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Hello all. My apologies for taking so long to return to blogging... it has been hard to find the time to make the move to WordPress; which BTW it seems keeping support to old permalinks will take some time, and I will do little by little.
In any case, now that I found some time to work on the move to WordPress, I have a problem that I can't connect to MySQL 5 instance, because it is listening on a different port... I need to find out how to specify an alternate port on my wp-config.php installation file.
Using define('DB_PORT', '3307') doesn't work... and using define('DB_HOST', 'localhost:3307') doesn't work either....
Any pointers to this is appreciated. Thanks in advance...
ceo
Please note that my blog will pause now -- this is my last post until I move to the new blog software...
I'll do everything possible to preserve previous blog entries as well as the comments -- but note that "things might go wonky for a while until the dust settles." Wish me luck!
...my apologies.
ceo
For a while my blog, which is powered by Blojsom, has been having serious, terrible, performance issues... So it is time for me to move on... to WordPress or MovableType? Which one do you recommend (and why)? And what to do with my hundreds and hundreds of previous posts, which I must keep w/ their permalink intact? What a pain in the neck... Thanks in advance...
ceo
Apple Developer Connection has published some guidelines on Optimizing Web Applications and Content for iPhone:
- Understand the capabilities of iPhone.
- Follow established design practices for the web.
- Adopt iPhone-specific design principles.
...which covers things such as iPhone-specific user interactions, supported MIME types, differences between Safari on iPhone and the desktop, "integrating" with Phone, Mail and Maps, optimizing web pages and layouts, web standards, things to avoid, and other...
"You’ll want to avoid using Flash and Java for iPhone content. You’ll also want to avoid encouraging users to download the latest Flash on their iPhone, because neither Flash nor downloads are supported by Safari on iPhone."
ceo
Interesting... Google is looking for developers to develop Google Widgets (Gadgets), and will even provide seed money! Check out the Google Gadget Ventures announcement and the Google Gadget Ventures FAQ. Some highlights below:
- "Google Gadget Ventures is a new Google pilot program dedicated to helping developers create richer, more useful Google Gadgets."
- "Anyone who’s developed a gadget in our Google Gadgets directory that generates 250,000 weekly page views is eligible to apply."
- "Recipients of these grants are then eligible to apply for a seed investment."
- "For $100,000 seed investments, we make the investment in tranches (finance-speak for "segments") based on milestones. We will give some funding up front and then incrementally provide funding based on usage targets for the gadget that we set in conjunction with the company."
For more information see the Google Gadget Ventures FAQ.
ceo
I read at Mika's blog about a video from Semiconductor insights, which is a company that reverse engineers electronic products, that shows the iPhone being dismantled to learn about the electronic components being used -- see below:
--Disclaimer: Bill, you may not want to watch this video -- might make you want to cry!--
Towards the end of the video, the guy (the engineer) says something along the following lines "there is nothing here that makes the iPhone special"...
...but of course there is! ...it is the S o f t w a r e!
ceo
[Via Mika's blog]
A new startup company in Austin Texas, eZee Mobile Inc. (http://www.eZee.com) is looking to fill permanent positions with experienced server developers, mobile developers, quality assurance engineers, and product owners, to help create the next generation of mobile commerce and payment software products and services.
If you have the experience, and the passion for mobile technologies, and literally want to help define and implement the future of mobile handsets in commerce, we are interested in talking to you.
You need to be comfortable working at a startup environment, be self-motivated, and comfortable working alone as well as with a team.
You need to have a solid Java experience and be comfortable with designing and developing efficient and reliable software; attention to detail and good software development practices is a must.
Mobile developers must be comfortable developing software for restricted, occasionally connected environments for mobile phones, including Java ME, Windows Mobile, BREW, Symbian, Mobile Web, as well as potentially integrating with devices using serial and short-range radio protocols and APIs.
Server developers must be comfortable developing multi-tier software, Web-based, database-driven, highly-scalable and fault-tolerant web applications and services in support of commerce, and thousands of clients.
Quality Engineers must be comfortable working with developers, writing test plans, test harnesses, documenting, white, black box, and performance testing, and driving / ensuring the overall high quality of our products.
The company, which is ran by an experienced management team, is funded, and is incubated by the University of Texas' Austin Technology Incubator. eZee Mobile is an equal employment opportunity employer and it offers competitive pay and benefits.
If you are interested in learning more, please send your CVs and a cover letter to jobs@ezee.com.
Principals only; no agencies please.
For more information visit http://www.ezee.com/jobs.
ceo
This week's Carnival of the Mobilists #80 is at MobileJones... topics include mobile applications, the iPhone, mobile ddversiting, and the mobile industry.
Welcome back Debie! It is great to see you back; we missed ya' Thanks for including my entry...
ceo
AT&T; phone plans for the iPhone include unlimited data, which is great. The cost of ownership for the iPhone isn't cheap, especially when including unlimited texting. See below, and do the math...
ceo
Earlier today I managed to go to the Apple store here in Austin, where I played with an iPhone (and where the iPhone sold out)... While I've decided to wait a bit longer to get one, I have to admit though that I'm very tempted to get one sooner rather than later! Expensive gadget the iPhone is, but the two year contract with AT&T; is what I really rather not do.
Hats off to Apple for thinking outside the box, and be different when it comes to the mobile experience; congratulations to the iPhone design and development teams. The (mobile user experience) bar has been raised... and a new class of mobile handset (expectation) has been defined.
...and all I have to say right now is this: the iPhone is flawless. What a great piece of design, and implementation the iPhone is.
Could the network be made faster? Sure, but at the cost of battery life and 3G coverage (U.S.); right now even with EDGE it is not that bad. Is the virtual keyboard hard to use? I had no problem at all - I was quite fast typing on it, probably because I am already used to the small keys on my Treo keyboard.
The iPhone approach to the user interface with animation and effects is just beautiful. The multi-touch is truly awesome. The Wi-Fi is great. The local applications and the browsing experience were both great, and the Safari browser rendered my JavaScript and CSS-heavy website perfectly.
Nokia and SE, and others, who have had all-screen touch-screen prototypes must be kicking themselves, and they should -- as I have written before "It is OK to break off the decades long premise of one-hand operation, and try something new (beyond concept phones)."
...it has been very clear to me that the future of handset design and differentiation is the software and the resulting user experience -- and after playing with the iPhone, that believe is much stronger today than ever.
But more than anything else, as a mobile technologist myself, I'll say that the iPhone is a lesson for me... a lesson about (a reminder of) the importance of thinking "outside the box"; a lesson or reminder of all the artificial boundaries and barriers that we all create, or have created over time, but that we don't have to.
ceo
...I was in Houston enjoying The Police live in concert. And what a great concert it was; the original band and great performance. It was a full house -- sold out.
The Police Tour 2007-2008. Photo taken by CEO on June 29 2007 in Houston Texas
The Police is one of the best rock bands ever... I've been waiting around 20 years for this concert, and it was awesome. If you have the chance, go see them...
ceo
I've been tagged by Zach of SymbianInMotion... Thanks Zack!
Since I've been tagged before, I am going to point back to that previous post "five things about me". But let me add a new item (update) to that list, which is that I've recently started a new company where I am CTO called eZee Mobile.
ceo
Photo source: BBC article The man who invented the cash machine
The Automated Teller Machine (ATM) is 40 years old.
Invented by John Shepherd-Baron (OBE recipient) of Scotland, and first deployed at a branch of Barclays in Enfield, north London, the ATM changed the world, and societies all around the world.
And recently, the 82 years old inventor Mr. Shepherd-Baron was quoted saying:
"...ATM will be made redundant within the next three to five years by the demise of paper cash"
-and-
"I fervently believe that we will soon be swiping our mobile phones at till points (cash registers), even for small transactions to pay for goods and services."
...and that is music to my ears. As I embark into the waters of mobile commerce, digital money, and related with my new company eZee mobile, it is very exciting to see the visionaries and pioneers such as Mr. Shepherd-Baron validate our vision and mission.
I believe Mr. Shepherd-Baron's prediction and time frames are accurate. But I will add that the ATM won't be replaced by mobile wallets, yet, the mobile handset and ATMs will complement each other...
ceo
...busy, but it was a good week...
- Completed another drop for one of my clients, Edioma -- I created for them a very cool micro-learning application that is entering BETA, that allows people to learn and translate between languages using their mobile handset. I've to admit, (not that I'm biased) but the application looks great, flows great, and works great. It is a local Java ME application for specific reasons...
- Working on a set of new articles...
- I've signed to write a new book on mobile Internet programming -- more about that later on...
- My new startup, eZee mobile inc, is moving along... We are low profile for now. BTW, I am looking for rock stars: server, mobile, QA and product owners -- shoot me an email if you are interested... very cool stuff we are building... I will be posting job descriptions shortly.
- This week was my anniversary...
- And today, the Space Shuttle mission STS-117 landed safely at St. Edwards Air Force base in California.
- I also got my copy of "Founders at Work", which I started reading this week...
- Oh, and my friend Elias created a new logo for Artemis Wireless Werks, my mobile consulting business -- pretty cool logo; Trekie! What do you think?
Blogging will continue to be light in the next weeks... busy, busy, busy... but busy is good.
Oh, and don't forget about the Call for Mobility Panelists for the 2008 SXSW Interactive Festival!
ceo
Yes we are... but don't take my word for it... Sumit Agarwal, a product manager in Google’s mobile division, also believes so... See Mobile Web 2.0 May Be Too Ambitious, Let’s Call It Mobile 0.5
ceo
The 78th weekly Carnival of the Mobilists at Symbian-Guru.com.
As usual, great essays from Mobilists from all around the world... check it out. Thanks to Tim for including my entry.
Let me take the opportunity of reminding everyone about the call for Mobilists for SXSW Interactive 2008, to submit their ideas for panels on mobility. For more information see: http://www.cenriqueortiz.com/weblog/Mobility/2007/06/12/2008-SXSW-Interactive-Festival-Call-for-Mobility-Panelists.html
ceo
Some of the best resources for mobile developers are the developer resources provided by handset manufacturers and network providers.
One of these developer resources is Vodafone Betavine, a website run by Vodafone's R&D; group with the goal of encouraging collaboration in the area of mobile and internet communications. The website contains FAQ, forums, resources for developers, an area for community ideas/projects, and other sections. One of the sections of interest is the API section, that over time will include a set of services,including web services, that developers can use on within their mobile applications.
Recently Betavine added its first API, one that allows applications to send / push messages to mobile handsets. This API are services on the web that you can mashup. The API available in a variety of formats including XML, JSON and RSS - see the API Reference Guide.
The first step to using these services is to register and generate a Vodafone Betavine API Developer Key.
I'm not clear yet about Betavine's API licensing terms, but I will look into it...
It is good to see services like Betavine, helping developers with information and services.
Related to this, I'm keeping a list of developer resources on my website, that I will continue updating over time.
ceo
Click to see video (Fox Chicago)
"I put the kids down, put the baby monitor on and saw two people floating in space."
Happy Father's Day!
ceo
[Via The Raw Feed, Wired Maganize, and Fox Chicago]
A very nice introduction video by Jonathan Green on Jaiku...
Jaiku gets it and they have done an excellent job on (the more advanced) Nokia handsets, and with their platform.
There are not many (successful) vendors on this mobile social space. But we are going to see new vendors coming along. Some will introduce products that are purely mobile/handset-based while others mobile + platform, some more targeted to a specific handset (family) while others more generic, some text-based while others more media rich, and some more "verticalized"... And more innovation is still to come, with better ways to connect people, organize and present information, and integration at many different levels...
Remember that at the end of the day, The Mobile Handset is a Social Artifact...
ceo
Sun Microsystems surface computing, the Starfire (1994 concept):
>> See Sun Microsystems' Starfire concept video (complete with drama, heh)
Surface computing today, Microsoft:
>> See Microsoft's Surface video (Popular Mechanics)
ceo