Despite all of the good things I can say about the Android platform, it is far from being perfect. My biggest gripes have to do with the Android Market and the quality of its apps. Searching the Android market is a pain. If you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, you have to filter through a huge list of apps that may or may not be related to what you want. The official Android Market directory does provide filtering by category and searching by name but a deeper search engine (*cough*, Google) would go a long way. AndroLib goes a step further by adding search criteria for pricing, ratings, and number of downloads but I still can’t seem to find apps with the functionality I want or need (maybe they don’t exist yet…).

Once you’ve found an app on the market and installed it, you may be disappointed with the quality of the app itself. This is often the case for me. Don’t get me wrong, I give full credit and have the utmost respect for any and all software developers but to be honest, most of the apps out there fail from a user experience perspective. Especially the apps developed by the smaller independent developers. Independent developers are creating some of the most useful applications but they have that distinct amateur (read: ugly) feel to them. This is a problem that has plagued Linux for so long and in my opinion is the reason why it isn’t more popular. I can only hope that this doesn’t hold Android back from being an even larger success.

So Android needs you (software developers) to take the onus on yourself to develop applications that are more user-centered and held to a higher standard. Continue creating apps of great utility, just give them a little spit polish before you publish them. I don’t want to pay for an app that looks like it was designed by well, an amateur. And if your app is free, thank you, but it should not be an excuse for skimping on production values.

I have some apps in the pipeline that I want to develop and hopefully I won’t be eating my words. Now, if only Google would open up the Android Market for Canadian developers to start selling paid apps….

What I’ve decided to do is give a quick run down on what I should’ve been blogging about this whole time. So without further adieu:

• I accepted a full-time position at IBM.
• Sarah and I moved into our first home.
• Sarah and I got engaged.
• I completed my honours project.
• I graduated.
• I went to Vegas for my (early) Bachelor Party.
• I started my career at IBM.

So what’s ahead?

• Wedding in about 6 months… yikes!
• I got a Nexus One so expect to see Android and smartphone related blogs in the near future… hopefully.
• My wisdom teeth are being removed this coming week… not particularly eventful but noteworthy because it’s my first major surgery.

That’s it for now.

The latest idea revolves around augmented reality (AR). Along with providing opportunities for experimenting with computer vision and object recognition, AR combines my interests in location-based services and mobile computing. Doing an AR-related honours project is probably a front runner for me because I’m so enthusiastic about the technology. However, I’m struggling with finding an original idea. I recently had an idea for an AR application that I thought could be huge. After a few minutes on Google, I found that similar ideas had already been implemented… Still, there is a lot of potential here. If I can’t come up with my own completely original research, I may have to put my own personal spin on an existing idea.

1. Originality – It’ll be tough. Developers are pumping out quality AR applications on a regular basis.
2. Usefulness – It’s hard to determine at this point since I don’t have a specific idea.
3. Scope – Same as above.
4. Educational Value – High. There are a lot of different technologies I can touch upon.
5. Fun Factor – High. Have you seen some of the things developers are working on?

The experience for me has been a little different from Sarah’s. From the day that we signed on the dotted line Sarah was gung ho. She wanted to select upgrades, design options, appliances, and furniture well before the builder even started pouring foundation. In contrast, I thought that making a lot of the decisions so early was a little premature. Not to say that I wasn’t excited, I just couldn’t envision some things the same way that Sarah could.

It wasn’t until we had exterior walls and a roof that this whole experience started to feel real to me. Walking through the house for the first time was surreal. Even without flooring or drywall I was able to get a better sense of the space. After that, I started enjoying the experience much more. And in 23 days, it’s only going to get better.

In choosing an honours project, I will consider the following:

1. Originality – Has the idea already been researched/implemented?
2. Usefulness – Will the idea have a positive impact on science, technology, or life?
3. Scope – How much of the idea can be implemented (in four months)?
4. Educational Value – Will I learn or develop new skills from working on the project?
5. Fun Factor – Is the project something that I will enjoy working on?

Onto the idea… it’s based around human-computer interaction strictly via eye tracking and voice recognition. It’s actually a fairly straightforward idea. However, I don’t want to simply map eye movements to mouse movements and voice recognition to typing and mouse clicks. I want to create a more satisfying user experience, limiting eye fatigue and creating a dictionary of intuitive voice commands. I would also like the technology to be available to everyone (i.e. open-source, requiring only a microphone and web camera).

So does the idea meet my honours project criteria? In terms of originality, probably not. There has already been substantial research and development in the areas of eye tracking and voice recognition. But despite the lack of originality, this idea could have a huge impact on the lives of others. People suffering from chronic carpal tunnel syndrome or those who are afflicted with quadriplegia or similar disabilities could greatly benefit from this technology. This is my main motivation for this project. It would obviously be extremely rewarding to create something like this. However, I’ve never worked with this type of technology so it’s difficult to scope out. And that just means that there’s a lot for me to learn.

Fall 2009
COMP 3008 – User Interface Architecture
COMP 3804 – Design and Analysis of Algorithms I
COMP 4004 – Software Quality Assurance
COMP 4104 – Distributed Programming in Java
COMP 4901 – Directed Studies
GEOM 2004 – Introduction to Geomatics
PSYC 2600 – Introduction to the Study of Personality

Winter 2010
COMP 4804 – Design and Analysis of Algorithms II
COMP 4900 – Advanced Topics in Computer Science
COMP 4905 – Honours Project
GEOM 2007 – Geographic Information Systems
PHIL 2001 – Introduction to Logic

The two algorithm courses are a staple of any healthy computer science diet. Throw in a few software courses and an honours project and I’ve got a pretty full plate. The honours project though, is what I’m really looking forward to. It’s an opportunity for me to do some independent research or finally get the ball rolling on one of my pending side projects. Lately, a lot of my ideas have centred around the concept of location-based services. So I’m hoping the geomatics/GIS courses will give me some domain knowledge in that area. To round things off, the personality course will complete my psychology minor and the logic course is well …

(Note: I hate the term “personal brand”, but I’ve been reading a lot about it lately.)

At first I thought I should keep this blog strictly professional and only write about computer science, software projects, and technology. You know, the fun stuff. And after reading several articles about how blogging can be good for your career it only reinforced that idea. A few colleagues have even told me about how companies like Google and Microsoft are constantly crawling blogs for resumes, looking for new talent to recruit. Sounds good to me… but does that read good to everyone? Probably not.

While I don’t expect the entire world to read my blog, I wouldn’t want to limit my audience. I’m interested in a lot more than algorithms, programming, and gadgets and suspect others are the same way. A personal blog would allow me to express the other half of my life that is (hopefully) just as entertaining. Would a recruiter be entertained by such posts? Probably not.

I suppose I could create two separate blogs, but I think I’ll have my hands full maintaining just one. Instead, I think a hybrid professional-personal blog will work for me. A blog where I can chronicle the progress of my up coming honours project or capture my experiences as a first-time home buyer. I just need to be mindful of my posts so that something like this doesn’t happen.

After all, this blog is an extension of who I am.