Author Archive for MarkD

Sony Ericsson Capuchin APIs and Example Applications

Published
by
MarkD
on August 29, 2008
in
. 0 Comments

Following immediately after the popular Project Capuchin Webinar Sony Ericsson have now published a set of Capuchin APIs, some really great reference applications and a tutorial to get you started.  Get them here.

Project Capuchin:

Is a Java ME API which makes it possible for Java to launch a Flash Lite application on enabled mobile devices using a Java host application. Flash can communicate with the rich APIs provided to Java using standard DataRequest and ExtendedEvent objects.  You can being to use the API set from Sony Ericsson and build on them as a community.

As an example the following Java function accepts DataRequest, determines the request type and then returns latitude and longitude strings.  The call to complete() calls the waiting onLoad function in the DataRequest object.

Capuchin Java

The most basic usage the Flash API in Flash looks like this where handleGetGPS is called when onLoad fires.

Flash DataRequest

When using classes there are much better ways to handle DataRequests safely particularly where classes are bound to MovieClip instances such as lists or components.  For example I tend to wrap DataRequests in a DataProvider object which handles the scoping and event broadcasts as well as DataRequests.

You can find an example of this DeviceDataProvider wrapper class in my example section, note that coment “CPU and memory efficiency” which is a compiler hack :-)

Also in the example section is a re-written version of the same class to handle networking and RSS Feeds.

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Adobe MAX Awards 2008

Published
by
MarkD
on August 2, 2008
in Conference, Industry News and Mobile Content
. 1 Comment

Adobe MAX 2008 is only a few months away and I hope that all of you find the time to attend in San Francisco, Milan or Tokyo.

As part of the event we host the MAX Awards ceremony and I’d like to extend the opportunity for you to nominate individuals or companies.  There is a specific category for “Mobility and Devices” and you can also select a region.

Nominations can be for applications, services and experiences that you have seen over the past year.

If you haven’t been to the MAX 2008 site, be sure to have a look at the fantastic sessions.

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40% of European gamers have Flash Lite

Published
by
MarkD
on July 29, 2008
in Flash Lite and Mobile Content
. 9 Comments

An interesting article was posted today by Stuart Dredge at PockGamerz.biz today following an interview with Alistair Hill of M:Metrics.

Some key pieces of information from Alistair regarding the gaming market in Europe and the US:

  • 13.5m UK users are browsing and downloading applications
  • 25-34 year-old women are the largest group of mobile games buyers
  • 27% of Europeans have Flash Lite capable handsets (compared to 15.5 per cent in the US)
  • Nokia’s N70 is the most popular gaming device
  • 70% of people who were purchasing games were under the age of 35

Stuart and Alastair both point out that despite huge numbers of people playing games, there are not as many purchases.  This could indicate a number of issues, piracy is one but what’s most likely is that users are playing pre-installed games.

What is completely clear is that users are happy to play but are not quite as happy to pay.  That is a clear signal that advertising or brand endorsement within the content is a likely track for the future.

So what is the recipe for the *perfect* mobile game?

  • Event, advertising or brand funded
  • Casual puzzle game like Suduko or Tetris
  • Targeting female and male audiences
  • DRM protected
  • Easily accessible in a branded store
  • Social features built in, sharing, high scores, levels etc

Let’s look at the Google generation statement, “People know how to plug their mobile into their computer, and they know how to go to Google and type in ‘free mobile games’”.  We already know this to be true, last week I read a forum question from an end user (it happens!) who wanted to know why a screensaver wouldn’t work on their phone.

Rather than focus on the copyright issues what I was surprised/shocked by was the response when I told the user that it had been removed.

User Nokia5700: “How could i know it was from Sony Ericsson? At MOSH you can even find FIFA for phones.. I just love it so much ”

There are three statements above:

  • How could I know that it should be paid for?
  • Everything else is free, so why not this?
  • I would pay for it, given the opportunity.

iPod, iPhone and Touch users have been in training for years at the school of iTunes.  That’s the secret behind the AppStore, everyone already knew how to use it and EVERYONE was clear that there would be a price.

Ok, ok some are free I hear you.. but you get the point!

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Wordpress Upgrades completed = new Features!

Published
by
MarkD
on July 26, 2008
in Industry News
. 3 Comments

It’s been a whole *cough* three days in the making but finally my blog is upgraded and working.  You’ll notice that the theme and wordpress versions have been upgraded by about four versions, yet it still looks the same!  Maybe some one can make me a new header image?!  Get the existing one here.

Still I have added the following features:

Front of House:

Mobile browsers - Mobile browsers will now get a much faster view using XHTML thanks to Wordpress.mobi.  iPhone/Touch’s Safari browser will get the full version due to their larger screens.

Share/Syndication - Your favourite sharing and syndications services are now supported using the icons at the bottom of each post.

Comments - You can now subscribe to comments that you have posted to be notified when they are updated.  There should be Avatar support too but I haven’t quite got to checking that, though I’m looking forward to seeing all the pretty photos :-)

PDF Export - You can now export posts in PDF9 format.

Ratings - You are now able to rate posts, I’m really interested in this feedback to help me improve.

Relative Dates - Instead of hard dates on comments you’ll now see “Today” and “Yesterday” etc.

Back end:

Fluency Admin - A new cleaner administration interface, so much easier to work with.

Wordpress 2.5.1 - Not quite the latest version but I’m tracking the K2 theme below for stability.

Spam Protection - Askimet and some others …

K2 Theme - What can I say, it’s clearly the best written Ajax powered wordpress theme in the business.

One Click Updater - Allows me to upgrade to new plugins and theme’s automagically.

Lightbox 2 - To allow me to manage images for small and large screens, as well as fast browsing.

Google Analytics - Helps me keep track of the visitors and most important downloads/articles.

Bango Mobile - Testing this to see if I can begin to track mobile browsers visiting the site.

In all you can see that there have been massive changes to my blog, some are still settling in and so I appreciate comments.  If you find any problems, cant use the mobile version or any of the new features break then do tell me!

Mark

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Capuchin releases - Packaging tool and Sony Ericsson C905

Published
by
MarkD
on July 25, 2008
in Devices, Flash Lite and Industry News
. 10 Comments

Sony Ericsson C905

Sony Ericsson have been doing a lot to update the look and feel of their site, what a great job particularly the mobile device Gallery.  Today saw the launch of the Capuchin Packaging Tool to add to the release of the first supported device the C905 which has received great reviews already.

The device includes a huge array of features including aGPS, WIFI and an 8.1MP camera.  I can tell I’m going to like it already due to my camera being stolen at Heathrow :-(

Update, here are some pictures taken 28th July and reduced in size by 50%:

My Office in LondonGardens at my Office

The Capuchin Tool is Windows only at this stage, simply install the exe file and this will place the relevant packaging piece into your chosen install path.  From there all you have to do is launch the little batch file.

Check it out..

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