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May 31, 2009
Photobox
I was at a friends wedding the other day and took a few pictures which I wanted to share with them.
I have used Photobox.ie for a few years now and I've been very happy with the quality of prints that you can order from them, not to mention the price!
I hadn't used the service for a while, but I was pleasantly surprised to notice (half-way through using the Java-based upload app) that you can now FTP in to your photobox account and upload photos that way. Much easier for someone like me!
Just point your favourite FTP client (I highly recommend Filezilla) at ftp.photobox.com and away you go.
Sadly, no FTP for flickr. Everytime I need to upload more than a few photos to Flickr it fails.
So it goes.
Posted by dottie at 3:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Android Phone
I've been doing some messing about with Google's SDK for the Android platform
My intention was to try out the tutorials, look at the examples and see if it was worth dipping my toe into the world of developing for the gPhone. I'm a convert.
The wife of one of my work colleagues works in Google and she had received a google phone, one of the HTC G1 which I thought looked a little clunky on any videos and in pictures, but to hold it in your hand is a different experience. I liked it. I like it a lot. As much as I liked my experience with the iPhone.
I was surprised, but still wary of the operating system and how you interface with that.
The SDK comes with an emulator which gave me a very good idea of how the phone works. I've been quite happy with the operating system, which seems pretty easy to use and the on screen keyboard works well enough, again, at least as well as my iPhone experience.
The android alliance is only beginning to come into its own. Being a collection of hardware and software manufacturers, the android platform can look forward to a great deal of support on all levels. Couple this with the fact that you have Google masterminding this, and the fact that the barrier to entry for developers is very low (see below), I think there is a bright future for the soon to be many gPhones.
There are some major pros that would encourage me to not only develop for the android platform but also to buy an android phone. Currently I have my eye on the Samsung i7500 (which is nice and sleek but doesn't seem to have the digital compass of the G1) but it seems that is not supported in Ireland yet - 10 years of prosperity and we are still in the digital stone-age!!!
The pros:
Java
All development is done through Java. This is a good thing because Java is very similar to C#, which I am most familiar with. Plus its a lot better than the iPhone Objective C, which requires you to use nasty things like malloc and its ilk - yuck, manual garbage collection...
Opensource
Mostly. Its a good thing. People jump on board and push the code in new and interesting directions. Plus, unlike the iPhone OS, you can try and get Android running anywhere you like without fear of legal action.
Very, very, very low cost of entry
If you want to start developing for the iPhone you need to either own or buy some very expensive items: at least a mac mini (the SDK has an emulator), and then at least an iPod Touch and a developer licence ($199) to test the app in the wild.
With Android you need a PC, then download the SDK, install Eclispse and you are good to go. If you want to see it on a device you do need to buy a google phone (if you live in a country that supports it...) but then you can install the apps on your phone without having to go through the android market.
Android market
The Android market is a funny thing. The website is less than compelling and there are no download links. Eh?
The reason is that each Android phone will have its own android market app. that will allow you to access the android market and download any applicaiton you like.
But what if the phone manufacturer doesn't want you to download baby shake, or the latest your-face-as-jesus application? No problem. You can host your application on your own site where people can download and install it directly, and/or pop it up on one of the many thrid party android app markets that are appearing.
So, to wrap up, the google phone will be my next phone and I *will* be developing applications for it. I don't think the google phone will have the iPhone application milionaire phenomenon that we have seen, but I think any developer worth their salt will be able to earn a decent boost to their income.
Posted by dottie at 2:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack