Groovy, Man!

With the help of my father, Andy, we have put together (well, it's mainly his work really!) a new camera application, GroovyCam LiveStream, that is very close to being finished.

It's based on the code for SECuRET LiveStream and use the same concept, i.e. streaming a live feed from the phone camera to a web browser using WiFi.  However, where GroovyCam LiveStream is different is the psychedelic and trippy effects that it can embellish on the feed from you phone camera ... I think it's pretty cool!  It allows you to save captures directly from the phone or via a remote control on the web page in the browser.

I won't give any example images just yet; I'll let you have fun yourselves finding out what sort of images you can produce when it is released (but the image above is a good hint!).

GroovyCam LiveStream will be available as a free demo and a full paid version sometime in the next couple of weeks (depending on how much free time I have to work on it ;) ).

Twitter ... Automatic Uploads Via SECuRET SpyCam

I'll be publishing an update in the next few hours that allows SECuRET SpyCam to automatically upload the motion captured still photos (but not videos) it takes directly to Twitter!

Just go to Settings and then Twitter Settings, check the box, enter your Twitter credentials and select your gateway of choice to make the uploads to.  Easy as that!  Then every time SECuRET SpyCam captures a motion it will upload the picture to Twitter immediately.

I know that some users may think this is pretty daft and that they'd rather keep all their pictures private and hidden, but for people using SECuRET SpyCam to play pranks or just to muck around and want to immediately see what is being captured, this provides a good option... So go on, start using it and let's see what everyone is taking snaps of ;)

Oh, and it's quite possible some bugs may arise out of this as I have only manged to test it on a Nexus One and an HTC Magic, so if you spot any then please let me know via email.

WiFi File Explorer Updates Coming Soon

I've been focusing most development effort on the SECuRET applications in recent weeks, but I haven't forgotten about good ol' WiFi File Explorer.  In fact, it's actually the most used application on my phone by far ... it makes transferring development versions of SECuRET from my development PC to my phone so much easier!  Not to mention it's best use; sharing MP3s around - 'sharing' across my various devices of course ;)

Anyway, there's a couple of updates coming very soon that are based on user feedback, and so hopefully will please you guys.  I have added:

• ZIP support which means you can now upload and download entire directories;
• And a new function to scan an uploaded file into the appropriate media library when it is uploaded; so pictures will instantly appear in your Gallery and MP3s will instantly appear in your Music application.

Both these new pieces of functionality are only available in the PRO version of WiFi File explorer, so if you want them you will have to part with £0.69 ~ $0.99.  As always, let me know of any bugs via email and not via the comments section of the applications.

Time To Buy!

In order to celebrate reaching 3,000 sales combined from the SECuRET range of applications and WiFi File Explorer PRO, I have decided to reduce the price of SECuRET SpyCam and SECuRET LiveStream for a limited time.

So, until 30th June 2010, SECuRET SpyCam will be priced at £2.99 and SECuRET LiveStream will be priced at £1.99.

There's lot of development work going on with SECuRET at the moment, and as such the regular prices may increase in the near future ... I'd recommend you buy now and get all the cool new stuff that's coming soon for free in the updates instead of waiting and paying a higher price!

Generous, aren't I? ;)

Password Protection Fixed In SECuRET!

After the update a couple of weeks back that introduced password protection into SECuRET, a few users managed to find ways to bypass it and unlock the application; pressing the power button and opening the keyboard in particular.  You'll be glad to know that I have now released the updates that fix these issues!

Now, in my defence, I don't have an Android device with a keyboard, so I would never have found that one ... but I should probably have found the power button one - I'll try and test my updates more thoroughly from now on ;)

However, I can't possibly find all the bugs myself, mainly down to the fact that I will never own every type of Android device to test on.  So as always, I rely on you guys to email me with your bug reports and then help me to remotely debug until we fix the bug together.

So why not next time you find a bug, be brave and email me with the details and let's fix it together?  Please please please, don't do what some users do and leave a comment on the Market  - I have absolutely no way of responding to comments and I will never be able to address the bug or issue.  And if we do get it fixed, you may even get a mention in the 'Thank you' section of the application (what an honour!).

Photo Resolution Settings & Password Protection Coming Soon

I am now back from my holiday and ready to start giving you some more updates ... and these should prove popular to most of you!

Since SECuRET SpyCam was first released in beta, a lot of users have been asking for an increase in resolution and password protection ... and finally I have got round to implementing both.  It's not the native resolution and it's not the standard locking mechanism (see here and here), but it's certainly an improvement over what is currently available.

Photo resolution settings will be available in SECuRET SpyCam and SECuRET RemoteControl, password protection will be available in all SECuRET applications.  The updates will be available during the course of the next few weeks so keep an eye out.

Oh, and there will also be fixes for the bug in SECuRET RemoteControl and SECuRET LiveStream that prevents video recording from working ... and because the 'user is always right' I have lifted some of the more pointless restrictions in the demo versions, although the time limit obviously remains.

As always, let me know of any bugs before you resort to leaving a bad rating; I will fix them :)

Update: I am aware of the bug on the Motorola Droid when using the 'screen size' photo resolution.  I have made a fix and have had it confirmed working and am just in the process of tidying it up (along with some other updates to try and make it perform better when using a higher resolution).

SECuRET SpyCam Video Recording Broken After Update To Android 2.1

I have had a couple of reports that after updating to Android 2.1, SECuRET SpyCam has failed to successfully start the video recording on motion triggers.  I have no idea what is causing this and it's not something I can easily reproduce myself.

However, the work around seems to be pretty simple; uninstall and then reinstall SECuRET SpyCam.  Easy huh?

I have so far had no reports of similar effects for SECuRET LiveStream or SECuRET RemoteControl.  A lot of the code base is shared between the 3 applications so they may suffer the same symptoms, but then neither uses video recording like SECuRET SpyCam, so they may not.

Hey There, Good Looking

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that the various screenshots and icons scattered around on this blog are not the same as what your versions of SECuRET currently have.  Well, that's because I have been beavering away by tweaking the UI and trying to apply some polish to enhance the cosmetic appearance of SECuRET.  No major changes to layout if I'm honest, just a bit of 'makeup'.

A few gradients here, a bit of shine there, a cheeky drop-shadow and a more consistent colour scheme ... I think it looks the business, but my girlfriend didn't even notice the difference!  Oh, apart from the new icons ... she preferred the old ones :(

I'll be releasing the whole range of new look-and-feel SECuRET applications over the next couple of days, so make sure you check the Android Market (or SlideMe) for update notifications.  Feel free to give me feedback, if you notice any difference of course!