I’ve been struggling with this for quite a while now - how ethical is it to retrieve data from a website to be used within your own application? The information exists for the sole purpose of informing the public, so surely by further utilising this data and disseminating it, I’m giving the original author a hand. Then why do websites specifically prohibit this sort of behaviour?
While this article doesn’t answer all of my questions, it does provide good guidelines on data scraping, something which I will strive to abide to in the future.
UKRail is a free alternative to the National Rail application in the Android Marketplace.
v1.01 adds:
Scan the barcode or click here to download it straight to your Android handset!
Came across this particular article lately (thanks to Boris) and while the loss of any personal data is regrettable, I have no sympathy for these Android smartphone users.
Before you install any application in the Android OS, you’re prompted with a list of permissions that you grant to the application. Surely something must be dodgy if it’s a wallpaper application and yet it requests permission to access your Contacts or your Browsing History.
This is the most apt illustration I have found that reflects the situation:
When you see a speed camera (which is painted in a bright and easily distinguishable colour), the warning signs, the markings on the floor, any driver with a common sense will slow down, so that they don’t get docked 3 points from their licence and incur a fine.
The users who installed the wallpaper app and subsequently lost their data are the drivers that got fined in this particular situation.
And that’s why they get no sympathy from me.
Originally I was going to join my dad on a short hike in addition to testing out the Tamron 28-300mm f3.5 lenses he lent me.
But his PC and laptop broke down and this is why I’m posting this instead of climbing a mountain. Fuck Windows.
Nice one, Dell.
But seriously, I would only recommend Ubuntu to people who know what they’re doing on the computer.
Last week I have slacked off after publishing my UKRails app on the Android market. Although I have studied and discussed with others on the project I am working on next (A Background Daily), I haven’t really made any substantial progress.
The aim for this week is to get A Background Daily sorted out and launched, and start on my next project with Raymond: Newsmap.
Instead of doing my usual 5K run today, I decided to increase the incline and keep the same speed, in order to push myself so I can attain a better time for my 5K subgoal. I thought it would only be marginally harder than the normal 5K I do.
Turns out I was wrong by a mile. It was like increasing the difficulty in an exponential manner. Not only was I feeling shite at the end of the 30 minutes, but I only managed to squeeze in 3K after succumbing to temptations to slow down for a tiny bit to rest.
Did 2 sets of Tabata intervals today, squats and push-ups. Now I just want to crawl back to bed and rest. Fuck you and your mind games, Boris.