New iDont Care TV Commercial

It's fun what you can do with video these days. :-)

Here's some info on how to develop a Java ME game or app for free to upload and sell on the Sony Ericsson PlayNow Arena site. You get a 70% cut.

See:

Develop for Sony Ericsson PlayNow

Here's a quote:

 Sony Ericsson announced its PlayNow 
 arena application submission site 
 is now open to all Java ME and 
 Symbian OS developers. Programmers 
 may submit apps for PlayNow arena 
 as well as the handset maker's 
 existing Fun & Downloads service
 ...there is no charge for 
 developers to submit their apps, 
 and no annual fees.

Hinkmond

Ah, how sweet. As every engineer worth their salt knows, there comes a time in the product lifecycle of a high tech gadget known as the "Trough of Disillusionment", where public opinion comes crashing down on a once high and lofty cool gizmo.

See:

iPhone hits trough of disillusionment

Here's a quote:

 The rejection of Google Voice, 
 potentially a killer app for 
 smartphones, should prove that 
 Apple doesn't care about its 
 customers.

 The App Store approval process 
 seems capricious and arbitrary. 
 Spend time and money to develop 
 an application only to have it 
 denied for reasons nobody can 
 quite articulate in advance. 

Hinkmond

It's been said that you can prove pretty much anything with statistics. Since other companies love twisting around reality, I thought I'd take a stab at it. Take a look at this article (thanks to Eric A. for forwarding this to me) which points out that Java ME technology market share increased by 212.50%! Well... not really (you have to read the whole article carefully). But, it sure sounds nice. :-)

See:

Java ME grew by 212%!

Here's a quote:

 What Net Applications did instead 
 was sample data from browsers 
 visiting their clients’ websites 
 and report what percentage came 
 from machines running Windows, 
 Mac, Linux, etc.

Hinkmond

So, you've worked hard on a new Mobile application. The question is now, how do you get over 10 million downloads of your Mobile app (like what eBuddy was able to do)? You'd like to have that number (or greater) as a starting point, right? Well, the answer is not the Apple iPhone AppStore. Just say no to that.

See:

Say yes to GetJar and Java ME

Here's a quote:

 With the entire tech word 
 endlessly buzzing about the 
 latest new smartphone, it's 
 easy to forget that around 
 75% of handsets sold are 
 basic feature phones - 
 often lovingly referred to 
 as "dumb phones".  With 
 these phones generally 
 lacking an official "App 
 Store" of their own, users 
 turn to the web to find new 
 applications.

Hinkmond

Well, you can just click on the video to the left and watch Robert Eckstein run through the basics of JavaFX programming in 15 minutes or less.

And, specifically watch how to program in JavaFX Mobile at timestamp 2:45 to 3:00. If you blink, you'll miss it. It's that simple... No need to change any of the source.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to learn JavaFX in 15 minutes. Good luck, Jim... This blog post will self-destruct in 10 seconds.

Mission Possible: Learn JavaFX

I was just kidding about the self-destruct part. No, really. Hey, what's all that smoke???

Hinkmond

Microsoft sees the beauty of writing apps in Java ME programming language. They offer their new Microsoft Tag app on all the major phone platforms, including the most major of them all: the Java ME platform. Thought I was going to say Android, didn't you? Fat chance!

This is a cool app that lets you create a 2D image badge that becomes a shortcut to a long URL, so that you can just use your cell phone camera to upload it to your phone and jump to it in your browser, instead of typing it all in on that teeny phone keypad.

See:

Tag, Microsoft uses Java ME

Here's a quote:

 It’s a free application in beta 
 for Windows Mobile, J2ME, Symbian 
 S60, BlackBerry and iPhone.

Hinkmond

Yay! JavaFX Mobile (redux) beta launch today. It's all good now, since it runs on Java ME technology.

See:

JavaFX Mobile runs on Java ME tech

Here's a quote:

 JavaFX Mobile builds on top 
 of the market-leading Java 
 ME platform to take advantage 
 of its powerful, device-level 
 capabilities.

 Pairing these two powerful 
 technologies gives content 
 creators a no-holds barred, 
 non-compromising environment 
 in which to express 
 themselves...

Hinkmond

Achtung! Ya. Vee vill need zwei Governator candidates for zee Mobile und zee Embedded kommunity.

See:

Governances Board call for nominations

Here's a quote:

 Any java.net member can nominate an 
 active member in the Mobile & Embedded 
 Community to serve as a Governance 
 Board Member.  All nominations will be 
 reviewed by the current Mobile & 
 Embedded Community Governance to 
 verify that the nominee is interested 
 in the position and complies with 
 current Governance Board Member requirements. 

Hinkmond

Mpowerplayer received the Duke's Choice Award during the JavaOne 2008 conference. Not too shabby!

See:

Mpowerplayer wins award

Here's a quote:

 Using Java technology, Mpowerplayer 
 expands the audience for mobile games 
 to include casual online gamers, 
 letting them easily find, try, and 
 buy mobile games and applications. 
 Consumers discover and sample a wide 
 range of content on their PC and then 
 transfer their purchases to their 
 mobile phone.

Hinkmond

The chalkboard in schools is obsolete--same goes for the whiteboard. Now there is the Java technology-enabled SMART board that lets teachers project interactive computer screens that are touch-sensitive so that students can learn on-the-fly with help from Java technology.

See:

Java Jazzes Up the Classroom Chalkboard

Here's a quote:

 Korte said the possibilities for 
 instruction are endless. "In my 
 mind, the boards let me turn the 
 math classroom into a lab.  I can 
 introduce things like color, 
 detailed diagrams, animated Java 
 applets that change before the 
 kids' eyes."

Hinkmond

In the battle royale of iPhone vs. Blackberry, you get non-Java ME technology-enabled versus Java ME technology-enabled. And that's important since there will always be a fight for developers. In this case, those smartphones with Java ME tech will win.

See:

Non-Java ME enabled vs. Java ME enabled smartphone war

Here's a quote:

 Some analysts predict a brawl 
 between iPhones and BlackBerrys; 
 others say the real fight pits 
 the smartphones against open-
 source handsets

Yo, Adrian!!!! Ain't gonna be no rematch!

Hinkmond

Let's ride with the family down the street. Through the courtesy of Fred's two feet. It took me weeks and several times listening to the Flintstone's theme song when I was a kid, before I figured out those exact lyrics.

But, it won't take you too long to figure out that Metismo's Bedrock, which was created to ease the task of programming in Java ME technology, will be a hit among Java ME programmers.

See:

Metismo's Bedrock makes Java ME easy

Here's a quote:

 The Bedrock is a set of 
 standardised coding abstraction 
 layers, processes and utilities 
 that help improve the 
 development and porting of J2ME 
 applications across multiple 
 handsets. Using the Bedrock 
 across multiple applications 
 also reduces the overhead for 
 coders/porters to get up to 
 speed with new projects. 

Hinkmond

Polycom (makers of those funky-butt conference phones) came up with the QSX phone which adds remote computer content sharing using Java technology on the remote side.

See:

Polycom funky-butt conference phone gets Java-enabled

Here's a quote:

   Participants see content in 
   one of two ways: QSX-enabled 
   rooms see the content 
   automatically though the 
   room’s projector or display; 
   locations without QSX can see 
   the content through a standard, 
   Java-enabled web browser.

Hey... Doesn't the Polycom conference phone look like one of those funky-butt spaceships from War of the Worlds? Coincidence...? I think NOT! ;-)

Hinkmond

This is the first time that I'm seeing positive reviews in the trade rags that actually say that a product from Sun can stand-up against Microsoft Windows.

And, I've see plenty of Sun's Windows competitive attempts in the past, like WABI and JavaStations. But this is the first time people actually don't think something from Sun totally sucks all that much.

See: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=29100064

Eh. It's a step in the right direction. :-)