe that when rich cultures as ourselves, we must not hustle with those who have a lot less. It is our duty to take it up the ass and pay up. And with the prices they had here it was almost like they themselves were taking it up the ass. Give them what they ask. They need the money more than you do. That goes for the Indians as well as every other culture in the world that lives in a country where they do not have the kind of money and opportunities as you have at home. Wow, now you just got a lecture as well. haha. ;-)

On the way to Page we also passed "The Painted Desert". As you might imagine the desert got its name from all the different colors there are along the way. It was quite a sight.

Painted Desert

Continue to day 17

USA Day 15: Grand Canyon

David Jørgensen — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:22:01 GMT

Phoenix / Scottsdale to Grand Canyon (~230 miles)
A big day today. Grand Canyon was the target destination. With a quick stop in Sedona. I haven't heard much of Sedona other than it should be a small town surrounded by red rocks. Sounds awesome right? ;)

But first. The sandstorm and winds from yesterday left it's marking on this beautiful morning, as the tree right outside on the parking lot got one of it's big big branches broken off. Windy indeed.

Branch broken off the tree

On the way to Sedona we saw a lot of those big big cacti. They are actually named Saguaro (Sa WA Ro). I mentioned them a little yesterday but here are some more facts. These reside in the deserts of Arizona, California and Mexico. They can grow to a height of 17 meters, and can live to be two hundred years old. Its fruit (yes.. fruit on a cactus) has been used as medicin by local indians for centuries and its flower is the state flower of Arizona.

Sedona looks like something out of a movie. Indeed a movie was shot here in the town that was founded in 1902. The surrounding red rocks are said to change colors as the sun rises and sets. We were not able to check whether or not this was true since we had a lot of miles to go today.

It was however, filled with tourists who wanted to go on jeep rides, which made it somewhat sad. Too many people for such a small town. We went into some of the tourist traps (aka. gift shops) and got a little something for a little man whose birthday we missed.

Sculpture in Sedona

On we went and a couple of hours later we found ourselves at one of the biggest holes in the ground in the world. If not *the* biggest. This hole is huge and it is actually owned by the indians. I just learned prior to our trip to the USA that there had been a flooding in Grand Canyon wiping out two indian camps down in the canyon. Very sad to hear such news. I hope they do recover from this unfortunate event.

Hole in the ground

Amazing place. This is definately a place I will be returning to at some point.

Continue to day 16

USA Day 14: Phoenix / Scottsdale

David Jørgensen — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:55:21 GMT

Palm Springs to Phoenix / Scottsdale (~267 miles)
Today we were going on an even further trip. A really long trip, that was going to take around 5 hours in the car. Today was also the day we were heading into the state of Arizona. Our third state. Arizona has these kickass cactus things. You know the ones I am talking about. It is the ones from all the western movies and cartoons. The cactus that looks like humans.

Cactus

Apparently these cactusses (or is it cacti?) are protected by law, and they can get far over a century old. The first many years they only grow 1-2cm a year, and after they reach a couple of meters, they suddenly grow 10-20 cm a year. Fascinating.

We finally got to Phoenix when this blizzard appeared out of nowhere. A sudden sandstorm. It was wild. We did not do much here since the storm was totally crazy. We stayed in and today ended up being a relaxing day as well.

It got very windy

Continue to day 15

USA Day 13: Palm Springs

David Jørgensen — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:31:47 GMT

Los Angeles to Palm Springs (~147 miles)
Today we had a semi-long way to go. Palm Springs was the location we were heading and we would leave the big city and go out into the desert.

After yesterdays very long day in L.A. and Universal Studios, we were both so tired and all we wanted to do was to relax. However, first we needed to drive the 147 miles to Palm Springs.

Some Windmills on the way

Last week we went in and bought a couple of cd's for some entertainment on the road. I chose "Riding with the King" with Eric Clapton and B.B. King. Mia selected Bon Jovi's Crush CD. Today we were both tired of these cd's and we went into wallmart to shop and we found two more cd's. Well, I did anyways. Guns'n'roses "Greatest Hits" and Crash Test Dummies "Greatest Hits". You can always hear Guns, and I seriously needed some guitar rock. :-)

Anyways, we got to Palm Springs and located our hotel. Did not take us long to locate the pool, and just kick back and relax. I noticed a flyer in the lobby saying that "The Dark Knight" was running in town. In I-MAX format. Mia was with me and we went to see Batman on what I believe to be one of the biggest screens I have ever seen a movie on. The scenes in the movie where Batman is flying or the scenic views over the city made you feel like you were the one flying. It was just a big big screen.

The movie was even better the second time around. :-)

Continue to day 14