Level Up - Android: How To Connected a Full-Sized Keyboard to Android Device?

In this post, I will walk you through connecting a computer keyboard to an Android phone or tablet, via WiFi (or USB cable).

Estimated time of completion: About five to ten minutes the first time, and less than minute after your first run through.

Why is this useful?
There are many great apps on smartphones, but some people find it much more comfortable to use a full-sized keyboard for typing, especially for long periods of time. After going through this post, you will be able to use your computer keyboard like an advanced user:
1. For text messages (SMS), WhatsApp, and any other app with an input field.
2. You will be able to copy&paste text.
3. Speeddial. You can set the function keys on keyboard to open any app on the phone.
and more..


You will need:
- A Telnet program, like PuTTY
- A app on your device, called "Remote Keyboard" created by Onyxbits.
- A WiFi connection


Step 1: Download app to your Android device
1.1. Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.onyxbits.remotekeyboard
1.2. When you open the app, it should look something like the following. Note the host address on there, it will be different for you.
1.3. Click the "Select Keyboard" button on the Action Bar, at the top of the screen and choose "Remote Keyboard"

Remote Keyboard, Android app

Step 2: Download PuTTY to your computer
2.1. Link: http://www.putty.org/
2.2. When you open PuTTY, change your configurations in three different places: Host, Port, and Connection type. You will get the port number and host address from the Remote Keyboard app. The connection type should be set to Telnet.
2.3. Click Open.

How to set up a Telnet connection

Step 3: Connect to device via Telnet on the computer
3.1. You should now see a window that looks like the following. And, you when you type into this window, key presses will go straight to your device rather than showing up on this window. Just click on any input field on Android to have the key presses sent there.

A Telnet connection to an Android smartphone.

Notes:
- For step 3, if you only see a blank screen, then wait a little longer for the connection. Then, possibly try sending a few keystrokes into the window and the Enter key.
- Windows does have a Telnet client, but I didn't get it to work. Using PuTTY was much simpler.
- Telnet connections are not secure. Each input is sent unencrypted.
- To connect more securely over USB, here are some instructions.

~ Danial Goodwin ~

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My Android Apps | My Windows Phone Apps | My Developer Blog

Danial Versus Email

Every month, I get a new activity report from Google. This report tells me all the things my Google account has been up to for the past month.

It's great to see how many sign-ins I've had, how many more sites/apps/services that I've connected to, and a lot more. I have a general idea of all the services I log on to with Google, and I use Google Account Activity (beta) as another security precaution also.

This post is mainly about all of the emails I have received and sent this past month (12 October 2013 to 08 November 2013). As my apps get more popular, I've been receiving many more emails daily. Though, I am grateful for all the feedback. It will only make the apps better.

Picture!

Too many emails for somebody that likes inbox zero

Yeah, that's 1,115 emails received and 233 emails sent for this four week period (28 days).

Doing a little math, that's about 39.8 emails received everyday and 8.3 emails sent per day.

I do my best to respond to emails within 24 hours, but sometimes they might get missed unfortunately. That's why in each of my email signatures, I include, "I welcome VSRE emails. Learn more at vsre.info". Because, if somebody emails and wants/needs "very short reply expected", then more likely it is I will respond right away rather than waiting until I have more time to write a proper response.

This is just the beginning of my endeavor as an app developer; 100k downloads means there is definitely still room for growth.

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(My email signature)

 - Danial Goodwin -
Computer Engineer | Co-Founder, Lead Developer, UX Designer for Simply Advanced, LLC

My Developer Blog | My Personal Blog | I welcome VSRE emails. Learn more at vsre.info

I try not to make fun of people for admitting they don't know things. See comic

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My Android Apps | My Windows Phone Apps | My Developer Blog

Thought: Ebay Versus Craigslist

Somehow eBay is more trusted than Craigslist, but with eBay you are sending your item farther and still don't know the person.

But, I guess, it's because there is at least a seemingly mediator for the two parties.

~ Simply Advanced ~

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My Android Apps | My Windows Phone Apps | My Developer Blog

Answered: Outlook 2010 Not Able To Send Emails

Suddenly, I couldn't send emails anymore through Outlook, I could only receive. No settings were changed since when I first set up Outlook 2010 about two months ago.

I searched five minutes online and found a few promising answer, but no solutions. Anyways, the solution that worked for me was to change to using the SSL server instead of the regular mail.domain.com server. After changing the incoming and outgoing server addresses, mail in Outlook works again. In order to find the SSL addresses, look at the properties of your email provider. (This method was only tested connecting to Bluehost mail servers)


Other answer or way get Outlook to be able to send emails again:

• Go to File->Account Settings->Account Settings->Double-click on the problem email.Then check the box that says "Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA)"

If none of those solutions helped, then Microsoft provides a comprehensive guide on troubleshooting Outlook 2010.

~ Simply Advanced ~

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My Android Apps | My Windows Phone Apps | My Computer/Programming Blog