Edward Kim’s Smarter Alarm on sale for 50 percent off, one day only [Developer Appreciation Month]

Today as part of Developer Appreciation Month we are spotlighting independent developer Edward Kim. Kim has some great apps available for download from Google Play and has graciously offered to drop the price of one of his more popular titles Smarter Alarm to $1.99 for one day only. Normally priced at $3.99, Smarter Alarm is a talking alarm clock that gathers information from various news feeds and social networks and gently urges you to wake up by reading back the highlights of the day.

Think of it like setting your standard bedside alarm clock to wake you up by turning on a talk radio station, except the news is tailored directly to you. As the app’s description reads, “instead of hearing an annoying alarm, you’ll wake up to the voice of a robotic British woman who will read personalized information to you, like ‘Jarvis’ in Iron Man.” Suit up, Tony Stark.

If you haven’t checked it out already, we asked Edward our “10 Burning Questions” and got some great answers. Check out the full interview and stick around. We’ll have more from Mr. Kim later in the day. For now, head on over to Google Play and take advantage of this special opportunity as Edward gives back to those that have made his apps such a success.

Download Smarter Alarm at Google Play

Apple files new complaint with ITC, seeks to ban importation and sale of HTC devices

A delay at US Customs that prevented both the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE from launching on time was only the beginning. While customs officials allowed the devices to enter the US after finding they were not in violation of a previous ruling by the International Trade Commission, Apple is seeking to ban the importation of future devices and to have current stock pulled from shelves.

HTC claims it has made the necessary adjustments to avoid violating a previous ruling in relation to Apple patent #5,946,647, and the actions of customs seem to agree. But Apple obviously still believes HTC is infringing on their intellectual property. We’ll have to wait and see how this one plays out.

[via The Verge]

Rumor: HTC DROID Incredible 4G to arrive June 21st, Verizon Galaxy S3 a week later

A couple of devices for Verizon on the horizon may launch closer toward the end of the month if Droid-Life is to be believed. According to them, Verizon will launch the HTC DROID Incredible 4G on June 21st. We can’t say for sure how trustworthy that is, but a more believable rumor of a June 28th Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 launch is also being spread around. Many customers have claimed to have heard word from Best Buy that their devices would be shipping that date.

Verizon also started their pre-sale opportunity early this month so we reckon its official launch can’t be far behind. If true, Verizon looks to be set for a very interesting third quarter. With one of the most anticipated devices launching so close to its international counterpart and another blockbuster addition to the Incredible series, not to mention a lot of DROID X contracts expiring soon, sales should definitely be good. We’ll see if this all turns out to be true before too long.

TegraZone Player’s Choice Awards winners revealed!

At the beginning of May, NVIDIA opened voting for a new round of awards that would highlight some of the best TegraZone games. The TegraZone Player’s Choice Awards were decided by you, the fans, whose votes went toward entries to win one of seven ASUS Transformer Pad prize packs.

That pack includes an ASUS Transformer Pad 300, a compatible keyboard dock, a special edition NVIDIA JAMBOX, and a Logitech wireless gaming controller. Three different categories were voted on: best graphics, best gameplay, and best overall. Who came away with the wins? Read on to find out!

Shadowgun THD won by a landslide for its class-defining graphics. There’s no doubt that Shadowgun THDshowcases the upper limit of what’s possible when you take advantage of Tegra 3, the world’s only 4-PLUS-1 quad-core mobile processor. Shadowgun THD offers tons of exclusive content you won’t find on any other platform: water fluid effects, damage and aging effects, and even particle effects, just to name a few.

Check out Shadowgun THD in TegraZone.

This category saw some heated back-and-forth between GTA II and Shadowgun THD. Ultimately, GTA III, from Rockstar, came out ahead. Thanks to full-on game controller support on Tegra devices, Rockstar’s hit title was voted tops in Best Gameplay.

Check out GTA III in TegraZone.

This battle was a nail-biter. GTA III and Shadowgun THD duked it out to win the Best Overall crown, but Rockstar’sGTA III squeaked past Madfinger’s third-person shooter to be voted as the Best Overall game in TegraZone. With full 3D stereo (on Tegra devices that support 3D) and game controller support, GTA III is as visually stunning (with HD-quality resolution, updated graphics, character, and vehicle models) as it is fun to play.

Check out GTA III in TegraZone

Congratulations to both Madfinger Games and Rockstar, who have both pushed the bar of expectations of gaming on Android! Another big thanks to the thousands who voted for these games in their respective categories. Be sure to check out what I’m sure will be five new TegraZone hits that were announced at E3 2012 here.

Edward Kim: Two Expected and Two Unexpected Things I’ve Learned During my Android Journey [Guest Post]

This is a guest post by Edward Kim, an independent Android Developer best known for his apps Smarter Alarm — on sale now for $1.99 as part of our Developer Appreciation Month — and Car Locator — an Android Developer Challenge prize winner that recently received a major refresh. Check out our interview with Edward to learn more. 

My journey developing Android applications has been an exciting one. It started with an app I wrote called Car Locator in August 2009. After two months, I was excited to share as my first post on my blog that I was making enough money to pay for my lunch. Things really took off in November 2009 when I won 3rd place in the Android Developer Challenge 2. At that time, Android was still a very small but rapidly growing platform, so when I blogged in March 2010 about my success story of making $13,000/month in app sales, the news sent ripples through the tech community, and Car Locator came to be featured in magazines, radio shows, blogs, and even a couple seconds in a Verizon TV commercial. As Android continued to grow, so did I by building and releasing more apps. In January 2011, two of my apps won a combined cash prize of $75,000 from Verizon’s Power Your App Contest. Today, I have a total of 10 paid Android apps on the market.

In addition to benefitting financially from Android, I’ve more importantly learned a great deal during this time. This post is about two expected and two unexpected things I’ve learned during my Android journey.

Becoming a better developer

The most practical lesson I’ve learned is how to code better. Writing an Android app is no small task. I had to think about compatibility with existing and future Android versions, be able to design layouts that work on anything from a tiny 2.8" phone to a 10" tablet to a 42" TV, and sometimes get down and dirty in writing native C code and dealing with compilers. As a result, I gained a better understanding of common software design patterns, acquired a deeper knowledge of advanced techniques like Java reflection, and learned more about how Linux works. I also became more comfortable with reading the Android source code and strongly believe it has made me a better engineer. Having spent the couple years prior in the web development world where we code using much higher level languages and frameworks, it was a refreshing change to be able to hone my skills on fundamentals. If you really want to improve your programming skills, writing Android apps is a great way to do it.

A keener sense of how to run a business

Developing and selling an Android app is similar to running a business or a startup company, but on a much more compressed timeline. When releasing my first few apps to the market, I learned so much about what is takes to run a business - finding a customer need, understanding the importance of a large market, developing a good product, marketing to the right users, providing great customer support. Unlike a traditional business that can take years to get up and running, I learned all these lessons within a matter of 2-3 months. And it has to be that way, because you can’t take much longer to release an app. Even if an app isn’t hugely successful, you’ll likely have gained a keener sense of how to run a business.

Views on time and money

Freedom of time is far more important than freedom from money. It’s great to be able to be able to set my own work schedule, know that I can go on vacation whenever I want, and generally spend my time on whatever I desire. Because of this, my life has changed greatly for the better. On the other hand, my life hasn’t changed much as a result of the financial freedom. I discovered that, beyond basic needs and occasional luxuries, I don’t need to spend a lot to be happy. The freedom to do what I want with my time is far more important than having lots of money. While I always suspected this to be true (perhaps because it’s an oft-stated adage), I didn’t expect to confirm this for my own life as a result of my Android apps.

[Side note: I actually have very little free time this year because just I co-founded a startup company. However, the decision was completely voluntary and I’m having the time of my life right now working on it. If you’re an awesome web developer and want to join me on this startup, please reach out to me!]

How diverse people are

One very interesting thing I’m often reminded of is the diversity of ways people use my apps. I get a lot of emails from customers every day, and I personally answer every one. During these interactions, I’m always surprised to learn of the very diverse needs of users and the creative ways they’ve used my apps to fill their needs. It has been fun for me to witness my apps being used in ways wildly different from what I ever imagined. It goes to show that there are all sorts of people in this world and how impossible it is to have people use your app in exactly the way you intend.

***

I’ve learned countless lessons and discovered many things in my journey as an Android developer. Some have been practical lessons that I can use to be more successful in future endeavors. Others have no practicality at all, and are merely personal things I’ve discovered about myself. My hope is that anyone who embarks on Android development would do it not just for the money, but also for the things you’ll learn along the way.

Google Earth to get highly-detailed 3D maps

Google have today announced that Google Earth will be getting full-3D maps in the coming weeks. The 3D imaging process is so detailed that, in some cities (San Francisco being an example), every building will have its own 3D model, and even trees will pop out at you. We’ll hopefully see these features right alongside the newly-announced offline mode that was mentioned in the same press conference.

If you’re interested in how Google will get such detailed mapping done in reasonable amounts, they’ve mentioned that they have control of their own fleet of planes. Some of those planes are Google-owned and some are contracted for Google’s exclusive use, and they’re equipped with cameras that will take photos at a 45 degree angle overhead. If the result seen above is the product of that method, I’m thoroughly impressed. It’ll be interesting to see how Apple responds in 5 days’ time. [Gizmodo, image via Engadget]

TomTom for Android Coming This Summer

Before Google announced Google Nav for Android, the turn-by-turn direction world was dominated by two other giants: Garmin and TomTom. While Google may have eaten into their marketshare, both companies still have a humongous user base and rightfully so. The price point on Google Nav is perfect (it’s free) but both Garmin and TomTom traditionally offer better location pinpointing and have a different set of features and unique looks that their respectively loyal fans enjoy.Those loyal TomTom fans will be happy to learn that the launch of a TomTom Android App is imminent. Company co-founder claimed a launch would come “fairly soon” but it’s his emphasis that the “summer season is important for us,” which makes me think an appearance by the end of June is likely.

TomTom already has a fairly successful iPhone app priced at $59.99, although it’s sub 4-star rating may worry some. You can expect that an Android version will have a very similar look in feel to the actual car navigation, while the on-phone navigation should (we hope) mirror Android’s style more closely.

I’m a huge fan of Google Maps/Nav. In fact, it’s probably the single Android app I use most besides GMail. Comments on the iOS app indicate the same sentiments, and point out that a recent social media integration isn’t the direction they’d like to see TomTom take given the success of Google Maps. Personally, I can’t justify spending an extra $50 bucks on TomTom for Android when Google Maps/Nav come free and work pretty darn well.

How about you?

[Via pocket-lint]