It's a trivial issue versus the terrible death and destruction caused by Katrina, however the infrastructure of New Orleans is important to bring back as soon as possible. Here's an article that mentions the use of Cells on Wheels to bring back temporary cell phone coverage for the rescue effort in New Orleans.

See:

Bringing back infrastructure to New Orleans

Here's a quote:

 Wireless service is nearly or 
 completely out in hard-hit 
 areas, including Gulfport and
 Brookhaven in Mississippi. In 
 New Orleans, service is almost 
 completely out, and key 
 equipment remains underwater.

 Cingular Wireless has more than 
 100 teams of recovery technicians 
 ready to repair lines, install 
 temporary power generators and 
 set up temporary mobile-phone 
 antennas called COWs, or "cells 
 on wheels."

Hinkmond

Orion and PixelPlay have teamed up to make your TV into a mobile entertainment portal. Subscribe to their DishMobile service and you can use your TV set-top box to dish out ring tones, images, music tones, animations, sound effects and Java mobile games to download to your Java ME cell phone. Cool. Who needs a PC? :-)

See:

Using your TV as a portal to your Java ME cell phone

More and more, you'll see home gateway devices that allow you to download MMG (music, movies and games) *without* having to boot up Windows. Mr. Bill Gates, please take note. ;-) Java ME rules!

Hinkmond

Orative has a new client for the CrackBerry using Java ME technology for Enterprise users to communicate and collaborate from their wireless device.

See:

Java ME software keeps tracks of workers

Here's a quote:

 The software enables mobile employees to 
 easily and securely coordinate 
 conversations, screen calls, collaborate 
 with colleagues, and access personal and 
 corporate phone books...  A presence 
 enabled phone book makes it possible 
 to determine at-a-glance if somebody 
 is available to talk before actually 
 placing a call.

Hinkmond

ApplianceWare announced they have an optimized Java ME (CDC-HI) development environment available for putting into Linux/XScale server appliances (like a home media gateway or network storage device). Niiiice.

See:

Java ME Connect Device Configuration (CDC-HI) reference board

Just get their development board and then design a home wireless (802.11g) movie/MP3 file network storage/gateway system that can hook into your widescreen TV in the living room and you'll be set to ride the downloadable movies/music wave coming over broadband. You'll have the venture capitalists knocking down your door.

Hinkmond

Here's a story from the CommunicAsia conference in Malaysia, where Xirien Technologies has a prototype app that lets you control and monitor your house from a Java ME technology-enabled cell phone.

See:

Monitor your house from a Java ME enabled phone

The article goes on to tell you that if someone breaks into your house, it will inform you via your Java cell phone "where in the house the break-in has occurred, what time it happened and what kind of break-in it is."

Then you can watch on streaming video as the thieves take your big screen TV, pimped-out PC, LCD flat-panel monitor, DVD recorder/player, 7.1 dolby surround sound system, and finally your home security system. ;-) Ahhh, the advances of technology.

Hinkmond

Melodeo Inc. will release Java ME enabled Mobilcast service which will allow you to download and listen to Podcasts on your cell phone instead of your iPod. It will first be released as a Symbian app for Nokia Series 60 phones, then for the Java ME platform.

See:

Podcasts fro your Java ME cell phone

The large downloads of the Podcast audio files might be a problem, since they are bigger than the normal Java ME download. But, if it's a big enough hit (i.e. big enough $$$$$ is involved), I'm sure the wireless carriers will permit it. Steve Jobs might not like it much, but Java ME cell phone users will. :-)

Hinkmond

A rose is a rose is a rose. Apps for Phones has released their version 2 of their Rapid Application Development program for programming Java ME cell phones.

See:

Apps for Phones releases Apps for Phones version 2

A company says a lot by the name they pick for themselves and the name of their product. So, apparently this company named "Apps for Phones" has come out with a product called "Apps for Phones". Duh.

Not very creative, is it? It's like naming a show "Bowling for Dollars". Oh, wait... it's been done. Nevermind. Still not a very creative name, though. :-)

Hinkmond

QArea announced that their Wireless Casino App for Java ME enabled cell phones is ready for stress testing.

See:

Stress this bet

Here's a quote:

  According to US stockbroker Merrill Lynch, 
  gambling on the Internet, including 
  casino-style games and sports betting, 
  is set to generate gross gaming revenues 
  for online betting companies of $48 bln. 
  by 2010.

Hinkmond

With a 12-0 vote, JSRs 218 and 219 (Java ME CDC and Foundation Profile), 2 specs. via the Java Community Process I helped lead have passed final approval Ballot.

See:

It's not anonymous, but rather unanimous!

I'd like to thank the JSRs 218/219 expert groups and also the JCP Java ME executive committee. It was a pleasure leading these 2 specs. to completion. :-)

Hinkmond

Handmark has just announced coming out with Pocket Express. Think of it as Push technology on Java ME (J2ME) technology. Kinda like Pointcast (for all you old timers) meets Duke. ;-)

See:

Handmark Pocket Express: Java ME technology delivers

Here's a quote:

  Handmark bundles seven wireless 
  services into Pocket Express 
  including news, stocks, weather, 
  sports, 411 directory search, 
  movie details, maps and 
  directions. 

Hinkmond

The heavies in the cell phone industry are gearing up for a war over the cell phone user interface. Motorola will go with Linux and Java. Nokia will have mobile search. Of course other players like Yahoo, AOL, and Opera want a piece of the action.

See:

War over cell phone UI

These guys are thinking inside the box, though. They keep trying to transfer the desktop UI model to a cell phone (text fields, click OK, etc, etc), instead of coming up with a totally different UI model.

They should look at a UI completely differently, meant to be used with minimal text input and limited control (like what you have on a cell phone). The Star Trek tricorder has already solved this, but will the big cell phone companies see it as out-of-the-box thinking, or just off-the-wall? Maybe... ;-)

Hinkmond

Targeted development (or targeted innovation, targeted R&D) is important to address but hard to get right. Some companies have a R&D budget and just throw money at research to see if something will stick. In today's competitive environment, that's the wrong approach. Targeted development where you pinpoint your research and development, not just throw money willy-nilly at it, gets you to a new hit product much faster.

See:

Targeted Development: E-Commerce Web site example

Here's my take on what Targeted Development should do:

• Have a clear goal: Don't just send random research projects up a flagpole to see who salutes, pick an important area for the company and only research that area (Ex. MP3 player - iPOD, hip car - Mini Cooper, Ranked Web Search - Google, simpler/safer Web browser - Firefox, etc.)
• Make a deadline: If it ain't a hit in 12-18 months, pull the plug, put it on the shelf, forget about it.
• Rapid prototype the product: Do a quick prototype in 1-3 months (nothing over 4 months).
• Get user feedback immediately: Let the public kick around the prototype for about a year.
• Utilize user feedback: Decide whether to evolve it or pull the plug.
• If it's catching on, productize it: If it's not catching on, can it and put research into another important idea

Companies are not ruthless enough in cutting dead or dying projects, or focused enough to only put money into a few key areas when it comes to R&D. They waste a load of money, when instead they could increase their hit rates by targeting development.

Hinkmond

Here's an article about how smartphones (Java ME cell phones with PDA capabilities) sales have risen 9% since last year. The new Java app content (like location-based entertainment guides and product tie-in apps) will drive consumers to buy more products and smartphones.

See:

Smart use of Java ME tech is smartphones

Here's a quote:

  'We will see a mix of brand 
   and operator portals, but 
   the operators will still 
   have revenue streams from 
   the data.  It is still in its 
   early days... Java applications 
   will be the proposition for 
   2006.'

Hinkmond

This story is about how pilot programs in South Korea and Japan are showing that having an e-wallet with your credit card info for paying for items from your Java enabled cell phone is viable.

See:

Java ME technology for payment from a cell phone

Using your cell phone to pay for stuff is a natural progression. It's the crazies who implant RFID chips under their skin for using for contactless payment who are nuts... they should be implanting Java ME VMs along with the RFID chips for dynamic upgradability and better security. ;-) :-P

Hinkmond

Oopsy. Here's a better article that the stale Register article that I pointed to this morning. (Thanks to Ludvig for pointing that out!) This is about how Cisco and Motorola are teaming up to deliver a dual-mode phone that can roam between cellular networks and WiFi networks.

See:

Cisco and Motorola team up to deliver a seamless dual-mode cell/WiFi phone

You can now use your Java ME technology-enabled phone to switch between the GSM network or go over you company's WiFi network when your in the office. Nice for the Enterprise world to not pay for GSM service when you can use your company's PBX using VoIP via a WiFi access point from your work's IP network. Saves a lot of money.

Hinkmond