Tigcal Utilities

Earlier this year, my mother switched to a smartphone. The transition to getting used to a smartphone took a while. She was having issues opening the Quick Settings to access the Flashlight and checking Battery status. As an Android developer, I decided to create simple apps to solve these problems. I have also planned to develop an app for the electric bill-splitting which they normally do manually.

The result of this initiative is what I call Tigcal Utilities. Instead of making three apps, I made an app that has three functions. This includes the following utility apps: Battery, Bill Calculator, and Flashlight.

The Battery app opens the Battery Usage Settings while Flashlight app allows the user to turn on and off the flashlight. Flashlight uses Camera2.

Bill Calculator is an app that allows users to split the electric bill based on total kWH used.

I decided to publish it on Google Play Store so any future update will automatically be downloaded to the phone (if it has internet connection). As it is a special app, I published it on closed Alpha Testing. If you want to try Tigcal Utilities (and provide feedback), let me know so I can add you as a tester.

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Originally published at Jomar Tigcal's Blog

Budget Penny, your budget assistant

"Okay Google. Talk to Budget Penny."

Last month, Jomar and I had been working closely in building another financial-related application to help people manage their money. We created Budget Penny.

About Celine's Budgeting

I have an every payday salary. Every payday, I know how much I should expect in my bank account, how much is budgeted for each expense, and how much I should have left. I usually spend 5-10 minutes a day, tracking how much money I have left and whether I saved a few dollars out of my allocated funds for the day. With this idea, Penny was born.

Introducing Penny

Jomar wanted to play around Actions on Google and he asked me to think of a possible assistant. Since I would love an assistant to keep track of how much money I have left, a budget assistant was on top of our list. It took us a while to agree on a name (Loonie, Toonie, Centi, among others) but agreed upon Penny.

Initial Release and Future Goals

Right now, on this release, you can ask Penny to set a budget (it's monthly by default), set expenses, and get balance. We also did our best in coming up with a Persona for her. On future updates, we hope to create a web app to track everything and expenses categories, flexibility on time (monthly, daily, or weekly), and useful savings tip so that Penny could help you save more.

Easter Eggs

Jomar and I love 'The Big Bang Theory' and placed a few Easter Eggs. Try asking Penny, "Where is Leonard?" :)

How to access Budget Penny?

To use / talk to Penny:

1. Talk to your Phone. "Okay Google. Talk to Budget Penny" or if you don't want to talk, you can type in "Talk to Budget Penny"
2. If it's your first time using the app, don't forget to set a budget!
3. Inform Penny of your expenses.
4. Ask her how much money do you have left.

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What do you think of Penny? Do you have any feature suggestions on how we could make her better? Please let us know!

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Originally published at the Sweldong Pinoy Blog