Sendo X unveiled

Sendo X

Sendo has unveiled more of its Sendo X in a press conference today. Let's tell it as it is: that smartphone totally rocks! It's even better than what we could expect from previous announcements.

Of course, in this industry, product cycles are very short, so it's only going to be a matter of months before someone (Nokia?) comes out with something better (I mean a better smartphone, not an experimental device like the 7700! :>>).

The Sendo X should be priced around 500 € (unsubsidized) and actually includes pretty much everything you could wish from a smarphone: compact, true phone form factor, normal keyboard, color display (176*220*16), integrated camera with flash, recording and playback of video (15 fps), sound, music, support of standard formats (mp3, mpeg...)

And of course, it runs on Symbian + Series 60 with Java/MIDP support.

One thing I was pretty unsure of until now, was if it was possible to connect a stereo headset for mp3 playback as an alternative to the built in accoustic system. Not only is it possible, but the headset is provided in the box! B)

The other good news is that the device supports SD cards up to a 1GB capacity and beyond. That's exactly what you need to store the mp3s you want to listen to and all those sound/video recordings you're going to make. Even better: the SD cards are hot swappable! B)

Actually, the only drawback I could find so far is the lack of support for SD/IO.

Also, I had written before that many pocket devices were going to converge soon and this time has definitely arrived (it only lacks an emebedded GPS! :> ) However, I stated that we'd still want PDAs with larger screens and a pen interface to take notes.

Well... the fact is you don't need to take notes no more! Just record or picture the info! You'll process it later anyway. ;) Moreover, when you really need to enter text (for email for example) you can always use T9. (That is for western countries with limited alphabets... :>>) However, for massive emailing, you'll probably want to get the external keyboard accessory. Plus, stylus technologies aren't so reliable anyway!

I am glad I managed to wait that long to replace my aging PDA and phone, because the SendoX is definitely going to replace them both at the same time, with increased efficiency on all my previous plans! ;D

Can't wait! Gotta check availability in France. :)

Eclipse for PHP, eclipse for everyone!

I really like Eclipse as a Java IDE, I do! :D

However I'm getting really tired of having a different IDE for each language I am working with, no matter how cool those IDEs might be. Different display conventions, different keyboard shortcuts, different project browsing... :(

Microsoft sure has this right with their Visual Studio where you use an as-uniform-as-can-be IDE no matter what language you use: C++, C#, VB... Hum well, the problem is that it's a) quite expensive (unless you're completely commited to .NET and have an MSDN subscription anyway) and b) best suited to Microsoft supported languages. Java and PHP poorly qualify for this... :-/

The really nice thing that I found out today is that Eclipse is actually really beggining to become a common IDE even outside of the Java world! B)

As a matter of fact, I found no less than TWO very promising extensions for PHP:

Both of these are open source and have the minimal you could expect: PHP syntax coloring. TruStudio also supports Python and integrates a complete debugger interface. However I prefer PHPEclipse because it already has code completion where TruStudio only has contextual help.

Anyhow, it's very difficult to choose between both implementations so far since they both have pros and cons. You have to try them out both. Installation and removal are straightforward (just unzip or delete folders from the plugins directory). You'll also find out that you cannot use both at the same time (one PHP editor will disable the other one).

Those products will surely be very nice to use when they mature... but in the meantime they just add to the mess of finding the right IDE that does everything you need and does it right...

A little adventure into web dev

My real life has been holding me off from blogging and all that stuff for the last month. However, as I was sick and staying at home for the last two days, as there was nothing on TV (I really oughta get that satellite dish!), I pulled out my Dreamweaver...

First, I conscientiously fixed all open bugs on b2evolution and released a maintaince package. Then I went on playing with the homepage at http://b2evolution.net/ .

Check out that totally fluid 3 column layout. Try resizing the window. Try changing the font size. What do you think? ;)

By the way, tweaking with CSS layouts is a very efficient way to kill time! :>>

Anyway, the most interesting part of that new homepage is in the right column. There is a list of recently updated b2evolution blogs. I had added a feature in version 0.8.6 where b2evo sends a ping to its homesite everytime it is used to post a blog somewhere on the internet (unless you disabled that pinging in the conf). These pings actually get stored and here they come out of the darkness.

Now the homepage is different everytime I visit it and I can see b2evolution in action even when I don't feel like blogging myself! :D

Okay, enough self pride...

URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL blah blah blah...

Ever wondered how it comes you now receive at least five of these urgent requests for assistance a day?

Check it all out at this pretty complete site: http://www.scamorama.com/

Make sure you read at least one of those hilarious stories where the spammed actually manage to scam the scammers/spammers! :))

Development is an art!

There are two approaches to development.

Some regard it as a science and try to bend every development into a process called "Software Engineering".

Others regard it as an art, also known as "coding". :P

Unfortunately, the former idea is the most widely accepted. :| However, I can remember one of my professors at UPenn agreeing with me in these terms: "I do believe it is an art but... we're trying to make it look like science here" :)

Now, the good news: the art approach seems to be getting some consideration lately. Check out this post by Simon Willison [Link dead] ;)