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Jerry Huang | apps and developing apps

Jerry Huang apps and developing apps

IP CAM Controller for Windows 8 Store is on its way

15. March 2014 17:24 by Jerry in IP CAM, Windows Store

Finally, we are hereCool

The first release have just been submitted to Windows Store for verification. It might take a few days if I'm not breaking anythingEmbarassed.

 

The first version is always challenging, with a lot of things need to be done and a lot of testing. I admit that there are only a few screens in this version with "multi-view" is missing:( However, the tile experience in this version is great in my own opinion, I guess this is because the device has much large screen space than the phone version (obviouslyLaughing), here is a peek of the live tile on my Surface 2:

 

There are 3 IP CAM Controller tiles in this screen, you will notice there is an app icon at the bottom-left corner. The smaller 2 are camera tile - by tapping them will enter to the single viewer screen directly (same as WP8). While the larger tile is the app's main tile, for now, the app supports 4 different size: Large square, Wide, Medium square (same size as camera tile) and Small. Let's have a better look at the large tile:

 

It could take up to 5 images in the tile, the biggest one is latest snapshot and the 2 lines description shows the camera name and when the snapshot was captured. In the top area of the tile will have up to 4 snapshot in the past updates (latest at the right) from all cameras that you had added.

 

Other features available in this release:

  • one way audio for selected cameras
  • a light weight preview for multiple cameras on main screen
  • in app snapshot (tiles)
  • digital zoom on the fly in single view
  • motion detection

Translation to Italian - Supporto H.264 e ricerca tester per Foscam

17. September 2013 21:18 by BBSYSTEM.IT in Android, IP CAM

Aggiornamento: il periodo di test è completato, adesso tutti potranno scaricare la versione 1.6 con supporto video HD dal Play Store.

La prossimi versione Android di IP CAM Controller sarà equipaggiata con motore H264, in altre parole, saremo in grado di avere video in HD se la tua telecamera supporta formato H.264.

E' attualmente in test finale e per questo vorrei invitare alcuni utilizzatori di telecamere Foscam a testare lo streaming HD nel loro smartphone Android. Se la tua telecamera è una serie foscam H.264 come 9820W, 9821W, 8608W, etc, prego clicca sul link che segue per chiedermi una beta. http://www.jerryhuang.net/contact.aspx

Per scaricare la versione beta, si prega di fornire anche il tuo account Google nel messaggio che stai per inviarmi. 

Attualmente mi sto concentrando su Foscam serie H.264, se avete altri tipi di telecamera, potete contattarmi per vedere se possibile aggiungerle, ma vi prego di notare che sarà necessario accedere alla vostra telecamera in funzione, quindi prima di contattarmi, consiglio di puntarla verso un muro o mettere un grande libro davanti alla telecamera, se la violazione della privacy vi preoccupa.

Ecco un'anteprima della app, se la tua telecamera supporta H264, un nuovo pulsante sarà visibile vicino al pulsante dell'audio: 

 

tradotto da BBSYSTEM.IT

Translation to Italian - Grazie Germania!

17. September 2013 20:54 by BBSYSTEM.IT in IP CAM, Windows Phone

Gli Stati Uniti sono stati il principale mercato per tutti i maggiori Stores (per esempio APPLE, Google e Microsoft WP). Per questo ovviamente gli Stati Uniti sono in testa come numero di download della mia applicazione (è ancora così); lo stesso vale per la versione su Android. Recentemente è stato superato dalla Germania! Che sorpresa!

Il numero di downloads dalla Germania ha cominciato a salire vertiginosamente dal momento della nuova versione tradotta in Tedesco. Insieme alla crescita di download è arrivata anche una crescita di impressioni positive. Vi sono veramente riconoscente! Vorrei poter scrivere questo intervento in tedesco ma non ne sono capace. In ogni caso, per tutti gli utenti dalla Germania, vi prego di accettare la mia gratitudine, GRAZIE!!   E, uno speciale ringraziamento va a Pascal Künzli volontario traduttore. E’ stato un piacere lavorare con lui.

 

 

Un'altra grande novità è su Windows Phone :)

Dal 1 ° settembre, IP CAM controller per WP8 è stato selezionato per essere evidenziato in Brasile, Spagna e Italia

Vediamo uno dei messaggi di posta elettronica 

 

 

E se sarà per  2 giorni evidenziato sullo Store Italiano i giorni Settembre 03-04, il merito va ad Andrea Busato da BBSystem.it, che è il nostro traduttore italiano sia per Android che per WP

 

Tradotto da BBSYSTEM.IT

Android: Motion Detect and Baby Monitor

16. September 2013 13:55 by Jerry in IP CAM

Similar to Windows Phone version, today we released motion detection feature for Android. With this feature you are able to monitor a sleeping baby while working on something else at the same time. 

 

When the current movement state reach the threshold for certain level, the phone will be vibrating and playing ringtone to attract your attention.

In addition, if your camera's audio is supported, a new "Run in background" (only for users already paid for audio) menu is available at the following place:

When this activated, the app will be pushed to background while it's still running. It's like a traditional baby monitor if you turn on the audio beforehand. This could be working together with motion detection - the app will trigger alarm when motion is detected. If however, motion detect is off in background, the video streaming will be stopped to save data usage and so battery. But once bring the app back to foreground, video will start again.

Although saving energy is being considered, running in background will still drain your battery pretty fast, so it's highly recommend to plug in charge before using this feature.

 

Italian translation:

Simile alla versione  per Windows Phone, oggi abbiamo rilasciato la funzione di motion detection anche per Android. Con questa funzione potrete monitorare per esempio un bambino che dorme mentre lavorerete o farete altre cose.

Quando il movimento in corso raggiunge una certo livello di soglia, il telefono vibrerà e riprodurrà un suono al fine di attirare la tua attenzione

 

In aggiunta, se il tuo modello di telecamera supporta l’audio, la nuova funzione "Funziona in background" (solo per utenti che abbiano già pagato per la versione con audio)  sarà disponibile in questa posizione:

Quando attivata, l’applicazione sarà spostata in background mentre continuerà a lavorare. Funzionerà come un babymonitor se avrai predentemente attivato l’audio. Questo potrà lavorare in contemporanea con il motion detect - l'app farà scattare l'allarme quando verrà rilevato un movimento. Se, tuttavia, il motion detection sarà spento in background, gli streaming video saranno fermati per salvare utilizzo dei dati e quindi della batteria. Ma una volta portata l'applicazione  in primo piano, il video riprenderà. Anche se il risparmio energetico è stato considerato, in esecuzione in background continua a consumare la batteria piuttosto velocemente, quindi è altamente consigliabile collegare il telefono al caricatore prima di utilizzare questa funzione.

Tradotto da BBSYSTEM.IT

Thank you German!

2. September 2013 15:42 by Jerry in Android, IP CAM, Windows Phone

US has been the biggest market in basically all major app stores (i.e. Apple, Google and Microsoft's WP market). And so naturally US is the top country in download number of my app on WP market(it still isWink); it was the same for Android. But recently it had been exceeded by German! What a surprise!

The downloads from German started to grow dramatically right after we released the Germany language support in the app. Along with the increment in number, positive reviews are also growing. I'm so much grateful! I wish I could even write this blog in Germany but unfortunately I can'tFrown. Anyhow, for all people from German, please accept my sincere appreciation, THANK YOU!! And, a special thank-you goes to Pascal Künzli who was the voluntary translator. It has been totally a pleasure to work with himLaughing

 

 

Another great news is about Windows Phone:) Since September 1, IP CAM Controller for WP8 had been selected to feature in Brazil, Spain and ItalyCoolTongue OutLet's see one of the emails

 

 

And it's going to be 2 days on Italy market from Sept 3 to 4, credit goes to Andrea Busato from BBSystem.it, who is our Italian translatorKiss for both Android and WP

IP CAM Controller 3.2: Motion Detection - baby monitor

1. September 2013 18:26 by Jerry in IP CAM, Windows Phone

Apart from regular bug fixing and minor improvements, the new release (v3.2) of IP CAM Controller is mainly about adding a motion detection mode in single view screen. With this feature in place, you are able to turn your phone into a baby monitor - when motion is detected, the phone will play alarm audio and vibrate to attract your attention.

After activating the motion detect mode, you can adjust the sensitivity of the detection as well as the threshold to trigger alarm. In case movement is detected in the video, the movement will be highlighted in red, just like above screen shows. When the motion state reach the configured threshold in a certain level (e.g. exceed a certain time in a few seconds), the alarm is trigger - the phone will play a sound effect and vibrate as well (they can be switched in setting screen though).

 

A few important things to note:

  • As motion detection is based on a series of calculation, this function will consume a lot of power, so it's HIGHLY recommended to plug in power before use (if you intend to monitor for a long period of time).
  • Not only power usage, this feature also require a lot of CPU usage and so with this mode turn on, the UI will become a bit "laggy" i.e not so smooth, as a lot of stuff happening at the background. As a result, although other functions remain accessible but it's not suggested to do any PTZ actions before switch off motion detection.
  • Image quality will be poor in this mode in order to speed up the whole process, which make sense in my opinion, since this mode is mainly about detecting movement. You can switch back to normal mode whenever your eyes are back on screen.Cool
  • Free trial is offered for 5 minutes after activating the function, when time is up, you can go back to main screen and enter the viewer screen again to get another 5 minutes. Alternatively, you can support my development by paying the app at $1.99 to remove this limitation (it will also remove advertising and limitation on grouping)Kiss

 What next? Probably and hopefully monitor the volume in audio, we will see:)

 

Italian Translation:

Oltre a sistemare piccoli bug e aggiungere miglioramenti vari, la nuova versione(v3.2) di IP CAM Controller è soprattutto l’aggiunta della modalità motion detection nella visione singola. Con questa funzionalità, potrai far diventare il tuo telefono un babymonitor – quando sarà rilevato il movimento, il telefono riprodurrà un suono e vibrerà per attirare la tua attenzione.

Dopo aver attivato il motion detection, potrai regolare la sensibilità al meglio, come per la soglia di allarme. In caso di movimento rilevato sul video, il movimento sarà evidenziato in rosso, come mostrato nella figura sopra. Quando il movimento raggiungerà la soglia fissata in un certo livello (per esempio superandolo per qualche secondo), l’allarme sarà lanciato – il telefono quindi suonerà e vibrerà (possono essere regolati nelle impostazioni).

 

Alcune importanti cose da sapere:

  • motion è calcolato in base ad una serie di calcoli,  consumerà parecchia potenza, per cui è CALDAMENTE consigliato di collegarlo al caricatore prima dell’uso (se intendi utilizzarlo per lunghi periodi)
  • Non solo corrente, Motion richiede molto uso della CPU ed è per questo che quando attivo, la visione a schermo apparirà leggermente lenta e non così bella, dovuto ad una quantità di elaborazioni in background. Comunque le altre funzioni rimangono accessibili ma è consigliato di non compiere azioni con le PTZ prima di aver spento la funzione di motion detection.
  • La qualità dell’immagine sarà povera al fine di velocizzare l’intero processo, che ha senso secondo me, perché questa funzione è prevalentemente usata per rilevare il movimento. Sarà possibile comunque tornare alla normalità quando potrai tenere gli occhi sullo schermo in maniera più costante.Cool
  • La versione trial offre 5 min di servizio, quando il termine è raggiunto,  potrai tornare indietro e rientrare nella funzione per altri 5 minuti. In alternativa, potrai supportare il nostro lavoro pagando 1,99$ per rimuovere questa limitazione (verranno tolte anche le pubblicità e la limitazione sul numero di gruppi)Kiss

Cosa abbiamo in mente per il futuro? Probabilmente spero monitorare il volume dell’audio, vedremo :-)

Tradotto da BBSYSTEM.IT

Android preview: H.264 support and foscam testers wanted

26. August 2013 11:52 by Jerry in Android, IP CAM

Update: the testing had completed, now every one could download the v1.6 with HD video support from Google Play

The next Android version of IP CAM Controller will be equipped with a H.264 engine, in other word, we are able to get HD video working if your camera support H.264.

This is now in final testing and so I would like to invite some foscam camera owners to test the HD streaming on your Android phone. If your camera is a foscam H.264 series such as 9820W, 9821W, 8608W, etc, please click following link to ask for a beta:

http://www.jerryhuang.net/contact.aspx

In order to download the beta, please also provide your Google Account in the message you're going to send me.

 

Currently I'm focusing on foscam H.264 series, however if you have other type of camera, you can contact me to see if possible to add your camera as well, but please note I will need to access to your camera to work that out, so before contacting me, I will recommend you turn your camera toward a wall or put a large book in front of your camera if privacy concerns you.

 

Here is a preview of the app, if your camera's H.264 is supported by the app, a new HD button will show up next to the audio button:

 

Tap the icon to switch between HD and standard streaming

How to set up camera and grouping v 3.1 and above - WP

8. August 2013 09:58 by Jerry in IP CAM, Windows Phone



Add your first camera

a) Tap the "add" button in main screen

b) Input camera info and save it

 

 

1) Choose a camera type most close to your IP Camera; sometimes you need to try all types of your brand, e.g. Foscam user is suggested to test each Foscam type in the app in order to find out which one work the best for you.

2) Type in a camera name you like.

3) If your camera is a DVR, you may need to input a camera no which is normally corresponding to stream no, channel no etc.

4) Hostname or IP address of your camera. In order to access your camera over the internet (e.g. a 3G network), you must use internet IP address, but not internal address like 192.168.1.x. This kind of address only work at home when you are connected to home WiFi.

5) The port no where your camera is hosted on. If your camera is behind a WiFi router, you will probably need to configure port forwarding on your router.

6) Type in username and password of your camera (not the router) and choose the quality and image resolution.

7) Tap the "save" button at the bottom of this screen.

 

Add the 2nd camera

a) Tap the "add" button again

b) Then do the same as you set up the first camera, and don't forget to tap the "save" button to save it

 

Edit a camera

a) Press and hold on the camera you want to edit, then choose "edit" (this is new menu item from v2.5.3, older version please go to step c) from the pop up menu.

 

 

b) Update the camera info, then tap the "save" button 

 

Delete a camera

Press and hold a camera in the main screen, then choose "delete" from pop up menu.

Add a multi-view grouping

 a) Tap the "add" button in main screen (Multi View section)

b) Tap the ellipsis (...) from bottom, then choose your cameras from the list

c) Tap the "save" icon (only for paid version, free trial could not save the view) 

d) Input a name for the grouping

e) The view will then be saved for further usage

Why the app need my location info?

7. August 2013 20:37 by Jerry in IP CAM

I received an interesting review from WP's market a while back. A user is complaining why my app access to his location details while the app doesn't have any map feature or any sort like that. Nice catch! Indeed, the app is not using the location service at all, but the ad control does. IP CAM Controller embeds an ad control from Microsoft to show advertising in free version. Microsoft's advertising control will use location-base ad service to improve ad quality and relevance. More info refer to here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/hh288088.aspx (search ID_CAP_LOCATION). I hope this will resolve some users' doubt about me being suspiciousWink

Please note that I'm not able to reply comment on WP market - Microsoft doesn't allow to.  So when you have a problem or question, it's better leave me a message in this site.

IP CAM Controller 3.0 and above: how to share camera link to family member

22. June 2013 21:29 by Jerry in IP CAM, Windows Phone

In the latest 3.0 release, a "share camera" via deep link function has been introduced (Android version has the same feature). The main purpose of this function is to send an encrypted hyper link (aka deep link in WP's world) to a close friend (such as your wife/husband or your parent) who has very little knowledge about setting up camera on the phone. The recipient requires to have a Windows Phone 8 and installed my app beforehand.

 

Step 1: 

In the single viewer screen, tap the 4th button at the right-down corner:

 A pop up menu will shows up

Choose "share camera" from the menu

Step 2:

Choose the way you would like to send the link:

 

In this case, let's choose Email. After tapping the "Send by Email", it will prompt the phone's email app, if you have configured more than one email accounts, you will need to choose which account you would like the message sending from.

Step 3:

Send out the message.

 

 

 

Recipient:

 The email message at receiver's mailbox will look like this:

Just simply tap on the link, the phone will activate my app to view the camera directly (again, IP CAM Controller must be installed first)

 

Is that it? Not just yet! By tapping the 4th button again, and choose "save camera" from the menu, your recipient is able to save the camera so that he/she doesn't need to tap the link every time in order to view your camera.