Colin Charles Agenda

I was rather thrilled this past week to note that the team at MoSync have released 2.4-pre-beta, with support for not only Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7, but also Apple Mac OS X 10.6. Goodbye Windows virtual machine, and hello native Mac app.

Check out the release notes, and you’ll also see some very interesting tid-bits. The largest request that I seem to hear from users is that they would like to target the iOS platforms. Apple iOS devices seem ubiquitous these days, and MoSync is now filling the gap. The highlights:

• support for iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) – read hints to help develop iOS applications (you want to read this, especially if you’re doing some development on Windows; you will need XCode and a Mac to run it)
• Android 2.2 support – read hints to help develop Android applications
• ARM recompiler for Symbian 3rd and 5th edition devices
• Bluetooth client/server library

There’s also improved documentation, with example applications. Check out btServer (makes use of the Bluetooth features) and MapDemo (good example with various map sources).

While there are no binaries for Linux users, there is a guide on how to build MoSync using Ubuntu. I’ve not tried it recently, and the guide is a bit dated, but I expect it to work without too many issues.

Today I installed iTunes 10. Apple has stopped requiring you to reboot your computer the moment you get an iTunes upgrade – I consider this a plus point. Its now sporting a new logo, and things look a little more polished in the application.

Noticing no Ping, which seemed to be all the rage in the morning, I wondered what the cause might be. Quite clearly, you don’t get in on Ping, Apple’s new social network, if they don’t run an iTunes Music Store in your country! The moment I made the change to my US-based iTunes account, all seemed to be OK, and I could start playing around with Ping.

Then it became clearer why they didn’t want me to use Ping. “Each time you purchase, review, rate or like music on the iTunes Store, it will appear here” (so it said on my profile). At the moment, Ping does not fit my use case – I rip audio CDs that I purchase, and they have information within iTunes thanks to the CDDB database it syncs with. I have never purchased music from the iTunes Music Store, because I cannot be bothered with using a foreign credit card or looking for iTunes gift certificates.

Does this in any way hamper last.fm/AudioScrobbler? Probably a little, considering Ping is built-into iTunes. Plus you can follow your favourite artistes ;-) Does this mean people will quit last.fm for Ping? I find it highly unlikely. But last.fm is probably on their toes now, since there’s some overlap – concert recommendations, etc. Ping also is run within iTunes, you can’t use a web browser. There does not seem to be any API either.

Then, people got excited with Apple’s new Apple TV. I didn’t. Its not international. OK, not international enough. I can still buy the old Apple TV from the Malaysian or Singaporean Apple Store. The new ones seem to be available for sale in Australia, UK, the US, and probably a few other countries where you can rent/buy movies from the store.

The iPod Touch? Some good changes, but the camera isn’t all that hip. Good enough for FaceTime. Speaking of FaceTime, it is apparently based on open standards. Steve Jobs said something like it will be open. When will Apple release some information about how others can independently implement FaceTime? Or inter-operate with FaceTime?

Game Center looks interesting. Social gaming is going to be big (also, big in iOS4.1). The new iPhone 4’s don’t have iOS4.1 yet, but when the update comes (next week?), you will get Game Center too. And the iPod touch should be fast – sporting an A4 chip. Apple has successfully made devices do multiple things (iPod touch: music player, game machine, video conferencing tool, etc.). Would I buy one? I’m still too smitten with my iPad, so much so I haven’t used my 1st generation iPod Touch since April 2010!

The new iPod Nano looks cool. Its a pity they’ve removed the camera. And the shuffle, well, its a shuffle – I’ve never owned one.

So the Apple Music event turned out to mostly be a bummer, unless you live in a country where the iTunes Music Store is available.

The new firmware (ok, its been out a few weeks) for the iPod Touch (and I presume the iPhone), allows one to download podcasts over the air – i.e. no need to sync with iTunes any longer, you can do it over the 3G network (on an iPhone) or the WiFi network (on an iPod Touch). Preetam was right when he said podcasts are really going to rule now.

I got the update, it took hours (some 200+MB took hours on a DSL connection), and was all excited, till I saw the following:

The iTunes Store is not supported in this country. What an amusing message. The AppStore definitely is. And podcasts are free – are there paid podcasts that I don’t know about?

I filed rdar://6443514, in disgust.

Ever since re-entering the world of the iPod’s by getting my iPod Touch, I’ve been listening to podcasts again. One of the ones I listen to regularly, is Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code (the DSC).

Of late, it seems like he’s been talking a lot about something he calls the “Prostate Cancer Prevention Quota”. He’s quoting old (from 2003) research, that says regular masturbation cuts the risk of prostate cancer. The study, conducted in Melbourne, Australia, has not seen anything new in the last five years. But thats digressing.

Question I have is: do podcasts start trends, just like regular commercial radio?

Commercial radio is subject to a code of conduct. There are topics that may be taboo. These obviously vary from region-to-region. Podcasters don’t have to follow through, naturally.

I’m impressed with the number of folk calling in, leaving voice messages for Adam, to tell him where they stand on their weekly quota. This almost reminds me of the previous “trend”, which helps “condition” you to think of Senseo, every time he burped.

With Senseo, it was great advertising. With the cancer prevention quota, I have no idea what the benefit is, besides maybe actually wanting to improve men’s health.

Did Adam start a masturbating trend? Watching an episode of House the other night, House ordered a prostitute to his apartment. Did this increase the number of outcall‘s that night, amongst television watchers?

It would be interesting to find out… statistics that seem interesting.