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Android app ideas for Ireland

  • 01-05-2010 2:01am
    #1
    generalmiaow
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 865 ✭✭✭


    Hey folks
    Me and a good friend are going to develop an android app for an Irish audience (he's the guy who developed dublinbikes2go and dublinbus2go and the Dublin bus Layar, and a boardsie though I can't remember his username). I thought I would put it to this forum: What android apps would be welcome in Ireland?

    Someone mentioned GAA scores before but there's no up to date source of these apparently. Public transport is mostly covered. I think it might be useful to highlight needed apps in a general sense in case anyone comes across this.

    I haven't explored the App Store so I don't really know what iTunes has to offer to Ireland.

    A general idea is the sort of thing you can get on the web but is fiddly to use on a phone - to access information or share, and especially the sort of information that's useful "on the go".


«134567

Comments

  • #2
    squire23
    Registered Users Posts: 257 ✭✭squire23


    I don't think Public Transport really is covered. Just the Dublin areas one. I'd love to see a Bus Eireann & Irish Rail app.


  • #3
    alanc2003
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 440 ✭✭alanc2003


    Id love to have a radio app with all the irish radio stations no radio on my x10 which is slightly annoying


  • #4
    Mad_Mike
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,640 ✭✭✭Mad_Mike


    I second the Bus Eireann and Irish Rail requests also


  • #5
    old_aussie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,410 ✭✭✭old_aussie


    Maybe a medical one listing hospitals and doctors


  • #6
    Professey Chin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 51,054 ✭✭✭✭Professey Chin


    squire23 wrote: »
    I don't think Public Transport really is covered. Just the Dublin areas one. I'd love to see a Bus Eireann & Irish Rail app.
    Mad_Mike wrote: »
    I second the Bus Eireann and Irish Rail requests also

    Best idea id say, especially since your friend already has experience with this general idea


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  • #7
    Abelloid
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,495 ✭✭✭Abelloid


    AA roadwatch or traffic alerts.


  • #8
    Blackdragon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 651 ✭✭✭Blackdragon


    Vodafone/o2/meteor/3 app to check remaining minutes/texts/data etc


  • #9
    Abelloid
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,495 ✭✭✭Abelloid


    Blackdragon wrote: »
    Vodafone/o2/meteor/3 app to check remaining minutes/texts/data etc

    That would be great in a 1x1 or 2x1 widget.


  • #10
    Dingatron
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,694 ✭✭✭Dingatron


    Suggested it in another thread but an app for the RTE Player would be great.


  • #11
    manu2009
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 470 ✭✭manu2009


    Would also like an app for mins/texts used every month and an rte player one would be cool too :p


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  • #12
    mooneyd
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 599 ✭✭✭mooneyd


    An app that lets me use links such as megavideo so that I wan watch my favourite programes when im bored


  • #13
    MagicMarker
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 32,865 ✭✭✭✭MagicMarker


    An app that makes me feel all fuzzy inside.

    How about an entertainment app? Like gigs and events, exhibitions etc. (I assume there isn't one.)


  • #14
    Brian
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,699 ✭✭✭Brian


    mooneyd wrote: »
    An app that lets me use links such as megavideo so that I wan watch my favourite programes when im bored

    Skyfire


  • #15
    generalmiaow
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 865 ✭✭✭generalmiaow


    Bus eireann and rail sounds like a very good idea actually. The websites are a little hard to scrape but I will start looking into it.

    We are already looking into rte player but it looks like the streams are encrypted. However I am sure they are using the same player as another foreign network that somebody has used so tracking that down is the key. Having the player on the go to would be amazing, assuming it would be legal to do this.


  • #16
    neacy69
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭neacy69


    A cinema app with movie times and directions to the nearest cinema?


  • #17
    mooneyd
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 599 ✭✭✭mooneyd


    If rte offer it to tiewers i can't
    see a issue


  • #18
    dionsiseire
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,182 ✭✭✭dionsiseire


    neacy69 wrote: »
    A cinema app with movie times and directions to the nearest cinema?

    Already exists, its called IRL Cinema


  • #19
    dionsiseire
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,182 ✭✭✭dionsiseire


    MagicMarker wrote: »
    How about an entertainment app? Like gigs and events, exhibitions etc. (I assume there isn't one.)

    I run goldenplec.com which is gig news and competitions and festival news etc and occasional reviews.

    I want to do an android app, i just havnt got a a chance to try sit down and even try a hello world app with android

    willing to work with anyone who wants to create such an app for gig news


  • #20
    EPM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,822 ✭✭✭✭EPM


    A carzone app would be ideal as their mobile site is sh1te


  • #21
    Dingatron
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,694 ✭✭✭Dingatron


    EPM wrote: »
    A carzone app would be ideal as their mobile site is sh1te

    Good idea and a daft property one also.


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  • #22
    MagicMarker
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 32,865 ✭✭✭✭MagicMarker


    I suppose a job app would be really useful. Updating with new jobs from jobs.ie/fas/irishjobs etc.


  • #23
    apope8
    Registered Users Posts: 279 ✭✭apope8


    dionsiseire wrote: »
    Already exists, its called IRL Cinema

    I cant find this. Is it a paid app?


  • #24
    Professey Chin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 51,054 ✭✭✭✭Professey Chin


    neacy69 wrote: »
    A cinema app with movie times and directions to the nearest cinema?

    The Flixter Movies app has the nearby cinemas and directions in it I think


  • #25
    KoolKid
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 24,789 Mod ✭✭✭✭KoolKid


    Irish TV Listings would be a good one.


  • #26
    thomasoreilly
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29 ✭thomasoreilly


    I know there is a app for lotto numbers, but would it be poossible to do something like the barcode scanner apps, it would scan the ticket and automagically let you know if win/lose, as opposed to manually matching up numbers. Just like the ones in the shops, but on your phone...


  • #27
    floggg
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,824 ✭✭✭floggg


    How about an app for Irish Times/Independent website content that can be set to auto sync over night and pull down all the news content allowing offline browsing. Perfect for commuting etc.

    There is one for the Guardian UK (called Guardian Anywhere i believe) that does all that, but would obviously prefer an Irish based one. Not sure though what the story is with copyright etc for something like that though.


  • #28
    generalmiaow
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 865 ✭✭✭generalmiaow


    thomasoreilly wrote: »
    I know there is a app for lotto numbers, but would it be poossible to do something like the barcode scanner apps, it would scan the ticket and automagically let you know if win/lose, as opposed to manually matching up numbers. Just like the ones in the shops, but on your phone...

    Even better if it worked before the draw :)

    Just tried reading the barcode on a quickpick. It worked (as in, I could read in the numbers), but I remember from operating a lotto terminal that it had to upload the numbers to the lottery people by ISDN. The barcode isn't a hash of the numbers, it's a unique serial for the ticket. A hacked lottery terminal would be a useful backend but I doubt that would be all that legal.

    So it would be necessary to recognise the numbers via OCR on the ticket and check them against http://www.lotto.ie/en/Home/Accessible-Results/

    Looking for a free OCR Library now!
    daft property one also.
    Daft actually do a Layar and they have an iPhone app (a friend of mine does the voiceover for the ad!). I'd say they have their own Android app in the works if the phones get popular enough
    If rte offer it to tiewers i can't
    see a issue

    True, but companies do tend to get upset about this. Dublin Bikes got upset about the iPhone app even though it was benefitting the consumers.
    How about an app for Irish Times/Independent website content that can be set to auto sync over night and pull down all the news content allowing offline browsing. Perfect for commuting etc.

    There is one for the Guardian UK (called Guardian Anywhere i believe) that does all that, but would obviously prefer an Irish based one. Not sure though what the story is with copyright etc for something like that though.

    This should be doable via RSS using other apps but for non-geeks it would be handy to have one with only the Irish papers. There's no issue with copyright if the phone itself is downloading the pages (it's acting as an RSS reader for a feed they themselves make public)


  • #29
    Dingatron
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,694 ✭✭✭Dingatron


    Daft actually do a Layar and they have an iPhone app (a friend of mine does the voiceover for the ad!). I'd say they have their own Android app in the works if the phones get popular enough

    Layer is good but an app the exact same as the iphone one would be good. Hopefully they look at one for Android too.


  • #30
    Atomic Pineapple
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,272 ✭✭✭✭Atomic Pineapple


    thomasoreilly wrote: »
    I know there is a app for lotto numbers, but would it be poossible to do something like the barcode scanner apps, it would scan the ticket and automagically let you know if win/lose, as opposed to manually matching up numbers. Just like the ones in the shops, but on your phone...
    generalmiaow wrote: »

    Just tried reading the barcode on a quickpick. It worked (as in, I could read in the numbers), but I remember from operating a lotto terminal that it had to upload the numbers to the lottery people by ISDN. The barcode isn't a hash of the numbers, it's a unique serial for the ticket. A hacked lottery terminal would be a useful backend but I doubt that would be all that legal.

    So it would be necessary to recognise the numbers via OCR on the ticket and check them against http://www.lotto.ie/en/Home/Accessible-Results/

    Looking for a free OCR Library now!

    I've already looked into this and contacted the Lotto's IT department about it.

    It's impossible to do without access to the Lotto's secure database, the barcode on the ticket only contains a pointer to a position in the database where the info is held.

    And the general public dont have access as it would be pretty easy to "win" the lotto then ;)

    An official app from the Lotto is on the way including scanning for iPhone and Android anyway


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  • #31
    nmesisca
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 306 ✭✭nmesisca


    koolkid wrote: »
    Irish TV Listings would be a good one.

    I know it is limited, but TellyZap (Lite and Pro) are in the market.
    Lite is free and will show todays programmes. Pro will show you 1 week programming.

    Hint: both Lite and Pro will see an update in the next 10 days :)


  • #32
    Ludo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,015 ✭✭✭Ludo


    nmesisca wrote: »
    I know it is limited, but TellyZap (Lite and Pro) are in the market.
    Lite is free and will show todays programmes. Pro will show you 1 week programming.

    Hint: both Lite and Pro will see an update in the next 10 days :)

    LOL...love the comments for that app. People expect to be able to watch shows on it when it says it is a LISTINGS app. There are some morons out there in fairness :D

    Will grab this later and see if it is any good. Thanks for the tip.


  • #33
    nmesisca
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 306 ✭✭nmesisca


    Ludo wrote: »
    LOL...love the comments for that app. People expect to be able to watch shows on it when it says it is a LISTINGS app. There are some morons out there in fairness :D

    Will grab this later and see if it is any good. Thanks for the tip.

    heheh yeah, considering it was my first app, I was pretty happy with the result. Have to say theres almost 1000 installations around right now, which means it may not be pretty, but still looks like its useful.

    watch out for the update, Lite will get (many) more functions (as it is "end of life" so to speak..).


  • #34
    generalmiaow
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 865 ✭✭✭generalmiaow


    draffodx wrote: »

    An official app from the Lotto is on the way including scanning for iPhone and Android anyway

    That's great, I'm delighted they remembered Android. It was difficult to scan the barcode though (my ticket was a 5 year old one with a pink anti-copying background, so maybe they have changed this)


  • #35
    smcelhinney
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,127 ✭✭✭smcelhinney


    neacy69 wrote: »
    A cinema app with movie times and directions to the nearest cinema?

    Working on this... :-)


  • #36
    dionsiseire
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,182 ✭✭✭dionsiseire


    Just wrote a Hello World App, so thats my first step into Android Development. lets see what happens from here, hoping to learn from nmesisca along the way


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  • #37
    squire23
    Registered Users Posts: 257 ✭✭squire23


    Oh yeah, & needless to say an app that cracks WEP keys would be great!


  • #38
    dionsiseire
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,182 ✭✭✭dionsiseire


    squire23 wrote: »
    Oh yeah, & needless to say an app that cracks WEP keys would be great!

    You mean Eircom WEP Cracker, already out and used by myself multiple times


  • #39
    dionsiseire
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,182 ✭✭✭dionsiseire


    apope8 wrote: »
    I cant find this. Is it a paid app?

    Not a paid app, since i upgraded to 2.1 it isnt in the market which is wierd

    Might be 1.5 only and needs upgrading or something

    http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-irlcinemaguide-qjEx.aspx


  • #40
    squire23
    Registered Users Posts: 257 ✭✭squire23


    dionsiseire wrote: »
    You mean Eircom WEP Cracker, already out and used by myself multiple times
    Yeah but you need the SSID or something - no idea what that is or how to use it


  • #41
    Star Lord
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,123 ✭✭✭✭Star Lord


    SSID is the broadcast name of the network.
    EG: Eircom 1234 5678


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  • #42
    KoolKid
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 24,789 Mod ✭✭✭✭KoolKid


    squire23 wrote: »
    Oh yeah, & needless to say an app that cracks WEP keys would be great!
    And also illegal.


  • #43
    partyatmygaff
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    koolkid wrote: »
    And also illegal.
    Calculators aren't illegal, the app itself is not illegal. Using the app for illegal purposes is illegal.


  • #44
    paddy2k
    Registered Users Posts: 118 ✭✭paddy2k


    From doing the Dublinbikes2go.com site, it's driven home the importance of cross platform compatibility. Most of the smartphone users are iPhone (50% or so) but there are quite a few Androids out there now.
    The best way to stay cross platform is with webapp, using HTML5 etc. Apple have great support for webapps by way of META tag extensions in mobile Safari. Using JS, HTML5 app cache, webworkers, web DB, geolocation, JSON and AJAX, it's really simple to make a good web app, some of these features are used on this page (iPhone, PalmPre, Chrome and Android. Look down the bottom for the install running. A full HTML5 version of DublinBikes2Go! is currently being worked on.)

    However WebApps' don't get the same exposure as native apps. If someone wants an App they go to the Market. Hence there are some really good cross platform developlment tools (PhoneGap & Appcelerator). Hopefully myself and @generalmiaow will get to play with these over the summer. From what I can tell, they are just glorified iFrames as they use HTML and JS, just like a WebApp would, only bundled up as a native app.

    A Bus Eireann app would be great, it should be possible to parse the site, just might take some time. If only they had Google Maps like Dublin Bus have it'd be easier. It too would look great in Layar, just a pity it their realtime service only seems to show the timetables for major town, not all the rural stops (they appear blank).

    I know there is already a Dart Station app for both platforms, but if anyone is interested in finding the latest Dart info for the nearest station try this.

    That Lotto app is a great idea, once the developers get access to the database it should be simple, of and a library that supports their barcode standard.
    A ticketmaster app would be cool too, one where the ticket is delivered as a QR code. Has anyone had success with using QR codes for promotion? The only ones I had people click on were some flyers I posted at the Dart station outside Google's HQ. I was assuming that Googlers had the smarts to know what they were.

    I know there is the IRLCinemaGuide (which isn't showing up in my market either - 2.1) but would people be on for purchasing tickets in app. Having the app securely store their creditcard credentials (ALa KDE Wallet)?

    +1 for the remaining minutes/texts/data widget. Great idea!
    dionsiseire wrote: »
    I run goldenplec.com which is gig news and competitions and festival news etc and occasional reviews.

    I want to do an android app, i just havnt got a a chance to try sit down and even try a hello world app with android willing to work with anyone who wants to create such an app for gig news
    smcelhinney wrote: »
    Working on this... :-)
    If you guys want to integrate your apps with Layar let me know. I can help out as I've my own framework for it.


  • #45
    KoolKid
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 24,789 Mod ✭✭✭✭KoolKid


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    Calculators aren't illegal, the app itself is not illegal. Using the app for illegal purposes is illegal.

    Kinda splitting straws here arn't we?:D
    An app like that would never be allowed on Market place or App Store.


  • #46
    EasyBoy1974
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 329 ✭✭EasyBoy1974


    Perhaps some sort of death clock!


  • #47
    partyatmygaff
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    A great app idea for Meteor customers (Most Android phones in Ireland are meteor as far as I know) would be a way to parse you're remaining minutes/texts/data.

    Now I now Meteor do not offer a USSD code for any of that but they do allow you to check your minutes, texts or data by sending either "balance minutes" "balance texts" or "balance data" to 50104. I'm thinking it would be possible to create an app that hooks on to the stock messaging application and then sends all three balance requests every thirty minutes. Then this application (Or widget) could parse out the required value (I.e. Minutes available, Texts available or MB left), delete the messsage and send the data to the application.

    Or if there was a way to fetch data from mymeteor.ie and the equivalent for all Irish networks. That would be one very useful app.


  • #48
    Pittens
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,404 ✭✭✭Pittens


    The OCR idea is good ( although not in the clients it was suggested for), but most of the other suggestions tend to be demanding proprietary information.

    I actually work - that is I get paid - in this field, mostly for iPhone dev contracting and I come up with my own stuff.

    I dont want to give too much away but here is a hint about what you can do:

    Some information is free.
    Some information is proprietary.

    Most people are asking for stuff which you cant do without the permission of the content owners, but there is enough free stuff out there, which - remarkably - very few people think of. But think FOI acts.

    As an aside I see Android apps getting about 5% sales of equivalent iPhone apps, possibly because so much stuff can get sideloaded, or the people who buy are more technical, or are "free as in beer" fanatics.

    So as an advertisement of your wares, cool, as a money maker I dunno


  • #49
    Spud83
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,608 ✭✭✭Spud83


    koolkid wrote: »
    Kinda splitting straws here arn't we?:D
    An app like that would never be allowed on Market place or App Store.

    Its in the Market Place and App Store, the app is not illegal, just like they can't get this website shut down.

    <mod snip> It's best if Boards.ie doesn't publish this information. Not sure on the legality of it.


  • #50
    Spud83
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,608 ✭✭✭Spud83


    I have actually been in contact with Meteor regarding down a remaining texts, data, minutes widgets. Contacted them through their customer forum, and then some communications guy from meteor contacted me.

    He said they have web services in the background that are used to obtain that data but they are not exposed to the wider internet. They are currently looking at exposing them, and others to third party developers.

    I responded with more questions but never heard back from them. Nearly a month ago at this stage, guess they didn't like me. :(

    As for the texts thing I thought of that idea but haven't explored it. I know it's possible to delete messages, send messages from an app. Not sure if it is possible to stop the notifications, which would be annoying if the app was updating on a schedule.


  • #51
    paddy2k
    Registered Users Posts: 118 ✭✭paddy2k


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    A great app idea for Meteor customers (Most Android phones in Ireland are meteor as far as I know) would be a way to parse you're remaining minutes/texts/data.

    Now I now Meteor do not offer a USSD code for any of that but they do allow you to check your minutes, texts or data by sending either "balance minutes" "balance texts" or "balance data" to 50104. I'm thinking it would be possible to create an app that hooks on to the stock messaging application and then sends all three balance requests every thirty minutes. Then this application (Or widget) could parse out the required value (I.e. Minutes available, Texts available or MB left), delete the messsage and send the data to the application.

    Or if there was a way to fetch data from mymeteor.ie and the equivalent for all Irish networks. That would be one very useful app.

    Having it poll for USSD's every few mins seems quite intensive. I know the guy behind Cabbage texter has a way (and open source code) to use the webtexts on all of the phone sites, I'm sure with some modification it would be possible to pull the remaining services data.


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