Design Traffic ::::::::::::::::::::::::[O]Stop [O]Look [O]Go

BLOG SHIFTED

2008-01-04T09:39:00.000+05:30

http://designtraffic.blogspot.com/ is now http://designtraffic.wordpress.com/

FlashLite and N95 Accelerometer APIs

2007-12-18T16:25:00.000+05:30

Watch this video. FlashLite can also do this with the help of N95 Accelerometer APIs

This is a small Demo of "THE NO-TOUCH" done with FlashLite and Nokia N95 Accelerometer APIs. I (Debashish Paul) have made the iPhone's DJ mode simulation in Flash and Abhijit Kedia and Ganesh Palwe did the actual work of sending N95 Accelerometer notifications to FlashLite

emTube - Youtube for S60 phones

2007-12-18T08:43:00.000+05:30

emTube is an application for Symbian S60 3rd edition phones that allows you to:

Search and browse videos on YouTube.

Download selected videos onto your phone.

Stream FlashVideo files directly from YouTube.

Play local FlashVideo files.

Other features:
- Audio and position control during playback.
- Normal and full screen (portrait and landscape mode) video playback.
- Ability to use built in accelerometer to rotate video between portrait/landscape mode.

Adobe Flash Lite Receives First Spike TV award for Innovation in Mobile Gaming

2007-12-13T18:39:00.000+05:30

Via Scott I got this Pretty cool news.

Adobe Wins Prestigious Industry Award

Adobe Flash Lite Receives First Spike TV award for Innovation in Mobile Gaming

SAN JOSE, Calif. — December 12, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced that its Flash Lite software received the first Spike TV award for Innovation in Mobile Gaming at Spike’s Video Game Awards Ceremony. The award was given to Adobe based on its role in pushing the mobile gaming medium forward in a remarkable way over the past year.

“Adobe was selected due to the incredible development of Flash Lite technology, its rapid advancement, and its integration with mobile gaming,” said Spike TV’s Tom Akel.

Spike TV’s 2007 Video Game Awards is a multi-platform event, integrating special categories exclusive to mobile voting. The Innovation award validates the importance of Adobe Flash Lite in mobile gaming and the developer community and is one of a number of recent milestones achieved over the past year.

Highlights include:

- Adobe launched Adobe Flash Lite 3 globally, bringing Flash Player compatible video to mobile and consumer electronic devices

- First Adobe Flash Lite 3 devices are available today including NTT DoCoMo’s 905i handsets.

- Over 300 Million Flash Lite enabled devices have shipped so far.

“Adobe Flash Lite technology has pushed the mobile gaming medium forward in a remarkable way over the past year, and this new Spike TV award is proof of the broad industry acceptance,” said Francisco Kattan, director of product marketing and developer relations, Mobile and Devices at Adobe.

For information on Adobe’s mobile business and products, please visit: www.adobe.com/mobile.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information - anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

HELIO Launches Most COMPLETE YouTube Experience

2007-12-13T00:31:00.000+05:30

Key Features

YouTube mobile on Helio includes:

Browse: view tens of millions of videos
Rate: let everyone know which videos you like best
Comment: add your own two cents by posting text comments for everyone to read
Share: send favorite videos to friends using address book integration
Save: save favorite videos to My Favorites and My Playlists
Subscribe: subscribe to a channel to check out more from that user
Record and Upload: capture a video on Ocean and instantly upload it to a personal channel

One of the most powerful features on the Web version of YouTube is the ability to watch a video and then post a video response. In another first for mobile, Helio members can now record and upload video responses to clips directly from their handset, making the YouTube experience more accessible than ever with watching and responding in real-time possible without ever having to log in from a computer.

Designed to easily browse, search and view millions of YouTube videos, Helio's YouTube application also offers a simply organized interface where members can access their own video feeds including My Subscriptions, My Favorites, My Playlists, My Videos and Received Videos. Members can also check out YouTube videos in traditional categories like Most Viewed, Most Recent, Top Rated and Recently Featured.

A Glimpse of the Next Episode - Nokia examines the future

2007-12-13T00:03:00.000+05:30

Nokia recently released a press release about a report it had comissioned, 'A Glimpse of the Next Episode' which talked about the future of entertainment. The main trend identified was the coming of 'Circular Entertainment' (content created, edited and shared within a peer community rather than traditional media sources). Nokia have now released a number of videos featuring discussion around some of the key areas of the report. Watch the videos below:

The Nokia Eco-Sensor Concept

2007-12-12T23:42:00.000+05:30

The New Nokia Eco-Sensor Concept. Looks like a very promising concept.

The concept
The concept consists of two parts – a wearable sensor unit which can sense and analyze your environment, health, and local weather conditions, and a dedicated mobile phone.

The sensor unit will be worn on a wrist or neck strap made from solar cells that provide power to the sensors. NFC (near field communication) technology will relay information by touch from the sensors to the phone or to or to other devices that support NFC technology.

30 providers of on device portal client

2007-12-11T23:16:00.000+05:30

Via Andreas Constantinou here is a list of 30 providers of ODP client or client-server products today, a little old post but definitely worth a read. Read the full Post:

Access Netfront Dynamic Menu,
Action Engine (still around?),
Adobe (FlashCast),
Airmedia,
Cibenix,
Communology (mobile catalogue),
Comverse,
Crisp Wireless (mLogic platform),
Everypoint,
Geniem (MediaCast and Superstore),
Handmark (Pocket Express),
InFusio (nMap),
ITfinitiny (2Go),
mPortal,
MobiComp,
Mobinex,
Nellymoser (ASAO platform),
Nokia (Content Discoverer),
Opera Platform,
Qualcomm (uiOne),
Reporo,
RefreshMobile (Mobizines),
Streamezzo,
SurfKitchen (SurfKit series),
Tricastmedia (TWUIK),
U-Turn,
Volantis (BuzzCast),
weComm (wave),
Yahoo! Go,
UIActive.

Bill Gates on Flash and Silverlight

2007-12-09T14:11:00.000+05:30

In a conversation with Keith Peters and other developers, Bill Gates talks about his vision. The interesting part of the conversation for me was the talk on Flash/Silverlight. Here are the other episodes of the conversation. Only text :(

Trying to wake up

2007-12-09T14:08:00.000+05:30

Due to a lot of on and off deadlines and some personal commitments, I had to make designtraffic sleep for some time. I am trying to wake it up, lets see if I can do so ;)

Steve Vs Bill - Historic discussion in D 2007

2007-05-31T12:49:00.001+05:30

Steve speaking to Walt in D 2007

2007-05-31T12:43:00.001+05:30

Watch it... he explains the strategies of Apple iPhone... definitely good to know

Google launches Google Calendar Mobile

2007-05-28T13:59:00.000+05:30

Google has rolled out a mobile version of Google Calendar, making it super easy to view and edit events on the go. Just go to calendar.google.com from your phone.

Source: Mashable

Orb.com’s media anywhere software MyCasting for mobile

2007-05-28T13:58:00.000+05:30

Orb has developed an award winning service that combines the use of an internet media portal and a proprietary software application. Orb leverages the best in already available technology (hi-speed broadband, Wi-Fi, wireless internet access and sophisticated portable devices) to provide a brand new way for people to connect with their digital media in the manner “how, when and where” they most desire.

In short, Orb provides the ability to MyCast.

MyCasting gives the user instant access to photos, music, videos, live television, and other digital content on their home PC at anytime and from any internet-connected device, such as a mobile phone, PDA or laptop. MyCasting is media anywhere. MyCasting is media freedom.

Check out http://mycast.orb.com/ from a mobile device. before that you have to download and register at http://www.orb.com/ on the web.

Source: orb.com

Nokia to set up a design studio in Bangalore

2007-05-07T15:38:00.001+05:30

The world’s largest handset maker is ramping up its focus in India with the global launch of seven new products predominantly aimed at the market here. Nokia is launching a design studio in Bangalore in association with the Srishti School of Art. This is Nokia’s initiative in understanding the diverse Indian culture a little better. They currently have 250 designers on board and plan to get them to interact with the students at their design studio.
Source: Economic Times

Making Wireless: Athens/May 07

2007-05-04T11:56:00.000+05:30

Athens/May 07 - C++ and FlashliteThe 10th may 2007 a free seminar on C++ and FlashLite will take place in Athens. Seminar outline:- Introduction to Symbian C++- Major differences to classic C++ development- Brief introduction to FlashLite- FlashLite and the network- FlashLite and external applications- Integration between Flashlite and C++. More infor here

Star has big plans for Mobile Entertainment

2007-05-01T11:13:00.001+05:30

Television soaps have now found another screen, the mobile phone, with the mobile interactive division of Star India, Star Mobile Entertainment, announcing it will launch a service called ‘PLUS’ by end April.
Star India will invest around Rs 50-60 crore over the next one year in its mobile entertainment business. It is also expected to spend Rs 10-15 crore on marketing and promotional activities for the same. Hence the new division will deal exclusively with mobile entertainment.
‘PLUS’, which is already running as a pilot, enables mobile users to access a wide choice of video content and services such as yellow pages, buyer guides, banking, travel and ticketing, shopping, sports and more. In addition, one can opt to view soaps from across Star India’s network – Star Plus, Star Gold and Star One. For instance, if you’ve missed a particular day’s show you can view the synopsis of the show on your mobile (as a video). A serial’s synopsis will be available for download 15 minutes after the show ends.
On the travel front, users can book domestic air tickets via their mobile phone. The travel and ticketing service is facilitated by travel portals MakeMyTrip.com and TravelGuru.com, while banking is facilitated by HDFC Bank. Star has also partnered with Infomedia Group to provide yellow pages information, Universal Music for music content. And for lifestyle services, it has tie-up with magazines like Chip for computing information, Overdrive for car information, Better Photography, audiophiles can get advice from AVMAX, T3 for gadges and design tips from Better Interiors. More in... http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k7/jan/jan347.htm

Source: Star TV Press Release

Live TV via GPRS by May

2007-05-01T11:07:00.000+05:30

Bharti Telesoft, an arm of the Bharti Enterprise, is offering its proprietary technology to GSM mobile service providers and expects to have half-a-million subscribers watch TV on mobiles within six months of starting the service in May. It may not be the best way to watch a Bollywood flick or a 30-minute saas-bahu sitcom on a small two-inch LCD colour display. But great for news clips, weather forecasts, stock quotes and the like.
To access the service, subscribers need a GPRS activated handset (less than 20 million out of a total of 140 million subscribers in India have activated their GPRS service). Users download the Live TV client to their mobile phone via a GPRS connection. Telesoft’s solution provides additional modules like OTA (over the air) server to automatically push the TV client to the subscriber’s handset.
With the client on their handsets subscribers simply scroll through a menu to select a channel they want to watch. The company reckons that a bouquet of mobile TV channels could be made available for Rs 25 to Rs 50 per month.

Source: The Economic Times

Wireless Mobile Charging

2007-04-09T18:12:00.000+05:30

Powercast for Mobile Charging

Business 2.0 writes:
Powercast and its first major partner, electronics giant Philips, are set to launch their first device powered by electricity broadcast through the air.
It may sound futuristic, but Powercast's platform uses nothing more complex than a radio--and is cheap enough for just about any company to incorporate into a product. A transmitter plugs into the wall, and a dime-size receiver (the real innovation, costing about $5 to make) can be embedded into any low-voltage device. The receiver turns radio waves into DC electricity, recharging the device's battery at a distance of up to 3 feet.

Airtel launches Flash Lite content download

2007-04-05T17:20:00.000+05:30

Airtel, the largest carrier in India is launching Flash Lite content from their WAP portal Airtel Live!. more in ... http://mariamdh.blogspot.com/2007/04/airtel-indias-largest-telecom-service.html ... Airtel has always been very innovative in their Value Added Services. But, this looks like a new start for rich media content on the Indian mobile phones. Indeed, a good news for Adobe :)

Mobilaid - A FlashLite 2.1 App... Download Coming Soon...

2007-04-03T18:14:00.000+05:30

The aim of Mobilaid is to provide the basic essentials of first aid in an uncomplicated, accessible manner. In the first section is an A-Z of the most common emergency situations and conditions. .It covers the ways in which you can recognize them and indicates, step-by-step, what you need to do about it. The second section covers the essential emergency procedures, such as the recovery position, artificial ventilation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. But don’t wait for an emergency to happen – make sure that you read this section and familiarize yourself with first-aid techniques now.

HTW Electronics S116 Solar Cellphone: Talk All Day Unless It's Cloudy

2007-03-20T12:24:00.000+05:30

After talking all night with your Bluetooth pillow phone, now you can talk all day with this HTW Electronics S116 solar cellphone. So far it's just a vaporware presentation that rolled out at CeBIT last week, but if it runs out of battery power, it promises to give you 20 to 25 minutes more talkies if you leave it sitting in the sun for 40 minutes. It'll even charge up with the light of a mere five candles.
If it ever comes into existence, its makers say it will have pretty much standard complement of features along with that external surface covered with solar film, including a 1.3-megapixel camera and a 320x240 display. HTW says the phone ships in China next month; we'll believe it when we see it.

Apollo for Mobile phones

2007-03-20T12:10:00.000+05:30

Here is the quote: “Future releases will add PDF and improved AJAX support; the first version also works with HTML, JavaScript, Flash and Flex. This release is focused on Macintosh desktops and Windows PCs, and Polanco said the next release will work with Linux and mobile devices. Apollo is expected to be generally available by the end of the year.(Luis Polanco, senior product manager for Apollo)”. Just as a reminder that Apollo uses the same WebKit for the HTML engine as Nokia for the S60 Browser.

Microsoft Announces New Image Format

2007-03-16T18:13:00.000+05:30

The Windows operating system is an accessible application that allows the users to work with almost every file format available in the present. Today, Microsoft announces a new format patented by the company that will enhance the qualities of the digital images created by professional photographers,allowing them to create improved quality bundled with reduced size. The HD format will provide up to twice compression efficiency than JPEG, allowing editors to decode only the information included in certain regions or elements of the image.

Using a powerful partnership with Adobe, Microsoft revealed a new set of HD Photo plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop that will help professional photographers manipulate the images taken in the HD format directly from Photoshop. If you want to try the new set of tools, you should check the Microsoft download website. More...

Apple TV Ships March 20th?

2007-03-16T14:09:00.000+05:30

Netgear may have won the race to the FedEx truck (now that their wireless streamer is out and shipping), but Apple is reassuring their eagerly awaiting fanboys with confirmation e-mails that list March 26th as the delivery date for Apple TV (The units will ship on the 20th, according to a reader who submitted a screenshot of his preorder status page.) It's nice to have some confirmation, now it's time to see whether it was worth the wait.

GPhone Kinda, Sorta Confirmed by Google Spain, But Not Really

2007-03-16T13:25:00.000+05:30

Via – Louis Ramirez,

It wasn't the kind of grand announcement we were expecting, but Isabel Aguilera, CEO of Google Spain and Portugal, has supposedly spilled the beans on the GPhone, confirming for the world that our favorite search engine is indeed working on a mobile. She also mentioned they were working on 18 other projects, many of which could initially appear strange, but would ultimately be in line with Google's whole innovation motto. Why Aguilera would bypass Google HQ and release info on the GPhone is beyond me, so we're not 100% convinced yet, and you shouldn't be either. Call us skeptical, but we'll become believers once there's an official announcement, not a thread of "could be" quotes.

V.UP Systems - Webvideo made easy.

2007-03-15T21:03:00.000+05:30

V.UP Systems – a place where videos related to/using Flash Lite are being posted.

Have fun!

iRiver U20 Clix 2GB has FlashLite 2.1

2007-03-15T20:53:00.000+05:30

via Scott, iRiver U20 Clix 2GB has FlashLite 2.1. It features a reskinnable Flash Lite UI, which is known as User Create (d) Interface or UCI. Very cool.
I would like to ponder the idea of Flash Lite 3 running on iRiver perhaps in future devices it releases. In addition to the Flash Lite UI and Games, the company taking advantage of the native Flash Lite video capabilities.

Goodbye Buttons: The Future of Cell Phones

2006-08-24T11:04:00.000+05:30

Since you first possessed the faculties to ask for brand names, the tides of fashion have been rolling in and out of your wardrobe. And it isn't just about what's in your closet, either. Fashion has tried to influence your choices in appliances, housewares and more. With the rapid advancement of technology, especially concerning electronics and computing, it was inevitable that fashion would touch these areas, too. What’s it coming for next? Your cell phone, if it hasn’t already.
A recent article in Business Week outlines the next wave in mobile-phone technology. By the look of things, we'll soon be looking back at our "clamshells" and "candy bars" with the same disdain-and-snicker treatment you give your old Zack Morris phone. The new designs Business Week profiled included a watch-alarm-clock-phone combo, a solid-gold phone adorned with 120 carats of diamonds and an electronic ink phone with a flexible display.
Most interesting, in my humble opinion, is Synaptics' prototype design for a no-button phone called Onyx.

Photo courtesy Synaptics
Yes, the Onyx looks very cool.
Business Week reports that, instead of buttons,
...the Onyx device understands signs and gestures, thanks to the sensitive touch pad covering most of its surface. It opens and closes applications when swiped by one or two fingers. The phone recognizes shapes and body parts. Lift Onyx to your cheek and it will pick up a call.

Photo courtesy Synaptics-->
The no-button, breakthrough interface the phone will use is called ClearPad, a new touch screen technology that will be available on the consumer market later in 2006. Top Tech News has more details:
According to Synaptics, "this creates new possibilities such as assigning functions to two-finger taps, closing tasks by swiping an 'X' over them, sending messages by swiping them off the screen, or answering a phone by holding it up to your cheek."
Sounds great, right? Here’s a friendly reminder that the Onyx is only a prototype at this stage. For you gadget junkies, the good news is that Synaptics plans to market the device to mobile phone carriers by the end of this year. Link.

--Original post taken from howstuffworks.com

SanDisk Sansa e280 8+2GB Music Player

2006-08-23T10:56:00.000+05:30

The Sansa e280 has 8GB of internal storage coupled with a microSD slot, which allows another 2GB of space for a total of 10GB. Aimed squarely at the iPod Nano, the e280 will be priced at $249—the same price was a 4GB iPod Nano.
In addition to the e280 being released, Sansa is also lowering prices of its 2, 4 and 6GB players up to 30%, for an across the board slash. Check out our previous coverage of Sansa players to get a feel of what they can do

2006-08-22T18:35:00.000+05:30

Ek titli anek titliyan....

Hey guys! Here that famous video I am sure U all will be feeling nostalgic as I did... :)

Sony Vaio 10th Anniversary Special Edition Notebooks

2006-08-22T17:31:00.000+05:30

Sony launched their first Vaio computer 10 years ago: the PCV-90, which ran Windows 95 and had a 200-MHz processor. To celebrate the 10th anniversary, they are offering a number of limited edition model notebooks: they will only make 500 of each of the five colorful designs. That's perhaps a blessing, as they look a bit like they were designed by a 10-year old. Trivia time: did you know that the Vaio logo was designed to mimic the transition from analog to digital?

Mobile Learning Jargons

2006-08-21T10:57:00.000+05:30

MLearn
A collection of papers from the 2003, 2004 and 2005 MLearn conferences. Of particular interest are the “Book of Papers from MLearn 2003″ (3.5MB PDF) and “The Use of Computer and Video Games for Learning” (PDF) which outlines health and psycho-social issues surrounding games in schools, provides examples of existing games, discusses how students feel about this type of learning context; and provides recommendations for content creators.

The 2006MLearn conference is being held on October 22-25 in Banff, Alberta (Canada.)

EU M-Learning Project
“Mobile Technologies and Learning,” (PDF) provides a general overview of the European Commission’s m-Learning project. The project site also includes a good discussion of technologies and devices currently in use for learning as well as emulator-based examples (look for the links on the right nav) of some of their applications that target literacy skills. A great example of the work they’re doing is their Healthy for Life project:

“The materials were designed to provide accessible information and support to 40 pregnant teenagers, including those from ethnic minorities, to address their learning and support needs in a health education context, developing their self-confidence and motivation to learn. Close attention was paid to meeting the target group’s needs, following thorough user analysis, to ensure that only subjects of interest to them were dealt with (i.e. labour and birth, sexually transmitted diseases, nutrition, housing and benefits) using appropriate language and attractive illustrations (photo stories and cartoon graphics).”

MOBIlearn
“MOBIlearn is a worldwide European-led research and development project exploring context-sensitive approaches to informal, problem-based and workplace learning by using key advances in mobile technologies.” Of particular interest on their site is the Public Findings area which includes a variety of resources like “Guideline for Learning/Teaching/Tutoring in a Mobile Environment” and ” Best Practices for Instructional Design and Content Development for Mobile Learning.” The project seems (at first glance) to be a mobile version of the many internet based ‘Open Learning Object Repository’ specification projects.

“On these social and technological premises, the MOBIlearn project aims at improving access to knowledge for selected target users (such as mobile workers and learning citizens), giving them ubiquitous access to appropriate (conceptualized and personalized) learning objects, by linking to the Internet via mobile connections and devices, according to innovative paradigms and interfaces.”

Good luck to them. These projects are always very well meaning but tend to suffer from massive over-engineering of the learning object structure with little thought to the actual content creation or reuse by educators. [Some nice context on the learning object debate here from David Wiley]

Literacy, ICTs and Games
For information about ICT-related literacy and numeracy projects, check out the UK’s CTAD site. There’s also a good overview at “Can ICTs Help Increase Literacy?” with further links to a study by Vancouver based Commonwealth of Learning on ICT use in India and Zambia.

I also recently picked up “What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy” by James Paul Gee which is so far excellent. Not as gimmicky as it many of these types of books can be. As a matter of fact—not gimmicky at all—and has some great discussion of the various types and contexts of literacy.

“When people learn to play video games, they are learning a new literacy. Of course, this is not the way the word “literacy” is normally used…in the modern world, language is not the only important communication system. Today, images, symbols, gra[hs, diagrams, artifacts, and many other visual symbols are particularily significant. Thus the idea of different types of “visual litercy” would sem to be an important one.”

Prensky on Mobile
A nice down to earth discussion of mobile devices for learning from Mark Prensky in “What Can You Learn from a Cell Phone.” (PDF)

“Can cell phones really provide their owners with the knowledge, skills, behaviors and attitudes that will help them succeed in their schools, their jobs and their lives? I maintain the only correct answer to the “What can they learn” question is “ANYTHING, if we design it right.” There are many different kinds of learning and many processes that we use to learn, but among the most frequent, time-tested, and effective of these are listening, observing, imitating, questioning, reflecting, trying, estimating, predicting, “what-if”-ing and practicing. All of these learning processes can be done through our cell phones. In addition, the phones compliment the short-burst, casual, multi-tasking style of today’s “Digital Native” (PDF) learners.”

A great article for any educator, parent or administrator trying to justify the use of technology in the classroom. There’s more on Mark’s site including a link to “Mobile Phone Imagination” (look for issues #14) from the Vodaphone Reciever magazine.
For those interested in some of the issues facing teachers who are currently using handhelds in the classroom, check out Learning at Hand, a resource blog for teachers using PDAs and Treos in the classroom. [I always forget that there are lots of teachers doing this. There are also lots of small (sometimes clunky but functional) learning applications for Palm and Pocket PC that help kids simulate scenarios in science, English and maths.]

Blogs
Some of my favourites include Leonard Low’s Mobile Learning blog (”101 Ideas for Mobile Learning“,) the Finnish MobileED initiative (check out their great examples of students scenarios from South Africa) and Ewan McIntosh who spends his days helping students use technology (including iPods) in the classroom. [Note some recent discussions as well on QR-code usage in education.]

More…
I recently ran into a wonderful research group in the UK by the name of Futurelab.

“A not-for-profit organization, Futurelab is committed to sharing the lessons learnt from our research and development in order to inform positive change to educational policy and practice.”

They do all sorts of interesting stuff (well worth a look!) but in the area of mobile learning they recently published a “Literature Review in Mobile Technologies and Learning” which outlines the key findings of a larger study by the MLearning group at the University of Birmingham.

“learning is mobile in terms of space, ie it happens at the workplace, at home, and at places of leisure; it is mobile between different areas of life, ie it may relate to work demands, self-improvement, or leisure; and it is mobile with respect to time, ie it happens at different times during the day, on working days or on weekends”

Also of interest by FutureLab, “A comparison of young people’s home and school ICT use.” (PDF)

I also bumped into “Language E-Learning on the Move” today from Japan Review

“In Japan, where more people own cell phones than PCs and language education is a huge industry, there is potential for a booming market in mobile e-learning. While education sites aren’t currently moneymakers, more sophisticated content may allow providers to charge more for bite-sized learning.”

The Review incidentally has several other mobile articles including an excerpt from Mimi Ito’s Personal, Portable, Pedestrian and and overview of Japanese mobile media services for journalism students.

And finally, a reading list within a reading list From Learning Light in the UK, a large page of mobile learning resources.

Enjoy! And please let me know if i’m missing something of note. I’ll try to update this list periodically.

[Addendum: As it happens, i’m going to be speaking to a group of Australian teachers about mobile learning next month in an online presentation with Leigh Blackhall for the Australian Flexible Learning Framwork group. They have a very good (and active) mobile learning mailing list (via Moodle.) Education Australia also has quite a few resources on their site.

And a few more resources from the UK. BECTA’s Emerging Technologies for Learning PDF, and this video and PDF presentation from Geoff Stead of CTAD (mentioned earlier) entitled Benefits and Hazards of Teaching with Mobile Devices.]

original post written by: Keitai

The Future with Flash Lite

2006-08-21T10:56:00.000+05:30

An open discussion today on the Mobile Games Blog about the future of mobile gaming and Flash Lite. A few notable comments…

“Today, we want to know what you think about Flash Lite as a technology entering the market of the mobile phone. With Symbian distribution being hindered by locks on S60 3rd edition models, and flash being widely used by webdesigners, the market might face a radical change where a lot of freeware might hit consumer phones.

…[Anders Borg] As Flash Lite is only provided by one entity there’s a big chance implementations of Flash Lite will be considerably less fragmented than ditto for Java ME….I don’t look very positively at Sun’s open source intentions with Java ME (rather they should take over the responsibility for Java ME deliveries completely), as that will make it even more fragmented, and Flash Lite then has all possibilities to become the choice for graphics-intensive phone applications….

….[Kyle] The innovations occuring in Flash gaming are taking place rapidly while innovation in mobile gaming is as slow as can be. Perhaps opening up the market will foster a more competitive environment which will push the industry forward…

…[Pascal] The problems with flash lite will remain the same as it is with j2me: alot of home made content, and some of that “crap” is sold commercially scaring away buyers. I can only hope that it will open up new ways of selling content, and more awareness of content for phones, so that people will buy more and publishers/developers can sell their content easier (not losing revenue shares left and right)….

One of the more interesting conversations i’ve heard in a while–especially with the Java open source annoucement last week. There’s room for lots more comments so join in!

Great Site for Icon Freaks

2006-08-18T12:18:00.000+05:30

Here is a great site for all you icon freaks. If anyone has not discovered http://iconfactory.com/home yet, please do so because it has some really cool collection of icon ideas.

Lekhapani Adventures

2006-08-18T11:02:00.002+05:30

Well I hope the story is not too long :)
Anyways here it goes....
It was Holi that that day and people could only identify us with the colours on our face... late in the afternoon is when we decided to stop the play and clean up ourselves. Someone amongst us gave a wierd idea of taking a mass bath in a spring that he knew (he had only heard of) in the jungle. Without thinking of the consequences we just drove ourselves to the jungles behind our colony....

There was a guy called Pawan who used to stay in the valley and occassionally used to share his evening gossips with us during playtime. He was the one who warned us saying that it could be dangerous. But we were a bunch of adventurous kids and his warning amused us all the more. We were six guys - Debashish, Amit, Pawan, Harjinder, Dinesh and Ajab Singh. We had a battery torch, a knife and a thick stick as our weapons and ammunition :). It was 3:45PM when we started and by the time we crossed the valley to get into the jungle it was 4:15. The path was becoming darker, not because the evening was approaching but the density of the jungle was increasing. Suddenly, the first breakthrough--- we saw a Jaguar (Bagheera of Mowgli) staring at us from the peak of a tree. He had no choice rather that sitting and staring at us, as we were more in number. We just watched him for 10 minutes and carried on our search for the spring. We could hear to some unfamiliar sounds which I never heard after that in my life --- sounds of animals who were not quite happy to see men invading into their teritorry. We were all quite as we all had something in our mind because by now everyone had a blurred understanding of the mistake we did coming here without letting anyone know in the other world (the world out of the jungle). But as you know that the show must go on... we kept walking inside.

Here comes the second surprise, this was not an animal this was actually a crack of the mountain which unfortunately came in our way and seemed like a small creek which could be crossed by a calculated jump. When Pawan and Ajab Singh jumped across it was my turn and when I peeped through the creek only to witness darkness. It was deep crack in the mountain which had split it into halves. But just to prove that I was a brave kid I jumped across. Harjinder had some second thoughts in between but he also jumped successfully. Dinesh and Amit were not looking convinced and they thought of dropping the idea of jumping across. 4 guys at one side and 2 at the other doesn't work. We started convincing them that they can do it and they were not convinced anyhow. Finally they started crying and we decided to jump across once again and go back home.

Within two minutes I don't know how but they were at our side. Guess they got conviced but, a bit late :) We were happy to get each other on the other side. But we never realised that it was 5:00PM. By then and the sun was about to leave us in the jungle alone to face the dark realities. We kept walking and saw wild rabbits, few snakes and deers crossing our ways. Finally, we reached the spring.

Aha...till date I remember that surreal scene. The spring was beautiful and a huge gang of living beings were basking around--a huge gang of snakes. They were countless and all of us were chilled till our spines. We never had anything to do rather than stare at them. I feel so bad sometimes because none of us had a camera. :(

Finally we decided to go back as it was getting late. We stepped back and started walking and within a matter of few minutes it was all pitch black. We had no clue what to do. We could not even see each other. Someone tried putting the torch on so that we could see some light in our lives. But of no use Pawan said that by that we would direct the non-human creatures in the jungle to find their dinner but, I guess he was wrong as I know now light would have kept them away from us. But we all were kids and relied on whatever little knowledge we had. We were in dark again. We were walking holding each other in a series realizing that it was the biggest mistake of our lives.

The worse was waiting to happen and it happened as we lost our way back. We all felt that tonight is the last night of our lives. I dont know about others, but I could see my parents and my brother after my death. Time was passing by and we could see the increasing number of radium-lit pairs all around us. These were nothing but the eyes of creatures around us. We were so afraid that we never cared about the reptiles crawling over our toes, fortunately not hurting any of us and even more fortunately, we never hurt any of them. Now the challenge was to save our lives by finding the right way. We went back and phew!! we got a tree that we marked while coming there. We started walking on the right way now and to confirm that we were on the right path was the creek which appeared again. I guess we started seeing things in the dark by now. believe me this time it was less than couple of seconds that everyone jumped across without saying a word as we all knew that we had to survive. Just after crossing the creek the path got broader and we literally started running for our lives. After some time we could see lights in the valley and were assured that life is close now. This was the moment when everyone ran so fast that I am sure they never did in their lives again. We reached the valley :) :) :) and then we reached home as well.

I never told it to my parents and My brother knew about this few years back when I was in college. I was mentally disturbed for around a week after that. My mother asked me many times about the reason and I lied to her saying that it was nothing but unsatisfactory marks in the unit tests. I have no contacts with anyone of that group. But I am sure that we will always remember each other in this life to have faced something like that.

I hope you enjoyed reading this piece of my life as I loved sharing it. Sometimes I feel that god is really there because had he not been there today you wouldnt have got this guy in your lives...

bye and take care...

Free Windows Vista Upgrade Coupons Starting October

2006-08-18T10:44:00.000+05:30

Thanks to Microsoft's sluggishness in getting their Vista operating system out, and thus, missing Christmas '06, they're offering free upgrade coupons to new computer buyers starting October. If you buy a "Vista-capable PC" later this year, you'll get a coupon for a free upgrade to Windows Vista when it does come out Q1 2007.
This promotion is most likely a way to placate angry PC manufacturers like Dell, who would see a sharp drop in sales thanks to people waiting until Vista was out to buy a new PC. Instead, now they can still go ahead an buy a computer for Christmas and still get their Vista-fix next year. It's a win-win for manufacturers and customers

Sony Ericsson K800i Available Soon In Brown

2006-08-18T10:40:00.000+05:30

If the basic black and grey color of the standard K800i isn't to your liking, perhaps you'll enjoy the 3.2 megapixel cameraphone in something a bit more...poopy? The Sony Ericsson k800i is going to be available in brown starting September, exclusively in the Hong Kong and Taiwan region. After that, it'll flow all over Asia, into Europe, spreading its caramel goodness into hands of eager consumers everywhere.
If we're good little boys and girls here in the US, we may even get one of our own! Wouldn't that be spectacular?
K800i Da Bian Yan Se [Phone Daily via Slashphone]

A Live Interface

2006-08-17T17:11:00.000+05:30

Again an amazing Japanese handset. Designed by Oki Sato the FOMA N702iS has the element of what I call a “live interface” – simply put the interface you can play with (or interact besides common tasks). The default screen looks like it’s filled with water. If you tilt the phone or shake it, the “water” will behave correspondingly.

More pics here.Image from Mobile - Review.

Living World UI

2006-08-17T17:07:00.000+05:30

Living World UIMobile-review published today their thorough review of new Samsung D900 (it’s only in Russian for now, usually the English version follows shortly). The phone features so-called “Living World” UI with elements of live interface (apparently made using Adobe's Flash Lite 2.0). First, what is shown on idle screen depends on the country you are in – in Moscow you’ll see a Kremlin wallpaper, Houses of Parliament wallpaper in London and so on. Also it depends on time of day: sunny sky wallpaper during daytime and dark sky and lighting in the evening.

But there’s more. Signal strength is connected to the sky condition. Good reception is represented by clear sky, poor reception by slowly moving heavy clouds. The pop-up messages for unread messages, missed calls and alarms have their own “live” representations that depend on time of day: a flying plane or a bird at daytime, shooting star and fireworks at night.

Nice move, Samsung!Images from Mobile-Review.

Sony Releases 50GB Dual Layer Blu-ray Discs

2006-08-17T16:31:00.000+05:30

It's been an industry non-secret that manufacturers have had an easier time making dual-layer HD DVD discs than dual layer Blu-ray discs. Hence, 30GB dual-layer HD DVD media have already been on the market, beating the single layer 25GB Blu-ray discs by five whole gigabytes. But now Blu-ray has the last laugh as Sony finally gets the 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray discs onto hands of US consumers.
The 50GB discs can hold four hours of HD content, and transfers at 24Mbps. They've got a built in scratch guard and "archival reliability" to prevent bad burns. Which, at $48 a disc, would be the most expensive coaster you've ever made.

GlucoPhone: A Cellphone for Diabetics

2006-08-17T16:22:00.000+05:30

Good news, diabetics! No, there isn't a new gadget to magically make all delicious foods sugar free, but there is a new cellphone out that can manage your diabetes easily and conveniently. This phone, from the folks at HealthPia, is essentially a cellphone and glucometer. It will measure blood sugar levels, record and send results to yourself and others and even manage your meal plans. The system uses custom software along with an LG UX5000, VX5200, or LX350 and a Glucopack. My pops is a diabetic, now while he isn't technologically savvy, I would still feel better knowing he could monitor his blood sugar level anywhere he goes. Good job, HealthPia. – Travis Hudson

Skype 2.1 For PocketPC Released

2006-08-17T16:14:00.000+05:30

If you've got one of those 400 MHz HTC TyTN badboys, head on over to Skype to download their new version 2.1 for PocketPC devices. Among the improvements:
One click Skype access: A Skype icon on the device home screen allows users to view and call contacts easily.
Multi-person chat: Users can have multi-person chat sessions using animated emoticons with colleagues, friends and family and when mobile users are offline, chat messages will automatically update the next time user logs in.
Enhanced contact list: Users can now see their contacts avatars and mood messages.
Profile personalization: Users have the ability to take a picture with the camera on their mobile device and immediately update their profile.
We especially like being able to tell everyone that our mood for today is sulky with a slight chance of brooding. – Jason Chen

Mobile devices feature comparing tool

2006-08-17T14:05:00.000+05:30

Not sure what phome model to buy ?Nevermind. Using the Phonescoop comparing tool you can have an efficent tool forcomparing different mobile devices fatures:
PhoneScoop Compare Tool
Unfortunately it does not mention anyting about Falsh Lite embedded feature :(Is there any wish list for next release ? ;)

Designing Isometric Adventure Games for mobile devices

2006-08-17T14:03:00.000+05:30

If you are searching for a tutorial on how to develop a games for mobile devices, you can't miss this great resoruce from Forum Nokia :
Designing Isometric Adventure GamesThis document discusses game development, specifically the designing of an isometric adventure game, from mobile perspective. It takes a look at the design process, content creation (graphics mostly), and finally deals with the programming issues. The discussion is mostly general, but an isometric example game "Into the Darkness" written in C++ for the S60 platform is frequently used as an example.