PhoneGap (was called by the name Apache Callback,but now Apache Cordova) is an open-source mobile development framework produced by Nitobi, purchased by Adobe Systems. It enables software programmers to build applications for mobile devices using JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3, instead of lower-level languages such as Objective-C.The resulting applications are hybrid, meaning that they are neither truly native (all layout rendering is done via the webview instead of the platform’s native UI framework) nor purely web based (they are not just web apps but packed for appstore distribution, and have access to part of the device application programming interface).

Source: Wikipedia.org

PhoneGap is very nice framework to have access of mobile features, like: GPS, camera, file, storage, accelerometer, etc. As you know you develop the GUI with HTML5 and CSS3. If you prefer you can do it without graphical frameworks. But I suggest you to use one, for example: Jquery Mobile.

The advantages that I found  of this approach are:

• Multi-platform - you have a unique code and you can delivery to Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Symbian and Bada. Look, you pack your application like a native app and send it to app stores.
• Fast learning – if you are a web developer you can develop great applications quickly.

OK, with this approach you can’t take advantages of native user experience of each platform. Because that, maybe it is a excellent solution to prototype a mobile app to prove a concept.

I think you have many password to memorize, but it is impossible. Never saves yours passwords in plain text. You need to save its encrypted.

The best software to save a security data that I know is 1Password.

It is great because:

• It is multi-platform. There are versions to: Windows (USD$49.99) , Mac (USD$49.99), Android (Free), iOS (USD$14.99) and Windows Phone (Free).
• If you have multiple devices you can keep all sync thru the Dropbox. It is possible because you save the database file in your dropbox folder and all devices catch it from there. Check it how to do it.

OK, it’s not cheap. But I believe it is a good investment.

Example:

<img src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap?center=Manaus, AM, Brasil&amp;zoom=14&amp;size=288x200&amp;markers=Manaus, AM&amp;sensor=false" width="288" height="200" />

If you want to define a location with latitude and longitude changes the address field (center or/and markers) to values separated by comma.

For example:

Latitude: -3.1251171
Longitude: -60.0261357

-3.1251171,-60.0261357

<img src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap?center=-3.1251171,-60.0261357&amp;zoom=14&amp;size=288x200&amp;markers=-3.1251171,-60.0261357&amp;sensor=false" width="288" height="200" />

Reference: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/staticmaps/

On Windows Phone Mail Client you have a hidden feature to select multiple messages and execute actions with this selection.

1. Open your Inbox.

2. Touch at border between the phone and the message. If you continue pressing for more than 2 seconds, it will open a menu to execute actions to that specific message.

3. Voilá!

The Marketplace for Windows Phone 7 has many application to create ringtones.

I tested some applications and I chose easyRing and Music.

I liked this application because you can download music from Youtube directly. But you can download from skydrive, sound cloud and a several others sites.

After you download the music you edit the file, choose less 40 seconds and save it.

Voilà! You have your ringtone selectable in Settings > Ringtones+Sound.

But if you have a Windows PC you can create it from Zune. Check it here.

The Penultimate Word

Sometimes you need to find a name in database but you don’t remember how exactly this name is written. The phonetic search may be used to this situation.

In PHP you have 4 functions to use in this situation.

Textual: the focus is the textual similarity.

levenshtein
similar_text

Phonetic: the focus is the phonetic similarity.

metaphone
soundex

In your application you can use any approach (phonetic or textual).

The function similar_text is more easy to use, because without additional code you can get the percentual of similarity.

For example:

$r = similar_text($str1, $str2,$perc);

The parameter $perc is passed by reference, then you get the percentual of similarity.

But if you prefer to check with phonetic approach you can use the specific functions. I created the function below with soundex that return the percentual of phonetic similarity.

Attention: I didn’t test the performance of this code.

function phonetic($str1, $str2) {
	$sdx1 = soundex($str1);
	$sdx2 = soundex($str2);
	$simi = 0;

	if ($sdx1 == $sdx2) {
		$simi = 1; //100%
	}
	else {
		$asdx1 = str_split($sdx1);
		$asdx2 = str_split($sdx2);
		if ($asdx1[0] == $asdx2[0]) {
			$simi += 0.4; //adding 40%
		}
		$n1 = substr($sdx1, 1);
		$n2 = substr($sdx2, 1);
		if ($n1 == $n2) {
			$simi += 0.6; //adding 60%
		}
		else {
			$n1 = (int) $n1;
			$n2 = (int) $n2;
			if ($n1 >; $n2) {
				$diff = $n1 - $n2;
				$p = $diff/$n1;
			}
			else {
				$diff = $n2 - $n1;
				$p = $diff/$n2;
			}
			if ($diff <;= 100) {
				$simi += 0.4; //adding 40%
			}
		}
	}

	return $simi;
}

I’m using the smartphone Nokia Lumia 800 with Windows Phone 7.

It’s great!

• Tiles are very useful with good information quickly.
• Locked screen with current or next meeting.
• People hub and linked contacts.
• Pin people to Tiles it is a good feature to follow and quick dial.
• “Me” feature in Tiles is very good to quickly post a message and see notifications linked with social network (like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Windows Live).
• Linked inboxes is good when you have more than one e-mail address. The good thing is you can choose what inbox you want to link.
• Find my phone it is a native feature to geolocation your phone. You can do that from WindowsPhone.com.
• Battery saver: it improve the battery life.
• Messaging integrated with SMS and Facebook chat.
• Back feature to show all opened app.
• Nokia Drive app it is a really GPS navigator.
• Music+Video app like a podcast player.
• Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac with iTunes integration.
• Feature that enable sharing data with app. For example: You can play a music at Music+Video app and go to Lyrics app and get lyric automatically related with that music.
• Battery. It is still alive for all day without battery saver feature. I charge it only at night.
• The 8Mb camera with dual flash and you can take a photo with phone locked. You only need to press the external camera button.
• Performance.

It could be better:

• Unlock phone with gestures.
• Define a music as a ringtone.
• Notification bar.
• Tiles Calendar with more than one meeting.
• Internet Explorer tabs features
• Speaker

Would you like to start to develop for future Windows 8?

You can do it today!

Download and install

• Windows 8 Consumer Preview
• Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Express Beta

You can use a virtual machine like Vmware, VirtualBox and others. But pay attention to minimal requirements.

Hardware Requirements:

• 1.6 GHz or faster processor
• 1.5 GB of RAM memory
• 5.0 GB of available hard disk space
• 5400 RPM hard drive
• DirectX 9-capable video card running at 1024 x 768 or higher display resolution

Other downloads: http://msdn.microsoft.com/pt-br/windows/apps/br229516

For example:

class User {
	public $name;
	public $username;
	public $password;

	public function __construct($username, $password) {
		$this->username = $username;
		$this->password = $password;
	}
}

class AccessControl {
	public function login(User $user) {
		echo "Check login...";
		echo $user->username;
	}
}

//main
$usero = new User("lgavinho","jaja");
$ac = new AccessControl();
$ac->login($usero);

Look at line 13. As you see the method login has a parameter called $user with type User. User is a class.

You can

• Define a NULL default value for your parameter.
• Types supported: class, interface and array.
• It’s works for function and method.
• In PHP 5.4 with type callable, but callback functions can not only be simple functions, but also object methods, including static class methods.

But this feature is not complete, it can not be used with scalar types such as int or string.

Nowadays if your data are digital because you use a computer, smartphone or tablet, you need to have a good backup mechanism.

My computer is a Mac, and because that I will talk about tools for Mac OS. But I’m sure that have a similar or the same for Windows or Linux.

The most important files I’m save in Dropbox folder on my computer. But I don’t save there my references files (like photos, videos, e-books). Automatically the Dropbox save it in the cloud. And this is my first backup. It’s free and automatic.

OK, but I have another important files: the project files. For that I’m using a version control repository. In my job we are using Subversion (SVN) with a corporate server. Then I’m having backup in the server, and in the server backup. For my personal projects I’m using GIT and Bitbucket with private repository. Then I’m having backup in the Bitbucket server.

And for my all computer I’m using the Time Machine. It is software for Mac OS that save the all data from my computer in another disk. It is very nice and it is easy to restore. For that I have a big USB external HD and I plug it for least one week.

And finally I have another external HD for archived files (very old files and company emails) and references files (photos, videos, e-books). My reference files is always in my computer to quickly access and because that it is save in Time Machine too.

I never transport my notebook with my backup disks (HD).

Summary

• Dropbox for most important files.
• Version Control repository – SVN for company projects and Bitbucket GIT for personal projects.
• Time Machine backup in external HD.
• Another external HD for archived and reference files.