Marco Casario,hands on Macromedia world

Best Practise for FlashLite Mobile games

I found these 2 new articles on Macromedia DevNet section about Macromedia FlashLite

Overview of the New Mobile Features in Flash Professional 8 - Bill Perry

Watch this short presentation to see how Flash Professional 8 can dramatically improve your workflow when creating mobile content.
View presentation (4:30)

Cryptic Capers: Best Practices for Mobile Game Development in Action - Mariam Dholkawala

Learn to build complex mobile games for Flash Lite-enabled devices. (Aug 22)

Miriam is the project manager of IndiaGames and her article is a sweet knowledge sharing of developing complex games in the Macromedia FlashLite enviroment.

Great content for flashliters !

Usability Top Ten for Macromedia Flashlite development

I found Mike Short's (Mobile Data Association) top 10 usability mobile checklist.
Although this checklist is clearly geared towards mobile  applications, many items also apply to Macromedia FlashLite  applications.

1) Make the cellphone on/off button obvious.
2) Ensure dialling is intuitive, not just for kids but to pensioners as well . “Send” and “end” alone are not enough.
3) Address books are a great help if easy to load, access and edit!
4) Texting is a bonus if the keys are big enough, and the screen is legible. Colour screens help , but adjustable font size, legibility and back lighting may help more.
5) All the access speeds under the sun are useless if the settings for web content and email are incomprehensible .
6) Taking a picture/short film is only as good as your ability to capture , view and share it! Make it easy, not just multiplying megapixels!
7) Battery chargers need to be plug and play, with connectors that are an easy fit and durable. Spare batteries for all ages and occasions?
8) Car kits need to be able to hold, charge and add value. Bluetooth needs to be more consistent across manufacturers, and within models ranges and accessories.
9) Think inclusive design - all ages , and disability/age tested.
10) Now try again. Repeat this list, review and improve on previous user experience.

Then add style, colour, fashion and solutions and the distribution channels will open before your eyes.

On June I posted on Macromedia FlashLite group a checklist for using during the testing phase of a Macromedia FlashLite application.
These guidelines are intended for use by FlashLite developers (like me :) ).


Download the FlashLite checklist here :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FlashLite/file

Your feedback can influence the ideas and guidelines described here
so  if you have suggestions  please provide me with your feedback.

Nokia and Vodafone Italy successfully tested the first high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) data connection

Nokia said Tuesday it successfully tested what it called the first high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) data connection with Vodafone Italy. Data speeds of 1.5Mbps were reached in the test, Nokia said.

Giuseppe Donagemma, vice president of Networks, Nokia, said the test demonstrated Nokia’s HSDPA technology is ready to operate with WCDMA 3G and the very high data speeds associated with 3G.

The end-to-end call was carried out at Vodafone Italy’s test facilities and utilized a commercial UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network), Nokia said.

Read via MobilePipeline.com

Complex User Interface design for mobile phones

via SymbianOne.com I found and read this interesting article about  the complexity of modern smartphone UIs and argues for a return to simplicity :

..... the mobile phone has progressively become a dumping ground for any and all newly-commoditised technologies that were previously the domain of dedicated devices. Cameras, FM radios, digital audio players, and now even televisions are being included in handsets whose traditional core purpose was the handling of voice calls and text messaging.

The inclusion of all this new technology is not a problem in itself. Rather, the problem lies in the way in which all these functions are made available to users. Features of secondary importance are often placed at the same level of interaction as the features that are key to the device's core purpose. Even worse, the device's core purpose has often not been identified in the first place - is it a camera, a phone, a PDA or a Web tablet? Should it be easier to answer a call or take a snapshot? During my work in the field, I have even heard someone suggest removing a new phone's Send and End keys in order to promote the device's multimedia 'identity,' with complete disregard to the phone user's need to, well, make and answer calls quickly.

This may be why today's mobile market seems to be flooded by complex devices without any specifically identifiable 'soul': Frankenstein-like hybrids assembled from the body parts of other devices, afflicted by bizarre key layouts, deeply nested menus, and Byzantine user journeys. These devices have little discernible prioritisation of purpose, and their interfaces fail to account for the fact that not all features are used equally. They end up sacrificing good design at the altar of have-it-all technology.

Read the full article.

Macromedia FlashLite 1.1 Breeze seminar at Macromedia Boston Office

We are holding a free Macromedia Flash Lite Breeze seminar next Saturday 13th at
5 PM Boston time.
It' the first live meeting for FlashLite Yahoo Group. The group grew a lot, and in less than 3 months we've almost reached 300 active members.

Thanks to James Talbot (Macromedia), the presentation will be held at Macromedia in Newton (Boston).

This will be the  link to join breeze meeting :
   http://www.macromedia.com/go/james

Topics
- Presentation of www.flashismobile.com resource
- Introduction to Flash Lite 1.1
- Q&A

Speakers
- James Talbot (Macromedia)
- Marco Casario
- Alessandro Pace

To know about your local time use time zone converter (thanks to our frined Tim Walling) :
http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc

Another good tool here (thanks to Bruce Anderson):
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Nokia's Director interview

via Sun J2ME Technical Articles :

Java ME Luminary: Asko Komsi of Nokia

Asko Komsi is currently Nokia's Director of Industry Relations in Technology Platforms. He has worked in various expert and managerial roles for close to 20 years, in research, standardization, technology strategy boards, and ventures focusing on wireless technologies and mobile services. In his current position, Asko is responsible for next-generation mobile Java platform standardization and related industry cooperation. As part of this role, he is one of the two specification leads for the Mobile Service Architecture (MSA) initiative (JSR 248 and JSR 249) in the Java Community Process (JCP), as well as one of Nokia's representatives on JCP's executive committee for the Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME). Asko holds BS and MSc degrees in computer science from the University of Turku, Finland, and is currently on his way to an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the Berkeley campus of the University of California.

Asko presented Mobile Service Architecture Initiative: JSR 248 and JSR 249 at JavaOne 2005. In this interview, he explains the Mobile Service Architecture initiative, and shares with us his insights into the future of Java ME technology and more.

Read the full interview.

Opera Mini browser for mobile phones

Opera Mini™ is a fast and easy alternative to Opera's mobile browser, allowing users to access the Web on mobile phones that would normally be incapable of running a Web browser. This includes the vast majority of today's WAP-enabled phones. Instead of requiring the phone to process Web pages, it uses a remote server to pre-process the page before sending it to the phone.

Opera Mini™ is available to end-users through operators and companies that choose to include it in their offerings to their customers. It is currently available as a pilot project through TV2 in Norway, with wider availability to be announced.

Read the Opera press releases about Opera Mini.

India adds 2.49 mln mobile users

Great news also for Macromedia FlashLite developers.
Via Reuters.com I read that India's booming wireless sector, the world's fastest growing major mobile market, added 2.49 million new users in July, taking the total number of customers to 60.366 million, industry bodies said on Tuesday.

Read the full article.

Why publish Mobile content with FlashLite ?

I found a sweet article on MobileDesign.org site aobut 10 Reasons to publish to Mobile.

It's not only about FlashLite, but the same rules work for the Macromedia mobile technologies.
Here the 10 Comandamenti are :

1. Empower your reader
2.Have your content available anytime anywhere
3. Create a better experience for your mobile users
4. Widen your audience
5. Add a new level of interactivity
6. Give your content new context
7. Have someplace for them to go
8. Interact with the real world
9. It’s easy
10. Be a part of the future

Read the full 10 Reasons to Publish to Mobile article.

Make your sites go Mobile

via http://www.benjaminadam.com :

IYHY is my attempt to force the web mobile. And if you signup for a free account on IYHY, then every time you type in a URL on the homepage it will save it for you for next time. And if it turns out you don’t want that site saved, just go in an edit your account and sort or delete your URLs however you want. It’s totally free.

w.Technorati Mobile version

wwI did not know about the mobile service released by Technorati to search on blog posts :

http://m.technorati.com/

It is a sort of multichannel aggregator of web sources like rss feeds, xhtml pages, images and other multimedia files.
It aggregates them and trasform them (with XSL) in web pages optimized
for some classes of devices.

DoCoMo, iChannel and Flash Cast

Some days ago, we talked about the new i-Channel service by DoCoMo via Flash Lite Group (see also my post here).

It seams that the iChannel service is based on FlashCast.
So What is i-Channel ?

i-Channel is a push-based service that allows you to get the latest news as easily as making a voice call.
DoCoMo offers many channel : weather, news, sports an entertainment, horoscope, games..

DoCoMo will open i-Channel to third party content providers, allowing them to list their information services on the portal and charge for content.

DoCoMo has also the new 701i Series mobile phones, designed  for iChannel users with buttons that work specifically for these services.



If you want to have more info about iChannel, read the DoCoMo pdf about that.

If somebody has more news on iChannel and FlashCast relation, let us know :)

FlashCast support for DOCOMO announced today

via FlashLite yahoo group, DC has posted this great breaking news :

Docomo also went public today with FlashCast support... called
"i-channel"

http://www.rikai.com/perl/LangMediator.En.pl?mediate_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fk-tai.impress.co.jp%2Fcda%2Farticle%2Fnews_toppage%2F25101.html

and Richard Legget gave us a googled tranleted version :)

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fk-tai.impress.co.jp%2Fcda%2Farticle%2Fnews_toppage%2F25101.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Using Macromedia Flash 5 documentation for FlashLite development

I found the old official guide by Macromedia about Using Flash 5 :)
I've upload it to the FlashLite Group :  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FlashLite/files/

So now you can download 2 helpful guide for developing with FlashLite :

Using Flash 5
Using Flash 4

Download both from the FlashLite Yahoo Group and do not forget to join us !

Motorola A910 a Linux-based mobile phone

via Mobile Gazette:

The familiar-looking Motorola A910 is a Linux-based smartphone with built in WiFi and a 1.3 megapixel camera. And we say "familiar" because it is physically almost identical to the we saw last month.

There's a different emphasis here - "A" series phones tend to be more business orientated than "E" series devices which are pitched more at the entertainment market. Although, we're pretty certain that apart from some minor cosmetic differences, the A910 and E895 are identical except for the WiFi capabilities in the Motorola A910. (Except the A910 doesn't appear to have EDGE)

In case you didn't see the E895, the A910 has a 1.3 megapixel camera, TransFlash/microSD removable memory, "3D audio" playback, Bluetooth, speech recognition, web and email access.

We believe that the screen is a compact 240x320 pixel panel in 262,000 colours (to be confirmed) and that it will weigh something in the region of 130 grams.

Read the post here.

MOBI domain name approved for Nokia, Vodafone and Microsoft

The initial founders of Mobi JV consist of
Nokia, Microsoft and Vodafone (“Founders”). However, there are a number of key
investors joining the Founders, including 3, GSM Association, Hewlett Packard,
Orange, Samsung, SUN Microsystems, T-Mobile, TIM and others. Information about
this investment opportunity has been widely distributed to industry
participants from all areas of the mobile community, including operators,
service providers, device manufacturers, and content and technology providers.

The sponsored TLD community to be served by the mobile specific domain name
space is limited to the following stakeholders:

* Individual and business consumers of mobile devices, services and
applications
* Mobile content and service providers
* Mobile operators
* Mobile device manufacturers and vendors
* IT technology and software vendors who serve the mobile community

Read this on ICANN site.

Macromedia Reports First Quarter Fiscal Year 2006

Macromedia today reported financial results for its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, 2005.

Flash and Mobile
This is what Stephen Elop said about flashlite and mobile market :
During the course of the June quarter, 9 additional partners made commitments for the use of Flash Lite or the Flash SDK on mobile phones, on televisions and a variety of devices including MP3 players.  These new partnerships also included two major strategic wins that, out of respect for the confidentiality requested by our customers, we will not specifically disclose at this time.

For example, over the last several years a complete ecosystem around FlashLite has developed in Japan. The development of this ecosystem has involved ourselves, the operators like DoCoMo and KDDI, the handset manufacturers, content creators, content aggregators and ultimately the consumers of these devices and experiences. Once an ecosystem like this is established and primed, tremendous value is then created over a very long period of time as the demand for more multimedia content drives new forms of interactive applications, and new business models emerge to satisfy the demand, all in a classic virtuous cycle of innovation.   

We heard one recent estimate that over $1bn in value has already been created around the Flash mobile ecosystem in Japan to date.  To be successful with our mobile efforts in the long term, we have to help foster these same ecosystems in other major geographies around the world. This implies working not only with the device manufacturers, but also with the operators and the content creators in order to establish these same virtuous cycles in other geographic markets, particularly in the US and Europe.  It also implies that Macromedia must continue to extend its Flash platform offerings so that we can continue to increase our monetization of this opportunity. 

Viev the Breeze presentation.

A billion cell phones by 2009

via CNET :

Sales of cell phones are on pace to reach a billion annually by the end of the decade, when nearly 40 percent of the world's population will own a mobile handset, according to a Gartner report.

Asian countries will continue to play a major role in increasing the number of cell phones in circulation to 2.6 billion by 2009, the research firm estimated in the report, released Tuesday. Currently, 25 percent of all cell phones are sold in Asian countries; by decade's end, that number will be one in three, Gartner analysts said.

Overall, the findings bolster the cell phone's status as the world's most popular electronic device. Mobile handsets have already eclipsed cameras, personal computers and even traditional landline phones in sales.

Gartner's predictions come with an important caveat: Wholesale prices for handsets have to decrease from an average of about $174 each in 2004 to about $161 by 2009. In the United States, especially, handsets are typically discounted so heavily that they end up costing consumers nothing. Operators can only afford to continue to do that, and keep sales growing, if the price they pay for each one drops.

Read the article

Opera 8 for Series60 released !

Opera has just released released Version 8 of its browser for the Symbian S60 mobile phone operating system.  It now uses the same engine as Opera's desktop version.
In my opinion it' the best browser for mobile devices.

Opera 8 for series 60 phones is designed for speed and usability, and it is based on the latest technology from the Opera 8 desktop browser. Where lower-level phone browsers offer only WAP browsing, the Opera mobile browser gives you the power to navigate Web sites that are not designed with mobile devices in mind, including complex Web applications with advanced features.
Equipped with Opera's Small-Screen Rendering™ technology, these small Internet devices can display full HTML-enabled Internet without any horizontal scrolling.

Key Features in Opera 8 for Symbian Series 60

Yahoo expands its mobile phone search functions

via CNET | NEWS :

Yahoo is set to launch on Thursday a new mobile search feature designed to let users send short text message queries to Yahoo and receive results back on their mobile phones.

The new SMS Search feature promises to let people get specific information in text on their mobile phones, such as weather, stock quotes and store addresses, and use shortcuts on the keypad to make it faster. For example, typing in "w" and the ZIP code will retrieve a short weather forecast, Yahoo said.

If a specific listing is not included in the first set of results, users can reply for more and get additional results. Users also can save the responses and reply to them repeatedly thereafter to receive updates on the same information, such as stock quotes for a particular company on a daily basis.

Read the Yahoo expands its mobile phone search functions article.

Wikipedia for your mobile

I love wikipedia.org.
I found the wap version of this service.

Connect directly from you phone :

http://wapipedia.org/wikipedia/mobiledefault.aspx

Motorola mobile phone line with Linux

via CNET | NEWS :

Linux moves into midrange Motorola phones

Motorola announced a new step this week in its plan to remake most of its mobile phone line with Linux, expanding use of the open-source operating system to midrange phones.

The E895 is a flip-phone design that uses a version of Linux from MontaVista Software, said Cheryln Chin, vice president for Motorola mobile phone marketing. Motorola expects to begin shipping it in Asia in the fourth quarter of the year and in other parts of the globe after that.

Motorola began selling Linux-powered mobile phones in 2003 but, until now, has used the OS only in high-end phones. Motorola expects to change that as software makers slim down Linux and hardware makers bulk up cell phone computing power, Chin said.

With the E895, Motorola has pushed the OS into midrange phones, and Linux should reach mass-market phones "probably in late 2006 or 2007," Chin said. More than half of Motorola's mobile phones will use Linux within 18 to 24 months, she predicted.

Linux is used for lower-level functions such as power and memory management and basic software. However, Motorola relies on Java, which it licenses from Sun Microsystems, for many applications. Indeed, Schaumberg, Ill.-based Motorola announced the phone this week at Sun's JavaOne conference in San Francisco.

Quake3 for mobile devices !

via MobileTecheview :

QUAKE Mobile is in development by Bare Naked Productions for a new generation of mobile phone handsets which feature dedicated 3D graphics hardware. This new advancement allows the phone to display complex 3D environments and objects, representing a huge leap forward from the current generation of cell phones. A faithful conversion of the PC original, QUAKE Mobile offers players all of the action, speed and memorable characters and combat that took the gaming world by storm in 1996.

The first 3D-enabled mobile phones will hit the market this summer, with QUAKE Mobile available as an embedded game on the first of these handsets to be released by a Korean manufacturer in July.

Live8 site used Flash Video

Live8 : 10 concerts, 100 artists, a million spectators, 2 billion viewers, and 1 message... To get those 8 world leaders, in that 1 room, to stop 30,000 children dying every single day of extreme poverty.

In the video section of Live8's site all videos are in FLV format :

http://www.live8live.com/videos/

With the slogan  : We don't want your money - we want you! if you go the site you have only to join the list with a simple form (3 fields) or upload you photo.

You can't miss !

Flash Design For Mobile Devices course

via OmegaMedia I found this course about designing Flash apps for Mobile devices :

Flash Design For Mobile Devices
Enter the exciting era of mobile rich media development: Get comfortable with creating Flash content for PDAs, phones, and next generation mobile devices.

In this hands-on workshop, you'll see the best ways to use
Flash for mobile design through multiple demonstrations and examples.
You'll get overviews of the most relevant issues issues and then
cement your understanding through exercises. This is not a seminar -
Each attendee will work on their own computer.

What you get from this hands-on workshop:
• Overview of the mobile Flash space
• See cutting-edge examples of mobile Flash applications
• Capabilities and limitations of Flash for mobile development
• Key issues in usign Flash for mobile design
• Best practices for planning your mobile projects
• How to structure your projects for easy mobile conversion
• Design & Development tips and tricks
• Maximize Performance while keeping down memory and size
• See the best ways to present content on small screens
• Debug your projects once they're on a device
• Develop for multiple devices with minimal changes
• Create compelling interfaces & engaging user experiences
• Explore the opportunities for development
• See major resources that'll get you started quickly
• Practical experience you can start using right away
• Demos of essential third party utilities
• Design your own mobile portfolio

We'll also build a mobile portfolio in the workshop - Imagine having a
portable portfolio of all your best work (audio, video, graphics, Flash)
with you at all times.

See all the details for this course on OmegaMedia site.

Pocket PC Flash Content Contest Winners

A couple of day ago Macromedia published on its DevNet section the winners for the Pocket PC Flash Content contest.

You can see all the winners below or on the MM site :

Grand Prize Winner

Developer: Charlie Tai
Application: Temples of Taipei
Description: Take an interactive tour of the temples of Taipei with panoramic photos, videos, and guided tours.

Most Innovative Use of Flash Lite

Developer: Olga Sa, Unplugged TV
Application: Unplugged TV: The Chelsea Project
Description: Watch the first webisode of this interactive, animated series for girls.

Best Animation

Developer: John Chan, Postgal Workshop
Application: Ng Met Lee
Description: See professional, anime-style Flash animation in this mobile film.

Best Business Application

Developer: Massimo Falvo, 01design
Application: FlashAirlines
Description: Check personalized flight schedules, book flights, and get weather forecasts with this European travel application.

Best Educational Content

Developer: Pooya Partovi Azar, Negin Co. Ltd.
Application: History of Achaemenids
Description: Explore the world and rulers of the Achaemenids in this media-rich educational application.

Best Game

Developer: Normal Stams, Chromotronic
Application: Der Vampier
Description: Haunt your local mansion as a vampire swooping down on the residents.

Best Interactive Content

Developer: Charlie Tai
Application: Temples of Taipei
Description: Take an interactive tour of the temples of Taipei with panoramic photos, videos, and guided tours.

Best Productivity Application

Developer: Cody Tolmasoff
Application: The Negotiator
Description: Calculate your salary at different pay rates and tax rates, and factor in your personal expenses—great for when it comes time to negotiate your salary.

Best Overall Use of Flash Lite

Developer: Ivan Moen
Application: ExlibPDA
Description: Work up a sweat using this library and diary with information, videos, and muscle diagrams of dozens of gym exercises.

Forum Nokia Tech Days 2005

Did anybody plan to partecipate at next Forum Nokia Tech Days, the two-day workshop which will take place 7 - 8 June in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Visit the Nokia Forum site for more info.

I'd love to go and visiting Copenhagen, I've never been there.

LiteFeeds, RSS goes mobile

LiteFeeds make it possible to have RSS from your mobile devices (java enabled phones, BlackBerry, PocketPc), synch wit your online subscriptions, cached RSS locally, view Flickr and Buzznet photos and a lot more.
You have jost to :

Import some feeds and choose which you want mobile :
Import or Add some feeds to your account and select the feeds you want to receive on litefeeds mobile. 

Install litefeeds on your mobile device :
Litefeeds mobile is an application that you can install over the air to your mobile device (or download and install).

Scan feeds, view full text & images, and clip items:
Feeds are cached,compressed & stripped so your mobile experience is fast and simple.

Signup LiteFeeds and let me know about that ! :))

DoCoMo Claims 1Gbps Speeds In 4G Trial

Via Mobile Pipeline :

Japanese wireless operator NTT DoCoMo said Thursday that it has achieved data speeds of 1 Gbps in field tests of fourth-generation (4G) technology.

DoCoMo, which is generally credited with being the most successful operator offering 3G technology, has been researching and testing 4G technology for more than two years. The company said that it achieved its 1 Gbps speeds using a technology called Variable Spreading Factor-Spread Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (VSF-Spread OFDM). The system also uses Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna technology, the company said in a statement.

The company said it will continue its research and field trial program and that its goal is to develop a global standard for 4G. It said it will work with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to develop that standard.

NTT DoCoMo said its goal -- and the goal of the Japanese government -- is to have 4G service commercialized by 2010.

The Smartphone Show Presented by Symbian

With more than 32 million shipped phones so far and 180% growth year on year, Symbian OS is the worldwide leading smartphone OS. Its clear vision for the smartphone market is based on an inclusive and shared strategy across the mobile industry. Its standard-setting position at the center of the smartphone value chain has allowed Symbian to forge close relationships with the leading global handset manufacturers, mobile operators, component manufacturers and software developers to create a unique, innovative smartphone ecosystem.

Read all the info on official Smartphone Show site.

Initiative to deploy Java-based video communication tools for

On June 23 ESPRE Solutions, Inc. Rolls out New Java-Based Video Initiative to Allow Users to Video Enable Their Web-Based Communications - Mobile Collaboration, Video Messaging, Video Conferencing and Streaming Video.

ESPRE Solutions, Inc., (Pink Sheet:EPRT) a Dallas-based media solutions and video technology company with a revolutionary and patented video compression technology, today announced that it has launched a formal initiative to deploy Java-based video communication tools for web programmers and communications providers to video enable their web communication solutions.

Read the Press Release.

Since launching the latest version of eViewMail with a new Java-based encoder and player in February of this year, ESPRE's management team has been architecting a long-term strategy for delivering each of its existing video communication solutions via Java-based environments. According to Sun Microsystems, developers of the Java programming language, over 650 million PCs and 579 million mobile phones or other handheld devices are Java-enabled. That translates to over 90% of today's personal computers using some form of Java. According to Momentum Research, the Java brand is one of the hottest technology brands in the world, recognized by over 86% of tech-savvy consumers around the globe. Porting to a Java-based framework allows ESPRE to capture significant market presence and deliver one-of-a-kind video communication solutions to Java-enabled devices such as cell phones, PDAs, personal computers and set-top boxes.

Step by step instructions to get internet via bluetooth for free

On FlahsLite list there was an interesting post about GPRS where Naz explained his technique to get internet via bluetooth for free. He uses a surecom bluetooth dongle, and he needs to establish a bluetooth
serial connection to my N-gage after pairing before I can go surfing
on it.
Follow the step by step instructions :

This is totally free because i've checked my net usage on my phone
account and it hasnt moved a bit. I've also took precaution and erased
all the access points for my ATT GPRS so there is no way

it can connect to the net through there.

1. install a bluetooth dongle and all its drivers
2. pair computer with phone, authorize the connection and remember
your computer's name that you use to pair the phone with.
3. install pc suite in your phone
4. go to settings->connection->access points
5. options->new access point->use default settings

connection name: (whatever you ex. bluetooth dsl)
data bearer: GPRS
Access point name: your computer's name, the same name that shows up
when you
pair the bluetooth with the phone.
user name: none
prompt password: no
password: none (leave alone)
authentication: secure
gateway IP add: 0.0.0.0

6. now go back and you should see the access point you just set up.
7. go back to connection settings->GPRS

GPRS connection : When needed
Access point: your computer's name, the same name that shows up when
you pair the bluetooth with the phone.

8. install Opera (internet browser)
9. turn on bluetooth and connect your phone with PC suite
10. if you've done all of these step properly you can now use the
internet on your phone via bluetooth connection.
11. thank me. =]

*Note i am using a N-gage so i'm not sure if it will work on different
phones but the concept should be the same. Oh, and i'm using a belkin
F8T001 bluetooth adapter. belkin works great, it has all the profiles
for pc suite to work

Kero Pro Beta service released

My friend Alessandro Pace has just released his Kero Pro service that uses FlashLite as client technology.

Kero Pro is a service oriented and distributed mobile platform which delivers content on demand to mobile phones such as Plugins applications, Games, Multimedia, City infos, Sport, Ads, News, RSS, Blogs, KMS, SMS, and more…

You can download Kero for free from Biskero. If you do not find your phone from the list, try to download the closest to your. If you find any issue please let me know, feedback is welcome !

Also you can visit my blog and see some screenshots in the Kero section.

• How to use it:
  you need first to create an account. When you start the application choose ‘new’ to create the account with username password and email. Then you can login with your username/password and begin to browse the content.
• Limitations:
  Currently the Kms, Media and Sport section do not contain content, I am working on it !
• Note: the application installs under the Flash directory on the phone. Also it uses the internet to load content so you need to have internet data plan on your phone.

Great job friend !!

Italian rulez ;)

John Muhlner of Sun describes the MSA initiative

John Muhlner is the J2ME Platform Marketing Manager at Sun Microsystems. He's been with Sun since 2002, and is responsible for driving standardization of Java technology relating to mobile devices. John holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is a member of the expert group for the two Java Specification Requests (JSRs) currently defining the Mobile Service Architecture (MSA) within the Java Community Process, JSR 248 and JSR 249.

In this interview, John describes the MSA initiative, Sun's involvement in it, and the benefits he expects for manufacturers, operators, and developers. He also gives us his insights into the future of J2ME technology.

Read the entire interview on developer.sun.com.

Symbian installer wizard

I found this free tool for creating sis files :

KVT Symbian Installer is a Make SIS wizard program. It make sis file ( SIS file is a file installer for Symbian OS Phone like nokia 3650, 3660, 6600, 7610, 7650, ... and another phone ...) It's easy to use, just follow some step, you can make a SIS installer file.

Some of the features are :

- Create SIS file for Nokia Series 60 phone (for anothers phone will release in version 2)
- Add your own popup text in installation file
- You can choose each file's path (C or E)
- KVT Symbian Installer's interface suport 2 language : English and Khmer
- Work on Windows 2000 or later (Not work on windows 98)
- And another features

FlashLite checklist, for a better mobile flash application

I wrote this checklist for using during the testing phase of a FlashLite application.
These guidelines are intended for use by FlashLite developers (like me :) ).

Although this checklist is clearly geared towards FlashLite applications, many items also apply to mobile applications.

You can download the FlashLite checklist in FlashPaper format on FlashLite group.

Your feedback can influence the ideas and guidelines described here so  if you have suggestions  please provide me with your feedback.

Top 10 mobile games publishers in Europe

via Mobile Weblog:

Mobile Games Analyst, part of Informa, have just published a list of the top 10 mobile games publishers in Europe:

1 Gameloft 165
2 InfoSpace 125
3 Sumea 121
4 In-Fusio 117
5 Digital Bridges (I-play) 111
6 THQW 108
7 Sorrent 96
8 Living Mobile 92
9 Jamdat 89
10 iFone 88

Skype Phone for Nokia 6680

via MySymbian :

Useful Skype Phone enables full duplex Skype voice calls from mobile phone. Run Useful client on the phone, connect it to the PC over Bluetooth and place/receive Skype calls as you do normal cellular calls. Skype and Useful server should run on the PC. The setup of this program installs Useful server on the PC and Useful client on the phone. Useful Skype Phone enhances Useful Skype PTT by allowing full duplex voice communications, but is limited to Nokia 6630 and 6680 for now.

I'm valuating if buying it ....

MAX 2005 Sessions

Paul Lamonby from BlueskyNorth posted on FlashLite list that he has been invited to present a session again at Max2005 about  Developing Games for Flash Lite.

These are the tracks for mobile and devices :

Game Development for Flash Lite
Advanced Flash Lite Development
Flash Lite: How You Can Make Money
Flash on Every Screen
New Flash Lite Deployments
Flash Lite 2.0 Evolution
Flash Lite 1.0 Game Development for i-mode in Europe
Next Generation Flash Authoring for Mobile Developers
Dolce & Gabanna: Developing a Cross-Platform Flash Game
XD: The Structural Design of World-Class Mobile Experiences

The MAX 2005 sessions are grouped into five tracks, designed to help you locate the sessions most applicable to your job. The five tracks are:

Designing Rich Content
It isn't enough just to be different — learn techniques and practices that enable you to create media with real impact and the power to communicate in new ways. These sessions teach you the latest tools for creating more expressive Flash content, how to use new video features effectively, and how to create powerful, standards-compliant eLearning content rapidly with Captivate, Flash, and Breeze.

Developing Web Sites & Applications
Designing and publishing diverse content to the Web — Internet or intranet — is a central development problem for many organizations. Macromedia has been working toward evolving a complete and fully integrated set of tools to make the job easier than it has ever been. This track focuses on new features in Dreamweaver and ColdFusion MX 7 along with Contribute to build powerful Web information systems -- from blogs and rich forms to print-ready documents.

Developing Rich Internet Applications
This track focuses on techniques and technical challenges in building rich Internet applications using the powerful array of tools Macromedia provides: Flex, Flash, Flash Communication Server, and Breeze. Sessions address application architecture and rich interface design as well as basic and advanced development techniques, addressing problems like data access, creating components, and optimizing application performance.

Mobile and Devices
Flash Lite is creating a revolution in the development of rich content for mobile phones and devices. This track will help you get into the fastest growing field in Flash development. Sessions focus on both technical and design challenges for devices, as well as understanding the business side of selling applications for devices.

Vertical Market Solutions
Learn from some the greatest success stories with Macromedia products. This track focuses on some of the most innovative sites and applications in different sectors, including government, education, telecommunications, and the financial world. Come learn how the cutting edge work of others can help you create more powerful solutions yourself.

MXNA Flash Lite Data Services Updated

Mike has posted on FlashLite list and on his weblog about the update of MXNA FlashLite Data Service.

These are some of the changes :

• Data returned from all Flash Services containing multiple records now as a terminator of "end=1".
• If the data contains multiple records, the first parameter returned is always the "rows" parameter which tells you how many rows of data are being returned (to make iterating over the data easier).
• Any function that returns a date now takes in a UTC offset so that local time can be calucated on the server (which is easier than doing it in Flash Lite on the phone). You can get the offset from the phone by calling the GetTimeZoneOffset() function.
• I've split dates up into two parameters: date (m/d/yyyy) and time (H:mm:ss). These formats are more consistent with the GetLocaleTime() and GetLocaleShortDate() Flash Lite functions.
• Any functions that return rows of posts now also return each post's relative ranking (0-11) which corresponds to the star ranking system used in MXNA.
• Any functions that return rows of posts now also include the feed name.
• I added a getMostPopularPosts function which takes in a "period" parameter allowing you specify the number of days for which you want the most popular posts.

Symbian Commander for Series60

To explorer my file system on my Nokia I ever used FExplorer (see an old post titled The MustHave mobile software to test and develop for FlashLite)

but today I see this news via AllAboutSymbian:

These seem to be popular - probably because every developer decides he needs his own certain view on the filing system. Symbian Commander from Unteh takes the starting point of the classic Norton Commander / XTree Gold split screen view and turns out a suprisingly nice looking manager.

Anybody out there have ever used it ?

FlashLite presentation and code sample from Richard

Richard Leggett has just posted on FlashLite list the url for his last night presentation during the LMMUG event. 

Download slides and files.

He told that he'll be fixing the AS2 version and re-uploading, for now it's alpha code, it's the Flash Lite stuff that its really there for.
Thanks for sharing Richard !

Read the FlashLite list post.

Happy birthday FlashLite list

The boy grows into a man !

FlashLite list celebrates its first month of life :)

The list grew under new members that today reached the number of 100 users !

Mobile and Device Tracks at JavaOne 2005

At JavaOne, you can listen to technical sessions, participate in birds-of-a-feather sessions, listen to panels of experts and ask questions, and try things out in hands-on labs.
There are a lot of stuff on J2ME. I wish I could leave for San Francisco for partecipating at Java conference. I'll join the event here in Italy on 22nd and 23rd of June in Milan.
Anyway here they are some of the dates about J2ME :

TS-3072 Better Life Through Chemistry: Cooking Up a Complete Device Platform With the CDC Stack

TS-3221 Advanced MIDP Programming: Creating Custom User Interface Components

TS-3234 Mobile Bluetooth Networking With JSR 82: Practical Recommendations and Advanced Practices

TS-3242 Real-Life Use of JSR 179: Location API for the J2ME Platform

TS-3267 Blueprint for Creating High-Performance, Portable J2ME Applications

TS-3401 Unleashing the Performance of the Advanced J2ME Platform

TS-3489 Online Mobile Gaming Overview for the J2ME Platform

TS-3541 Developing High-Security Java Card Applications

TS-5251 Cryptographic Authentication With Java Card Technology

TS-5758 Wireless Functionalities Within Reach Using the Parlay/OSA Java API

• TS-7069 Mobile Java Technologies and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
• TS-7091 Java Technology Goes to the Movies: Java Technology in Next-Generation Optical Disc Technologies
• TS-7105 Building Portable and Scalable Mobile Applications Using JSR 226
• TS-7136 Java Card Technology and Tomorrow's Security Architectures
• TS-7149 Multitasking VMs: More Performance, Less Memory – A Technical Discussion
• TS-7178 The Future ARM Architecture for Execution Environments
• TS-7193 Mobile Passenger Management : Using J2ME to Minimize Disruption in the Airline Industry
• TS-7258 Mobile Service Architecture Initiative: The Latest News on JSR 248 and 249
• TS-7634 JSR 253: Mobile Telephony API for the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition
• TS-7692 IMS: The Gateway to Mobility for Java Technology Applications
• TS-7694 Enhance Your Java Technology-Based Smart Phones With SIM Applications
• TS-7888 Beyond JSR 172: A Wireless Component Architecture to Enable Mobile Web Services

Don't limit yourself to these few sessions. You can see all sessions in the JavaOne 2005 site :

JavaOne 2005

JavaOne Online

JavaOne 2005 Session Topics

JavaOne 2005 Topics - the Cool Stuff Track

Flash Lite Player error codes technotes

I found on Macromedia Flash Lite Technotes this small but useful resource that lists  possible error codes  when developing with Flash Lite.

This post is a reminder for me. :)

Error Code	Error
1	Out of memory
2	Stack limit reached
3	Corrupt SWF Data
4	ActionScript stuck
5	Infinite AS loop
6	Bad JPEG data
7	Bad sound data
8	Can not find host
9	ActionScript error
10	URL too long

Italian pasta maker goes mobile with FlashLite

Alessandro Pace and I will be working on a project for a major Italian pasta maker.
The idea is create a mobile recipe platform for mobile users. The platform will
have a client/server architecture using Flash Lite as client technology.
A user will have the following functionalities on their mobile phone:

- Create a recipe with a picture
- Searching for a recipe using ingredients
- Lookup Top recipes
- Web recipe community with comments and pictures

The project is very cool and we'll do our best to create a great experience using FlashLite.

New Nokia phones FlashLite enabled

Paul Wilson reported on the FlashLite list that the new Nokia phones are Flash Lite enabled.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/13/nokia_connection_2005/

Great !!

Quick reference to develop FlashLite apps on Nokia Series60

These are 2 posts I sent to the FlasLite list where I'm trying to collect information on Series60 Platform ( the first post is here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FlashLite/message/140, the second one is here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FlashLite/message/173).

I'd love to share information on Nokia Series60 to enable flashlite developers like me to access a reference more quickly.

Series 60 devices features :

Screen size : 176x208 pixel
Color Screen
Digital Camera
Music Player
PIM application (Contacts ad Calendar)
Media Gallery
Video Recorder
Sound Recorder
Radio (only FM)


Browser Support
- WAP 2.0
- XHTML MP
- WML

Communication
- Infrared (I heard Nokia NGage does not support this feature)
- Bluetooth
- telephony

Character Encoding
- English and Italian : ISO/IEC 8859-1 and ISO-8859-1 (preferred)

Java™ 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME™) APIs :
- Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) 1.0
- Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) 1.0
- Wireless Messaging API (JSR-120)
- Mobile Media API (JSR-135)

Feel free to add your detailed information to provide a complete and central and quickly reference for building a development guidance for Series60
phones.

Compilling a Flash Lite book

This is a forward from FlashLite list by Jermaine Anderson :

Hello all,

I've had many emails asking about flash lite and
whether there will be a book is coming out soon. If
there is anybody interested in compilling one let me
know as I have already drafted a few ideas.

Also if anybody is in contact with any publishers,
please do let me know.

Because we have a wonderful mix of nationalities in
this community we could also think about translating
any projects.

let me know if you have any ideas...

Jermaine

If you wanna reply you can find the post under Flashlite list.

Browser for Series 60 will incorporate some features found in Safari

New browser for Nokia's Series 60 software will incorporate some
of the same open-source technology found in Safari.

via CNET News :

Nokia has tapped Apple Computer's open-source knowledge for its next-generation smart-phone browsing.

The new browser for Nokia's Series 60 smart-phone software package is expected to debut in June. It will incorporate some of the same open-source technology found in Apple's Safari Web browser, WebCore and JavaScriptCore, based on KHTML and KJS from the open-source K Desktop Environment's (KDE) Konquerer browser.

Nokia's new browser will be easier for developers to customize and will provide users with new features, the company said. Data traffic is already becoming a key part of Nokia's growth strategy. The phone maker is hoping to see data grow to 23 percent of mobile operators' revenue by 2009.

Nokia also said it will be working with Apple on open source in the future and will be actively involved in the open-source community.

"Open source software and Linux is an interesting phenomenon--it is not new for Nokia," said Tero Ojanpera, Nokia's chief strategy officer. "We are more and more using open source in our developments."

Job request for FlashLite devlopers

I found this post from Macromedia FlashLite newsgrop :

I have a great concept for a mobile messaging application utilizing FlashLite.
I'm looking to chat with a good Flash developer to get feedback and exchange
ideas. Interested? Email me!

Chris W.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
53 Mobile Entertainment
it-ent@comcast.net

What's New in the J2ME Wireless Toolkit Chat Sessions

via Java.Sun.com :

The J2ME Wireless Toolkit is a state-of-the-art toolbox for developing J2ME wireless applications designed to run on cell phones, personal digital assistants, and other small mobile devices. This popular tool has won a number of awards, including the Wireless/Mobile Development Product of the Year as voted by developer.com. Join this chat and find out what's new and cool in the J2ME Wireless Toolkit. Bring your questions and get answers from Ariel Levin, lead engineer for the Toolkit, writer Jonathan Knudsen, who's written a lot about the Toolkit, and product marketing manager E-ming Saung.

The Chat session will be in June 14, 2005 9:00 A.M. PDT/16:00 UTC. 
Go and visit the Sun site for : What's New in the J2ME Wireless Toolkit?

Flash Platform and Flash Mobile keyword categories at MXNA

I was reading a Jhon Dowdell's post and I saw this :

..... and you can track this subject from a range of writers in the new Flash Platform and Flash Mobile keyword categories at MXNA.

I noticed I was automatically added to Flash Mobile category.
Great !

Use MXNA for your mobile with MXNA Flash Services for FlashLite

From Christian Cantrell weblog I found that post about new MXNA Flash Services :

The MXNA Flash Services (alpha) are data services which are compatible with Flash's loadVariables function and loadVars object. Rather than returning data in XML format like the MXNA web services, all the data is encoded in a query string which Flash can load and parse into Flash variables. Flash Services were specifically created for Flash Lite Mobile applications to take advantage of.

See the entire post here :

http://weblogs.macromedia.com/mxna/flashservices/

StoryMaker FlashLite application

StoryMaker, a FlashLite application, is searching for beta testers.

With Story Maker you can, as the name already implies, make your own visual stories which you can send to your friends. It started as a schoolproject a few months ago and as I speak we completed the prototype. Now we're looking for testers and every reaction or comment is welcome..

I saw and played with the application and it's very cool and well designed.
Great job guys !

Kevin Lynch' Flash Platform Breeze session

Yesterday  I missed Kevin's Breezo but I saw a interesting post in FlashLite list about that session by Tim Walling :

Listened in today on the live discussion by Kevin Lynch. Mobile
development was talked about quite a bit. I believe the meeting was
recorded and will be made available for anyone who missed it.

It was basically a long Q/A session which was great because Kevin took a
variety of questions. The beginning of the meeting was pretty much a
quick review of the Flash Platform whitepaper.

I'll see if I can remember a few points (I didn't take any notes)

- "Deuce" is in devlopment (we knew this)
- in addition to AS 2.0, looking at phone features such as sound, video
was up in the air, he said it depends on the device and they are looking
into it
- addressed the push for targeting the largest mobile phone carriers,
getting them to adopt flash lite so its installed by default
- addressed a question concerning upgrading, said it depends on the
device, a lot of the devices that come with flash lite or will come it,
will have the player burned into the ROM, some devices you can install
the player, this will lead to a slower turnaround for upgrading since
its dependent on people just getting a new phone that has an updated player
- looking at flash lite in flex, said for now flex is targeting large
screens/pc, etc, they are looking at the types of patterns people
develop when working on apps on small devices so that they can then take
these patterns and make them available in flex

There are some other things I'm missing... I thought it was a great
session, it was nice of Kevin to take so many questions.

Great summary Tim !

Thanks

NTT DoCoMo stops 2G production

NTT DoCoMo will stop developing new second-generation (2G) cellular phone handsets after two or so new models are released this year, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun learned Wednesday.
NTT DoCoMo intends to expand its 3G handset lineup further by starting to add new phone models.

NTT DoCoMo launched the 1st Architectural Design Competition

Japanese telecoms giant, NTT DoCoMo, has launched an architectural competition to explore a conceptual Keitai City. Keitai is slang for mobile/cell phone in Japan.

Entrants should present provocative ideas, taking into account the possible translation of a work into a video.

Read the rules and theme on Japan-architect site.

The Bible for Flashlite Developer: Macromedia Flash4 User Guide

Finally I found it.
It's the official Macromedia Flash 4 User Guide. This is your first step for learning to develop on FlashLite (now it's based on Flash4 syntax).
 
Very useful chapters  for flashliters are :

CHAPTER 8
Using Symbols and Instances  pg.141

CHAPTER 10
Creating Interactive Movies  173

CHAPTER 11
Creating Interface Elements  205

CHAPTER 12
Adding Sound    213

But the whole User Guide is a must-read !

I've uploaded the file in the FlashLite Group, so you can free download it there.

Brewing Up Something Flashy

I found this article via TheFeature site talked about FlashLite and Brew merging.

Macromedia says it will port Flash Lite to Qualcomm's BREW system. The open nature of Flash might seem diametrically opposed the closed nature of BREW, but the two fit together in an interesting way.
2005 has been a breakout year for Flash Lite. While it was already popular in Japan, it's announced big licensing deals and been highly visible at industry events this year, and today announced it would develop Flash Lite for Qualcomm's BREW system.
One particularly compelling part of Flash Lite -- and something Macromedia likes to trumpet -- is the large existing pool of Flash developers and the ease with which Flash Lite applications can be written. They also emphasize how powerful Flash can be, both to create rich applications, but also its ability to reach down in the phone and become a user interface. All those points are valid and significant ones.

Read the entire Brewing Up Something Flashy site.

SIS extension, this unknown

People often (especially FlashLite developers) write me or post to the FlashLite newgroup or mailing list, asking for knowing more about SIS extension.
SIS stands for Symbian Installation System and it's a system that provides a simple user interface for installing apps, data and configuration information to Symbian OS.

From the Symbian Developer Library we have this definition :

The Symbian Installation System provides a simple and consistent user interface for installing applications, data, or configuration information to EPOC devices. End users install components packaged in EPOC Installation (sis) files either from a PC, using the installer, or from an EPOC Device, using the Add/remove program.

Two tools are provided to enable developers to create installation files:

• The Installation File Generator — creates the installation files from a specification provided in a package file.

• The Certificate Generator — creates private/public key pairs, which are used by the Installation File Generator to digitally sign installation files.

The Sisar GUI tool provides a simple way to create .sis files: for details see the Sisar Guide. It is possible though to write the required .pkg files by hand, and compile them using command-line tools, and this section contains the information to do so.

Windows Mobile Tool Support Matrix

via Windows Mobile Team Blog :

Updated Windows Mobile Tool Support Matrix

A while back, I posted a diagram illustrating how our tools map to versions of the platform.  That generated quite of bit of customer feedback from .NET CF developers who want to use the latest tools while still being able to target users with a wide range of devices.

See tha matrix from the Windows Mobile Team Blog.

Listen to podcasts on your Nokia Series60

You need:
1. A cellphone that can play MP3 and has a memory card
2. iPodder or a similar software
3. Windows Media Player 10
4. A card reader for the memory card of your phone

.... and of course, have a read at this :

How to listen to podcasts on your mobile phone

NTT DoCoMo setted up a US-based venture capital fund

via TheFeature :

Some operators like NTT DoCoMo are putting money into technology development by investing in companies doing technical research. But at the same time, DoCoMo says it's delaying its HSDPA launch because there's no content to make use of the high-speed connections. So, if DoCoMo is to be believed, the fast network is ready; the content is not. So why increase technology spending, but not throw content developers some cash?

Go and read the entire article.

FlashLite 2, codename Deuce

In the new Macromedia Platform section you can have more info about FlashLite 2 (code name Deuce) :

The next major release of Flash Lite, code-named Deuce, is based on Flash Player 7, which will elevate scripting
for mobile applications to a more powerful level with ActionScript 2 support.

You can read the whole article on this PDF

Roadmap for Mobile Web Development with ASP.NET

The ASP.NET mobile controls (formerly known as the Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit (MMIT)) extend the power of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET to build mobile Web applications by enabling ASP.NET to deliver markup to a wide variety of mobile devices.

This is the  roadmap for mobile web development technologies in ASP.NET from ASP.NET 1.1 to beyond the release of ASP.NET 2.0 published by ASP.NET site.

Mobile Web development with ASP.NET 1.x

Today, developers use the ASP.NET 1.x mobile controls (formerly known as the Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit) to built applications which target a broad range of devices. These controls dynamically render different markup languages (including HTML, cHTML, WML, and XHTML) depending on what the device supports.

Mobile Web development with ASP.NET 2.0

ASP.NET 2.0 will introduce a new control adapter architecture that allows any ASP.NET 2.0 server control to create alternate behaviors for other browsers, including mobile devices (this adapter architecture is similar to the technology used in the ASP.NET 1.x mobile controls). By default the ASP.NET 2.0 controls render XHTML.

The ASP.NET 2.0 release will also include the ASP.NET 1.1 mobile controls, as well as all of the ASP.NET 1.1 adapters up until the last device update (DU4). Microsoft recommends that developers use the ASP.NET 1.1 mobile controls to build applications designed to target a broad range of mobile devices on ASP.NET 2.0

ASP.NET 2.0 runtime will introduce new features requested by developers who build mobile web applications:

• Simplified device filtering: Adding device filtering can now be achieved declaratively using simple markup.
• Cookieless per device: this is a new ASP.NET 2.0 feature that allows a per-device or request handling of the cookieless requirement. In ASP.NET 1.x this was a blanket setting for the application regardless of the device capability.
• Simplified browser capabilities file: The format of the browser capabilities file has been simplified to make it more manageable. Browser capabilities were already abstracted into more manageable files in ASP.NET 1.1 and the concept is improved further in ASP.NET 2.0. Developers now can manage updates and changes to individual browser files, rather than machine.config, web.config and config files for device updates.
• New ASP.NET 2.0 features such as membership, profile, pluggable session state and more.

You can read the entire Roadmap for Mobile Web Development with ASP.NET

Delivering Flash content and applications on BREW now it's possible !

From Macromedia Press Release :

Elite BREW developer to bring Macromedia Flash-based services to the U.S. market

San Diego and San Francisco - June 3, 2005 - QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) and Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR) today announced an agreement under which Macromedia may distribute Flash-based mobile applications developed using the BREW solution. With more than 98 percent penetration on Internet-connected desktop computers and more than 30 million Flash-enabled devices shipping, Flash enables the delivery of rich content, applications, and communications across all platforms. In addition to the agreement, Macromedia has signed on as an Elite member of the BREW Alliance Program.

"Macromedia believes that great mobile experiences build great business," said Al Ramadan, executive vice president and general manager, mobile and devices, Macromedia. "Delivering Flash content and applications on BREW will help us achieve our mission to provide a solution that supports the development of a new generation of creative, innovative and visually stunning content, communications, and applications."

"The line is blurring between feature-rich content on PCs and on mobile phones and devices as we see technologies like Flash make their way to the wireless realm," said Gina Lombardi, senior vice president of marketing and product management for QUALCOMM Internet Services. "Macromedia's decision to provide Flash-based services for the BREW solution will allow us to combine the power of two commercially proven technologies, and enable us to enhance the look and feel of BREW applications."

Wow ... this scenario opens great doors for flash developers !

Camera Phone Test Image Gallery

I was searching for a table of comparison for different cameras on different mobile phones 'cause i'm valuating to buy a new phone for using as a testing for my next Macromedia FlashLite applications.
I found this article from PcMagazine where to test mobile phone cameras, we take several shots with each camera. We set the camera to its best image quality, lowest possible compression, automatic white balance, and medium brightness (if that's an option). First, we take a picture of a still life under "simulated daylight" in our labs using full-spectrum bulbs. Then, we take a low-light picture of the same still life with fewer lamps on, and another picture in low light using the camera's flash, if possible.
See the

ongoing slide-show comparison.

FlashLite checklist (beta1), for a better development :)

I tried to collect and sorting some checkpoints I use for testing and developing better application in mobile field with FlashLite.
This is a first version. Feel free to let me know if you have more checkpoints you want to add.

Download FlashLite_CheckList.swf

A thanks to Alessandro for his reviews and check spelling !

Wizard to create effective mobile apps in Flash Lite 1.1

Richard wrote the news in the Macromedia FlashLite newsgroup :

SWF2SIS is a wizard designed to help you create more effective applications in Flash Lite 1.1 for mobile handsets using the Series 60 Operating system from Symbian.

In short, SWF2SIS provides a way to package your application .swf file with any extra files (sfws, txt files etc.) and attach an icon which will appear on the handset's menu, then save it all in a single installer file.

You can purchase SWF2SIS directly from us now using PayPal. The price is $40.
It looks like  great tool for flashliters :)

3 Launches UK's First Mobile Blogging Service

The service is known as My Gallery and  integrates 3G technology and Web blogging, with pictures or videos sent from a video mobile instantly published to a customer's unique Web site, hosted by Yospace's Media Community Platform.
Reading from 3 site :

Welcome to My Gallery - the place to store and share all your pictures and video clips. Organise them into online albums or publish your own instant website. Then invite your mates to admire your handiwork - there's even space for them to tell you what they think!

Share your pictures with the world

• Create your website in an instant - just send an MMS to 3333
• Show off your creative talents - snap, send and you're done!
• Be the envy of your friends - let them take a look and have their say
• Why wait 'til you next see them - show them right now!

Windows Media Player 10 for Mobile

via PcMagazine :

The first phone to use Windows Media Player 10, the Audiovox SMT 5600 is a hands-down crowdpleaser for both consumers and businesspeople alike. It packs in excellent Outlook syncing capabilities and provides the best multimedia experience we've seen on a phone. Add to that a fine design and excellent battery life, and we had no choice but name it our latest Editors' Choice for smart phones.

Get a rebate on the Audiovox SMT 5600 featuring Windows Media Player 10 Mobile.

Macromedia FlashLite 1.1 Breeze session

I missed it but I'll wait the recorded version :).
For nowyou can read from Alessandro Pace blog, who joined the Breezo and did a summary :

Beta program for Flash Lite 2

Persistent data on cell (no details, just few words on this: “try to fix it” !)

Next version of the IDE, 8Ball, will have a Flash Lite phone emulator.

Flash Lite Team members to be added in the fall (busy time for Flash Lite ?) I guess so !!!

Orange launches mobile TV for UK customers

Orange announced the launch of the UK's first TV-on-the-mobile service - Orange TV - allowing customers to watch news, sport and entertainment programmes on their phone.

Orange TV will initially be available on the Nokia 6680 from Orange, with further handsets to follow throughout the year. Customers simply download the TV application for free from Orange World, then pay a subscription of £10 per month to watch the channels.

Customers can download the application for free and will then be charged 10 pounds ($18.40) per month to watch the channels, which gives them about 20 hours of viewing time.

Windows Mobile 5, NASA, C# and Direct3D

This is a PocketPC version of WW (WorldWide) desktop software.
Very impressive !
Read the entire story about developing this application.

Mobile video streaming: the killer application for 3G?

Each mobile technology has a killer application. 2G (GSM) have SMS. 2.5G (CDMA and GPRS) have e-mail access. 3G promisses video streaming, but some say it's already here. Is this really the the case?

Find it out :)

Generate FlashLite SWFs from any .NET language

Richard Leggettmk wrote in the FlashLite list :

Interesting product from Blue Pacific, allows you to generate Flash
Lite SWFs from any .NET language, and on the server with IIS.

http://www.flashmobile.org/ for a little bit more.

TMobile and new Motorola RAZR V3

T-Mobile (strategic Macromedia partner AND LICENSING AGREEMENT FOR FLASH LITE)  customers will finally be able to get their hands on the Motorola RAZR V3 beginning this fall.

via Endgadget.

Simulating mobile navigation from Flash IDE

I saw many people in trouble when they try to test flashlite on FlashMx 2004 IDE.
Remember that you have only 2 option to test your movie :
• The Flash Player Test Movie command (Control > Test Movie)
• Flash Player on the manufacturer’s phone

So here they are some tips :

1. Disable keyboard shortcut when test your movies inside FL IDE.To do this select Control > Disable keyboard shortcuts in the Test Movie window.

2. If you receive some errors from output Panel, be not scared of it. It simply means that your actions are not supported by the flashlite player. The common error about this task is for key events. I uploaded a simple FLA with two buttons for navigating to next and previous frame.

The Actionscript for the buttons is very simple :

on (keyPress "<Enter>") {
  nextFrame();

}

on (keyPress "<Enter>") {
 
  prevFrame();
}

When test movie try to press Up or Space keys and see the Output panel :

*** Flash Lite Warning - FTPE001: the key will not be processed:   keycode: 32

Download the FLA

Yahoo services go Mobile

Yahoo services goes mobile :)

Yahoo! Messenger
Send and receive IMs, connect with all your friends.

Yahoo! Mail
Read and send emails on your mobile phone.

Text Message From Your PC
Text message your mobile friends.

Search New!
Yahoo! Search on your mobile phone.

Create Alerts
Get real-time updates delivered to your phone.

Mobile Web
Learn how to use mobile versions of Yahoo! services.

Find a Wi-Fi Hotspot
Locate a wireless hotspot and connect to the net.

Upload Photos New!
Upload camera phone pictures to your Yahoo! Photos account. Free and unlimited storage of camera phone pictures.*
*Check your wireless plan for applicable fees.

Mobile Games
Download a wide range of games to your phone. Play puzzle, casino, sports, and adventure games in a spare moment.

Yahoo! Ringtones
Personalize your Cingular mMode phone with ringtones from top artists in Hip-Hop/R&B, Pop, Classic Rock and more.

Yahoo! Photos
View and share your online albums. Download photos as screensavers, create a mobile album, run a slideshow.

Is that Nellymoser famous for audio codec in FCS ?

I found this link and I was curious to understand if this is the same Nellymoser (that I hate :) ) that produced the audio codec for video registered by FlashComm.

Visit the Nellymoser site and tell me what you think about !!

Nokia LifeBlog

I'm downloading the Nokia LifeBlog trial for my mobile phone.
It creates a diary of all your mobile phone's photos, videos, text messages, and multimedia messages. It's the living timeline that's easy to browse, search, edit, and save - on both your PC and mobile!
It seems to be very cool, and I'm eager to test it !!

FlashVideo for Nokia enhanced 3D game graphics

No words ... See the new video for game graphics for Nokia’s next generation mobile gaming solution.
It's so cool and it's a flash video, too.

See also all Press Conference Video from E3 Conference:

Press Conference Video Part 1
Press Conference Video Part 2
Press Conference Video Part 3
Experience Testimonial Video
Business Testimonial Video
Press Release
3D Demo Video

New NTT DoCoMo mobile phone

via Nick Gerig :
Via wireless Watch Japan, NTT DoCoMo unveil 5 new additions to their massive range of phones.

Although I couldnt find any detailed specification, its a fair guess all five come with Flash Lite 1.1. One interesting bit of new functionality is the use of i-appli to provide menu icon sets for the UI.
......cut.

Bill Perry at Macromedia told me that each handset goes through a certification process for Flash Lite to ensure it's compatible.  Once it passes certification then it becomes an official Flash Lite compatible phone.
So I think we have to wait for knowing about FlashLite compatibility with every new phones announced :(

N-Gage 2 announced during E3 by Nokia

NOKIA PRESS RELEASE May 18, 2005

Nokia expands N-Gage quality gaming across smartphone portfolio

Making it easy to enjoy rich 3D and connected gaming with Nokia smartphones

Los Angeles, CA - Nokia today unveiled its plans for its evolution of connected mobile gaming, which will make it easy to search for, purchase and play high-quality mobile games using a range of Nokia smartphones. The aim of this next generation of mobile gaming is to expand the N-Gage platform's rich connected multiplayer experience across a wide range of Nokia's multimedia devices.

Read the Nokia Press Release.

First number of Macromedia Mobile Developer Newsletter

Today I received an email from Macromedia about mobile. This is part of great stuff for joining the Macromedia Mobile Developer Program.
If you did not join yet, do not wait time. FlashLite rocks ! And it opens new opportunities and frontier for Flash developers.

Welcome to the first issue of the Mobile Developer Newsletter, created exclusively for members of the Macromedia Mobile Developer Program. Sent on a quarterly basis, the newsletter provides information on the latest trends and best practices for developing rich mobile content. We hope you will enjoy reading this.

In This Issue 

Changing the Mobile Experience       
Macromedia Flash:The Mobile Market’s Next Act 
NYC Traffic: Dynamic Content on the Go    
"2001"—An Animator's Odyssey in Mobile Space

Which Opera do you like for your mobile ?

In our FlashLite group asked where to download Opera for some different mobile phone models.

Here it is the Symbian version page for downloading Opera Browser.

Mobile Google Maps with GPS and Python

via GPSwanderer :

The launch of Google Maps in the UK this week has coincided with the desire to write some Python code for my Nokia 6630 mobile phone. As Matt Croydon's PythonForSeries60 shows, there are an increasing number of interesting projects written using the Python SDK for the Nokia phones.

A discussion thread on the Nokia forums shows how to get position data from a Bluetooth GPS, and when combined with recent Google Maps hacks, gives a simple Google Maps GPS application for the Nokia.

The demo app reads the current latitude / longitude position from a Bluetooth GPS device and converts the coordinates into an x,y map tile reference for Google Maps. After connecting to Google Maps over GPRS or 3G and retrieving the tile, it displays it on the screen.

As the GPS position changes, it pulls in and displays the correct tiles as you travel along your route.

Flash Lite 1.1 Seminar: Interacting with Device Applications Using ActionScript

The last Bill Perry's Breezo about FlashLite 1.1 is now online at Macromedia Developer Center.

In this presentation Bill covers several topics and provides several tools that will help you as you begin programming Flash files that interact with handset functions:

• Third-party applications you should use to assist you when developing your content

• How to interact with native device functions to:

  • Dial a telephone number
  • Invoke the phone’s camera
  • Launch an MP3 file
  • Playback a video file (3GP)
• Sample ActionScript code that shows you it's not that difficult to do this type of device integration with your content. (You can download them at the link at the bottom of this page.)

Watch the Breeze seminar (Approximately one hour)

Mobile connection speed test

Simple, clean, precise :

http://www.broadbandreports.com/mspeed

FlashLite list for mobile flash developers

The launch of FlashLite 1.1 starts a new beginning in the development of great  mobile experience.
As we a ll know, FlashLite is just a tool, it is the development community that must take that tool and use it appropriately.
So we've created a FlashLite list and you can simply sign up by sending a blank email to flashlite@yahoogroups.com

Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flashlite
Group email address: flashlite@yahoogroups.com

I've also created a FlashisMobile list for all mobile and PocketPc devices developers. To join just send a blank email to Flashismobile@yahoogroups.com.

Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Flashismobile
Group email address: Flashismobile@yahoogroups.com

We look forward to hearing from you on the list.

Array and String class for FlashLite

Hard to read for an european but they can be useful for FlashLite developers :

Array “class” for FlashLite FLA下載
String Function “class” for FlashLite FLA下載

Richard told me that I did not add any site :) So here it is : http://lis186.4dwebhosting.com/

Thanks Richard!

Word, Excel & PowerPoint Files on your Sony Ericsson P800, P900 & P910 Smartphone

Documents To Go for Symbian UIQ is a revolutionary application that allows you to use, edit and create actual Microsoft Word and Excel files as well as view PowerPoint files on your smartphone. Now you can truly stay productive no matter where you go or how you receive your files- whether via e-mail attachments, Bluetooth, IR, MMS or external memory cards.

What makes Documents To Go for Symbian UIQ unique is the employment of InTact Technology™. Simply put, InTact is groundbreaking, never before seen technology that keeps all original document formatting "intact" no matter what you do to the file. With it, you can use your real Microsoft Word and Excel files with complete confidence because you're not working on a copy of a converted Word or Excel file; you're working on the actual file on your smartphone.

Go to Dataviz site.

Word, Excel & PowerPoint Files on your Sony Ericsson P800, P900 & P910 Smartphone

Documents To Go for Symbian UIQ is a revolutionary application that allows you to use, edit and create actual Microsoft Word and Excel files as well as view PowerPoint files on your smartphone. Now you can truly stay productive no matter where you go or how you receive your files- whether via e-mail attachments, Bluetooth, IR, MMS or external memory cards.

What makes Documents To Go for Symbian UIQ unique is the employment of InTact Technology™. Simply put, InTact is groundbreaking, never before seen technology that keeps all original document formatting "intact" no matter what you do to the file. With it, you can use your real Microsoft Word and Excel files with complete confidence because you're not working on a copy of a converted Word or Excel file; you're working on the actual file on your smartphone.

Go to Dataviz site.

TV and mobile phones

via CNET|NEWS :

One of the first advertising-supported television stations capable of delivering programming to cell phones is set to debut soon.

An estimated 10 million cell phones with Windows' Media Player software inside will be able to receive and display programming from the Digital Music Video Network when it debuts in mid-June with Top 40 music videos, organizers said Tuesday. Rather than paying a monthly fee for the programming, all viewers need do is wait through 15-second advertisements sandwiched between the music videos, and pay the data-service fee for downloading all those bits onto their cell phone.

Cell phone TV services such as Verizon Wireless's vCast and MobiTV, which is offered by Sprint and Cingular Wireless, all require monthly subscriptions costing between $10 and $20 a month.

"It's the closest thing in the mobile media arena to a traditional broadcast network" such as CBS, NBC or ABC, SmartVideo Chief Executive Richard Bennett said in prepared remarks.

Read the entire Free TV for mobile phones article.

Open source SyncML platform

Sync4j is multi-device and multi-platform, running both in Windows and Linux. In particular, the open source Linux OS is the fastest growing platform for middleware deployments.

Sync4j is built on the synchronization standard SyncML, thus leveraging the recent availability of SyncML clients pre-installed on cellular phones (such as Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens and Motorola).
The Sync4j Project is an open source initiative to deliver a complete mobile application platform implementing the SyncML protocol. SyncML defines a standard way to synchronize data and remotely manage devices. Sync4j has now more then 14,000 downloads per month.

Sync4j consists of:

1. SyncServer: a Java SyncML server, that you can use with any SyncML client (e.g. to synchronize the address book on your phone through a pre-installed SyncML client)
2. SyncClient PIM for Microsoft Outlook, Windows Mobile Pocket PC PDA and BlackBerry: out-of-the-box applications that you can use to synchronize your PIM data (address book and calendar) to a SyncML server
3. SyncClient API in Java (J2SE and J2ME) and C++: SyncML client APIs that you can use to build an application based on a sometimes-connected paradigm (e.g. a sales force automation software on your cell phone or PDA)
4. SyncConnector DB, Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino: connectors to relational databases, Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino that you can use to store and extract data from the SyncServer (and send it to a SyncClient)

Windows Mobile 5.0, a first test

I was so curios about new Microsoft OS for mobile that I decided to get info and downloaded what I needed to start learning.
I found a page with a step by step guide to install all tools I need :

Install the Tools You Need to Get Started Today

The first annoying thing I had to face was the required step to uninstall Visual Studio version  before beta 2. In fact you can read in the first step of the guide :

1. Uninstall Visual Studio.
Uninstall all other versions of Visual Studio. If you've been using previous builds of Visual Studio 2005 Beta, it's recommended that you start with a clean computer or follow these uninstall tips. If you have eMbedded Visual C++ or other tools installed, consult the appendix to the white paper Introduction to Development Tools for Windows Mobile-based Devices.

Anyway, at the end of this guide I also downloaded this other version of Device Emulator (an emulator ships with VisualStudio beta2) that I found more powerful and easier to use to show applications :

Microsoft Device Emulator 1.0 Community Preview
The Microsoft Device Emulator 1.0 Community Preview is a standalone version of the same ARM based Device Emulator that ships as part of Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2. The emulator is useful for situations when you want to demonstrate or test your application on a computer that does not have Visual Studio 2005 installed. The emulator ships with support for Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition and Windows Mobile 5.0 with multiple screen orientations, sizes, and resolutions.

A list of pages can help you to start developing with Windows Mobile 5 :

Introducing Windows Mobile 5.0
Tools you need
The new API system in Windows Mobile 5
What's New for Developers in Windows Mobile 5.0
Windows Mobile Developer Resource Kit

First WindowsMobile 5 phone: Samsung SGH-i300 Smartphone

via mobilemag.com :
Windows Mobile 5.0 was unveiled today, the first smartphone to use Microsoft’s new Mobile OS will be the Samsung SGH-i300. When we caught wind of Samsungs latest phone back in March at CeBIT in Germany we knew it would stand out in the crowd. Not only did the 3GB internal harddrive dazzle us, but so did the multitude of multimedia formats supported. Samsung did not announce what OS would be running on the handset at that time.

Audio playback is possible with MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+ and OGG formats, video messaging and recording are done in MPEG4 or WMV. Files can be stored to or accessed from the already hefty internal 3GB harddrive and from the expandable TransFlash memory slot. Music playback will be to your stereo headphones, or streamed over Bluetooth.

Read the news on the MobileMag.com site.

Send SMS messages via a command-line utility

SendSMS connects to your service provider's web page and pretends to submit a form to their 'Instant Messaging' web page. Currently, AT&T Wireless, Bell Canada/Bell Mobility, Cellular One, Cricket, SkyTel, Sprint PCS, and T-Mobile are supported. Users are encouraged to modify the provided templates to add support for any providers who are currently unsupported.

New Nseries N-Gage

via AllaboutNgage: 

We heard rumours about it for some time. All About N-Gage has now heard from several sources at Nokia that a new phone which will belong to the recently unveiled Nseries will be putting in an appearance on the N-Gage stand at the E3 Games Expo in Los Angeles next week.

We don't have any details, but it's been implied that this will be a totally new addition to the N Series rather than one of the existing models. The new model is possibly already close to the production stage as one source referred to using it as their personal phone. Assuming they keep to the same schedule as the other Nseries models, it could be in the shops by this Autumn.

Read the entire New Nseries N-Gage news.

Korean SMS mobile markets

According to Telekom Korea, number of SMS messages nears 90M a day in Korea.

The number soars to 370M adding the number of SMS messages sent from web to phone.
Here in Italy the number is only 50M :)

A friend of mine told me that FlashLite in Korea is absolutely insane there and apparently it's very very simple to set up mobile micropayments there, so the whole field is really active.
Very interesting ....

New Mobile services

I was searching some famous and well known mobile services on the net for using as a show case when I go to the clients.
These are some of the most famous I've founded :

Bologger Mobile

Google SMS

Videoblogs on your mobile with MobuzzTv

If you want to add your favorite services feel free !

Python for Nokia Series60 mobile phones

I was downloading from Nokia web site, the Python SDK  for Series 60 mobile phones.
I want to try developing some demo apps to start learning Python.

Python for Series 60 allows developers to execute Python commands and run Python scripts and applications in devices based on Series 60 Platform. In addition, developers can execute Python commands and scripts in the emulators of Series 60 Developer Platform SDK's. Development starts with an interactive console in a Series 60 compatible device where Python commands can be executed. Alternatively, a developer can write Python scripts, install them to a device executing scripts and applications from the Python Environment.

Windows Embedded Source Tools for Bluetooth Technology

Microsoft has just released the Windows Embedded Source Tools for Bluetooth Technology.

The class library wrapper provided by Windows Embedded Source Tools for Bluetooth Technology helps make development for Bluetooth Technology faster and easier by reducing the lines of code necessary to develop for Bluetooth Technology from hundreds to just a few.

Components Include:

• Classes to create Bluetooth services
• Classes to enumerate Bluetooth devices
• Classes to connect to an existing Bluetooth device or service

Dodgeball + Google, a mobile social networking tool

Google to acquire Dodgeball. It's a social networking tool for mobile urbanites or a mobile social software if you prefer.

Hey men, but am I wrong or a lot of companies liked to go shopping this period.

PCWolrd said about Dodgeball : If you're on the road and looking to hook up with some friends, use Dodgeball.com and your mobile phone to broadcast your whereabouts to your buddies. Send a text message to the site stating your location, and in no time all the pals on your Dodgeball.com network will get the message (you can also send them a photo, if your phone has a built-in camera). They'll find out what you're up to--and where they can join you. And if a friend of one of your friends is within ten blocks, they'll get a message as well (a feature you can turn off, thankfully). Dodgeball.com is available in Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and 16 other cities.

Q: Why did dodgeball sell to Google?
A: As a two-person team, Alex and I have taken dodgeball about a far as we can alone. Since we finished grad school, we've been trying to figure out how to grow dodgeball and make it a better service along the way. We talked to a lot of different angel investors and venture capitalists, but no one really "got" what we were doing - that is until we met Google.

The people at Google think like us. They looked at us in a "You're two guys doing some pretty cool stuff, why not let us help you out and let's see what you can do with it" type of way. We liked that. Plus, Alex and I are both Google superfans and the people we've met so far are smart, cool and excited about what they're working on.

Design for small screens and Mobile Web Design

I read Bill Perry's post about  "A History of the GUI". It was a very interesting reading.
Size and memory limitations of mobile devices  put an absolute limit on what content will be readable. So the study for finding the best UI design it's a must step.

I had 2 bookmarks about design for small screen, so I decided to share them.

Mobile Web Design
Some Mobile design examples

Find your way with TomTom Mobile

Now it's available for my mobile phone (Nokia 6670)

Some features:

Fully mobile: Find your way by car, bike or on foot.
Easy to use: Simple installation & intuitive interface
Portable: High performance, lightweight GPS.
Clear: 3D maps and voice instructions guide you from door-to-door.
Enhance: Download additional maps and Points of Interest to your phone.