Per a suggestions in #android (on freenode) I went looking for a way to create something like Ubuntu’s brainstorm site. I found something and signed up for it. The idea behind this is to have a centralized location for requesting features (or even bug fixes) and having others vote for the ones they want the most to give developers (nudge nudge Google) a better idea of what the general public wants out of Android. I have added a subdomain and pointed it to this site (Might not be working yet due to propagation times) brainstorm.android-dls.com. If it does not work for you, just go here till the subdomain works (see below). Submit your ideas, and vote for ones you like the most. If this gets used seriously I am confident Google will check it out. They seem very good at getting users feedback about Android (hence all of the google staff that chat with us in #android).

I decided against the 3rd party service that I had initially setup and instead installed Pligg. It is basically a Digg site but without the need for a “story url”. I think this will work out better in the long run and have moved all of the submissions from everyone to the new site which is located at http://android-dls.com/brainstorm. I made some edits that hopefully let you use your forum/main site login on the pligg site. If you have problems, sign into the forum first then go to the pligg url and it should show you as logged in. I might disable the pligg login in favor of a forum login link soon, but I will see how things work for now.

NOTE: You do NOT have to create an account to post your request because the site lets you use your Gmail account to sign in. (No longer valid with new pligg site)

Disconnect has been playing around with cupcake (updated source code name) and got it working (well, depends on what you mean by working) on his G1. He states that almost nothing itself works, but that is because some of the chunks of code were borrowed from his device so he could make it boot. While this might seem like an epic failure, its a big step in the right direction (for those with root anyways). He also found some interesting things in the code that might mean we have some cool new features on the way. He found what looks to be ext2 partition support and speculates it will be used to allow apps to be installed and ran from the SD card. This feature has been demanded since the devices release. Lets hope we see more from this project soon.

A new site recently appeared called >Cyrket (pronounced circuit??) and gives you a web based view of the market. Great for anyone who wants to view the public embarrassment that some market commenters put themselves through. I will say this site has limited usefulness, but it still has a high cool factor. If we could ban users who have an IQ that does not contain at least 2 digits, the market might be a little more accurate. Check out this tool when you get bored and maybe find a new app that you cant live without.

Jsharkey has just released a few apps he says are very much beta. He had to rush them out before he starts his new job at Google working on Android with the big boys. Seems he already realized he will not have as much time and wanted to make sure they were put out there for others to work on. It will be great to see people finish the OilCan app, as a short 10 minute test got me hooked. His categorized app drawer dubbed GroupHome will be great for nerds like me who install everything from the market they see (yes, I have moved browser and market cache to SD to give more room for my packraticism). Good luck Jsharkey with your new job and thanks for the going away present!

Brandorr has created and is hard at working on the new >Android FAQ. It is bursting with answers to the most common (and not so common) questions. Check it out and feel free to add to it (if you do not mind registering because I had to lock it down to prevent spam) or just add/fix existing content.