Jason R Briggs

I've come to the conclusion that Japan is the place to live. Not that I really want to move to a country that by all reports is an extremely crowded and busy place, but the Japanese always seem to get the best gadgets. Zev Blut's article on iAppli development last month ("DoJa in NTT DoCoMo Phones," JDJ, Volume 6, issue 9) got me thinking, and I revisited a couple of Web sites that show the different mobile phones available there. A good example is Mobile Media Japan where, if you take a look at the list of J-Sky phones (www.mobilemediajapan.com/hardware/jsky-handsets/), most have color screens and are exceptionally easy on the eyes (to use the vernacular). Style isn't limited to J-Sky phones; i-mode and EZweb also have some seriously worthy examples. Western phones, by... (more)

Modern Rituals

It's an odd sensation when you're wandering around and everyone immediately looks at your chest. (No, I don't have a strange growth protruding from my sternum.) I recently visited the Embedded Systems Show (ESS) in London. The offending item, attracting all the attention, was the printed badge visitors were expected to wear when entering the exhibition, displaying in large letters their ... (more)

Hello World, A Beginner's Guide To Writing Applications For The MID Profile

The first thing you're likely to see, upon sitting down to learn a new language, is the ubiquitous "Hello..." application. My father bought me the TRS-80 Basic for Kids book when I was 8-years old, and I'm pretty sure that the first example was either "Hello World" or "Hello, my name is...." As the years progressed and I acquired different computers (BBC, Commodore, Macintosh, PC, etc.) a... (more)

Cat Fight

If the computer industry was a cat fight, right now fur would be flying in every direction. Microsoft's recent decision to drop Java from their Windows XP distribution is a prime case in point. Spin merchants pop up left, right, and center to fire a barrage of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) missiles at whomever will listen, and then vanish in a puff of marketing dust. The general med... (more)

Nokia 9210 Communicator

Convergence. A word loved by PR companies and feared by nontechnical consumers. If you believe industry pundits, we'll all be carrying combination mobile phone-PDA-TV-toasters in the next few years. You'll be able to make a phone call, write a memo, watch the morning news, and cook your breakfast all at the same time while on your way to work. How close reality comes to the dream (or nig... (more)