The World First Ever HTML5 Advertisement

Category : Google, HTML5, Open source, web

We all love new technology, its event better when it is open and standard. But getting your feet wet and actually using the new technology? and in production? and where there is money involved? that is totally a different matter…

Last week I started advertising a big developer event we are holding in November – a countdown clock that counts the seconds till Google Developer Day . We considered a Flash ad like we are all used to, but our marketing team though it would be cool to have HTML5 ad…

I am a little a shamed to say that at first I objected, saying that HTML5 is still not fully supported by all browsers. After much deliberation we decided it was worth the extra budget to serve HTML5 for browsers that support it and Flash Ad to deprecated browsers. The reports from the publisher is that this HTML5 ad beats all Flash ads CTR. This is something worth investigating – is HTML5 ads perform better than Flash ads?

So get ready – Here is the first world HTML5 ad (click to enlarge) -

For the next few days you would be able to view it (with Firefox and Chrome) here.

Finally I Have a Budget to Support Open Source

Category : Google, Open source

I have been an Open Source enthusiast for a very long time. I have written several open source projects, and although I have yet to find a perfect open source revenue model, I still contribute and enjoy the ride.

I think that open source, even if still not fully main stream, constantly improves our lives, even for those of us who are not a tech-geek like me.

Now things are radically different, it is now part of my job to support and ensure the success of open source in my region. Now I finally have some budget to do what I love and believe in.

Last week was my first (and very humble) contribution in August penguin, a local open source event. The organizers did not want us to officially sponsor the event but agreed that I bring food :)

So here it starts, my first monetary contribution to  an open source initiatives. I hope and plan to support multiple events and projects in order to drive a more open future.

Voice Recognition API in Android Apps Using RecognizerIntent

Category : Android, Google, Java, Open source, Software development

Voice interface is not a common application user interface, we do not usually interact with application using voice. But when it comes to mobile it makes more sense.
We are used to talk to a phone all day – why not talk to our phone apps?
Not all voice interaction should look like this video:


Here is how you use Android Voice Recognition API:

  1. Call the RecognizerIntent  - your application call the Voice recognition Intent that records the voice.
  2. Intent processes the voice recording – sends it to the voice Recognition Service and returns
  3. A list of string is passed to an implemented callback method in you application
  4. You process the string and continue the interaction with the user

Here is a simple call to the intent:

     /**
     * Fire an intent to start the speech recognition activity.
     */
    private void startVoiceRecognitionActivity() {
        Intent intent = new Intent(RecognizerIntent.ACTION_RECOGNIZE_SPEECH);
        intent.putExtra(RecognizerIntent.EXTRA_LANGUAGE_MODEL,
                RecognizerIntent.LANGUAGE_MODEL_FREE_FORM);
        intent.putExtra(RecognizerIntent.EXTRA_PROMPT, "Speech recognition demo");
        startActivityForResult(intent, VOICE_RECOGNITION_REQUEST_CODE);
    }


And here is the callback:

      /**
     * Handle the results from the recognition activity.
     */
    @Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        if (requestCode == VOICE_RECOGNITION_REQUEST_CODE && resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
            // Fill the list view with the strings the recognizer thought it could have heard
            ArrayList matches = data.getStringArrayListExtra(
                    RecognizerIntent.EXTRA_RESULTS);   

          //DO SOMETHING WITH THE MATCHES

        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
    }

Here is a full code sample – I played with it today and will very little effort created a Pizza ordering application for my next demo session.

Leaving Microsoft and Joining Google

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Category : Best practices, Google, Microsoft, Open source

I try to talk about myself as little as possible in this blog, but this is a personal post – so if you are looking for a tech-post, wait for next week.

In the last 5 years I have worked for Microsoft in several positions and done a lot of exciting things – presenting at events, doing business development with Startups, and doing technical sessions for developers and architects all the way to managing the sales of Microsoft Cloud Platform, Azure, in Middle East and Africa.

Lately, I have been approached by Google to do a very exciting role of a Developer Relationship Manager – working with developers, startups and enterprises. Last week, I have decided to accept the offer!

Working for Microsoft has been a great learning experience –big corporate mentality, cross group work, presentation skills, breath of technologies, as well as sales management and processes. Having said that, being an open source guy at heart and working for Microsoft was always challenging – I tried to compensate by collaborating with SUN and the open source community and even presented in their events and invested in joined effort, but in general people around me were not as enthusiastic about openness and free software as I was (what great surprise there!!) so I always felt a little like Dr Jackal and mister Hyde.

In my new role in Google, driving open source projects and FOSS development will be an integral part of my job description. This brings me great childlike joy and excitement, something we tend to forget or loss along the way in the high-tech business.