links for 2009-01-12

  • Extended Environments Markup Language: EEML
    This site provides information about Extended Environments Markup Language (EEML), a protocol for sharing sensor data between remote responsive environments, both physical and virtual. It can be used to facilitate direct connections between any two environments; it can also be used to facilitate many-to-many connections as implemented by the web service Pachube, which enables people to tag and share real time sensor data from objects, devices and spaces around the world.
    (tags: programming sensors processing physical)
  • Clickable Markers With Google Static Maps
    Static map is one big image. Markers are embedded inside the image. You can not use traditional <a href=”#”> tags around separate markers. Binding onclick event to separate marker images wont work either. There are no separate markers. Just one large image.

    With imagemaps you can specify arbitary areas inside an image which links to given url.

    (tags: javascript google map)
  • JSONP for cross-site Callbacks – Rick Strahl's Web Log
    JSONP is an unofficial protocol that allows making cross domain calls by generating script tags in the current document and expecting a result back to calls a specified callback handler.
    (tags: javascript security jsonp json)
Published
Categorized as Awareness

links for 2009-01-09

Published
Categorized as Awareness

Palm webOS on the Palm pre: PLEASE let it be WebKit

Just a few minutes ago, Palm announced their new pre device (that’s the name “pre”, I don’t mean it as in “preview” or beta). The device looks solid, like any state of the art mobile handset in the 21st century should. They’ve managed to innovate on the hardware, so it doesn’t look like a cookie cutter rebrand of HTC (cough..G1….cough).



courtesy of http://arvino.posterous.com

The big news for me was the Palm webOS… though its a bit like “Back to the Future”… Back in 1999, the Palm VII device launched with something known as Palm Query Applications (PQAs) – little compiled bits of HTML and images, as front-end local forms for submitting to remote web applications. It was a brilliant hack for the extreme low bandwidth of the Mobitex network.

Quick aside on my areas of expertise: I developed ThinAirMail, a POP/IMAP/Hotmail client for the Palm VII, that was the #1 PQA application for a long time, and eventually included in the box. This led to the acquisition of ThinAirApps, the mobile software company I helped found in 2001 by Palm. I worked there for about two years, until someone decided (probably correctly) that Palm shouldn’t be in the server software development business.

This new webOS echoes this approach, but is much more forward looking, and in fact completely inline with my own personal view of the world… it is a Mobile Web Client Stack. If you read this blog at all, you’ll have seen my previous posts on using PhoneGap to build “native” client applications for iPhone and Android using nothing more than XHTML, CSS and Javascript wrapped in a simple launcher. While I am happy that all the great Obj-C, Cocoa and Java developers have work in this mobile world, there is no need for mobile device development to be so difficult and proprietary.

The four zillion billion dollar question for Palm is, have you chosen wisely in the foundation of your Web OS? Pleeeeeaase, let the answer be “Yes, my son, WebKit is thy name.” At the least, tell me Gecko or Opera… I know standards are standards, but if this Web OS is built on yet another hacky mobile browser whose ancestry traces back to Access or Blazer, I am not going to be as thrilled as I am right now. WebKit is leading the way in amazing standards support, as well as adding the latest and great enhancements from HTML 5 (database, animations, transitions, etc). These are already shipping with iPhone OS 2.2, and lemme tell you – the things you can do with them will blow you away.

Android Market Suspends My "Blog App"!

UPDATE 7:20PM January 7: Android Market support responded with this: “Hello Nathan, Thanks for writing in. Your app was suspended because it seems to be a demo of what one can do
with a blog. You may re-upload your app to the “Demo” section of the
market as opposed to the “Reference” section. If we can assist you further, please let us know.

Regards,
The Android Market Team”

Gee – I wish they told me that to begin with! Still I have to now re-release my application, simply to put it in the correct category. Frustrating, but not awful.

Earlier today, I was gleefully attempting to show Dave Oliver the hilarious comment thread for the blog app I recently released for Android. I pulled up the Market app on my T-Mobile G1 and searched for “Nathan”, expecting to see “Nathan’s Blog App” in the results…. but, it wasn’t there. Confusion set in for a bit, followed by disbelief that the app had been removed from the store.

This was confirmed when I received this “friendly” automated note below from the Android Market support team:

noreply-android-market@google.com
6:24 PM (5 hours ago)

This is a notification that the application Nathan’s Blog App Demo (ID: -8575230491255129376) has been removed from Android Market due to a violation of the Developer Content Policy. Please review the Content Policies and Business and Program Policies before you create or upload additional applications.

For more information, or to contact us, please visit the Android Market Help Center.

Thanks,
The Android Market Team

<- This is how I feel right now…
like a sad little lost robot.



Now if you look through the policy links above, and then read about what my app does, you’ll see that, as far as I can tell, I am in no way breaking the rules.

Your application shouldn’t contain content that displays (via text, images, video or other media) or links to:

* illegal content
* invasions of personal privacy or violations of the right of publicity
* content that interferes with the functioning of any services of other parties
* promotions of hate or incitement of violence
* violations of intellectual property rights, including patent, copyright (see DMCA policy), trademark, trade secret, or other proprietary right of any party
* any material not suitable for persons under 18
* pornography, obscenity, nudity or sexual activity

Also, make sure your products don’t:

* harm user devices or personal data.
* create unpredictable network usage that has an adverse impact on a user’s service charges or a Authorized Carrier’s network.
* knowingly violate an Authorized Carrier’s terms of service for allowed usage

blog app menu Now, I’ll admit my app is a bit pointless, some may mistake it as shameless self-promotion, but in truth, it was meant as a proof of concept for gluing together the awesome Phonegap SDK (a mobile web appstack enabler) with WordPress and a mobile-friendly template. This allows my CMS-based website (be it blog or not) to have a “native” presence on a device, one click launch capability AND allow for integration with native services like GPS, media capture, accelerometer and more. Pretty cool, eh?

I guess apparently not. I ask you out there to tell me why *you* think my app was removed. Perhaps I will hear back from Google… not sure. Their “Contact Us” capability was pretty basic and I had to dig for it… considering the notification email came from a “no-reply” address, I am not very hopeful. I am going to post this blog link to the appropriate developer lists, as well, and I look forward to gaining some insight into what I may have done wrong, though I honestly believe I am not at fault here.

Regardless, isn’t Android supposed to the more “open” platform? I thought app censorship was the domain of Apple?! Is there some sort of review process that happens after an app is released? Why not do this before the app even gets into the market… that way at least you know where you stand before you tell the world the app is up. Maybe the Apple way isn’t so bad after all…

Anyhow, for one of the biggest cheerleaders of Android out there, this is not a fun moment.