Matt Croydon::Postneo

Year: 2004

  • Access Point Infrastructure on a CD

    An article on Slashdot about open source hotspots has a lot of information that I was unaware of.  Most importantly, there are two livecd Linux distributions for Wi-Fi infrastructure that I did not know about.  First, Knoppix begat Morphix which begat PublicIP, which makes setting up and administering a free hotspot as easy as possible.  The second, LESS Networks, allows users to download and install a hotspot on their hardware.  LESS seems to be a bit more techie oriented, but that’s okay too.

    Also of note in the linked article is a French hotspot distro called Sesame.  It looks like at least some of these distros are building on top of well known free Wi-Fi projects like NoCat.  If mesh networking is more your bag, don’t forget to check out the Meshbox.  A less sophisticated version of a lot of the wi-fi hotspot distributions can be accomplished on a Linksys WRT54G and third party firmware.

    I’m so glad that we live in a world that includes niche Linux distributions for free wi-fi hotspots.

  • Treo 660: Subtle Changes for the Better

    While this prototype that may or may not be a Treo 660 does not look significantly different than the Treo 600, take a closer look.  The phone-first design is starting to come out even more.  Not only does it look like a flattened Sony Eircsson T616, but the overall look and feel of the phone is about as trimmed down as a phone with a qwerty keypad can be.

    It just screams “phone that also happens to be a PDA” so much more than the Treo 600 does.

  • Tomorrow is Towel Day

    Thanks to Frank for the heads up, tomorrow is Towel Day.  I found out a day too late last year, but I’ll be observing it this year.

  • Unit Testing for Symbian C++

    NewLC points to SymbianOSUnit, an open source unit testing architecture for Symbian C++.  This is awesome.  More information can be found at the project summary.  I’m glad that someone finally just did this, as it’s something that I had been thinking about off and on for quite some time.

  • T-Mobile and Cingular Cut Ties

    CNet:

    Wireless carriers Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile USA said Tuesday they will shelve a three-year-old network infrastructure joint venture, based on the former’s pending buyout of AT&T Wireless.

    Does that mean that my reception with T-Mobile is going to get worse when I’m in San Francisco, or better?  I’m hoping for the latter.

  • Visual Studio 2005 Team System

    A lot of bloggers in the .NET sphere are realy excited about Visual Studio 2005 Team System.  The overview of the Team System look quite promising.  I love to see words like “unit testing” make its way in to product pitches.  That really is A Good Thing.  The system looks solid and extensible.

    Time will tell if this is a  cool whizbang or a real time saver.

    Update: The Early Adopter weblog has links to video of this new feature.

  • Rawdog 1.12

    Via freshmeat, Rawdog 1.12 is out and about.  1.12 is a bugfix and minor feature release.  Rawdog is currently my aggregator of choice.  It’s simple, gets out of my way, and lets me view my news just about anywhere that I have access to a web browser.

  • The Monkey Links

    • There is a new version of mjabber, a J2ME jabber client, out and about.
    • This blog software breakdown is a nice at-a-glance comparison of some popular blogging platforms.
    • From the WS-Whatever department, Infoworld covers WS-MessegeDelivery.  In related news, Sam Gentile is excited about WSE 2.0.
    • Steve Olechowski notes the release of some new Moto iDEN MIDP 2.0 phones.  I for one knew that the i830 was on its way.  It’s a polished i730, which is A Good Thing.  I wonder if the other new phones are any good.
    • OSNews notes the torrentability of Mandrake 10 Official. *Slurp*
    • CNet: Mobile customers want streaming video.  I’d settle for working streaming audio on my 3650.
    • Wi Fi Networking News links to Wi-Fi penetration and demographics.  Also worth reading is the story of how Glenn got the scoop on the Cometa story.
    • I must listen to The FCC Song later.
    • OSNews links to a CNet story about CA open sourcing its Ingres database as well as partnering with several open source communities.
    • There are licensing issues with MySQL 4.x.
    • Mark deals with the aftermath of Freedom 0.  He was also slashdotted today.
    • Game Daily interviews Nada Usina about all things mobile gaming (via the awesome moconews)
    • El Reg reports that Sun is going to share Project Looking Glass Real Soon Now.
    • Simon Fell meditates on tool-generated WSDL.
    • Erik had a pulse today.

  • Which Linux Certification?

    The first time I installed Linux, I downloaded individual disk images of Slackware over 14.4 or 28.8 dialup.  I was able to snag an image or two from my dial-up shell account each night.  A, AP, D, K, L, N, etc.  It took forever.  LILO and I managed to roach the MBR of the family Pentium 60 a few times.  Oops.  Sorry.

    What I’m trying to say is that I’m not a Linux newb.  I’ve installed and tinkered with pretty much every major distro that is out there.  I have an extra machine under the desk as a testbed, just so that I can take a look at the latest and greatest distro that just came out.  I’ve got quite a bit of real-world Linux experience, just not in a corporate environement, and not on paper.

    I’d like to change that.  I’d like a Linux cert of some kind or another that can back up what I already know: I know my way around Linux.  Unfortunately, I’m not sure which cert to go after.  A year ago, I would not have been asking this question.  It would have been RHCE, and don’t look back.  They’ve gone for the high end enterprise clients and left the small to medium guys out in the cold.  Hey, it’s a business decision, it had to be done, but Red Hat is no longer the de-facto distro.  Therefore, a RHCE isn’t worth what it used to be.

    I flipped through a Linux+ practice exam in the bookstore the other day.  I correctly answered 18 out of 20 that I looked at.  I’m sure with a little cramming I could have nailed the other two.  I’m confident that with a few weeks and a good book, I can fill in the holes to pass a Linux+ with no problem.  But do I want a Linux+ cert?  Is it taken seriously?  Should I be looking at other certs?

    After doing a little bit of research, it looks like there are four major Linux certification programs out there.  Here’s what I’ve learned about them so far:

    • RHCE: It used to be the only cert worth having.  Nowadays, I’m not so sure.
    • CompTIA Linux+: This one looks easy to pass, which is good but bad.  Exam cost is around $200 or so, and there’s only the one.
    • Linux Professional Institute currently offers three levels of certification with two exams for each.  It is interesting to note that SUSE is basing their certifications as supplemental to the LPI certs.  I’m a big picture guy, and I think that Novell/SUSE/Ximian could be the next standard platform.  For that reason, I see the LPI certs as attractive.  I could be a SUSE Linux Professional after passing two LPI exams and a SUSE exam.  SUSE has cool logos.
    • SAIR Linux: They have two certification programs: Linux Certified Administrator and Linux Certified Engineer.  The roadmap reminds me a lot of MCSE.  It looks like you have to pass four exams for each cert.  This is the cert that I know the least about.

    So whcih one of the above certs is best?  Which is most worth having?  I’m inclined to go the Linux+ route in order to make my resume look more attractive in the short term, but I don’t want to waste my money if it’s a total joke.  Longer term, I can see the LPI/SUSE certs being valuable.  If you have some insight, please email me (<%radio.macros.mailTo ()%>) or stop by the wiki page WhichLinuxCertIsBest.

  • A Grand Don’t Come for Free

    I heard about the closest thing to a positive review of music by The Streets (aka Mike Skinner who is aka The Streets) on NPR of all places last night.  Let me be more specific.  I’ve heard and read tons of great things about him/them, but we’ve just got no clue about good music over here in the US.

    A few months ago the morning show at WHFS, the local non-Clear Channel (which means CBS) rock station, listened to a song from Original Pirate Material along with a few other songs.  It’s a game they play every few months.  The music director brings in a few songs and “The Junkies” rate each song either hurt-ing, top-40, or top-10.  I got all excited about the enthusiasm that the music director had before he played The Streets.  I share his enthusiasm.  It’s great stuff that isn’t the same old pop/rock/neometal/rap that you’ve heard a million times.  It’s really different.  It’s really good.

    Sadly “The Junkies” know the pulse of America and hated it.  A brand new twist on a genre that’s never gained popularity over here just wasn’t going to cut it.  The really garage (pronounced garidge not ga-raj) stuff from Craig David’s album never made it to the radio waves.  I’ve never heard Artful Dodger on the radio either for that matter.  I think I heard an Audio Bullys song once.

    I bought a copy of Original Pirate Material shortly after it became available in the US (MONTHS after it was released elsewhere in the world).  Luckily, the new one, A Grand Don’t Come for Free is already out here.  I’ll pick it up as soon as I can.  I just hope that we give it a listen over here, and don’t just dismiss it because it’s not the same old same old.

    It might be better off for us to just ignore this one too.  It’s a concept album.  A story.  It’s not rap, but not garage, but not the same as the previous album.  It’s a whole thing altogether.  I’m not sure if we’re ready for it.

  • The Other AT&T Wireless

    The Baltimore Sun:

    After Cingular Wireless completes its purchase of AT&T Wireless this year, AT&T Corp. will begin a new wireless phone service using the network operated by rival Sprint Corp.

    If that sounds confusing, it’s part of the plan.

    AT&T Corp. has a “window of opportunity to take advantage of the confusion to win as many customers as they can,” said Michael Grossi, a consultant with Boston-based Adventis. “Confusion is absolutely the cornerstone of AT&T’s strategy.”

    Wow.  This is going to be painful.  AT&T Wireless will cease to exist as a brand, folding in to the Cingular brand.  Almost immediately, AT&T the parent company that spun off the AT&T the wireless company a few years ago will start offering service on Sprint’s network.

    That’s so wrong.

    It’s going to confuse the crap out of consumers, and they’re banking on it.  It’s a shame that the current AT&T Wireless (soon to be just another part of Cingular Wireless) is spending a chunk of change on its GSM America ad campaign.  They’re pretty much campaigning for the other guy at this point.  It’s a shame too, because the ad campaign (at least the ad I’ve seen on TV) looks pretty good, the plans and coverage sound good, everything is solid.  I just don’t see the merit in prolonging and strengthening the AT&T Wireless brand any more at this point.  Wouldn’t those ad dollars be better spent strengthening the Cingular brand that they will so soon be a part of?

    Neither AT&T makes any sense to me.

  • Monday Morning Link Deluge

  • Blog Software Evolution

    Newsforge notes that b2evolution snuck a release out the door at a very opportune time.  The release announcement notes a plugin architecture, which may sway switchers.  The new release also includes a bevy of text formatters:

    By request from our users, several popular text formatting plug-ins have been included such as Textile, Auto-P, Greymatter, BB code, Texturize, and graphic smilies.

    That’s nice.  The smileys in the post editing interface of the previous version turned me off.  I haven’t had a chance to take a look at it closely enough to see if I can turn that off.

    I would expect that the WordPress crew is slaving away at getting the newest version out the door.  I still use Radio to power this blog, though I have some MovableType blogs scattered about along with a few Wikis.  I also try to test out blog/CMS software as often as possible, so I’ve seen recent versions of most of the popular blog engines.

    Mena has clarified and modified the licensing of MT3.0.  Yeah, it still costs money.  Freak out if you will.  MT saves Jeremey time, and that si worth money to him.  Mark has switched to WordPress and now has freedon.  I’m still using Radio on this blog, mostly because the thought of cleaning up and converting 3000 some entries scares me.

  • WordPress Redux

    I was impressed by WordPress before it was cool.

  • Longhorn’s My.Computer.Network

    Over at the Early Adopter weblog, they’re taking a look at new bits included in the latest preview release of Longhorn.  There are some really amazing bits in there.  Things like your machine name, connection status, your IP addresses and your domain information.  It also allows you to easily ping another IP or download/upload files.

    Bits like this make coding a breeze, but it also facilitates things like disabling the firewall with 3 lines of VBScript.

    Double edged sword, that.

  • Mobile Linkdump

    We had quite the linkfest in #mobitopia today.  After Martin and the other Euros went to bed, I scared up quite a decent collection of mobile links.  Here they are for your enjoyjment:

    There are other link gems hidden among the 130 or so links from today.  Keep digging!

  • Supercharged Series 60

    Wireless Developer Network:

    MALMO, Sweden, May 13, 2004 — Teleca announced today it will supply leading Symbian OS and Series 60 support for the Intel(R) PXA27x family of processors aimed at customers developing mobile phones, PDA’s and other wireless devices.

    To most people, PXA27x is just a random alphanumeric phrase.  I assure you that it’s a ton more than that, and bringing Symbian/Series 60 to that platform is going to be big.  Really big.

    Luckily the announcement of the PXA27x family flew by my radar the other day.  Take a look at a few monster specs and you’ll know why I’m excited to see Symbian/Series 60 on this platform:

    • Scales to 624MHz.  That’s like a PII/PIII running Symbian/Series 60.
    • Lots of memory, up to 64 megs.
    • Speedstep in your pocket.  Here’s hoping for lots of power and long battery life.
    • Lots of connectivity options.  Series 60 Wi-Fi anyone?
    • It has a really nice mobile co-processor with a lot of really good codecs

    Now don’t expect to see this tech in your Series 60 phone any time soon.  Teleca just got approval to start working on this stuff, and for the near future will only be working on reference designs and concepts.  For all we know, this project could be shelved in six months.  I hope that it ends up in our pockets instead.

  • Enterprise SNAP?

    Following the announcement of SNAP, and the fact that it will first be ready for Series 60 MIDP 2.0, the question is out there in plain sight: What about Enterprise SNAP?

    No really, I’m serious.  Why not use SNAP as a platform for enterprise apps?  With MIDP 2.0 you’ve already got an extremely easy form-based user interface.  Writing a basic MIDP 2.0 form is just above the complexity level of creating a VB form.  Really, it’s simple.

    How much of a gaming framework can be used in the enterprise?  Quite a bit actually.

    The presence info could be killer.

    “Where’s Johson?”
    “One second, let me check.” <our geek hero glances at his 6600> “He’s online, I’ll have him call in.”

    After that, our geek hero can send Johnson a quick message using SNAP’s instant messaging API.

    SNAP may be a useful extension to traditional J2ME->J2EE enterprise solutions, or it might just be useful for some enterprise hacks.  Either way, I can’t wait to take a look at it.

  • Nokia’s Smart Move: Scalable Network Application Package

    From a Nokia press release (emphasis mine):

    Los Angeles, California. May 12, 2004 – Nokia today premiered the first multiplayer Java games based on its SNAP Mobile solution at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Developed together with Sega Mobile, the SNAP Mobile demonstration features multiplayer gaming for Java games, in addition to key community features such as friends lists, presence, and instant messaging. The Sega Mobile game demos are the first example of how SNAP Mobile brings the technology utilized in the N-Gage Arena gaming community to mass market Java terminals.

    SNAP is going to blow the lid off of J2ME MIDP 2.0 development.  Not only are mobile game developers going to be able to easily create several different types of multiplayer networked games (ranking, freestyle, challenge, etc), but we’re going to be able to take advantage of all of the extra bits that come with the platform.

    Here’s another choice snippet (emphasis mine again):

    The first demonstrations of SNAP Mobile will be implemented in MIDP 2.0 on Series 60, and support for other platforms will follow. The SNAP Mobile client development kit is expected to be made available for Java game developers free of charge in the third quarter of 2004. The server components can be licensed by mobile operators and other interested service providers or they can opt for a hosted community service. With either option, service providers will be able to create, build and brand their mobile gaming communities and drive data revenues and customer loyalty.

    Hey Nokia: Smartest. Move. Evar!  It sounds like they’re going to release the libraries and API docs on Forum Nokia and let ideas flourish rather than try to keep them locked down.  It’s a perfect strategy too: a small mobile gaming startup creates a killer game.  It includes some multiplayer aspects that require the Nokia server components.  All of a sudden they’ve got to license the server side stuff directly from Nokia or make a deal with a carrier.  Everyone is free to create a killer game, but if you need the server side stuff, Nokia’s going to be making a buck one way or another.

    I look forward to taking a look at SNAP sometime in Q3.  I know that it has me excited, and I’m pretty sure that Nokia has the ear of a lot of J2ME developers.

    Update:

    Note above that they are planning to roll out SNAP first on Series 60 MIDP 2.0.  That means that they see the big picture.  If they were planning on keeping SNAP on the N-Gage they would have not mentioned which platform they would deploy on first.  What does this mean?  It means that when released, SNAP should work on pretty much any S60 that has MIDP 2.0.  That means that a 6600 or a 7610 should be able to run SNAP out of the box.

    But wait, does that mean that initial versions of SNAP will not work on the N-Gage or N-Gage QD?  Yep.  They’re MIDP 1.0, which lacks things like a Bluetooth API, decent socket support, and has a whole lot of limitations that are going to make backporting SNAP a pain in the butt, if not impossible if they want to keep it feature complete.  Of course the Bluetooth API is optional, but can be found in all Series 60 MIDP 2.0 devices to date.

    Does anyone else smell an N-Gage 2 featuring S60 v2.0 and MIDP 2.0 coming in the next few months?  I think I do.  Jim at All About N-Gage thinks it might be a possibility too.

  • What is Really Holding Tablet PCs Back?

    Scoble is defending the Tablet PC team from an article at Microsoft Watch.  I wish that there wasn’t so much to defend.  Tablets are one of those things that I’ve wanted to see take off since the 486 Fujitsu days.  Every few years someone has a go at it, and Microsoft (along with their hardware partners) have a better shot at it than anyone before them.

    But there are problems.

    Price is probably the number one factor that is keeping the Tablet PC install base down.  I’ve looked at a few TabletPC models at my local Micro Center, which usually has a few in stock, and their sales guys know much more than your standard CompUSA or Best Buy.  I played with a Tablet PC.  It was a compelling experience.  Unfortunately it wasn’t two grand compelling.  It wasn’t twice as much as I ended up paying for a higher spec’d but bigger (and non-tablet) laptop that I ended up getting.

    Twice the price is no big deal if the price itself does not concern the buyer.  Unfortunately we don’t all drive 7 series BMW’s and we can’t all write it off as a business expense.  I could quite easily pick up a well endowed mid-range budget notebook (like the $1000 HPs, Compaqs, E-Machines, etc) plus a good desktop and a LCD panel for the price of one of the Tablet PCs that was on display.

    I know that Tablet PCs are different.  They’ve got to be a little lighter, they’ve got to have a detachable keyboard or that cool little rotating double swinging hinge thing that rocks so much.  That’s more expensive.  They also tend to use the (more expensive) little low-powered chips from Intel.  I know that all of the more expensive components combined with a big R&D bill equals a higher price tag.

    But dude, we can’t afford it.

    If there had been a $1000 Tablet PC right next to a $1000 laptop, I’d pick up the Tablet PC, hands down.  I’ve never seen such a thing in the flesh though.  I would so rock a Tablet PC.  It’d be with me ready to whip out at a moments notice.  Tablets promote casual everyday use that you just can’t do with a laptop.  You can cradle the tablet in your arm while scribbling, while I can assure you that balancing a laptop and typing while moving is no easy task.

    The moral of the story: make these things cheap.  It’s the only way you’re going to get market share.  There are lots of people that would buy a Tablet PC in an instant, they just can’t afford the tablet tax.