May

28

Sony Ericsson has released documentation on the camera and vibration API’s for their P800 phone. Very cool, for people creating games and such. More info found here: http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/newsdisplay2.php?id=13064.

May

23

Macromedia has licensed the SDK for Flash to two more companies. The first being Toshiba. The second being NetFront, for inclusion into their ACCESS browser for embedded systems. Without knowing the hardware that these two companies are foreseeing using the Flash player on, it is hard to tell if it will be Flash 6 or a unique build (like Flash Lite for DoCoMo). Either way, it opens up new opportunities for Flash developers and another revenue stream for Macromedia.

May

20

Just got this news article about a Bluetooth module that has been built for the new Game Boy Advanced. The Bluetooth module can connect up to seven devices, allowing one to be a cellphone with a connection. This will enable the GBA to become connected to the internet. The software needed to run the Bluetooth module includes a browser for surfing (not sure how you would type URLs though). So will Central and thus Flash games be realized on a dedicated gaming system?

May

16

Today the Boston Globe has an article quoting the CTO of Comcast as saying that “if rival Verizon Communications draws a big market with its offer of high-speed wireless Internet access through ‘WiFi’ gear mounted on pay phones” then Comcast would enter the market as well. In addition Fellows said, “If there’s a market there, I can attach a [transmitting device] anywhere there’s coaxial cable” to activate WiFi coverage. “If the world wants a blanketed WiFi service, if there’s a demand for it, our network infrastructure can respond”. I imagine worldwide coverage is a little reaching, but still, think of being able to get WI-FI connection everywhere there is cable!!! This would be nice. At this point I almost think it is a race to see if 3G becomes a reality and is scalable, or if WI-FI becomes largely available via these two communications companies.

May

12

Macromedia has released a Content Development Kit for the version of the Flash player (AKA Flash Lite) that was recently released in Japan for 505 Series phone running on NTT DoCoMo’s network. Its an interesting read of what is available and capable for development on phones. It was first available on the Japanese site, not it is available in English from the mobile section of Macromedia’s US DevNet site.

May

6

I mentioned the Color Sidekick coming a while back. CNet is running an article regarding the device. No reviews on the screen yet. I had heard that it wasn’t the best, but CNet doesn’t complain about it, so maybe its been fixed since the prototype. They list today as the release date. I like the idea of these devices. More mobile internet than anything, probably not a great phone. I imagine I’ll stick with my Pocket PC Phone, but I would like to experiment with one of these now that they are color.

May

5

I have started using Opera as my default browser. I like it so far, really digging ‘tabbed’ browsing. However, I am finding a few ‘bugs’ and Flash content is a little flaky. Can’t tell if it is the browsers fault or the plug-ins. Sometimes Flash content on a page will show up and sometime it won’t. Typically a page reload will fix it. However, one big reason not to use Flash in pages viewed by Opera is SSR. SSR stands for small screen reader. It is a very cool technology that Opera has implemented that will take a standard page and reformat it so it fits on small screens (i.e. Smartphones, PDAs). It works very good, saying it shrinks everything is a mis-justice. However, it does shrink Flash movies, everything else it repositions in a vertical column. If you install Opera on Windows you can see it in action. It has an emulation mode built in. Go to the view menu and select small screen.

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