Have your Java ME cake and eat it too

Here's a way to stay programming in Java ME technology, but also sell your Java ME app at the Apple iPhone AppStore too. Javaground has added an iPhone component to their Xpress Suite to compile Java ME source code into an iPhone native app. —  hinkmond
  (Jan 30, 2009)

A-ooga! Orugga has your ticket for Java ME tech

Did you ever hear those loud air horns on those old Model A cars? You know--the ones that go A-OOGA! Well, this has nothing to do with that. Orugga has created a Java ME app that allows you to have your tickets for events displayed on your cell phone screen to have it scanned for your entry. —  hinkmond
  (Jan 29, 2009)

The WAP Gap All Over Again - W3C, HTTPS and Transcoding

The other day Luca Passani sent me an email pointing me to a very important discussion that had been happening at the W3C Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group WG. The discussion is around Transcoding of web content and HTTPS -or- justifying breaking HTTPS in the name of transcoding.  —  ceo
  (Jan 29, 2009)

The Glu that Binds us... to Java ME technology

Glu has a new lineup of cell phones game for your Java ME technology-enabled phone. There are some cool sounding titles. Superman/Batman, Heroes United at Brokeback Mountain. I think Heath Ledger was in that one, right? It's where Superman and Batman spend time together fighting crime and driving cattle... —  hinkmond
  (Jan 29, 2009)

JavaFX in Review

JavaFX has been in the spotlight with a nice review from eWeek. And, for those of you trying it out, there are plenty of articles and blogs coming out to help. —  dannycoward
  (Jan 27, 2009)

Maybe Java ME ?

Maybe one of the apps you want to write for billions of mobile phones needs to mix different sounds. Like a game with ambient background music with foregound noises (exploding tanks, bubbles popping, friends coming online...you get the picture). Maybe you need to write it with an award winning tool.

Maybe you want a framework to embed it as a widget on the phone, and an on device store where users get it. All based on a lightweight user-interface technology that runs on all those Java enabled phones, which is also touch capable.Maybe —  dannycoward
  (Jan 26, 2009)

Meet at Mobile World Congress 2009

For those attending Mobile World Congress 2009: I would love to meet my (virtual) friends, followers and people who I follow, From work perspective, if your company has or will have “end-to-end digital management” needs anywhere in the world from activation to support to management for mobile handsets and 3G-and-4G nomadic devices, I would love to chat [...] —  ceo
  (Jan 25, 2009)

More Than a Million Served

I keep wanting to post some more stuff about majimob and MajiPlayer but I'm still waiting for some of the upcoming new applications/features from the company to become public. The current news is that MajiPlayer has crossed the million downloads .. this is really impressive for a 2 month old project and its quite impressive for getjar as a distribution medium. —  Shai Almog (noreply@blogger.com)
  (Jan 12, 2009)

M3DD - Two Weeks To Go - Update on free, live, worldwide broadcast

Only two more weeks to the Java Mobile, Media, and eMbedded Developer Days conference (Jan 21-22, 2009). Check out podcast #67, newsletter #5, and the update on the free, live, worldwide broadcast. —  Terrence Barr
  (Jan 07, 2009)

JavaFX Widgets and Series

A great one-month birthday gift for JavaFX yesterday was the release of the widget-framework-built-in-JavaFX called WidgetFX 1.0 ! —  dannycoward
  (Jan 07, 2009)

My New Book

On my new book, I explain how to build up great abs… (OK, ok, I am joking, but my wife had a great hard laugh). —  ceo
  (Jan 04, 2009)

The year ahead for Java and JavaFX

2009 promises to be an exciting year for Java: The Planetarium expects Java SE 7 to be mostly completed, with modularization, multiple languages being a big deal, JavaFX will ship the mobile profile, and preview (and possibly complete) version 2 including the TV edition, Java ME should finish or get close to finishing its next mobile edition, and we should continue to see lots of mobile frameworks and app stores. Others are looking into their crystal balls too ... —  dannycoward
  (Jan 06, 2009)

Preview Of LWUIT For CDC

We got allot of requests for the CDC port of LWUIT over the past few months and while this isn't quite complete yet we do have an initial binary offering which you can play with now available in the Java TV project here.

This is a version specifically optimized for the needs of the TV market based on PBP (personal basis profile) and so it has many assumptions related to the constraints of DTV. However, those of you who are aching for a CDC port of LWUIT now have an outlet for their fix. —  Shai Almog (noreply@blogger.com)
  (Jan 06, 2009)

Join the discussion on Java ME EC topics

As you probably have seen Sean Sheedy was elected to the JCP ME Executive Committee (EC) a couple of weeks ago. Sean is now soliciting input for the January JCP EC meeting - this is your chance to have your... —  Terrence Barr
  (Dec 29, 2008)

On the Java Community Process: Expert Groups, JSRs, Observers and legal-related thoughts

Antonio Goncalves writes that Everybody should be able to easily observe JSRs. Yes, I agree. But it really is more than just being able to observe. I was an Observer for the MSA 1.0 Expert Group (EG) and other EGs; but not all spec-leads are created equal. I quickly realized that for certain EGs, in this [...] —  ceo
  (Dec 19, 2008)

Catching up on Java ME, Java SE, JavaFX

In taking a week off, the Planetarium has lots to catch you up on ! ... —  dannycoward
  (Dec 23, 2008)

New LWUIT Drop Available Now

Chen and myself have been a bit slow with the drops lately, we have been remarkably busy with all the different goings on in LWUIT that we just didn't have the time to stabilize and run through the process of a binary drop - until now. ... Also, Thorsten Schemm has contributed his excellent BlackBerry native port of LWUIT and placed it in the incubator! If you are serious about BlackBerry development you should check it out and collaborate on improving the LWUIT BlackBerry support. —  Shai Almog (noreply@blogger.com)
  (Dec 23, 2008)

Charting Components For LWUIT

java4less now has LWUIT support in their chart components which seem like a very useful tool. —  Shai Almog (noreply@blogger.com)
  (Dec 20, 2008)

GetJar: 3rd annual mobile awards and Java ME tech's answer to AppStore

Yeah, the iPhone iPhreak fanboys have their AppStore. That's nice. But, getjar.com has been around since 2004 as an awesome AppStore for Jave ME apps for cell phones for 4+ years. They recently announced their 3rd annual Mobile Award winners ... —  hinkmond
  (Dec 19, 2008)

Survey says... Java ME is the choice

Here's a fun Mobile Developer Survey that Dr. Albert Lia from the Carnegie Mellon CyLab Mobility Research Center has created: Mobile Developer Survey Project ... —  hinkmond
  (Dec 16, 2008)

Kick it, baby Java ME tweeter

The Java application receives the sensor values and analyzes them. When a kick event is detected, a Twitter message is posted via the Twitter API. I chose to use Twitter because it is easy to initiate an SMS message to any mobile phone when a kick is detected. It also acts as a data log that can be accessed programmatically for visualization or archiving.

 — 
  (Dec 12, 2008)

Free Frosty! Free Frosty! Free Java ME on the iPhone too!

Steve J. is a grinch! There will be no Java ME technology or Flash on the iPhone this Christmas. Bah Humbug!  —  hinkmond
  (Dec 11, 2008)

Theres Something About LWUIT

A new Java.net project is aiming to get LWUIT onto TV set top boxes, its something we have been working on for quite some time and includes quite a bit of the DTV experience our center developed in recent years ... —  Shai Almog (noreply@blogger.com)
  (Dec 10, 2008)

What can a business do to maximize its chances of survival?

From Re-inventing Management and Management Education (Irving Wladawsky-Berger): What can a business do to maximize its chances of survival? Foremost is to embrace a culture of innovation. If the environment is going to change, you want to be among the first to anticipate the changes and start preparing for them. A commitment to [...] —  ceo
  (Nov 24, 2008)

SurfKitchen cooking up great Java ME content

SurfKitchen won some type of award from EContent Magazine this past week--strange name for a company, stranger award, "named one of the digital content companies that matter most".  —  hinkmond
  (Dec 03, 2008)

Goodbye Mr A

First I'd like to thank The Hoosiers; a British band who, for reasons inscrutable to man, formed in the American midwest. So. After a year and a half of sweat and hard work JavaFX 1.0 is here. (Don't worry the... —  Joshua Marinacci
  (Dec 05, 2008)

Java SE: Project Jigsaw: Modularizing JDK 7

You probably noticed over the last couple of weeks Mark Reinhold's series about modularization and the JDK. While other technologies are trying to bulk up as fast as they can, the feature rich Java SE has been in search of ways for it to be more nimble ... —  dannycoward
  (Dec 03, 2008)

Ring-ring: Calling for JavaOne, calling for Java ME JavaOne papers

It's that time of year again. If you've got a cool idea for a Java ME (Mobile) presentation for the JavaOne 2009 conference in San Francisco, 02Jun2009 - 05Jun2009, make sure to submit your abstract by Thu. 19Dec2008. —  hinkmond
  (Dec 02, 2008)

Redirecting output on S60 devices

Sometimes you are so used to something that you don't remember to check for changes... This is what happened to me now with S60 debugging, I have some issues that only occur on my battered device and they are impossible to reproduce on an emulator. Sure I can use the Log but what I get is an exception from an unclear source, I always invoke printStackTrace so I know the trace is there... With SE devices I would just plugin a cable and see the stack but with the Nokia I have been at this bug for days ... —  Shai Almog (noreply@blogger.com)
  (Dec 01, 2008)

This is the week of JavaFX !

We moved the launch to the 4th December, a couple days later than we'd originally planned, in order to accommodate the guests at the launch party. Your humble Planetarium Janitor will be there in person, sans broom, reacting in real time for all to see. —  dannycoward
  (Dec 01, 2008)

The sky is falling (over Alberta, Canada)

The search for the meteor impact site is on in Alberta, Canada ... ceo —  ceo
  (Dec 01, 2008)

M3DD 2009 Conference: Coming soon!

The Mobile Media and eMbedded Developer Days (M3DD for short) 2009 conference is just around the corner now. No, not around the street corner--around the virtual cyberspace corner ... —  hinkmond
  (Nov 26, 2008)

Avoid the Turkey Speed Trap with Java ME technology

Java ME technology on your cell phone lets you do lots of stuff, like avoid speed traps during the Thanksgiving holiday. Well, that might not be the most altruistic endeavor for your Java ME technology-enabled phone. But, hey, if it gets you over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house without the pain of a speeding ticket, who's to say what's good and what's evil? ;-)  —  hinkmond
  (Nov 25, 2008)

Java, JavaFX: Staying on top of it all

There's really isn't a better way to stay on top of what's going on with Java, multiple languages, new APIs, JVM developments, the new JavaFX programming model and so on than to hear and talk about it first hand at a conference.

Like Devoxx which is just around the corner (especially if you are in Belgium). For those of you who can't go, your humble Planetarium Janitor will put down the broom that week to keep you posted about the news and gossip in the hallways via a mix of tweets, microblogs and daily digests. And from the virtual world too.

And you are welcome to sign up for the M3DD conference in the Bay Area in January, which promises to be a stimulating mix of in depth and lightening talks with an informal, mobile feel.

Perhaps en route to the Mobile World Congress in February, for something on grander if less personal scale. And of course to see all the latest in mobile gadgetry.

And don't forget, if you feel inspired, to submit a talk for JavaOne 2009 before December 19th, which has moved to June this year, and has simplified the tracks down to just four.
 —  dannycoward
  (Nov 24, 2008)

Mapping BlackBerry Software Version to Device Model

When writing software for the BlackBerry platform, one of the common questions that come us is “what BB software version (and related JDE) should I be using?” The following helps answer this question: (Source: Introduction to BlackBerry® Java® Development) Not shown above are the following BB software versions to platforms mapping: 4.6 is targeted at Bold-family of devices 4.7 [...] —  ceo
  (Nov 25, 2008)

Sean Sheedy elected to JCP ME Executive Committee

Congratulations to Sean Sheedy and the mobile and embedded developer community! As reported in several places already (Enrique's blog, Roger's blog) Sean was confirmed as a new member of JCP ME Executive Community on November 17th. The election results indicate that... —  Terrence Barr
  (Nov 23, 2008)

Draft agenda posted for M3DD (Mobile, Media, and eMbedded Developer Days)

It's been so busy around here lately that I haven't had time to blog about the upcoming conference - but things are heating up and the conference is a mere 8 weeks away ... Check out the draft agenda and register today to benefit from early bird pricing at $175! —  Terrence Barr
  (Nov 24, 2008)

Touch Screen Support On The Samsung/Sprint Instinct Device

Chen and myself created a new video featuring some of the touch screen visual effects we demoed in the simulator here on the Instinct device.
No 3D transition effects are demoed since the device doesn't support JSR 184 (notice that LWUIT still runs unmodified on such a device!). We hope to upload additional such videos but most of our devices got confiscated by people around the office (our N95 is completely gone). —  Shai Almog (noreply@blogger.com)
  (Aug 26, 2008)

Your Own Kind Of Music

Majimob has introduced a new media player this month, what hasn't been stressed was the fact that it is built from the ground up on LWUIT. In less than 3 weeks this new media player was downloaded 200,000 times and the numbers are rising with the 1.1 version released this weekend ... —  Shai Almog (noreply@blogger.com)
  (Nov 23, 2008)

The Public Review — Mobile Service Architecture 2; Developer Input is Needed

The Mobile Service Architecture 2 (JSR 249) is the specification that promises making Java ME-based handsets what many of us have been waiting for years: API robust and consistent. The JSR 249 is now in Public Review phase, and it needs the input from the developer community ... —  ceo
  (Nov 22, 2008)

T-Mobile says Double Opt-In No Longer Required

One small step for T-Mobile, a bigger step for end-users… It would be great if all network providers dropped the “double opt-in” requirements that makes campaign certification (and re-certification over time) a pain in the neck, not to mention expensive. Instead, companies that offer services over texting should (vs. being mandated to) follow the guidelines defined [...] —  ceo
  (Nov 21, 2008)

New Article About Animations And Transitions

Java.net published another fine LWUIT article by Biswajit Sarkar which deals with animations and transitions this time. This is really great news since I wanted to discuss transition authoring several times in the past and just didn't get the time to do anything in this area.
BTW transitions on components, dialogs etc. are already fully supportted in the latest drop with lots of fixes for that functionality in SVN. —  Shai Almog (noreply@blogger.com)
  (Nov 21, 2008)

NetBeans 6.5 for Java SE, Java ME and JavaFX

NetBeans 6.5 is out ! What's new for you ?

Java SE developers get new goodies like incremental compilation so your app is always ready to run, the Analyse Javadoc feature to bring your javadoc in line and improved debugging support with an updated UI and deadlock detection.

Or why stick to Java ? You could try JavaScript, which is fully supported right from navigating its different dialects while editing the code to debugging it in FireFox and IE. Or write Ruby, with better support for Rake files and break and catchpoints in the Ruby debugger. Or taking a walk on the wild side by coding up a RIA using Griffon, with the full editing support for Groovy code.

For Java ME developers, out of the box you get more SVG and data-binding components you can use in the Visual Designer Palette, or add your own. Or the LWUIT ones.

The support for JavaFX in NetBeans will get a big update with the JavaFX SDK 1.0 release,  so don't delete your copy of NetBeans 6.1 with JavaFX support just yet !

Could be time to upgrade. Its getting some good press.

 —  dannycoward
  (Nov 20, 2008)

TuneWiki, Android contest winner but still uses Java ME tech

You'll notice that even Android contest winners will deploy on the Java ME platform. They even know which side their bread is buttered. See: Android contest winner deploys on Java ME Here's a quote: TuneWiki, a first prize winner of the Android developer competition sponsored by Google, and a popular iPhone application, will be available for mobile [blah-blah-blah, yakety-yak-yak]..., J2ME and Symbian. If you don't deploy on Java ME, you won't make money. Pretty simple stuff really. Hinkmond

 —  hinkmond
  (Nov 20, 2008)

NetBeans 6.5 Performance Press Release

The 6.5 release of NetBeans is close. It is time to show off the work we have done in last six months on the performance aspects on NetBeans. —  Jaroslav Tulach
  (Nov 14, 2008)

Java ME and Java EE: Group Hug with SIP

Today, just the latest report of many on the rise of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) as the leading standard for bringing people together online in chat sessions, video and voice conferences and even multiplayer gaming. And for those who are holding out, there are plenty of other people filling in the gaps.

Happily for Java developers, you are well supported. With the SIP API for Java ME, now part of the MSA platform, supported in the WTK, and in NetBeans for developing a SIP client.

And those of you who wish to extend or customize the basic functionality of the SIP server which brings lone users seeking a group session of some kind together, just yesterday Sailfin reached another milestone. This GlassFish based SIP server, which uses good old Java servlets as the basis for its programming model, now officially implements the very latest SIP Servlet API.
 —  dannycoward
  (Nov 13, 2008)

The gods are being good to Network Operators

…or, the Network Providers/Operators must be having a blast. The network providers are doing just fine… new cool handsets here and there, handset exclusivity on certain networks, message usage is up, data consumption is up, new services are coming up, very cool applications from web to native, developers and more developers, and prices are up… Not [...] —  ceo
  (Nov 18, 2008)

JCP Elections 2008: A Good Day for the Developer Community

Thanks to everyone who voted for Sean at the JCP elections. The two with the most votes have been elected for JCP ME Executive Committee for the next three years. Having Sean at the EC is a very good thing, as he will represent the developer community; he understands well the issues and will push [...] —  ceo
  (Nov 18, 2008)

M&E Community Member on JCP ME EC Board

Sean Sheedy, a Mobile & Embedded Community Member now has a seat on JCP ME EC Board —  Roger Brinkley
  (Nov 18, 2008)

The Decline and Fall of Agile

A good writeup by James Shore on The Decline and Fall of Agile (James Shore blog). Software development projects are a hard thing; not necessarily because of the software, but because people are involved. I've worked on the most mature (and rigid) software development process in the world, the Space Shuttle on-board software (SEI 5), and on [...] —  ceo
  (Nov 16, 2008)

Java ME Address Book on 'Roids, Steroids not Androids

Cellity has pumped up their Address Book mobile app with Java ME steroids. I want to pahmp you ahp!  —   
  (Nov 15, 2008)

JavaFX 1.0 release date is December 2nd 2008 !

The Janitor can barely go to Portland for the weekend without much JavaFX news happening .... —  dannycoward
  (Nov 11, 2008)

Mobile, Media, and eMbedded Developer Days Schedule Set

The preliminary schedule for the Mobile, Media, and eMbedded Developer Days has been published. —  Roger Brinkley
  (Nov 11, 2008)

Phase 3 of the Sun Model

I wrote recently about the Sun Model for open source business, my high-level overview of how Sun is working with open source. ... —  webmink
  (Nov 10, 2008)

The Programmable Web - 1,000 Web APIs (Nov 2008)

The Programmable Web reports that as of Nov 2008 it has 1,000 Web APIs on its directory. You can see the distribution below (which looks pretty balanced all around) with Mapping APIs at the top: And what is the preferred way to expose and consume Web APIs? The following chart shows REST at the top, with SOAP [...] —  ceo
  (Nov 10, 2008)

Mobile Peer Awards — Calling all Austin Mobile Startups!

The MobileMonday Mobile Peer Awards are among the most influential events in the mobile industry and, with over 1000 attendants, the point of reference in startup innovation during the Mobile World Congress (Barcelona, February 16, 2009). here are a number of cool mobile companies in Austin, and it would be great to have Austin representation! If [...] —  ceo
  (Nov 05, 2008)

Java ME: The next billion users

One of a couple of interesting new articles remind many of us that we are a bit spoiled when our biggest worries are how long it takes to download movies over our broadband connection, and whether $179 for a handset is a luxury we can afford .... —  dannycoward
  (Nov 04, 2008)

The Sun Model

As time has gone by, a clear "Sun Model" for open source business has been emerging, at least to my eyes. The summary of it is:

1. remove barriers to software adoption between download and deploy;
2. encourage a large and cohesive community of software deployers;
3. deliver, for a fee, the means to create value between deploy and scale, for those who need it.

Upgrading Voxtr with Microlog

What a sin! I am involved in the Voxtr open source project. The initial code was not made by me, so I found those awful System.out.println() statements. But fear no more; The Voxtr has been upgraded with Microlog. I would like to take the opportunity to describe how simple it is to use Microlog ... —  Johan Karlsson
  (Nov 01, 2008)

LWUIT Makeover: SVG/MIDP & LWUIT

The LWUIT Makeover demo is an excellent tool for comparing the different approaches for building MIDP UI. While LWUIT's differences to MIDP are more clear to most, some people still have questions regarding LWUIT as opposed to SVG. When compared to LCDUI the LWUIT interface is much richer and allows greater control, this will probably still be the case even in MIDP 3.0's timeframe since a lightweight UI by its very nature is more customizable than a heavyweight UI (as is the case in Swing vs. SWT/AWT) ... —  Shai Almog (noreply@blogger.com)
  (Oct 27, 2008)

The engine in JavaFX Desktop

Like figuring out that a great car needs a great engine, its no surprise that many of the press and blogs about the Java SE 6u10 release have worked out that a great RIA technology needs a great runtime: that the upcoming JavaFX 1.0 release will get a big turbo-charge on the desktop from the new 6u10 features like a quicker download, startup, draggable applets and accelerated graphics from the underlying JRE. ... —  dannycoward
  (Oct 27, 2008)

Table Functions and Java DB - Mix and Match Data at Will

Francois Orsini presents Rick Hillegas' paper on Table Functions in Java DB. —  Masood Mortazavi
  (Oct 27, 2008)

I love Google because Google loves Java ME technology

Google loves Java ME (technology) yes I know, For Tom's Guide tells me so.
I'm making this up as I go along, Android is weak but Java ME is strong. ... —  hinkmond
  (Oct 25, 2008)

Java ME Roundup

The Planetarium's had such a busy week with the Java SE 6u10 release event, we'll do a little roundup of news from the Java ME world.
... —  dannycoward
  (Oct 24, 2008)

Write a Review

If you are a user, you can post a review for Java DB (Sun's distribution of Apache Derby). —  Masood Mortazavi
  (Oct 14, 2008)

Turn your Java ME tech-enabled phone into a translator

Did you ever want to have a universal translator in your pocket? Something that is sort of like the leech-like Babel Fish from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, which you stick in your ear to understand anything said to you in any language. Well something like that exists today via Java ME technology on your cell phone ...  —  hinkmond
  (Oct 14, 2008)

BlackBerry Storm's a comin'... with Java ME technology

There's talk that the new BlackBerry Storm with its fancy touchscreen nastiness, will be an iPhone-killer. You know it. It's all that. It's got Java ME technology ... —  hinkmond
  (Oct 14, 2008)

JavaFX Catch Up

Given that the JavaFX SDK is in preview and the team is busily putting finishing touches on the upcoming 1.0 release, things have been quiet on the JavaFX front for a bit. But not silent ! ... —  dannycoward
  (Oct 01, 2008)