The Best Magic the Gathering Android App You Probably Don't Have

How often have you been at a Magic event or just playing with friends and you wanted to do some serious trading?  I mean the kind of trading where there are two high-value piles of cards about to change hands.  The kind of trade where a little miscalculation in value could cost you dearly.  Oh, I've been there.  It makes it a little intimidating to make those trades.  I've passed up on some great cards just because I was worried about making a bad trade.

Well, if you have an Android phone/device, the best app to help out with this is CCG Fair Trader.  There are a lot of apps that let you look up one card at a time, or even a few at a time.  CCG Fair Trader, however, lets you create multiple lists of cards and compare any two of them side-by-side.  You don't have to remember or write down the value of each card you look up.  You can check the price of a bunch of them all at once!

The prices are live and continuously updated by tcgplayer.com.  The guys at tcgplayer.com get card values from many vendors online so you know you are seeing the fairest price available.

Here are a couple of screenshots to give you a better feel of how it works/looks:

In case you didn't notice, there are actually some cards from other games in that trade.  CCG Fair Trader can store card lists with cards from five different games:  Magic the Gathering, World of Warcraft TCG (WoW TCG), Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Redakai.

If you play any of those games and ever make any trades, this app will make that a much better experience.  The full version is costs a little, but there is a trial/lite version for free that limits your card lists so you can get a feel for how it works.  If you ever made a bad trade since you didn't have the right value information, you know that the cost of this app (currently $1.49) can be pretty small in comparison.

Check it out on the Android Market.  If you have any questions, go to the developer's website forum or send an email (info at littlepancake dot com).

CCG Fair Trader Released!

Well, after months of slowing learning Android development and tweaking and poking, I've finally released my first Android app. The CCG Fair Trader is a tool for making sure you make a good trade of your collectible card game cards. It supports Magic the Gathering (MtG), Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, World of Warcraft TCG (WoW TCG), and Redakai. Basically it lets you create lists of cards and check their values using prices from TCGPlayer (prices are continually updated by that site from a large collection of online vendors). You can then look at any two of your lists and see their values side-by-side. Never get ripped off again! Well, at least while trading cards.

With this release, I've officially launched my awesome software company as well: Littlepancake Software. I'll probably be focusing on Android because it is the most accessible platform for which to develop, but in the future I may release stuff for other platforms.

Anyway, check it out if you have an Android phone and like any of the games listed above. There are free and paid versions. The free version limits the number of card lists and cards you can save, but pretty much has all the other functionality.

For questions about the app, try out the forums on littlepancake.com. I'll be more likely to see it sooner there than in the comments here.

That's it for now... enjoy these awesome screenshots!

NetBeans variable naming

Just a quick note since I'll forget later how I blew an hour of my time with NetBeans.

I received an error in the Generated Code section. This is annoying because you can't edit that section. but it is also good considering the time saved with GUI building. Anyway, the error was:

cannot find symbol
symbol: variable jdesktop
location: class java.lang.String
javax.swing.ActionMap actionMap = org.jdesktop.application.Application...blah...blah...blah

Looking at the generated code, the "jdesktop" had the red error squiggle underneath it. Usually with a "cannot find symbol" error, you take a look at your libraries and classpath and make sure they are OK. I hadn't touched them and the code was building just fine an hour prior.

Well, it turns out I had created a data member: "String org". "org" is a common abbreviation for "origin" when talking about flights (which is what this code deals with). Well, there is clearly no "jdesktop" member or method in the String class, hence this error. Ugh. That will teach me to abbreviate my java data member names. I changed it to "origin" and the IDE was happy again.

I guess you'd have the same problem if you had a data member called "com" and were calling some com.* class in a static way. Overall an unproductive hour, but an important lesson as well. I'll call it a wash.

Raiders Draft 2010

Just a few thoughts on the Raiders' draft this year from a lifelong fan.

I was worried in two directions during the first round. I really hoped Al wouldn't reach for Bruce Campbell that early AND I really hoped Al would draft Bruce Campbell so that I could make allusions to Army of Darkness. Well, it clearly all worked out (they took Bruce in the 4th round) so I can now post these pictures which I spent 10 whole minutes making:




Ahhhh, that just feels right. Hope this kid works out in the long run and doesn't end up doing a crappy series on the USA network.

Seriously though, I'm happier with this draft for the Raiders than I have been for a long time. I found an interesting theory on why they did so well this year posted on a message board:

Raidernewjerz:
This is why I think my Raiders had a great draft. One, it could of been no one told Al Davis the draft started on Thursday. So when Saturday came, he came swinging by picking Bruce Campbell, then the fastest player at the combine, and after a bunch of DBs. Thats my theory! Either way great draft for us!

It's funny because it's so likely true.

I also like that we picked up Jason Campbell (two Campbells!?!!). The Raiders didn't look so bad when Russell was off the field last year. Not to say they looked particularly good, just not as bad. With an upgrade to JC and a little better defense, it seems likely we'll win some more games this year (hard to win fewer!).

Anyway, I won't be getting season tickets again this year. After 6 years of paying through the nose for little reward, we decided to hold off for a while. Still... go Raiders.

Emmitt Smith: Analystll

Emmitt Smith's entertaining stint as an analyst for ESPN has been well documented for its great quotes. But now it appears that Emmitt is doing his own graphics now:

He is, indeed, a great analystll.

Synchronized diving? Really?

Apparently synchronized diving has been in the Olympics since 2000. I hadn't noticed until NBC decided to dedicate many hours of primetime coverage to the various flavors of this year's competition. This is how the Chinese are able to close the gap with the U.S. in the final medal count--by sneaking in crazy, weird events like this and making 18 versions of it (3m platform, 1m springboard, 1.3 foot wooden plank, etc.).

I don't think it will really should count until we get a Martin Short/Chris Guest version:

Vaccination Location Deliberation

So I had to get two vaccinations (boosters) in my shoulder(s) for an upcoming international trip. The nurse tells me they will each cause soreness for a couple of days. She then asks which arm(s) I'd like the shots. When prompted for her professional opinion, she defers back to me, offering no assistance in this very important decision. After deliberating for a couple of seconds, I opt to take both shots in my non-dominant arm. Man, that soreness kicked in quick! By the time I was in my truck, my left shoulder felt like it had been punched a few times.

Anyway, after telling my wife about this, she thought I was crazy for getting both in one arm. She said she would have put one in each, to lessen the maximum pain per arm. I figured that I wanted a fully-functional good arm.

So now I pose the question to you, loyal reader. How would you distribute the shots? The poll on the right will be active for a couple weeks. At the rate my blog is read, that should equate to 2.3 votes. Please vote and/or comment!