Google+ "Invite Available" Notification Script - Off-topic

Purpose
With all the rage around getting a Google+ invite, there is a small problem: Even with an invite, you might not be able to get into Google+ for several days. nibras_reeza and I have been working on a script that, once you've received an invite, will keep checking the signup page to see if you can sign up. YOU MUST HAVE AN INVITE FOR THIS SCRIPT TO BE USEFUL!
Features
* Automatically checks Google for when registration is open
* Displays a running total of refreshes
* Works in Chrome, Firefox, and IE (w/ Trixie)
Special Thanks
Nibras Reeza - motivated and helped me write this; running the notification form and general debugging
"_mousey" - fixed a caching issue, IE support, and debugging
"thrasher9" - "how many times have I pinged Google?"
Version
0.000005 - Fixing stupid merge issues (thanks Nibras and _mousey!) and merged _mousey's IE support (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15456658&postcount=201)
0.000004 - Merged changes from Nibras, _mousey, and thrasher9 into the main script
0.000001 - Initial
Instructions
READ THIS!
1. Install this script. For Chrome, simply download the file, drag it to Chrome, and authorize the install
2. Go to your Google+ invite, click on the "Join Google+" link
3. The script should take over--your browser will jump to the "Field Test" page. You can monitor this progress by pressing Ctrl-Shift-J to view the javascript console.
4. When registration "opens", the script will stop refreshing. You should see a form on the page asking for some info to sign up. DO THIS AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE!
5. Come back here and post about your success!
Note 1: Just because you see the sign-up form doesn't mean you'll get in. Therefore, it is pointless to leave this running overnight; even though you may see a sign-up form in the morning, chances are it won't work.
Note 2: If Google is not displaying in English, then you'll need to edit line 45. More info here (Thanks _mousey!) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15430390&postcount=161.
Note 3: If you want to run this in IE, use Trixie (Thanks _mousey!) : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15425549&postcount=152
Implementation
(the boring stuff)
Original post: Link
Attached is a Greasemonkey script for Google Chrome (probably doesn't work for Firefox...). Install it in your browser, click the "view or comment" link in the invite you received. The script will find the "Join Google+" link, save the URL, then navigate to the page. If the page contains a DIV with "Field Trial", it will wait 5 seconds, then refresh. This should happen until either a) Invites work again, b) Google opens G+ to the world, or c) Google gets pissed at you and blocks your address.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I successfully used this script to sign up for Google+, and so have many other people.

Not necessary anymore. Use the version by Adam above. He integrated mine into his.
TIP for Android users:
(Some said this works but I can't make any guarantee. Worth a try.)
Apply for an invite in my form using a GMail account. Once you receive my invite, download Google+ from the Market(use Market Enabler or Root Toolbox and emulate a US carrier if you are outside US. You need ROOT.)
Now, sign into your GMail account on your phone. (Settings->Accounts and Sync->New Account->Google) Skip this if you submitted the account you already use on phone.
Open up Google+ on Android and sign in.
ONLY ONE PERSON HAS TO RUN THE SCRIPT. ANYONE CAN CHECK STATUS PUBLICLY.
SCRIPT UPDATED. USE THE NEW VERSION.
Here's a fork I made. This version logs available times publicly on a Google Docs Spreadsheet. I want someone who has a spare unused invite and has not registered to run it continuously.
And, I owe a lot for Adam to working so hard to write the script. He did all the hard work of digging into the code. xD I just made a fork. lol
Here's the public URL(TIME IS IN +0530GMT/+1030EST):
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spr...pUTOhdHdwLUZOTmlOWHNvbzR0M19iSTNzdmc&hl=en_GB
Just subscribe by notifications for changes made to the doc and you will be notified by email when registrations are open.
ONLY ONE PERSON HAS TO RUN THE SCRIPT. ANYONE CAN CHECK STATUS PUBLICLY.
SCRIPT UPDATED. USE THE NEW VERSION.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

"Available" means registrations are open?

wascaa said:
"Available" means registrations are open?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly.

Think of it as a club: You're standing in line (G+ invite) waiting to get in. The bouncer finally decides to let a few people in (registration is open). You get lucky and he lets you in (success).

Damn! Wish I had my invite right now!
Are you still sending invites to the ones that registered to your spreadsheet?
Great work anyway!
Just another quick question which time zone is used for the times?

wascaa said:
Damn! Wish I had my invite right now!
Are you still sending invites to the ones that registered to your spreadsheet?
Great work anyway!
Just another quick question which time zone is used for the times?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did send an bulk invite a few minutes back. It's taking hours to go through.
The time on what? My spreadsheet which says when registrations are open? It's SLST(+0530GMT). I'll try to change it to EST.

Hello Nibras,
I installed the script and removed all cache and then clicked on the 'view or comment on Nibras's post'. It automatically navigated to the registration page but then never refreshed! or is it refreshing and I can't tell?
What do you mean by 'DIV with "Field Trial"'? How can I tell if the page contains it? sorry if this was a dumb question, but I don't understand it.

It's adam's script. Not mine. Don't bother about the div stuff. It just explains how the script works.
Just install the script on Chrome or Greasemonkey or Tampermonkey.
Click view or comment on nibras's post. Then the script will reload the signup page till Google allows signups. (Make sure you are signed into your Google account before you try all these.)

idk how to use this script? all it does is it blocks me from visiting the google plus website because it is killing my chrome with a lot of spamming a page which says: "available!" which will open many times until my chrome crashes
EDIT: damn my fault, i need to get the invite mail first! im sorry !

nibras_reeza said:
It's adam's script. Not mine. Don't bother about the div stuff. It just explains how the script works.
Just install the script on Chrome or Greasemonkey or Tampermonkey.
Click view or comment on nibras's post. Then the script will reload the signup page till Google allows signups. (Make sure you are signed into your Google account before you try all these.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it doesn't seem to refresh. Shouldn't I notice it refreshing every 5 secs.?

Open the Chrome JavaScript console, you should see a message every time it refreshes.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA Premium App

Not sure if I'm doing it right but I've been running it for an hour with no joy. I can see it refreshing but it always stays on Keep Me Posted
(This is with greasemonkey in firefox)
Anyone had any luck with the script? Seems like it should be exactly what I am looking for! (Thanks Adam!!)

The script worked for me. Thank you guys. ;-)
Sent from my Nexus One

monkley said:
Not sure if I'm doing it right but I've been running it for an hour with no joy. I can see it refreshing but it always stays on Keep Me Posted
(This is with greasemonkey in firefox)
Anyone had any luck with the script? Seems like it should be exactly what I am looking for! (Thanks Adam!!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as it keeps refreshing your page, it is working. I would suggest moving the window off to the side and keep an eye on it. The right hand side of the page that tells you there is no room will switch to a log-in form whenever Google feels like it. The script itself doesn't make Google give you the invite any faster, it just makes you aware that you can sign-up within 5 seconds of it being available.

Mucho thanks, hopes I gets lucky now.

Adam.h.ogle said:
Open the Chrome JavaScript console, you should see a message every time it refreshes.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the console open for around 5 minutes with no msgs. I know its not refreshing, but I don't know why. I downloaded you zip file and extracted the JS file, then opened a blank chrome page and dragged the file into the blank page, it asked me if i want to install it and i clicked continue. When I go to extensions I can see G+ invited there. When I open the 'comment or view' link, it takes me to the post with the red button saying 'Join G+' and then automatically redirects me to the page attached, but it doesnt refresh.
Am I doing something wrong?
EDIT: it worked now after pressing Ctrl+F5 several time. I think it was a problem of cache, although I have deleted all cache and cookies.
Anyway thank you Adam and Nibras. Will let it run overnight and see what happens

Adam.h.ogle said:
As long as it keeps refreshing your page, it is working. I would suggest moving the window off to the side and keep an eye on it. The right hand side of the page that tells you there is no room will switch to a log-in form whenever Google feels like it. The script itself doesn't make Google give you the invite any faster, it just makes you aware that you can sign-up within 5 seconds of it being available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll let it run over night then and maybe there'll be a present for me in the morning!
Thanks again for the script, I figured someone would sort something automated in the end and am happy to have found it.

I have another concern, could it be that chances for US residents are better than non US? do you advise me to use a proxy, or it doesn't matter?

I don't have any facts to back this up, more of just some thoughts into how I might implement the invitation system:
Let's say you start the script before going to bed around midnight. The script runs for 2 hours, Google allows some people into the system, your browser stops refreshing because you have a sign-up form. Success, right? I don't think so. My guess is that Google is allowing a set number of people to sign up at defined intervals. Just because you see the form doesn't mean that you will be able to create an account, otherwise, we could just sniff the form post and duplicate it for every member that wants an account[1]. So, you wake up in the morning, seeing a sign-up form, frantically fill it out, only to discover that you were ~8 hours too slow and too many other people beat you to it.
My recommendation is that you only run the script when you are within arms-reach of your computer, as I'm not sure how much time you have between seeing the form and having it rejected.
Thinking more about what Nibras and I have discussed, since this is a beta, Google would want to control the amount of people in the system. Also, they would need to have many servers to handle all the traffic. It would be dumb to put all those servers in one location (US or UK), as the latency would kill the experience for anyone outside of that country. So, if Google has a bunch of servers spread across the globe, then they would probably want to try to encourage people around the world to sign up, instead of just having 99% of their testers from one country. This might explain why we are seeing invites being sent at odd times, and why people are being allowed to sign up at odd times.
Alternatively, they may be releasing ~1000 invites at a time, first come, first serve. And there's some dude staring at a bank of monitors, watching all the threads across the net (just like this one), giggling as we try to figure out what they're doing. And this dude, whenever he gets bored, he presses a button and lets a few more people into the system.
[1] If anyone is nerdy enough to sniff the traffic, I would be curious what it is submitting, just in case I'm wrong. In theory, we could create accounts for everyone, at least until Google patches the issue.
EDIT: Odds for US or non-US people? I don't really think it matters.

Related

BarTor Torrent App Impressions?

Has anyone purchased this new app yet? This is one of those barcode scanner apps that finds torrents. Its $2.99 right now. I wanna wait for some impressions before I make the jump. The concept sounds pretty cool though.
Just saw the youtube video for it, from the video it looks simpler than torrent droid. I don't know if it is though since I haven't tried either. I'm almost willing to take the plunge seeing as I've spent more on less
Personally I'm waiting on a free torrent app before I try torrents on my G1. BitTorrent has always sat in a gray area, but an app like this pretty much supports piracy since 9 out of 10 times you're not going to be able to preview a movie or album in any short amount of time while you're in the store using a p2p download. I don't see it staying up on the market for very long in a commercial form. Besides, you have a 24 hour period to request a refund so if you want to take the plunge and don't like it you can refund.
torrent droid apk
It looks like it has not been released yet however, if it has and I have made a horrible horrible mistake, can someone provide the .apk or a link for the DL? I'll provide the same if/when I get it.
Thank dudes
<EDIT> http://zerofate.com/
Ron Overdrive said:
Personally I'm waiting on a free torrent app before I try torrents on my G1. BitTorrent has always sat in a gray area, but an app like this pretty much supports piracy since 9 out of 10 times you're not going to be able to preview a movie or album in any short amount of time while you're in the store using a p2p download. I don't see it staying up on the market for very long in a commercial form. Besides, you have a 24 hour period to request a refund so if you want to take the plunge and don't like it you can refund.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't seem to have read what the previous guy said: it doesn't DL to your phone. It sends the DL to your home PC.
Your point is the same, however, since it is farly exclusively for piracy.
-bZj
They send you a eyepatch in the mail with every purchase! YAR! Dun pillage me b00ty!
That aside, I took the plunge and this app was definitly worth every penny.
There are plenty of legal uses of BitTorrent.
Case and point, I tried to download Ubuntu last night from one of the many mirrors listed on the Ubuntu website. I got average 150-200 KB/s download speeds. I went to isoHunt, picked the first result for the same release (perfectly legal) and averaged 700 KB/s. This was a perfectly legal use of BarTor.
The BarCode scanning is a perk, it is merely an additional way of entering the information you would have entered anyway. And it even provides a couple of search results for purchasable products offered online, often at much lower prices than the retail store you are in.
With the barcode scanning piece, I think it would be awesome if CDs were released with a QR Code linking to a sampler or something to that effect, so I could listen to a sampling of the artist and/or others. I know that I probably cannot change the way this type of content is delivered, but there are opportunities existing with this type of technology.
i bought it yesterday unfortunately i couldn't get around to messing around with it until today and after a few different ports being forwarded it finally stopped saying failed when i clicked on submit to client and now says success. just wish it had a gui so i could check on percentage complete, sorting by file type. thanks for the app nex, loving it so far. i also just noticed if i hit back to get out of the app then the next time i go in it force closes. its happened to me 3 times and I've deleted the .db file and then it goes back to normal, guess i just have to remember to not back out of the app and just hit home instead
I purchased the app and it works great. I think it is great to see more legal uses for torrents. I like being able to send torrents directly to my home PC when I'm on the go.
I'm not sure why mine isn't working. I am using uTorrent 1.6.1 and I entered my pc's ip address in the app with the ip address and the uTorrent port in the app. I scanned a dvd that I already owned and it's been stuck at Submitting To Client... for about 2 or 3 minutes.
Is there anything else that needs to be done?
Maybe it's my firewall... or router... or torrent app...
I thought this was supposed to be simple!
Binary100100 said:
I'm not sure why mine isn't working. I am using uTorrent 1.6.1 and I entered my pc's ip address in the app with the ip address and the uTorrent port in the app. I scanned a dvd that I already owned and it's been stuck at Submitting To Client... for about 2 or 3 minutes.
Is there anything else that needs to be done?
Maybe it's my firewall... or router... or torrent app...
I thought this was supposed to be simple!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you portfowarded correctly, did you try looking up the webui on the utorrent forums? No I bet, Here check it out http://forum.utorrent.com/viewforum.php?id=20
and the documents for installing
http://utorrent.com/documentation/webui
Hope that helps you set it up, the thing that causes the most problems is the Portforwarding so make sure you do it correctly
I helped with the beta testing on this and love this app. I was the first one to purchase it and rate it (never said "first" though). As for the comment above about wishing it had a gui, it just sends the torrent file to your desktop torrent client, so your desktop is the part that needs the gui (and if this app works, you have a gui because that is a requirement). Read your torrent client (utorrent/vuze/ktorrent) help to find out how to use it. I have a shortcut on my desktop to my ktorrent webui so i can view/edit the torrent download settings.
FuMMoD said:
Make sure you portfowarded correctly, did you try looking up the webui on the utorrent forums? No I bet, Here check it out http://forum.utorrent.com/viewforum.php?id=20
and the documents for installing
http://utorrent.com/documentation/webui
Hope that helps you set it up, the thing that causes the most problems is the Portforwarding so make sure you do it correctly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course I checked out the webui on the torrent forums.
Check it out... i enter http://Ip:UTPort/gui/ and I get this on my page:
¡¨!â2±}òR}ŽçœO£óþ8åÀ^]ÉoÏÄ/k,6’þ5¾©¨ïtsFIYŠ·æ|÷ÃHÜÚ×øKnàþäÕLýÿúaóTÏf!éñ âY¹)u`Níàû›ÛWSG»ù'sƒ$eÙ‹ûþ†øôô•SýâÕ“IY9Ÿí8±v§K÷ež MÁëÿ7þåýÈ{·I4õ_°b®ùLtè™à§gÚˆ-â¼íÒ- IØ^¸ÄEê¿]oS›‹ÌGìÝEúúm};_- ?š½˜/ž+Bæ.)eÄfÚ;»ÑÛGšháó=ùcYg ?’F• ;Ž‰a`é4TÞbïh ’©Àúæ[4Üli÷©L<çûÕ;qGœ\‹ð0Ï3‹EpÁ瘛øâðß(XÐvåÌ©J%eX»OƯ˜dŒ! U
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm no expert... but I think that may have something to do with the problem.
I tried F5... http://127.0.0.1:port/gui... http://127.0.0.1:8080/gui... pretty much everything that they had on the site to include http://YourIP:UTport/gui/?action=setsetting&s=webui.cookie&v={} (which did nothing) so... maybe i just need to reinstall uTorrent. I can't upgrade because I need it for BitSoup (they only support a handful of browser versions).
I assume that you are currently on the same WiFi network, and that you've made sure to enter the private network IP of your PC? Did you get those results when viewing attempting to view the Web UI on the PC in question?
I used the wrong words i guess, just something so I can see a quick rundown of what's actually downloading, because I had a torrent I tried to submit to client and it said failed but when I got home it was downloading and I never tried to submit it after the initial failed message. i mean dont get me wrong the app is good as it stands, just putting my 2 cents in for something i'd like to see
nEx.Software said:
I assume that you are currently on the same WiFi network, and that you've made sure to enter the private network IP of your PC? Did you get those results when viewing attempting to view the Web UI on the PC in question?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If i use "http://localhost:38867/gui/" I get
‡"ƒ¡Ý¹ÎL"Ëp“EMhKÖÎ=Šãê.¹ÎV2˜`Xî*þ´‡ znDb(¥aôù¨fd˜ïo~†Ó8 À}‚Í]gý,-¯æçÄ[email protected]ôKúf‡áýü–ç5ïk†‚½¯kþ_¥´$¶™D¦Ìðžgy€jƒ\“
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I use my computers ip address "http://192.168.0.120:38867/gui" I get
k‚-/û0·Ï@¦èB rHGÔ¸Œú׫‚µ)8´RXxÛý‘Ê´²W?®ûÔÔd®„fUZ•Ý\_¶€?ú4Ð#€&ÎÜ%>ÖSÑ17ø”}FV°³~*ú,1Þö>zÓ.HîUª9¬ŽÏW‡!¡1uÃY¦ÐùBVÙÜ@ïá€F“m“[email protected]Øí~°MK¯ôØÓþOO'œµRìTÒ(ðÇ32:\ƒÈ¾¾òƒÓE!VÕe_Èd QþEÕ(LÔk,ÚÛX¬²öêã{s¤±‘kk1ŽÞñðâdZ¾cþæo{Ø_ÓÂõ}î39‰£¶jG»J賨Åîêücªbÿ¾(ì£Å*Êä*³gý‘bÀˆKÂP-¨1'‘Á+f˺Ÿ(ê=›‚ãÁ’ŒŒsµ‚î]ÖQ™`Nõ3 †coú²V}g‘Ù.šLòL¥Ä
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I enter "http://192.168.0.120:38867/gui/?action=setsetting&s=webui.cookie&v={}" I get
þYÊ<-s¢;AÕXªº6=ºõÑ‚û ºˆK[t:ºBÆ9° 'ƒâÔâÀ=cpÜO«˜1aóîô-{ÿ&rF)&»ÄÝ a/ Ûü\§gY+Ö ±ö±Š?×@øà¡AÝ2Y“ñ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I enter "http://localhost:38867/gui/?action=setsetting&s=webui.cookie&v={}" I get
üê E7¿Ñõ#ÚŒ*7Š#ɈPÖQµ‚ü#œO4‹+"&(-}]ú÷·t“ªÖ¥fœ´Etd^!OÛPæN'€Lʳ+³ÙHY9׉˖éDu&z¹ox¿ê÷äÇõ°Åêc‹ HŒ…¿VW¨Uß !"wYc,ØN6“nóAhHa"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So even though it's all the same... I always get a different result. A couple of times it asked me for my username and password and my heart skipped a beat because I thought that it was suddenly working... but I just got a blank page afterwards. I dunno what it is other than annoying.
i dont know if anyone is having this problem but i have tried to send over a torrent a few times today and it stays at the submitting to client point for about 10 minutes before i just cancel it out, yesterday i sent over a torrent and it took about half a minute to get the success message. i went on from the computer where i am and utorrent is active but for some reason i cant submit from my phone. just hoping someone can help me out on this.
BSDADON said:
I used the wrong words i guess, just something so I can see a quick rundown of what's actually downloading, because I had a torrent I tried to submit to client and it said failed but when I got home it was downloading and I never tried to submit it after the initial failed message. i mean dont get me wrong the app is good as it stands, just putting my 2 cents in for something i'd like to see
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The default behavior is to retry failed downloads on Application Entry and Exit. After receiving the fail message, when you exited BarTor, the download was retried. It will continue to do so until either the submission to the client is successful or you cancel the download (Menu --> Downloads --> Cancel).
Binary100100 said:
If i use "http://localhost:38867/gui/" I get
If I use my computers ip address "http://192.168.0.120:38867/gui" I get
If I enter "http://192.168.0.120:38867/gui/?action=setsetting&s=webui.cookie&v={}" I get
If I enter "http://localhost:38867/gui/?action=setsetting&s=webui.cookie&v={}" I get
So even though it's all the same... I always get a different result. A couple of times it asked me for my username and password and my heart skipped a beat because I thought that it was suddenly working... but I just got a blank page afterwards. I dunno what it is other than annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like you've got uTorrent encrypting things and/or the WebUI is not handling the GZipped files properly. Maybe a reinstall of uTorrent or at least the Web UI will help.
nEx.Software said:
The default behavior is to retry failed downloads on Application Entry and Exit. After receiving the fail message, when you exited BarTor, the download was retried. It will continue to do so until either the submission to the client is successful or you cancel the download (Menu --> Downloads --> Cancel).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay. Thats a nice feature so I don't have to keep trying to send it. What about if its stuck on submitting to client? I've deleted the .db files and rebooted my phone a few times and tried it through wifi also, but I still get the submitting to client for awhile before i just cancel out of it. I have re-entered my information a couple of times to make sure i had it right. i went into it from a computer using http://yourip:port/gui/ just to make sure my utorrent wasnt down and it came up right away. Also i have tried it with different files and sites just to make sure it wasn't a particular torrent site that was having issues. I can't think of what else to try or what it could be. Any ideas?

YouMail Visual Voicemail Android App Beta

Don't know if anyone else has seen this yet (or cares), but since I love YouMail, I thought I'd post this up.
They have a link in this forum topic to download the .apk file, but since it says it's a closed beta, I'm not sure if you need to have YouMail allow your YouMail account to use the software.
LMK
http://api.youmail.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15
Downloaded. It works pretty well. No option to save MP3 messages to SD. Uses polling, which can be a total pain in the ass, and kinda pointless for a voicemail system.
I actually started writing this app about a month ago, but the project manager(i assume) didn't really understand what I was talking about. I tried explaining to him that polling from the device is kinda a kludgy approach, and they should try and implement a different system. I even went so far as to writing a small server side program that would ping the device when there was new messages.
Here's the weird thing though, I sent him a long email one day asking him a bunch of questions about the hardware and software they're using for this system(so I can better design this software), and he never got back to me. THEN, a few weeks later(a month maybe) calls me asking how things are going.
Mind you, I hadn't signed any agreement with them, no deal was in place, and I do have other responsibilities. After a week or so I just assumed they were going with another developer. I assumed from the beginning that there were multiple people working on multiple apps, and they would just release the best one first. Oh well, that's my run-in with them.
Other than all of the above, the service itself is VERY useful. As far as the app is concerned, I think it's a great first-go, but it needs a little refinement. It's a bit slow, and scheduled server checks just isn't going to cut it. Why manually check my messages when I can have them deliver it in MP3 for to my email directly on my phone?
In anycase, good job whoever wrote the app!
I installed it and it shows my messages however it doesn't play anything. I click open and it just sits there. Im running cm 3.4 with hero 1.2, maybe thats why
How is this compared to PF Voicemail?
Probably not as cool as a dedicated app, but I:
1. Simply turn on email notifications on the youmail website with the option to attach an MP3 of the voicemail and send the emails to my gmail account
2. then I setup a filter in gmail to label all youmail messages with attachments to "YouMail"
3. I put a shortcut on my homescreen by "add shortcut" "Gmail label" "YouMail"
4. for good measure I tell the Android message settings to sync emails in the youmail folder for 4 days worth of voicemail in case I run into a problem with my network connection.
Instant Visual Voicemail with push.
wagz said:
Probably not as cool as a dedicated app, but I:
1. Simply turn on email notifications on the youmail website with the option to attach an MP3 of the voicemail and send the emails to my gmail account
2. then I setup a filter in gmail to label all youmail messages with attachments to "YouMail"
3. I put a shortcut on my homescreen by "add shortcut" "Gmail label" "YouMail"
4. for good measure I tell the Android message settings to sync emails in the youmail folder for 4 days worth of voicemail in case I run into a problem with my network connection.
Instant Visual Voicemail with push.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, that's pretty much what I do too...I wish you could set it up to automatically download attachments though, especially since the beta app kinda sucks right now.
The app is in Open Beta now - feel free to download and try it out.
The only thing we (I) ask is that if you find any problems, or have any suggestions - either send us an email ([email protected]) or join in the discussion on the forums.
And yes, currently you need a free YouMail account in order to use the app. At some point you'll be able to sign up as part of the installation process, but that's in a later version.
YouMail for G1
Hi,
Could I please ask that you send *me* a private email with details about who at YouMail you were talking to? I'm the one responsible for the Android app and this is the first I have heard of someone contacting us regarding this app.
Regarding your comments about polling. We would absolutely ***love*** to push your voicemail to the phone similar to the way our Blackberry cousins get their email. Problem here is that in order to do that YouMail would need an interconnect agreement with T-Mobile (and other carriers) letting us use their push technology (yes, the G1 software does support push). The chances of T-Mobile (and other carriers) allowing that to happen are pretty much nil. (We all know that competition is bad... don't we?)
So, out of the box, what the Android app does is:
* Poll every hour to catch up on changes you may have made via the dial-in interface, or the web site (you can adjust it to be as often as every 15 mins, or as infrequent as 'never')
* Poll a couple of minutes after you miss a call - to see if the caller left you a message
* Poll when one of YouMail's special TXT messages arrives (the kind that start with "New VM:....")
* Manually initiated
That's the best approximation to push that we've been able to come up with considering the limitations. The drain on battery is actually remarkably low.
Of course, if you choose to receive your voicemails via email go for it!
I'll put a post up on the YouMail forums explaining battery usage.
Thanks
Doug
InGeNeTiCs said:
Downloaded. It works pretty well. No option to save MP3 messages to SD. Uses polling, which can be a total pain in the ass, and kinda pointless for a voicemail system.
I actually started writing this app about a month ago, but the project manager(i assume) didn't really understand what I was talking about. I tried explaining to him that polling from the device is kinda a kludgy approach, and they should try and implement a different system. I even went so far as to writing a small server side program that would ping the device when there was new messages.
Here's the weird thing though, I sent him a long email one day asking him a bunch of questions about the hardware and software they're using for this system(so I can better design this software), and he never got back to me. THEN, a few weeks later(a month maybe) calls me asking how things are going.
Mind you, I hadn't signed any agreement with them, no deal was in place, and I do have other responsibilities. After a week or so I just assumed they were going with another developer. I assumed from the beginning that there were multiple people working on multiple apps, and they would just release the best one first. Oh well, that's my run-in with them.
Other than all of the above, the service itself is VERY useful. As far as the app is concerned, I think it's a great first-go, but it needs a little refinement. It's a bit slow, and scheduled server checks just isn't going to cut it. Why manually check my messages when I can have them deliver it in MP3 for to my email directly on my phone?
In anycase, good job whoever wrote the app!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mustang_52 said:
I installed it and it shows my messages however it doesn't play anything. I click open and it just sits there. Im running cm 3.4 with hero 1.2, maybe thats why
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you could send me some details I might be able to help.
The app downloads all message data via http.
Sistum Id said:
How is this compared to PF Voicemail?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I'm waiting to hear about before taking the plunge...
Left myself a message and I got the alert. I ran the app and then it says I have a message. I click on the number that was the caller and well nothing seems to happen. I see what appears to be a download button and across a phone/speaker.
Nothing seems to make any noise.
Also this app was in my recently ran apps tray so does this app start on phone turn on or do you have to manually start for the alerts. Also the polling is that to check for messages or to pull down the audio?
The reason I ask this stuff is there really isn't any discriptions of what does what and most apps appear to be straight forward.
Looks like I just got a text now saying I have a message. Thats what brings me to the polling. Does it poll every hour on top of the text message?
kizer said:
Also the polling is that to check for messages or to pull down the audio?
The reason I ask this stuff is there really isn't any discriptions of what does what and most apps appear to be straight forward.
Looks like I just got a text now saying I have a message. Thats what brings me to the polling. Does it poll every hour on top of the text message?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if this is or isn't the info you're looking for, but this info was in the original post for somebody who seems to be working on the app...
ymDoug said:
So, out of the box, what the Android app does is:
* Poll every hour to catch up on changes you may have made via the dial-in interface, or the web site (you can adjust it to be as often as every 15 mins, or as infrequent as 'never')
* Poll a couple of minutes after you miss a call - to see if the caller left you a message
* Poll when one of YouMail's special TXT messages arrives (the kind that start with "New VM:....")
* Manually initiated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh...finally an app is developing for YM I had posted here and even emailed a couple of devs and got nowhere. Even emailed YouMail and got the standard "not at this moment, there are no plans on supporting Android".
omario117 said:
I don't know if this is or isn't the info you're looking for, but this info was in the original post for somebody who seems to be working on the app...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I"m blind and dumb. Thanks
Now if it only pulled down the audio it would be awesome. I guess thats why things are work in progress.
kizer said:
So I"m blind and dumb. Thanks
Now if it only pulled down the audio it would be awesome. I guess thats why things are work in progress.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only if you're calling yourself that, I'm not calling you anything
If you did think I was, I apologize, I was simply trying to make the posting of my info seem credible, as opposed to "here's information but I'm not going to mention where I got it" or "look at the first post by such and such"...
I'd like to thank mustang_52 for getting back to me and helping figure out what was wrong. I believe the app is working correct for him now.
Just in case anyone is interested, there was a problem on one of the back-end servers where it wasn't creating the MP3 file that the app needs, so you were seeing "downloading" forever... we fixed it around noon today and everything seems to be AOK now.
There is a forum set up on the YouMail site that explains how the app checks for messages and the trade-offs we had to make since 'push' technology is effectively unavailable to us at present. (Unless of course we have some senior management from T-Mobile watching, and they want to contact me about making it available.........)
The forum is at: http://forums.youmail.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=8
Doug
Everything is working great since you fixed it. Thanks for such a great app.
Love this YouMail app... THANKS!!!

The endless irritation of automatic logout...

Sick of it.
I open a tab for xda-developers and leave it to load, log in, browse for a while, and go away to make a coffee, sort an issue for a colleague, play Teeter, whatever, and I'm logged out.
How can I stop this? I know it's only a small issue, but when it's every time I come to download a file, view a picture, post a comment, it becomes tiresome.
I supose that you always click the "remember me" button right?
Strange issue, I never had that on my Opera browser...
Just enable "remember me" button on your browser, then try again.
Remember me won't work; I don't keep a persistent cache (even for cookies).
I understand why a bank would have a session timeout measured in minutes, but a mobile phone forum? Seems like overkill...!
if you have firefox you could try password manager addons (i use sxipper)
most have autologon features (i think)
DeathJester said:
Sick of it.
I open a tab for xda-developers and leave it to load, log in, browse for a while, and go away to make a coffee, sort an issue for a colleague, play Teeter, whatever, and I'm logged out.
How can I stop this? I know it's only a small issue, but when it's every time I come to download a file, view a picture, post a comment, it becomes tiresome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you totally. I've never seen this on any site apart from sites where cash transactions are involved. Why do we have to get auto logged out. It's so annoying
buachaille said:
I agree with you totally. I've never seen this on any site apart from sites where cash transactions are involved. Why do we have to get auto logged out. It's so annoying
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 Sooo annoying!
Noob either use cookies or stop QQing
Nothing to do with cookies. I have cookies enabled and get logged out while sitting here on the site. Like the OP said, I open a new tab and look around for a min on another site. Then go back to the xda tab and am frequently logged out. I am using Firefox also. And the fact that this is the only site that it happens on tells me its something on the site, not our settings. I frequent a good number of forums, and it doesn't happen elsewhere.
BUMP! This is still a problem, even when I check "Remember me".
What's the big idea? Why isn't this configurable? Not even 10 minutes and I'm logged out - I can barely make a full post without have to log in twice.
My new habit of copying everything I just wrote to the clipboard before posting, on top of being tedious, really shouldn't be necessary.
Stop using Internet Explorer, update Firefox, enable cookies, don't try to be a security freak using programs like CCcleaner often. Haven't had that problem on my mac with chrome, but I do have it happen on my computer at school, but that's because all of the settings are cleared every time I log off.
I'm thinking that site owners don't care that this behaviour annoys people, which is a shame - as it's profoundly irritating!
Another site I use a lot, which used to leave you logged in, has just started to do this too. Does it save on server load or something?
Didntt ever happen with me, and i use different versions of chrome on various platforms, alongwith firefox, am logged in always
on my dreambox for some reason the user or password has been changed from default and i cant figure it out.
buachaille said:
I'm thinking that site owners don't care that this behaviour annoys people, which is a shame - as it's profoundly irritating!
Another site I use a lot, which used to leave you logged in, has just started to do this too. Does it save on server load or something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it reduces the size of the session table, keeping the site a little faster.
It's a necessary evil unfortunately. Why not allow the single cookie storing session and the "remember me" password hash?
Am pissed off with this too...
I use ie9 and firefox (latest) with default settings. The site logs me off in a few mins.
Never happened to me in the past.. and am a regular user.
I use remember password too but still annoying.
Same problem here on latest chrome. Though it is not so much frequent.

[APP] SyncSMS - Synchronize text messages between tablet and phone

SyncSMS lets you sync your text messages between your Android phone and tablet. SyncSMS lets you sync your text messages between your Android 2.1+ phone and 3G or WiFi-only Android 2.1+ tablet. This app lets you receive text messages on your tablet which have been received by or sent from your phone. Also, this app lets you compose text messages on your tablet which will be copied to your phone and sent out by your phone. You will need to sign up for a free Dropbox account, if you don't already have one, in order to temporarily store the messages between syncs.
Please rate and comment on the app in the Android Market and click Submit to Portal in the upper right of this post to vote this thread to XDA front page, thanks!
*******IMPORTANT LINKS*******
Download: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.d0lph1nk1ng.syncsms
Change Log: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2774459/changelog.txt
DEV & USER SUGGESTIONS:
===== Ready for next release =====
- None
===== Under Dev =====
- Fix API 11 error when clicking item in action bar overflow menu
- Make C2DM respect wifi-only, DNS interval, and background sync off
- Sync on power
===== Backlog =====
# Bugs
- Auto resync
- ' Help > Setup > Push (Beta)
Push notifications are only for Received messages by the phone and Composed messages by the tablet. I will not be able to support copying Sent messages from your Phone to your Tablet withing doing polling. Please star the Android defect at the link below to add your support behind this enhancement to fix the issue. Thanks!
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=2261
Thanks,
d0lph1nk1ng
Doesn't work at all for me. I sign in to my existing Dropbox and get the error in the screenshot.
*post deleted*
d0lph1nK1ng said:
Could you please post the Logcat?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do we know you are not capturing our DropBox credentials? This looks suspicious.
nevermind about the logcat, the issue is that I need a production API key from Dropbox. i agree on your suspicion, so i have posted the app's source code to instill confidence. please know that this app is not distributable or modifiable though. thanks!
d0lph1nK1ng said:
nevermind about the logcat, the issue is that I need a production API key from Dropbox. i agree on your suspicion, so i have posted the app's source code to instill confidence. please know that this app is not distributable or modifiable though. thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Deleted...................
keith, honestly i am an innocent dev. have i broken a rule somewhere?
d0lph1nK1ng said:
keith, honestly i am an innocent dev. have i broken a rule somewhere?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Prove that your app is safe to install and immediately asks for Dropbox credentials and fails.
i have posted source code to my app which clearly shows that i use the dropbox api which requires username and password for the first login, then returns an access token per user which is the only thing that is saved to the local databases see LoginTask.java and Utils.java.
the 403 error stands for unauthenticated user. this is due to my app's dropbox api token being only validated for my email address. the app will work as described after i replace my api token with a production api token.
i do not deserve to be banned at all
d0lph1nK1ng said:
i have posted source code to my app which clearly shows that i use the dropbox api which requires username and password for the first login, then returns an access token per user which is the only thing that is saved to the local databases see LoginTask.java and Utils.java.
the 403 error stands for unauthenticated user. this is due to my app's dropbox api token being only validated for my email address. the app will work as described after i replace my api token with a production api token.
i do not deserve to be banned at all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe not but you cannot release an app that does not demonstrate that you are not phishing username/password info which your initial release does not prove.
you know, honest mistakes do /actually/ happen in the world. plus, it's not my fault that Dropbox chooses not to allow OAuth for android apps. i never /wanted/ to have to have a user enter username/password in the context of my app for exactly this reason
d0lph1nK1ng said:
you know, honest mistakes do /actually/ happen in the world. plus, it's not my fault that Dropbox chooses not to allow OAuth for android apps. i never /wanted/ to have to have a user enter username/password in the context of my app for exactly this reason
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes they do and when you have a secure way to access the app, please let us know. Until then, I am not touching it and recommend that no one else touches it either.
They do not allow OAuth access forwarding from their webpage per their guidelines. For Android (non mobile-web apps), they say to do so as follows.
From Dropbox dev page:
"Authentication For mobile devices
Mobile authentication is done using a call named token that's in the Mobile API specification section. Token takes a user's username and password and returns a working access token/secret pair to your application that you can use from then on. It's a relatively simple process, but with one caveat: you cannot store the user's password in your application. You can store a username for usability purposes or in case re-authentication is needed. However, there is no reason you should store their password."
Now, I have more than explained myself extremely detailed and clearly, so please go elsewhere with your false proclamations and ignorance.
keitht said:
Maybe not but you cannot release an app that does not demonstrate that you are not phishing username/password info which your initial release does not prove.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You expect people to willingly enter their username and password for Dropbox in your app that returns an error of forbidden?
jeez lets just see how this app pans out. Its a good idea and I know that the op has put out other good ideas out before.
Ill keep an eye on this thread. Thanks
instead of crying about it couldnt you just make another dropbox account for this
don't use the same password you do for everything else
problem solved. case closed. stealing your passwords or not, be smart and just make another dropbox account.
btw, i get my xoom soon so ill def. be looking into this app. sounds interesting
It seems to me that posting the source is all he needs to do here, if someone wants to challenge him based on what it contains, that's a different story.
There are tons of legit apps that use Gmail and facebook credentials. Just hooking into 3rd parties doesn't automatically make one a crook.
If you are going to smear someone, at least make the effort to show some evidence, jeez.
Santoro said:
It seems to me that posting the source is all he needs to do here, if someone wants to challenge him based on what it contains, that's a different story.
There are tons of legit apps that use Gmail and facebook credentials. Just hooking into 3rd parties doesn't automatically make one a crook.
If you are going to smear someone, at least make the effort to show some evidence, jeez.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right and I am sorry for being a prick. But be careful with apps like these especially if they fail on step 1, sign into an account that fails immediately (dropbox). After thinking about this further, I should not have posted what I did and I apologize. It is not my responsibility for others security.
OP, thanks very much for your effort with this, I NEED SMS on my Xoom!!
Possible suggestion.. Maybe making a widget to turn on the syncing? That way when I am using the Xoom, just flip the widget on for both phone and xoom, set phone aside.. This way the time frame for syncing can be quicker, and when I am done on my xoom, turn the widget off, and it wont sync anymore (for the sake of battery usage).

[APP][NST/G] Google(ish) News

5-31-21 I've ceased development on this app because I think there is a better alternative. See post #7.
*updated to version 1.3, adding error trap for discontinued or blank feeds*
It's been awhile since the demise of the last working version of Genie Widget (aka Google News and Weather) but not so long since the big G retooled news.google.com so that our browsers can no longer deal with it and also put the kibosh on the Google News RSS feeds. Sigh.
I have a work-around
Google News 1.3 for the NST/G exploits the "alerts" that Google offers on news topics. These alerts can be optioned in the form of RSS feeds. My app downloads the HTML source for the feed, picks out all the good stuff and trashes all the rest, then builds up a local HTML document which is easily displayed by our browsers (I highly recommend Opera Mobile for ease of scrolling and general all-around function). You can build up your own topics, change your mind, mix them about, read that one more story you didn't get to the first time around, etc. I'm not saying that your browser will negotiate every target link. Some newspaper sites have just become too much. That was true even when Genie Widget was still working. But updating Opera Mobile for TLS 1.2 solves much of that. See this post for details.. The beauty of this app is in the simplicity. It's entirely browser-based once the feeds are downloaded, so you're not going back and forth between the app and your browser (like the current Google News app.......). Designed for both portrait and landscape.
Requirements
1. Android 2.1 has a security issue with opening local HTML files. In order for Google News to work properly you need to address that. Included in the zip below is a tiny app, android-open-in-browser-0.0.4-4-debug. Install that. It's not my app but I have used it for years and wish I could credit the originator.
2. This is a Tasker-generated app. If you already have one of my other Tasker-generated apps or have previously installed GApps, you don't need the two Google maps library files included in the zip and can delete them. If you do need them, copy the two files into the locations shown below:
/system/etc/permissions/com.google.android.maps.xml
/system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar
Set permissions for both files to rw-r--r-- and reboot. Without these files resident, the app will not install.
3. Create a folder in the root directory of your sdcard: Google News (exactly as shown)
4. Install the app itself, Google News.1.apk
How to use
Before you run the app you need to select some news categories, set up the feeds, get the URLs, blah-blah-blah. All of this is covered in the PDF included with the zip. It may seem a little annoying at the start, but it goes quickly once you get started and it's not like you have to do it every time you use the app. You're just setting up your news topics, just as if you were using the current Google News (either the app or the web version). Once you have your topics and URLs and have edited the included text file google_rss_feeds.txt, copy that into the Google News folder of your sdcard.
Note: recently (June 2019) the big G has not been very consistent with the RSS feeds. Some days they are "empty" but come back the next day with lots of stories. Some feed topics simply "die" and a minor change in the topic will resurrect them (change "World" to "World news", as an example). Version 1.3 includes a trap for these eventualities so that the app should not crash, even if your first feed comes up empty. To inspect/edit your feeds, point your browser (on your PC) to your Google Alerts page. If you are signed in this will be found among the options on the Google home page, in the upper right corner where the "apps" grid is shown.
Now you're good to go. Start the app, make sure you're connected to WiFi. There are only three buttons on the app screen. The first one, "Fetch the news" does just that. You will see a little toast that the first news category is being prepared. Once that is done, you will be taken to the browser and that page will open. Meanwhile the remaining pages are being downloaded and reconstructed in the background.
The news page is very simple. I tried to aim for readability over all other considerations (this is the reason the news items are in bold black, even though they are the external links). I have my Opera Mobile set to 100% page zoom. It looks good to me, but you could probably get away with 75%. External websites are another matter. At the title bar left is a drop-down menu button that gives you access to your other news topics. Since no fixed navbar schemes work under Android 2.1, there is a duplicate drop-up menu bar at the end of the page. The use of NoRefresh, or to a lesser extent FastMode, is a plus.
Edit: you cannot use this app with Opera Mini. It lacks the ability to open local HTML files.
The second option on the opening screen, "Read old news" sounds a bit daft, but I just thought maybe someone might have been looking at the topic pages, saw something that interested them and then got interrupted. So this option opens the first local file in the browser again and you can navigate from there. Strictly speaking, WiFi is not needed to browse the local files once they have been created, but it is needed to pursue any stories.
The third option simply dismisses the app screen.
Whew! So this is new...and I think I exterminated all the bugs, but I did not try other browsers. I'm open to suggestions and would appreciate feedback.
Google alert change? No option for RSS alerts anymore...
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
v619284 said:
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm away from home right now but my copy of the app is working so the RSS feeds must still exist. I'll have to sit down with my instructions in front of the computer and see what mischief they've done. Thanks for letting me know.
v619284 said:
If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so I've run through the instructions sitting at my PC. Everything is correct although Firefox no longer wants to open the RSS feed page as anything other than an xml "text" file. That just means the image on page 4 needs updating.
As far as page 3, everything is currently exactly as shown. Just to be sure, you have to be signed in to Google on your browser before you do any of this. Then when you get to the screen depicted on page 3 you need to change the "Deliver to" option to RSS feed. But even before that, it's important not to get sucked into the email alert business back on page 2. Do NOT click on "Create Alert" there, only on "Show options". That's how you get to the screen I show on page 3.
When you finally get to click on the little RSS symbol shown on the lower half of page 3, you (at least on Firefox) may end up at a page of xml code, or perhaps your browser may show a news feed page. Regardless, the URL shown for the page is the same and it's what you need to copy, just as described on page 4.
Let me know if you are still having issues with this.
v619284 said:
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So a few days after I wrote my last post, the app stopped working for me. It just hangs on "Preparing......News"
Google has apparently changed the format of their RSS xml file. Right in the middle of something else at the moment, but I will get it fixed.
Nope, nix that. After fooling around with the app and an xml file from the Big G, I find nothing out of place and it seems the app is now working again
They're just messing with us.
Edit: Indeed they are. Today I caught another malfunction but this time looked at the Tasker routines for an error. Google is sending out (at least today) RSS feeds with empty content fields. That messes up my app. So I wrote an error trap for that. Updated in first post. Have to watch the big G like a hawk....
v619284 said:
If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whilst looking around for a solution to a different issue, I came across this: https://medium.com/@cassandragraft/...tion-not-appearing-heres-the-fix-bf842ca32b88
It appears to address the issue you describe. I never encountered the issue, but obviously some people have.
The Big G is making me very angry lately. Even version 1.2 with a new error trap is crashing. I'm finding that some of my feeds are "empty". The skeleton of the RSS file is there but there is no content populating the file. A category as ordinary as "world" is simply blank. This is new and very annoying. Just a change of topic to "world news" brings up a list of stories longer than your arm. I encountered this before with "science" and fixed it with a slight change in name, so I should have seen this coming. It's a nasty game Google seems to be playing....
Anyway, if the app crashes on the first topic it leaves an overlay artifact behind when you exit. To remove this, go to the App Manager and force stop the app. I will work on a fix which will alert you to the effect that the feed appears dead but allow the app to complete the download of whatever is still working and exit properly.
Grr....
Edit: App updated to v1.3 in first post. I hope that solves the problems. For now.
As I mentioned in my edit of the first post, I think my app is exhibiting creakiness already owing to Opera Mobile's increasing difficulty negotiating many websites.
I have an alternative to suggest, however, that is totally browser based. It seems to work "OK" with Opera Mobile although text display is a bit small with a default zoom of 100%. In Opera Mini, however, it shines, especially with NoRefresh.
Thanks to XDA member @SJT75 , I found out about a list of text-only news sites. One of them is a text version of Google News! The list is at: https://greycoder.com/a-list-of-text-only-new-sites/
While the Google News option does not allow for custom categories (hey, there's an app for that!), it does cover all the usual suspects. Even better, all of the links lead to text-only versions of the sources. Occasionally you go to a page and find it could not be fetched by whatever mechanism the author is using, but pages (even those error ones) include a link to the original source
Also notable on the list are the NPR and CNN sites. Both work well.

Categories

Resources