*Free Money To Family And Friends!*

I have enrolled in this course on  Entrepreneurship and I have watched the first two units.  I believe it to be a very valuable course that is well thought out and very organized (so far).  I believe that it should be taken by anyone regardless of whether you want to start a business or not. For younger people this will provide a solid framework to evaluate your ideas that will prove valuable throughout your life.  So here is the offer:  For anyone that knows me personally (friends or family or following)  that enrolls and completes this course I will give a framed U.S. Dollar entitled "my first buck".  
I almost forgot: The course is free!
Here is a description and link.

INTRODUCTION TO STARTUP ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Creating and launching an online business idea is more accessible and easier than ever - if you know how. Let us introduce you to the simple tools and information you need to make your Startup idea a reality. 

Industry experts share their experience and advice on the best methods to turn your concept into a well-tested, finely tuned, and competitive online product. Convenient, free, and packed full of exactly what you need to know. 


Introduction to Startup Entrepreneurship is open for registrations now.

Android Developer Tools Essentials

An excellent presentation by  about Android Development. It is over an hour long and he covers many issues about Android Developer tools. The lecture is geared towards people already experienced with the development system but it would be a great 'coming attractions video' for people just starting out. The presenter was very knowledgeable and presented the topics very clearly.  I picked up several good tips and techniques from the lecture. The lecture was a presentation distributed by +Google Developers  and is a Google+ circle that is very valuable.  

A link to the YouTube video is here.

Let the Learning Begin!

The first three lectures are available for the Programming Android for Mobile Applications course. Although it was basically a review for me they are excellent.  I have installed the SDK multiple times in recent years and I am happy to report that the 'old days' of downloading and configuring separate components are long gone (thank goodness).  The process is now download, unzip and find the eclipse link. You still have to download a Java Run Time Environment but that is easy.  One good recommendation from   is that the ease of installation should no longer strike fear into your heart when making changes. The installation used to be so hair raising that you wouldn't change anything for fear of 'breaking' your installation. The bad news is that the emulators are still slow.  In fact, I warn people that the first time you fire one up you will swear that your computer is locked up. Most certainly anyone developing Android devices should own one.  Deploying to a hardware device is much more pleasant.  As far as I know this course can be taken for free. I opted for the $49 certificate option mostly as an incentive for me to force myself to  get my 'money's worth'  This link is supposed to go to the first lectures but it looks like it may have been redirected to their main website. 

Successfully interfaced TI Sensortag to exercise bicycle.

I successfully interfaced a TI Sensortag to an exercise bicycle. I measure the heat generated by the friction brake with the passive IR themometer and the the revolutions by wiring the bicycle's magnetic sensor to one of the button switches on the Sensortag. I successfully received the data using Bluetooth 4.0 communicating with a Nexus 7 (2013). Wiring the switch required the skills of a neuro-surgeon.  Texas instruments should add a solder pad to the back side of the switches to aid in development. 

My RFduino Development Kit Arrived

My RFduino Development Kit arrived after many delays. I will testing it in the next few days.

What to do prior to wrapping up that tablet computer for a holiday gift

If you are going to give tablet computer for the holidays make sure you verify that it works properly before you wrap it.
Here is a test that I would do: go through the setup with the account of the person you are giving it to including connecting to your WiFi network. 
Let it charge.  
Restart the computer and see that it boots properly. 
Put it to sleep by a short click on the power button. 
Let it sit without external power for 24 hours. 
Give it a quick click on the power button. It should come right back to a lock screen. 
A swipe on the lock screen should return you to where you left the computer
If not it has crashed and needs to reboot.  
This happens occasionally, but if it is happening almost daily, return it for a new one. 
If it fails the first test, try once more but with shorter test time, 
if it fails again return it otherwise wrap it. 
That way when it is unwrapped a quick click restores it to an instantly usable computer. 
If it failed at all during testing watch it closely and return it for new one before your return privileges expire.
The question of battery life comes into question. Sitting wrapped up under the tree the computer will automatically be checking email and beeping when the person whose account you set up gets an email. You might want wrap a dummy gift with a quick switch door in order to swap a fully charged and functional computer into the package at the last minute. I took a look at how the Nexus 7 consumes power and one guy says that it will lose 5% per day in the sleep mode. Personally, I would opt for dummy package with a quick swap door.  Nobody likes electronics with a dead battery.

What would you say would be a good inexpensive tablet to get?

There are a few things to consider. When they produce cheap tablets they leave out things.  Here are important questions.
1. What version of Android does it run?
Android 4.0 is too old.  Minimum should be 4.1, preferably 4.3 Stay away from the Amazon tablets (my opinion)
2. Does it have Google Play?
If it doesn't, it means the computer couldn't conform to Google's minimum standards.
3) What resolution is the screen?
High definition 720P is 1920 by 720.  the closer you get to that the better. Most cheap tablets don't even come close.
4) How many cores does it have?
Cores refers to the number of processors contained in its processor chip.
 Cheap ones are single core, better ones are "dual core" (two processors)  the best are "quad core" (4 processors) Minimum should be a "dual core" tablet.
5 What other things were left out to make this tablet cheaper?
No bluetooth .  No GPS.  Small battery. 

So those questions will allow you to compare tablets. The reason that I don't like Amazon tablets is that they produced a "fork" of Android in which they modified the operating system so that it is difficult to run anything other than what they want you to.  The Kindle book readers are supposed to be great but I recently worked on a Amazon tablet and I was frustrated by their Operating System. That means older versions of Google's software and then they update it when they feel like it. 

So based on that I bought George a a dual core 7" Nextbook. No bluetooth or GPS. The screen resolution was not great but it was better than the next cheapest one and it had Android 4.1 and Google Play.  Price $79 It was acceptable.

So $79 is $60 away from $139 which is the cost of a 2012 edition of a Nexus 7 running Android 4.4 with 720P HD display, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and a quad core processor.

$79 is $150 away from 2013 Version of the Nexus 7 which is the best Android 7 inch tablet available. 

So there you have it:
Minimum: Dual core cheap tablet (watch the resolution of the screen) $79
Preferred: 2012 version of a Nexus 7 $139
Best: 2013 version of a Nexus 7 (not refurbished) $229

Make sure you check your return policy.  I had to get three tablets before I got one that worked properly. They had a lot of problems with their first production run.  You don't want get a lemon. I bought mine on Amazon and their return policy was great.  It was disappointing to get the first two lemons but they kept bringing me ones until I got a good one. I was literally handing the UPS driver the old one as he was delivering the new one the next day. (I had bought it with next day shipping)

I hope this helps. 
I will be posting it on DaveThe AndroidGuy.blogpost.com because your question is an important one.

Addendum

Walmart has this for $109 online.   It's refurbished (used) but it is a good computer. One of my friends bought one for his son.  It equals the Nexus 7 2012 version and even surpasses it because it allows  additional storage space and HDMI out.

Hisense Refurbished Sero 7 Pro with WiFi 7" Touchscreen Tablet PC Featuring Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) Operating System, Brown/Black

Model#: M470BSA

(32)

7" touchscreen

1.3GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 Quad-Core processor

8GB of storage memory

Google Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) OS

Webcams, WiFi and Bluetooth