TamsPalm – the Palm OS / web OS Blog

I first saw Brian Fling’s book on Mobile Design and Development on a local connection. Mark A. M. Kramer, an Austrian maven of the mobile computer scene read and praised it – can the tome stack up in the largely empty area of mobile user interface design books?

Brian starts out by looking at the history of mobile and the mobile landscape as it is today. Long-term followers will not find much new stuff here, but it nevertheless makes for an interesting read.

He then moves on to “mobile strategy”. Topics include questions like “What is special about mobile”, the influence of “context” also is explained in some detail. Finally, various options for creating a mobile app are explained – some of them are somewhat obscure and definitely aren’t something you deal with every day.

The next part analyzes the design process for mobile applications. These chapters are what make the book really interesting – you are introduced to design, prototyping and user testing methods for touchscreen and non-touchscreen applications.

The second half of the book looks at the design and creation of mobile web sites: frameworks, compatibility et al get covered in extreme detail. Native application developers are largely left twiddling their thumbs…

As usual for O’Reilly, the book is well-written and readable even for non-native English speakers. Code examples are provided in various web languages; an ample amount of images is included for clarification where beneficial.

In the end, Mobile Design and Development is a great book if you want to create a mobile web app. Creators of native applications can’t use half of the book: if you are interested in the mobile design process, it is a good if somewhat paper-heavy tutorial. Web heads, on the other hand, should buy it straight away…the 23$ shouldn’t hurt…

PackT can be considered the newest kid on the block of tech publishing – consider them the APress of “design-related technologies”. Their book on “User Programming for Busy Programmers” hit my desk. But can the 80-page booklet stack up?

William Rice starts out by looking at a few “common myths” of the trade. What is user training, what isn’t it? Who needs to be trained?

Afterward, the book takes a strictly wizard-like approach. A repeating template not dissimilar to the one found in use cases takes you step-to-step from nothing to running user demo, which can be deployed to third-party instructors.

Style-wise, PackT is different from other, more “established” publishers. Their visual presentation is more “to the bone”, and less playful – the whole book didn’t contain a single image. Nevertheless, it was well written and easy to understand.

In the end, I predict that PackT has a bright future ahead of it. This book fulfills its need – if you have just been enlisted to teach at an university or often write manuals and online help systems, you definitely can benefit from it. The price of 13$ for the paperback is ok…

Spring Design will enter the eBook market with a new Dual-Screen eReader which is based on the Google OS Android. The device is called “Alex” and combines a 6-inch eInk display with a 3.5-inch color touchscreen. Alex will be able to connect with WiFi, 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM networks and it will have an SD Card slot. Well, the manufacturer plans to release the erRealater this year… so if you’re intrested, stay tuned!

Further informations can be found at ReadWriteWeb.com

O’Reilly has had a long tradition of publishing small and slim portable reference books. As C++ is an extremely common programming language in mobile, I was given a sample copy of their Pocket Reference. Size-wise, it is about as big as three PDAs next to another…

As this book is not intended as a learning but rather a reference tool, reading it from start to end is not as easy as with other books. However, I tried and succeeded – if you already have a pretty good understanding of C/C++ and object-oriented programming, you should be able to grasp the concepts within a few minutes of thinking around.

O’Reilly has put a lot of work into the index. If you are looking for something, you will usually be able to find the relevant piece of text very quickly.

Please let me put this in writing once again: you are NOT able to learn C++ from this book. Novices, look elsewhere! People familiar with Java may have a chance, but are also advised to look elsewhere.

Text-wise, there is nothing to bicker about. The book is clear (for a reference), and contains enough tables and graphs to visualize stuff where needed:

Cutting a long story short: the 10$ this book costs are well invested, especially if you tend to program offline a lot (netbook) and have a nasty habit of forgetting rarely used syntax elements. The book covers all important things except for using C code in C++ programs – this is a purchase you will not regret IF you are already proficient in C and have at least basic knowledge of object-oriented programming.

Microsoft C# is a difficult language: its neither C, C++ nor Java, but looks similar to all three of them. It nevertheless provides an easier transitional path to .NET for people who know C or Java (for them, VB is completely new) – can APress’s Beginning C# 2008 show you the way?

The book starts out by looking at the basics of the .NET framework – what is CIL, why are things implemented the way they are and so on. The next two chapters look at variables and strings: this is not ideal for beginners, as it does not allow you to start coding immediately.

Want to find out more? Visit our sister site TamsPPC:
http://tamsppc.tamoggemon.com/2009/08/11/beginning-c-2008-the-review/

O’Reilly’s classic Designing Interfaces scored a rave review on TamsPalm some time ago. Designing Gestural Interfaces is from the same series – can it impress me as much as the forefather?

Dan Saffer starts put by looking at the history of user interaction and the physiological principles behind UI. His summary is well-done, but contains nothing which is new for a seasoned UI designer – not bad to have, but no selling point here.

After that, the book starts out by presenting finger and whole-body gestures which are “common” in Western cultures. People looking for a reference of gestures will be happy with this part – but if your OS vendor already specifies gestures, his UI rules are the ones to follow.

The last chapters of the book look at various development process-related things: how to test gestures, how to document them and what to expect in the future. People wanting to develop mobile apps will benefit a bit from the testing stuff, although a good beta test should be mostly straightforward.

The appendix contains an even larger list of gestures – if you are looking for a gesture dictionary, getting the book definitely pays out.

Like most other O’Reilly works, Designing Gestural interfaces is easy to read. It furthermore contains loads of photos, snapshots and sketches – an example page is below:

In the end, Designing Gestural Interfaces definitely is not a bad book. However, most of its contents are of limited value to the average mobile developer. If you aren’t into virtual reality / winning a motion-game contest, the steep asking price of 43$ can definitely be spent better elsewhere…

When developing software, you always need graphics. Application icons, esd promo pictures or ads – code is not enough. Graphists tend to look cheap at first glance, but become incredibly espenaive as time goes by – which makes creating graphics yourself economically viable.

GNU’s image manipulation software (GIMP) is free…but is not particularly intuitive. Can Akkana Peck’s book fix you up?

Beginning GIMP starts out with a thorough introduction to the basics of image editing. Even though most of this should not be new to seasoned developers, it nevertheless makes for an interesting read…and leaves you well prepared for the first steps into large-scale image manipulation.

Once these basics are done, Beginning GIMP moves on to looking at the creation of new images using GIMP. Topics covered include nasties like layers, paths and feathered selections. The explanations are presented in a down-to-earth way, and are understandable even for non-mathematical heads.

Akkana’s GIMP tour ends with a look at filters, layer compositions and other artistic stuff. The book then ends with a few appendices looking at various technical topics related co compiling and installation on various platforms.

Like most other APress books, Beginning GIMP is a pleasure to read. Paper quality is exceptional, the text is clearly written and the images make understanding stuff easy. The index is pretty good, too – looking something up on the go is more than comfortable.

In the end, Beginning GIMP is one book which definitely belong on your desk. Its price pays off the moment you fire up GIMP for the first time and save the money needed for a graphist and a PhotoShop license. The clearly-written text will have you cooking up images in no time – the price of 32$ is a sound investment…

My trusty Jaybird JB200 bluetooth headset did not survive a recent surprise encounter with a washing machine…while I was perfectly happy with the headset, I decided to give wired headphones another shot. As Apple’s headphones were reasonably cheap and included a microphone, I wanted to give them a shot.

Plugging them in required an unnatural amount of force, and getting them back out of my device turned out to be impossible due to the soft and rubbery finish of both plug and cable. But they were detected as headset at the least.

Unfortunately, this recognition did not mean much. Audio was tinny all the time except when I kept the center button of the remote firmly pressed…the moment I let go of the button, tracks once again sounded like they were being played back through a thick wall of fog.

From my point of view, the 30 Euros invested turned out to be a major waste – 5 Euro headsets will likely deliver better audio quality than these when paired up with an X1 or similar non-Apple handset. Apple: this pair of headphones goes straight back to the shop where I bought them. In case anyone of you is in a similar situation: stay far away from Apple’s Earphones with Remote and Mic.

There are a lot of Treo cases on the market but how about a case which can be customized by you?
Well, if you search for such a case you should have a look at cases by Fortte. I tested the Leather PDA Case Lateral Pouch for Palm® Treo™ 650 for some weeks. The price for the case starts at $24.99. When purchasing you have got many possibilities to customize your case:
You can choose the color, the type of the clip at the back (fixed clip, belt loop, wrist strap, Heavy Duty Removable Ratchet Clip, Removable Low Profile Ratchet Clip or without any clip), the style of the Fortte logo, and if you want, a personal embossing.
I’ve choosen the following “configuration”:

- color: Navy Blue (+10$)
- clip: belt loop (+4$)
- style of the Fortte logo: Silver Tone
- no personalization
________________
whole case: $ 38.99

Finally the case looks like that:

The Treo fits exactly into the case and stays there, even if you open it and hold it upside-down:

When the Treo is inserted, the case stays small and handy. In that way you nearly won’t realize that it is there when it is attached to your belt.

And that’s how it looks from the back:

During my test I noted the following things:
Pros:
- very durable and significant case (made from real leather)
- stylish look and feel
- small in size

Cons:
- As the case is opened on the top it can be difficult to get your Treo when the case is under your jacket
- The case has no place for a SD card. So you have to look for an alternative place when you use more than one SD card.

The case is available via Fortte – the price starts at $24.99. In my opinion the case is worth its money
http://www.fortte.com/scr/showproduct.php/9?type=0

I stumbled across this book at a Viennese store specializing in book blow-out sales. As I was planning an advertising campaign at that time, I purchased it…expecting to find all kinds of cool stuff. But could it stack up?

First of all: this book covers dynamic campaigns implemented with Flash. This means that the included images alone don’t tell the full story – you have to read the book and look at the included DVD on a PC in order to fully grasp a campaign.

Advertising OnLine divides its campaigns by their subject matter: the chapters cover Food&Beverage, Media, Service&Retailer, Technology&Games, Transport and Miscellaneous ads. Each ad campaign is given one to three pages worth of photos and a badly-written description text (which comes in three languages:). While some campaigns are straightforward or boring, some of the ideas really made me think. For example, did you ever think about using an IM bot as advertising tool?

Mobile computing freaks will be happy to hear that the book covers various advertising campaigns for phones: Nokia, Motorola and the now-defunct Siemens Mobile are all in the mix.

The aforementioned chapters are divided by interviews with various creatives: as the book was written in 2005, these serve more as amusing reading than as insight.

Like with most photo books, the paper quality is insanely high. The entire book is printed on semi-glossy paper, which makes the pictures look lovely. Unfortunately, the text is very unclear and full of grammatical errors…I often read all three (English, German, French) versions of the text in order to grasp its meaning.

In the end, people expecting to learn about making the most of a small ad space will be gravely disappointed with the book. It instead looks at what future technologies like ShockWave and Flash can achieve (or will be able to achieve in the future) compared to classic GIF banners. If you ever wondered why banner designers use flash, like picture books and have 26$ and some time to spare, hit this Amazon link…

The following small camera shoot-out originally popped up at TamsS60’s…

I originally expected a lot from the N96’s camera, as the N95 8GB performed extremely well. Unfortunately, I now know that it is nothing short of spectacularly crappy – look at the images below:

Nokia N96
Palm Centro (1.3MP)
Palm Treo 680 (VGA)

Even though the two Palm handsets have a significantly lower resolution, they manage to deliver significantly more accurate colors (the blur in the Centro’s image is due to a breeze).

How does your N96 perform?

P.S. I am on the latest firmware….

As the holidays approach one may be left looking for a gift for that special gadgetphile in their life. New phone? no. New case? no. New operating system? no. Whatever shall I do?

What about a new car mount? The boys over at USBFever have managed to put together a fine stock of various style car mounts ranging from suction cup mounted, to air vent mounted, to even a mount that goes straight into the lighter, allowing for a constant charge and little clutter!

We at TamsPalm have obtained a version of the first, a suction cup mounted, 2-in-1 car mount. The shipment comes with the actual mount, and two holders, which are universal to all USBFever products.

The mount is unique in that each arm is made out of a flexible material (USBFever terms it as goosePipe) allowing you to position it anyway that you see fit.

While the dual armed design may seem a little over the top and unnecessary at first glance, having easy access to two devices at once (ie, my lifeflash, which is playing music while I am driving, and my cellular which has speaker phone enabled) is very handy indeed. The dual arms could also be used to hold a gps device or other standalone gizmo along with your Treo smartphone.

The holders themselves are ingeniously designed, allowing you to use virtually any device in any position imaginable. The devices are held in place by two spring loaded arms on the sides of the holders which, when squeezed together, clamp the device into place.  Releasing the device once you have reached your destination is as simple as pressing a button on the back of the holder.

The holder, when attached to the mount arm, allows you to rotate the device 180 degress in each direction, allowing you to view your device in landscape mode (however, I don’t recommend watching videos while driving!) which is preferable for some PocketTunes skins.

The device also has one of the most thought out suction cups I have seen. Most require you to push and prod until the correct suction is reached, or God forbid, you have to lick the cup to attain proper suction, however USBFever’s mounts use a hingy thinger, to obtain an insane suction with little effort on your part by using a locking hinge to gain leverage and suction . The suction can withstand running over even the hardest speed bumps at full speed (believe me ) and make for an insanely reliable mount. The suction cup even allows you to attach the mount to a desk, doubling it as an office cradle, should the need come up!

All in all, the Twin Holder car mount is a wonderful deal at only $25.99 at USBFever. (http://usbfever.com/index_eproduct_view.php?products_id=428) To anyone who is ever listening to music while they are driving, has a GPS kit, or would simply like easy access to their speaker phone, USBFever is the place to go!

What do you do if you are on the go and you are running out of power with your mobile devices? Well in the worst case your devices stop working – but you are lucky if you are having the “Universal Slim USB Car Charger” from usbfever. With this little thing you are able to charge any device in your car – but only if it can be charged via USB:

As you can see the charger has got an USB port and a connection for the cigarette lighter of your car.
Connect your device with the USB Port, put the charger into the cigarette lighter and voilà – your device is charging. It is normal that your device won’t charge in the time as a normal charger does. Some devices can’t be charged through USB. So it is better to test it out before. How you can do it? Well, simply attach it at home to any USB port of your computer/laptop and see if it charges. If it does it will with the car charger, too.
For example I couldn’t charge my Treo 650 through USB but my TX worked fine => same behavior with the car charger.
All in all the charger is a very good addition for those who are frequently on the go with few power outlets in range. For those who are using their mobile as a navigation device the charger could give you some extra hours of operation time.

The charger is available for the reduced price of 0.01 $ (former price 9.99 $) via usbfever.com.
Note: because of this very low price the quantity is limited to 1 pc/customer!

Universal Slim USB Car Charger product page

Micro-ISVs usually face a dilemma after having released their first program: how can I start selling it? Traditional project management books like The Art of Project Management are extremely useful – but leave the reader in the rain when it comes to selling and distributing stuff, as they are targeted at developers working for an institution. Rocky Smolin’s book wants to be completely different, leaving the project management stuff out – can it stack up?

The first chapter of the book looks at psychological aspects – who are you, why do you want to be an entrepreneur and most importantly, what you need to do in order to become successful. It ends with an interview with an expert who was huge in home computer times, but left the business since.

Rocky then moves on to various tasks that should ideally be done before starting to code – think specifications and elementary market research. This chapter’s interview is with the developer of a program for jewelry designers, and gives valuable insight into low-tech audiences!

Next up is a look at UI design. Programmers are prone to making many mistakes in their first apps. Even though the book can not replace dedicated UI stuff, it definitely provides a god starting point for further studies.

The final chapters look at pricing, legal stuff and minor issues which can hinder a product’s success. The Appendix contains a full software licensing contract which can be reused on your own programs…

Like most other APress books, From Program to Product is well-written and easy to understand. I had no problems understanding the tome, even though I am not a native speaker. Paper quality was decent, too – scribbling notes into the book is possible.

In the end, Rocky Smolin’s book didn’t tell me anything new which I didn’t know from my few year’s worth of industry experience (and economics training paid for by the Austrian government). On the other hand: people currently preparing their shareware product, will benefit a huge lot and should get the tome ASAP IMHO. The price of less than 20$ is more than acceptable.