The 10 Best Android Hacks 134
Barence writes "The Android vs iPhone debate will continue until the apocalypse, but there's no doubt Android wins on customability. PC Pro has listed its ten favorite Android hacks, which include the ability to open your garage door with your smartphone, install Ubuntu on your handset, and overclock your phone's processor. There's also instructions on how to replace your dashboard satnav with Google's version."
Customability? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Customability? (Score:5, Funny)
Making up words? There's an app for that.
Re:Customability? (Score:5, Funny)
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I sent you an SMS but my boss got it instead. Now I have to meet with him and explain what "You're holding it wrong" meant.
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You beat me to it.... I had to be sure, so I looked it up on dictionary.com [reference.com] and it's not there.
I'm sure that it will be in the Urban Dictionary [urbandictionary.com] shortly though, right next to convertablization [urbandictionary.com].
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Congratulations, you're hereby declared inured to inspiration and in a state of linguistic stagnation. [flamebait]You would fit nicely in France.[/flamebait]
A quick question, when you read this "non-word" did you have any speck of doubt regarding the meaning being carried by it? I didn't even blink at it before you started to nitpick over the word rather than the semantics of it.
And now for a new challenge, present us with a word with the exact same meaning as this "non-word" that can be swapped with it wit
Re:Customability? (Score:4, Funny)
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And now for a new challenge, present us with a word with the exact same meaning as this "non-word" that can be swapped with it without altering the grammar, meaning or flow of the sentence.
Customizability.
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Touché. It fulfilled 2 out of the 3 points of the challenge.
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Here's a challenge for you: explain to us what exactly is so phenomenal about the "flow" of that sentence that merits using an imaginary word with exactly the same meaning as an existing one?
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uh...points of the challenge:
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Points of the challenge:
1) grammar
2) meaning
3) flow
Customizability succeeds on the first and second point, but it is both hard on the eyes and on the tongue. Also, to be as nitpicky as the GP, it only turns up on two online dictionaries thus far for me (with a z or a s) but neither in cambridge or in merriam-webster.
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Counting your "same meaning" requirement, that makes 4 points.
I rather think that correct words flow better than incorrect ones. As far as dictionary references, you'll find that many perfectly valid words are not presented in all of their possible permutations in the dictionary.
-ability +
(Latin: a suffix expressing ability, capacity, fitness, or "that which may be easily handled or managed")
Presented as the noun forms of -able; forming nouns of quality from, or corresponding to, adjectives in -able; the q
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The third point was, by my reading, "achieve levels of pedantry heretofore not witnessed among mere mortals"... You sir have passed the test!
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The third point was, by my reading, "achieve levels of pedantry heretofore not witnessed among mere mortals"... You sir have passed the test!
Surely....."pedantrification heretofore not witnessed among mere mortals"....would have sufficed!
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I'd take up your new challenge, but I already failed your first.
What *does* it mean? That there are more custom abilities of the phone, or that the phone can be customized, or that there is a wider variety of custom phones (different brands)?
Your point is often valid, and there are many legitimate reasons to synthesize new words (including for purely aesthetic reasons). In this case, however, there is a fairly large amount of ambiguity as to what the lexicomposer* is actually trying to convey.
* Yes, I mad
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I think it can be derived from the context, but I agree with you and am glad that you took the time to politely point out the ambiguity that I missed.
That said the 'proper' word customizability*, as pointed out elsewhere, feels extremely unwieldy to me. Might be because English is only my second language.
* my spellchecker actually refuses it outright.
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try customisability then
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Not to be rude, but since you aren't a native English speaker, you aren't really equipped to decide what fits the language better. I was going to reply to an earlier response of yours asking if English was a second language, because thinking that a non-word flows better than an actual word is a pretty good sign. I see now I would have been correct.
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Not to be rude, but since you aren't a native English speaker, you aren't really equipped to decide what fits the language better. I was going to reply to an earlier response of yours asking if English was a second language, because thinking that a non-word flows better than an actual word is a pretty good sign. I see now I would have been correct.
This is a good point.
In English, the -ability ending is added on to verbs. The verb would be customize (or customise), hence why customability doesn't work.
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Well, if you make up words, I guess you get to define them to mean whatever you want. If "Android wins on customability," then iPhone wins on appleability.
Sounds perfectly cromulent to me.
My favourite android hack (Score:5, Funny)
My favourite android hack is when I set the alarm last year and it still works this year!
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Well what phone have you got? Are you using any dedicated alarm apps or the stock one?
I have a HTC Desire and Sense's alarm never failed me once. Then I switched ROMs to one without Sense and use Alarm Clock Plus, which works just as well. It's even clever enough to up the volume if you happen to have your phone on Vibrate.
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Android is the new windows, someone said, and they were right.
And what is a ROM?
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You don't need to buy anything, the app I mentioned is free. There are many, many free Apps for Android, it's one of the things that really sets it apart from the iPhone app store.
Sadly, Sony's Android offerings are....lacking...to say the least. They're not even 2.1 as far as I'm aware, so despite the fact that the phone is on sale in shops today, it's 4 versions behind!
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I should clarify: That alarm app in particular has a free version and a paid version. I use the free one.
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I wasn't an iPhone fanboy b
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I know The Xperia phones have some issues, but that all sounds pretty serious. I'd have taken that phone back pretty quickly.
It's also quite strange that they wont let you update the phone OTA, like the rest of the civilized world lets you.
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Do what you've got to do, but it really sounds like your problems are completely unrelated to Android and solely down to Sony being incapable of making a good phone.
As a (non-car) analogy, if you went to the store and bought a five dollar bottle of scotch that came in a tin can, would it be fair to say all scotch is bad, that it's unreasonable to expect you to look at the different brands, and you'l
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Do what you've got to do, but it really sounds like your problems are completely unrelated to Android and solely down to Sony being incapable of making a good phone.
I'm sure you have a good point with your tequila analogy. However, what crappy windows machines won't run Windows Update? Do they even exist?
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I think you seriously underestimate the capability of PC manufacturers to sell unusable crap to people.
Remember that Wal Mart sells PCs.
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I wasn't an iPhone fanboy before, but after getting the Android phone, I'm seriously considering becoming one.
in case you're not aware, the OP was talking about the iPhone alarm bug that prevent alarms from working yesterday and the day before. FYI, it would prevent any alarm. I tried setting one for 2010/01/01-19:29 at 2010/01/01-19:27. It didn't go off proving that the alarm didn't have to extend over the year mark to be effected.
This hasn't worked for a year now? (Score:1)
Would it have helped to have the alarm set for 2011 insteaf of 2010? Or did you do this test in your time machine?
Cheers!
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I shared your frustration for a while with my Xperia X10 Mini pro, but now that I've been able to root it to get rid of my telco's crapware and enable tethering, I'm happy. Remember that Android itself runs on a Linux kernel, so the device is not by nature inimical to other *nix boxes.
If you root your phone with z4root.apk (you might need to google for a working version of the app, some of the binaries are broken), you can use the ad
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The Apple App Store has thousands of free apps. I really don't understand what you're trying to imply. Unless it's just your ignorance.
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And the android app store has more. Even titles apps that are absolutely sure to sell tend to get free versions on Android. Angry Birds is a primary example. Android seems to run best off of ad-supported apps, whereas, the iOS App Store seems slightly more geared towards paying for apps.
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There are many, many free Apps for Android, it's one of the things that really sets it apart from the iPhone app store.
There are more free apps in the iPhone app store than there are free & paid apps for Android...
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Perhaps I wasn't clear enough -
http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-20009717-251.html [cnet.com]
Over half of all android apps are free. For iOS, it's more like 25%. Yes, there may be more iOS apps overall, but when Android hits 300,000 apps (where iOS currently is), it'll still be about 50%. So I stand by my point - The android market is full of a lot more free apps, maybe not by raw number (iOS certainly has that covered in pretty much all areas), but in all categories.
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Interesting. You wouldn't know that by looking at the Market. Whenever I pull it up, I find the majority of apps tend to be non-free or ad-supported, which is also non-free.
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The "above" comment supplies no supporting data, so my comment based on an equally subjective impression has equal value. I have absolutely no interest in "trumping" other posts; I was making a simple observation on the nature of Android Market's search responses.
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Just to clarify: you're having a one-off issue with an application that nobody else has, and it's Android's fault?
Right, just checking.
When I set an alarm on my android, it even says, "alarm is set for hours from now."
And then it goes off as planned.
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If Minesweeper crashed all the time on windows, I'd blame Microsoft, right?
Well, it seems the application crashes all the time on you, so I'd rather blame you.
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Android has so little to do with how it was written, and so much to do with how it was modified by the handset maker (and possibly wireless carrier) that it's rarely fair to say ANYthing conclusive about Android after trying out just one handset. There are, no doubt, little problems here and there with any given handset, but your blame rests squarely on the handset maker (Sony) and their coding choices. Google clearly did not code a fundamentally flawed alarm clock app, or it would be the one making headl
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And what is a ROM?
No idea what the acronym means, but it's basically an Android distribution. Kernel, core apps, config, lots of tweaks according to the tastes of the creators, and you install it all at once on your rooted phone. (Except if it's god an encrypted boot loader like my stupid Milestone. Then you have to do everything by hand.)
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"It's even clever enough to up the volume if you happen to have your phone on Vibrate."
Waking my wife when I put it on vibrate under my pillow isn't very clever.
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It's a user configurable option. It's as clever as you are.
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I currently have NonSensikal (which is a Froyo 2.2-based rom) running on my Droid Eris. My favorite feature of the alarm built into it (not sure if it's stock, but whatever): Even if you have headphones plugged into the phone, the alarm still comes through the speakerphone.
Quite useful if I'm streaming Last.fm for sleep-time music.
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How do you do that? Because frequently, when I set the alarm, it doesn't go off. Also, there is no correlation to significant dates, so I never know when to prepare for an absent alarm. (I have an android phone, and I bitterly regret buying it.)
I've got a Droid Eris that I plan on getting rid of when the Tegra-based models hit Verizon. I've used numerous custom roms on it (as well as the stock rom for a few months) and I've never had an alarm fail. I've heard this criticism a lot, but I've personally never experienced it. Have you tried a different rom/alarm app other than the stock one?
Maybe it's only with certain phones...?
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A rom is, in the simplest terms, the underlying operating software on your phone. Or, if it helps, just think of it as an operating system version. That's not exactly right, but it will keep things simple.
Example: I'm running NonSensikal on my Droid Eris...NonSensikal is a Froyo 2.2 based rom that runs FAR better than the stock 2.1 Sense rom that the phone comes with. This is where Android phones show their true flexibility: you can change anything and everything, right down to the very operating system
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I am not from the US either, so not all of those choices are possible for me.
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All of your questions can be answered at XDA-Developers [xda-developers.com]. That's the go-to place for stuff like this. Check on the forums, I can 100% guarantee you the answers you need are there.
Re:My favourite android hack (Score:5, Funny)
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My favorite Android hack is the one where messages are sent to the intended contact. Only trouble is, it hasn't been written yet.
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From the "Important Notice" section of my new LG P509 phone:
11. Hold the phone straight up
Please hold the mobile phone straight up as a regular phone. While making/receiving calls or sending/receiving data, try to avoid holding the lower part of the phone where the antenna is located. It may affect call quality.
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While I get up late due to dodgy alarm code, my favourite iPhone hack that I have to do in the afternoon is when I send an SMS message and it actually gets to the person I sent it to.
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You can't do that right on the base OS? Poor you.
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that one's your favorite? I like the Ubuntu installer finally I can do x264 encodes on my smart-phone.
Make an app for that and you can distribute the render over a cluster of other people's phones.
Changing rules (Score:1)
I have an Android phone .... (Score:4, Insightful)
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... but it could be nice to have anything usefull among those hacks, don't you think ?
Like a spell checker?
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I'm pretty underwhelmed too... (Score:2)
A couple examples:
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Try it again, but try to write like a grown-up with something useful to say. Experience tells us that most people who shit all over our displays like you did have nothing to say -- they need the bold and all-caps to get attention, because their ideas themselves have little merit.
So please clean up your text, people like me might actually consider your ideas if it didn't look like an unstable person wrote them.
A
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I posted a generally polite response as to why so many of us think you're unstable, and how you could address that.
It was advice.
And instead of taking it like a man and considering whether or not there were valid points, you go off the deep end with another rant written in a style sure to make other continue to consider you, as I do, a complete loon.
What are you talking about, you cr
In this war (Score:5, Insightful)
In this war between Android and iPhone, the customer wins.
The "Droid Does" (multitasking) ad campaign spurred Apple to develop iOS 4.x, which allows multitasking. The first Droid smartphones got Apple off the dime with cut and paste. Customers continue to win here, no matter which phone they purchase
Personally I have an iPhone (4) and I like it. I had the original iPhone and retained it well past my contract with AT&T. I have a client who purchased a Droid Incredible and asked me to set up his email (from my server) on it. Took all of about a minute. I was very impressed by the phone and shall always retain that impression.
I think the real losers here are RIM with the Blackberry and the Palm WebOS smartphones. While Palm has innovated, they have been passed by and are now in a niche. RIM is trying to play "catch up" and the only real difference they offer in their phones is complete integration with secure Exchange Servers. They have lost utterly in the easy app purchase field.
Apple's biggest mistake so far in the United States has been the exclusivity contract with AT&T. Initially, it was a boon for Apple, but the Android smartphones are selling faster than the Apple smartphones because they are available on more networks. To the extent Apple stays with the phone company we all love to hate, they will lose market share versus the Android smartphones.
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I think RIM's best move would be to port the things corporate customers like onto an Android based phone. Bring all the functionality of the BES server to Android and you've got a device that could *really* clean up in the business market. I'm not familiar with all BES can do, but our IT guys love it.. I guess it allows a lot of security, remote control, policy management, etc that isn't yet available on the other smartphone platforms. They'd have all the benefits of the Android system (huge array of so
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Mod this up!
And hopefully RIM will get a clue.
Their server technology is so secure that certain rather paranoid countries want them to give officials "back door" keys. And in this day of business espionage, that is a real plus.
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Isn't it great that the iPhone gets all the features Android gets a year later? Its amazing how innovative Apple has become!
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lose != loose.
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Good luck teaching that to the world. I'm losing count of how many times I see that mistake made, and not always by non-native speakers.
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Oddly, this one upsets me less.
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RIM is a looser? Isn't it the second most used smartphone in the world ? behind nokia ? I don't call that a looser ;p
Yes, if you ignore the fact that both have been losing market share quarter after quarter since the iPhone and Android phones have been released. Symbian has gone from over 50% of the global market share to less than 40%. RIM has gone from around 20% or so to less than 15%. Secondly, your figures are off about RIM. They are now 4th in market share behind both Android and iOS.
Enjoying WM 6.5 until the bitter end (Score:3)
I'm glad I held on to my WM 6.5 phone. Personally, I think having a phone you can hack is part of the fun of owning a smartphone.
Most people who look at my setup give a 'WTF is that?!?' expression. But it works for me, and that's what counts. (Yes, it's stable, I just had to un-HTC ware the freaking thing and it became stable, cooking my own ROM is was part of the fun)
My next phone will be Android based, because MS is too busy playing iPhone catch up to actually release a real smartphone. I'll most likely cook up my own Android ROM when the time comes.
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I was in the same boat when my WM phone croaked last year. The WM phone was insanely customizable, had very good encryption, easy to back up, and the custom ROMS for it were excellent.
Depending on the Android phone you get (Nexus 1 and Nexus at the top of the heap for ease of customizability, and a crapshoot with other phone makers, although HTC seems to suck the least), you might be able to find a really cool, stable ROM. Usually a stable one (that dispenses with the UI junk that phone makers and cellula
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If you haven't switched...see my sig. I stayed on PalmOS for a long time until Maemo came out, for a while I was worried I might have to strap a GSM modem onto some kind of handheld PC if I wanted an open phone. I also considered a rooted Android build, but Maemo is unquestionably a more capable OS.
It's also the only mobile OS that's headed in the right direction - towards more openness instead of less.
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How does it feel to be over the hill?
You must be close to retirement/unemployment.
38 is over the hill now? I guess I should give up cutting edge technology and just start making gobs of money off the stupid people now.
So, what color would you like your database server in?
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WTF? I can relate to the GP, having flashed my WM6.5 phone to Android only two days ago and I am just 30.
This is stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
Ok, in order:
1. Um, connect your Android video-out-capable phone to your in-car video. If the hack is replacing yoru in-car satnav system, you did that with the Android phone without the video. Now, hooking up YouTube to your in-car video, that's a hack. And illegal in many states.
4. Playing classic games on your Andriod? That's an *app*, not a *hack*. The controller hack is nice tho.
7. Installing root-only apps? How about "Getting root on your android"? After that, well, the apps come.
8. Controlling your Media Centre? Um, My Palm III did that. And that was before I *had* a mnedia centre.
10. "Get the latest Android versions, fast" What? If you're referrring to getting custom ROMs from those intrepid developers out there, fast is relative. Getting Froyo on my G1 took waiting for Froyo to be released into SDK, then waiting for it to be ported to the G1 (which required waiting for the DangerSPL), then waiting for a stable candidate, then finally the 2708 hack to make it useable long-term. Now, this is admittedly faster than waiting for the OPTA release, cause neither TMO, HTC, or Google will ever release any Android 2.x for the G1, but that's sort of like saying it was a clever hack to play DNF at PennyArcade before anyone else, since for all purposes DNF is a DNF, but the demo is not a release. Well, maybe not quite like that, but calling an alternative ROM release 'fast' is relative.
Stupid list. Mostly apps, not hacks. Show me the RAM stack hack for the G1 and I'm nominating it for #1.
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I agree with you about that -- there should be a difference between a hack (as in using the CDMA pulses so you can have a strata 1 NTP server on your phone), versus an app.
On Android, apps have a lot more freedom. Take Exchange for instance. Even though Android is still lacking Exchange encryption, Touchdown from Nitrodesk provides this. Having Exchange in an app also separates it from the OS, so work and personal contacts don't end up merging.
Ten candidates (IMHO) for best Android hacks, as in true hack
Garage door (Score:4, Insightful)
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You can purchase an inexpensive atom based motherboard (or ARM or Geode based) with Bluetooth for under $140... Since no real processing is required, there may be even cheaper systems that can be built based on older commodity processors. There were some non-MMU versions of Linux that might work.. don't know much about recent developments, but that would be the way I'd go if I were to build it.
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For some reason I get the feeling that it'd be easier to take a cheapie prepaid phone (VM's $20/3 mos, I'm sure there's cheaper out there), disconnect the vibrate motor, connect that to input of a solid-state relay whose output is in parallel with the door button, and changing the ringer settings so that when it's _your_ phone, the phone vibrates instead of mute.
Yes I believe there are some guys in the middle east who are experts at that kind of hack.
Barely a hack (Score:2)
The garage door opener is labeled as "brilliant" by the article, but frankly I was hoping for something more inspired than networking to a PC-controlled garage door. A real hack would be to modify the firmware so that the cellphone antenna would send the right rolling code directly to the existing radio receiver in the garage door opener. Then there's no need for special "don't accidentally open the garage door if I'm in Japan" type safeties in the software.
Safety? (Score:2)
FTA: "Satnav’s only the tip of the iceberg. Connect your phone to access your music collection, read your Twitter feed, check the latest headlines or perform any other function on your dashboard"
As a motorcyclist I really hope I'm not anywhere near a car driver reading their Twitter feed or the latest headlines on their dashboard! It's bad enough when they're sending SMS or changing the song! Yes I know they probably mean that you should do this when stationary but to be honest for most of the drivers
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