tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73364576102554028782024-03-05T07:00:11.839+00:00Jaffa SoftwareAndrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-73273091219983186872016-10-09T22:05:00.001+01:002016-10-09T22:05:54.799+01:00WimpWorks v2.39 released: compatible with RISC OS zero page protection<p><a href="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/wwv2/">WimpWorks</a>, our RISC OS integrated development environment for desktop app production, has been updated to version <strong>2.39</strong> to fix a couple of bugs that resulted in zero-page access.</p>
<p>The current development version of RISC OS, 5.23, is <a href="https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/1/topics/3418">bringing in zero-page protection</a> to increase the system's resilience to system crashes and causes errors in programs that attempt to access it. Although WimpWorks' access to zero-page wasn't the cause of any crashes as far as we were aware, we welcome the incrased strictness of the system.</p>
<p>Users who have WimpWorks v2.30 or above can <a href="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/wwv2/upgrade.php">upgrade online</a> for free. Users of earlier versions can upgrade for a <a href="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/wwv2/upgrade-ww.php">small fee</a>.</p>
<p>A fully-featured demo version of <a href="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/wwv2/">WimpWorks</a> is available for free and is compatible with all RISC OS 3 machines and above, the full version is only £39.99, and it is also part of the <a href="https://www.riscosopen.org/content/sales/nutpi">NutPi bundle</a> from RISC OS Open Ltd. for the Raspberry Pi.</p>Jaffahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222687051131602612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-10813223414078664632016-02-01T02:35:00.000+00:002016-02-20T23:18:47.506+00:00The perfect laptop backpack: Booq Cobra Squeeze vs. WaterField Designs Staad<p>I've been looking for a new, slim, stylish, minimalist, professional-looking laptop backpack that can store a bit more than the <a href="http://blog.jaffasoft.co.uk/2015/01/timbuk2-classic-messenger-how-much-can.html">Solo Universal Slim</a> - not least because a Dell XPS 13 is slightly longer than a Macbook Air 11" and won't fit.</p>
<p>After an exhaustive search (see the<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z9AJqbRAcuJsSbGTWhW-7TKCPJh_lrBslN6uVJYUIIc/pubhtml?gid=730305225&single=true"> full list of all 33 bags</a>), I narrowed it down to two:</p>
<ol>
<li>Booq <a href="http://www.booqbags.com/products/CSQ-GRY">Cobra Squeeze</a> ($195, but they often have 20% off codes around US holidays)</li>
<li>WaterField Designs' <a href="https://www.sfbags.com/products/staad-laptop-backpack">Staad</a> ($319-$329)</li>
</ol>
<p>Neither bag is cheap, and both are a bit heavier than I wanted. But both companies offer 30 day, full refund policies as long as the bags are unused; allowing you to see them in the flesh.</p>
<p>My standard test contents in the below consisted of:</p>
<ul>
<li>MacBook Air 11"</li>
<li>iPad Mini</li>
<li>MacBook charger (with US plug)</li>
<li>Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter</li>
<li>Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter</li>
<li>MicroUSB cable</li>
<li>Small travel umbrella</li>
<li>Small bottle</li>
<li>Small lunchbox</li>
<li>Snack</li>
</ul>
<div class="flexslider">
<ul class="slides">
<li>
<img alt="[Cobra Squeeze: Front]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/booq-cobra-squeeze-front.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">Booq Cobra Squeeze: front view</p>
</li>
<li>
<img alt="[Cobra Squeeze: Side]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/booq-cobra-squeeze-side-sq.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">Booq Cobra Squeeze: side view</p>
</li>
<li>
<img alt="[Cobra Squeeze: Side pocket 1]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/booq-cobra-squeeze-side_bottle-sq.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">Booq Cobra Squeeze: side pocket with trendy Github water bottle from JavaOne 2015</p>
</li>
<li>
<img alt="[Cobra Squeeze: Side pocket 2]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/booq-cobra-squeeze-side_umbrella-sq.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">Booq Cobra Squeeze: side pocket with umbrella</p>
</li>
<li>
<img alt="[Cobra Squeeze: Inside]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/booq-cobra-squeeze-inside-sq.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">Booq Cobra Squeeze: everything from the contents list above inside</p>
</li>
<li>
<img alt="[Staad: Comparison front]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/waterfield-staad-comparison-sq.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">WaterField's Staad: Two models - Stout on the left, Slim on the right</p>
</li>
<li>
<img alt="[Staad: Comparison side]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/waterfield-staad-comparison_side-sq.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">WaterField's Staad: Two models - Stout on the left, Slim on the right</p>
</li>
<li>
<img alt="[Staad Slim: Side]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/waterfield-staad-slim-side_full-sq.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">WaterField's Staad Slim: side view when full with the contents above</p>
</li>
<li>
<img alt="[Staad Slim: Inside]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/waterfield-staad-slim_inside-sq.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">WaterField's Staad Slim: everything from the contents list above inside</p>
</li>
<li>
<img alt="[Staad Stout: Side]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/waterfield-staad-stout-side_full-sq.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">WaterField's Staad Stout: side view when full with the contents above</p>
</li>
<li>
<img alt="[Staad Stout: Inside]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/waterfield-staad-stout_inside-sq.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">WaterField's Staad Stout: everything from the contents list above inside</p>
</li>
<li>
<img alt="[Staad: Elastic on straps]" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/waterfield-staad-slim-elastic-sq.jpg" />
<p class="flex-caption">WaterField's Staad: the addition of some elastic to the straps makes it look even better</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Booq Cobra Squeeze</h3>
<p>My first impressions were that it's a nice bag, but it wasn't as slim as I was expecting. The curved style was good at providing structure, but also meant it was always the same thickness, regardless of what was in it. The laptop compartment was a little large for the svelte Macbook Air, but the addition of a small elastic corner strap and good padding meant it didn't seem to be a significant problem. The internal organisation was decent and, as you can see in the photos above, you could squeeze in a large water container in a side pocket, if you were happy to leave the flap open. <i>Personally,</i> I also found the grey a little light in colour: a darker grey would look more professional, while still providing a bit of variety over the standard black seen everywhere. YMMV.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the combination of the depth, and the straps didn't <i>quite</i> lie properly at the top of my shoulders, meant it had to go back. Booq were brilliant about it: 2-day USPS shipping of the bag cost me another $8, but the money was refunded to my credit card straight away; with no hassles.</p>
<h3>WaterField Designs' Staad</h3>
<p>Everyone who's a customer of WaterField Designs sings their praises, and their Staad backpack seemed to fit the bill. It comes in two variants, <i>Slim</i> and <i>Stout</i>. Most reviews on the Internet are about the Stout, and they're <a href="http://www.imore.com/review-waterfield-designs-staad-backpack">mostly</a> <a href="http://gadgetmac.com/reviews/waterfield-staad-laptop-backpack-review.html">positive</a> (with Carryology's <a href="http://www.carryology.com/bags/drive-waterfields-staad-stout/">Drive By</a> an alternative take). <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/staad-slim-backpack-hands-on-taking-the-gear-bag-to-a-whole-new-level/">ZDNet</a> and <a href="http://jimkubicek.com/blog/2013/10/17/staad-backpack/">Jim Kubicek</a> provide useful hands ons with the Slim model.</p>
<p>I ordered the Slim and it did fit my test packing in that the Cobra Squeeze did. Just. So I ordered the Stout as well to see if that'd be a better fit.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img alt="[Staad: Comparison side]" title="Staad: Stout on the left, Slim on the right" border="0" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/waterfield-staad-comparison_flat.jpg" width="100%" /></div>
<p>After much consideration, I've decided to keep the <i>Slim</i>: it looks more professional, and holds what I need it to on a daily basis. It's also possible to squeeze in a bit more than you expect, but its slimness, and the lack of the extra width, make it the overall winner for me. As with Booq, there were no problems with returns: WaterField Designs refunded the money for the Stout immediately upon receipt (this time, 2-day USPS shipping cost $11.15).</p>
<p>We've also <a href="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2016-01-31_bags/waterfield-staad-slim-elastic-sq.jpg">added some elastic</a> around the straps to keep the spare, dangling, lengths tidy; this makes it look even smarter - and perhaps something WaterField could consider adding as standard in future.</p>
<div class="videoWrapper">
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SCc98DE8ux0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>
Jaffahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222687051131602612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-31529761242561240182015-01-25T22:28:00.001+00:002016-01-02T03:21:10.792+00:00Timbuk2 Classic Messenger: how much can it hold?As with wallets, I'm always on the look out for a good, small, lightweight bag. Day-to-day, I use a <a href="http://solo.net/active-10-2-universal-fit-tablet-sling-stm751/">Solo Universal Sling</a> which perfectly fits a MacBook Air 11", iPad Mini, some business cards, pens and - when needed - the laptop charger:<br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fhOFekkyW9B7MdvkZRPCfWBPUzVQ62nzRderi2fmqXMW3PaEGS6T7V0u2O_fPhsYDsKiF3GwKobnJL7mhUJz_9OjE9M-L6eehuIfzHuDzc8lEr271IEmLQFMnqY8iYS6JUu8ScaqH_4/s1600/solo-universal-sling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fhOFekkyW9B7MdvkZRPCfWBPUzVQ62nzRderi2fmqXMW3PaEGS6T7V0u2O_fPhsYDsKiF3GwKobnJL7mhUJz_9OjE9M-L6eehuIfzHuDzc8lEr271IEmLQFMnqY8iYS6JUu8ScaqH_4/s1600/solo-universal-sling.jpg" /></a></div>
The bag's definitely small (a few extra millimeters of length on the MacBook and it wouldn't fit) and weighs only 380g. No extraneous weight: very happy. It looks alright but isn't perhaps as professional as I'd like, and a sleak/small backback would look better and be better to carry for longer periods. But, as a commuting bag for day-to-day travel, it's fine.<br />
<br />
However, sometimes I have to <a href="http://blog.jaffasoft.co.uk/2012/02/avoiding-jet-lag-using-continuous-clock_9410.html">take overnight flights</a>. Usually I try to travel with just a small carry on roller suitcase and my laptop bag, but when big suitcases are in the hold or I want to be able to quickly stash/access a hoody or sweater, a larger travel bag is useful. After some Googling, I decided on a <a href="http://www.timbuk2.com/classic-messenger-bag/116.html">Timbuk2 Classic Messenger Bag</a> (medium). This isn't a full review, there are plenty of those on the Internet, but I had real difficulty trying to find out how much it could store. The answer is "plenty":<br /><br />
<div style="text-align: center">
<div class="g-post" data-href="https://plus.google.com/107273783072304120728/posts/QP4QhWiCGQU" style="margin: 1em auto">
</div>
</div>
<br />
Certainly the medium size would be far too big for a day-to-day laptop bag for an 11" MacBook Air; but for convenience in having only a single bag on a plane (change of clothes, some toiletries, laptop etc.) whilst also having it be smart enough to use as a laptop bag on its own when I arrive, it seems to be just about spot on. It's also not too heavy at 880g.<br />
<br />
<script src="https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js" type="text/javascript"></script>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-69918125138402620172014-01-12T06:30:00.000+00:002016-01-31T20:03:45.951+00:00MyFord Touch: LCARS wallpaperI'm not (too) ashamed to admit to being a sci-fi geek and, in particular, Star Trek. On my current assignment, I've had a few rental cars with a Ford Fusion (a Mondeo in the UK) being the latest.<br />
<br />
With a large touchscreen, running "SYNC by Microsoft", the MyFord Touch software is generally regarded as pretty poor with a litany of upgrades breaking or removing functionality, and long promised items - such as the "AppLink" available on the non-Touch system - being <a href="http://boards.synccommunity.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=fordsyncmb&tid=6261">undelivered</a>.<br />
<br />
However, it does have one nice feature: you can provide your own <a href="http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=281822">800x384 pixel wallpaper</a> for the home screen. Googling turned up a few <a href="http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4082242&postcount=86">nice</a> <a href="http://www.focusst.org/forum/focus-st-electronics/4599-my-ford-touch-mft-screen-wallpaper-thread-3.html#post85183">ones</a>, but none provided the look I wanted. So, an evening spent with the GIMP produced:<br />
<br />
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://bleb.org/software/mft-lcars/mft-lcars.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://bleb.org/software/mft-lcars/mft-lcars.png" width="640" style="max-width: 100%" /></a></div>
<br />
Which, in place, looks really effective:<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2014-01-14_mft-lcars.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/news/img/2014-01-12_mft-lcars.jpg" width="100%" /></a></div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
The phone is mounted using a <a href="http://www2.robpol86.com/guides/Wireless-Charging-Car-Dock/">Mountek nGroove Snap and Google Nexus charger</a>, and is running 6 LCARS (available for both <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.A6LCARSAndroid">Android</a> and <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/6-lcars-2/id566516614?mt=8">iOS</a>) in this screenshot, though it tends to be running <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.binarytoys.speedometerpro">Ulysses Speedometer</a> and Google Maps when actually moving.Jaffahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222687051131602612noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-37995123256198798702013-09-23T21:56:00.000+01:002013-09-23T22:00:14.024+01:00JavaOne 2013 - Starting the Future<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYMH9pB5JZteU_XQMw-dvwzQWztLjBnqG-FnbDbVhyphenhyphen3QRdFLO-Brr0YX7DLYDIg3uQP0wpj25t_GtzkPFJve10m3u39jzX1RYFu6mQMBl_uIG9kmNRcRqRpY0pr1ICLsvqacOnGKhLd2M/s1600/13090036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYMH9pB5JZteU_XQMw-dvwzQWztLjBnqG-FnbDbVhyphenhyphen3QRdFLO-Brr0YX7DLYDIg3uQP0wpj25t_GtzkPFJve10m3u39jzX1RYFu6mQMBl_uIG9kmNRcRqRpY0pr1ICLsvqacOnGKhLd2M/s400/13090036.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/index.html">JavaOne</a> is a brand which is recognised by Java developers the world over. Held in San Francisco, it may have suffered slightly since Oracle bought Sun (and it got relegated to be the smaller, sibling, conference of Oracle OpenWorld), but it still has an excellent vibe, great sessions and fascinating exhibitors.<br />
<br />
Sunday's technical keynote covered Java's prevalence and how Java - and Java developers - power the Internet of Things. This thread carried through the various speakers, with a chess-playing robot powered by a Raspberry Pi and, of course, Java.<br />
<br />
Today, the sessions kicked off in earnest, with Gil Tene's 08:30 talk on <a href="https://oracleus.activeevents.com/2013/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=7556"><i>How NOT to Measure Latency</i></a> providing some interesting techniques for measuring and demonstrating performance throughput. The tools, <a href="https://github.com/giltene/HdrHistogram">hdrHistogram</a> and <a href="http://www.jhiccup.com/">jHiccup</a> are definitely worth a look.Jaffahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11222687051131602612noreply@blogger.com0San Francisco, CA, USA37.769086406291294 -122.4076080322265637.7188724062913 -122.48828903222656 37.819300406291291 -122.32692703222656tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-48736112520639658402013-06-07T07:40:00.002+01:002013-06-07T22:19:38.291+01:00Real world estimation<i>Simple requirements rarely mean small estimates</i><br />
<br />
There's been a lot of fuss on Twitter and the technology blogs about the news that <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/ariel/22767402">"fixing" the clock on the BBC homepage would take "100 staffing days"</a>. Is it really that complex to show an accurate clock?<br />
<br />
There had been a complaint that it wasn't necessarily accurate, as it was a simple JavaScript clock showing the local time on the user's computer. From the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/ariel/22767402">article in Ariel</a>, the BBC's internal magazine:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The decision to remove the clock follows a complaint from a member of the public, who said it merely reproduces the time stored on a computer's internal system, whether this is accurate or not.<br />
<br />
He added that there is no labelling which makes clear the clock isn't independently verified and, indeed, may not be 'factually accurate'.</blockquote>
<h2>
Reaction</h2>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 4em;">
"In fact it should be possible with a single line of JavaScript and
perhaps a single line of say PHP back on the server. The clock wouldn't
be millisecond accurate but in most cases it would be correct to the
second." -- <a href="http://www.i-programmer.info/news/81-web-general/5944-bbc-clock-inaccurate-100-programmer-days-to-fix.html">IProgrammer </a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 4em;">
"I always assumed it showed the correct time. But what gets me is further on in the article it states that it would take around 100 staffing days to make the changes involved in switching to an independent clock. Whaaat?" -- <a href="http://www.4networking.biz/Forum/ViewTopic/138846?page=1#p1038319">4Networking</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 4em;">
"After being forced to remove its website clock BBC estimates it would take 100 days to build a proper one! Really?!" -- <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesBarnesEsq/status/342358568743358464">@JamesBarnesEsq</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 4em;">
"The joys of working for a large corp. 100 days to give a clock widget :)" -- <a href="https://twitter.com/mischat/status/342282274156462080">@mischat</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 4em;">
"BBC claims it will take them 100 days to fix a clock on their website #jobopportunities" -- <a href="https://twitter.com/roytries/status/342406011614789632">@roytries</a></div>
<br />
This reaction is pretty common from enhancement owners when they get any seemingly high estimate for what's perceived to be a simple requirement; but is this reaction reasonable?<br />
<br />
<h2>
Analysis</h2>
Those who've been in professional software development, particularly of web applications, can probably see how a requirement of 'show a clock' - in fact, a <i>factually accurate</i> clock - could balloon.<br />
<br />
Let's look at the crux of the requirement that will have been estimated:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Show a clock on the homepage that is 'factually accurate' for the user's current location, without relying on any features of the user's local configuration.</blockquote>
When looking at requirements, I like to find the edges of the scope; to look into the corner cases and see if an internally consistent approach can be developed. My train of thought here goes:<br />
<ul>
<li>We can't use the user's computer's local time, so we will have to use the server time.
<ul>
<li>The server time is - probably - GMT, UTC or UK local time (GMT, or BST in daylight savings). This is also excluding the complexities of the <abbr title="Content Delivery Network">CDN</abbr> and the multitude of servers involved (although with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Time_Protocol">NTP</a> they should all have accurate time).</li>
<li>Showing the user time in the UK is not acceptable for our international users: it'd be a regression as they previously saw their local time (probably).</li>
<li>We cannot use the user's computer's local timezone as that would violate the original accuracy complaint.</li>
<li>The BBC already uses geo-IP services for localisation. Will this be accurate enough? <b>Our first item requiring further research/prototyping.</b></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>We'll probably have to update it: the current one updates, and viewers don't see a static clock on the News Channel, so would expect to see it update on the web.
<ul>
<li>Can we send one initial time with the server, and update it with JavaScript?</li>
<li>Does that violate the original accuracy complaint if the user's computer can't deliver a timer exactly every 1.0s? (This is known as <i>clock skew</i>)</li>
<li>If so, some form of COMET/push of time will be required. <b>Do we want this handled by the existing servers/CDN?</b></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>How accurate does the time need to be?
<ul>
<li>Does it need to take into account network latencies? (Not insignificant on 3G, for example)</li>
<li>What about browser rendering time, if the page started at 11:59:59.900 and the user is on an older/slower computer?</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
Some of these questions need to be tackled before development (some come to mind to be discarded), as well as sign-off for a functional change to something as high profile as the BBC's homepage. There's then testing in all the different scenarios and browsers which could crop up, deployment (ideally staged, A/B tested), and some time will need to be set aside to deal with the inevitable fact that a complex development like this is inevitably going to find edge cases in the real world - no matter how well you think you've tested.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure I'd've got to the 100 days estimate, but I can see it not being far off. Mark Stickley's <i><a href="http://norestfortheweekend.com/blog/2013/06/06/in-defence-of-the-bbc-and-its-clock/">In Defence of the BBC and its Clock</a></i> makes similar points and brings a BBC focus to it as well.Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-56460537520808454412012-06-19T23:17:00.002+01:002012-09-16T15:46:58.243+01:00Initial success in porting Harmattan/Symbian QML app to BlackBerry<p>This is the first post in a new <code>BlackBerry</code> category in my blog. Having attended the "<a href="http://www.blackberryjamworldtour.com/">BlackBerry 10 Dev Jam</a>" in London last week, BB10 looks very interesting - and a spiritual successor to MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan, i.e. the Nokia N9.</p><p>It's particularly interesting as BlackBerry have created their own Qt/QML-based environment, called <em>Cascades</em>.</p><p>However, I've got an existing app, <a href="http://www.jaffasoft.co.uk/m/bedside/">Bedside</a> which is almost pure QML. Could I get it running? More detailed instructions will come later, but here's how I got to where I am:</p><ol><li>Install the <a href="https://developer.blackberry.com/cascades/documentation/getting_started/setting_up.html">BlackBerry 10 Native SDK</a> and developer environment.</li><li>Create a new <em>BlackBerry Cascades C++ project</em>, although we're going to use it for "plain" Qt (as described in <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://blog.csdn.net/berryreload/article/details/7533438">this Chinese blog post</a>).</li><li>Ensure you add <code><env var="QT_QPA_FONTDIR" value="/usr/lib/qt4/lib/fonts" /></code> to <code>bar-descriptor.xml</code>.</li><li>Copy <code>qmlapplicationviewer.{cpp,h}</code> from the existing project into <code><var>APP</var>/src/</code>.</li><li>Put your QML resources in <code><var>APP</var>/assets/</code> (note you can't use <code>asset://...</code> URLs within the QML files, as you can with Cascades).</li><li>Replace <code>main.cpp</code> with a simplified version from your other project, for example:</li></ol><pre><code>
#include <QtGui/QApplication>
#include <QtDeclarative>
#include "qmlapplicationviewer.h"
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
QApplication app(argc, argv);
QmlApplicationViewer viewer;
viewer.setMainQmlFile("app/native/assets/main.qml");
viewer.showFullScreen();
return app.exec();
}
</code></pre><p>In particular, note the path to the main-QML-file.</p><p>And here's the initial version of <var>Bedside</var> (with no screensaver interaction yet) running on the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha:</p><div style="text-align: center"><a href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/30863507@N02/sets/72157630199112634/detail/"><br /><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7237/7404163258_e4db7bdf5a_s.jpg" alt="[Icon]" /> <img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7083/7404163820_85132b7c96_s.jpg" alt="[Portrait]" /> <img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7071/7404164400_8e83436944_s.jpg" alt="[Landscape]" /> <img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7221/7404162462_7d83d86de6_s.jpg" alt="[Multitasking]" /><br /></a></div><p><i>UPDATE:</i> With a bit more work, I've got <a href="https://gitorious.org/jaffas-playground/bedside/trees/master">a single source tree</a> working: now I can deploy to Symbian, Maemo, Harmattan or BlackBerry 10 (using Qt SDK for the first three, and BB10 Native SDK for the latter).</p><p>Instructions are in <a href="http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/Native-Development/HOWTO-Getting-started-with-quot-raw-quot-QML-on-BB10-Native-SDK/m-p/1782089">this forum post</a>.</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-87511530359235186642012-02-26T18:38:00.002+00:002012-09-15T11:40:50.949+01:00Avoiding jet lag using continuous clock change<p><img align="right" width="80" height="80" src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/maeflight.png">These days I'm often travelling long distances; whether it's to Asia or Detroit with work; or San Francisco for the MeeGo and JavaOne Conferences.<br /></p><p>Ten hour flights are rarely fun; but when combined with a ten hour time difference? The jet lag can destroy you.<br /></p><p>However, I trust a clock when I see it. So if I can convince myself that the time isn't changing in one big jump, jet lag is less of an issue. I used to do this with my watch: every two hours on a ten hour flight with an eight hour time difference: move my watch forward two hours. By speeding up, or slowing down time, I find it excellent for transitioning gradually to my destination timezone.<br /></p><p>My N9's standby screen provides an opportunity to do this automatically: every time I glance at my phone on the flight, it could show me the right "transient" time.<br /></p><p>I prototyped it with a spreadsheet (<a href="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/flight-time.ods">download</a>), for a recent trip to Korea, to see how effective it would be before writing an app:<br /></p><p> <img src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/flight-time-1.png"><br /></p><p>To try it out, first off, <strong>enter</strong> the local departure and arrival times; and the timezone difference:<br /></p><p><img width="280" height="61" src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/flight-time-2.png"><br /></p><p>If travelling eastwards, the <em>time difference</em> will be positive. If travelling westwards, it will be negative.<br /></p><p>A shell script will then be shown in column E. <strong>Copy</strong> this column and <strong>paste</strong> it into a text editor. <strong>Copy</strong> the resulting script to your UNIX-based mobile device (N9, N950, N900, N8x0, jailbroken iPad).<br /></p><p>On a Harmattan device, the script needs to be run in <strong><span style="font-family: courier new,courier">develsh</span></strong>:<br /></p><p><span style="font-family: courier new,courier">~ $ develsh outbound.sh<br>...</span><br /></p><p>On everything else it needs to be run as <span style="font-family: courier new,courier"><strong>root</strong></span>:<br /></p><p><span style="font-family: courier new,courier">Jaffas-iPad:~ mobile$ su -<br>Password:<br>Jaffas-Ipad:~ root# sh outbound.sh<br>...<br></span><br /></p><p>If run with <span style="font-family: courier new,courier">screen</span> or <span style="font-family: courier new,courier">nohup</span>, you shouldn't even need to keep the terminal open.<br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; color: #8a765d"><strong>NEXT STEPS </strong></span><br /></p><p>Obviously the next step is an app. Is it something you'd be interested in? Is there a nice Qt API for changing the time? Are there Qt APIs for looking up timezones, and setting the device's timezone?<br /></p><p><span style="font-size: xx-small"><em>Thanks to eipi for allowing me to use <a href="http://apps.formeego.org/staging/applications/n9/pr1.0/harmattan/Other/maeflight/">MaeFlight</a>'s icon in this post. Also published on <a href="http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Blogs/blog/andrew-fleggs-nokia-developer-blog/2012/02/26/avoiding-jet-lag-using-continuous-clock-change">Nokia Developer blogs</a></em></span><br /></p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-61606201106922683872011-11-02T09:02:00.002+00:002012-09-15T11:40:50.930+01:00Colour operator logos on N9 lock screen<p>Nick Larsson (aka <em>frals</em>) has posted an <a href="http://blogs.nokia.com/northblog/developer/guest-post-customize-your-nokia-n9/">article on adding a small (120x120px) logo to your N9 lock screen</a>.</p><p>The N9 has a PenTile AMOLED screen, but is configured to avoid the <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/03/secrets-of-the-nexus-ones-screen-science-color-and-hacks.ars">colour fringing problems that affected the Android-based Nexus One</a>. However, <strong>when the lock screen is displayed, certain bit patterns produce colours</strong>:</p><div class="screenshot"><br /><a href="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/PentileHack/20111102_003.jpg"><img src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/PentileHack/20111102_003-sm.jpg" width="192" height="212" alt="Photo of N9 lock screen with colour image" /></a><br /></div><p>John Hutchison's <a href="http://www.metalev.org/2010/03/generating-false-color-images-on-nexus.html">Generating false colour images on the Nexus One using only grayscale pixels</a> contains source code and examples.<p><p>The above photo was created by taking a 120x120px cut from the example rainbow image and setting it as the logo:<p><div class="screenshot"><br /><img src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/PentileHack/out-rainbow-normal-bw.png" width="120" height="120" alt="Greyscale section of rainbow" /><br /></div><br /><p>The same section, viewed on a Nexus One looks like:</p><br /><div class="screenshot"><br /><img src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/PentileHack/n1-rainbow-colour.png" width="120" height="120" alt="Greyscale section of rainbow" /><br /></div><br /><p>As you can see, the colour mapping isn't the same (meaning new reference images need to be generated). However, you'll see it <em>is possible to have colour logos on the lockscreen</em>. Hopefully someone will take it forward, perhaps Nick can update his tool to do colour mapping; or someone can post the reference images so that the Java source code from Luke Hutchison can work.</p></p></p></p></p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-41218124500988743812011-05-28T09:53:00.002+01:002012-09-15T11:40:50.912+01:00MeeGo Conference keynote: how it should've been done<p><img src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/meegoconf-2011.png" alt="[MeeGo Conference logo]" style="border: 1px solid #aaa; float: right; -moz-box-shadow: 4px 4px 2px #999; -webkit-box-shadow: 4px 4px 2px #999; box-shadow: 4px 4px 2px #999; margin: 1em" />The first official day of the MeeGo Spring conference started with <a href="http://sf2011.meego.com/program/sessions/keynote-jim-zemlin-future-meego-starts-now">a two-hour keynote by Jim Zemlin</a>, Executive Director of the Linux Foundation. While MeeGo is a Linux Foundation project, nobody from the Linux Foundation is formally involved on a day-to-day basis in the management and leadership of the project, which is being left to Intel (and, previously, Nokia). Because of this, Mr. Zemlin stands in as the Linux Foundation's public face for MeeGo.</p><p>It did not bode well when the advertised title of the talk, <em>The Future of MeeGo Starts Now</em> was changed to <em>Monday Morning with MeeGo</em>. This event was the opportunity for the MeeGo Project to showcase, and celebrate, last week's 1.2 release (including the N900 Developer Edition). Instead, we got Jim Zemlin talking about the advantages of Linux and open source without connecting the concepts to the MeeGo project and how MeeGo adds value compared with other Linux-based, open source mobile OSes (e.g. Android).</p><p>A number of guests joined Zemlin on stage, with <a href="https://meego.com/community/blogs/imad/2011/update-intel">Imad Sousou</a> (MeeGo's Technical Steering Group's sole member) and long-time Maemo and MeeGo contributor <a href="http://blog.rburchell.com/">Robin Burchell</a> being the highlights. However, the main thrust of the speech was that mobile Linux, and open source, are here now - and will increase in future. The issue lies in that the supporting graphs and data that were shared during the keynote were all based on Android's adoption, with hardly a mention of MeeGo. Nokia's groundbreaking work with consumer mobile Linux devices, which led to the creation of MeeGo, was not mentioned at all.</p><p>Here lies the problem with MeeGo being a Linux Foundation project: they aren't interested, or invested, in the success of MeeGo - just Linux in general. Therefore, they'll support anything which furthers that goal, including webOS and Android in the mobile space. This was reflected in the keynote: since the Android is already so successful (and its market-share is growing) it's not in LF's interests to try and fragment the mobile Linux landscape.</p><p>Announcing new devices, or freebies for attendees, isn't necessary. However, I did expect the MeeGo Conference Keynote to address the challenges facing MeeGo now; particularly since February 11th there is not a mass-market consumer electronics vendor onboard as a strategic partner. Celebrating the work that has been done to date is necessary for the community psyche. Outlining the next steps, including a roadmap, is integral for the development ecosystem. None of these things were done, and it left a pall over the entire conference.</p><p>Personally, I attended the conference believing that Nokia's upcoming MeeGo-compatible Harmattan OS had to work to try and get itself integrated into the MeeGo ecosystem in order to benefit from the growth that MeeGo was going to enjoy. I came away from the conference believing that <strong>MeeGo needs Harmattan a lot more than Harmattan needs MeeGo</strong>.</p><p>MeeGo needs fresh blood; a sentiment shared by others. The "<code><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/Texrat/status/72738481331372032">#jaffa4tsg</a></code>" hashtag on Twitter started to be used after Imad responded to <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/jaffa2/status/72732033650130944">my question</a> about expanding the TSG (Technical Steering Group) beyond a single member by saying that anyone was welcome to put themselves forward. A surprising number of people I very much respect said that my flippant "<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/jaffa2/status/72734273349750784">I'll do it</a>" was an excellent idea, with me "<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/eipi2/status/72738253190594560">getting MeeGo</a>". My <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/maclaver/status/72900286431244288">professional</a> experience in the IT industry, as well as my wide experience and <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/qole/status/72741164171788288">standing in the community</a> are also strong reasons to be involved.</p><p>Assuming this isn't an entirely silly idea - although there is no documented process by which people can join the TSG - here's how I think we should have run the keynote (keeping the two hour running time, and abiding by the rumour that politics prevented Nokia talking about Harmattan & announcing the awaited developer programme):</p><ol><li><strong>Welcome</strong>, including rerun of the "MeeGo on all your screens" video from Dublin <em>(10 mins)</em></li><li><p><strong>What've we achieved in the last six months?</strong> <em>(30 mins)</em></p><ul><li>MeeGo 1.2 tablet demo</li><li>MeeGo 1.2 demo on N900 Developer Edition ("mass-market consumer hardware, capable of running MeeGo")</li><li>Overview of all the manufacturers who have released, or committed to releasing, MeeGo hardware (including Nokia)</li><li>Announcements about Linpus, Red Flag Software, 4tiitoo AG and China Standard Software Company (C2SC) updating to MeeGo 1.2 base</li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Why MeeGo can succeed in a crowded market</strong> <em>(35 mins)</em></p><ul><li>20 years of Linux video</li><li>Mobile OS ecosystem (<em>Danielle Levitis, IDC</em>)</li><li>Some numbers from Dawn's community metrics about growth and activity of community</li><li>The potential of IVI (<em>Tsuguo Nobe, Chief Service Architect, Nissan</em>)</li><li>Time to market (<em>4tiitoo</em> and <em>Amino</em>)</li></ul></li><li><strong>Organisational and governance changes</strong>, to ensure we do succeed in the next stage of growth <em>(10 mins)</em></li><li><p><strong>What next for MeeGo</strong> <em>(20 mins)</em></p><ul><li>Roadmap for MeeGo 1.3 and call to action for faster innovation (<em>Arjan van der Ven</em>)</li><li>MeeGo 1.4 and beyond</li></ul></li><li><strong>Soundbites video from day 0</strong> <em>(2 mins)</em></li><li><strong>Audience Q&A</strong> <em>(13 mins)</em></li></ol><p>Notice here that there's no wishful thinking, everything above (apart from governance changes) was either announced during the conference, put out in a press release or already known. But it <em>is</em> MeeGo-focused, which - in my humble opinion - the opening keynote of a <em>MeeGo</em> conference should be.</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-45434528232248397212011-03-06T21:26:00.002+00:002012-09-15T11:40:50.918+01:00Cross-platform Qt dev: deploying to Symbian<p>I've gone beyond the playing with QML stage and now want to port my first Maemo 5 application, <a href="http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/attitude/">Attitude</a>, to Qt Quick; with the aim of having it run on Maemo, Symbian, MeeGo and <a href="http://sourceforge.net/p/necessitas/home/">Android</a>.</p><br /><h3>Development environment</h3><p>I'm using the <a href="http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2011/03/01/qt-sdk-1-1-beta-released/">Qt SDK 1.1 beta</a> on Ubuntu 10.10. I'll deal with developing with this in another post (Eclipse keybindings, the combination of graphical and source editing (and the limitations therein), issues to bear in mind). Here I want to deal with deployment. Qt Creator offers a number of targets:</p><ul><li>Desktop (not relevant to this app)</li><li>Maemo</li><li>Simulator</li><li>Remote compiler</li></ul><p>I chose the last three. On Linux, there is no native support for deploying or compiling for Symbian. Compiling can be dealt with by the "remote compiler", but what about deploying?</p><p>I can, now, to the following; all from <em>within</em> Qt Creator:</p><ul><li>Compile Qt applications and get a signed SIS file for installation</li><li>Install the SIS file on to a USB-connected N8</li><li>Start the application and get its console output back in the IDE.</li></ul><br /><h3>Configuring the remote compiler</h3><ol><li>Get a <a href="https://www.forum.nokia.com/Profile/Join.xhtml">Forum Nokia account</a>, if you do not have one.</li><li>Install <a href="http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2010/12/17/experimental-packages-for-symbian-development-on-linux/">runonphone</a>.</li><li>Download this script: <a href="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/runonphone.wrap">runonphone.wrap</a>, and put it on your PATH (make sure it's executable).</li><li><p>In Qt Creator, select <em>Tools > Options... > Projects > Remote compiler</em> and authenticate with your Forum Nokia details:</p><div class="screenshot"><br /><a href="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/qtcreator-symbian-options.png"><img src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/qtcreator-symbian-options-sm.png" alt="Screenshot of Qt Creator options" title="Tools > Options... > Projects > Remote compiler" /></a><br /></div></li><li><p>Open your project, and select <em>Projects > Remote Compiler > Build</em>. Ensure <em>Signed</em> is checked.</p><div class="screenshot"><br /><a href="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/qtcreator-symbian-rcbuild.png"><img src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/qtcreator-symbian-rcbuild-sm.png" alt="Screenshot of Qt Creator options" title="Projects > Remote Compiler > Build" /></a><br /></div></li><li><p>Switch to the <em>Run</em> tab and create a new deployment and run configuration.</p><ul><li><em>Command:</em> <code>runonphone.wrap</code></li><li><em>Working directory:</em> <code>$BUILDDIR</code></li><li><em>Arguments:</em> either <code>install</code> (for deploy) or <code>run</code>.</li></ul><div class="screenshot"><br /><a href="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/qtcreator-symbian-rcrun.png"><img src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/qtcreator-symbian-rcrun-sm.png" alt="Screenshot of Qt Creator options" title="Projects > Remote Compiler > Run" /></a><br /></div></li></ol><br /><h3>Configuring the device</h3><ol><li>Go to <code><QT_SDK>/Symbian/sis/Symbian^3</code>.</li><li>Send the SIS files under <code>Qt/4.7.2</code>, <code>QtMobility/1.1.0</code> and <code>TRK</code> to your phone (e.g. via Bluetooth) and install via launching them.</li><li>Go to the main launcher menu and launch <em>RnD Tools > TRK</em>.</li><li>Under <em>Options > Settings</em> ensure <em>USB</em> is set as the connection method.</li><li>Connect your Symbian phone via a USB cable.</li><li>Select <em>Options > Connect</em>.</li></ol><p>Then, when you deploy and run in Qt Creator the SIS file should be sent over the <code>usbserial</code> connection and launched on the device.</p><p>Unfortunately, if there's a problem you can sometimes end up in a state where you need to <code>kill -9</code> the processes blocking the port. It also doesn't seem to like working on <code>/dev/ttyUSB1</code>, only <code>/dev/ttyUSB0</code> - but these could all be interrelated problems. Improvements to the script <em>very</em> welcome!</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-59254808338407720032010-11-20T16:33:00.002+00:002012-09-15T11:40:50.927+01:00We go to MeeGo<p>Please forgive the cheesy title :-) As <a href="http://wiki.meego.com/MeeGo_Conference_2010#Blog_Posts">everyone wrapping up the conference</a> has said, it was a great place; well organised and a fantastic atmosphere. Here are some of my bullet point thoughts:</p><ul><li>Venue was good, although visibility in the keynotes was a little poor. Doug Fisher's reveal of "everyone" getting an IdeaPad was spoiled by it only showing on half the monitors (the other half showing slides).</li><li>Hotels were close to the venue, which was very handy. Unfortunately, a bit far out of the city centre, but cabs and buses to the touristy Temple Bar area were fine.</li><li>Nokia and Intel are both very committed.</li><li>People like Nomovok are doing interesting things behind the scenes.</li><li>The Hacker Lounges, with table tennis, DVD player, Wii, Xbox, free beer and snacks were <em>fantastic</em>.</li><li>IdeaPad is nice hardware. No-one's done a good netbook/tablet hybrid OS yet, AFAIK.</li><li>It was great to catch up with old friends (Ryan, Tim, Graham, Stephen, David, Carsten, Niels, Quim, Gary, Peter, Ronan, Randy, Dave, and so so many more)</li><li>It was great to people I've only spoken to online (Dawn and Kathy amongst others)</li><li>Lots of new folk met: Chani, Odin, Julien, Morten, ...</li><li>Amy Leeland, Dawn Foster, Quim Gil, Angela Brown and anyone else involved did a wonderful job. A definite successor to the Maemo Summits.</li></ul><p>One thing which struck me, which hasn't been dealt with elsewhere (AFAICT), is the obvious struggles MeeGo is having being an "open" project. For example, during the <a href="http://conference2010.meego.com/session/app-compatibility-and-meego-compliance-program">Compliance</a> talk, I asked Mark Skarpness where the discussions on the specification were happening; as we seemed to get new draft, with a request for comments on a regular basis; where are the discussions happening as to what goes in to those drafts? "<a href="http://lists.meego.com/listinfo/meego-dev">meego-dev</a>" was the answer, one I'm not quite sure I believe. On the plus side, my suggestion of an "Extras/Surrounds Profile" seemed like it might have some traction in solving the third-party-dependencies problem.</p><p>Similarly, in the past few weeks, the MeeGo <em>Summit</em> in Oulu, Finland - at the end of May - is being announced and planned in the open; and discussed on <a href="http://lists.meego.com/listinfo/meego-community">meego-community</a>. However, at the conference, the MeeGo Community Office announced that there would now be two MeeGo conferences a year, with the next being in San Francisco at the end of the May: the week before the Oulu summit. This is not something the Community Office has pulled out of thin air in the middle of the conference: but where was the discussion ahead of time? More back channel collaboration, no doubt. Would the Oulu folks have chosen the same dates if it was known that there was an official conference being discussed for the same timeframe?</p><p>As explained in the keynotes, MeeGo's openness to OEMs, carriers and application developers is one of the key differentiating factors which is <strong>necessary</strong> for MeeGo to succeed in a market where iOS and Android have all the momentum. However, if MeeGo is to have that same openness from a community point-of-view, these kind of things <em>have</em> to be addressed as well.</p><p>However, I've come away feeling even more positive about MeeGo than I did before. Chats with Ville, Attila, lbt, Ronan and Peter show that Nokia (at least) <em>gets</em> what the Harmattan device means and the developer story they have to tell. Qt Creator 2.1, with Qt Quick, looks like a really promising IDE for both developers and designers to collaborate.</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-90889011738099161252010-11-14T22:10:00.002+00:002012-09-15T11:40:50.952+01:00Join MWKN hacking - right *now*<p>At the MeeGo Conference in Dublin? Want to come and see how <a href="http://www.mwkn.net/">MWKN</a> is put together every Sunday evening?</p><p>Come along to the D4 Ballsbridge, following signs for "MeeGo Conference 2010 Early Bird Event" and we're in the bar next to the ballroom.</p><p>You <em>might</em> want to bring a beer from the Dubliner, as the bar here's not (yet?) open.</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-12189386543776118282010-11-12T10:38:00.002+00:002012-09-15T11:40:50.898+01:00MWKN issue creation @ MeeGo Conference, Sunday evening<p>As <a href="http://maemo.org/profile/view/GeneralAntilles/">Ryan</a> and I - editors of <a href="http://www.mwkn.net/">MWKN</a> - will be at the <a href="http://conference2010.meego.com/">MeeGo Conference</a> on Sunday evening, we'll try and find some space to get together to put together the issue. We'd love to have some help!</p><br /><h4>What's MWKN?</h4><p>M* Weekly News is a <a href="http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo_Weekly_News">weekly news digest</a> from the MeeGo/Maemo worlds; inspired by LWN and Wine Weekly News.</p><p>Throughout the week, contributors ping over links and short titles to the <a href="http://twitter.com/mwkn">@mwkn</a> account on Twitter. These then get expanded with quotes, de-duplicated etc. on a Sunday evening for the issue to be published on Monday morning.</p><p>The idea is that the community is far too large for any one person to know everything going on, so we can crowdsource the interesting bits which are happening on IRC, the mailing lists, the fora, elsewhere on the Internet etc.</p><br /><h4>Want to get involved?</h4><p>Getting involved as a contributor, or an editor (to help with putting the issue together), couldn't be easier; and we'd love to have more people involved.</p><p>Please feel free to <a href="http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo_Weekly_News#Implementation">get involved</a> ahead of time or - if you're going to be around in Dublin on Sunday evening - let me know, and you can either come along and help edit the issue; give us moral support or just get a flavour of what it is we do.</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-64594560007335255152010-10-03T10:26:00.002+01:002012-09-15T11:40:50.933+01:00Here and Now: what's on near you now<p>Nokia's N8, a Symbian^3 device, comes with a service called <a href="http://europe.nokia.com/support/download-software/nokia-here-and-now">Here and Now</a>. This reads the cell tower information you're currently connected to and opens a web page detailing the current events (cinema listings and weather, for example) near you. I've done a <a href="http://maemo.org/packages/view/here-and-now/">quick port</a> to Maemo 5 and the N900.</p><p>Once installed, you can launch it like any other application:</p><p><a href="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/here-and-now_launch.png"><img src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/here-and-now_launch.sm.png" width="400" height="240" alt="[Launching Here and Now]" /></a></p><p><em>Without</em> using a GPS, it sends your approximate position to Nokia's servers and shows you what's currently going on:</p><p><a href="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/here-and-now_rugby.png"><img src="http://bleb.org/software/maemo/here-and-now_rugby.sm.png" width="240" height="400" alt="[Here and Now screen]" /></a></p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-73690152771875554212010-09-16T12:19:00.002+01:002012-09-15T11:40:50.937+01:00Council election time again<p>Voting has now opened for the next <a href="http://wiki.maemo.org/Community_Council">Maemo Community Council</a> and, once again, I'm standing.</p><p>Last year I won, and the council chose me as their chair (hence the quietness of this blog compared with the <a href="http://maemo.org/community/council/">Council blog</a>, or even <a href="http://www.mwkn.net/">MWKN</a>).</p><p>Please vote, the Council this next term will be very important in setting the tone of maemo.org, and the way the Maemo community can work with (and, where desired, transition to) the MeeGo community.</p><p>You can read my <a href="http://lists.maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-community/2010-September/004446.html">declaration</a>, my <a href="http://mobiletablets.blogspot.com/2010/09/maemo-community-council-election-q3.html">response to EIPI's set of questions</a> covering numerous topics. Then, don't forget to <a href="http://maemo.org/vote/">vote</a>. Contact Dave Neary if you have not received your voting token.</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-8669355223999619162010-03-17T13:44:00.002+00:002012-09-15T11:40:50.948+01:00Running for the Maemo Community Council... again<p>The election period has started for the next <a href="http://wiki.maemo.org/Community_Council/Council_election_Q1_2010">Maemo Community Council election</a> and we have a number of <a href="http://wiki.maemo.org/Community_Council/Candidate_declarations_for_March_2010">excellent candidates</a>, including - even if I do say so myself - me ;-)</p><p>Before I decided to run, I asked each candidate a series of questions - the answers we've given are linked to from the candidate summary page. I'd also encourage other community members to come up with questions for the candidates.</p><p>My <a href="http://lists.maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-community/2010-March/004118.html">full candidacy announcement</a> is in the thread. The main point is that the last six months, having stepped back from the council, have given me a new perspective. The biggest issue I've seen is one of communication and clear facilitation. We need to reduce the overhead and streamline community action. Therefore, if elected, I will push for:</p><ul><li>A clear cooperation with the growing MeeGo community through MeeGo's <a href="http://lists.meego.com/pipermail/meego-community/2010-March/000320.html">Community Working Group</a> and develop a transition plan to ensure the level of collaboration the council has with Nokia isn't lost in the new world.</li><li>A Moblin/Maemo/MeeGo summit which looks to the present as well as to the future.</li><li><p>Appropriate support and resources for existing device owners as Nokia transition to MeeGo. Exactly what form this will take will depend on whether running MeeGo is a day-to-day reality for N8x0 and N900 users:</p><ol><li><p>If MeeGo provides a comparable experience, without any loss of functionality, the resources around Maemo can be slowly redirected.</p><li>However, if MeeGo for existing devices is - at best - of developer interest only, the existing Maemo community <strong>must</strong> continue, and must continue to provide support, help and resources to Maemo users.<br /></li></li></ol><p>Mer^2 should help with the final point, and I'm proud to have been on the council which approached Nokia requesting a distmaster role; and suggesting that Carsten (Stskeeps) was the right man for the job.</p></li><li><p>Increasing the visibility of the maemo.org sprint process and reducing the burden on volunteers. Niels Breet (X-Fade) being made the <a href="http://maemoteam.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/a-role-change-for-niels-x-fade-in-the-maemo-org-team/">maemo.org team leader</a> will help here. Having been involved in the running of an agile project for over 2 years, I believe:</p><ul><li>Niels should chair the sprint meeting.</li><li>The meeting participants should be responsible for setting their priorities and what will be included.</li><li>Input should be provided by Nokia (Tero Kojo) and the community (the Council chair) on their issues and priorities before the meeting which should be taken into account within the prioritisation.</li></ul><p>This will reduce the workload for the volunteers on the council, increase the ownership of the tasks and provide greater accountability of the paid contributors.</p></li><li><p>A summary table listing the high-level issues facing the community and who on the council will act as a point of contact for them. An example for the current council could be:</p><pre>Extras QA process VDVsx<br />Optification gcobb<br />Community outreach Texrat<br /></pre></li><li>Support for Randall Arnold's community outreach programme, which is trying to grow the Maemo community rather than just the Maemo platform. With the launch of the Ovi store for Maemo, much focus is given to that rather than the community provisions such as Extras.</li><li>Empowering of community members to lead initiatives such as Google Summer of Code, conference attendance etc.</li><li>A <a href="http://lists.maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-developers/2010-January/023980.html">monetisation/donation framework</a> for community-provided downloads.</li></ul><p>Whether you vote for me, or someone else, I'd encourage you to vote! The transition from Maemo to MeeGo means the community's representatives to Nokia are more important than ever. Voting is open to anyone with a maemo.org account which is older than 3 months, and has accrued more than 10 <a href="http://wiki.maemo.org/Karma">karma</a> points.</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-84384482676106213912010-01-12T22:52:00.002+00:002012-09-15T11:40:50.945+01:00Catorise: auto-organise N900 applications<p>In a brief break from <a href="http://hermes.garage.maemo.org/">Hermes</a>-related Maemo work, I was inspired by <a href="http://maemo.org/profile/view/manzn/">Manfred Weiss</a>' <a href="http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=39141">MyMenu</a> to create an <em>auto-</em>organising menu application for the N900:</p><div style="text-align:center; margin: 0.5em auto"><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30863507@N02/4268177643/"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2739/4268177643_45faf68bd8_m.jpg" alt="[New application menu: top-level]" /></a></center></div><p><em>Catorise</em> organises the application menu to have top-levels corresponding to the sections in Application Manager. Features:</p><ul><li>Uses the <a href="http://blogs.igalia.com/vjaquez/2009/12/14/shinning-new-ham/">section icons</a> from the current theme, falling back to the default theme if none available.</li><li>Determines an application's section from the same information the packager used when uploading it to Extras.</li><li>Keeps track of application installs/uninstalls.</li><li>Entirely non-destructive: remove the package and everything goes back to how it was before.</li><li>"All" and "Other" sections, just as in the App Manager, to provide additional access routes.</li></ul><p>So, with <em>Catorise</em> the section you find an application's icon is the same you used to install it!</p><p><strong>It is <a href="http://maemo.org/packages/view/catorise/">currently</a> in Extras-devel. This should, therefore, only be tested by people who are willing to suffer potential data loss, hair loss and the eating of babies.</strong></p><p>It's largely feature complete, however there are some known problems/future developments:</p><ul><li>Applications installed from Ovi will go into the "Other" section, due to the way Ovi on Maemo has been designed. I've some thoughts on how to work around this, though.</li><li>Changing the theme will only update the icons on the next application install/removal.</li><li>A quick GUI editor could be created to manipulate <code>/opt/catorise/menu</code> which is a simple text file cache to speed-up rebuilding. This would allow the user to shuffle the apps to best suit their use cases.</li></ul>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-58894647956378182872009-11-21T20:34:00.002+00:002012-09-15T11:40:50.925+01:00Maemo Weekly News: a proposal<p>I've been discussing this idea with a few key contributors over the past few days to make sure it's realistic and feasible. We've polished it and would like to ask for volunteers for a new Maemo Weekly News digest.</p><ul><em>Workload:</em> little to some.<br /><em>Benefits:</em> glory.<br /></ul><p>Read on for more info...</p><br /><h3>Background</h3><p>There are a lot of facets to the Maemo community, whether it's Bugzilla, maemo-developers, #maemo, Planet, Talk or Brainstorm. With the N900 and Maemo 5, there's been a noticeable increase in traffic in all these areas.</p><p>There have been suggestions of Maemo magazines before, but they've fallen over because:</p><ol><li>The people involved haven't been integrated into the community.</li><li>They've been a lot of work to create.</li><li>They tried to move away from <a href="http://maemo.org/news/">maemo.org/news/</a></li></ol><p>Similarly, there are blogs (like Reggie's Maemo Talk) which highlight key important things; but some of them also suffer from the same problems above and none yet go into the level of detail I'd like to see.</p><p>With the increase in volume, and limits on my own time, I'm finding it harder to be aware of all the things going on. In particular, little asides and so on on talk which are key to the community, but buried in a thread. The old complaint of "too much happening outside of talk.maemo.org" is now reversed, IMHO, but the SNR is too low to follow "New Posts" religiously <em>and</em> develop software at the same time.</p><br /><h3>Idea</h3><p>A weekly news digest of key useful/informative/interesting/insightful news from all Maemo news sources. Similar in style and approach to <a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/360596/">Linux Weekly News</a>.</p><p>This is, in many ways, a continuation of Ryan's "<a href="http://maemo.org/community/council/community_highlights_for_december_2008-part_i-january_2009-part_ii/">Community</a> <a href="http://maemo.org/community/council/635a8ae4fd0f11dd90b3938ce0b5aa01aa01/">Highlights</a>" but doing less work, being more encompassing and more repeatable.</p><p>This is NOT an attempt to aggregate ALL Maemo-related news, but provide a selection of highlights during the week; of interest to those who are involved in the platform and the community, but without the time to follow enough of the conversations in all the places to find the ones interesting to them. By acting as a filter, more people will be able to be involved in the things which interest them, resulting in an increase of higher quality submissions for members of the community who might not be heard from as much.</p><br /><h3>Implementation</h3><p>The key to its success is to produce something which is useful, integrated and deterministic; but without being a massive resource hog.</p><p>Produced weekly, every week, with a series of sections - probably similar to those on tmo. Something like:</p><ul><li>Front page</li><li>Applications</li><li>Development</li><li>Community</li><li>Devices</li><li>Maemo in the Wild</li><li>...</li></ul><p>To gather the news, a series of sub-editors/contributors would have access to a Twitter account (@maemoweeklynews, say). The posts to this feed would consist of the section, a few keywords and a link to the content (thread, post, email message, blog) which triggered it. For example, recently this may include:</p><ul><li><em>Applications</em> - wazd helping qwerty12 on Transmission: <a href="http://s56.radikal.ru/i152/0911/34/a388e13890a0.png">http://s56.radikal.ru/i152/0911/34/a388e13890a0.png</a></li><li><em>Devices</em> - Release firmware available to download: <a href="http://flors.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/maemo-5-final-release-updated-sdk-and-firmware/">http://flors.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/maemo-5-final-release-updated-sdk-and-firmware/</a></li></ul><p>Suggestions on content could be directed at it from people's own Twitter accounts. The sub-editors would then be able to pick and choose from these if it's something they'd missed.</p><p>As each issue is being pulled together, one or more sub-editors would then review the posts to that Twitter feed for their sections and flesh it out with a longer paragraph/quote. Full-blown stories would also be possible, but I imagine that being a rarity (if ever). There would then be an overall editor(s) making sure there's no duplication and also including things from maemo.org/downloads/ (top 10 apps, and new apps this week) and the bug jars (top 10 activity, probably).</p><p>The completed digest would then be posted to a site and syndicated to Planet.</p><p>Hopefully this shouldn't be too much work; and sub-editors/contributors would be able to post to the feed during their daily review of their slice of the community.</p><p>To collect the sub-editors, I'd suggest a recruitment & screening process of the form "what 3 would you have done for last week?" See more details below.</p><br /><h3>Getting Involved</h3><p>I'm now looking for:</p><ol><li><p><strong>CONTRIBUTORS:</strong> long-standing members of the community to volunteer to highlight content they see during their Maemo day. This could be whilst sat on IRC, reading the mailing lists, watching maemo.org/news/, contributing on Brainstorm or reading Talk. <em>The only extra work you'd have to do was use your favourite Twitter client to post links you thought should be in the digest.</em></p><p>Approx. number of positions: 20-30</p></li><li><p><strong>SUB-EDITORS:</strong> contributors who are also willing to flesh out the links each week by selecting a representative quote. I will be ensuring we have the tools in place to make this as easy as possible.</p><p>Approx. number of positions: 5-10</p></li><li><p><strong>EDITORS:</strong> the people with ultimately responsibility. The sub-editors who make sure the whole thing is consistent.</p><p>Approx. number of positions: 2-4</p></li></ol><p>As I want to start it small (it can always grow once we work out the details a bit better and see how it goes), anyone who'd like to be involved can reply to this (it'll be on maemo-community, my blog and talk.maemo.org) with:</p><ul><li>maemo.org username</li><li>Position wanted (contributor/sub-editor/editor)</li><li>Channels you follow</li><li>Preferred section(s) if sub-editor (feel free to make up a new one)</li><li>One/two sentence bio.</li><li>Two or three links you'd've posted in the last 2 weeks.</li></ul><p>This is an opportunity to help collaborate and facilitate spreading Maemo news; if you're a long-time contributor to the platform, your insights will be invaluable. If you're a relative newcomer, looking for a way to contribute, this is your chance!</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-39080092181881663142009-10-13T10:21:00.002+01:002013-01-06T13:26:17.434+00:00Downloading Ovi Maps without a network connection<p>Unlike Navicore/Wayfinder on previous Maemo devices, Ovi Maps on the N900 downloads maps on demand. This is obviously a problem if you're going somewhere abroad and don't want to pay extortionate data roaming charges.</p><p>Fortunately, S60 Ovi Maps users also have the same problem, and the solution is straightforward:</p><ol><li>Scroll down <a href="http://www.blog.d-11.de/2011/03/22/nokia-ovi-maps-3-0-0-1-25-114-direct-downloadlinks-und-downloadscript-for-maemo-n900-without-using-map-loader/">this post</a> to <em>Direct Links for Ovi Map Version 00.01.25.114</em> and download the maps for the countries you are interested in. (<em>EDIT:</em> updated to different blog post)</li><li>Unzip the maps into <code>cities/diskcache</code> on the big VFAT partition (mounted under <code>MyDocs</code>) on your N900.</li><li>That's it!</li></ol><p>Some of the files you may already have, I've chosen to <em>overwrite them; YMMV.</em></p><p>However, as far as I can tell, searching for locations still requires a network connection :-(</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-90344879810858192252009-09-21T10:43:00.002+01:002012-09-15T11:43:18.589+01:00Why I'm not standing for the council... but you should still vote!<p>As those of you who read <a href="http://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-community">maemo-community</a> might <a href="http://lists.maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-community/2009-September/002833.html">know</a>, I've decided <em>not</em> to run for the <a href="http://wiki.maemo.org/Community_Council">council</a> this time.</p><p>I'm really proud of being a part of the first two councils, and the level of trust Nokia placed in us with the recruitment of the <var>debmaster</var>; chairing the sprint meetings for the gang-of-four; the decisions over the summit and inviting us to the launch of the N900 at Nokia World.</p><p>My enthusiasm for Maemo is not diminished; indeed, with the launch of the N900, I'm as excited now as I was waiting for the launch of the 770 back in November 2005. However, after a year on the council, I'm now looking forward to six months as "just" a normal community member. I've not come to this decision easily, and I'm very happy to have had such warm words of encouragement. My reasons are two-fold:</p><ol><li>There are many other members of the community who should have a chance to represent us. In particular, I'm very happy that Stephen (<a href="http://maemo.org/profile/view/sjgadsby/">sjgadsby</a>), Valério (<a href="http://maemo.org/profile/view/vdvax/">VDVsx</a>) and Graham (<a href="http://maemo.org/profile/view/gcobb/">gcobb</a>) have chosen to accept my nomination of them. The fact they're joined by the likes of Alan Bruce (<a href="http://maemo.org/profile/view/qole/">qole</a>), Gary Birkett (<a href="http://maemo.org/profile/view/lcuk/">lcuk</a>) and Jay Carter (<a href="http://maemo.org/profile/view/zerojay/">zerojay</a>) - and <a href="http://wiki.maemo.org/Community_Council/Candidate_declarations_for_September_2009">others</a> - is even better.</li><li>The vitriol and nastiness spewed by a very vocal, but tiny, minority of people on <a href="http://talk.maemo.org/">talk.maemo.org</a> - especially regarding <a href="http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=28674">the transition of internettablettalk.com to talk.maemo.org</a> - took a lot of the fun away. Given the massive investment of time my role as chair required, taking the fun away removed one of the main motivations for me.</li></ol><p>I still plan on being an active (and vocal) community member both as a developer, a community evangelist and as a user. I hope that if you would have voted for me, you consider voting for one of the excellent candidates we have standing (and we have many). In particular, Stephen, Valério and Graham have all been long term contributors in many different ways and are tolerant, helpful people. I will struggle to cast my single transferable vote for them, Gary, Alan and Jay.</p><p>However whomever you vote for, please do <a href="http://maemo.org/vote/vote.php?election_id=7">vote</a> (once you receive your voting tokens)! I think that the Community Council has been far more effective than I ever imagined it could be when I suggested it back in 2008 and I look forward to seeing where this community will go in the next six months</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-86639500888161595092009-03-18T14:40:00.002+00:002012-09-15T11:40:50.947+01:00Vala 0.5.7 now in maemo.org Extras<p>After a bit of a prod; and a delay; <a href="http://mud-builder.garage.maemo.org/">mud-builder</a>'s <a href="https://garage.maemo.org/plugins/scmsvn/viewcvs.php/trunk/packages/vala.pkg/mud.xml?root=mud-builder&view=markup">vala recipe</a> has been updated to the latest release 0.5.7 and uploaded to Extras-Devel as "vala" - this can now be used in <code>Build-Depends</code> lines in auto-builder packages.</p><br /><h4>What is Vala?</h4><p><a href="http://live.gnome.org/Vala">Vala</a> is a modern, object-oriented programming language with a syntax inspired by C# and Java. However, it compiles to native code (via C), giving the benefits of modern programming languages and the speed of native development.</p><p>From its website:</p><blockquote><p style="color: #bbb">Vala is a new programming language that aims to bring modern programming language features to GNOME developers without imposing any additional runtime requirements and without using a different ABI compared to applications and libraries written in C.</p></blockquote><br /><h4>Example</h4><p>I've also uploaded another little package - <em><a href="https://garage.maemo.org/plugins/scmsvn/viewcvs.php/trunk/packages/vala-sample.pkg/?root=mud-builder">vala-sample</a></em> (basically, <a href="http://live.gnome.org/Vala/HildonSample">HildonSample</a>) - which demonstrates that a <code>Build-Depends: vala</code> line in a package's <code>debian/control</code> can be built using the auto-builder:</p><p>This is only in Extras-devel as it's use to end-users is pretty small, however it demonstrates three things:</p><ul><li>How easy it is to package stuff with mud-builder.</li><li>That the auto-builder can build Vala apps.</li><li>That unlike other modern programming languages on Maemo (such as Python, Ruby, Java or C#) there is <strong>no additional start-up lag in a Vala application</strong>.</li></ul><p>A screenshot all the same:</p><div class="image_block"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3659/3361428158_34618ccdc7.jpg" alt="Vala Sample application" title="Vala's "Hello World"" /></div>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-30692298010397056312009-02-27T23:25:00.002+00:002012-09-15T11:40:50.909+01:00Announcing my standing for council membership<p>I've set the ball rolling, and <a href="http://lists.maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-community/2009-February/003412.html">put myself forward</a> as a candidate (the first) in the second Maemo Community Council election.</p><p>I'm proud to have been a member of the inaugural Community Council. In the last six months, we've seen a sea-change in the way Maemo is progressing:</p><ul><li>the first Maemo Summit, paid for by Nokia;</li><li>community ownership of maemo.org;</li><li>better use of Bugzilla by both Nokia <em>and</em> the community;</li><li>the realistic vision of a community-led "hacker edition" in <a href="http://wiki.maemo.org/Mer">Mer</a>;</li><li>a webmaster, docmaster, bugmaster and now debmaster all being paid for for us;</li><li>open communication and - importantly - progress indicators like the Maemo 5/Fremantle pre-release SDKs, which would've been unheard of back in 2006/2007.</li></ul><p>The Council has been involved in many of these, but would claim credit for few. I believe we've truly fulfilled our role as facilitators and would like to continue my role there. We've not got everything right, but I think we've proved the idea; and that it can be a cohesive force within the community.</p><p>I think there's still work to be done, though. Nokia are being more open, and projects like <a href="http://blog.ifrade.es/2009/02/25/release-release-tracker-0690/">Tracker</a> and <a href="http://zee-nix.blogspot.com/2009/02/rygel-022-is-out.html">Rygel</a> are being developed openly. Yet, Modest has slipped back into internal development; some patches to Application Manager have been merged, but the community's vision for application management in Diablo - and Fremantle - looks unlikely to have been realised. The system as a whole, and the application environment which so clearly defines the Maemo brand, are architected internally. Design decisions are taken internally.</p><p>Slowly, hopefully, we can change Nokia management into utilising the enthusiastic talent at their disposal in a way which is truly ground-breaking in the industry; with a root-to-tip collaboration between us all.</p><p>Thanks for reading this, and I'll happily answer any questions anyone has.</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-43206595373141942092008-10-25T09:49:00.002+01:002012-09-15T11:40:50.916+01:00Maemo-based netbooks?<p>In the latest Internet Tablet School editorial, <a href="http://tabletschool.blogspot.com/2008/10/future-of-nokia-maemo-and-internet.html">The future of Nokia, Maemo and the Internet Tablets</a>, krisse explains why a Maemo-based netbook makes the most sense for Nokia now.</p><p>Respectfully, I've never heard a more crazy idea:</p><ul><li>Maemo is a touch-based OS, which doesn't work well with a larger style keyboard.</li><li>People who don't want Windows would find Mac OS X or Ubuntu Netbook Remix a much more compelling user experience on such a device.</li><li>What on earth is the benefit of Maemo here, vs. an alternative OS?!</li><li>The comments when the 770 was released were "where's the phone?", and although Nokia make lots and lots of non-phone devices (such as one of our DVB-T receivers), the comments about Nokia trying to break in to a crowded market (of laptop makers) would be easily compiled into an hilarious book.</li></ul><p>IMNSHO, it's just plain bonkers to go down that line instead of a small, tablet form factor - however unproven that may in the end-consumer mainstream.</p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7336457610255402878.post-9248548070198664502008-08-26T10:05:00.002+01:002012-09-15T11:40:50.953+01:00maemo.org Community Council elections<p>The call for nominations for the first <a href="http://maemo.org/news/announcements/view/community_council_election.html">maemo.org Community Council elections</a> has been open for a couple of weeks now. But I wonder if the wider maemo.org is aware of just how important this <em>could</em> be for the future of the platform.</p><p>So, this post'll be syndicated on planet.maemo.org in the hope that we get more candidates putting themselves forward, and interest drummed up in the wider community in terms of asking the candidates more probing questions. Hopefully we can avoid the nastiness associated with the US presidential election :-)</p><p><i>Of course, I'm biased. I've thrown my hat into the ring: <a href="http://lists.maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-community/2008-August/000702.html">my candidature announcement</a> has been sent to <a href="https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-community">maemo-community</a>. I recommend you subscribe if you're interested in shaping the future of Maemo, rather than "just" developing with it.</i></p>Andrew Flegghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02721892735482100544noreply@blogger.com0