Several of us “usual suspects” from the wireless/J2ME community at JavaOne this week are going to get together this evening (Wednesday June 30th) and I wanted to invite everyone else interested in wireless development and in SF (at the conference or otherwise) to stop by.
We’ll be at Thirsty Bear at 6PM. It’s “bring/buy your own everything”.
Hope to see many of your there for some good coversation and a brewski. 🙂
I’ve posted the slides for my “J2ME at Five: Where We’ve Been, and Where We’ll Be at Ten” JavaOne BOF presentation. Click here to access the slides (PDF).
Abstract:
Java technology took the wireless world by storm when the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) was first introduced for mobile devices, starting with the KVM at the JavaOne conference in June 1999.
Much has happened in the last five years. More than 120 million MIDP 1.0 devices are in consumers’ hands and MIDP 2.0 devices are now shipping in volume. Many interesting wireless Java applications are in daily use. J2ME technology-based wireless games continue to draw eyeballs and twitching thumbs the world over.
This session examines the history and technical merits of J2ME technologies that have allowed it to succeed over the past five years. This portion of the presentation is followed by a discussion and extended Q&A where we examine what needs to happen (technology, business, and otherwise) for the J2ME platform to be even more successful in its next five years.
Please use the Comments link at the bottom right of this blog entry to discuss the slides, ask questions, or make suggestions on improving the presentation.
Yesterday I was fairly busy delivering my Advanced Wireless Programming session and talking with people coming around the Nokia booth. More pictures from throughout the day when I get a chance to post them.
I was able to steal some time last night to attend an interesting BOF on the Information Module Profile (IMP) (spec) and IMP NG. Janne Levula, a Senior Technology Expert at Nokia (disclaimer: Yes, I work for Nokia), delivered the presentation, “Java Technology in M2M: Let the Machine Talk and Think“, in which he discussed the technology behind IMP (the short version: MIDP minus UI) and how to take advantage of it in a number of interesting applications from industrial automation to home security systems.
He had prepared a fun demo using the Nokia 12 GSM module (specs) to control a Mindstorms robot from his MIDP-enabled phone, but unfortunately there was a roaming issue (my guess is Janne’s home operator offers TCP sockets or another protocol he uses in his demo but the carrier he was roaming with here does not). So he demonstrated another example using the development tools from Forum Nokia’s Machine-to-Machine (M2M) development page, the Nokia 12 IMP 1.0 Concept Simulator 1.0.
This BOF really got me started thinking about the things one can do with an embedded cell phone module and the “smarts” of J2ME/Java. The business uses of this technology are virtually endless, IMO. Of course, if I can just convince my wife that we need to trick out our home and car so that I can control them from halfway around the world then the real fun can begin! 🙂
[Update: Sun Technology Evangelist Angela Caicedo also blogged about Janne’s work and the Nokia 12 GSM module. Click here for photos of his robot and the control MIDlet running on his Nokia 6600.]
JavaOne Online has posted the slides for my “Tips and Techniques for Advanced Java Technology Wireless Programming” JavaOne technical session. Click here to access the presentation with audio and/or download a PDF of the slides.
Abstract:
This session breaks down some of the common techniques to design and implement Java technology-based applications for wireless devices using the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) CLDC and MIDP APIs.
The discussion begins by pointing out basic Java software programming gotchas and workarounds for both the MIDP 1.0 and MIDP2.0 platforms. It also discusses more advancd topics such as best practices in handling threads, memory management, etc. It also covers optimization and footprint reduction techniques. In addition to the general J2ME/CLDC/MIDP platform, this talk addresses very specific MIDP 2.0 programming practices covering issues, such as programming practices for untrusted applications, handling security exceptions, recommendations for handling the Auto launch functionality, working with multimedia resources, double buffering, etc. Code samples are provided wherever appropriate. The session also covers these aspects from different implementation perspectives, such as iMode/iAppli, Symbian Series 60 and UIQ-based devices, etc.
Note: This is a talk for experienced wireless Java technology programmers. Experience in J2ME technology in general and MIDP 2.0 in particular is required.
Please use the Comments link at the bottom right of this blog entry to discuss the slides, ask questions, or make suggestions on improving the presentation.
My plans for JavaOne include:
- Delivering ”Tips and Techniques for Advanced Java Technology Wireless Programming” technical session with co-speaker Srikanth Raju from Sun on Monday June 28th at 2:15PM in Moscone Center room Gateway 104
- Delivering ”J2ME Platform at Five: Where We’ve Been, and Where We’ll Be at Ten” BOF (also with Srikanth) on Tuesday June 29th at 9:30PM in Moscone Center room Gateway 104
- Attending as many of the other Nokia sessions as possible
- Hanging around the Nokia booth (1401) in the Pavilion in the afternoons to chat with attendees
As mentioned in my blog previously, I’d like your input on the topics we’ll be discussing at our BOF. Our agenda is:
- How Far We’ve Come: JavaOne 1999 versus 2004
- The First Five Years of J2ME Adoption
- J2ME Technology for the Next Five Years
- Predictions and Pontifications
- Resources & Discussion
with plenty of time after a few prepared slides for interactive discussion about where J2ME came from, and more importantly, where it’s headed.
And if you’ll be attending the BOF, please bring any and all J2ME devices you can muster. We’d like to have as wide a sample as possible from the “first five years” and I’ll do my best to give everyone a sneak peak of at least one very hot upcoming J2ME device from the “next five years”, too.
Hope to see many of you in San Francisco this week and even if you can’t make it in person watch BillDay.com for as many onsite blog updates as I can manage.
Nokia has put together a page highlighting our JavaOne presence including booth, keynote, technical session, and BOF information. Click here for an overview of Nokia at JavaOne, then add any Nokia-related sessions that interest you to your JavaOne schedule. BTW, if you haven’t registered yet, you can use Priority Code RGNAYCG7 to save up to $100 off of a full conference pass (feel free to pass this code along to colleagues).
Not able to attend the conference? Watch this site, as I plan to blog updates live from JavaOne similar to last year. More to come soon including a request for your input on my materials for BOF-2475, “J2ME™ Platform at Five: Where We’ve Been, and Where We’ll Be at Ten”, my Tuesday evening BOF session.
Following up on my earlier posts on Google and especially Wireless Froogle:
Interesting thoughts and speculation on how “Google might change the wireless Internet“.
So what verb should Google coin for wireless search? “Woogle”, anyone?
If Burt Rutan, Paul Allen, and company have their way, June 21st, 2004 will go down in history as the day the first private craft blasted into suborbital space. Read all about Scaled Composites’ attempt from “Historic Blast-off for First Private Spaceship“.
Interested in attending the launch? It’s open to the public, so if you can be in Mojave, California on the 21st, you can go. Click here for the details, and if you do go, let me know what it was like by posting a comment to my site, ok?
In a story related to my earlier entry on smartphone and PDA sales Reuters/Yahoo reports that Sony will halt Clie sales in US.
The Nokia 7610 camera phone has started shipping. For more details, refer to the Forum Nokia 7610 device page. There are a number of features I would still like to see added to some upcoming smartphone cellcam device, but all in all the 7610 seems to me to be the best cellcam available today (yes, I am biased, but I believed the 7610 would be a very hot device even before I accepted my position at Nokia).
Nokia has also announced the 3220, meant to shore up lower cost cellcam offerings. It contains a number of interesting features, including “light messaging” (read all about it from the official press release and Forum Nokia).
BillDay.com 