Got the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) while using the new Microsoft Surface? No Worries… The new Microsoft Surface comes with a new interactive, multi-touch-screen kernel-level debugging support!
…and it is so good, that even users play with and smile at it.
ceo
[Thanks to my buddy Elias Saucedo for creating the Surface BSOD image for me]
New IP could be based on other's prio-art; this actually occurs often. Below is the Forgent v. EchoStar Jury Instructions on Obviousness:
“One way to decide whether one of ordinary skill in the art would combine what is described in various items of prior art, is whether there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art for a skilled person to make the combination covered by the patent claims. Motivation can be implicit. In other words, motivation need not be explicit.
It is common sense that familiar items may have obvious uses beyond their primary purposes, and a person of ordinary skill often will be able to fit the teachings of multiple patents together like pieces of a puzzle. Multiple references in the prior art can be combined to show that a claim is obvious. Any need or problem known in the field and addressed by the patent can provide a reason for combining the elements in the manner claimed. To determine whether there was an apparent reason to combine the known elements in the way a patent claims, you can look to interrelated teachings of multiple patents, to the effects of demands known to the design community or present in the marketplace, and to the background knowledge possessed by a person of ordinary skill in the art. Neither the particular motivation nor the alleged purpose of the patentee controls. One of ordinary skill in the art is not confined only to prior art that attempts to solve the same problem as the patent claim.”
In any case, the jury determined that Forgent’s patent claims against EchoStar were all invalid…
[Via The Patent Law Blog]
ceo
Gosh, I always wanted one of these true surface desk-tops computing interfaces, since the day I saw the movie Tron back in 1982. While the desk-top surface user interface at Tron wasn't touch-screen (that I can remember) or as advanced as the
Microsoft Surface,
I always liked this type of human-computer interaction, where the workplace, the desk-top itself “is” the computer…
The surface computer (interface) extends perfectly into the “digital home”, which combined with the entertainment center, and the handheld, and connectivity between them (for example using IMS), adds a new level of interactivity and distributed computing at home,
that goes beyond pure human interaction, but also is about interaction with other devices…
The multi-touch interactions are pretty awesome, and reminds me of (are related to?) Jeff Han's Multi-Touch Interaction Research, now spun as Perceptive Pixel.
From the Microsoft Surface press page:
Surface computing has four key attributes:
Love the concept; at the right time, I'll buy one for the house…
ceo
The folks at VisionMobile, which is one of my favorite mobility blogs, selected the top 10 mobility submissions from the blogosphere… It has been a while since I've submitted to the Carnival (my clients and other are keeping me busy), and it is great that my article Standardizing location-based services (LBS) was selected as one of the top ten articles… thanks!
Enjoy the Carnival!
ceo
The OSGi Framework
The JSR 232 Mobile Operational Management Java specification caught the attention of many at JavaOne 2007. A great set of blog post/essays by David Beers on this topic:
This is followed by Anders Borg:
And Ove Nordström:
I look back at the evolution of OSGi… when it was first introduced by the OSGi Alliance, I guess it was around 1998, as a platform for the management of services running on distributed connected computing devices such as Internet Appliances (gateways) — those were the days when the tech word of the day was "internet gateway" (and those were the days of HomeiPliance, a venture I started back then). OSGi went silent after that. OSGi is pretty big inside IBM, where it is leveraged quite a bit within their management products, via the Eclipse Equinox OSGi implementation (which I believe is based on code that was initially donated by IBM). More recently, the OSGi Mobile Expert Group (MEG) and the JCP worked together, submitting OSGi R4 Service Platform Core Specification plus OSGi Service Platform Mobile Specification as JSR 232 Mobile Operational Management (MOM) specification.
Management vs. Fragmentation
When it comes to JSR 232 MOM, I see 2 camps of individuals:
But OSGi is not about fixing fragmentation directly, but it is about management… I guess the point with respect to fragmentation, is that in theory, with OSGi, missing APIs could be delivered to the handset, minimizing API fragmentation. But I'm not sure that will be the case.
OSGi was created for (the management of) services or components – this is, for the distribution, and life-cycle management, including ways to register, start, stop, and listening for services-related events. The framework provides a service-oriented architecture. The framework provides a method that helps service providers and device "owners" (such as carriers) with the means to manage the handsets and their software content while on the field, resulting in better user experience, and handsets can be updated and serviced on the field. This of course means the handsets are Java-based on the first place.
And my question is
So, for a while I've been trying to understand why JSR 232 EG has been pushing MOM mainly to CDC-profiles… IBM is pushing in that direction, Nokia is as well, some at Motorola too. One of the components missing from MIDP environments is a component/service management framework; even for such lower-end handsets that are based on MIDP, a robust (Java-based) management framework is needed. And while I don't see anything on the specification itself that precludes OSGi/CLDC-based profile combination, the push for CDC-only MOM is clear. Is MOM being pushed/leverage to force others to CDC? Or is there a true technical reason? Maybe I'm missing something here.
While I agree that as we move forward over time that handsets will continue to become more powerful, and the CDC-based profiles are a more complete (robust) Java platform when compared to MIDP/CLDC, note that more is not necessarily better, especially on embedded devices such as the mobile handset. Let's not forget about the lower-end MIDP-based handsets, which will continue to be the major Java platform for years to come, and is one that is missing a management framework.
Who will have the power?
The carrier will own how and who will be able to push and query handsets… As a 3rd party developer, are we any better with OSGi Mobile? Time will tell.
In Summary
ceo
If you are commissioning mobile software design and development work for your product, read below…
It is great (ideal) to have UI designers design the ideal user experience and related assets. And it is important to have these UI designers be in touch with the realities, especially with respect to time-frames…
It concerns me when founder and investor expectations are set, without regard to what is practical today vs. future. It concerns me when founders hire UI designers to put together “demos” of how applications will look like, without any regard to what is practical with respect to time-frames. It concerns me when founders take these demos to investors before doing a reality check.
These demos are typically put together using Flash on the Web, setting expectations regardless of practicality, effort, time-frames, and thus cost. Asset-heavy applications and special effects, while sexy, are expensive to implement, to transfer to the handset, to execute, to build, own, and operate.
Many UI designers are Flash users, and because of this, are betting and are pushing for CS3 and Flash Lite, regardless of handset limitations (such as availability of Flash Lite across handsets and other restrictions), and cost, and time-frames, etc. I am a witness to this, and must level-set everyone's expectations in the room. Don't take me wrong, I am up for great experiences and maximizing user reach… But right now, to maximize mobile-user-reach, it is not Flash Lite; this is especially true if the target audience is the “common” user vs. high-end users (I am talking here about the U.S.).
It is great to have vision, but to sell today, to make money today, we must “stay in touch with reality”. Hire UI designers to design great experiences. Hire mobile experts to validate such designs and set boundaries, expectations and time-frames… Do all of this before presenting to investors, and setting expectations… Bound your offerings, your vision to time-frames.
ceo
Michal Skvor describes how to use the End-to-End Connection Bridge technology in the NetBeans Mobility Pack to create a mobile client application that consumes a Web service to retrieve the Dilbert daily comic strip, and places it in a LCDUI Canvas on the handset.
ceo
Join us to learn about mobile banking and payments. Speakers will cover mobile banking and payment industry metrics, followed by wireless banking and payments over the years and today. Also covered are the challenges and lessons learned related to bringing such mobile commerce applications to mobile handsets, including the ecosystem players, user interface and integration, handsets form factors, content management, and security.
Event: Mobile Banking and Payments
When: Monday, June 11, 2007 5:45pm – 8:00pm
Where: AMPLIFY
2608 Brockton Drive
(one block north of Braker on Burnet)
Austin, TX 78758
[map]
Cost: Free, space is limited so please RSVP
This event is brought to you by MobileMonday Austin, in partnership with the AWA
Mobile Applications SIG, and is sponsored by AMPLIFY
many thanks to our sponsor.
Speaker(s):
Awele Ndili, Ph.D- Chief Executive Officer, Founder, MShift, Inc.
Dr. Ndili is the founder and CEO of MShift, Inc., the global leader in
mobile banking and wireless technologies, with a wide array of clients in US and Japan. MShift' Mobile Banking Solutions enable financial institutions to extend the convenience and reach of Online Banking to cell phones, PDAs, RIM, Pocket PCs, and pagers.
Prior to MShift, Dr. Ndili also was a member of the founding team for
ImproveNet Inc., a Redwood City-based public company, and was responsible for the design of its core Internet technology. ImproveNet, a highly scalable database-intensive home improvement site, has facilitated over $1 Billion of contracts since inception. He designed and built the architecture and implemented the core backend engine to keep track of more than 600,000 service providers. Dr. Ndili was also the lead Project Manager for the Global Positioning System on board Stanford University's Gravity Probe B space satellite, launched by NASA on April 20, 2004 from Vanderberg Air Force Base. Awele received an M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering from Stanford University
The Amplify Mobile Banking Implementation Team
Ms. Karen Pollack, VP of Operations, responsible for the mobile banking
implementation. Chris Boultinghouse, Web Master. Tim Ray, Technology
Services Manager.
For more information about MobileMonday Austin, please visit our web site
at www.mobilemondayaustin.org.
ceo
The ISO has been working on a number of specifications to standardize Geographic information or Geomatics. Below is some information related to this.
1. ISO 19134
“ISO 19134 specifies the data types and their associated operations for the implementation of multimodal location-based services for routing and navigation. It is designed to specify web services that may be made available to wireless devices through web-resident proxy applications, but is not limited to that environment.”
2. Scholars develop protocol for 'LBS,' new wireless Internet technology
Photo Source: University of Illinois-UC
University of Illinois professor of urban and regional planning T. John Kim, along with University of Illinois postdoctoral fellow Sung-Gheel Jang, have developed the protocol for international standard for geographic information systems (GIS), which Kim says is the “backbone” of location- based services (LBS). He says the LBS protocol has been adopted and published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and endorsed by 29 nations so far.
“LBS combine hardware devices, wireless communication networks, geographic information and software applications that provide location-related guidance for customers,” Kim says. “It differs from mobile position determination systems such as global positioning systems in that location-based services provide much broader, application-oriented location services.”
Via the ACM. See article at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign News Bureau.
3. From the Geographic information/Geomatics Technical Committee:
Standards of ISO Technical Committee 211 – Geographic information/Geomatics
4. Summary of related Spatial Data ISO standards:
a. Spatial Data Infrastructure Standards — Access, Technology
b. Spatial Data Infrastructure Standards — Content
ceo
From Java Mobility Podcasts #5:
C. Enrique Ortiz, a recognized mobility expert, renowned blogger, developer, and author, touches on a range of mobility topics in this interview, including: moving to CDC; the latest JSRs that are important to mobile developers; mobile AJAX; and the issue of device fragmentation.
Right-click or Control-click to download
this MP3 file. You can also subscribe to the Java Mobility Podcast Feed to get the latest podcast automatically. If you use iTunes you can open iTunes and subscribe with this link: Java Mobility Podcast in iTunes.
I want to thank Roger Brinkley of Sun for the interview, and Daniel H. Steinberg for putting it together… I enjoyed it…
ceo
Above: Intercasting's Anthem Platform in action…
I want to congratulate Intercasting Corp., and Derrick Oien (who last year presented at Mobile Monday Austin) and Shawn Conahan, and their teams, on their recent round of funding earlier this month; good times. Shawn and Derrick are two individuals who get what mobility is about… They understand mobility, and the social aspects of it. They first introduced the Rabble mobile social application, and now they've evolved the whole concept into the next and right step — into providing the infrastructure (platform) to power mobile social applications. I relate to their views…
…the Return of the Platform.
ceo
The
ACM Queue magazine has published a number of great articles on SIP. Some of the articles of interest include:
ceo
There has been some speculation about a possible Dell-branded mobile phone, speculations that were further fueled when the company hired Motorola executive Ron Garriques earlier this year.
More recently, Mr. Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Inc., said that the company won't be rolling out any mobile phones any time soon… And on a recent CRN interview, Mr. Dell said that "they are paying close attention to the possible range of mobile devices that will fill the space between cellphones and computers.", and that "nobody knows exactly what the right device is… it's not a 2 or 15 inch screen…”
But while Dell doesn't know exactly what the right mobile device is, and believe me it is not a 15 inch screen handset, other companies do know, and are attempting to define the industry. That is the reason Dell will never make it in this space. First, unfortunately for Dell, the company doesn't get what a mobile handset should be. This is compounded by the fact that the company will continue its wait-and-see approach to things, being a follower, instead of “leading and innovating”. Let's face it, Dell is not an innovation company, Dell doesn't invest on true R&D; Dell is a logistic/supply-chain computer company. And to survive in this space, innovation, and owning the innovation is of great importance. Lastly, to become a successful mobile handset vendor, it requires certain kind of personality/culture… Dell company doesn't have the culture and understanding of the mobile/wireless space to make it happen any time soon. If Dell decides to get into the mobile handset space, it will be at first by reselling or OEMing other company's design, boring, and I will give them two years before pulling out, similarly to what happened with their Axim PDAs. If Dell wants to be a leader in this sapce, it must be behave as one, move forward, innovate, and it must bring in the right kind of people for the (mobile handset) job…
ceo
The Mobility Resources Mobile Web FAQ has been updated…
(I'll announce “updates to the FAQ”, when major or considerable changes are done).
ceo
What a wonderful MobileMonday Austin we had last night… great content, interactions.
We started with David Gill of Telephia, who covered industry metrics and stats on social networking and content; great stats indeed… I love to have David present, and share what is happening in the industry; the numbers says it all. The mobile youth market is an important demographic (see Going to Market: The Mobile Youth Market), SMS and email still prevail, mobile web usage is increasing, and connecting to others and sharing is at the center of mobility.
David Howard of Helio, presented next on the MVNO, the Ocean handset (what a neat handset, designed from the ground up by Helio), and their approach to mobile social software. I know David from our AGEA days, and today David is one of my mobility heroes, playing a very important role in the vision and realization of Helio (he was part of Helio's founding team and runs Helio's engineering group and other). If you read my blog you know how I think about mobility, and what is important: communication, connecting with people, the mobile user experience… it is about people-centric mobile computing. And Helio is really ahead of everyone else when it comes to mobile social software – they get it. I was very impressed. Why would tier-1 carriers don't get it? Beats me; actually I've an idea of why, but it is inconsequential… bottom-line is they are missing the opportunity.
We ended the night with Professor Dr. Sanjay Shakkottai, University of Texas, who presented talked about his research on social sensor networks, an experiment using sensors to track how people (in this case Electrical and Computer Engineering students) interact; a different spin and angle to social networks that was very interesting and insightful; this research can be extended to other areas, and I will be looking more into this.
Thanks to David Gill, and David Howard (how came all the way from Los Angeles), and Professor Shakkottai. And thanks to Helio for sponsoring the event, and to Marisa Sladek of the Austin Wireless Alliance for helping me put the event together.
ceo
"Great individuals invent their own values and create the very terms under which they excel." -Kierkegaard and Nietzsche