tech paradise philippines

Nokia N78

Migs — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:37:24 +0000

Is the N78 my next phone? I now have an E65.
Stuff I could use: HSDPA for browsing. Loudspeakers

Stuff I’d like to hack on: Nokia Web Run-Time widgets.

Not sure: the camera. Unless I take more pictures.

Not sure: the keypad. The E65 has big keys that are easy to text with.

Lost in Haskell

Migs — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:55:58 +0000

I’ve been reading the Haskell wikibook. I don’t have a practical use for it yet, but I think it makes for good background study. I might use some other functional language in the future. Ted Neward, in his predictions for 2008, suggests: If you’ve never programmed in Haskell, now’s a good time to learn, because those concepts and syntax are fast making their way towards you.
However, my reading is slowing down. I don’t have anything to use Haskell for. Perhaps if there were a fun open source project using Haskell… or, another functional programming language. (Not Emacs Lisp, since it’s not used outside of Emacs and I don’t use Emacs anymore.)
Bring on the Pinoy Haskell Programmers!

Still Apple-Free

Migs — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:42:24 +0000

I’m Apple free. I own no Apple products. So I can’t be a Mac Complainer.
Of course I have had Mac Envy. I didn’t give in.
I can’t justfy the cost. I already have work PC laptop, a Dell Latitude D510, which I use most of the time, especially when I’m traveling. Bringing a second laptop like a Mac would be too much trouble.
I already have a personal laptop back home, a Acer Gemstone 4710Z. When I bought it, it was in the Acer low-cost laptop price range - less than 40,000 PhP at the time. Apple doesn’t make laptops in that price range, since they want to make premium products.

The MacBook 13.3″ screen looks too small for me. The Latitude is 15″ non-widescreen, and the Gemstone is 14″ widescreen. Getting a MacBook Pro for the 15″ screen is out of the question.
Mac OS X is not optimized for my type of programming. That is the main thing I do on any computer. For Java, open source Java is well supported - if I don’t need an official Java 6 build. But a lot of commercial tools are available on Windows and Linux, only. I’m dabbling in .NET, which of course is not available on Mac OS.
Mac OS X may be a great platform for PHP, Ruby on Rails and web development in general. But I’m not into that.
For the Mac’s greatest strength, multimedia, I don’t have an iPod/iPhone, and I’m not into photography. Why no iPod? I can’t stand listening to music from headphones.

Why don’t I buy the MacBook and install Linux and Windows in Boot Camp? Because I already have my existing laptops for that. Then, I have a desktop PC as well for more programming work.

So, no reason to leave the state of being Apple-free.

My 2008 Tech To Do

Migs — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:58:20 +0000

Learn a new language. Scala, perhaps?
Find more time to play with Ruby, Python and Javascript.
Build fun apps for myself - and for profit?
Master more “hard core” Java.
Learn SIP Servlets, like through the Sailfin app server.
Get my SCJP certification, a few years in the making.
Buy my first Mac? If I have time to enjoy it.
Buy an Asus EEE PC? If I find a use for it.
Buy a Nokia N82? If I get interested in mobile photography.
Buy a Google Android phone? If I get to write my own apps.

HTC Android Phone Reviews

Migs — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 09:11:59 +0000

I’m waiting for HTC Android Phone Reviews. HTC has announced they will support the Google Android platform. This should be an interesting phone, if the implementation is really good.

I have always wanted to run my own apps on my phone, but the difficulty of Java ME and Symbian programming make it impractical. These platforms are for full-time programmers. Android seems to be more hacker-friendly and user-programmable. (More so if I could run shell scripts, Ruby programs and the like on the shell - but I don’t think so.)

This will affect any phone purchasing decisions for 2008.

My Shelton and Diamondville Low Cost/Power PC

Migs — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 06:38:44 +0000

I thought i would like an Asus EEE PC. But as of now, I don’t have a real need for one.

Which is a good thing. Intel is coming up with the Shelton chipset and Diamondville CPU. This should be better than the Celeron M underclocked at 600+ Mhz - something comparable with the Core architecture.

By April 2008, I might need feel the need for this type of PC, while waiting for the Nehalem for a major upgrade.

N82: Nokia still goes on

Migs — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 23:22:05 +0000

The N82. Nokia is not really challenged by the iPhone. And Google Android platform phones are still not yet released (or even prototyped in hardware? who knows.)

What’s going for Android is that it has a simple programming model. (Simple based on the tutorials. I haven’t tried following the examples or writing my own code yet.) Symbian/S60, on the other hand, is said to be hard to code for.

How about the iPhone official SDK? Will it be Objective C + Cocoa like the jailbreaked iPhones, or something else altogether?

Will I get my own N82? Maybe. I was interested in the N95, and this looks like a shrunk down version. Unlike many (most?) tech bloggers, I like phone cameras. I am not a photography enthusiast and I don’t even own any dedicated camera.
The drawback? I don’t like carrying around an expensive phone.

My Nehalem PC

Migs — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:19:23 +0000

No, I don’t have a new Nehalem PC yet. Nobody does.
But, since my current PC needs are good for my current use, I don’t think I need a new machine until 2009.

I’m looking forward to this new architecture. It’s a new architecture, after the current “Core” architecture, and will have even more power savings than the upcoming Penryn. This is important because we hardly need CPU power for most tasks. My software development work does not.

Google Android Platform Development

Migs — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:13:07 +0000

So, there’s no GPhone after all. Until the Android platform handsets come out next year, my purchasing decisions are made easier.

My interest in the Android Platform/API fis professional - if this is the anti-Nokia coalition, then it should have a lot of supporters. I eagerly await the preview SDK coming on the 12th.
My guess: the high-level API would be an AJAX/Google Gears-type platform. This would allow cross-platform apps between desktop Web and mobile.
I’m curious as to how they could release an entire operating system stack, when phone hardware changes a lot from vendor to vendor?

GPhone: With or Against Carriers?

Migs — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 22:37:16 +0000

Google landing deals with carriers?

But wasn’t the GPhone seen as an anti-operator move?

On the other hand, to get your handset pushed to the US market, you need the operator. A situation that Apple+AT&T showed with the iPhone (and then some.)

Hopefully, the GPhone will be unlocked as rumored. With native apps running on its Linux-based OS. No need for iPhone-style jailbreaking+unlocking.