Code Bubbles is an experimental Java IDE which goes a different way. In it, functions are the elemental parts of an application: you edit code on a per-function level, and can open calling and called functions easily.

A video showing the concept is below – set it to a lower resolution on a slower machine:

This is set to change in the near future. Palm has just urged its developer partners to internationalize “their binaries”, so that the actual certification after the launch of the store just has to check the creatives.

The interesting parts of the full email are below:

We are very excited about the upcoming launch of international e-commerce for the Palm App Catalog. To follow up on our announcement in January we want to provide you with some additional information to ensure that your paid applications are ready for international distribution as soon as possible. We’d also like to inform you that in addition to the planned European launch, we will be launching e-commerce support in Canada and Mexico.

In preparation for the launch we encourage you to localize your application and metadata immediately for each country and language you plan to select for distribution, prior to Palm’s international e-commerce launch. This includes language specific categories and tags for improved discoverability in non-English speaking countries. If you prefer to ship an English only application, or an application that is in English but presents localized/local content, that is acceptable.

Application submissions will be accepted for international distribution when the Palm Developer Center portal is updated to accommodate the expanded list of countries for paid applications. Please look for follow up communications with additional details regarding submissions.

…

o Localize your app binaries in advance to reduce review time: If you have an existing application, we strongly recommend that you localize your application prior to the launch so that you only need to submit a metadata update (pricing, localized descriptions) on the day we launch.

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Some interesting tidbits are below:

Further information can be had below – it’s a PDF file:
http://metrics.admob.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/AdMob-Mobile-Metrics-Jan-10.pdf

So far, no collection of design patterns for mobile applications has been published in book form. However, the design4mobile wiki is a more than adequate replacement:

Hit the link below to find out more:
http://patterns.design4mobile.com/index.php/Main_Page

Amazon has now posted an FAQ for Kindle developers – the most relevant questions are below:

# What APIs are available to me in the KDK?
The KDK is comprised of two sets of APIs:

* Java version 1.4 Personal Basis Profile (PBP) APIs for mobile devices.
PBP JavaDocs can be found at http://java.sun.com/javame/reference/apis/jsr217/.
* Kindle custom APIs which complement the PBP APIs and provide UI components, JSON and XML parsers, HTTP and HTTPS networking, secure storage, and other features. Other APIs like audio and dictionary access will be available in a future release of the KDK.
KDK JavaDocs can be found at http://kdk-javadocs.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html.

# I’ve already built a Java Micro Edition (J2ME) application. Can I port it to Kindle?
Yes. You should be able to modify existing Java applets and J2ME software to run on Kindle.

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As of now, Tamoggemon has not been accepted – stay tuned!

Todd A. Sherman from Smart Box Design (a games company) now shares the following – according to him, trial versions don’t really pay out in the “nice new world”:

I did an analysis of the best selling Word games and compared their numbers and ratings against their free version. For the Word category it did not seem to make a huge difference if you had a free version or not. We got a huge bump in downloads from our Free version, thousands and thousands of downloads, but only saw a modest change in sales. However, getting on people’s mind space was worth it for us.

We are, of course, looking at an individual opinion here. However, the information I have received from other parties sounded similar…

With recent changes in resources and corresponding process changes here at Handango, last month’s royalty payments were not made until the end of the month. As you know, prior to last month Handango has typically paid royalties on or near the 15th of the month following the previous month’s close.

The reason for my note today is that due to a number of factors, including ongoing process adjustments, effective this month you can expect to receive your royalty payments on or near the 25th of the month following the previous month’s close. This timeframe for payment would still fall within the allowed month long pay period from previous month’s close.

I understand the importance of timing relative to receiving payment and I wanted to get this information of change to you as soon as I was able to confirm the necessary schedule of the new processes. To the extent that this change in our policy causes an inconvenience, I apologize.

P.S. Don’t forget to forward this to your accountant – these folks can also go bonkers !

The iPhone is famous for its never-ending flow of crapware permutations out of the same code base – the problem is now on its way to the webOS.

First instances have been reported. Chuq van Rospach, Palm’s community development manager stated the following in response:

Rhetorical question — who do you want to decide what you can buy? Do you want to make that decision yourself? Or do you want someone else to start making that decision for you?

And if you do start letting someone else make that decision, what’s your recourse when that other entity starts making decision you don’t like?

I’m a firm believer in “let the market decide”, folks. If people don’t buy them, the developer won’t make money. If the developer won’t make money, they’ll stop doing it. Fact is, people are buying them. Enough for it to be profitable for the developer? you’ll have to ask the developer.

But be careful about calling for bans, lest whatever rules that get set up happen to draw the line on the wrong side of your applications – because once the gatekeeper decides not to allow something, nobody else gets a vote. Which is okay if you don’t like something (maybe), but definitely not okay if you are the something left outside in the cold. And that’s kinda the point here: you might be, because you won’t get a vote. Or a poll.

I’d rather give an application a chance to fail in the market any time over having someone (even myself) make a decision it’s not worthy of being given a chance to succeed, and as a consumer, I always want the chance to refuse to buy something rather than being told I’m not allowed to consider it.

Be careful what you wish for. You might get it. Me, I’ll stick with being inclusive, even of stuff I might not want, and letting the market have a chance to choose success or failure for it.

The point where I personally see the issue is that regular developers need the toplists to make money. If cheap, clone apps take up the places there, well, you get the ideal.

One solution I would suggest is to limit developers to one release per week. This should not hurt legitimate ones, but stem the flood of clones for good…

Even though I still struggle to understand what Ares is all about, I felt like reposting the message below – it has just hit my inbox, courtesy of the Palm PR team:

Today Palm announced the public beta availability of Project Ares, the first complete set of integrated mobile development tools hosted entirely in the browser that makes it even easier and faster to create Palm webOS apps. Project Ares was demonstrated for the first time during a Palm keynote at the Open Mobile Summit in November and has been available to a limited group of developers for the past few weeks. Palm’s Chairman and CEO Jon Rubinstein referenced Project Ares during Palm’s Q2 FY 2010 earnings conference call this afternoon.

Like webOS, Project Ares embodies Palm’s belief that the future of mobile will be built on the web. Project Ares aims to enable a next-generation mobile development workflow, in which developers move quickly and seamlessly from editing in a browser, to debugging on a device, to selling applications in Palm’s App Catalog or on the web.

Attached is a screenshot and more information on Project Ares can be found at ares.palm.com.

BTW: the screenshot looks as follows (click for bigger version):

Chuq van Rospach has now started a small test run, which was filled up in literally hours.

Let’s see…

P.S. The statement read as follows:

You may have seen press reports recently about a new development environment called Ares.

I am happy to say we are now opening up Ares for testing by our developers. We are starting with a fairly small pool and will be growing it, so I can’t guarantee that everyone who wants to will get access to it immediately, but we’re now asking for volunteers willing to spend some time kicking the tires and finding (and reporting) bugs.

At this point, Ares is in alpha, but it is fairly advanced Alpha. I’m really impressed by Ares; it is a really nice environment to program in.

We’re asking for people willing to spend some and energy really trying to help us finish it and give it some polish. I don’t have enough spots for all of you (yet), but if you are interested in working with our Ares tools and giving us feedback, please drop me an email (pdn@palm.com) and let me know. I’ll add developers in a FIFO basis as I have spots available.

If you don’t hear back from me with access right away, please be patient. If I run out of seats in the program I’ll hold onto your requests and get you added to the program as soon as I can.