yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Here's a quick update from Recast HQ:

We've been quietly working away on the final release, squashing bugs, fixing issues and generally trying to make sure Recast is as stable and reliable as it can be. Along the way we've made some performance improvements and tried to incorporate some of the recent suggestions into the product. It is starting to feel like we're getting close to done... for a 1.0 version, anyway.

One thing that I am glad to announce is that we FINALLY got our hands on a Galaxy Note and have corrected the 5x2 widget issues that some of you have reported. I think it's fair to say that the Note is certainly not a normal device by any means, as it masquerades as a tablet when polled by Recast, but actually has phone layouts. We're happy to finally be fixed on that device.

I will post here once we get a bit closer to the final bits being released, and you can expect to see a release Recast in the store along with either a final 1.0.0 beta posted here or the first of the 1.0.x betas.

Thanks for your continued use and feedback with Recast!
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Just so you can see that we aren't pulling a fast one on anyone, here's a screenshot (scaled for the web) of the Samsung Galaxy Note running with an internal build of Recast with 5x2, 4x1 and 1x1 widgets together.
[Android Apps and Games] Psychoticus:
Hi mstroud,

not sure if you're aware if this or if it can even be intergrated at this point but google has cut some of it's pricing by 75%, you can read more in the link below. I only mention this because you had said previously that it was expensive to look up maps.

http://mashable.com/2012/06/23/google-maps-price/
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Psychoticus, thanks, we had seen that link. Actually it isn't maps that we need it's more options for weather forecast data that give us hourly info, extended outlooks, rain chances, etc. That data, unfortunately, is very hard to come by and is very expensive.
[Android Apps and Games] sdotmouse:
I have no idea if this is feasible, practical, possible or desirable, but could you use the same source as used by Pixelspore for for their app (Weather Widgets), Snowstorm and Aix Weather? It is the Norwegian weather service I think - .no is its suffix. I have no concept of the costs involved, but can imagine it's not a trifling amount. Hope you find a source though.

Sent from my MT15i
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
sdotmouse, we'll have to look at it, but the cursory look at it trends toward not being able to use it because of the terms of service requirements and the fact that everything is served (including API documentation) in Norwegian, which we don't know how to read... :)
[Android Apps and Games] sdotmouse:
Lack of Norwegian could be a large stumbling block. Hope you can find something appropriate. I'll continue using Recast regardless though. I use it in conjunction with Rain Alarm and I have all I need that way.

Sent from my MT15i
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Thanks for the input. We'll keep our eyes peeled for better solutions once we get version 1.0 shipping. Who knows, we might actually start earning enough money from Recast to be able to pay for some of that fancy, pricey weather data!
[Android Apps and Games] sdotmouse:
I don't doubt it :-)

Sent from my MT15i
[Android Apps and Games] NaabKing:
Well, you'r on a good way, cuz the app is really amazing, but how are you going to do it? 2 app-s? 1 free (with adds) and 1 payable (no ads)?

But there's one thing i dont understand about this, obviously i dont sell apps, but isn't it better to have application with ads, since you earn money from ads, which will most likely bring you more money (in long term) then payable app, from which you only get money one time? Am i wrong here?
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
NaabKing, thanks for the encouragement.

What we're thinking of is a paid-only Recast in the various app stores and a free beta version available here and from the app web site. That way people can always try something out with the beta release for free, but it may not have feature parity with paid version in the stores.

Our previous experience with our other app, Impel, has shown that ads don't really work for apps below a certain number of continuous users in the millions, and ads really drag down the app stability and device battery life. There just isn't a way to earn much money from ad-supported apps from what we've experienced. So we're not likely to ever try ad supported apps again until several things get fixed in those two areas.
[Android Apps and Games] erichbitch:
I just realized:

"Beta 5 expires on June 30. This is to make sure everyone makes it to the final release when it's ready."

So what happens within the next days?

I love recast now, i dont wanna miss it !
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Well we were in a good place, fixing bugs, making good progress toward a release and getting very, very close to a new build to post..... and then Google IO happened.

It appears that Google altered several of the APIs and SDKs we use that are critical to Recast working. Because of this, we are now scrambling to figure out all the changes, make updates, rebuild the parts of Recast and our service that rely on these changes and test them all over again. We are doing our best to move quickly and get something out, but we want to make sure it works in the process.

I hope to have more news soon. Certainly we didn't anticipate that Google IO would have so many changes that impacted us directly, but it did so we are compensating. Hopefully it won't set things back too much and we'll have another build soon.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Here's another update on our progress:

We thought we were on track to have a new beta release out today... and then we found some new bugs caused by the same new Google IO announced changes from yesterday. Sigh. We are attempting to work through them tonight so we can get some useful testing out of our in-house devices. Once that's done and we are as sure as we can be that we've squashed the last of the "IO bugs" (as we're calling them) we hope to put something out for everyone to try.

Our fingers are crossed that this one is the LAST beta build we'll put out for Recast 1.0.0... and into the stores we'll go. There is another round of significant changes in this beta so you folks will have to uninstall Beta 5 before installing the new Beta 6. Sorry, but we had to make a pretty major change again and we couldn't support an install-over-install scenario this time.

One last data point: we've been making changes to the widgets in the catalog while working on Beta 6. So if you have already downloaded and tried some of the widgets you should remove them and download them again, or wait and grab them when you install Beta 6.

That's the news from Santa Clara. Hopefully the next time I post it will be with the Beta 6 apk in hand.
[Android Apps and Games] telemike:
Wow, I really like this weather/clock app.
[Android Apps and Games] NaabKing:
Nice, thanks for hard work :P
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
OK, we've finally made it to RC! After a lot of work and effort from all of you on XDA we now have a version that is *finished* and in the store.

Download the paid version from Google Play Store

We also made a final 1.0.0 beta 6 version for people to keep testing with. It has some limitations to provide some encouragement to move up to the full version, but it is still fully functional to try and test with.

Download the free beta version from the Recast web site

I know some folks will be bummed that there are limits to the free version, but we really do hope that those who want to support us and the further development of Recast will consider buying the full version. One additional thing we'll be doing for the paid folks is making widgets and color sets on-request, so if you have something you really want to see in Recast and we can make it, it will go into the paid version.

Shortly after we see how this version does, we'll be back with the resource strings to being localization. I'll be asking for some help for the various languages, so if you know English as well as another language we'll be talking to you.

Finally, a special thanks to everyone who gave so much of their time and input into making Recast what it is today. We couldn't have done it without you and we hope to soon begin talking with you about our next version. We have some great ideas that couldn't make it into the first release but should really push Recast to be the best custom weather and widgets app out there. We hope you'll join us along the way.

As always, comments and questions (and bug reports) are welcome. We're not going anywhere after the store release, so we're here to listen and learn, as always.

Many, many thanks.

The Phase 2 Industries team
[Android Apps and Games] 21productionz:
First purchase and review belongs to me =P be jealous :)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
We would be happy to have you on board. Thanks for your continued support!
[Android Apps and Games] 21productionz:
Love the symmetry.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Here's something fun you can try, if you want...

From anywhere inside Recast, press the Menu button or Action bar overflow (the three dots) and choose Share. Recast will take any location, view or widget, make a screenshot of it, post it to the web, and give you a link to share anywhere you want. No fuss, no muss, and no use of your web storage space. Consider it our little way of helping you share the Recast love :)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
To those of you with Google TV devices...

We found a last minute issue which prevented us from appearing in the Google Play Store when we appeared today. We're looking into the issue and hope to have a fix for the issue soon. Be patient, we are on the case.

Thanks for your understanding.
[Android Apps and Games] NaabKing:
This should be front paged on XDA, maybe you can type to someone to do it :)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
I'd rather wait until we have a fix for the GTVs before I go asking people to take a look at Recast again. Once we have that issue done I'll be able to go to sleep :)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
OK, we think we found and fixed the Google TV permissions issue that prevented the Play Store from showing it to everyone. Recast is now revised to 1.0.1 in the Play Store. We're all really tired after going through that testing and posting, so we're headed off to bed. Hopefully when we wake up in a few hours all three screens will have Recast in their stores.

Fingers crossed. Good night everyone.
[Android Apps and Games] LifeInAnalog:
.. okay, app purchased and being enjoyed! Thanks for the hard work and great product.. have a coffee on me:-)

@1LifeInAnalog on Twitter
[Android Apps and Games] verynuclear:
I bought it.

Great app.

Sent from my SlimICS HOX
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
LifeInAnalog and verynuclear, thank you for your support!
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
We can now confirm that we show up and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store on Google TV! All of our supported devices are now present in the 1.0.1 release of Recast.

Amazon is still reviewing the app, so it isn't quite available to those customers yet.

The free test version doesn't require an update at this time, so it will remain version 1.0.0, as side-loading the app doesn't cause any issues with Google TVs.

If you have a friend or colleague that was interested in Recast but held off because they "don't do betas" or don't know how to side-load, you can tell them that it is now available in the Google Play Store and is safe to download :)

Our next big task is to start the localization and translation process. Early next week we should be posting the text strings and looking for folks to help get that process started. If you can translate or know someone who can, get in touch with us!

Thanks for all the support and feedback.
[Android Apps and Games] nhshah7:
Just purchased :) solid work guys! Congrats!

I've been using this since beta 4 and following since beta 2 but the one thing that would be incredible and prevent me from using any other weather source is an hourly weather forecast like in the stock Android widget. That way you can see temp and rain hourly. Hope to see this feature soon :)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
nhshah7, thanks for the support.

We would very much like to have hourly weather, rain percent chance, longer term outlooks and more. Our challenge as a small developer is that access to that weather data is quite expensive. Since we have only had a paid version starting yesterday we have not yet earned enough money to consider subscribing to and paying for better data. We hope that if Recast is successful we can go get a deal with some of the weather providers to offer more of what you are looking for.

Keep checking back with us and we'll let you know when we have more news to share on that topic.
[Android Apps and Games] sdotmouse:
Couple more days til payday for me, but have to buy it to get my preferred widget layouts back. Not that I begrudge paying such a small price for something that will be in virtually permanent use. I can't understand people who whinge about paying a few £'s for stuff, but that's a rant for another time. Congrats on getting this on the market in a really solid, easy to use design. And because I followed this thread you have a new Impel user too.

Sent from my MT15i
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
sdotmouse, thanks for the feedback and support!

We're already discussing what we'll do in the next release, beyond trying to get translations started. We hope that people will find it very worthwhile to upgrade as we start adding more features in that are paid only.
[Android Apps and Games] NaabKing:
For "Slovenian" translation, i'm availible :)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
NaabKing, thanks! We'll let you know as soon as we have the resources available. This is our first attempt at Android app translation, so it should be interesting to see how it works out.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
We've just posted a video that does a quick run through the major views and navigation of Recast 1.0.1. If you ever wanted to know where something is or how to get to a setting, this video could help.

[YOUTUBE]DFdKW1xgTRE[/YOUTUBE]
[Android Apps and Games] NaabKing:
Very nice :) Hope more people see it and buy it, cuz i would like to see this app to grow and develop, cuz it has a really great potencial :)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
We hope that enough folks will like Recast and support it that we'll be able to improve it and support it for a long time to come. We have some pretty ambitious feature plans for the app, and we think it could be very unique and more fun for everyone once we get that stuff into the app. We'll just have to wait and see if enough people are using it and buying it before we make the major investments to add so much additional functionality.

We're off to a good, but slow, start, but we're excited to finally be shipping.
[Android Apps and Games] rgeerolf:
Like I said in the early stage, I would like help for a Dutch translation. Contact me when you're ready for it ;)

Verstuurd van mijn Galaxy Nexus met Tapatalk
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
rgeerolf, we will certainly let you know. Thanks for the reminder.
[Android Apps and Games] dmb219:
I've been using the app and purchased it from the market earlier today, working great. I went back to the market later and it says it's not compatible with my phone. "This app is incompatible with your AT&T Samsung SGH-I777".

Thanks for the great app.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
dmb219, I think you may be experiencing one of the infamous Google Play Store's "hiccups" that seem to happen over time. People have told us on our other app that they can't purchase an app, the app won't stay purchased, or their device isn't supported any more. Then they wait for 24 hours or so and magically everything works again.

We didn't change anything in the app since 1.0.1 was posted, so it is probably the Store behaving badly again. I just checked the permissions again now and sure enough, your device is shown as supported. Give the Store a day or so to clear itself up and let us know if it keeps telling you that your device isn't supported.

Thanks for letting us know about this. We'll keep an ear out for other folks reporting similar issues.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
Just when it seemed we were done releasing new builds.... we have found a few more bugs to fix and some additional changes to be made. Expect to see new full and free versions of Recast coming very soon.

No rest for weary, it seems.
[Android Apps and Games] NaabKing:
@mstroud

Why is that video you posted not availible in google play store? I mean, i guess it was made for the store so people can see what they're buying, like many other app-s have.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
NaabKing, we've found that videos that introduce a product to new customers has to be short, concise and visually interesting. The overview video we posted really doesn't fit that bill :D

We are working on a new video which we hope to add to the Play Store and Amazon Appstore this week that will be much shorter, should be much more attractive to watch and will be a better intro into Recast than the current videos are. Hopefully it won't take too long to finish, since I have to make it :)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
As hoped for (by us, anyway) we've just posted Recast version 1.0.2 Free and Paid to the web. The Paid version goes through the Google Play Store, so it will take a little while for it to appear to everyone... keep checking for those Play Store updates while it rolls out.

For free customers I have to say this again: you have to uninstall any previous version before installing this version. We made a decision with 1.0.2 to unify the Free and Paid versions so that we can keep both sets of customers on as close of a release schedule as possible. But in order to keep everyone in sync, we had to rebuild both versions of the apps with a new name and new certificate, so uninstalling the current apps are the only way to make this possible. Sorry about that.

Check out the release notes for this version to see all the things we added, fixed and changed. The big new items are a fix (again) for time widgets not updating on all devices AND making the General settings easier to find by moving it closer to the front of the Settings page list. Both of these were driven by customer feedback, so keep those suggestions and comments coming.

Thanks again for your effort and support.
[Android Apps and Games] TexasRules777:
So have a question about the paid version of your app. I know it says that the kindle fire is not supported but I've been using the beta on my fire since version one ( with a custom cm9 rom of course ) and haven't had an issue. I bought the paid version when it went live and loved it. I then flashed a different rom yesterday and when I tried to install the paid app from a backup ( titanium) it told me it was an expired beta and I needed to update. I then went to the store and couldn't find recast. Apparently I was able to purchase it at the beginning due to a modified build.prop that spoofs my tablet as a galaxy nexus. Once I reverted to a stock cm9 that used a stock kindle build.prop. I'm just curious if recast will be available to the fire at any point? Thanks.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
TexasRules777, we're not sure if we'll be able to offer an option for stock Kindle Fire devices due to the lack of necessary hardware and APIs included on that device. Because you are running CM9, however, that does bring up some other challenges.

Our first question is this: does your CM9 setup allow you to run Google Maps? How about the Google Play Store? In Accounts, can you login and sync with your Gmail/Google account? If all of these things work then there may be ways we can get you up and running again with Recast.
[Android Apps and Games] TexasRules777:
Thanks for the response. Yep I can use maps, play store,Gmail,Google account ,etc..it really just comes down to the build.prop and the fact that I can't download the app when I'm using a stock cm9 rom that identifies that my device is a kindle to the play store. By modifying my build.prop to spoof the play store into thinking I have a galaxy nexus I can download and update the app just fine. It's really not a huge deal..but I would like to not have to do that little trick every time I flash a new rom. That was kinda my question if you are ever gonna support the fire but I forget about the limitations that the stock kindle fire os poses (GPS,framework,etc). Keep up the good work though guy's..you've got my money :)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
TexasRules777, thanks for the info.

If you DO have a working Google Play Store and you are using the SAME account as you did when you purchased the original Recast from the build.prop hacked store, just go download the free version of Recast, run it, and it may just call home to Google and work as the full version. We can't promise that will really happen, but it has worked for us in testing.

Let us know how you end up solving this issue. We'd be interested to know how it works out.
[Android Apps and Games] TexasRules777:
I'm working doubles the next few days but tomorrow I'll be able to flash a fresh wiped rom to try your suggestion. Weird thing I noticed is that I flashed a stock cm rom over my modified build.prop one that had recast already installed and the app shows up in the play store even though this build prop is unmodified and the play store knows it's a kindle.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
There isn't a lot of predictability with non-stock ROMs and the Play Store. It may work or it may not, but since Google doesn't support such cases with the APIs it is hard to say what will happen. No matter what, though, we'd like to find out how it works out for you, so do let us know.
[Android Apps and Games] slowdyve:
Just bought this app :good:

My phone is Sony WT19i, with a 3.2 inches screen. That's why i prefer 4x1 widgets (clock+weather). But many times other devs seem to forget people that have phones with smaller screens and you get a messy 4x1 **** widget. That's not the case of recast. There are some nice 4x1 clock widgets with everything "in the right place" Simple and beautiful :good:

Because of the size of the screen i'm not a big fan of 4x2 clock widgets. Especially when they have huge numbers (HTC inspired), like most of the cases. But some 4x2 clock+weather widgets don't look so bad on smaller screens, like this one. I hope you can make something like that, but recast style :)
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
slowdyve, thanks for the complements and feedback! If you have a screenshot or web site with images that match the design of the widget you are looking for it would give us a jump start on making something similar for you. I'm sure other folks besides you would love to have some more variety in the 4x2 size.

Thanks again!
[Android Apps and Games] slowdyve:
Oh, that's another reason i bought recast, nice feedback from the devs :good:

I didn't even wanted to mention the name of the app.

I don't think it's appropriate to mention other apps on recast thread.

But if you want a screenshot here it is. I like this stye.

And i'm tired of this style with hugeeeee numbers.
[Android Apps and Games] mstroud:
No problem there. We like getting feedback and while we would prefer not to mention any other competing apps, if it helps you explain what features and styles you are looking for we completely understand it.

We will take a look at this and see what we can do to make them possible. And yes, I'm pretty tired of that flip-clock look, too.