Archive for the ‘software’ Category

In the open mic session, companies presented software solutions that are being developed for MIDs. Nice to see that the high-layers are being worked on. Its important!!

• One Voice technologies - Adam Finch.  Voice recognition software. They want to enable a voice activated MID. IM, Media etc.
• Gypsii - Jeff Lyn. Mobile, GPS-enabled social networking. Share user-created POI’s. MID-optimised UI.
• ThunderSoft - ‘One stop software solution in MIDs.’ OS customisation, localisation etc. A software development company.
• Fring. Mobile Instant messaging. Multi-protocol. Includes SIP support. Connectivity to common IM networks. Integration into Web2.0 networks e.g. twitter. Open API.
• Move networks. Player for mobile devices. Apparently will be shown in keynotes tomorrow.
• Mediacast. Delivery of non real-time media and software
• Livecast,. Simple real-time broadcast from mobile devices.
• Movial - Software service provider. White-label applications for re-branding. Internet browsers, media players.
• Comverse -  Billing, messaging and voip. White label service for service providers.
• Wind River - Operating System vendor. Creating a commercial grade Moblin/Linux OS for MIDs. Includes applications.

This is just a selection of the presentation given. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to catch the whole session due to an important showcase session that I’ll report on later.

I’m still tracking as much as I can in the Mobile Linux world to try and bring myself up to a point where I can report with a respectable level of knowledge. Everyone I talk to though, seems to have differing opinions. Its an incredibly fragmented sector and I completely understand those that are simply ignoring all the fuss going on at the core level and focusing on the high-level, OS-agnostic application development environments.

Over the next three days we all have a good opportunity to learn more through the Mobile Linux Conference that is taking place within the Linux World Expo. That’s assuming that people are going to report from it but with all the hype going on about Android, Apple and others, I’m sure there’s going to be some serious focus on it. You can track Exhibitor announcements through this page where you’ll already see some news. I’ll be tracking it continuously over the next three days so if anything significant crops up, i’ll make sure I relay onto the front page here.

LinuxDevices.com have pulled out the important info about the keynote speakers and sessions which include one from Ram Peddibholta, the Director of Open Source Technology Center, Intel who will specifically talk about Moblin and Atom. I wonder how that will be received among the attendees, most of whom will be be coming from the smartphone world. Intel is a new player here and it’s going to be a tough sell for them.

Source:LinuxDevices.

Thoughtfix brings us the news (from The Register) that Moblin will be moving to a Fedora-based distribution. Thats quite a core change in architecture that is bound to upset Canonical and Xandros who have been working on Atom-optimised distributions and have also committed to make a Moblin-based version for netbooks. I suspect that Moblin will run the two builds side-by-side for a while. Dirk Hondel told The Register that "there was no falling out with Ubuntu, but the move to Fedora was a technical decision based on the desire to adopt RPM for package management."

Here’s a list of some of the current distributions running on Atom netbooks.

• Suse on MSI Wind and HP Mininote - RPM based
• Xandros on Eee PC - DEB based.
• Canonical base system (Ubuntu Mobile) for MID development - DEB based
• Linpus Lite on the Acer Aspire - RPM Fedora Based (Acer)
• Asianux / MIDinux base system for MID development - RPM based

Only Ubuntu Mobile and Asianux are running the Moblin core so far but I’m sure we’ll hear news at IDF next month. I wonder if SuSE will make an announcement.

If support moves towards Moblin, what happens to the VIA and AMD-based devices? Can VIA and AMD contribute drivers for inclusion? Apparently Moblin supports non-Intel platforms so I guess that’s a possibility and seeing as some of VIA’s linux drivers are already open, there’s nothing stopping a Moblin distributor from dropping them in.

It used to rare that we had more than one computer. Or so I have been told anyways. Today we have a lot more devices – I myself have a desktop, a laptop, a phone and a UMPC. I sometimes also use public computers. Now how do I keep my data in sync and access it wherever I am? Here’s where SugarSync comes in. What is it? Essentially it is a data syncing solution that relies on a central online server instead of syncing straight from device to device. So basically it takes your data and uploads it to SugarSync’s server where you can access it from a web interface and from where it gets downloaded to your other devices running the client software.
(Full post after the break…)

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I have tried and it really was awesome to use. After signing up, you download the client software for your choice of operating system. I chose the OSX version but there is also a version for Windows (both XP and Vista) as well as mobile versions for Blackberry and Windows Mobile.

The software asked me for my login and password, and after that I could choose which files to sync. I created a folder with a couple of pictures and documents, and after about a minute it was all up in the cloud. After logging in to the web interface, I could immediately download all the files that uploaded. I then setup the client on another computer and all the files were there a minute later. I edited the file on one computer, and the changes were immediately synced to the other one.

The fact that everything is stored in the cloud is SugarSync’s biggest feature, yet also its biggest disadvantage. First of all, if you have a slow Internet connection, its going to take ages to upload all of your data, and the real-time updating wont work so well either. Second of all, syncing is basically downloading from SugarSync, so if you have a limited bandwidth you might want to watch out. Aside from that however everything works perfectly as both an online backup and a syncing solution.

While this is a good solution for people who keep their data on their harddrives if you have your files up in the cloud already using services like Google Docs and Calendar, it doesn’t make much sense. Sugarsync doesn’t synchronize your documents down from other servers than their own. This means no integration with services that you might already use. I for one would like to see my photos be uploaded directly to Flickr and my documents to Google Docs, but thats against the idea of a central place to have all your data that SugarSync promotes. There is a part of the interface designed specifically to view your photos online that will satisfy most people.

I would recommend SugarSync without hesitation to anyone who has problems keeping their data in sync by using old-fashioned methods. The service is fast, the interface is beautiful, the pricing is good. However if you are limited by your Internet connection and would rather have data be backed up straight from one device to the other over the network, I would recommend FolderShare instead.

Pricing starts at $2.49 per month for 10GB of storage and a free 45 day trial is available.

Update: We’ve just heard from SugarSync about a new file sharing/sending service:

Send any file from SugarSync’s desktop, web or mobile applications, regardless of the size of the file or number of recipients. Recipients receive a link in an email they can use to access the file for 21 days. Anyone can receive a file, but recipients who use SugarSync can choose to have the files synced across all their computers automatically, stored only their web archive to preserve local disk space, or download it only to the machine they’re on.

It’s an easy way to share home videos with friends, family, and share large presentations or graphic-intensive documents with co-workers. Any number of files can be shared at once. The functionality is free as part of any SugarSync subscription.

Thanks to everyone that replied to my cry for help on mobile operating systems. I’m trying to take a developers view on the mobile platform market and work out why a developer might choose a particular OS or platform. Coming from an X86 world myself, I find it difficult to understand how Moblin, one of the first X86-only mobile operating systems, might fit into the big, carrier-influenced, ARM-focused, 100million-device-per-year world of converged mobile devices.

Since my article, Nokia announced that Symbian and related projects will be pooled and gradually turned into open-source operation. This article at GigaOm has some good thoughts. Given that they have 65% of the global market it’s obviously a significant move and I’ll be watching closely to see what happens. In the meantime, here’s a list I created of the choices that are in the market. The top 4 basically take the whole of the 100million+ per year smartphone market with LiMo carrying most of the rest. The most shocking thing is the list of Linux options. What on earth are they thinking? Open Source Linux appears to translate to a lack of focus and if I was a commercial development house right now i’d be looking to the top 4. LiMo appears to have some traction with good carrier support and penetration. Android on OHA has a lot of backing and media attention and Moblin has a number of distribution deals although at the moment, these are non-voice netbook distribution deals. It remains to be seen if the X86-focused Intel can stimulate smaller-screen distribution and make the conversion to being a voice platform when their smartphone-focused Morestown cpu comes into play in 2010.

So here’s the list of platforms, systems and methods i’ve put together. i’f i’ve missed one, please let me know!

Top 4 - 95% penetration of mobile device (*1) market.

• Symbian (65%)
• Windows Mobile (13%)
• Blackberry (10%)
• iPhone/ OS-x (7%)

Linux flavours

• LiMo (now includes LiPS)
• Android - OHA
• Moblin - Linux+Gnome+Hildon
• Meamo - Nokia. Linux+Gnome (GtK+, Gstreamer, Matchbox, Hildon)
• Mobilinux - MontaVista Linux
• Acces Linux Platform (LiMo compliant?)
• OpenMoko - Linux+Gnome
• TuxPhone
• Qtopia

Others

• Garnet (Palm, Access)

High-level languages, kits and methods:

• Ajax
• j2me
• Adobe air
• Silverlight
• Flash
• Flex

(*1) % Figures from Canalys

James says we should jump on this and Matt highly recommends we should download it. If you’ve got a compatible device that is! Opera Mobile 9.5 will be available as a public beta for Windows Mobile on the 15th July. Its based on the same browser engine as the desktop 9.5 version which has quite a fast rendering engine. (I had some issues when I tested 9.5 Desktop with javascript-heavy pages recently though. I hope that doesn’t filter through to the mobile version because it will impact a lot of the web applications.) The mobile version also has some nice small-screen and finger enhancements too.

I’ve got an option to test out the HP iPAQ 214, the 275-Euro, 624Mhz, 4″ VGA, Wifi, Bluetooth, Windows Mobile 6 PDA and as before, I’m wondering if Opera Mobile 9.5 would turn it into a MID. It’s not 800×480 but at 275-Euro, it might make a nice pocketable companion device for a feature phone. I think i’ll take up the offer. It might be good to side-by-side it with a MID anyway.

Source.

It looks like there are definately a few options for getting Windows XP after June 2008. All OEMs can take the ’system builder’ route to provide XP until Jan 2009 as we mentioned on Podcast #15.

JKK has the summary of options and highlights that OEMs should be shipping XP restore CDs with editions of Vista that include downgrade rights.

StreamMyGame is a fairly new service enables high end gaming on low end hardware by using a host computer to run the game then playing it remotely from another computer. The service, which offers a free and paid version, has been demonstrated as working well on the Eee PC among other netbooks and UMPCs. Today a news post on the StreamMyGame website says that a new version of their software has been released that targets UMPCs and netbooks, and claims compatibility with over 100 devices. Additionally they mention that similar performance should be seen on upcoming MID devices. The software is compatible with Windows Vista, XP, and even Linux.

“The Linux player has been requested by our Eee PC members and has been optimised to run on both the original and new ranges of the Eee PC. The Window’s player has also been optimised.” — Richard Faria, StreamMyGame’s CEO.

The video below shows Crysis and Quake 4 being played on an Eee 701. Crysis is an extremely graphically and CPU intensive game which requires a beefy gaming rig to run at a good framerate. Crysis runs at a respectable framerate on the 701 to say the least. Of course performance is mostly reliant on the host computer, but this demonstrates the ability of the software quite nicely.

The video is rather impressive, but I can’t seem to think of a situation where this would really be practical. I don’t know many people who have a $2k+ custom gaming rig who would prefer to play the game remotely on an 800×480 Eee 701 screen.

I suppose true remote play (over the internet, not through your home network) would make it possible to do some mobile gaming while you are on the road, but I don’t think it is a real replacement for fast paced FPS (first person shooter) games. You could make the argument that it would be convenient to be able to play World of Warcraft while away from home, or maybe a slower paced RTS (real time strategy game) like Starcraft would work well. Surely a touch type-able keyboard and USB mouse would be required for a good gaming experience with most games.

What might be useful for some (though I’m not sure if it is cross platform) would be the ability to play Windows games on your Linux based netbook or UMPC. Whatever the situation you may need to remotely play your high end games, StreamMyGame seems to have a solid platform set up to help you do just that.

I gave this a try about a week ago using my Dell desktop as a host (not a gaming machine by any stretch of the imagination), and my Sony UX180 UMPC as the client. Setup was pretty confusing, and in the end I couldn’t get Day of Defeat: Source to play on my UX180, but I’ll give it another shot, maybe with a non-Steam game, and try to get some usage experience to share. Give this a shot on your own device and let us know how well it works.

Java, Brew, Symbian, Adobe Air, Android, Moblin, .Net, Windows Mobile, Flash Lite, AJAX, iPhone. The mobile software development process is complex and full of choices. Too many for me to understand. I gave up software development when I was about 25 after spending way to many nights coding in C and looking up from the keyboard to see daylight.

I have so many unanswered questions on the topic that I really don’t feel qualified enough to even start to write an article on it. Take those keywords at the top there; Which are core architectures and which are generic programming environments? If I were an independent software developer (ISV) and I wanted to develop for Symbian, Windows Mobile, iPhone and Moblin, which programming environment should I choose. Java? Or should I just develop an AJAX-based browser application?

If anyone has any ideas, knows of any good articles or even fancies writing an article on the subject, I’ll be happy to listen. It’s not that I’m planning any software development, no, I’m just trying to understand how an ISV might react to 10 million Android installations, 100’s of million Symbian installations, 50 million Moblin installations or 20 million iPhone installations.  ISV’s, how would you react?

Forward Concepts, the company that last week produced one of the first detailed studies on a ‘Mobile Internet Device’ product category have been interviewed by Electronics Supply and Manufacturing about the report and have brought some good questions and information about the segment to the surface. For example, I didn’t know (or had I forgotten?) that HP are developing a MID, that Qualcomm are working on 15 products and that TI are working on ‘at least a dozen.’ I don’t expect that all of these designs will reach the market but even a handful from each company will knock Intels ecosystem back a step or two. Forward Concepts also predicts that the MID market will grow to 40 million units in 2012 with North America, Europe and Japan each generating roughly 20% of the sales.

What is a MID? What is a UMPC?

Forward Concepts puts this proposal forward for the definition of a MID and UMPC: [after the jump...]

(more…)

Mobile video and modding extraordinaire Jkk has just published a review of the newest Origami software pack we mentioned yesterday. Head on over to jkkmobile to check it out and see what he thinks. Good news is there are no more hardware checks in place so it will run on any device, no installer file hacking required. 

Its been available pre-loaded on HTC Shifts before, but now its finally out for all UMPC owners to download. Go get it.

The Origami Experience 2.0 is designed for Ultra-Mobile PCs that run Windows Vista. To run the Origami Experience 2.0, a UMPC with the following specifications is recommended:  

• Minimum 100 MB of available hard disk space
• Minimum 1 GB of system memory
• Touch panel display (required for Origami Picture Password)

The Origami Experience 2.0 requires the following software installed:  

• Windows Internet Explorer 7. Origami Experience 2.0 requires Internet Explorer 7 for its RSS platform.
• Windows Media Player 11. Origami Central requires Windows Media Player 11 in order to manage and play media.
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. The calendar tile in Origami Now works only with Office Outlook 2007 Calendar. The mail tile in Origami Now works with Office Outlook 2007 Mail and Windows Mail.
• The Windows update available here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932406 . This update is highly recommended if you use the mail tile in Origami Now with Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

Origami Experience 2, or OX2 as Origami Project calls it, is the second version of Microsoft’s touch orientated software for UMPCs, and if you can’t wait for its release, swing by the Windows Vista Experience blog for a preview of OX2’s RSS features.

The RSS reader in OX2 allows for easy subscriptions to RSS feeds from any site. Your feed list across IE and the Origami reader will be common. So if you subscribe to something in IE it will also appear in your OX2 feed list, and vice-versa. Podcasts and videos can be played right inside the RSS reader, and you can access the original site through the OX2 internet app (essentially IE with a touch optimized skin over it). The nice part about this is that you are still within the OX2 software, you aren’t just using it as a software launcher like the first iteration acted as. You can also flag feed items you’d like to come back to just like you can star items in Google Reader.

I’m actually a bit excited for the new version of Origami to come out. It seems like Microsoft has taken at least a little bit more care this time in making a decent touch interface for some of the common tasks that users deal with on UMPCs. Unfortunately I’ve gotten word that it will be Vista only, which isn’t surprising considering Microsoft’s foolish desire to get low-power UMCPs running Vista. An ambitious independent developer is attempting to make a clone of OX2 that will run on XP; more on that later.\

[Chippy says: It's a shame that it's IE7-based. Firefox 3.0 is so much faster that it's hard to go back to an IE7-based browser now. I think i'm also right in saying that OX2 is only available to licensed partners so only new UMPC owners will get it...on Vista!]

As we discussed on last nights Computex round-up podcast, Linpus have also announced that they will be using the Intel Moblin core as their base for the Linpus Linux Lite OS. Linpus might not be a Linux distribution you’re familiar with but if Acer get their way, it could be on millions of netbooks by the end of next year as it will be shipped in the Linux version of the Aspire ONE.

Taipei, Taiwan – June 3rd, 2008 – Linpus, a leader in the field of Linux solutions for low cost notebook and ultra mobile devices, announced today plans to deliver Linpus Linux Lite to support netbooks, a new category of simple, affordable devices for the Internet. Linpus Linux Lite with its ultra intuitive icon, tab-based interface and high performance on low cost hardware is well suited for this category of devices. Linpus will join the moblin.org project and will develop their products by adopting the Moblin Linux stack, optimized for the Intel® Atom™ Processor to unlock longer battery life, fast boot performance, better internet and media experiences on these devices.

With Xandros and Canonical also announcing support and Wind River and Asianux already on board, the Moblin core and toolkits could provide an interesting opportunity for application developers.

Its a good day for Moblin. Not only will the core be used by Xandros in the Eee PC at some point in the future but a competing, Canonical-led distro called the Netbook Remix has been launched. As with their Ubuntu Mobile distribution for small-screen MIDs, it will be made available to others that wish to use it in their systems and won’t really be an end-user software package but i’m sure we’ll see it picked up and modded onto all sorts of netbooks before long. Some OEMs have already picked it up for devices to be released later in the year.

Full story, some more images and the full press release over at Engadget.