Sun Java Studio Mobility 6 rocks....

I have been using this IDE for the last 2 weeks now and all i have to say about it is that it rocks. Sure it has some bugs in it and its a bit slow compared to the other alternatives but i somehow have become very used to this tool.

I have had trouble creating new projects but the import facility that allows me to import earlier WTK projects is well made. I am sure other IDE's have that too but havent used them so dont know. I have used eclipse with the J2ME plugin but did not like that much and was using textpad with WTK (KToolbar) for all my project builds. I still prefer using the WTK but with this IDE i get "intellisense" :-)... i believe thats what you call it.

I am inlcuding a picture of the Import feature in the IDE. All you have to do is specify the root directory of the Toolkit and all the apps get listed out. I usually have a skeletal application in the WTK\Apps folder and i use this to build on the Midlet Suites.




Another nice feature i noticed abt the IDE is that it automatically includes all the attributes in the manifest file( eg. MIDlet-Delete-Confirm) of the jar. In the WTK these attributes only go into the JAD.

All in all .. its the best tool for J2ME development that i have used so far and I am planning on sticking with it.

QR Tshirts --- Remembering Minority Report

Found this while surfing the web.

QR t-shirts


The idea is to put a 2 dimensional barcode on a tshirt( frankly the size of the barcode is a bit huge- check the pic) and this barcode will be scanned by an application running on a camera phone. The app would read the barcode that has a URL in it and launch the URL on the phones browser. Pretty neat ..eh..

This concept .. as far as i know started with semacodes.. they use DAtamatrix symbols instead of QR codes. But frankly this doesnt make a difference... the fact is to the end user what matters is whether the barcode looks pretty enough.. Most of the 2D barcodes look pretty .. atleat to me. The only notable exception being the PDF417 symbol.

What attracts me to this post is not the application idea itself. I think the idea is real cool. I personally hate entering long URLS on phones and i acknowledge the fact that BARCODES can be a very handy as data entry facilitators. I work for a firm that provides barcode scanning tech for cell phones.

There are 2 reasons that i got interested in this post.
1) Look at the size of that barcode.
2) Is this the first step of barcoding people ??? ( more on this later)



1) Size : I am a programmer myself and have also worked on the QR decoding mechanism. That barcode is huge ..ok .. it does eliminate the need for a additional add on lens but its just so huge.. kinda makes difficult to get a shot.

2) Does anyone remember the movie Minority Report ??? in that they had a way of tracking each person ... some how cant help but feel we are edging ever so close to that era where every body knows where u are and what u are doin... Location Based Services on cell phones will get us there pretty quickly .. but imagine this .. each person has a barcode tattoo or better yet RFID tag stuck inside ur skin somewhere .. wont that be interesting ...

Security Risk ??????

Saw this article at the BBC website ..

BBC NEWS | Technology | Latest mobiles 'open to attack'

WOW... Correct me if I am wrong but don't you need security permissions to almost anything kool in a the mobile java environment ???

I dont think the guys behind the JSR would not secure the part that allows a MIDlet to listen to phone conversations. Accessing the address book is offcourse required and i bet this would be a protected method (needs permission). Will have to check out the new package, I believe it should be the PIM package. If i can access the phone conversations.. that would be so cooool...

IMHO native applications pose a much bigger risk as they do allow access to each and every dam thing ( ok.. not everything) on the phone ...

The FUTURE : Mobile games and other apps in the US

came across this article while surfing ...

USA and China to lead the world in Mobile Games

WOW !! The game industry sure is headed towards more rosier times if this is true .. I do believe that the market in States will improve as more and more people look towards their cell phones as something more than a phone and a watch ..

The consumers are getting newer and more power packed phones these days and this leads to the demand for more content...

The US corporate market will also require a substantial share of the content that is produced over the next 5 years or so .. Most of them already have some solutions in place for PDA's.

All in all its a nice future for the Mobile Application industry ...

There are a few things that do bother me though ...

1) SMS never really made it very big here in states ... the reason .. the way the wireless calling plans are structured... why would i bother typing in text on the phone when i canjust call the person up ( If i am under my minutes quota .. its not costing me extra) ... I was talking to a developer i met in France the other day about the practical use of SMS .. he says he prefers sending an SMS when he just wants to get a message across and not engage in a conversation .. for me .. here in states ... i will have no remorse in calling the person up .. giving the message and hanging up without ever asking "hows everything" .... does it mean I am rude ???

2) Lets face it .. when I am home .. i would prefer playing a game on the XBOX not on the mobile phone ..when I am at work i would prefer to play on the web not the mobile phone.. the only time i see myself playing a game on the phone is during my commute ... i take a train to work ... its a nice way to kill time .. its a good market specially here in NYC cause most of the people use mass transit ... but what about the people who drive .. majority of the people in rest of the country drive to work .. cant expect them to take time out of driving and playing a quick game of snake ( I hope not :-))

There are a few obstacles .. but over all i do believe the mobile phone /PDA will be the next big thing ...

Goin Mobile .................

A friend of mine sent me this picture in a forward ... isn't it amazing ... mobile phones have become part and parcel of our lives... feels nice looking at pictures like this .. gives a mobile application developer like me a lot of hope ... :-)