Photo Kai Hendry London, UK - Full resolution‎ (1,944 × 2,592 pixel, file size: 1.85 MB)

Ever since Google Android was discussed at the 2007 Google Developer Day, and the conceptual structure of the GPhone was announced last year, mobile phone manufacturers, including Motorola, Samsung and HTC, have been highly interested in manufacturing the GPhone.

The "GPhone" will be built with "Android" inside, which has had several issues with multi-language transformation and localization in different countries. It was confirmed to thirty-three manufacturers that the GPhone's launch will be postponed to 2008 Q4 or 2009 Q1 after the stability of Android is greater.

Although the postponement was confirmed, some industrial analysts commented that GPhone will be the greatest opponent for iPhone after its launch.

La démo vidéo de Google Androïd le nouvel OS pour mobile de Google. Un vrai challenge pour Iphone.

Tenéis un vídeo al final de este post, obtenido por uno de los asistentes al evento, en el que podéis ver algunas interesantes características de Android:

:: en lugar de utilizar un código PIN, el teléfono se desbloquea dibujando con el dedo en la pantalla una determinada figura secreta, que es determinada por el propio usuario

:: sobre el 'Escritorio' de Android se pueden incrustar varios elementos, como gadgets (en el vídeo se muestra un reloj), marcadores a las páginas favoritas, o marcadores a nuestros contactos favoritos

:: la página de inicio es una especial para dispositivos móviles, y muy similar (si no es la misma) a la creada para iPhone

:: el navegador web (que está basado en 'Webkit', el motor libre utilizado por el navegador Safari y por el iPhone de Apple) incluye una herramienta para hacer zoom en las zonas de las páginas que elijamos.

:: gracias a una brújula y a un acelerómetro electrónico dentro del dispositivo que utilizaba Horowitz en su demostración, se pueden girar las imagenes de 'Google Street View' a la vez que giramos nuestro teléfono móvil (ver el minuto final del vídeo). Cualquier desarrollador puede interactuar con estos sensores, en caso de existir (ver documentación de Android).

Neu / New ( 29.May.2008 )

Mich wunderts ein bissl... und so richtig viel ist im Netz dazu noch nichts zu finden, mal sehn was da noch rauskommt...

Google-Logo also bald so? ;)

Google Mobile:

Na, wenigstens arbeit Google fleissig (ua in München) an Andriod wie Golem berichtet.
Wenns nun noch eine gscheite Hardware dafür gibt dann wirds das neue Iphone 2.0 das sich durch nichtlieferbarkeit des aktuellen Modells ja schon ankündigt bald ein bissl schwerer haben.

http://www.golem.de/0805/60080.html

Hoy hemos podido ver un video del esperado Android, el sistema operativo para dispositivos móviles de Google. Se ven algunas de sus características, unas más impresionantes que otras, pero lo que está claro es que está levantando mucha expectación.

Vía: ALT 1040

Although simple as a concept, it is an ingenious way to bridge printed material with the web, where for the moment Google is unmatched. Barcodes could give instant access not only to web pages but also to very specifically targeted ads, depending on date or geography. And all this with maximum comfort, without even typing a single character of a web address.

2D barcodes exist from the 80s and are so far utilised mostly in industry. It was in 1999 that the Japanese Denso-Wave came up with the idea of reading a barcode photo with a mobile telephone. Since then, Japan has become the only market where 2D barcodes are widely used. Of course, the fact that the rest of the world has largely not even heard of or seen any of these codes presents a formidable obstacle.

(continued)

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With the unveiling of its iPhone 3G and App Store on July 11, Apple is positioned to influence how companies provide mobile services and software to consumers.  Many web-based utilities have been available for free because of ad-supported content, but the launch of the App Store proves users are more than willing to pay for applications such as games, ringtones and GPS.  Because mobile media is so new and even the Internet's ad-model is highly scrutinized and debated, Apple may prevent mobile marketing from ever leaving the ground.  iPhone users are extremely media savvy although they make up only 0.5% of mobile subscribers, "Their behavior is a window into the future of mobile media consumption"  (via: Nielsen).  iPhone users are heavy media consumers with considerable spending and word-of-mouth power.     

Even though the use of mobile media increased tremendously in 2007 with 87 million subscribers, (via: Nielsen) marketers have yet to figure out a way to profit from their ads.  Mobile marketing only generated $500 million in revenue last year and, many developers do not want to roll the dice and risk coming up craps  (via: Time).  However, in such a segmented media environment mobile remains an excellent way for brands to increase their reach and consumer engagement.  The issue that many marketers fear is the audience resentment, annoyance and backlash that resulted from pop-up ads.  In order to keep up with continuously evolving media usage, marketers have to experiment with ways to communicate with consumers.  Many people would gladly accept the inclusion of ads for mobile applications that entertain and them make life easier. 

Not one to let an advertising opportunity slip away, Google is set to enter the mobile industry with Android.  The platform is supported by 30 companies many expect its features to be free and primarily ad-supported.  Google has even invited developers to create applications through the Android Developer Challenge, in which the company is offering $10 million in prizes.  The Apple approach seems more appealing to developers because creators receive 70% of the sales.  A recent Nielsen insight report states, "...leading companies have an opportunity to leverage the capabilities of the iPhone and other media-centric handsets in a way that demonstrates innovation and addresses a market of cutting edge early adopters." 

Mobile marketing presents unique challenges and difficult to measure results, however the monetization model of the landscape may soon be defined by either Apple or Google.  Both are companies that consumers hold in high regard and enjoy interacting with and will surely create dynamic applications.  By the way, where is Microsoft in all of this?

Click here for Nielsen's "1+1=3: Mobile as an Extension of Traditional Consumer Marketing" available via ARF.

The AfterCapture article also intrigued me as it spoke of the iPhone's growing capabilities as a "work horse" computer with a 2.0 megapixel camera (albeit somewhat limited with no zoom or flash).  So, I did a little search and found that cell phones are now entering the market with 2.0 - 3.0 megapixel camera's standard and rumors of much larger capacities by this 2008 holiday season.  Unthinkable just a few months ago. 

Additionally, Wirefly.com released the fascinating results of its new behavioral survey on consumer camera phone usage, showing significant penetration of cell phones as the camera of choice for young adults in the U.S.

Compiled through a survey of thousands of adult cell phone users in the U.S. (some highlights of the survey details below), the survey illustrated the growth and increasingly diverse uses of cell phone cameras. 45.9% of respondents report using their cell phone cameras at least once a week – with many saying they snap a photo with their cell phone every day.

Other interesting results from the full pool of respondents include:

• A whopping 96.3% of adult cell phone owners report that they have a cell phone with a camera.
• 19% of adults prefer to use their cell phone as their primary camera for all photography.
• 77.2% of photos taken remain stored in the phone, 45.4% are used as wallpaper and 38.6% are sent to friends via MMS.
• 20.2% of respondents say they have snapped a photo of an attractive man/woman, and 7.5% have photographed an unsuspecting stranger.
• 46.4% of all adults and 2/3 of adults age 18-30 say that they use their cell phone to snap self-portraits.
• 19.8% say they have snuck a picture while pretending to do something else.

“Camera phones are taking over, and it’s being driven by young adults,” said Scott Ableman, Wirefly's Senior Vice President of Marketing. “High-quality cell phone cameras haven’t been around that long, yet nearly one in five cell phone buyers tell us that their cell phone is their primary camera.”

“Sharing and social media are the drivers,” said Ableman. “Fifty-eight percent of adults age 18-30 tell us they use their camera phones to document nightlife, and one in five say they’ve published camera phone pictures to a social website or blog. It’s a more spontaneous kind of photography that’s perfectly suited for the cell phone, and as more low-priced and free phones come with quality cameras and high-speed internet connections, all barriers have been removed.”

Incredible.  What do you think about all of this?  How about a 10 megapixel cell phone with flash?

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Openmoko

Their product is the Neo FreeRunner phone running the Openmoko software platform, and it is by far the most 'open' of all the mobile projects. Not only is the software totally open source and completely customizable, the CAD files for the physical phone are avaliable as well.

Unfortunately this phone is really only for the uber geek, since its primary value is in customizability and openness. If those aren't your main concerns, you can get a lot more for less.

Update: The Neo FreeRunner has sold out in less then a week! But more are on the way. Read about it here.

Android

Created by Google for the Open Handset Alliance, Android provides what Google calls a complete mobile platform. This means that it comes with all the software needed for a mobile phone, from the kernel to the core libraries to the basic applications.

In addition to the basic Android system, the are already quite a few third party applications built, due to Google releasing the SDK early and then running the developer challange. You can find many of these early applications at helloandroid, and if you want help building you own you can visit anddev.

Aside from the current lack of actual phones, the biggest problem with Android is their implementation of Java. Instead of sticking to a Java standard, which would have allowed for possible cross-compatibility with many existing applications, they went and created their own virtual machine called Dalvik. For the reason see this article.

LiMo Foundation

As opposed to Android, the LiMo Platform does not come with any applications whatsoever. Instead, each handset manufacturer is responsible for creating all their own applications, from the most basic onward. This means that the software on LiMo phones from different manufacturers will be unique in appearance and even function.

While there is currently no SDK for the LiMo Platform, the APIs are avaliable and well documented, and the SDK is slated to come out late 2008. There are also about a dozen phones already avaliable running the LiMo Platform.

The main issue that the LiMo Foundation has is a lack of a public following and hype. While Android and Openmoko are leveraging the power of community, LiMo seems to be relying solely on the will and desire of the Foundation's companies to use LiMo for purely technical reason. In other words, no one is clamoring for LiMo and very few third parties are writing software for it.

Symbian Foundation

After all the other open source excitment, Nokia bought Symbian and announced the new Foundation which would set it free. Despite the publicity stunt feeling this gives me, most tech news sites are at the least hopeful about the new Symbian Foundation.

Because I don't really know all the details, I am just going to link to some of the more informative news articles.

First Symbian Foundation handsets due in 2010 (zdnet). Link.

Nokia buys Symbian, will open Symbian OS (linux.com). Link.

Other Important Articles

Android vs LiMo: What's the difference? Link.

Crossing the chasm with Android: Can we view disruptive initiatives like Android in the context of the existing value chain? (This is a detailed and slightly hard to read analysis of the mobile market and how android might affect change). Link.

Free software is not just a trend of IT but a need in modern days. End users demand transparency, decentralization and safety for their desktop operating systems, which Linux is able to provide. Linux has succeeded to some extent though it's long term goals is gaining a 2 digit market share sometime in the near future and gaining support from 3rd party software vendors. Another notable market are the mobile users. Through time, since the mobile phone became a dominant tech accessory, Smart Phones were introduced, as a mini mobile operating system able to cover anyone's computing needs when on the move. Today the following propetiary mobile OS are the most dominant: Symbian OS, Windows Mobile/CE, iPhone MacOS, Blackberry and some other that have a smaller market share. The iPhone as a newcomer has managed to stir the mobile industry because of its innovative interface and menu. The biggest downside of the iPhone though noted by most users and me is the persistence of its manufacturer (Apple) to lock and confine the end users almost to death. Locked network, no official support for 3rd party software, locked Bluetooth services, only sync with itunes and numerous other irritating and confining features. Symbian and Windows Mobile devices though are not so locked to a Software and Hardware level. Most policies of the major players in the mobile industry seem to follow to a different extent each time this restricting policy.

Till now no truly open and free complete operating system exists in a widely accepted and commercial level on the mobile platform. 2008 though is the year of change in this industry. Google, a silicon valley software giant, never lacks to show innovation and insight. It has been sponsoring and investing on Google Android, a Linux based mobile OS which aims to be 100% open and free. It is this time speaking in its end developing stage and will be introduced through various mobile devices in the end of 2008. Google Android has been so frequently talked about like any other mobile OS that has before it has been out yet. To my view this OS should exist for some years now because the rest of of smart phone platforms have already matured and are widely adopted.

Nokia, the biggest mobile phone manufacturer also shocked me with some good news. It decided to buy all of Symbian shares and form the Symbian Foundation, completely opening all of Symbian's code. Offcourse nokia had some good reasons for doing this strategic move, though the whole process may take till 2010. To my view these reasons are the following:

Symbian OS has somehow come behind in innovation (still no support for touchscreens) and is clearly started to be threatened by the newcomer, the iphone. Also Nokia knows very well that Google Android is likely to dominate the market, proving a complete and cutting edge open mobile OS. So they say if you cant fight them just cooperate with them, or in this case adopt the same approach and philosophy. Symbian is likely to gain back from the mature and highly experienced Linux community or in this case the forecoming Open Symbian community. Opensource has proven to have a much better dynamic from any other model of software and never fails to show great innovations. Linux is a great example, with the only difference that Symbian OS has the largest userbase in the world. The scale of the opensource dynamics will clearly benefit Nokia, which will probably make Symbian gain it's lost pace with innovation. It will cost less, making any Nokia phones cheaper to buy in comparison to any other smartphone surcharged with the cost of software ownership. The fact that Symbian will become open will not affect the existing 3rd party software developers, but in contrast will benefit them a lot, making their work more easy.

Today the mobile market has not felt the impact of the forecoming opensource OS's, though the future beholds a dominance of free software. Desktop Linux may lack to hold a decent market share because Windows had predominated the desktop market and the switch is really hard because of the lack of software support. Also Microsoft's strategy is to have Windows preinstalled in every Desktop or Laptop computer so it automatically builds its userbase. So talking in mind these 2 factors, the new open mobile OS's Symbian has no need to worry about them because it has the biggest market share and will be preinstalled in most phones.

The above hypothesis which is likely to become reality in the following years is a step closer to fullifilling the need of any society to work with and use decentralized, free products that work in a transparent way, removing all the restraints concerning its use. Technology ought to made in such a way so it works FOR you and NOT against you, making this intellectual product belong to you, everyone and nobody at the same time

# এ্যাপলিকেশন লেয়ার
# এ্যাপলিকেশন ফ্রেমওয়ার্ক
# লাইব্রেরী এবং রানটাইম
# লিনাক্স কার্নেল

সেলফোন ব্যবহারকারীরা যে এ্যাপলিকেশন তাদের কাজে ব্যবহার করেন তা মূলত এ্যাপলিকেশন লেয়ারে কাজ করে। ডেভেলপাররা এ্যাপলিকেশন ফ্রেমওয়ার্ক ব্যবহার করে এই এ্যাপলিকেশন গুলো ডেভেলপ করে থাকেন। Android -এ ডেভেলপ করা এ্যাপলিকেশন গুলো সেলফোনের সাথে আসা অন্যান্য ভেন্ডরের বাজারজাত করা এ্যাপলিকেশনের মতই কাজ করে। IntentFilter API (এ্যাপলিকেশন প্রোগ্রামিং ইন্টারফেস) ব্যবহারের কারনে ব্যবহারকারী বা সিস্টেমের জেনারেট করা যেকোন ইভেন্ট বা ঘটনা প্রবাহ নিয়ন্ত্রন করতে পারে। এতে ইউনিক্স ফাইল সিস্টেম বেসড সিকিউরিটি মডেল ব্যবহার করার কারনে ব্যবহারকারী যেকোন এ্যাপলিকেশন ইন্সটল করার তার একসেস লিমিট সেট করে দিতে পারবেন। এর ফ্রেমওয়ার্কটি ওপেন এস.এস.এল (Open SSL), এস.কিউ লাইট (SQLite), এল.আই.বি.সি (libc) এর মত আরও অনেক ওপেন সোর্স লাইব্রেরী দ্বারা সমর্থিত। সবশেষে আছে লো - লেভেল হার্ডওয়্যার সাপোর্ট প্রদানকারী লিনাক্স ২.৬ কার্নেল। এতে বেশীরভাগ ইউনিক্স ইউটিলিটি অনুপস্থিত, তবে বিশেষভাবে ডেভেলপ করা একটি এ্যাপলিকেশন প্রোগ্রামিং ইন্টারফেস (API) আছে যা দিয়ে Android এর কোর লাইব্রেরী ব্যবহার করে জাভা দিয়ে এ্যাপলিকেশন ডেভেলপ করা যায়। Android এর কোর লাইব্রেরী টি Dalvik Virtual Machine এর সাহায্যে চলে। Dalvik Virtual Machine খুবই দ্রুত গতি সম্পন্ন ও কার্যদক্ষ একটি জাভা ভার্চুয়াল মেশিন যা জাভা তে লিখিত এ্যাপলিকেশন গুলোকে Android সেলফোনে চলতে সাহায্য করে। এটা অনেকটা সান মাইক্রো সিস্টেমস এর জাভা ভার্চুয়াল মেশিনের মত, কিন্তু সরাসরি ব্যবহার করার মত না।

গুগল Android এর জন্য উইন্ডোজ, ম্যাক ওস.এক্স (ইন্টেল) ও লিনাক্স (এক্স86) এই তিন ধরনের সফটওয়্যার ডেভেলপমেন্ট কিট সরবরাহ করছে। তারা Eclipse based ও roll your own নামের দুই ধরনের ডেভেলপমেন্ট এনভায়রনমেন্টও সরবরাহ করছে এর সাথে। Eclipse বেসড এনভায়রনমেন্ট টি দরকারী সব ধরনের ফিচার সম্বলিত যা বেশিরভাগ ডেভেলপারের প্রয়োজন মেটানোর জন্য যথেষ্ট। আরও আনন্দের ব্যাপার হল Eclipse এবং roll your own দুটি এনভায়রনমেন্ট পাশাপাশি ব্যবহার করা যায়।

Android সম্পর্কে আরও বিস্তারিত জানার জন্য আমরা গুগলের দেওয়া নীচের লিংক গুলো পড়ে দেখতে পারি।

# Android কি?
# Android এ্যাপলিকেশন সবিস্তারে
# ডেভেলপমেন্ট টুলস
# Android এ্যাপলিকেশনের লাইফ সাইকেল
# SDK ইনস্টল বা সংস্থাপন করা
# নোটপ্যাড এ্যাপলিকেশন টিউটোরিয়াল
# Android - এ এ্যাপলিকেশন ডেভেলপমেন্ট

উপরের সহায়ক ডকুমেন্ট গুলো পড়ার পর Android - এ দেওয়া "হ্যালো এ্যানড্রইড " দিয়ে এ্যাপলিকেশন ডেভেলপ করার শুভ কাজটি শুরু করা যেতে পারে।

এখান থেকে Android SDK ও Eclipse ডাউনলোড করা যাবে।

ছবি কৃতজ্ঞতা - গুগল

Internet giant Google is running the final tests on its much-anticipated cellphone operating system, which it will roll out in a few months.

The company showed off the software, called Android, yesterday, as part of the pre-opening activities at CommunicAsia, the annual telecom trade show.

Google's senior director of mobile platforms Andy Rubin said that such free or open-source software would encourage more innovations for the benefit of the global users of over three billion cellphones. 'Open-source software' means the programming code is freely available, which enables other software developers to create new applications for it.

Mr Rubin estimated that cellphones running on such software would be about 20 per cent cheaper because of the savings on software costs.

He declined to say how many phones would be shipped with it, but showed off several of the system's advantages, including its customising features and multi-tasking functions.

The most prominent feature is its 'mash-up' architecture, which allows different applications to be combined.

After an initial tepid response, Android, which brings together in one package a number of applications Google has developed for cellphones, has been gaining in acceptance.

More cellphone operators, such as American giant AT&T, are leaning towards offering handsets that run on the system.

Meanwhile, more than 1,700 applications for Android have already been written as part of a competition, the Android Developer Challenge, which has a total purse of US$10 million (S$13.8 million).

One big feature of the Android operating system is the number of Global Positioning System (GPS) based applications available.

Enkin, for example, tells users the names of the buildings around them and how far away they are. All they have to do is use their phone cameras to scan their surroundings.

GPS is even featured in Android's games: In Parallel Kingdom, players make use of GPS and maps to role-play, defending their turf or 'warring' with players in their geographical vicinity.

Growth in sales of GPS-enabled devices worldwide has exploded in the last year or so, and manufacturers are coming up with devices that measure a runner's speed and complex navigation aids.

Android is being developed by Google and 33 other technology companies - such as cellphone makers Samsung and Motorola, and Japanese telco NTT DoCoMo - as part of the Open Handset Alliance, a group which works to make the mobile world more open and free.

Wie es schon seit längerem erwartet worden war, hat Steve Jobs auf der WWDC 2008 (Worldwide Developers Conference) in San Francisco die nächste, heiß erwartete Generation des iPhones angekündigt: Das iPhone 3G

Mit dem Namen 3G wird auch gleich eine der wichtigsten und lang ersehnten Verbesserungen eingeführt: der schnellere HSDPA-Standard (via UMTS), zusätzlich zum langsamen und veralteten EDGE-Standard des Vorgängermodells. Damit lassen sich Daten schneller übertragen und das Internet wird ein gutes Stück mobiler. Außerdem neu dabei: GPS, Unterstützung für Microsoft Exchange, 3rd-Party-Software über den AppStore, längere Akku-Laufzeiten... - und nicht zuletzt ein billigerer Preis als der Vorgänger (das 8 GB Modell schon für weniger als 199$). Ein äußerst verlockendes Angebot für die USA.

In Deutschland bleibt abzuwarten, was für ein iPhone-Paket T-Mobile  schnüren wird. Fest steht: Mit der Preissenkung geht Apple einen großen Schritt weg vom Elite-Geek-Poser Gadget hin zum massenmarkttauglichen In-Handy. Wenn man sieht wie viele iPods hierzulande verkauft wurden, prophezeie ich auch einem erschwinglichen iPhone hohe Verkaufszahlen.

Und jetzt kommt das Aber:

• Das iTunes-Modell: Dass man für jeglichen Datenaustausch das von mir weniger geliebte iTunes bemühen muss, stellt für mich einen eindeutigen Minuspunkt dar. Allgemein sagt mir diese "Eingeengheit" die Apple meistens betreibt eher weniger zu.
• Noch lassen erste Konkurrenten mit Googles vielversprechenden Android-System auf sich warten. Spätestens in der zweiten Jahreshälfte sollten aber die ersten Wettbewerber auf den Markt kommen. Bonuspunkte: Open-Source

Und jetzt das Trotzdem:

• Mein Vertrag läuft Ende des Sommers aus - sollte T-Mobile mit einem ansprechenden iPhone-Angebot locken, könnte ich schwach werden :)
• Auch wenn es für das iPhone 3G auch 3rd-Party-Software über den in iTunes integrierten AppStore geben soll, gehe ich davon aus, dass es wiederum nur eine Frage der Zeit sein wird, bis es auch hier den entsprechenden Jailbreak geben wird, mit dem sich noch mehr aus dem iPhone rausholen lässt (Mich würde mal interessieren wie viele iPhone und iPod touch User ihr Gerät "ge-jailbreaked" haben. Dürften sicher nicht wenige sein).

Und jetzt das Also:

Werde ich mal wieder, wie schon letztes Jahr, die einschlägigen Blogs verfolgen, Preise vergleichen und am Ende zu dem Schluss kommen, dass ich lieber noch etwas warte und es mein derzeitiges Sony Ericcson wohl noch eine Weile machen muss - oder doch nicht?

Gehört: Biffy Clyro - Glitter and Trauma (Infinity Land )

È di oggi la notizia che Vodafone Italia "offrirà" l'IPhone in versione con carta ricaricabile a 499€ (la versione a 8Gb) e a 569€ (quella da 16Gb).

E gli avversari cosa stanno a fare?

Qualche giorno fà, per la precisione il 28 maggio, in occasione del Google I/O è stato presentato il primo cellulare basato su Android, la piattaforma mobile sponsorizzata da Google e dall'Open Handset Alliance. Android, come l'IPhone, è predisposto all'utilizzo di un ricevitore GPS integrato, è predisposto al funzionamento con monitor touchscreen, all'utilizzo di sensori di movimento, di mappe (Android utilizza Google Maps, l'IPhone invece delle mappe simili nel funzionamento),  ecc... ma ha 2 grossi vantaggi rispetto al concorrente di Cupertino: è opensource ed è multipiattaforma. Inoltre, l'obiettivo che si prefiggono i membri dell'OHA, è quello di far funzionare Android anche su dispositivi poco performanti, in modo da poter commercializzare telefonini a un prezzo inferiore ai 100 dollari.

Android potrà girare su cellulari di marche diverse, sarà personalizzabile e soprattutto il fatto di essere basato su una piattaforma aperta, permetterà il diffondersi di numerose applicazioni. Per capire le potenzialità di questa piattaforma basta un'occhiata ai finalisti della Android Challenge, la competizione promossa da Google che messo in palio ben 10 milioni di dollari (suddivisi in vari premi). La prima fase ha visto ben 50 progetti finalisti che si sono intascati la bellezza di 25000 dollari ciascuno e la possibilità di partecipare alle fasi finali con i palio 10 premi da 275000 dollari e altrettanti da 100000 dollari.

Se questo non vi basta, su helloandroid.com è disponibile un database di applicazioni sviluppate o in fase di sviluppo per Android.

Di seguito 2 video interessanti.

Presentazione di Steve Horovitz al Google I/O

Enkin, una applicazione per Google Android

Android's Notification Manager
The Android Notification Manager handles the system level work of producing notifications allowing us to create custom notification objects specifying how we want our notifications to be produced. You do not need to initialize the Notification Manager instead you can just retrieve a handle to the service using getSystemService(String) passing it the identifier NOTIFICATION_SERVICE. In order to get a context to call this method I had to send the callers context to my constructor and import android.content.Context because my class does not inherit from any Android classes as it is just a helper class to my service. The code below demonstrates the process to get the handle.

mNotificationManager = (NotificationManager) context.getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);

Android's Notification
To create the Notification object we just call the constructor passing the notification details we want which will determine the final resulting notification. In most cases the constructor takes enough parameters to fulfill the requirements for most notifications you will need to invoke, however there are additional properties provided which can be set on the object after initialization.

Two of the parameters for the constructor are intents, one to be invoked when a user clicks the icon and one when a click on the content of the notification occurs. I generated an explicit intent to call one of my activities, which in this case provides functionality to view a new incoming message.

		Intent viewMsgIntent = new Intent(context, ReceiveMessage.class);
		viewMsgIntent.putExtra("Contact", contact);
		viewMsgIntent.putExtra("Message", msg);

I also set up the ticker text string, which is the string that gets scrolled across the notification menu at the top of the screen when a notification is received.

		String tickerText = "New message received from " + contact + "...";

The rest of the parameters include, two icons, one for the status bar at the top of the screen, and an application icon which is larger and is displayed in the notifications drop down menu.

The when parameter specifies a time stamp to determine when the notification should be launched. I wanted my notification to be launched instantly so I used the System.currentTimeMillis() to get the current time.

Here is the final code for initializing the notification object.

		Intent viewMsgIntent = new Intent(cx, ReceiveMessage.class);
		viewMsgIntent.putExtra("contact", contact);
		viewMsgIntent.putExtra("message", msg);

		String tickerText = "New message received from " + contact + "...";

		if(msg.length() > 40)
			msg = msg.substring(0, 40);

		Notification obj = new Notification(
                	cx,   // our context
                	R.drawable.im_icon,   // the icon for the status bar
                	tickerText,   // the text to display in the ticker
                	System.currentTimeMillis(),   // the timestamp for the notification
                	titleText,   // the title for the notification
                	msg,   // the details to display in the notification
                	viewMsgIntent,   // the contentIntent (see above)
                	R.drawable.im_icon,   // the app icon
                	"IM App",   // the name of the app
                	viewMsgIntent);

Sending the Notification Out
Once the notification object is created you can invoke it by calling the notify method on the Notification Manager, passing it the notification object. The first parameter of this method is an ID representing the notification.

mNotificationManager.notify(R.string.recv_msg_notif_id, obj);

So thats it, a very basic break down of the notification process in Android.

You can find more information here:

• android.app.Notification Manager
• android.app.Notification

A proposito, estou com um teclado horrivel:

Link

Weezer launched this video on the internet this month and I'm fairly certain everyone has seen it by now, but in case you haven't, it's a good song and there are cameos from just about every internet "celebrity," you can think of. (Glad to see the Numa Numa kid hasn't changed at all):

The best 'crank call' in the history of crank calls... I wish I could do this to every telemarketer ever:

I really have been neglecting Liberty City... not to be too romantic about it but when I watch this stunt montage I know that GTA IV is home waiting for me and I smile:

Speaking of video games... here's a classic... what these guys did with it though is technically impressive to me... for all I know it can be done on a video toaster... but I think it looks pretty damn good:

F' the iphone... google may be replacing big brother and all, but you gotta admit their tech is cool. If anyone wants to buy me a the Google Android phone... feel free:

Finally for your Saturday enjoyment... No Country For Gay Men:

No Country For Gay Men

Ref:UberPulse

There was also a 'Celebrity Fan Site' demo that showed just how easy it is to add multilingual search, news, videos, images and maps to a static website using the Google Web APIs and Javascript.

Google OpenSocial Campfire Chat
I found this campfire interesting as it focused on the development of the platform as much as the actual implementation of the technology. Emphasis was also placed on the importance of remembering that as we are dealing with an open standard, we as developers and consumers can contribute to the Google OpenSocial Specification and shape its future development.

Many of the floor questions seemed a little misguided as they were rather specific to an individual's company or website. In reaction to this, panelist Dan Pieterson (Google, seventh from the left in the photograph) raised a very valid point that "OpenSocial provides common APIs, not common policies". On a personal level I thought this was particularly valid as I have sometimes found that people have a tendency to seek reassurance for their business decisions from service providers when it is not really within their remit to comment.

Other topics of note included:

• Harvard Law's Project VRM (Vendor Relationship Management) - From what I gathered from a high level, this is the ethical notion that networks and containers simply borrow data that is owned by a user in order to fulfill a value proposition.
• Google Friend Connect - Why go to your friends when they can come to you? :)
• Hi5 supports "Friend Circles" which allow developers to distinguish between relationship types (friend, colleague, acquaintance, lover?! etc.)
• Jeremiah from Slide mentioned that *some* networks are talking to application developers in order expand their marketing offering to larger brands.
• Apache Shindig - Because anybody can be an OpenSocial container..

Stands
I visited all of the stands at the event to find out what was going on, although I will admit that I was slightly biased towards OpenSocial and Android (what is it about shiny new technologies?!).

At the OpenSocial stand I was introduced to the surprisingly addictive real-time TypeRacer game on Orkut. Players are displayed as cars and the idea is that you type out a paragraph word for word, the higher your word per minute count, the faster your car goes...

Google Android seemed like a far less complete offering which is not surprising as it is a rather large proposition and the hardware isn't due to be released until late this year. Still, after installing the Android SDK, the Eclipse IDE (complete with Android plugin) and sample Java code - I had a basic version of "snake" running on the emulator in next to no time. From a business perspective, I think that it will be interesting to see what kind of rich UI functionality the OpenGL support will make possible. Personally I would like to see an Amazon Ec2 instance monitor that would give you real time application statistics and alerts on your mobile device - a future project for RightScale perhaps?

Summary
Although it may seem that there is a lot of experimentation in the online sector at the moment; talking to various people has reinforced my assumption that developers (and savvy businessmen alike) are unified in their understanding of what 'the open web' is rapidly becoming. It is time to "think outside of the container" and bring the simplistic power of relevant social tools into our own websites and applications.

Picture: Flight of the Conchords

The world has hot phone hardware. Fast carrier networks. And phone software that continues to enable more functionality and experiences. The promise of wireless innovation and scenarios that people imagined back in the dot com era is real, and today we’re seeing the emergence of connected apps and integrated experiences, and it’s why we’re fired up about what we are building at Dashwire.

The mobile phone is constantly recording life – and people take it with them everywhere because it connects them to family, friends, information and helps them capture what’s important. People are also spending a lot of time online, as the computer continues to play a more important role in connecting people and information. Morgan Stanley’s recent web trends report indicated that approximately 40% of global time spent online is for communication and social networks. There is an intersection that’s taking place – and a huge opportunity - to seamlessly bridge these two worlds by integrating mobile and web content and communication, and making it easy for people, and that’s what we’re focused on at Dashwire.

We believe cross platform open (meaning building our solution to work across as many smart phone platforms) solutions offer the biggest value creation opportunity in the industry. Dashwire works today for Windows Mobile 5.0, 6 and 6.1 phones and soon will work on Symbian and BlackBerry, increasing the number of people that can realize the full value of our service to over 150M+ in a market that is continuing to grow rapidly, and according to IDC, is expected to have an install base of 1B by 2011.

There are very few companies who aren’t 800lb gorillas in the industry today with cross platform connected service offerings for consumers because it’s expensive and difficult (server and mobile code), many were too early and flamed out, and VC investors have largely shied away over the past few years as a result of what they saw with investments they or others made in the past. Apple set the new bar with the mobile browser, and as it continues to improve, many companies will just build inexpensive browser apps, but believe a native thin-client app is a base requirement, and software that goes deep into the phone operating system and integrates to solve customer problems and deliver superior offline and online experiences across platforms will be the major creators of value for mobile connected services.

Companies looking to deliver value as part of the next wave of mobile should be focused exclusively on building experiences for smartphone users (Windows Mobile, Symbian, BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, Linux) with the understanding that a) consumers not businesses are driving growth in this market; b) these users are more likely to have a data plan; c) if you really want to go through the pain of getting your app to work on feature phones, work with the mobile operators to include your spec into their device maker requirements document to get the broadest coverage; and d) the phone is being replaced by users approximately every 18 months, and at that point there will be more smartphones to choose from, and people aren’t necessarily going to be brand loyal in their next purchase, so cross platform support enables you to have a more likely chance of keeping them as a customer.

The big dogs have started moving their ships in the right direction toward connected services – Nokia, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo – and have resources and the ambition to build the future. When these companies bet billions on the next wave, both technically and with business development and marketing dollars to drive awareness, user adoption and growth, companies that deliver value on top of the platforms and services they are building will be poised to bring experiences to life in new ways for hundreds of millions to several billions of users. And that’s where companies like Dashwire come into play. I will be posting on a few cool start ups in addition to Dashwire that are helping to drive mobile services in a future post.

Below is a quick breakdown of what the 800lb gorillas are pulling together from a services perspective, and why their moves today are setting in motion the future of phone services:

I. Nokia

Last August, Nokia unveiled its OVI brand and strategy, and believe the vision shared publicly is the most compelling of the 800lb club in terms of focus on connected services for mobile phone users. OVI is a group of services for S60 users that offer PC, web and mobile experiences. Even with 40% of the global phone market and devices like the N95, Nokia recognized that selling hardware alone into mobile operators and direct to consumer was no longer going to be enough to maintain its market share against the software companies invading its turf, and that raising the bar with a new strategy of connected services would enhance the value of the overall communication and mobile experience.

Nokia has invested big dollars to back its move to become a services business and assembled a promising line up with OVI around media sharing (Twango), maps (NAVTEQ and gate5), music (Loudeye), and gaming (N-Gage) for its S60 phones, and expect them to roll out on S40, and if really smart, non-Nokia platforms to leverage its services infrastructure. Vodafone and Orange are the two heavy hitters who have announced support for OVI, the Orange news coming a few days after Vodafone acquired ZYB, a potential asset Vodafone can use to compete against OVI, so we’ll see how it plays out.

II. Microsoft

(disclaimer – I used to work in Windows Mobile and believe will continue to gain market share). Microsoft, like BlackBerry, has nailed the enterprise server value proposition of connected mobile services in bringing email, calendar, contacts and tasks to the phone. The value that business users have enjoyed is something that consumers would enjoy too, but they don’t have an IT manager or use Outlook.

The recent acquisition of Danger with its mobile client and carrier-grade server infrastructure is a sign that Microsoft is serious about connected mobile services, and that they are finally going to shift toward consumer. They have to. Competing against BlackBerry in the enterprise space with Windows Mobile is great and they should do it, but even BlackBerry is focused on expanding its market to consumers with Pearl and Curve, and Symbian still commands about 70% of the global smartphone market. Microsoft’s device maker partners are working over-time to differentiate on top of the phone operating system to deliver more consumer experiences - the HTC Touch Diamond being the most recent and best example of a clear push to deliver unique value for consumers.

Windows Live Local, Windows Live Mobile, SPOT on phone, are cool apps and good start, and highlight efforts by the Windows Live team to deliver for Symbian and BlackBerry as well as Windows Mobile. Expect the trend of supporting more platforms to continue for Microsoft, and will be interesting to follow whether the Danger deal translates to compelling services for consumers.

III. Google

The big news from Google on the mobile front over the last year has been Android, its mobile phone operating system platform that will possibly ship on at least one phone before the end of 2008, and its lobbying of the FCC to sell open spectrum.

Google has tons of cloud services (Gmail, Google Calendar, Picassa, Docs, Orkut, Open Social, Search, GrandCentral, etc) that it can integrate with Android (Andy Rubin, who runs the Android platform at Google, has services ingrained in his thinking as a co-founder of Danger) and it’s platform has been highlighted to developers as a way to easily build connected services, a contrast from Apple’s current approach with its SDK strategy. How it evolves and where advertising fits into the mix should become more evident in 2008/09.

What's interesting today is Google Mobile product efforts to deliver value across phone platforms. The Google Mobile team is similar to Windows Live in that they are separate from the core OS team (Windows Mobile, Android). Google has offerings for Windows Mobile, Symbian, BlackBerry, iPhone, and has taken a broad look at the market to deliver value. Google Maps, the Gmail client and Search homescreen plug-ins are great additions to enhance your phone, and are examples of thin clients that pull in data from the web. Like Nokia and Microsoft, even Google, who most would believe from the spectrum auction as viewing the mobile operators as roadblocks, has started to work with them, but it will only be up to a certain point unless the operators start moving faster or if Google fails to build huge consumer demand for Android like Apple has done with iPhone.

Google has also pulled together an interesting suite of mobile related companies/technologies through recent acquisitions of GrandCentral and Jaiku, and how these fit into its strategy are key questions as it looks to pull together its mobile connected services story.

IV. Yahoo

When Christian Lindholm was at Yahoo, they were able to deliver Yahoo Go!, first for S60 and then Window Mobile. That was the first real connected app that I enjoyed trialing, with mail, contact, and calendar sync to Yahoo cloud services. Yahoo Go! 2.0 moved away from native apps to a unified Java-based offering to gain consistent UI across the different handsets. To me, it became less interesting in the fact it wasn’t integrated with the native applications on the phone, but it offered some neat experiences. Where they are going with 3.0 and the widgets based offering seems like Widsets with nicer UI, but we’ll see. If OneConnect, Yahoo's online social address book, moves out of demoware state, it could be hot. Yahoo has made a clear choice to focus on the handset experience vs. unifying something for users on the web as well, an approach that believe could hurt them unless they cut deals with device makers to integrate its services into the native apps on the phone.

V. Apple

Apple gets credit obviously for iPhone and awareness it drove for smartphones and their capabilities, but it also gets credit for kicking its competitors and the industry into gear by breaking the mold and cutting an amazing deal with Cingular (now A&T Mobility) to forego the usual 200-plus page requirements document, avoided branding and negotiated the most aggressive financial terms that have Nokia, Microsoft, and Google evaluating their strategies. iTunes sync and service integration is seamless and tough to argue because it works well, and USB is still the best way to transfer 16GB of media to a mobile device, but I am waiting for Apple to have a .mac version of a connected iPhone service integrated into the device – not an if, but when question. Purchasing iTunes content including apps OTA is where everything is going with iPhone 2.0, and extending further to the cloud is the next step. The most interesting sign of change for the wireless industry is that Apple services for the wireless space are all Apple branded, something that many companies are following closely.

iPhone is on the roadmap for a Dashwire client, but we, like many other developers, need Apple to support running background apps like the leading smartphone operating systems. The fact they don’t is being masked by the iPhone halo effect, and is not only unfortunate for developers, but for consumers that would enjoy using the services those companies can imagine bringing to iPhone. Once Apple delivers on this capability for developers, we’ll build a hot Dashwire experience for iPhone users.

Conclusion

If the big dogs are betting on the future of mobile communication and services, it stands to reason that to participate in this opportunity, supporting their platforms and customers with differentiated experiences is the right bet because as we know, seeing the big ship start to move creates lots of time to speed past, build something hot, and have it ready when the ship sails. At Dashwire, we will support as many smartphone platforms with a deeply integrated mobile client to solve tough customer and industry problems and make it seamless for customers to get the most out of their phone, the data it captures, and the web and communications we facilitate in-and-out of the phone.

We’re excited to be a participant in this exciting world of connected mobile services, and expect for Dashwire to deliver big things. Stay tuned.

Fiquei sabendo pelo post do Antônio Carlos que o Google lançou recentemente o TV Ads. Esta é uma ferramenta muito interessante e flexível de fazer propaganda na TV.

Eles disponibilizam uma aplicação no "self-service" que permite que pessoas interessadas em veicular propaganda na TV façam isso de forma ágil e prática. Você consegue criar uma campanha, definir seu público-alvo, especificar canais e programas e horários durante os quais a campanha será exibida e dizer o quanto você pretende gastar com isso. A aplicação trará várias sugestões e permitirá que você envie a mídia da propaganda para iniciar a veiculação rapidamente nestes vários canais.

Esta é uma iniciativa inovadora e potencialmente muito poderosa para o Google. Além disso, eles também lançaram o Google Audio Ads e o Print Ads. É isso mesmo: eles já dominam a propaganda na internet, e agora lançam ferramentas inovadoras para tentar ganhar espaço na propaganda feita na TV, rádio e na mídia impressa. Fiquei curioso e fui ver a lista de canais e jornais que já participam disso. A maioria dos canais de TV americanos já permite propaganda através do Google TV Ads e a maioria dos jornais também. Entre os jornais estão por exemplo o New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post e muitos outros. Além disso, inúmeros jornais pequenos (porém com público muito mais específico, direcionado) já fazem parte do programa também. Muito interessante isso.

Já sabíamos previamente da iniciativa do Google de entrar firme no mercado de dispositivos móveis. Agora eles aumentam drasticamente o alcance das ferramentas de propaganda deles. Para completar, também está nos planos do Google a entrada nos set-top boxes de TV digital. Se essas iniciativas forem bem-sucedidas (e certamente tem boas chances), o Google conseguirá uma impressionante penetração no mercado. Será mais poder do que a Microsoft já teve um dia. E tudo isso com um modelo de negócios que traz muito mais simpatia do que a Microsoft.

Difícil saber qual (e se existirá) o limite para eles. Realmente impressionante. Quando será que isso chegará ao Brasil??