The Senate rejected an amendment championed by the cryptocurrency industry that exempts non-custodial crypto actors from a crypto tax reporting requirement built into the $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
The amendment failed after Senator Richard Shelby attempted to tack on $50 billion in military infrastructure spending to it.
This article is part of the Android August series, in which I’m writing an Android development-related article every day during the month of August 2021.
If you want to write an Android app that interacts with the camera beyond merely taking a picture or shooting some video, you’ll want to make use of the Camera2 API, which became available at API level 21 (a.k.a. Android 5.0, a.k.a. Lollipop), which goes all the way back to late 2014.
There are a number of recently published articles and documents that you can consult if you’d like to explore Camera2:
This article is part of the Android August series, in which I’m writing an Android development-related article every day during the month of August 2021.
As I mentioned in the previous article in this series, the biggest development in the latest version of Android Studio (at least as far as I’m concerned) is that Jetpack Compose is now included, and therefore official.
Jetpack Compose is Android’s declarative UI, which puts it in the same general category as iOS’ SwiftUI or Facebook’s React.
Jetpack Compose is called declarative as opposed to imperative, which is often summarized as building UIs in a “this is what it should be like” way versus a “this is how it should be created”. It’s the difference between this…
// Imperative UI (Kotlin)
// ======================
val helloButton = Button()
helloButton.text = "Hello, World!"
val layout = Layout()
layout.add(helloButton)
The first one specifies, step by step, how to build a simple UI, while the second simply says “this is the UI I want”.
This is a brand new way to build Android UIs, and it’s expected to become the standard way. Now is you chance to get a head start, and the following links can be your first steps.
This article introduces Jetpack Compose in small steps, starting with a “Hello, World!” app. It goes from there to introduce key concepts such as state, modifiers, and layouts. Finally, you’re introduced to the list and are shown how to use it by building a list of famous comic book superheroes.
This Wednesday, August 11th, is Congressional Startup Day, and the startup news hub Grit Daily is holding a celebratory in-person event at the gorgeous coworking space, Industrious Tampa from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.!
Congressional Startup Day used to be known as “Startup Week Across America”. It takes place in August for a specific reason: That’s when the U.S. Congress takes its annual recess, and when lawmakers go back to their home districts. It’s a great time for senators and representatives to get in touch with entrepreneurs in the places they represent, and for entrepreneurs to entrepreneurs to share their ideas with elected officials and discuss the importance of the businesses and opportunities they create.
The 4X Latina VC Summit is the main attraction of the Congressional Startup Day, and you can catch it in person or virtually. It will feature four of the global top ten Latina VCs talking about all things money and startups:
Consuelo Valverde, founder and managing partner of SV Latam Capital in San Francisco.
Miriam Rivera, CEO of Ulu Ventures, and early seed stage venture fund in Silicon Valley focused on IT startups.
Luciana Carvahlo, the VP of People and Performance at Movile, Latin America’s largest tech investment group and accelerator.
Amanda Jacobson, the Chief of Staff for Oyster Financial, a neobank for SMBs that’s co-headquartered in Mexico City and San Francisco.
Here’s the event’s agenda:
Time
Event
1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Grit Daily’s Congressional Startup Day at Industrious Tampa.
2:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Latina VC Summit, with Ayurella Muller (Forbes Columnist) and Loralyn Mears, Ph.D. (Grit Daily)
3:30 – 4:00 p.m.
One-minute startup pitch competition x 12, Grit Daily Royale.
4:20 – 4:40 p.m.
“How to Raise Money.” A panel with Loralyn Mears, PhD. with Todd Belveal (WashLava)
4:45 – 5:00 p.m.
Closing Keynote by Florida Legislature Representative Jackie Toledo.
6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
VIP dinner. Inquire for tickets. Limited to 20. VIP only.
This article is part of the Android August series, in which I’m writing an Android development-related article every day during the month of August 2021.
This new version packs a lot of interesting new goodies, but for me, the biggest development is built-in support for Jetpack Compose — the new declarative/reactive/state-driven way to build user interfaces — and the accessibility scanner for the Layout Editor.
To find out more, check out this video from Android Developers:
This article is part of the Android August series, in which I’m writing an Android development-related article every day during the month of August 2021.
Mobile apps are often front ends for APIs, so one of the first things you should learn about Android programming after getting a reasonable grasp on the basics is how to access an API. If you’re at this stage, this is your lucky day: Tutorials.EU has just posted a new tutorial titled Everything You Need To Know About Retrofit in Android | Get Data from an API that shows you how to build an app that accesses the Rick and Morty API:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyqK1hbZ6Z4
There are a number of Android libraries that you can use to access APIs, including OkHttp, Volley, and the one used in this tutorial: Retrofit.
Both OkHttp and Retrofit are creations of the digital payments and financial services company Square, whose work you’ve probably encountered when buying something. Both are HTTP clients, but when it comes to accessing APIs, you want to use Retrofit, because that’s exactly what it’s for.
This video is the first in a series. This first video will cover the basics of API access with Retrofit. There’ll be a second video where you’ll clean up the app’s architecture using the MVVM pattern, and then a third video where you’ll change the implementation so that it uses coroutines to perform tasks in the background.
The top of the RedMagic 6R box. Tap to view at full size.
This article is part of the Android August series, in which I’m writing an Android development-related article every day during the month of August 2021.
I write apps for both iOS and Android devices, so I make it a point to own both an iPhone and an Android phone. Since I’m giving my current Android device, a Motorola One Hyper, to my father-in-law so that he has a mobile phone from the current millennium, I needed a replacement. This set of photos is of that replacement: the RedMagic 6R.
The bottom of the RedMagic 6R box. Tap to view at full size.
The side of the RedMagic 6R box. Tap to view at full size.
RedMagic, a sub-brand of Nubia, which was originally a sub-brand of higher-end phones from Shenzhen-based phone and telco equipment company ZTE, specializes in gaming phones. In addition to using the better CPU and GPU chipsets required for gaming, RedMagic also does a better job of packaging than you’d expect from many other Chinese phone companies who are competing solely on price.
Case in point: Compare the sleek RedMagic packaging you’ve seen so far to the box that my 3rd-generation Motorola G came in:
Tap to read the original article.
I peeled off the shrink wrap and opened the box to see this:
The top layer inside the RedMagic 6R box. Tap to view at full size.
The RedMagic 6R packaging is layered in a manner similar to the iPhone’s. The top layer is a box, which I flipped over to open, as shown below:
Opening the top layer box. Tap to view at full size.
In addition to the SIM tray ejection pin, the top layer box contained the following:
The contents of the top layer box. Tap to view at full size.
Its contents were the Quick Start Guide, a warranty card…
The Quick Start Guide and warranty card. Tap to view at full size.
…as well as a basic case, contained within a protective envelope:
The included case, still inside its envelope. Tap to view at full size.
The case itself is one of those clear, pliable, “soft gel” ones:
The case. Tap to view at full size.
The next layer contained the phone itself:
The phone layer. Tap to view at full size.
The phone’s thin protective plastic sleeve has a little tab that makes it easy to lift out of the box, which was a nice little high-end touch:
The phone, now out of its box. Tap to view at full size.
Here’s the front of the phone, which is still inside its protective plastic sleeve…
The front of the phone, still in its sleeve. Tap to view at full size.
…and here’s the back:
The back of the phone, still in its sleeve. Tap to view at full size.
Finally, I hit the bottom layer, which contained the AC adapter, a USB-C to USB-A charging/data cable, and a USB-C to 3.5 mm headphone adapter:
The bottom layer of the box. Tap to view at full size.
I knew that the RedMagic 6R came with a basic soft gel case, I decided to spend an extra 15 bucks for the hard case, which came in this box:
The box for the RedMagic 6R hard case. Tap to view at full size.
Here’s the case:
The RedMagic 6R hard case. Tap to view at full size.
This may be my favorite Android unboxing experience of all time. It’s certainly a good deal more photogenic than the 3rd-gen Moto G unboxing experience:
