Jan

28

I have recently built a small Flash piece for Kodak. And like all things I build for them, the content has to be able to be translated into at least 5 different languages. Flash lends itself pretty well for that. I just located all the text for the movie into an UTF-8 XML file. I start with the US English text. That then gets sent away to a translation house to translate it into the 5 languages. For this recent project, the translations came back the other day and a few were not working. After some quick trace calls in Flash I found the culprit. There were some hidden characters in the files. Flash was seeing these as nodes so my parsing flow was all screwed up. BBEdit didn’t show me the nodes, neither did Homesite. Previously, I had been using JEdit for some Java coding, so I gave it a try. It worked, JEdit was able to show me the hidden characters (i.e. < =?) from the UTF-8 encoding. I was able to delete them and everything was back to normal. So FYI watch out for hidden characters with UTF-8 XML parsing in Flash.

Jan

22

Lots of things happening in the mobile space lately. Nokia is starting out the year with some great announcements. Earlier in the week it was announced that Nokia was working on a Perl port for the Series 60 platform. Late last night, there was a second article posted about how Perl isn’t the first choice. Python is. I for one, would really like to develop for my phone using Python over Perl. I’ve been learning Python over the last few weeks. So far I can see the language being great for mobile phones. Nokia is taking more of a claim over Symbian and adding a new and prosperous language like Python would be awesome.

Obviously Series 60 already has Java/J2ME support. However, I think their is a bit of confusion about the direction of the language on mobile devices. I don’t see why Sun isn’t jumping up and down screaming at the top of their lungs about what Java can do and how they have the market share right now. They have an opportunity to capture the majority of phone units and deploy Java. But they better hurry. Microsoft is gaining ground QUICK. Handspring (I mean PalmOne) is forging ahead with their successful smartphones as well. Can Nokia be thinking that Java is not holding its weight any more? Nokia’s intentions with Python could be completely different than what I am reading into. Regardless, I think it says one thing. Nokia needs to get developers developing for their platform. Content is still king, and without it these new super poweful data-rich devices are not going to be flying off store shelves. Microsoft and Palm already have developers available for their platforms. Nokia needs to create the same evangelistic group as well, and start the growth process.

Of course this is all just my opinion. I like the idea of Python and would also really like to see Sun jump back in here with some major progression and focus. I remember reading a lot of information about Java back when I worked at Zing in San Francisco in 1998. Our main “push” product had a Java back-end, so I was curious of what all it could do. Back then one majpr benefit of Java that you heard over and over was something along the lines of “it will run on anything, that is what it was designed to do from the very beginning.” So let’s see it realized. I know a lot of developers would like to see Java really really succeed in the mobile space. However, I can also see a lot of those developers using Python instead because it is easier to developer with. Right now its speculation about Python and Series 60, so maybe I am putting too much thought into this, but its fun none the less.

I’ll go back to pushing XHTML/WAP2.0/FlashLite/FlashCast/Mobile Web Services for now, because I’m fairly comfortable with the idea of each.

Jan

20

I had to disbale comments on archive posts. The pharmaceutical companies were getting out of control. I don’t get it. I doubt too many people reading my geeky posts about devices are really that interested in ceto-mooo-something or other drug. Seems like a waste of time to me, not to mention a social annoyance. Oh well, so commenting can only happen on the index page. Now, if I could find a ten second fix to email Spam…

Jan

14

Just received this email regarding a UI position at Nokia for developing next gen interfaces for CDMA phones in the R&D group:

UI Specifier, United States / San Diego

This position requires applying user interface concepts to design graphics
and features for mobile phones. The candidate will create graphics and
icons for mobile devices. The individual will maintain user interface
specifications for CDMA features and work with marketing (and other team
members) to design user-friendly applications for mobile devices. This
person will be responsible for creating graphics that meet carrier
requirements while adhering to the standard Nokia look and feel. Candidates
must have effective verbal and written communication skills and experience
working with people from multiple disciplines(marketing, software
engineers, localizers, etc.)

More information and details can be found here:


http://careers.nokia.com/NOKIA/HR/recrsyst.nsf/wb2rr/D6861C9D2E938A07C2256E1A0006F57C

Jan

9

Just caught a post on jd’s blog referencing this article on CRN. The article is the first that I have seen quoting Juha Christensen since he has joined Macromedia. The article is short and sweet buts gives a little more straight forward definition of the differences between Flash Lite and Flash Cast. As I’ve mentioned before it seems that Flash Cast is going to be a service provided by carriers that have devices with the Flash Lite Player. Think BREW, but using Flash instead of C/Java. CES is going on now, maybe we’ll hear more out of that show. Wish I could have been there, its really cold here.

Jan

7

I caught this link on JD’s blog. It’s an interesting article on the Register about Flash Lite and some unveilings at CES. It comments on the appointment of Juha Christensen as President of the Mobile Business Unit. It further goes into detail regarding Flash Lite emerging as a serious contender as the Rich Client for Web connected Phones. With the newer smartphones with faster processors, Flash Lite does make sense, especially combined with the server technologies that couple with Flash. As I’ve noted before the competition is on between .NET, Java, and Flash Again! Go Macromedia!

Jan

6

Macromedia is taking mobile devices seriously! About a month ago the exec that helped Microsoft launch their mobile platform, left MS. At that time the ex-Symbian co-founder was said to be starting up something new. Most assumed around Web Services for mobile devices. Apparently shortly after leaving MS he discovered Macromedia’s efforts in the mobile device space. He must have liked what he had seen, because today Macromedia has released news that Juha is now the President of the mobile devision. This is great news. Congrats Macromedia AND Mr. Christensen.

Jan

5

Just read a quick article on Wireless Developer Network about PocketMac being released for MS Smartphones. This is very cool. I have recently switched to using my Mac Powerbook for my everyday machine. I also develop for the MS Smartphone platform. Since switching my Tanager has just been sitting on my desk. Now with PocketMac for Smartphone I can connect the two and develop some more, granted writing eVB and eVC still requires a PC. Still can’t get rid of the PC. Needing to use two platforms for development stinks.

Jan

2

CNN posted this article about leading Japanese technology companies bonding together to form a standard for device to appliance communication. This is a great step forward. I use my mobile now to run the security system in my home. It works pretty well, but I am not really sending any data. Eventually we’ll start sending data from devices and appliances. For example, sending a recipe to be stored on your oven’s hard drive so you can call it up once you are ready to cook.

Over Christmas I entered the world of Tivo. From what I have played with so far and things that I have read, I think Tivo should be a player in this standards group as well. Tivo is already doing the data -> appliance thing. I can control my Tivo box through the Tivo Web site. This is amazing. Works well too. My next step is to see how the Tivo service will work on my Series 60 phone. I think using Opera would be best since the site will need to be shrunk to the small screen. I would use this ofter though, picture running out to the grocery and realizing your favorite show is coming on in fifteen minutes. Instead of turning around, you just hop onto the Web site through your phone and tell the Tivo to record the show in fifteen minutes. Total convenience! As far as I know Tivo doesn’t have a WAP site for the service. Hopefully they are working on it? And Tivo if you are listening and this is not a current project, please let me know I would love to make this a reality. I need a good mobile project to work on.

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