Java Kecil 2x

Voizpod.com is beta testing its new service, which allows users to listen to their favorite blogs and news on their mobile devices such as Blackberrys and smartphones using a Java ME mobile app.

This is ideal for people who want to keep up with the latest news and blogs while driving or commuting to work, or even when just relaxing. It’s also a cool thing which you can show your friends.

It’s easy to set up:

1. First, visit and create an account at:

   voizpod.com

2. Then, download the Java mobile app by pointing your mobile browser to the following URLs:

   If your mobile device has a file system, download from voizpod.com/m75

   If your mobile devices do NOT have a file system, download from voizpod.com/m

Please note that Voizpod is beta-testing the service, so any comments and suggestions and problems would be most welcome!

Ballmer must be tearing his non-existent hair at the latest numbers from Gartner, which show Windows Mobile stagnating while Blackberry and Symbian continue to dominate. The iPhone is so marginal in the mobile space that it was lumped in under “Other”.

In the end, I really don’t care, as Java runs in all but the iPhone (and sooner or later, some form of Java will make its way into this OS too, with or without the sickly Steve Jobs), but it’s funny how while many things keep changing in the mobile space, Symbian remains the dominant brand.

As far as I can figure, nine out of the top ten smartphones can run Java ME (and the Blackberrys are based on Java ME). The lone exception is the iPhlop, which came in at #5 and obviously lacked any meaningful software.

Original Article

Saved article.

Well, I guess the bottom is starting to fall for this over-priced, underpowered toy. AT&T reported subscriptions for the first two days and it only came it at a very disappointing 146k, well below analysts expectations of 500k (and one analyst company, I won’t bother to embarrass them, even mentioned 700k). Sure it’ll sell a lot, but it ain’t gonna “change” the world, much less “conquer” the mobile market.

Some comments:

I gave a presentation on Pervasive Java, which includes some consumer Java APIs like BD-J and OCAP Java, to NJCCPS (New Jersey Chinese Computer Professionals Society), one of the largest Chinese associations in the east coast. I took the tack of more pictures and demos, less code, which is always a good thing, especially since many in the crowd were not coders.

The response was pretty enthusiastic, with the host having to stop the questioning after the 10 minute time alloted for questions had run past into the 20s, and with some people asking that a SIG be formed to focus on these technologies. One thing I noted was that many were more interested in the Sun SPOT sensors, probably because I had brought some with me to demo. You can find the slides here.

Pretty freaking sad that this language that was hyped to be the usurper and premiere Java-killer turned out to be just another ho-hum scripting framework whose advantages are quickly being assimilated by Java. I posted earlier about RIP: Ruby Hype. Now, the newest sign that the Ruby hype is slowing or decreasing is the flattening (and decrease) in the Tiobe index of this language.

Click thumbnail above for detailed image.

I cannot honestly say I’m sad about this. When I first met these Rubyistas last year they surprised me by their vehemence and scary obsession. The Jesus freaks have nothing on these guys, and if they honestly think people think they’re cool because they somehow know just another web framework, then I suggest the blu pill (or even the red one) to wake them up.

Some other old posts of mine about these nuts:

• R-U-B-Y is M-A-D (April 7, 2006)
• Ruby on smartphones and PDAs (April 1, 2006)

Ok, on to stuff that actually matters - Grails, JRuby, and Java FX

ADDENDUM: In response to some emails that have come my way (I had been disabling comments), NO i never said anywhere that Ruby is DYING. However, the hype about Ruby is certainly leveling off, as it would have no matter how much the hype anyways. This could be due to several factors, including the fact that there really is no large job market for it, it really IS just another language and web framework (nothing radical there), and the rise of Grails/Groovy, JRuby and JavaFX in Javaland might be taking away some of its thunder. In the end, RoR will continue to cater to a middling size crowd, but honestly folks, did anyone with at least half a mind actually think that it would usurp the role of Java?

I haven’t been keeping track of what those mono morons have been doing lately, although by the lack of news you gotta figure the niche they’ve dug for themselves is still a literal niche. However, that unholy partnership between ol’ Microsoft (whom I’ve been having fond thoughts of lately now that their threat to Java seems to have passed) and Novell seems to have borne some bitter fruit.

So, there I was getting ready to try out the enseQuence On-Q Studio demo that would allow me to participate in Fox’s Blu-ray contest, when the installer quit and told me I had to have a .NET framework 2.0 installed in my wife’s Windows XP! 


Now, granted that I am sometimes at odds with Swing and other desktop developers who turn their regal noses up at anything to do with mobile or other small java stuff, but there is a limit to just how much pain I am willing to inflict on fellow Java developers.

The sad thing was Sun was glibly giving away the demo discs at JavaOne, and the contest flyer had the Sun logo prominently displayed at the bottom.

Needless to say, the demo disc and flyer ended up pretty quickly in the hotel wastebasket. Call me when you’ve a BD-J authoring tool that is actually inexpensive and not an affront to my fellow developers.

Ah, the miracle of modern technology and developer innovation never ceases to amaze me. I’m like a one-man sample for Java ME. Checked my email using Gmail mobile and read Javablogs.com while waiting in the airport lounge using Opera Mini on my Nokia 9300, and I’m now writing this blog on the somewhat barebones kablog software while seated on the plane and waiting for it to cycle up. All I need now is that Java ME powered robosapiens robot to serve me drinks and I’ll be all set!

I feel like a commuter whose train has departed the station and I can only glimpse portions of the activity inside through tinted windows, but I’ve been keeping track of the announcements via other blogs, and it looks like Sun is positioning JavaFX as a ubiquitous solution for Java GUIs - from desktops all the way to lower end mobile devices, and even to Blu-ray devices.

In his blog about the opening session, Lucas Jellema notes the following:

JavaFX will be integrated across all platforms: development experience for mobile deives,blu-ray, web applications. JavaFX runs on every existing Java SE platform! Even cooler: Battery powered mobile devices
Power of Java on desktop, project it to everone else JavaFX Mobile: Java SE and rich environment to every mobile device. Supports Java FX content authoring tools. Open, standards based technologies. The Network in your hand. Environment that suits Mobile Devive Manufacturers.

I highlighted the mentions of Blu-ray and porting Java SE GUIs to mobile devices via JavaFX. I’ll probably have more to say about this later when I can get a better handle on the REALITY (as opposed to Sun’s usual misty-eyed vision of what can be), but suffice it to say I have very big doubts about the immediate feasibility of this. There are just too many entrenched interests and competing stakeholders in the consumer and pervasive Java markets to make such a grandiose goal a reality any time soon.

However, if Sun simply displays some perserverance (much like Microsoft) and keeps this JavaFX as a running goal for the foreseaable future (as opposed to quietly dumping it when reality throws some wrenches in the works), then you may see some good things happening in the Java GUI space. I think people want to see not only big dreams from Sun but also big stamina.