Changing Android Text-to-Speech (TTS) Engine (and other hints)

Changing the Android Text-to-Speech (TTS) Engine step-by-step in three different Android versions, as well as pointing to some alternative TTS engines, are the objectives of this post. The main reason for creating it is to provide additional troubleshooting support for Wrkout users, who may be having issues with the speech feature present in the app.

Loading app/web page from Android intent when app is disabled

In Android, it's pretty easy to load a page from Facebook or Twitter or a similar one, from our very own app. By passing an intent with the request, the related app will automatically show up with the desired content. If the app is not installed we can detect that scenario so that, for instance, the browser starts up and loads the link for the wanted page. With Google+  it's even simpler, as we just need to pass the web URL. Android then selects if it should use the Google+ app or a browser (taking into account users' preferences).

However, what if the app is installed but has been disabled (for example through App Quarantine)?

GNS3 Cisco IOS Escape Sequence

If you want to use the escape sequence in IOS in order to cancel pending commands (like a ping or a traceroute), using GNS3, and you're trying to use Ctrl+Shift+6 or Ctrl+C or any other combination that is supposed to work, as far as you can tell from the web, then just try Ctrl+6, it will probably work.

JBoss ESB JMS client

In case you have followed this guide and are now wondering how to run the client, here'a a little tip to prevent you from wasting more time.

Rooting Memup SlidePad NG 808DC

After noticing there were no known methods of rooting the tablet Memup SlidePad NG 808DC (the methods for the other models did not work with this one), I took some hours off in the past 20th of July to check how hard it could be. It seems it's actually pretty easy and, finally, I'm going to post my method. Although the first root method on the web specific for this tablet, it may work for similar devices as well, but that's on your own responsibility.

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Wrkout - Android App

I am now releasing a new Android application, Wrkout.

For fitness and sports fans to do their exercises in a guided, automated and timed manner.

Android latest SDK: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException

Since the latest Android SDK revision (22) it is possible to get java.lang.ClassNotFoundException or other unexpected errors with Eclipse, for instance when making use of one Android project in another Android project.

Cloud Endpoints + JPA: failure in checking if entity exists

After defining some entity classes to be used by JPA for persisting data in Google App Engine I auto-generated some Cloud Endpoint classes (for Google Cloud Endpoints), via the Google App Engine SDK, to be used in an Android application. However, it turned out to be a sad out-of-the-box experience due to new entity instances having a null ID.

Tabata Trainer - Android App

Today I released my first Android application, Tabata Trainer.

Developing this app has made learning Android development a very pleasant experience, while at the same time adding something new to the mobile ecosystem.

This app aims at providing a way for Tabata practitioners and general sports fans to do their exercises in an appropriate and automated timely manner. It also provides the ability for users to define/plan their own training exercises and times. More features are planned for next releases!

Tabata Trainer - Aplicação Android

Hoje lancei a minha primeira aplicação Android, Tabata Trainer.

Desenvolver esta app tornou a minha aprendizagem de desenvolvimento Android numa experiência muito agradável, ao mesmo tempo dando algo de novo ao ecossistema de aplicações móvel.

A app permite aos praticantes de Tabata e desportistas em geral fazer os seus exercícios cronometradamente, de forma apropriada e automática. Fornece ainda a possibilidade dos utilizadores definirem/planearem os seus próprios exercícios e tempos de treino. Mais funcionalidades estão previstas para esta aplicação!