Tag Archive for 'Mobile'

First experience with QR codes

Published on January 21, 2008 in Mobile. 4 Comments

Gleemy downloads QR codeI had my first experience with QR codes on the weekend. QR codes are really cool - they make using your phone a whole lot easier. Point your phone at a little square like this one and you can easily make a call, visit a web site, download music and so on, depending on what’s encoded in the picture. The one to the right will take you to the Gleemy mobile downloads page.

I recommend you install a QR reader (unless your phone ships with one.)

This Nokia site lists a few reader applications - I tried to install each one though I was only able to test Kaywa reader and I-nigma reader with the handsets I have. Your mileage may vary depending on your handset.

I tried Kaywa reader and I-nigma reader on both S40 and S60 handsets. They work much the same, they only differ in that Kaywa reader shows an interstitial page with “Selected KAYWA mobile content” before taking you to your destination.

A significant difference between the S40 and S60 versions of both readers is that you only need to wave the phone in front of the code on an S60 (Symbian) device. On an S40 (Java) device you need to more carefully frame the code with the phone’s camera, then press a button and wait a few seconds for the picture to be decoded.

Why the difference?

Both Java applications are unsigned; therefore they have restricted access to features like acquiring pictures with the camera. The phone asks your permission by showing a prompt before passing the picture to the application.

Java applications execute much more slowly than native Symbian applications. With Java, I can imagine the camera API returns a JPG, the Java application retrieves the pixel data (the JPG data is decoded) then the application iterates multiple times over the array of pixels to decode the QR code. Array accesses are slow in Java as the virtual machine checks each access for out of bounds conditions.

Don’t let that deter you, if you haven’t already go ahead and install a reader.

N800 Internet Tablet: Don’t worry, be crappy no more

Published on January 2, 2008 in Gleemy and Mobile. 1 Comment

I traveled to Melbourne over the Christmas break and had a fantastic time catching up with family and friends.

While taking time out, Eugene and I still wanted to keep an eye on the Gleemy server logs, and so before leaving for Melbourne I configured my Nokia N800 Internet tablet for the task.

Firstly, I upgraded my data plan with Three from $5 for 10Mb/Month to $12 for 100MB/Month. Pairing the N800 with my 6288 for an Internet connection Just Works.

I set up secure SMTP for sending mail and installed ssh for access to a shell on the Gleemy server.

Finally, I wrote a few shell scripts to notify us of important events on the server, which were delivered promptly to my N800, paired with the 6288 and usually kept in my pocket.

This set up worked great for monitoring the server and writing short emails. A bluetooth keyboard (or even, gasp, a laptop computer) would still be needed for non-trivial development, or writing long emails.

After arriving home, my use for the N800 wasn’t critical and so I promptly upgraded to OS2008. Man, is this thing slick. The UI is so much faster and snappier, the browser rocks, the on-screen keyboard feels so much better and affords fewer mistakes.

OS2007 was great last year, but was made crappy by OS2008 - a great example of Guy Kawasaki’s “Don’t worry be crappy” principle.

An innovator doesn’t worry about shipping an innovative product with elements of crappiness if it’s truly innovative. The first permutation of a innovation is seldom perfect–Macintosh, for example, didn’t have software (thanks to me), a hard disk (it wouldn’t matter with no software anyway), slots, and color. If a company waits–for example, the engineers convince management to add more features–until everything is perfect, it will never ship, and the market will pass it by.

Photo walk in Melbourne Oh, and here’s a Gleemy Slide Show I made of a photo walk I took in Melbourne. Most of these were taken with a Nokia 6120 Classic. You can download it straight to your mobile by visiting http://gleemy.com/zqy8 with your phone - or - Preview on your PC with mpowerplayer. Or do both :) 23/2/08 UPDATE: Check out the new Slide Show Profile page to preview it on your PC: http://gleemy.com/#profile/0gva

Punch cards and the future of mobile phones

Published on November 28, 2007 in Mobile. 0 Comments

Recently, I’ve noticed a lot more discussion about the mobile space. That’s understandable, a lot is happening. Thanks in part to the Android platform and the iPhone, the notion of the mobile as a computing device is becoming mainstream.

Mobile devices will become a dominant computing platform; but instead of simply taking the word of market reports, or my word, I’d like to take you back in time to shed some light on the future.

Typical mainframe computer

Just over a few decades ago, the world’s computing was largely provided by mainframe computers - the sort that look like white goods, only they weren’t white and you needed so many that they filled a whole room. By today’s standards, there weren’t too many mainframes about, probably because they cost so much and were so big.

VAX Mini computer

Technology advanced, and for a lot less, you could buy a mini computer. Mini computers were a lot like mainframes except they were a lot smaller and a lot cheaper. You could afford to put one in every department in the university, in each branch of the bank, in each regional office in the company. More mini computers than mainframes were sold and I hear the 70s was a great time to be in the minicomputer business.

IBM Personal Computer

Mini computers were soon followed by the introduction of the personal computer, by companies like Apple and IBM. Being so small and so cheap, every household could afford one, and companies could afford to put one on the desk of every employee. Personal computers were everywhere, and all this cheap computing power meant mini computers were less important. Consequently, fewer and fewer mini computers were sold (until finally, none were sold.)

Laptop

PCs are great, but you can’t take them with you. You can’t take them to your lecture, or away from the office to work at home. Maybe it’s for these reasons that notebooks outsell desktop PCs.

Nokia N810 iPhone

In many ways mobile devices address the shortcomings of notebooks. Mobile devices fit in your pocket and are always on. You don’t need to carry your laptop everywhere to reach the web and email. Moreover, they make it more convenient to contact other people - there’s a phone built in!

Mobile devices are smaller and cheaper than notebooks. Just like notebooks influenced PCs (they outsell PCs) and PCs influenced mini computers (mini computers are dead) mobile devices will have an appreciable impact on notebooks and PCs in the years ahead.

Maybe that’s why I’m not surprised by the forecast that the size and growth of the smartphone market will exceed the notebook market for the next five years.