Database Develop

Google Chrome

Anyone else interested in this browser? It looks like it will kick ass and who knows they might make a mobile app for it...outside of Android.

Reading your post using it now.
I will give it a go, but I do like Firefox.

opera been ok for me 7 years now on pc
and a few on pda

I've been using it for about 30mins now, it has some quirks but overall speed is the fastest I have seen in a long time.
Check out the cartoon about it:
http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/

Just installed it on my HTC Shift, and it seems pretty good so far.
Regards,
Dave

Yea it is really fast. I like it.

Maybe in the future could be a good option, but now in Beta... I´ll stick to Opera.
There is no options to personalize, change color, etc, speed is good but not as good as they anounce
Don´t let go with Ads mates! Google want´s all the "Internet World", at least they have to pay us for that!!
Cheers,

it is fast though..but cant replace my Opera..no support for Emails so useless..but it has some fetures which makes it a lil nices

I've tried on my Acer One, and it works very fast, both to launch, and to open web pages. It is very low memory consuming, so i think it will be my preferred browser.

My problem with Opera is it's unstable nature with certain sites, especially older forums. Sometimes it can be a major PITA.

I downloaded it last night, it seems much faster than Firefox. I didn't know there were so many ads on some of the forums I visit I'll stick with Firefox so I don't see the ads.
** This morning I noticed that GoogleUpdate tried to access the internet about 12 times last night. This was with Chrome closed!! I don't give any programs access to the internet for updates.

I have found a problem with Chrome and vBulletin boards like XDA.
It is incorrectly turning DST ON in Eastern Australia making all times out by an hour.
In
User Control Panel
Setting DST Correction option to [Always Off] works around the problem for now. Something amiss in the Chrome javascript engine perhaps?
Without making this change whenever I switch between IE or Chrome with a vBulletin board I get an auto DST update message. IE time is correct. Chrome is wrong.
Anyone else wee this?

You might want to check the EULA a little closer there. It is definitely a boilerplate with some wide ranging implications of they enforced it. It also has a number of bugs, such as a carpet bombing vulnerability right off the get go. Nice idea and if they were to put a decent EULA on it, I might use it.... In the mean time, I'll stick with SeaMonkey or Opera.
-Will

IM USING IT RIGHT NOW!!!
It PWNS!!!

The EULA agreement has already been debunked just check section 9.4....here is how another user explained it:
Actually this is pretty flawed. I know this was posted in MANY other places as well, and I can't write to the authors of ALL those posts, but here's where copypasta news and blog entries have their flaws.
If you read section 9.4 closely, you'll see what I mean:
9.4 Other than the limited license set forth in Section 11, Google acknowledges and agrees that it obtains no right, title or interest from you (or your licensors) under these Terms in or to any Content that you submit, post, transmit or display on, or through, the Services, including any intellectual property rights which subsist in that Content
That "limited license" it refers to is what has exploded onto the internet as a violation of rights, privacy, etc. Again, if you actually read section 11, you'll see that the limited license is only for the promotion of Chrome, and this only holds to things that aren't already covered under other rights, such as copyright or intellectual property. Basically, this boils down to: Google can use anything that is online to promote itself, if one of it's users accesses that site. Which, in all honesty, it could do anyway.
This doesn't violate anything. And if you're still scared of it, use Chromium, the active open source project without the EULA that Chrome is based on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As for bugs. I have noticed the DST bug, also it seems spell correction doesn't work on some boards I post on. Other then that it's the best browser I prefer.

Sledutah said:
I downloaded it last night, it seems much faster than Firefox. I didn't know there were so many ads on some of the forums I visit I'll stick with Firefox so I don't see the ads.
** This morning I noticed that GoogleUpdate tried to access the internet about 12 times last night. This was with Chrome closed!! I don't give any programs access to the internet for updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edit:
I uninstalled it yesterday. After installation it was still trying to access the internet via GoogleUpdate. I went through the registry and there were tons of references to googleupdates and chrome. I deleted all of them and haven't had any more requests. Wow, don't think I'll even reinstall it in the future just for that.

Theres some kind of memory leak
Whenever i run it
My CPU usage shoots WAY UP
Its fast but dam should it be taxing my processor like that

Cool browser

I love it, been using it for about a week now LOL. But there is still a lot of work needs to be done!

Google Chrome is so much faster on many websites, especially on XDA-developers.com, where it is seconds faster when switching between pages in the forum.
And by using privoxy on newspapers, etc., you can get rid of those annoying ads with ease.

Ad sponsered free apps increasing, Any type of firewall?

Well been doing alot of study lately and it seems ALOT of apps on the market that are full versions and are "free" seem to have ad sponsored elements in them. Sending your GPS data to whoever or other various things. Now while if the dev mentions on the description that their "Paid" version is ad free. Least its up front and honest about it. However alot of Apps I found out hide this info it seems. Is this going to be the new "Kazaa" on the G1? Back when Kazaa came out, is when the influx of "Spyware" was increasing. Im worried is this happening to the G1 now? While I can understand devs choosing this to make their app free and gain from it a lil. Whats to say other devs wont use this for other intentions that may have some negative impact?
Just wondering tho.. for modded G1s. Is there some sorta firewall app or so yet that might be useful? Anyways just thought I would post for discussion case I am worried over nothing.

Install AdFree from the Market.

Cool ill try that. Still tho some discussion would be good. Cause I don't know if this should be something to start getting concerned on. Apps running in background draining battery, and reporting info possibly and so. Or am I getting concerned over nothing?

Mysticales said:
Cool ill try that. Still tho some discussion would be good. Cause I don't know if this should be something to start getting concerned on. Apps running in background draining battery, and reporting info possibly and so. Or am I getting concerned over nothing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A little paranoia is a healthy thing, too much is bad, but these ads collect all sorts of location information to profile you and provide relevent advertising, but who knows what else happens with the data etc etc etc
PS you need root access on your phone to use AdFree

Yea Im fully rooted, No worries there. =) Thanks for this heads up. I use host files as well on my PC.. since then never had a issue with spyware again. Any news on if he would let us update the host file ourselves? Id love to use the file I have on my PC. Heh.
Anyways as for discussion goes. Can these ads know your G1 email, or linked email account? Next off, is there a ability that these ads could read your personal data as text msgs, contacts (to spam phone calls) or anything like that? Android being a new OS.. not sure what devs and ads can do with access to a phone. Its like a new gateway has been opened.
Kinda wish a dev could comment if the G1 would even have this ability and if it could be a bad thing.
Edit: Good question, this Ad Free, is it like if you add a hosts file in a router? Like if I use the G1 to tether, is it blocking the ad banners even on tethered connections? Would be interesting to know for sure since imagine a built in firewall that protects tethered PCs too.

Mysticales said:
Yea Im fully rooted, No worries there. =) Thanks for this heads up. I use host files as well on my PC.. since then never had a issue with spyware again. Any news on if he would let us update the host file ourselves? Id love to use the file I have on my PC. Heh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use your own hosts file on your own phone, AdFree just automates the process, if you look at this thread it started off describing how to do things manually.
Anyways as for discussion goes. Can these ads know your G1 email, or linked email account?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possibly, I haven't looked into accessing the google credentials from the android APIs so I don't know for certain, might be a private API google only shares with it's own apps, that doesn't mean someone won't figure out how to access them however.
Next off, is there a ability that these ads could read your personal data as text msgs, contacts (to spam phone calls) or anything like that? Android being a new OS..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you install an app there is a screen displayed of the permissions the apps ask for, read/write contacts, calendars etc will all be displayed, you should be able to see the permissions an app will have access to after it's installed as well from memory.
not sure what devs and ads can do with access to a phone. Its like a new gateway has been opened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be more worried what google will do with all the info it collects to be honest, but that's another issue altogether.
Kinda wish a dev could comment if the G1 would even have this ability and if it could be a bad thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are prompted during install as to what the app will be able to access, google leaves it up to you to accept it or not.
Edit: Good question, this Ad Free, is it like if you add a hosts file in a router? Like if I use the G1 to tether, is it blocking the ad banners even on tethered connections? Would be interesting to know for sure since imagine a built in firewall that protects tethered PCs too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends how the tethered setup gets DNS info, if it uses the information from the hosts file then yes, but this is dependent on what the tether setup does.

Mysticales said:
Its like a new gateway has been opened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only if you never bothered reading the permissions requests when installing an app. They clearly describe what permissions an app wants to use and you can cancel the installation if you feel you don't want to give an app the right to access your personal info. So if you install a game that says it wants access to your Google Account info (which would include your email and thus all your associated google services) then you have only yourself to blame if the dev sends you a ton of spam or sells your email address.
Bottom line is read the permissions requested carefully and decide whether you trust the company/entity that created the app before installing it. Also, i'd be very wary installing any root apps, since root apps by their very nature can operate outside of dalvik sandbox and do practically anything they want to your system. I'm only running two root apps right now: Market Enabler and Wifi Tether. They are both open source.

Well of course I read the permissions thing. However still I would still wonder about things.

Mysticales said:
Well of course I read the permissions thing. However still I would still wonder about things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google actually closed up some of the loop holes that apps were using on Android 1.0/1.1 to enable wifi etc.

jashsu said:
They are both open source.
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Click to collapse
Unless you audit the code and compile it yourself, you have no idea what the binary is actually doing.

Location data is only used for serving the right banners and calculate the profits the banner view/click has depending on the location (country) of the viewer.
Its not anything malicious and you can easily see the permissions when installing.
People all like free apps instead of paying a few dollars, but when an ad is added people try to get rid of it... Havent you all ever wondered why the ads are there? Just like on a forum as the one you are on right now? Right they generate at least a little bit of money for a dev that doesnt want to charge the users directly by letting them pay, but spends almost all his free time to keep apps updated, write new once and answering questions.
As soon as there is virtually no way too make money on a market, the market will die as developers/companies will move over to an other platform of development.

delta_foxtrot2 said:
Unless you audit the code and compile it yourself, you have no idea what the binary is actually doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not difficult to get the code from svn and compile it. Pretty effortless.

rogro82 said:
As soon as there is virtually no way too make money on a market, the market will die as developers/companies will move over to an other platform of development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many people don't like to view ads on their computers, let alone their mobile phone. Thus if people can block the ads easily, they will. Content producers and software developers will simply have to find a new business model to pursue. Maybe that's a free/premium differentiation model or maybe its microtransactions. That or they will have to deal with a percentage of their userbase blocking ads.

Well I am sure most devs Block ads too, either on their mobile or pc.. no one wants any type of issue.
Now again, I said I understand why they are there for free apps. Its just that as a user myself.. I like to know Im protected from potential hazards. Also alot of devs like to make something hot to use on later resumes and projects. Ive worked with alot of devs in my time start with nothing and grow to get bigger jobs in RL cause of the project. =)

jashsu said:
It's not difficult to get the code from svn and compile it. Pretty effortless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't say it was hard to get or compile it, but auditing the code to make sure nothing malicious is going on can be very difficult at times. There is a code obfustication competition each year and it's extrodinary what some can do and you'd never know unless it was pointed out to you.

Mysticales said:
Well I am sure most devs Block ads too, either on their mobile or pc.. no one wants any type of issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not just "issues" too many ads tick a certain segment of the population off to the point that they go to these lengths to get rid of them.
This is of course before you factor in this segment of the population are usually the least to click on ads, usually for ethical/moral reasons, so them getting rid of ads is usually no big loss.
Last time I checked AdFree was downloaded less than 5,000 times, now compare this to a speedometer app I made which anyone can run and it's been downloaded over 10,000 times I highly doubt any dev relying on ads will actually loose out by the people that can and are blocking them.

rogro82 said:
Location data is only used for serving the right banners and calculate the profits the banner view/click has depending on the location (country) of the viewer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The meta data that can be gleened from this sort of advertising can have all sorts of flow on effects and unintended consequences.
I see the world and potential pitfalls in things differently than others, I don't know why, but the more data collected the worst things can be.
If you are interested in what country they are from/in just pull the country code from the SIM card, why narrow it down to within a few metres?

Well since I have been using Adfree. Let me say this. My G1 seems to be running faster! I dont get as many force close/wait errors. Certain apps like atrackdog for one RUN faster. I mean without the ads running, it seems my apps speed through their task and do what they are supposed to. Kinda interesting note oddly.
Also lets say a app you know would be using GPS to locate you on a map. Thus triggering "Give app permission to use your GPS" which you know why it needs it. But does the app also tell you that it uses the GPS for Ads? So I dont always trust what it says when it comes to permissions as it doesnt mean in the underline that its not using the same permission to do other things. Would be nice if the G1 had a notice that the app uses Ad support.

Linux is a wonderful and powerful operating system that can do just about anything you can possibly dream of.
First, the hosts file hack is a piece of crap since all it does is it points potentially malicious domain names back to self. It doesn't take into account connections that are ip address based... those will still go through and there is nothing that can be put in the hosts file to stop that.
iptables on the other hand.... included in 1.0 and 1.1, and several custom 1.5's, can do many strong things; block by ip address (including if it tries to lookup by dns), block by port, *BLOCK BY USER ID*.
The latter is particularly interesting since each program installed on android is assigned its own userid. That means that with the correct iptables rule, you can block all network traffic for THAT PARTICULAR PROGRAM. Or you can blacklist/whitelist servers for that program, etc.
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/block...ingle-user-from-my-server-using-iptables.html
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux...ng-access-to-selectedspecific-ip-address.html
For example, when I issue this command:
iptables -A OUTPUT -o tiwlan0 -m owner --uid-owner 10017 -j DROP
My browser is no longer able to connect (since it is uid=10017) using wifi (tiwlan0 is wifi). Note: leave out the entire "-o tiwlan0" argument and it should block all outgoing on all devices for that userid.
To find the userid for a particular program, do "ls -l /data/data/program'sdatadirectory"

So on JF 1.51 is this ability already there? Yea I know Linux is great for iptables. Always is, even in routers hehe.
If its not in there already, Debian, how well does that work on the G1?

[Q] Default browser

I've searched and haven't found much other than it is not possible threads but is there any way to change the default browser to something other than stock?
I want to use UC Browser. The reason, I subscribe to a few boards that have videos posted, such as Powerblock TV, an automotive enthusiast site. Internet Explorer doesn't play half of them and when it comes to Flash, neither do.
However, I can cut and paste out of IE into UC and the video plays fine.
I did development back on Windows Mobile and never mad the cut to WP. We had some cool tools back then and I know the SDK is limited in WP in comparison.
Hopefully there is a way. If not, I will just live with it like I have been.

Nope, currently we can't make a default browser for THIRD PARTY Apps even SECOND PARTY apps.
Hope this feature will come in WP8.2 or may be WP9.

djamol said:
Nope, currently we can't make a default browser for THIRD PARTY Apps even SECOND PARTY apps.
Hope this feature will come in WP8.2 or may be WP9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suspected that although has anyone seen any reference to it in future releases?

It *might* be possible, on interop-unlocked phones. On WP7 I was able to make a different browser launch for *most* scenarios (that normally invoke IE) but changing the HTTP and HTTPS URI handlers in the registry.
It would be really nice if Microsoft had just let people list those URI schemes in app manifests, but nooooooo.

Crossword Puzzles

Edit: Sorry, I had to remove this app when it was brought to my attention recently and I found it was NOT the appI had thought it was :-( It does NOT display properly on the NST/G. Still looking for the one I remember and if I find it I will update this post.
I stumbled across a brief reference to this app buried in another thread from long ago and thought I'd bring it back into the light. Market apps for crossword puzzles seldom work well on the NST, many of them having issues with partially disappearing keyboards.
The app attached below is actually from the Nook Color! It installs and runs just fine on the NST (probably NSTG as well). It has a nice, clean UI--with a custom keyboard that doesn't disappear. Puzzles can be selected by difficulty level.
The drawback: there seems to be no way to get more puzzles. But for casual use, it's great--and the price is right

This app appears to work on the Glowlight Plus also. However, it seems to be pixel mapped, so it appears very small on the higher resolution screen.

are there any services that generate hints?

Great idea! I will gladly support any effort to port/fork/customize/make such app better.

On my Glow3...

Renate said:
On my Glow3...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've actually learned a few things since my original post (shocking!). Just a cursory inspection of the apk file reveals the stored puzzles in res/raw. There appear to be 100 of them and they are actually in a known format (.puz)!
I've not tried adding anything yet (it's probably not that simple), but here is a site with lots of information about obtaining .puz files for use in Across Lite (a puzzle creating and solving platform): https://communicrossings.com/crosswords-sources-web-sites
Maybe I'll pursue this. I do actually have a very old Crossword app that works well across all my devices and can download new puzzles daily from a variety of sources. I don't even recall where I got it but it has clearly been "modified" in some fashion by someone. Most features work on the NST except for updating the list of puzzle sources. For some reason this fails on the NST although it works on other devices. Probably an SSL issue. But as there are quite a few sources in the "old" list, it's fine for the NST where I don't generally spend a lot of time doing puzzles. But it's there when I need a break from reading or just idle entertainment waiting in a doctor's office, etc.
Edit: I lied. There are actually 189 puzzles (easy, medium, hard, themeless).

nmyshkin said:
I've actually learned a few things since my original post (shocking!). Just a cursory inspection of the apk file reveals the stored puzzles in res/raw. There appear to be 100 of them and they are actually in a known format (.puz)!
I've not tried adding anything yet (it's probably not that simple), but here is a site with lots of information about obtaining .puz files for use in Across Lite (a puzzle creating and solving platform): https://communicrossings.com/crosswords-sources-web-sites
Maybe I'll pursue this. I do actually have a very old Crossword app that works well across all my devices and can download new puzzles daily from a variety of sources. I don't even recall where I got it but it has clearly been "modified" in some fashion by someone. Most features work on the NST except for updating the list of puzzle sources. For some reason this fails on the NST although it works on other devices. Probably an SSL issue. But as there are quite a few sources in the "old" list, it's fine for the NST where I don't generally spend a lot of time doing puzzles. But it's there when I need a break from reading or just idle entertainment waiting in a doctor's office, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the crossword app that works across all of your devices same as the one attached to the first post of this thread? You have my support in doing this man. We think similar in approaching the problem. I would also have started from the file type and then go further. I need to look up that platform and attached link. Say if you need any help with this. I need to check crosswords in my language and is there any available site to download them. It might be futile effort for NST without keyboard change. As for SSL problem it starts to be such pain in the a$$ that someone is going to lose patience and find the way to solve it by programming or find the way to obfuscate it through NST as dashboard and any newer phone as server for example. That was also one of the approaches I proposed for missing GPS. Now I rarely need GPS on NST however making it better in terms of book and newspaper device I am all for it.

SJT75 said:
Is the crossword app that works across all of your devices same as the one attached to the first post of this thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, that app of questionable origin is different.
SJT75 said:
You have my support in doing this man. We think similar in approaching the problem. I would also have started from the file type and then go further. I need to look up that platform and attached link. Say if you need any help with this. I need to check crosswords in my language and is there any available site to download them. It might be futile effort for NST without keyboard change. As for SSL problem it starts to be such pain in the a$$ that someone is going to lose patience and find the way to solve it by programming or find the way to obfuscate it through NST as dashboard and any newer phone as server for example. That was also one of the approaches I proposed for missing GPS. Now I rarely need GPS on NST however making it better in terms of book and newspaper device I am all for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I started to look at this and got a couple of surprises. First, on initialization the app creates one binary file in the data folder. That's all. So any puzzle substitution/updating would have to be done by taking the app apart and then putting it back together with apktool. Not very convenient, but I suppose if you did a good number of puzzles at once it might be worthwhile.
However the real surprise was looking at the app running. It's nothing like I remember! So I'm not sure what I'm looking at now. Maybe I've got yet another crossword app among my files. Better download from the earlier post and see... Although the package does say com.encore.crossword. But the short of it is that the app I was looking at is a no-go on the NST. The puzzles are half-hidden behind the keyboard and no amount of persuasion in either word or gesture (rude or not) will convince the puzzle to scroll up.
Edit: nope, it's the same app I posted earlier in this thread so long ago. It seems impossible but there it is. I wouldn't have posted it if I had seen how it was bolluxed up on the NST. I have no explanation.

Huh. Your 15 x 15 looks better than mine.
I did a once over trying to fix the app.
I chopped down the keyboard a bunch.
Still, the whole layout is a mess.

Renate said:
Huh. Your 15 x 15 looks better than mine.
I did a once over trying to fix the app.
I chopped down the keyboard a bunch.
Still, the whole layout is a mess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I did a little fiddling but could not convince it to show the entire grid as accessible along with the keyboard. It really must be coded just for the Nook Color/Tablet display.
I am baffled as to its appearance. I am getting older, but its nothing at all like I remember. I never would have posted if it had looked that way when I first tried it. But its definitely an app from the Nook Color, that much is evident from the package name. Just a mystery.

From little bit I have read about this ancient version of Android what nmyshkin reported about behavior of the application led me to believe that is developed as NDK app. I believe it is easier to make new app starting from scratch if you gathered enough knowledge about that crosswords file type and if download sources are not behind paywall. I would start with calculating size of standard on screen keyboard and then put rest of the screen for use by the crossword. It might be little small that way although but if field input is letter sized from some regular NST font I believe it can be squeezed. Other option might be that you do not make keyboard input at all but select input square and then use gesture in input field resembling writing. You would also need erase button. Then you would have more space for crossword but had to program input interface for the app. IIRC Opera does support gestures so maybe you could get the idea how to make that interface there.

Since the thread contain nonworking app can we consider it as place for discussion about either rigging that one or finding or developing new one for NST?
You already mentioned modified keyboard so I guess changing crossword layout is not out of question too. I didn't check .puz file type so obviously I have no idea about it but I did skim little through the site nmyshkin posted here. There are also other options there so it might be good to consider them also. Firstly using browser with JS woodoo. I do not know much about that but I have gained an impression you have previously make some good stuff using similar approach. Second option is using .PDF file type for puzzles. It might work considering that NST have some limited PDF reflow ability. Maybe that can allow us to adjust crossword layout? Problem is that it seems like it is slightly abandoned file format for puzzles although it was possible to have even interactive ones in that format. Can"t say what the term interactive means. Hint, letter reveals or something else. If it means connection to a server on net that will most likely be to big bite for old NST in the future.
Just a stray thought inside puzzle letters shown are real letter font used on NST or pictures generated in app?

Looked little about crossword file format. It seems that .puz is albeit old and easier to view/change using tools as simple as Notepad somehow proprietary. On the other hand it is claimed that .jpz is more versatile but even if it is so it seems to be some hybrid between Java and XML.There is also third format .ipuz that is completely free but as I understand it is originally for Mac which I do not have. Now if I delve into this what is the opinion of others? Consider it as a poll. 1, 2 or 3?

The New York Times apparently uses .puz
I'd give that some weight.
NYT links to this download: https://www.litsoft.com/across/alite/download/index.html
That file format seems to be (mostly) documented here: https://code.google.com/archive/p/puz/wikis/FileFormat.wiki
It could be edited by hand but there are binary parts and checksums.
Edit: Well, I take that all back. NYT (just yesterday!) stated that they are dropping .puz format.
NYT Games No Longer Available on Across Lite as of Aug. 10 (Published 2021)
Starting next week, we will no longer provide downloadable .puz files.
www.nytimes.com

I understand that up until now adoption by influential publisher (which regularly paid to owner of file format for software and rights to use) kept .puz in game. Format is simple and already have been reverse engineered by others which irked rights owner to the point of threatening with lawsuits left and right. They should have invested more in development of format and software instead. Second format .jpz is supposedly better but had so far lagged in adoption on the market.

Ha, ha!
Cross words over New York Times puzzle change
The US-based publication is cutting third party support for its popular crossword puzzles.
www.bbc.com

Well I can anticipate two things. First its a good time to start torrent search for old crosswords files archives. Second is that I believe we can find alternative sources on the link nmyshkin posted earlier. Still that doesn't resolve dilemma which file type is a way to go. Based on previous statement Rennate made on other topic I presume she would like .ipuz as open and free standard.

Just a link to share. If someone need old crosswords it appears someone already had made a database. link

[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.