Check Symlinks in Your Projects with Chklnk

As is the case with every Unix-based operating system, Android uses symlinks. A symbolic link is a special type of file that contains a reference to another file or directory in the form of an absolute or relative path, which affects pathname resolution. In Android, they are mostly used in the /bin and /xbin folders, where all the executing binaries are kept.

If you want to make your own symlinks or get to know which files are a part of Toolbox or Busybox, you can find out manually by entering some commands in Terminal. You can also use a script written by XDA Senior Member LENAROX. Chklnk is nothing but BASH script that can identify the symlinks easily with just one command. After pushing to selected system folder and making it executable, this script can be used to enhance your development projects.

To use this script, your devices must be rooted because you will need to push the script file to your /system partition. You should have also Busybox 1.19.4 or newer installed. Usage is very simple, since you only need to enter the chklnk [file] command to get the list of connections.

Chklnk is a nice way to make your development project better. You can learn more about it by visiting the chklnk.sh script forum thread.

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The Most Important Nexus 6 Feature Is the Price

The Nexus line has distinguished itself for two ways since its 2010 debut. First, it's a vessel for the purest expression of what Android's capabilities. As a very close second, it's dirt cheap. One of those things is still true.

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Android L: Licorice? Lemon drop? ….

	Android L: Licorice? Lemon drop? …. And now for the big reveal: Build.VERSION_CODES.L...	From: Android Developers Views: 301 864 ratings
	Time: 01:20	More in Science & Technology

Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 (2012) Will Also Get Android Lollipop

At its initial announcement, Google neglected to detail the software fate of two of its aging devices—the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 7 (2012). Luckily, Android Lollipop will also extend to include its more senior family members.

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Movie Edit Touch is your own mobile video editing suite

There used to be a time that for you to be able to edit the videos you take on your mobile devices, you need to transfer them to your desktop, download a video editing suite, edit and render on your desktop (which sometimes takes hours) and then transfer back to your phone or tablet. Whew! We just got tired thinking of all that. But now, mobile video editing apps have been appearing in the market. One new player is called Movie Edit Touch, which is pretty self-explanatory already.

Yes, the app is for editing movies by touching your mobile device. You can choose to use videos that you've already take on your phone or tablet or get clips from the SD card or even from other devices like the uber-popular GoPro Action Cam. You can also use both images and video clips for your mobile masterpiece. You can add background music, trim and rearrange the video clips and images, use transition effects in between the clips. However if you're not satisfied yet with the final project, you can go old school and import and edit it on your desktop by using the MAGIX Movie Edit Pro.

But you really don't need to use the desktop, since you already have a lot of options and features on the app, particularly if you upgrade to the Premium version. By just paying a minimal amount, you have more transition options and you can add cinematic effects like lomo, vintage, Pop Art and others (think filters, but for videos). You can also add text to the video and make title cards, in case your visuals aren't enough to tell the story. The export quality for the premium is also better with HD quality 720p or 1080p.

If you want the Premium version, you just make a one-time in-app purchase of $1.99. But if you think you're okay with the basic features, you can just get the free version of Movie Edit Touch from the Google Play Store.

SOURCE: Magix

Scientists create batteries that recharge incredibly fast

One of the places that smartphone and tablet technology is rapidly evolving is in the batteries we use to power the devices. A larger battery is a nice thing, but batteries can only be so large before the portability of the device they are in is affected.

One way that scientists are working to improve battery technology is in how fast a battery can charge. If the battery can charge fast enough, it doesn't have to be large to give smartphones longer runtime. A scientist from Nanyang Technological University has created a new high-tech battery that is capable of recharging to 70% capacity in only two minutes.

This battery tech could be a huge breakthrough not only for mobile devices, but also for other products such as electric vehicles. These next generation lithium-ion batteries are expected to survive 10,000 charging cycles, making them about 20 times more durable than current generation batteries.

Scientists at the university replaced traditional graphite used for the anode of a battery with a new gel material using titanium dioxide, a cheap and abundant material found in soil. The team developed a method to turn the normally spherical titanium dioxide particles into nanotubes that are able to speed up chemical reactions in a new battery, allowing for faster charging. There is no word on when this new battery tech might be commercialized.

SOURCE: Science Daily

Design Your App with Ease Using B2tsoftware Online Tool

When making an application, thinking about its design is often an underestimated but important step. After all, it’s what your users see, so it’s crucial to keep it clean and intuitive (especially for less technical apps). Depending on the nature of your app, it might be a good idea to plan this step ahead instead of implementing it straight away and testing it as you build it. A paper and pencil are good starting points to get the basic layout, but you’ll probably want to get a feel of how your app will really look onscreen before you start implementing your design.

Google provides developers with several resources in an attempt to facilitate app design and planning, but that still involves quite a bit of work to look for each element, resize it, edit it and place it the way you want. A better alternative is offered by XDA Forum Member brownstein in the form of an online design tool. It allows you to choose from a large selection of Android (and iOS) elements, which you can then resize, customize and place on a mobile screen with ease. You can add a status bar, action bar, text, images, buttons and more as you wish.

This tool also comes with many features that make the process more convenient. You can manage the elements’ depth (allowing you to place the keyboard on top of other elements, for example), change any element’s transparency or even duplicate something for easy reuse. Last but not least, you can also manage multiple pages, making it possible to design multiple activities/fragments for your app and easily switch between them.

While it currently isn’t fully translated to English, the interface is intuitive and very easy to use. Visit the B2tsoftware App Design Tool thread now if you’d like to give it a shot, and happy designing!

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