Barcode Box is a “toy” application I wrote a few weeks back, at the start of my UROP. It’s a toy in the sense that I wrote it as a means to figure out Android development – I hadn’t expected so many people to find it useful. A fair amount of positive feedback and suggestions were received and so earlier this week I implemented a few of them. QR code is at the end.

Preview

Features

• Scan barcodes in to a notepad style list
• Add annotations to scanned barcodes
• Launch the appropriate application for URI barcodes (i.e. web addresses open in the browser, market links open in the market)
• Share scanned barcodes by regenerating the barcode on screen for others to scan
• Create barcodes from user entered data

New in 1.1/1.1.1 (1.1.1 is a bugfix)

• Export barcodes to CSV on microSD card, including notes
• Export barcodes as CSV by email, including notes
• Rapid scanning mode – no confirmation after each scan, just keep scanning and press back when done
• Annotations show below the barcode data in the list view
• User interface improvements

Unfortunately due to a loss of signing keys, version 1.1 and 1.1.1 had to be released as a new application under the name “Barcode Box 2″.

QR code

After my last post (Cambridge Semi Orbital Trip 22) I decided to post less frequently, instead logging several tracks at a time. I hadn’t yet done enough to trigger a post when the Android 2.1 update for the HTC Hero came out. The update came in two stages – a part one which added a few update features to Android 1.5. I was running the first part of the update but didn’t yet have the second when I recorded North West Cambridge 34, and on having done so found that MyTracks was no longer able to get a GPS fix, thus resulting in North West Cambridge 34 having a recorded distance of 0km. The second part of the update – putting Android 2.1 on the phone – had arrived by the time I recorded Cambridge Semi Orbital 25. With Android 2.1, GPS was working once again but there was a new problem – detailed description is here: http://code.google.com/p/mytracks/issues/detail?id=100

The short story is that as a result of the upgrade to Android 2.1 I couldn’t upload tracks to Google (at least not without uninstalling MyTracks and losing the tracks I wanted to upload). The comment I posted just now on the issue 100 thread explains my workaround:

I’ve just revisited this issue – I had just been recording tracks and leaving them on the phone (I decided that delaying uploading until a fix was found was more desirable than losing the tracks I’d recorded before knowing of the issue).

Anyway, I figured out a workaround just now, for anyone who is still waiting for a solution;

1. Download the 1.0.14 .apk here: http://code.google.com/p/mytracks/downloads/detail?name=MyTracks.1.0.14.apk&can=2&q=
2. From a machine with the Android Debug Bridge installed, run:
adb install -r MyTracks.1.0.14.apk
Option -r preserves your saved tracks
3. Wait a moment or two and when the notification appears, choose the option to upgrade to the current latest version, 1.0.15.

The process of reinstalling it triggers the correct permissions to be set for the application and you can once again upload tracks. I imagine just reinstalling to 1.0.15 from the .apk would work fine too but I couldn’t easily find a copy.

Hope this helps!

As a result I’ve just uploaded a few recordings that had been waiting on the phone, so here are four tracks that have been waiting on Docs/Maps for a while and seven tracks that have just been uploaded:

Cambridge Semi Orbital 23 – Mon Jul 19 07:05 – 24.28km/h
North West Cambridge 33 – Mon Jul 19 18:51 – 26.36km/h
Cambridge Semi Orbital 24 – Wed Jul 21 18:23 – 26.38km/h
North West Cambridge 34 – Mon Jul 26 19:11 – 0km/h – this was the part one phone update which stopped GPS working – based on the known typical distance (19km) and estimated moving time (from knowing the total time and an estimate of stationary time as 1m32s, i.e. 40m moving time), this was 28.5km/h
Cambridge Semi Orbital 25 – Sun Aug 01 15:40 – 27.69km/h – this was the point from which uploading to Google Docs/Maps failed
Cambridge Semi Orbital 26 – Tue Aug 03 17:22 – 26.62km/h
North West Cambridge 35 – Tue Aug 10 19:21 – 29.57km/h – this is a new personal best on any logged route
North West Cambridge 36 – Wed Aug 11 17:48 – 25.84km/h
North West Cambridge 37 – Sun Aug 15 18:24 – 27.62km/h
Cambridge Semi Orbital 27 – Tue Aug 17 17:34 – 27.1km/h – very wet from Landbeach onwards – so much so the roads were starting to flood and I was surprised my phone was still working by the end
Cambridge Semi Orbital 28 – Fri Aug 20 17:11 – 27.11km/h – very strong headwind from Waterbeach onwards (strongest I can recall), also phone seemed to stop recording from Fen Ditton onwards

I haven’t been able to cycle as frequently as I’d hoped this summer as I find myself putting extra time into work (may have been a little ambitious with the project).

Having been without sunglasses since Thursday 8th, I was fed up of not cycling (get something in both eyes and being unable to see isn’t good when moving quickly and over longer distances is pretty likely to happy without eye protection – spending evenings at a computer isn’t that great when you’ve already spent the whole day working at one) and ordered a replacement pair (dhb triple lens, exactly the same as the previous pair which broke due to poor design – it was either those or Tifosi Optics Dolomite, which cost twice as much and weren’t in stock so would mean waiting – but look to be a better design) on Thursday evening. They arrived yesterday morning – though my family are here for the weekend so the first opportunity I’ve had to get out on my bike since was by getting up early this morning. Annoyingly, MyTracks has done its trick of failing to record the first part of the route. Fortunately, I can use the fact that I left at 6:58 and finished at 8:29 to deduce the total time was 1h31m (that bit is consistent with MyTracks). The moving time of 1h30m according to MyTracks is incorrect because I always stop at Cottenham for 5 minutes. Add two minutes for traffic lights as I went out on Madingley Road – they were all against me – so moving time was 1h26m. Using the known distance of this route – 38km – I then calculate my average moving speed to be 26.51km/h. Not surprising considering a) I haven’t done much real cycling for 12 days b) it was pretty early and I hadn’t eaten and c) there was a nasty headwind coming back along Clayhithe/Horningsea Road/Ditton Lane.

Route:

View Larger Map

Here is the Google Doc with all the stats:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?
key=0At0EKwdiLZmYdFg4Mk9fdHltdWlGeWpQTHMzM3RjU3c&hl=en_GB

More than anything else this was an experiment in how suitable cycling for utility is over greater distances than is typical in Cambridge. I’m home for the weekend, having got the train to Stoke (On-Trent) on Friday afternoon (I’m only typing this now as I’ve been pretty busy). In need of some new trainers (the old pair had split, presumably from too much pressure on the front from cycling), I cycled straight from the station to Newcastle (Under-Lyme) and bought a new pair (which will hopefully last longer than six months). That bit in itself was surprisingly quick, though given how short it was I didn’t bother recording the route/any stats. The bit of interest here is that I then cycled from Newcastle to home in Wetley Rocks, a journey which (when I was at school in Newcastle) took 40-50 minutes by bus and 30 minutes by car – so I was very keen to see how quickly it can be done by bike.

Surprisingly, I did it in a total time of 39m37s (moving for 35m24s), despite the hill climb that is Ash Bank; just look at the elevation gain of 233m – greater than that of the Cambridge Semi Oribal route, which is about three times the distance – to see that it’s reasonably hilly. This is a good result for cycling and really makes me wonder why it isn’t more popular just for utility – I’ll certainly be cycling to the railway station this afternoon.

Route:

View Newcastle to Wetley Rocks in a larger map

Here is the Google Doc with all the stats:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?
key=0At0EKwdiLZmYdFg4Mk9fdHltdWlGeWpQTHMzM3RjU3c&hl=en_GB

I was about to go cycling on the Cambridge Semi Orbital route earlier and was changing the lenses on my sunglasses when I managed to completely snap the frame (it was already fractured). So instead of cycling (it was pretty bright for cycling without sunglasses!) I somehow found myself attempting to run – bear in mind the only running I’ve done was years ago at school and only because I had to. I didn’t intend to go very far and was succesful in meeting that intention – total distance 1.4km, moving time 8m30s. The fact my trainers are splitting in half due to the pressure on the front from cycling didn’t help matters.

Amazingly exciting route along Huntingdon Road:

View Larger Map

Here is the Google Doc with all the stats:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0At0EKwdiLZmYdGVaYmZRdWxsMG9URHZNU3NGaEw0MkE&hl=en_GB