Microsoft’s on{X} Puts Androids On Autopilot

Microsoft is launching an application programming system called on{X} for Android phones that make it easy for Java-savvy users to turn the phones into smart, hyper vigilant assistants.

Want the phone to automatically send an SMS message to callers when you’re driving your car? On{X} can do that. Have trouble remembering where your car is in the mall parking lot? On{X} can find it for you. Haven’t called your mother in a month? On{X} will remind you.

On{X} is a framework for accessing and sensing data generated by the phone: GPS location, movement, whether AC power is connected, whether a Wi-Fi network is near, whether the phone has just left a particular location, etc.

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The software then takes that data and creates an action based on it. Did you just leave your house at 7 a.m.? Program the phone to automatically send a text to your admin saying you’ll be at work in 20 minutes. Are you driving in your car headed home at 5:30 p.m.? Automatically turn on drive-time music.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfLMTsIJsoo[/youtube]

Users can write JavaScript code against the on{X} application programming interface to accomplish these and any other tasks they can think of, share their code with others and install it quickly, customizing the phone to perform helpful tasks in appropriate situations, according to a blog post written by one of the software’s developers, Eran Yariv.

The Microsoft group developing on{X} has plans to create a version for Windows Phone, but that is more complicated and will come later. With Android being open source, it’s easier to access the code. Right now on{X} is in beta and is calling for developers to expand the tasks it can perform.
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Via Network World