Platform enables users to automate tasks on Android phones

On{X} lets Android users control and extend the capabilities of their Android phones using a JavaScript API to remotely program them.

With complex electronic devices now an everyday part of our lives, knowledge about coding can put power into the hands of end users. We’ve already seen the Pi computer offer a cheap way to teach people programming, and now Microsoft’s on{X} lets Android users control and extend the capabilities of their Android phones using a JavaScript API to remotely program them. on{X} users can create a set of rules for their Android phone to follow in order to make their life easier by having their phone dynamically react to changes in the surrounding environment. Each rule is composed of a trigger and an action in the form, “when X happens, do Y.” For example, you could use on{X} to program your phone to automatically send a text message to your spouse when you leave work, or to launch a music app when you start jogging. To make that happen, users install the free on{X} application on their Android phone, log into the website and app, and push rules to their phone. A number of “recipes,” or templates, are already available on the on{X} site for those not inclined to program their own. Alternatively, users can also create their own rules to react to information detected by the phone’s sensors, including weather, time, battery state, or location. Rules created on the on{X} website are essentially JavaScript code that immediately gets sent to the user’s phone, where they perform the intended function. They can also be published to the on{X} website for sharing with others. The video below explains the premise in more detail: On{X} can be used on phones running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), but it seems a pretty safe bet that it won’t be long before the technology appears on Microsoft’s own Windows devices as well. App-minded entrepreneurs around the globe: how could you put this technology to work for you? Spotted by: Dietfried Globocnik