AndroidActivist - By And For The Community!

Will The Real Andy Please Stand Up?

Today we take a look at Brendan Martineau, but you may know him better as infinitybiff(XDA), biffbiffbiff(twitter), or even Biff Tannen(nickname).  If you have owned a G1/mytouch, MyTouch Slide, or an HD2 you may also know his work.  ROMs such as BiffMod, Chromatic Slide, Galaxy Slide, and an MIUI port for the HD2 has made him quite popular.  What you may not know is that Brendan(I’ll call him Biff from here on) is a service manager for an IT consulting firm in Virginia.  He has an amazing wife who has blessed him with 2 great children, Jacob 3 years and Olivia 2 months old. I had a chance to ask Biff a few questions about his work with Android and this is what he had to say:

ME: What inspired your projects?

Biff:  I’m inspired by Cyanogen, HTC Clay, ChromerSmith, and others.  I have always modified or hacked devices       I’ve owned… seemed logical that if I was going to do Android    customization or modifications, I should share it

ME:  How did you get started developing?

Biff:   I bugged Chromer Smith ALOT.  I also consulted google search, xda developers, and various other sources to   figure out the how of what I was trying to accomplish.

ME:  What was the biggest hurdle in beginning to develop?

Biff:  I would have to say in the beginning I had to learn from scratch how the phone is laid out and partitioned.  What apps go where, how things work, the basic concepts.  I would    say that is the hardest part of anything, getting the basic concept down and the rest is a lot easier.

ME:  What is the most rewarding part of your work?

Biff:  Seeing people use and enjoy my ROMs.  Being able to answer questions, pass on my knowledge, and meet new people.  We all were noobs once, feels good to pay it forward.     Some people tend to forget that.

ME:  What advice would you give someone that is just starting to develop?

Biff:  Read every wiki and every thread you can and if you get stuck, ask questions.  We all started somewhere.  Oh, and always remember not to take yourself too seriously.

ME:  What is your favorite device to work with?

Biff:  Gotta be the HD2.  It’s already such a great device(when it’s running Android), and it has so much potential.  With so many ROMs floating around for it and with nand flash on    the horizon, we have the potential to convert it to a native Android device, which has never been done.  In my honest opinion it is the ultimate modder / community device.

ME: What Device do you use everyday, whats in your pocket at work or the grocery store.

Biff:  The HTC HD2, of course

ME:  What are you excited for coming up in Android and technology?

Biff:  Excited about upcoming tablets, gingerbread, and nand flash for the HD2

Brendan (Biff) enjoying a treat at work

This is the soapbox part.  Where I give the developers a chance to say what they want to all of you.  This is what Biff had to say:

“I like to stress that I’m NOT a developer. I consider myself a modder/tinkerer.  The developers are the guys who write the code/drivers/apps that people like myself modify to suite our needs. To call me a developer would be an overstatement”

I would like to thank Biff(Brendan) for his time.  I would like to thank him for his hard work in the Android community.  If you are a developer and would like to participate, please drop me a line on my  Twitter at @Ottenjr81 or E-mail.  If you would like to learn more about Biff’s work I would hit up www.xda-developers.com.  Until next week, thank you and have a great week.