News From The MIT App Inventor Team | Part One of One
Recent Improvements to MIT App Inventor for Android
H*app*y Inventing -- From The MIT App Inventor Team
Reference: http://beta.appinventor.mit.edu/ReleaseNotes.html
App Inventor Goes Wireless!
Date: December 12, 2012
Author: http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/blogs/andrew/2012/12/app-inventor-goes-wireless.html (author of this summary)
Starting with the December 12, 2012 v132 release of MIT App Inventor (see http://beta.appinventor.mit.edu/ReleaseNotes.html), the option to connect the phone to the computer wirelessly has been added. You no longer need a USB cable to connect your phone to your computer. Not only does this avoid the cable, it also eliminates the often tedious process (on Windows) of finding, downloading, and installing drivers specific to your device. Now all you need now is a wireless (WiFi) network that your phone or device and your computer can both access.
The first step to use App Inventor wirelessly is to download the MIT AICompanion from the Google Play Store. You start this App like any other Android App. The Blocks Editor now has a new “WiFi” choice in the “Connect to Device” menu. When you select that you will receive a six letter code which you enter into the MIT AICompanion to connect the phone to the PC. You are also shown a QR Code which you can use if your phone has a camera and a Bar Code Scanning Application. You can find more information and detailed documentation in the wireless setup instructions.
The USB option is still there, same as before. But we expect that most App Inventor users will use the wireless method, which in general will be easier to set up and will give better performance. There may be some situations where wireless won’t work well -- such as when there’s no local wireless network, or the wireless network has poor performance. But we recommend that everyone start out by trying wireless to see if it works for you.
Texting Over WiFi is Now Enabled
Date: November 16, 2012
Reference Links:
1. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/content/google-voice-texting-over-wifi.html
2. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/blogs/shay/2012/11/new-release-brings-sprite-flinging-wifi-texting-and-more.html (author of this summary)
Texting is now enabled over WiFi for phones without cell service (no SIM card)! While the traditional SMS texting over a cell phone provider still works just fine, this new capability allows you to connect to your Google Voice account so that texts can be sent and received on devices that are only connected through WiFi.
Additional Support for Google Fusion Tables
Date: November 16, 2012
Reference Links:
1. http://support.google.com/fusiontables/answer/2571232/?hl=en&
2. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/content/pizzaparty.html
3. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/blogs/shay/2012/11/new-release-brings-sprite-flinging-wifi-texting-and-more.html (author of this summary)
Support for Google Fusion Tables has been enhanced. You can now build apps that read and write to a Google Fusion Table, providing a powerful data sharing solution. See the new Pizza Party tutorial in the 2nd Reference Link above for a how-to guide on creating fusion tables and connecting to them through MIT App Inventor for Android.
App Inventor Summit Archive Now Available
Date: August 30, 2012
Reference Links:
1. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/summit-links.html
2. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/blogs/shay/[yyyy]/[mon]/app-inventor-summit-archive-now-available.html (author of this summary)
The MIT Center for Mobile Learning hosted a two-day summit in Cambridge MA on July 13-14, 2012. This meeting allowed time for the 80 attendees to form small working groups to develop strategic plans to guide the future of the App Inventor project. Also, invited presenters shared the work they are doing with App Inventor. An archive of the summit is available at the 1st Reference Link above with more links to presenters' slides and outcomes from the six working groups.
Recent Improvements to MIT App Inventor for Android
H*app*y Inventing -- From The MIT App Inventor Team
Reference: http://beta.appinventor.mit.edu/ReleaseNotes.html
App Inventor Goes Wireless!
Date: December 12, 2012
Author: http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/blogs/andrew/2012/12/app-inventor-goes-wireless.html (author of this summary)
Starting with the December 12, 2012 v132 release of MIT App Inventor (see http://beta.appinventor.mit.edu/ReleaseNotes.html), the option to connect the phone to the computer wirelessly has been added. You no longer need a USB cable to connect your phone to your computer. Not only does this avoid the cable, it also eliminates the often tedious process (on Windows) of finding, downloading, and installing drivers specific to your device. Now all you need now is a wireless (WiFi) network that your phone or device and your computer can both access.
The first step to use App Inventor wirelessly is to download the MIT AICompanion from the Google Play Store. You start this App like any other Android App. The Blocks Editor now has a new “WiFi” choice in the “Connect to Device” menu. When you select that you will receive a six letter code which you enter into the MIT AICompanion to connect the phone to the PC. You are also shown a QR Code which you can use if your phone has a camera and a Bar Code Scanning Application. You can find more information and detailed documentation in the wireless setup instructions.
The USB option is still there, same as before. But we expect that most App Inventor users will use the wireless method, which in general will be easier to set up and will give better performance. There may be some situations where wireless won’t work well -- such as when there’s no local wireless network, or the wireless network has poor performance. But we recommend that everyone start out by trying wireless to see if it works for you.
Texting Over WiFi is Now Enabled
Date: November 16, 2012
Reference Links:
1. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/content/google-voice-texting-over-wifi.html
2. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/blogs/shay/2012/11/new-release-brings-sprite-flinging-wifi-texting-and-more.html (author of this summary)
Texting is now enabled over WiFi for phones without cell service (no SIM card)! While the traditional SMS texting over a cell phone provider still works just fine, this new capability allows you to connect to your Google Voice account so that texts can be sent and received on devices that are only connected through WiFi.
Additional Support for Google Fusion Tables
Date: November 16, 2012
Reference Links:
1. http://support.google.com/fusiontables/answer/2571232/?hl=en&
2. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/content/pizzaparty.html
3. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/blogs/shay/2012/11/new-release-brings-sprite-flinging-wifi-texting-and-more.html (author of this summary)
Support for Google Fusion Tables has been enhanced. You can now build apps that read and write to a Google Fusion Table, providing a powerful data sharing solution. See the new Pizza Party tutorial in the 2nd Reference Link above for a how-to guide on creating fusion tables and connecting to them through MIT App Inventor for Android.
App Inventor Summit Archive Now Available
Date: August 30, 2012
Reference Links:
1. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/summit-links.html
2. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/blogs/shay/[yyyy]/[mon]/app-inventor-summit-archive-now-available.html (author of this summary)
The MIT Center for Mobile Learning hosted a two-day summit in Cambridge MA on July 13-14, 2012. This meeting allowed time for the 80 attendees to form small working groups to develop strategic plans to guide the future of the App Inventor project. Also, invited presenters shared the work they are doing with App Inventor. An archive of the summit is available at the 1st Reference Link above with more links to presenters' slides and outcomes from the six working groups.