Upcoming Conference Appearances

Next week I'll be in two European capitals.

I'll be at the following events:

• dotJS - Paris - Dec 5th
• PhoneGap Paris Meetup - Dec 6th
• DevRelCon - London - Dec 7th
• Ionic UK Meetup - London - Dec 7th
• Women Who Code - London - Dec 8th

If you are going to be at any of those events please introduce yourself to me so we can chat. Other than that I'll have limited time available in those two cities but I do love coffee so hit me up on twitter.

PluginPub - Publish your PhoneGap plugins to NPM

I was inspired by Sindre Sorhus package np which makes publishing a package to npm easy by running the following tasks automatically for you:

• Ensures you are publishing from the master branch
• Ensures the working directory is clean and that there are no unpulled changes
• Reinstalls dependencies to ensure your project works with the latest dependency tree
• Runs the tests
• Bumps the version in package.json and npm-shrinkwrap.json (if present) and creates a git tag
• Publishes the new version to npm, optionally under a dist-tag
• Pushes commits and tags to GitHub

Now I'm in favour of anything that makes my life easier so I decided to take np and enhance it with some tasks I routinely do when publishing new plugins. My first pass at it is a new package called pluginpub which is a copy of np that I eventually hope to change to depend on np instead. 

The main difference is that it:

• Bumps the version in plugin.xml, package.json and npm-shrinkwrap.json (if present) and creates a git tag

It now automates a lot of stuff I used to do manually into a single command. Installation is simple, you run:

npm install pluginpub --save-dev

In the root of your plugin repo. Then to release a new version of the plugin you would execute the command from the root of your plugin repo:

pluginpub 1.5.8

The command takes only one argument and that is the version of the plugin. If you don't pass in a valid semver then the command will fail.

Anyway, it make or may not be of use to you. Feel free to try it out and report any issues on the github page. Next steps are publishing a proper README and adding the auto-generation of a CHANGELOG file which is another manual step I hate doing when releasing a plugin.

Using ES2015 Code in Your PhoneGap Plugins

Everyone loves the new hotness of ES2015 features but sadly not all of the devices your app is going to run on are able to take advantage of all the features of ES2015. Luckily we can use Babel to transpile our ES2015 code into ES5 code that will run everywhere. This way we can write our plugin's JS using the new hotness but still run everywhere.

I've started working on a version of the PhoneGap Push Plugin in the es6 branch that uses ES2015 and what follows is a description of how I set it up.

Step 1: Add the necessary packages to package.json

We need to add Babel to our package.json so open the file and add the following lines.

  "devDependencies": {
    "babel-cli": "^6.10.1",
    "babel-core": "^6.10.4",
    "babel-preset-es2015": "^6.9.0"
  }

Then run the command:

npm install

Step 2: Create a .babelrc file

We'll have to tell babel how we want the code transpiled from ES2015 to ES5. So create a new file called .babelrc in the root of your plugin project and populate it with the following lines:

{
  "presets": [
    "es2015"
  ]
}

Step 3: Write your ES2015 code

I like to add a new directory under the src folder called src/js. It is in this folder that I like to keep my ES2015 compliant code.

Step 4: Transpile your code

Once your ES2015 code is written it is time to transpile it to ES2015 so you can publish to NPM and Github. For this open package.json and add a new line to the scripts section:

  "scripts": {
    "build": "babel src/js --out-dir www",
  }

Now if you run the command:

npm run build

You will find your transpiled code in the www folder of your plugin.

Step 5: Link to the ES5 code in plugin.xml

It is key that you don't actually deliver the ES2015 code as part of the plugin as you want to make sure your users are executing the ES5 version. To do that open plugin.xml and make sure that your js-module tag refers to code in the www directory like:

<js-module name="PushNotification" src="www/push.js">
  <clobbers target="PushNotification">
</clobbers></js-module>

and not:

<js-module name="PushNotification" src="js/src/push.js">
  <clobbers target="PushNotification">
</clobbers></js-module>

Bonus Material

If you are anything like me, writing ES2015 code is not quite second nature yet. In order to help me along I setup my project to be linted automatically.

Step 1: Add the necessary packages to package.json

We need to add ESLint to our package.json so open the file and add the following lines.

  "devDependencies": {
    "babel-eslint": "^6.1.0",
    "eslint": "^2.13.1",
    "eslint-config-airbnb": "^9.0.1",
    "eslint-plugin-import": "^1.9.2",
    "eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y": "^1.5.3",
    "eslint-plugin-react": "^5.2.2"
  }

Then run the command:

npm install

Step 2: Create a .eslintrc file

We'll have to tell ESLint how we want the code linted. So create a new file called .eslintrc in the root of your plugin project and populate it with the following lines:

{
  "extends": "airbnb",
  "parser": "babel-eslint",
  "ecmaFeatures": {
    "experimentalObjectRestSpread": true
  },
  "rules": {
    "spaced-comment": 0,
    "no-console": 0,
    "no-unused-expressions": [2, { "allowShortCircuit": true }]
  },
  "env": {
      "node": true,
      "mocha": true,
      "browser": true
  }
}

Step 3: Setup Your Editor

Not sure what editor you are using to write JS but I'm using Atom at the moment so I have installed the linter-eslint package which automatically picks up my .eslintrc file and lints my code on the fly.

Happy ES2015 coding everyone!

Apps Crashing with phonegap-plugin-push and Google Play Services 9.0.0

Late last week Google pushed a new version of Google Play Services out to phones and since them some users of the phonegap-plugin-push have been seeing crashes in their app. The stack trace for that crash looks like this:

05-22 16:21:42.868 10979 11117 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError: The method 'java.io.File android.support.v4.content.ContextCompat.getNoBackupFilesDir(android.content.Context)' was expected to be of type virtual but instead was found to be of type direct (declaration of 'com.google.android.gms.iid.zzd' appears in /data/app/io.cordova.hellocordova-1/base.apk)
05-22 16:21:42.868 10979 11117 E AndroidRuntime: at com.google.android.gms.iid.zzd.zzeC(Unknown Source)
05-22 16:21:42.868 10979 11117 E AndroidRuntime: at com.google.android.gms.iid.zzd.(Unknown Source)
05-22 16:21:42.868 10979 11117 E AndroidRuntime: at com.google.android.gms.iid.zzd.(Unknown Source)
05-22 16:21:42.868 10979 11117 E AndroidRuntime: at com.google.android.gms.iid.InstanceID.zza(Unknown Source)
05-22 16:21:42.868 10979 11117 E AndroidRuntime: at com.google.android.gms.iid.InstanceID.getInstance(Unknown Source)
05-22 16:21:42.868 10979 11117 E AndroidRuntime: at com.adobe.phonegap.push.PushPlugin$1.run(PushPlugin.java:75)
05-22 16:21:42.868 10979 11117 E AndroidRuntime: at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1113)
05-22 16:21:42.868 10979 11117 E AndroidRuntime: at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:588)
05-22 16:21:42.868 10979 11117 E AndroidRuntime: at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:818)
05-22 16:21:42.882  5060  6828 W ActivityManager:   Force finishing activity io.cordova.hellocordova/.MainActivity

The crash is being cause because of a incompatibility between the newly released Google Play Services and Android Support Library v4. The phonegap-plugin-push does not use Android Support Library v4 but another plugin in your app may. You can check by doing:

grep -r com.android.support plugins

To see which other plugin is using Android Support Library v4. Removing that plugin, recompile and reinstall the application fixes the problem. Obviously this is not a desired or long term fix. Trying to figure out a way to prevent this but I fear we will require a new version of Android Support Library v4 from Google.

Subscribe to the Issue #909 on the plugin's repo for more info and updates.

Cordova Magic Commands

I was inspired by the following tweet:

heres some git aliases to fully unite the dark magic and git experiences pic.twitter.com/ew8xPSAvS6

— becca (@gardensimulator) March 26, 2016

conjure = cordova create $1 $2 $3 ; cd $1
summon = cordova platform add $1
banish = cordova platform rm $1
enchant = cordova plugin add $1
curse = cordova plugin rm $1
mix = cordova build $1
cast = cordova run $1
spells = cordova platforms ; cordova plugins

You can see the commands in action in this terminal session recording:

To create my own set of magic commands for Cordova. You can grab the additions I put into my .bash_profile file from this gist.
There is no real good reason for this other than I giggle to myself everytime I enchant or curse a plugin.

PhoneGap-Plugin-Push Version 1.4.0 Has Been Released

The latest release of the PushPlugin is now available on npm. This release is the long awaited release that is fully tested with iOS9. I was able to test on an iPhone 6+ running iOS 8.4.1, iPod Touch running iOS 9.0.2 and an iPad Air 2 running iOS 9.1.0. Please let me know if you run into any problems with this release.

On Android the switch over to using Gradle is now complete. The deprecated gcm.jar has been removed from the plugin and replaced with the Google Play Services GCM framework. Even better news is that PhoneGap Build now supports Gradle builds.

The big feature that people have been clamoring for is background or silent notifications. It is now possible for your 'notification' event handler to run when you app is in the background on iOS and Android (support for Windows coming soon).

1.4.0 (2015-10-27)

Full Changelog
Implemented enhancements:

• Use Google's InstanceID API #188

Closed issues:

• How to handle a re-installed app? #203
• interactive push notifications? #266
• Empty registrationId Android #265
• Run callback when clicking of notification body #261
• Android BUILD FAILED #251
• Re-register #250
• how to work in background ? #249
• installing plugin #244
• No Sound and vibration #242
• Unable to build apk #241
• still having problems with build. #239
• Registering on iOS 9 #238
• Custom sound repeated multiple times on Android #237
• Android: status bar notification is not shown #236
• Multiple Push Notifications - phonegap build #234
• error: cannot find symbol String token = InstanceID.getInstance(getApplicationContext()).getToken(senderID, GCM); #231
• Problem using "ledColor" and "VibrationPattern" #229
• Notification event receive, but not notification showing on android #228
• Events for registration not being fired #227
• 'registration' event not firing on windows phone #224
• Can i subscribe to a topic in using plugin? #219
• GCMIntentService.java:472: error: cannot find symbol iconColor #217
• Push Plugin registering on iOS 9 Devices but not showing Notification #216
• Receiving a notification "outside app" while in it? #213
• iOS push not working for device tokens when spaces removed #212
• Error: Plugin PushPlugin failed to install. #210
• Build error #205
• Android push.on('registration', cb) fires correctly on device, but not in emulator. #204
• 1.3.0 version not compatible with "crosswalk" by PGB #199
• How to get data on didReceiveNotification Background Process #198
• PushNotification is not defined in some devices #196
• not getting notifications on the Android device #195
• Installation Errors #186
• IOS: on registration fired twice #185
• Build failed with exit code 8 #184
• iOS: Not able to schedule local notification after adding the plugin #183
• How to show multiple notifications individually in android? #181
• iOS init option type #180
• Building for Android is a quest #179
• How do i tell if the user open the app by tapping the notification? #176
• IOS custom push sound when app is in background #175
• Hi guys please post full working procedure, I'm not able to get registration id also. Please help #174
• Has anyone tested this plugin on windows? #173

PhoneGap-Plugin-Push Version 1.3.0 Has Been Released

The latest release of the PushPlugin is now available on npm. This release switches the plugin over to using Gradle to include the Android Support Framework jar instead of it being included in the plugin. This should fix the issue where this plugin would conflict with others, like the Facebook plugin when building. Just make sure you have version 23 or later of the Android Support Library which can be installed from the Android SDK Manager.

Unfortunately, PhoneGap Build does not yet support Gradle so if you are using this plugin with PhoneGap Build you will need to use version 1.2.3 or earlier for the time being.

I know last time I said I would be making sure that iOS9 works with version 1.3.0 but I wanted to get that Gradle change out as quick as I could. Next release 1.4.0 will be full tested with iOS9 and I won't wait a full month, I'll release it just as soon as it's tested.

Full Change Log

1.3.0 (2015-09-21)

Implemented enhancements:

• How to use GCM 3.0 with this plugin? #127
• Android: possibility to send a notification with a title and without message #122
• Enhancement - Led, Vibration Pattern, Priority on Android #105

Fixed bugs:

• It is using in gcm data.additionalData ? #126
• iOS notification from cold boot #117
• Notification LED is not working #97

Closed issues:

• Know which version is used in build service #151
• Registration is not working in IOS9 #150
• build fail on android #149
• iconColor does not set icon background on Android #146
• Prevent windows toast notification when in foreground #145
• How to implement push notification for ios with this plug-in? #143
• After installing this plugin I can't build on Android #141
• version 1.2.3 #134
• New inbox style on android #131
• impossible to install the phonegap-plugin-push Error #130
• Hello, i am developing a cordova app which requires push notifications to be sent to users android phone, so i tried using this new phonegap push plugin as old one is deprecated, and it keeps giving me an error in console: Uncaught ReferenceError: module is not defined --- Line 154 Push.js and i dont have much experience with cordova, so can anyone assist me ? #128
• INVALID_REGISTRATION when http post request with to IOS #123
• Andriod :More than 2 notifications in status bar it is not works. #121
• Release notes for 1.2.x #119
• Google cloud messaging GCM - Push Notification not being sent (Server Side) #110

1.2.3 (2015-09-08)

Fixed bugs:

• Notification not showing..... #101
• Same data payload for messages with action buttons #90

Closed issues:

• Notification doesn't show the app icon #112
• Notification doesn't show the app icon #111
• Issue with plugin facebook connect #107
• Cordova Support #99
• Uncaught ReferenceError: cordova is not defined, http://localhost:8100/lib/push.js, Line: 7 #98
• Notifications never received on Android #96
• How know the way the app was launched #95
• Android, example doesn't work when it goes into background #94
• Utilizing push plugin #91

1.2.2 (2015-08-31)

Closed issues:

• PushPlugin notification icon is too big #88

1.2.1 (2015-08-31)

Implemented enhancements:

• Question about GCM Notifications and data in the message payload #87

Fixed bugs:

• Notification callback for pushes without a message #80

Closed issues:

• Android: No notification displayed on device. Notification event never called. #86
• it seem no wp8 version for now #56

PhoneGap-Plugin-Push Version 1.2.0 Released!

The latest release of the PushPlugin is now available on npm. This release focuses on bringing a number of enhancements to Android notifications.

Fear not fans of other platforms as subsequent releases will have more features for your OS of choice. In fact release 1.3.0 will center around iOS9 support.

Picture Notifications

Embed a large picture in your notification. You let the plugin know you want to display a picture by setting the style of the push to picture and then giving it a picture property.

For example:

{
    title:"Big Picture", 
    message: "This is my big picture message", 
    style: "picture",
    picture: "http://36.media.tumblr.com/c066cc2238103856c9ac506faa6f3bc2/tumblr_nmstmqtuo81tssmyno1_1280.jpg",
    summaryText: "The internet is built on cat pictures"
}

Produces the cat picture on the right.

Inbox Notifications

Instead of stacking notifications in the tray you can now add multiple notifications to a single entry in the tray by setting the style to inbox. The first notification that arrives looks like normal but the subsequent ones will look like an inbox.

For example:

{
    title:"My Title", 
    message: "My first message", 
    style: "inbox",
    summaryText: "There are %n% notifications"
}

Followed by:

{
    title:"My Title", 
    message: "My second message", 
    style: "inbox",
    summaryText: "There are %n% notifications"
}

Produces the notification above.

Finally, my favourite new addition...

Action Buttons

Your notification can include action buttons. If you wish to include an icon along with the button name they must be placed in the res/drawable directory of your Android project. Then you can send the following JSON from GCM:

{
    title:"AUX Scrum", 
    message: "Scrum: Daily touchbase @ 10am Please be on time so we can cover everything on the agenda.", 
    actions: [
        { icon: "emailGuests", title: "EMAIL GUESTS", callback: "app.emailGuests"},
        { icon: "snooze", title: "SNOOZE", callback: "app.snooze"},
    ]
}

This will produce the following notification in your tray:

When the user clicks on one of the buttons it will execute the JavaScript code you specified as a callback for that button.

Check out the plugin's README for more details.

Full Change Log
1.2.0 (2015-08-25)

Implemented enhancements:

• Implement Big Picture Style for Android #75
• Implement Inbox style for Android #74
• on("registration" is not getting called... #66
• multi-line text support #63
• Add image property to iOS and Android #39
• Programmatically register #31

Fixed bugs:

• Pushes being deleted from notification bar when cold start #67
• No default sound in Android #53
• Multiple push notification problem #48

Closed issues:

• oficial push plugin and windows and wp8 compatibility #71
• On Android, GCMIntentService.onError() doesn't get passed to the JavaScript "error" event #65
• Android: add property to vibrate phone on received notification #61
• push.on => "registration" will trigger twice times that only in iOS #57
• Publish plugin to PhoneGap Build #22

Merged pull requests:

• usage typo #60 (ericb)
• Updating example to sync with docs #52 (rakatyal)

PhoneGap-Plugin-Push Version 1.1.1 Released!

Back during PhoneGap Day EU 2015 I announced our new PushPlugin with it's normalized API and a promise of continued support. With the release of the 1.1.1 version of the plugin we continue to fulfill that promise with some new features and bug fixes.

The most exciting new feature in this release is official support for the Windows platform! This is thanks to the wonderful team at Microsoft who contributed to the plugin to make it happen. Special thanks to Raghav Katyal and Nikhi Khandelwal!

On the Android side of things you now have way more options on how to set what icon is displayed with your push notifications:

Check out the plugin's README for more details on how to setup the each of the image types.

Full Changelog
Implemented enhancements:

• iOS doesn't add foreground key #41
• Android: Notification icon problem #20
• iOS badge number #18
• How i can set icons for push notifications in status bar and push view in android #14
• Support Win8.1 + Phone 8.1 Universal Apps (WNS), drop support for WP8.0 (MPNS) #13

Fixed bugs:

• iOS only reads out "aps" payload #29
• Event not fired when in background #24
• Custom notification sound in background mode? #17

Closed issues:

• iOS only receives first notification in foreground #42
• Cannot register on iOS #30
• Fix Android paths in src folder #23
• PushNotification not defined #21
• Error trying to remove the plugin #19
• Handling multiple notifications on Android devices #12
• PGB (build.phonegap.com) problem #11
• reporting location via gcm #6

Merged pull requests:

• Updating Readme to document toast capable setting #47 (rakatyal)
• fix issue #41 #44 (Deminetix)
• fix issue #42 #43 (Deminetix)
• Adding hyperlinks to README #40 (rakatyal)
• Updating Readme #37 (rakatyal)
• Adding windows support to plugin #36 (rakatyal)
• Raghav/update #35 (rakatyal)
• Adding behavior for different notification types #28 (rakatyal)
• Initial commit to add support for windows universal platform #15 (rakatyal)

Including Plugins with Cordova Command Line Interface 5

You may have noticed that things have changed up a bit as of Cordova CLI 5.0.0 release. Specifically, we are now encouraging the the use of <plugin> tags in your config.xml file over the previously used <feature> tags.

You may be wondering why you should use the <plugin> tag. The main reason is that when you use the <plugin> tag it will fetch and install the plugin for you during the cordova prepare phase of building your project.

So if you have the following feature tags in your current config.xml:

<feature name="org.apache.cordova.file">
    <param name="id" value="org.apache.cordova.file@1.0.1"/>
</feature>
<feature name="org.apache.cordova.file-transfer">
    <param name="id" value="org.apache.cordova.file-transfer@0.4.2"/>
</feature>
<feature name="org.apache.cordova.device">
    <param name="id" value="org.apache.cordova.device@0.2.8"/>
</feature>
<feature name="com.telerik.plugins.nativepagetransitions">
    <param name="id" value="https://github.com/Telerik-Verified-Plugins/NativePageTransitions#0.2.11"/>
</feature>
<feature name="com.phonegap.plugins.pushplugin">
    <param name="id" value="https://github.com/phonegap-build/PushPlugin#1979d972b6ab37e28cf2077bc7ebfe706cc4dacd"/>
</feature>

Then you'd just replace it with:

<plugin name="cordova-plugin-file" spec="^2.0.0" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-file-transfer" spec="^1.0.0" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-device" spec="^1.0.0" />
<plugin name="com.telerik.plugins.nativepagetransitions" spec="https://github.com/Telerik-Verified-Plugins/NativePageTransitions#0.2.11" />
<plugin name="com.phonegap.plugins.pushplugin" spec="https://github.com/phonegap-build/PushPlugin#1979d972b6ab37e28cf2077bc7ebfe706cc4dacd" />

You may have noticed that the package ID for org.apache.cordova.file has changed to cordova-plugin-file. The is part of the way plugins are now hosted on npm. You'll notice that all the core plugins (org.apache.cordova) have been renamed (see table below).

For non-core plugins you can still download them from a git repository. In order to specify a specific version you use #versionNumber for example, NativePageTransistion above or to download from a specific commit use #commitHash for example, PushPlugin above.

Old ID	NPM ID
org.apache.cordova.battery-status	cordova-plugin-battery-status
org.apache.cordova.camera	cordova-plugin-camera
org.apache.cordova.contacts	cordova-plugin-contacts
org.apache.cordova.device	cordova-plugin-device
org.apache.cordova.device-motion	cordova-plugin-device-motion
org.apache.cordova.device-orientation	cordova-plugin-device-orientation
org.apache.cordova.dialogs	cordova-plugin-dialogs
org.apache.cordova.file	cordova-plugin-file
org.apache.cordova.file-transfer	cordova-plugin-file-transfer
org.apache.cordova.geolocation	cordova-plugin-geolocation
org.apache.cordova.globalization	cordova-plugin-globalization
org.apache.cordova.inappbrowser	cordova-plugin-inappbrowser
org.apache.cordova.media-capture	cordova-plugin-media-capture
org.apache.cordova.media	cordova-plugin-media
org.apache.cordova.network-information	cordova-plugin-network-information
org.apache.cordova.splashscreen	cordova-plugin-splashscreen
org.apache.cordova.statusbar	cordova-plugin-statusbar
org.apache.cordova.whitelist	cordova-plugin-whitelist
org.apache.cordova.vibration	cordova-plugin-vibration

Mud Hero 2015

 

So last Saturday Anna and I participated in the Mud Hero Ottawa run. It was an absolute blast as you can probably tell by looking at the smiles on our faces. We took a bunch of pictures during the day which I have in an album over here.

First up Anna ran the kids course which was three 500 meter laps with 6 obstacles. The announcer constantly mentioned to parents to make sure that the kids schools were on tight or else they would lose them in the mud pit. Predictably, this led to a bunch of parents having to dig in the mud pit for their child's missing shoe.

Anna escaped with both of her shoes but as you can see she got super muddy which I encouraged whole heartedly.

Then I finally had my chance to run the 6km course with 20 obstacles with my buddy Hicham and one of his neighbours. There were some really fun obstacles like walls, tires, ropes, slides but by far the most fun was the waist deep (or deeper) mud. You can see in this pic I've just come down the slide and luckily retrieved my hat from the mud puddle.

After the race the team from Muscle Mlk was there to hand out ready to drink protein shakes. I don't know if it was because I just ran 6km but that was the best vanilla shake I've had in a long time.

For anyone who is interested in these types of races I can offer a few tips:

1. Bring a complete change of clothes including shoes. You will not want to put your muddy shoes on after getting clean.
2. Wear non-cotton underwear. You really need something that isn't going to trap in a pound of dirt in your skivvies. 
3. Bring a big fluffy towel to get warm. The "showers" are generally hoses of cold water so you will go from being over heated to freezing in no time. The fluffy towel will help.

Next up is the Bad Ass Dash on July 18th in Nepean. Anyone interested in joining?

Video of PhoneGap Day EU 2015 - Push N' Pull Presentation

The video for my Push N' Pull presentation is now available.



If you want to get a copy of the slides please check out my previous post.

PhoneGap Day EU 2015 - Push N' Pull

Yesterday, I was happy to present at PhoneGap Day EU in Amsterdam. It's one of my favourite days of the year. Besides getting to hang out with all of my co-workers who I rarely get to see in person as we are separated by half a continent I get to talk in person with the people who use our software.

At PG Day I was presenting on the work that we've been doing in order to make the lives of developers easier. My presentation introduces the new and improved Push Plugin as well as the completely new Content Sync Plugin. I'll be blogging more about these two new plugins in the up coming weeks but for now if anyone wants to check out the slides they are embedded below:

VideoPlayer Plugin Updated for Cordova/PhoneGap 3.x and Above

Happily, I'm getting the chance to go back and visit some of my older plugins. I've just updated the VideoPlayer plugin so you can install it via the command line tools. To install via the command line just do:

cordova plugin add https://github.com/macdonst/VideoPlayer

For more information on how the plugin works check out my old post on the topic.

My Speech Rec Presentation at InfoQ NY

The slides and video for my speech recognition presentation are up now at the InfoQ site. Feel free to watch it and laugh at my demo fail.

Books I've Read This Week

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull is a book that I enjoyed because it does a pretty good job of giving you the back story on how the company Pixar came to be. Pixar is the fascinating company that has given us wonderful movies like Toy Story, Up and Wall-E. It is really interesting to hear how they overcame various challenges over their lifetime. Where it doesn't work for me is a business book. Most of what Mr. Catmull tries to import as knowledge seems like rehashed platitudes to me. He even makes allusion to this in the book. What's even worse is a lot of his people first approach in this book rings false as he's been implicated as a central figure in a wage fixing scandal. So I'd rate this book as a solid borrow for those of us who want to learn more about how movies are made at Pixar.

Books I've Read This Week

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell. Look I love Bruce Campbell, probably more than the next guy, I mean he's been making movies and TV shows since the early 80's so there is something there for everyone to love. But read a memoir of a B movie actor, seems sketchy. It isn't, it is every bit as hilarious and charming as Bruce Campbell. It is an amazing look at his life starting with him making independent films as a teenager, meeting his friend and frequent collaborator Sam Rami and all the way up to his rise to somewhat stardom. This is a really funny book and a very cautionary tale of what it takes to get into the movie business. Highly recommended.

Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko is the first book in a 5 book series of this translated from Russian urban fantasy series. In this world all of the magical beings and creatures we read stories about are real but they are hidden from regular humans. The magical beings or "Others" as they are called are split into two factions, predictably, light and dark. There are two groups, The Day Watch who police the light others and The Night Watch, which this book focuses on, who police the dark others. The two groups are in a bit of a stalemate. You see if a light magician does some great good then it gives a dark magician the license to do great evil. This books is split into three stories where we follow Anton Gorodetsky, a light magician and member of The Night Watch. Anton is a member of the technical staff but due to events out of his control he has to step up and assume more responsibility. Throughout the novel we see Anton struggling with the differences between good and evil. I enjoyed this book and I'm interested in reading the next novel, The Day Watch, to see the story for the opposite viewpoint.

Books I've Read This Week

London Falling by Paul Cornell is an urban fantasy novel featuring a good old fashion witch but I'm getting ahead of myself. In London four police officers are closing in on a mobster. During the course of their investigation they bump up against the supernatural. Now they are all cursed with the ability to see the shadowy underbelly of London. This brings them into conflict with a real witch. This particular witch loves one of London's football teams and is part of the legend where any opponent who scores 3 goals against her beloved team will die. This is a really entertaining book. I love the idea of a police force that protects us from the supernatural. It reminds me a lot of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series that way. Plus it is full of Cornell's wit which is British so that's always a plus.

Stuff of Legend Omnibus Two written by Mike Raicht and Brian Smith, lavishly illustrated by Charles Paul Wilson III. As we rejoin the story our intrepid toys are still looking for their boy in The Dark in order to save him from the Boogeyman. After the events of the first omnibus they are separated as the first half of the book deals with the Jester and the second half focusing in on getting all the toys back together. I really do love this series. If I had any complaint it would be how long it is between books but I shouldn't complain as all of that extra time is poured into the art. The toys just leap off the page and the sepia colouring they use invokes the World War II time period in which the story takes place.

Books I've Read This Week

Skin Game is the latest novel in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. I've been a fan of this series for a long time and each novel is an enjoyable fast paced read. In this outing the wizard Harry Dresden who became the Winter's Knight a few books ago must obey Queen Mab and pull a "bank job" with one is his most hated enemies. Obviously Harry is going to get backstabbed but he's gotta play by the rules until his enemy makes a play then all bets are off.

All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka is now adapted into the movie Edge of Tomorrow. I am such a sucker for reading a book before going to watch a movie. It really is the best way to jump a book to the top of my queue. I'm not even sure if I'm going to go see the Edge of Tomorrow but I figured I'd read this first. This is actually a pretty damn good book. It reminds me a bit of the older power armour books like Starship Troopers by Heinlein and Armor by John Steakly with a dash of the Ken Grimwood's Replay. Anyway in it we follow a Jacket Jockey (power armor) as he fights the invading aliens, then dies only to wake up 48 hours earlier with all of his memories in order to do it all over again. Each battle he gets a little bit better until he is a combat wizard. That's where he runs into another soldier who is experiencing the same thing as he is. Will they be able to figure it out and use this power to defeat the invading aliens? Anyway, this is a greatly entertaining short (200 pages) or so read. Has anyone seen the movie yet?

Books I've Read This Week

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is the multiple award winning debut novel in the Ancillary series. In it we are following Breq, the last vestige of a massive star cruiser the Justice of Toren, who's bodies or ancillaries one numbered in the thousands. We follow along with Breq as she attempts to obtain a device which will allow her to get revenge on the killer of the Justice of Toren. This is a fascinating novel exploring what it means to be human in a world where you can have multiple bodies and artificial intelligences run most things. I don't want to give too much away but I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait for the sequel.

Dad Is Fat is a hilarious memoir of raising 5 kids by stand up comedian Jim Gaffigan. If you are a parent you this material is rolling on the floor laugh out loud stuff. Even if you don't have kids you will find this book genuinely entertaining.