Monday, May 6, 2013

Torchlight: "android:installLocation" manifest attribute

If we look at the Android application info on device with Android 2.2 and above there is button which will have label Move to SD card or Move to phone and in some cases this button is disabled with label Move to SD card.

This button is controlled by android:installLocation manifest attribute.

There are different values to this attribute:
  1. internalOnly (default value):
    If the value is such then the application must be installed on the internal device storage only and it will never be installed on the external storage. If the internal storage is full, then the system will not install the application. This is when button in application info is disabled with label Move to SD card.
  2. auto:
    If the value is such then the system will install the application on the internal storage by default. If the internal storage is full, then the system will install it on the external storage.
  3. preferExternal:
    If the value is such then the application prefers to be installed on the external storage. There is no guarantee this as application might be installed on internal storage if the external media is unavailable or full.
In both of the auto and preferExternal user can move the application to either internal or external storage through Move to SD card or Move to phone on application info screen.

In case of app installed on external storage  only .apk file is saved on the external storage, but all private user data, databases, optimized .dex files, and extracted native code are saved on the internal device memory.

Caution should be taken while declaring app to be installation on external storage as whenever external storage get unmounts or removed, the application get killed and becomes unavailable for user. If in the application, below services are to be used then value should be set to internalOnly:
  • Services
  • Alarm Services
  • Input Method Engines  
  • Live Wallpapers
  • App Widgets
  • Account Managers
  • Sync Adapters
  • Device Administrators
  • Broadcast Receivers listening for "boot completed"

Thursday, May 2, 2013

There are only Four Jobs in Whole world

Today, i stumbled upon an article by Lou Adler having title "There Are Only Four Jobs in the Whole World – Are You in the Right One?
Below is the copied content of the article which was to the point and superb:
-------
Everything starts with an idea. This is the first of the four jobs – the Thinkers. Builders convert these ideas into reality. This the second job. Improvers make this reality better. This is the third job. Producers do the work over and over again, delivering quality goods and services to the company’s customers in a repeatable manner. This is the fourth job. And then the process begins again with new ideas and new ways of doing business being developed as the old ones become stale.
As a company grows and reaches maturity, more of the work gets done by the Producers and Improvers. However, without a culture of consistent improvement, the Producers soon take over and implementing change becomes slower and slower until it stops. Long before this the Thinkers and Builders have left for some new venture. Improvers soon follow to join their former co-workers and hire new Producers to add some order to the newly created chaos. The old Producers who aren’t continually evolving, learning new skills and processes, are left behind to fend for themselves. Maintaining balance across all four work types is a constant, but a necessary, struggle for a company to continue to grow, adapt, and survive.
Every job has a mix of all four work types dependent on the actual work involved, the scope and scale of the role, and the company’s growth rate. To ensure balance and flexibility, all of these four work types should be taken into account when preparing any new performance-based job description. Here’s how:
Producers: these people execute or maintain a repeatable process. This can range from simple things like working on an inbound help desk and handling some transactional process, to more complex, like auditing the performance of a big system, writing code, or producing the monthly financial reports. Producers typically require training or advanced skills to be in a position to execute the process. To determine the appropriate Producer performance objectives, ask the hiring manager to define how any required skill is used on the job and how its success would be measured, e.g., “contact 15 new customers per week and have five agree to an onsite demonstration.“ This is a lot better than saying “the person must have 3-5 years of sales experience selling to sophisticated buyers of electro-mechanical control valves.”
Improvers: these people upgrade, change or make a repeatable process better. Managers are generally required to continually monitor and improve a process under their responsibility. Building, training and developing the team to implement a process is part of an Improver’s role. Improvers can be individual contributors or managers of teams and projects, the key is the focus on improving a existing system, business or process. A performance objective for an Improver could be “conduct a comprehensive process review of the wafer fab process to determine what it would take to improve end-to-end yield by 10%.”
Builders: these people take an idea from scratch and convert it into something tangible. This could be creating a new business, designing a complex new product, or developing a new process. Entrepreneurs, inventors, turn-around executives, those in R&D, and project managers are typical jobs that emphasize the Builder component. Ask the hiring manager what big changes, new developments, big problems or major projects the person in the new job would need to address to determine the Builder component. An example might be, “lead the implementation of the new SAP supply change system over every business unit including international.” This is a lot better than saying “must have five years international logistics background and strong expertise in SAP."
Thinkers: these people are the visionaries, strategists, intellects, and creators of the world, and every new idea starts with them. Their work covers new products, new business ideas, and different ways of doing everyday things. Ask hiring managers where the job requires thinking out-of-the-box or major problems to solve to develop the Thinker performance objectives. “Develop a totally new approach for reducing water usage by 50%,” is a lot better than saying “Must have 5-10 years of environmental engineering background including 3-5 years of wastewater management with a knack for creative solutions."
Recognize that every person is comprised of a mix of each work type, with one or two dominant. Likewise for every job. Most require strengths in one or two of the work types. As you select people for new roles, it's important to get this blending right. This starts by understanding the full requirements of the position, the strengths and weaknesses of others on the team, and the primary objective of the department, group or company. In the rush to hire, it’s easy to lose sight of this bigger picture, emphasizing skills and experience over performance and fit. This is how Builders get hired instead of Improvers and Thinkers get hired when Producers are required. While there are only four work types, hiring the wrong one is often how the wrong work gets done.
 ------
Since i loved the article and i am apologetic to the article owner that i copied it to my blog to preserve the words of wisdom with me, i think all categories spoken in the article are the only categories one should put himself into and one should visualize his own worth according to these categories.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Hacking Android - Part 2

If you have got your phone bricked where your Galaxy Y is getting stuck to the Samsung logo and phone is restarting again and again after displaying Samsung logo after few seconds and your recovery console is also not coming then i would say that you have HARD BRICKED your phone and now its the time you start reading the below steps to UN-BRICK it.

The technique i will be explaining for Unbricking the phone applies to Samsung phones and this method will flash Samsung stock ROM via tool named ODIN. Since ODIN is a windows os based tool, this method will only work in Windows OS.

Pre-requisite before you proceed with the below steps:
  1. Install Samsung Kies from Samsung website or from the cd obtained with your device.
  2. Install Samsung android drivers for your Windows OS
  3. In the device Go to Settings --> Applications --> Developer options and enable USB Debugging by clicking on the checkbox and turning it green
  4. Install ODIN by downloading from link
So, to un-brick your phone follow the below steps:
  1. Download the stock ROM from XDA Forum after checking the kernel version from
    Settings --> About phone --> Kernel version
  2. Extract the downloaded file into a folder on your Windows PC.
  3. If you are running Kies, Stop it and kill all its processes.
  4. If you are an Android developer or have Android SDK installed on your Windows PC, then stop all ADB (Android debug bridge) processes.
  5. Shutdown your device
  6. Now, by pressing Volume Down+Home Key, press Power key. This will boot the device in Download mode.
  7. When in download mode follow the instructions to continue and this will show the download screen (You can notice ODIN written on top left of phone screen in Galaxy Y).
  8. Connect your phone to the PC and start ODIN. 
  9. The ID:Com section in ODIN will turn yellow. If it doesn't then the device drivers are not installed properly.
  10. If you notice the yellow color in above step then click on PDA and browse to the folder created in Step 2 above.
  11. In the PDA section, select the file whose name has "PDA" in it. Click on Phone and select the file whose name has either PHONE or MODEM in it. Click on CSC and select the file whose name has CSC in it.
  12. Do leave PIT and BOOT empty
  13. Now, click on the Start button and this will start the flashing process of the Stock ROM.
  14. When the Flashing process is complete, you can notice PASS written in ODIN on a green background in your PC.
This will make your device just like new. If you are still stuck on the Samsung logo after following above steps then most probably you have selected the wrong ROM. So, download the correct ROM and run the steps mentioned again.

I hope this helps un-bricking your device.

Stay Good and Stay Lovely !! 

How to install node using Brew

This article talks about some simple steps to follow to install node using Brew . Though there are many other ways to do it but the method ...