Category Archives: Other

Traveling Man: Tools and Apps for Testing Cell Networks Across America, Part II

Early on we realized that some kind of tablet would be necessary to monitor the internal testing dashboard on the go. To be totally honest, I was hesitant about the usefulness of an iPad Mini. We just needed to monitor … Continue reading

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Traveling Man: Tools and Apps for Testing Cell Networks Across America, Part I

When I set out on my journey traveling the country doing signal testing with OpenSignal & TechHive, my aim was to travel light. Hitting 20 cities in five weeks is no mean feat, and the less to cart around with … Continue reading

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How to use WeatherSignal for Quantified Self tracking

While WeatherSignal is primarily designed to crowdsource Weather Readings you can also use it as a personal “tricorder” – for example to make highly localised maps of your surroundings, or even to monitor your own habits and interactions with the … Continue reading

Posted in Quantified Self, WeatherSignal | 2 Comments

What Google Activity Recognition means for apps

There is no shortage of sensors on smart-phones – most devices have a lightmeter, magnetometer, three-axis-accelerometer and sensors for location (GPS, cellular/wifi radio). While it’s relatively easy for developers to access, for example, raw accelerometer data, it can be difficult … Continue reading

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Getting Started WIth Activity Recognition: Android Developer Guide

This one’s for the Android devs! Google’s Activity Recognition is so new it’s hard to find any documentation on it, although there are abundant news stories announcing it. I’ve put together a very quick guide on adding it into your … Continue reading

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Hide Yo Phones, Hide Yo Wives

On a sweltering spring day in southwest Dallas I was standing outside my car, parked on a flat and near-empty stretch of urban road. The sun was quickly drying the cars coming out of the car wash across the street … Continue reading

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Using Big Data

While signal testing my way through Omaha a friend in Kansas City, Missouri got in touch and let me know about KC’s City Camp (Un)Conference, happening that weekend at the Kauffman Foundation. She knew I would be in town and … Continue reading

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The Importance of Outliers

My mission roaming the country checking carrier strength so far has taken me to six large metropolitan areas. I love cities for all they have to offer, and for the purpose of broad data collection they are the most useful; … Continue reading

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Introducing the OpenSignal KnowledgeBase

One of the challenges of becoming involved in any kind of specialised industry is the barrage of acronyms and technical terms which one faces on a daily basis. Of course, when one works in the industry in question they soon … Continue reading

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Hi, my name’s Gabe and I am over-caffeinated.

Why am I over-caffeinated you might ask? Because I’m teaming up with TechHive and OpenSignal to collect some standardized data across the U.S. of A. Part of that data collection is finding out how well different carriers work in all the … Continue reading

Posted in Comparing Coverage, Networks' Own Coverage Maps, Team | 1 Comment