5 ms·

I'm excited about the prospect of seeing this on the iPad...

by jjs 16y ago

ewanmcteagle 16y ago
Makes me happy to hear. The news is fresh but already you're thinking higher, faster, different and more.
- jjs 16y ago
  You should've seen what was going through my head while watching the original iPhone keynote speech... This was before we knew that the iPhone wasn't planned to ship with a native API (or that the eventual API and the phone itself would be so crippled), but for a brief, shining moment, I saw a world where everyone had a real computer in their pockets, always connected. I really ought to go through my notes and implement some of those exuberant ideas for Android. (To my delight, at least one of them has already been made: Google Sky Map. It's also smarter, as it uses GPS to determine where you are; my idea was to use the camera and image processing to recognize constellations).
  - elai 16y ago
    I see no reason why you can't make that with the iPhone API right now (with 3GS hardware). It might be faster with a native OpenGL ES implementation too.
    - jjs 16y ago
      That was just one of many, most of which simply can't be done as iPhone apps (and several of which already exist for Android).
      - elai 16y ago
        But can you give me an example that actually can't official API wise? Google Sky Map can be implemented on the iPhone with official APIs. Other than apps that edit system settings (like Locale) what can't you really do?
        jjs 16y ago
        But can you give me an example that actually can't official API wise? Google Sky Map can be implemented on the iPhone with official APIs. Other than apps that edit system settings (like Locale) what can't you really do? Well, the very first thing that I wanted to implement was something like this: http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/ http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/ 1. Interpreter/VM with arbitrary code. 2. Open Source Until recently, VOIP was banned, as well. Aside from decent notifications and real background tasks (and the aforementioned Locale, which was also on the list), the biggest blockers are the App Store and its restrictive policies.
  - borism 16y ago
    that was exactly my feeling when I watched original iPhone keynote! Free at Last, brother! :)
  - theBobMcCormick 16y ago
    Care to post some of those ideas? Could be an interesting topic for conversation. I think a lot people's thinking about smartphone apps and what's possible has started to get a bit... constrained by what's already popular.
    - jjs 16y ago
      I've been thinking of posting an online commonplace book of ideas that I want to see implemented but don't have the time or inclination or domain-knowledge to implement myself.
DarrenMills 16y ago
Now, either me, or someone else, is going to have to do a friendly writeup on how to install this. This could soak up the better part of a few days. I need this.
neurotech1 16y ago
Probably take a while because the A4 processor is essentially undocumented. Although, It's a Cortex A8 Core with a SGX535 GPU core which is documented by other manufactures
- jacquesm 16y ago
  The majority of the opcodes is identical though, you should be able to infer the rest by inspecting the code, the 'unknown' opcodes and architecture details can usually be puzzled out like that. Reverse engineering CPUs with unknown architectures like this has definitely been done before, and the fact that it has most of the major components identical with a documented set will only make that easier, after all, the changes should be relatively minor compared to the common parts.
hexley 16y ago
Why? There are Android tablets already aren't there?
- nirmal 16y ago
  Maybe jjs wants to combine Apple's industrial design with Android's open software.
  - colinprince 16y ago
    and dual boot. (Triple? maybe chromeOS?)
    - danudey 16y ago
      ChromeOS provides an interface consisting entirely of a webkit-based browser. The iPad already ships with an app that duplicates that functionality, called 'Safari'.
  - hexley 16y ago
    s/combine/tarnish/ ;)

I'm excited about the prospect of seeing this on the iPad...

by jjs 16y ago

I'm excited about the prospect of seeing this on the iPad...

ewanmcteagle 16y ago

Makes me happy to hear. The news is fresh but already you're thinking higher, faster, different and more.

jjs 16y ago
You should've seen what was going through my head while watching the original iPhone keynote speech... This was before we knew that the iPhone wasn't planned to ship with a native API (or that the eventual API and the phone itself would be so crippled), but for a brief, shining moment, I saw a world where everyone had a real computer in their pockets, always connected. I really ought to go through my notes and implement some of those exuberant ideas for Android. (To my delight, at least one of them has already been made: Google Sky Map. It's also smarter, as it uses GPS to determine where you are; my idea was to use the camera and image processing to recognize constellations).
- elai 16y ago
  I see no reason why you can't make that with the iPhone API right now (with 3GS hardware). It might be faster with a native OpenGL ES implementation too.
  - jjs 16y ago
    That was just one of many, most of which simply can't be done as iPhone apps (and several of which already exist for Android).
    - elai 16y ago
      But can you give me an example that actually can't official API wise? Google Sky Map can be implemented on the iPhone with official APIs. Other than apps that edit system settings (like Locale) what can't you really do?
      - jjs 16y ago
        But can you give me an example that actually can't official API wise? Google Sky Map can be implemented on the iPhone with official APIs. Other than apps that edit system settings (like Locale) what can't you really do? Well, the very first thing that I wanted to implement was something like this: http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/ http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/ 1. Interpreter/VM with arbitrary code. 2. Open Source Until recently, VOIP was banned, as well. Aside from decent notifications and real background tasks (and the aforementioned Locale, which was also on the list), the biggest blockers are the App Store and its restrictive policies.
- borism 16y ago
  that was exactly my feeling when I watched original iPhone keynote! Free at Last, brother! :)
- theBobMcCormick 16y ago
  Care to post some of those ideas? Could be an interesting topic for conversation. I think a lot people's thinking about smartphone apps and what's possible has started to get a bit... constrained by what's already popular.
  - jjs 16y ago
    I've been thinking of posting an online commonplace book of ideas that I want to see implemented but don't have the time or inclination or domain-knowledge to implement myself.

DarrenMills 16y ago

Now, either me, or someone else, is going to have to do a friendly writeup on how to install this. This could soak up the better part of a few days. I need this.

neurotech1 16y ago

Probably take a while because the A4 processor is essentially undocumented. Although, It's a Cortex A8 Core with a SGX535 GPU core which is documented by other manufactures

jacquesm 16y ago
The majority of the opcodes is identical though, you should be able to infer the rest by inspecting the code, the 'unknown' opcodes and architecture details can usually be puzzled out like that. Reverse engineering CPUs with unknown architectures like this has definitely been done before, and the fact that it has most of the major components identical with a documented set will only make that easier, after all, the changes should be relatively minor compared to the common parts.

hexley 16y ago

Why? There are Android tablets already aren't there?

nirmal 16y ago
Maybe jjs wants to combine Apple's industrial design with Android's open software.
- colinprince 16y ago
  and dual boot. (Triple? maybe chromeOS?)
  - danudey 16y ago
    ChromeOS provides an interface consisting entirely of a webkit-based browser. The iPad already ships with an app that duplicates that functionality, called 'Safari'.
- hexley 16y ago
  s/combine/tarnish/ ;)