Tag Archives: mobile

About the FSF’s stance on the iPhone and Embedded Mobile software

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An FSF member has published his stance on the iPhone in the wake of the 3G release.

I’ll say that I agree with johns on his points concerning the iPhone blocking free software and free media; also I could see the problem with a phone that continues to provide feedback for proprietary mobile phone/navigation networks even when you turn it off.

However, then the article offers the FreeRunner device (which has the OpenMoko Linux distribution pre-installed) as an alternative to the iPhone.

Now, the OpenMoko platform has, for the last two years, been extolled on news websites as the quintessential free software smartphone OS, but I wonder about it and its proponents.

Primarily, I wonder why an “embedded” Linux distribution should be the poster child for the free software movement’s somewhat-consistent principle-based opposition to the devices preinstalled with the iPhone OS, considering that most times when we read about some GPL violation being taken to court by the Software Freedom Law Center, it is usually concerning some GPL’ed software being “embedded” into the hardware without full compliance with the GPL’s letter. When Richard Stallman talks about “Tivoization”, he is specifically talking about Embedded Linux being “too” locked down to comply fully with the GPL’s spirit.

Plus, when it was being extolled as the geek’s ideal mobile OS on Digg, one of the primary reasons for why the OpenMoko was extolled in such a way was because it supposedly followed the “PC” model where software and hardware modifications and extensions were allowable and addable.

So, if OpenMoko Linux is “more” extensible than the iPhone OS, then does it remain an “Embedded Linux” or does it become a simply “Mobile Linux” of the likes of Ubuntu MID?

And if the iPhone OS is “embedded” in how it supports SIM cards which are proprietary to the carrier (in this case, AT&T), then why should the FSF endorse an embedded Linux device that supports the same for a different carrier? Can you say “four more years“?

Instead, I wish that the FSF would endorse the development of PMP OSes that could compete with the iPhone OS via the iPod touch rather than via the iPhone.

Such PMP OSes like the iPod touch installation of the iPhone OS would be able to install free software, play/edit/distribute free media, and not give off a homing beacon that is proprietary to some carrier’s network.

Plus, it would (ideally) allow you to sync with any desktop client on any operating system of your choosing, not restrict you to syncing one library at a time, and even let you download files from the Internet from within the device’s browser.

Finally, the purpose of the speaker and receiver on the free software PMP OS would be to talk through open IM-based VOIP protocols, record conversations, and play sound out loud if the user chooses such an option.

It would essentially bypass the current focus of the majority of smartphone OSes on connecting with “data providers” and carriers, and give computing platforms to those who may not desire a laptop or anything bigger but aren’t as wild about getting cell phones (like myself).

At least, until cellular data plans are as cheap and as fast as a home Cable Internet plan (which won’t happen anytime soon).

OK now, is it Mobile Linux or Embedded Linux?

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There are two categories on Wikipedia: Embedded Linux (with its own article) and Mobile Linux (without its own article, don’t know if it’ll be redundant to create one).

I’m confused about this because Mobile Linux (which is meant to go onto “mobile”, “traveling” devices such as smartphones, PDAs/”palmtops” and PMPs) is generally assumed as being a specific form of Embedded Linux (which goes on both mobile and stationary devices, such as networking hubs, robots and non-GUI machinery).

However, you also have the “Netbook“, “MID” and “tablet PC” Linux distributions that are coming out. These are meant to be “mobile”, in both the laptop sense and the phone sense, since you can carry such smaller “-tops” in a small bag, a purse, or other place where you can often find a mobile phone located (except for the pocket….apparently, they won’t get to that point until multitouch “-tops” will replace the “-book”‘s keyboard, and that will take years to put out to market).

Furthermore, while this smaller type of “-top” may (like the MacBook Air) or may not lack an optical drive, it will also have a way to install an operating system from some physical device, whether it is through a wireless optical drive that syncs to the “-top” or through a USB flash drive stick that can be stuck into a port on the side of the “-top”. Mobile Linux devices – at least the smartphones – don’t have this option, as don’t other smartphones with different operating systems installed, although Linux has been installed (through various jerry-rigged ways, onto PMPs and PDAs which aren’t locked into a carrier).

So where does the mobile Embedded with no user-software flexibility end and the mobile Netbook/MID with user-installable OS and software begin?

If the smaller luggable laptops are becoming as small and compact as the Mobile Embedded devices, then should the Netbooks and their operating systems be included into the “Mobile Linux” Category, alongside the smartphones, PDAs and PMPs?

(I also notice that with the current hoopla being given to Linux-based smartphones and Linux-based subnotebooks, one doesn’t hear that much about Linux PDAs or Linux PMPs, although that may only be because of the respective lack of native Linux support for PDA-compatible wireless and PMP-compatible codecs that won’t wear down batteries. Oh well.)

2012 and the mobile Internet

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A generation, according to one definition, last 18 years. The baby boomer generation, for example, has been historically applied to those who were born between 1946 and 1964 (in other interpretations, that time period combines the Baby Boomers with Generation Jones). Thus, if you follow the 18-year model, you end up with the following timeline:

  • 1946-1964 (encompassing the Baby boomers and Generation Jones)
  • 1964-1982 (encompassing Generation X)
  • 1982-2000 (encompassing Generation Y and some of the present “New Silent Generation”)
  • 2000-2018

I would like to pay particular attention to the generations 1964-1982 and 1982-2000. The former was marked by the solidification of television as a communication medium (at the expense of radio), the rise and levelling of the hippie subculture, the stagnation of the Cold War, and the rise of political terrorism. The latter, however, was marked by the introduction of computers and the Internet as a communication medium (at the expense of television), the rise and levelling of the punk and metal subcultures, the end of the Cold War, and the initial rise of religious fundamentalist terrorism.

Then I’d like to pay particular attention to what I call “pivot years”, or specific years within each of these timespans that marked the beginning of trends which continued (in much more evolved and entrenched states) into the next period. My initial placing of “pivot years” lies on each 12th year within each period. Thus:

  • 1958
  • 1976
  • 1994
  • 2012

I’m not prepared to comment on the eventual importance of 1958 to the following generation. However, I am prepared to comment on the importance of the following two dates:

  • 1976: Apple Computer was founded. (Microsoft was registered as a corporation to the state of New Mexico this same year)
  • 1994: Netscape was founded as “Mosaic Communications Corporation”. (The Yahoo! search engine was launched this same year by Jerry Yang and David Filo at Stanford University, and was incorporated as a business in 1995.)

Both companies have obviously played a preeminent role in the computing arena that continued, in an evolved form, into the following generations. While Apple was founded  during the latter age of hippies, it found its greatest exposure during the 1982-2000 generation (when computing and the Internet had first entered the home as niche consumer appliances), and it seems poised to play a lesser role in the 2000-2018 generation. Furthermore, Apple was part of the extremely competitive home computing market that surged from 1976 to 1984.

Meanwhile, while Netscape was founded during the 1982-2000 generation, its products (now under the Mozilla brand) have found an extensive and partially-commanding reach in the 2000-2018 generation (when computing and the Internet have become entrenched and ubiquitous). Furthermore, it was part of the extremely competitive free-for-alls which influenced the computing industry from 1994 to 2001, such as the Browser wars and the Dot-com bubble.

However, if 1976 and 1994 were the pivot years of their timespans, then what about 2012?

What does 2012 hold in store for computing and the Internet?

Personally, I think that it will involve the mobile smartphones and ubiquitous Internet-dependent devices which are so commonplace these days. However, like the previous pivot years, it could very likely involve the following:

  • the prior creation of a Web-dependent application that will make mobile or ubiquitous computing devices useful and stimulating to millions of people
  • establishment of a slew of companies which rely upon and monetize that medium, and the entry of older-generation companies which will cater to these companies
  • the gradual driving down of prices, rates and other financial hurdles (e.g., Internet rates) to record lows and the increasing of Internet capacity and reach to record widths and lengths due to the introduction of competitive prices and disruptive technologies.

This period of initial rat-race competition can last from 2012 to 2018, and may be dependent upon technologies and applications that will be created by as early as 2009 in their most rudimentary state.

What it will be, I have no idea. I can only hope that I will be employed by one of those companies.

Handhelds in Japan and Handhelds in America: function and form

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I just read this post. And this one. And this one.

What they all have in common, besides their concern over Apple’s handhelds and the Japanese computer culture, is their mention of how the handhelds in Japan have magnitudes of hardware features that aren’t even heard of in other parts of the world, including the U.S.

One of the most recent (prototype) devices to be created in Japan is the Wellness Navigator, which is a mobile phone that can also give health checks and results of calorie and alcohol intake (using a breathalyzer).

However, while the mobile phones in Japan can double as charge cards, fingerprint scanners and door keys (among other things), they are noted for their lagging interfaces in comparison to the Western-made mobiles like the products of Apple, Nokia and Motorola.

So is it true? Have things come so full circle that the hardware products in America that are improved in their function by magnitudes in Japan’s factories now have to find improvement in their GUI accessibility in….America?

And furthermore, Garmin is coming out with the nuvifone, a phone with a multitouch keyboard (like the iPhone/iTouch) and built-in GPS navigation. So we in the West could see some more of the mobile functionality that is already commonplace in Japan within the next 5 years or so.

It will be interesting to see exactly how many ways the handheld can be applied, as it is no longer just a phone, just a media player or just a GPS device.

In fact, I’m very certain that it will get very heated when phones in the U.S. will serve as replacements for charge/credit/debit cards, transport tokens and movie/theme park/museum tickets. Oh, and this will be over Wi-Fi connections, not over spotty cellular data networks.

Politics and security scares will be involved in this development, as card makers and ticket makers will now have to compete with virtual card developers.

So yah, handhelds are bound to shake things up,

Visual programming on (and for) multitouch handhelds

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I wonder if anyone who’s been following the iPhone, iPod touch, Neo1973 or any other multitouch handheld has considered the possibility of visual programming for these devices?

Since the devices, by nature, aren’t built to be the most adept typing machines (that goes for any mobile, since you can only use one of each finger at a time to type text on it), they are apparently not the best devices on which to create an application with a typed programming language (even the JavaScript that is used for any third-party webapps on the iPhone/iTouch). They are, however, *intensely* graphical, as the screens of these devices, which are used to display the information that is received or generated by the OS, tend to encompass the majority of the device’s front-end.

So if the combination of a graphical interface with an all-fingers interaction method is our only way to make sufficient use of these devices, then what about the applications which could be installed on these devices (the jailbreaking of Apple’s devices is another story)? At the moment, most applications for mobile devices, multitouch or no, are created trough the use of the keyboards for desktop computers, and are created in a variety of programming or scripting languages (sometimes with interfaces which make use of markup, stylesheets and vector graphics) which have to be typed gratuitously and fluidly.

But what if one doesn’t have a desktop or laptop device available, but has a multitouch handheld to, well, handle? What if the user feels like creating an application that isn’t already available on the device, like a plugin for a built-in audio player interface?

I think that, in this case, an on-device visual programming environment, one that is made for multitouch interaction, may be the best solution for creating applications on the device.

Since visual programming is, from my supposition, less driven by the keyboard and more driven by the mouse on a desktop computer (drag n’ drop and all that), then such a programming environment form could possibly be easily driven by fingers as well. This would make it extremely easy for the users of these devices to create installable programs and applications from within the devices rather than from without.

Now if only Firefox was ported to the iPhone so we could try this theory out.

Demo of visual programming, using Quartz Composer:

Idea: wireless “dumb terminal” touchscreen display for smartphones

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OK, just thought about this last night:

I notice that most smartphones, including the multitouch fullscreen ones like the iPhone and Neo1973, are built as all-in-ones, with the hard drive and processing unit placed directly behind the display.

Then I saw the video of the most recent Macworld keynote by Steve Jobs last night, in which he introduced the MacBook Air. I had already read from Digg about how this new notebook computer, in order to accomplish one of the thinner laptop form factors, sacrificed such long-standing laptop components such as the optical disc (CD/DVD) drive, replacing it with an external optical disc drive that streams optical media data (even DVD-borne software titles such as Office ’08 for Mac or OS X 10.5) to the MacBook Air, where such data can then be copied or installed to the hard drive. This essentially rendered the MacBook Air, in Jobs’ words, a “wireless machine”; this may suit Apple’s modus operandi, which is directed more to digitally-transmitted data (iTunes) than to hard-based data on CDs, DVDs, or Blu-Ray/HD-DVD.

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Now, the following is becoming increasingly true:

The more mobile and free-wheeling the device, the smaller the form factor, the greater the network dependence, and the greater the need for interaction with the display.

The MacBook Air, the iPhone, and the iPod touch are all Apple’s mobile “wireless machines”. The software in these devices rely upon a wireless, streaming network in order for several applications to function correctly, and the interfaces use a greater immersion of the finger for various tasks, whether its widening a photo or dialing a phone number.

However, in the mobile industry (including Apple’s mobile products), most of the components (CPU, hard drive, etc.) are tied underneath the display (or, if its not multitouch, then both the screen and buttons). The same goes for other multitouch computer devices, such as the Microsoft Surface which is due for sale by at least 2009.

But what if the multitouch display could be used for the same communication purposes as your average smartphone without it being welded or tied to the computer that holds the hard drive and electronics?

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My idea is what I call “the commoditization of handhelds and other mobile computer devices”.

What this will allow is for someone to use one or more displays for a single, more stationary phone device, and for someone to cheaply upgrade their stationary phone device with greater hardware enhancements than would be feasible with the phone device tied directly to the display.

The phone device will “talk” wirelessly with the portable display, which doesn’t have a hard drive and very few electronic components except for those which allow for the display itself to function at all. The display will recognize any touch motions, which are then sent back to the stationary smartphone device where the operating system is stored. The smartphone is also wirelessly connected to the Internet though a wifi router.

This will be a more cost-effective approach to the creation of smartphones, as it will let both the computer and the portable multitouch display be true to the concerns within either components’ own domain.

This also allows for greater innovations within the display field that will eventually make it to the mobile market. This is one example:

Thoughts on Yahoo Messenger (for PC and Mobile)

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OK, so with Yahoo’s upcoming Messenger 7.5, the company that has an appetite in buying every company under the sun (they just bought del.icio.us, even though they already have their own social bookmarking service……whuh?) is now actually trying to compete with someone other than Google: Skype, the thrilla from Scandinavia that has claimed over 3 million casualties worldwide (OMG, and a video to testify to the mayhem! I’ll show it to you all as soon as I can find the URL). Unfortunately, neither Skype nor the present VoYM can work for me under these conditions, as both I and androgynism found out on Friday.

What exactly to expect from Messenger 7.5?

1. Interoperability with MSN/Windows Live Messenger

2. Net2Phone: the (supposed) Skype-killer.

And probably not much else.

And then I go on a long rant…