Why You Should Not Go Public

Following are the reasons why you should not go public:

• Facebook
• Groupon
• Zynga

By that note I end this post. Common I’m joking. After all this is a blog post not a twitter status message. Back in the day releasing an IPO (Initial Public Offering) was a big thing. Still is but lot of new players have changed that. Yesterday The New York times reported that Goldman Sachs have invested $ 500 million based on the $ 50 Billion evaluation. $ 50 Billion evaluation !!!! Can you believe that ? Of course you can believe that if you have been following the wall street for past few months. I mean if a company like Groupon can reject Google’s $ 6 billion what do you expect from Facebook. Instead of buying Groupon Google can build there own groupon for less than 100 million, heck I will make them a Groupon clone for less than a million dollars. (Google if you are reading this, be smart about it :) ). But building Groupon wont give them members, that is like the supreme factor for any online service. That is the same reason why Microsoft Bing will never be able to beat Google, we are just lazy to give another search engine a try no matter how great it is. Zynga is also sailing on the same being private boat. You know Zynga right, makers of the infamous FarmVille. I think this game is the stupidest thing I have ever seen but what do I know ? Millions of people play it, including lot of my friends. Zynga like Facebook and Groupon would like to be private (for now). Typically a company wants to go private when they need money and they can bear the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) rules, declarations and finally visits. But these companies have got the Russians to pay for their business and they don't need the public money. And with companies like Goldman Sachs poring in, the private sector is getting better day by day. But evaluations like $ 50 billion is pissing SEC off. SEC is pretty sure that these companies have something to hide, The Securities Exchange Commission is looking into the trading of Facebook in the private market. The SEC inquiry includes transactions in Zynga, Twitter and LinkedIn shares within the same private markets that Facebook stakes have exchanged hands, you know the Russians. I dont think the SEC investigation would do anything wrong, if it have been the European Union something may happen. So be smart about it, if you have your own company want to go public or want to sell it to a company like Google, you may loose a very valuable opportunity to write “I’m the CEO bitch” on your business card.

First Awesome Android IDE; MOTODEV Studio

If your read my last post you will realize that android has pathetic support of developer tools when compared to iPhone and windows tools. Not only that, for a newbie compiling a helloworld application with Google's official ADT (Android Developer Tools) is pain in the ass. Before you think that I am overreacting look at the Google search results for errors like "Project is missing required source folder: 'gen'" . Little bit of explanation about this error. Android projects come with a free class called 'R' (short for Resource). This is an automatically generated class which you use to reference resources in your project. It is created separately from your source folder (typically locates in /src) in it's own folder called /gen. As a result, /gen is always part of your project. If it is missing, your project is incomplete. Now you may think that it can be fixed by just creating the folder "gen", but you are wrong. "gen" folder is already there so what would you do. It is just that Eclipse has created it in read only fashion. and you need to fix that by hand to go about building the application. Look at the following screen shot.

 
Now this is really stupid error and discourages a lot of new developers because it does not work it is supposed to be. Thankfully Eclipse is an open source project and anybody can make modification to make it better. Motorola one such company with one of the iconic Android handset Motorola Droid/Milestone has created an excellent IDE for Android called MOTODEV Studio for Android. For starters it does not have any of the frustration the the ADT has and offers a lot of features that really makes it stand apart. My favorite features are:

1. In built SDK Downloader: This may not sound useful for pros but definitely a plus for new users.

2. Code Snippet Support: Code Snippets provides a very easy to use way of doing common tasks such as Setting Database, getting GPS coordinates etc. Definitely a big plus.

3. Emulator Dock: This may not be a big deal but for me it is nice to see the application running seamlessly without launching it in a separate window really matters.

4. In-built Application Signing and Publication Support: If you are in it for money you will definitely appreciate the streamlined application signing and publication process. It supports both Android and Motorola market place.

5. More Project Type Support: You can create more types of android project when using the MOTODEV Studio.

 6. Now, lets looks at what Motorola's Marketing department has to say.

Complete Development Package: One installer ensures an integrated development environment with Eclipse 3.5 and Android Development Tools (ADT) plus automatic download and configuration of the latest Android SDK. Or use the plug-in version with your existing Galileo Eclipse IDE.

Code Snippets: Add often-used code from templates for more stable and better performing applications.

Application Creation Wizards: Create essential Android classes simply and easily, e.g., Broadcast Receiver, Content Provider, Service, and Activity.

Database Management: Conveniently view and edit SQLite databases on handsets and emulated devices.

Localization Files Editor: Easily create and manage localized strings files.

Handset Emulators: Test applications on an integrated Android emulator within MOTODEV Studio without switching between IDE and target, and make use of Motorola-specific handset emulators as they become available.

Deploy Packages: Load your applications onto a target handset or emulator through an easy interface instead of tedious command lines.

  Application Signing: Create and import certificates to sign applications.

Marketing Integration: Connect to Android application stores from within MOTODEV Studio.

Target Motorola Handsets: Debug and run applications on connected Motorola Android handsets.

Translate Your App: Target new customers by translating your app with MOTODEV Studio.

Screen Capture: Take a screenshot from any device listed in the Device Management view, including both emulated and physically connected handsets.

-------------------

So, if you are about to jump or already jumped to Android bandwagon this is the IDE you should use.

Google Nexus One, Great Hardware but What About the Developer Experience

It is so great to see iPhone having a real competition. Google Nexus One
which was released yesterday (Jan 5,2009) is being marketed by Google
as "Web Meets Phone". To me, bringing web experience is all about
carrying a really great web-browser (preferably WebKit based) around.
But then, web-browser does not really require a powerful hardware. But,
Google Nexus One has a pretty decent hardware. Specially with 1 GHz
processor, 512 MB RAM and an OpenGL ES 2.0 based graphic chip.

It has some amazing features for end users too. But there is one place
where Nexus One badly lacks or for that matter any Andorid device
lacks, and that is the developer experience. I just cannot tolerate
laziness of tech companies in building good Integrated Development
Environment and using Eclipse as their pathetic excuse everywhere.
Every tom dic and harry is coming with their Eclipse based IDEs, that
just really sucks. Eclipse is good for Java and thats it.

Andorid IDE is a Eclipse with Android Development Tools (ADT) plugin. That gives you nothing special but Eclipse with very dumb android support.

There is another product called IntelliJ IDEA . IDEA is also a Java IDE, but does way a better job than eclipse.

It has lot of amazing features like seamless SDK integration, Code
Completion and Navigation, Android Manifest editor and Deployment from
IDE.

Nevertheless, it is nothing when compared to the development environment for for my iPhone (Xcode) and Windows Mobile (Visual Studio). (Screenshots Below)

So until Google really comes up with a really great developer experience for Android (which hardly seems possible, by looking at Google's philosophy ultra simplicity) it will only be a great consumer device and less device to develop for.

There are other problems with Android as well. (From a developer angle):

1. Android does not let users install application on secondary memory (like memory cards). So you are always limited with the ROM memory. Nexus one has 512 MB.
2. Even though Android is using Java it cannot run standard Java or J2ME programs. It has its own set of Java philosphy that is not standard in any possible way.
3. Highly googlish, thinks web is everything. I like having native apps. I dont mind
   connecting to web services but I would like to have native applications.

Visual Studio (For Windows Mobile)

Xcode (For iPhone)

Eclipse (Android)

Hardware specs (From Wikipedia)

Manufacturer	HTC (Designed and branded by Google)
Type	Candybar smartphone
Release date	January 5, 2010
Introductory price	$529 unlocked $179 with 2 year contract[1]
Operating system	Android 2.1 (Eclair)
Power	3.7 V 1400 mAh Rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery[2] Audio - 20 hours Video - 7 hours Talk time - 10 hours (2G) or 7 hours (3G)
CPU	1 GHz Qualcomm QSD 8250 Snapdragon
Storage capacity	Flash memory: 512 MB microSD (Class 2) slot: 4 GB included, expandable up to 32 GB
Memory	512 MB DRAM
Display	480 x 800 px, 3.7 in (94 mm), 3:5 aspect ratio, WVGA, AMOLED with 100,000:1 contrast ratio and 1ms response rate [3]
Input	Capacitive touchscreen display, trackball, headset controls, proximity and ambient light sensors, 3-axis accelerometer, digital compass
Camera	5.0 megapixel with video (720 x 480 px at 20 fps or higher), geotagging, LED flash and auto focus [4]
Connectivity	Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Micro-USB, A-GPS Quad band GSM 850 900 1800 1900 MHz GPRS/EDGE and Tri band UMTS 900 1700 2100 MHz HSDPA/HSUPA[3] [5]
Online services	Android Market

Playstation 3 Slim Now in India

After a really long wait Playstation 3 Slim has finally arrived in India.

It has lot of new features but here is what I like

1. Power Savings : With almost half the electricity usage you can easily save big bucks on electricity bill.
2. More Storage : So 120 GB is a big deal. If that is not enough for you, you can always upgrade it with any laptop hard drive.
3. Better Processor : With latest 45nm processor architecture, it loads game faster.

I will come to specs in a moment. But trust it is one of the best console. So you want to get it. Here is how to get it. Ofcourse you can buy directly from Sony World or Reliance Digital or Chroma but they wont give you any discount. One of my friend Karthik (Gaming Dealer), is offering it INR 18,749 only. Retail price is 19,990. You can order it anywhere from India, Bangalore guys would get free home delivery. More details are available at http://www.indianvideogamer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12904 . Karthik can be contacted at techg33ks@gmail.com .

Playstation 3 Specs

Sony PS3 Slim 120GB Console

Boasting blistering processing speeds and eye-popping graphics, the PlayStation®3 will change the way you think about gaming. In addition to an ever-growing catalog of games, the PS3™ features the Cell Broadband Engine™, integrated Blu-ray Disc™ player and 120GB hard disk drive to deliver the ultimate high-definition entertainment experience.

It Only Does Everything™
While the form factor may have changed, the new slimmer and lighter PlayStation®3 120GB system still comes with free PlayStation®Network membership, integrated Wi-Fi and 120GB of hard disk drive storage for your games, music, videos and photos. Plus, every PS3™ system comes with a built-in Blu-ray Disc™ player to give you pristine picture quality and the best high-definition viewing experience available. Whether it's gaming, Blu-ray movies, CDs, DVDs, music or online services, you can experience it all with the PlayStation®3 system.
Note: This model will not play PlayStation® 2 games, but is backwards compatible with select PS one™ games.

Did you know?
PlayStation®3 and PSP® play nice together. Easily exchange media like photos, videos and music from your PlayStation®3 system to your PSP® system. Plus, get ready to witness an explosion in creativity as developers take on the challenge of integrating the PSP system into PlayStation®3 games.
Not all video and audio formats may be supported.
** Online connectivity requires broadband internet service and network devices such as a DSL or cable modem.
Video output in HD requires cables and an HD-compatible display, both sold separately. Full HD 1080p requires an HDMI cable and a 1080p native display with an HDMI input supporting HDCP. Copy-protected Blu-ray video discs can only output at 1080p using an HDMI cable connected to a device that is compatible with the HDCP standard.


What's in The Box:

* New slimmer and lighter PS3 system with a 120 GB HDD, Internet-ready built-in Wi-Fi, 2 USB ports and HDMI + Bravia Synch output for 1080p resolution and connectivity between other Sony HDMI products.
* Dualshock 3 wireless controller.
* AC power cord, AV cable and USB cable.


Note: Comes with 1 year national warranty, Tax Invoice along with the product.

First Indian CocoaHeads Group for Mac Developers

The first CocoaHeads Group in India has been founded in Bangalore. Head over to http://cocoaheads.org/ for more information.

If you live in India or Bangalore and you are a Mac (or iPhone Developer) please join in.

To join in, leave a comment and I will contact you.

S60 is Gone

Not Any More

Nokia's favorite platform is gone now. www.s60.com no longer works. This is really a subtle decision to scrap something that has a huge install base. I am not a fan of Symbian OS all together (Read Why Openmoko at www.openmoko.org). But still, there are so many users still using S60 platform. In other words all high end Nokia and few Samsung phones. But above all, the really worst thing is that they cannot upgrade their platform. So basically they are stuck with an age old platform.

Although there is nothing much to complain they any way cannot upgrade the OS of the phone.

Java Developer News and Bihar News

I have been learning the Objective C and Cocoa Touch (and still learning) and came up with two nice applications Java Developer News and Bihar News. These apps are available for free from the iTunes App Store.

Java Developer News :

This iPhone application displays the headlines from NetBeans, Sun Developer Network and Webtier in a nice and elegant format on iPhone and iPod Touch devices and links to them. The application features a built-in browser that enables users to view SDN and netbeans.org without leaving the application.

"Java Developer News" is available in the 62 countries around the globe. It can be installed on any iPhone and iPod touch devices running iPhone OS 3.0 .

You can use the following link (You need iTunes to open it). You can also do a search for Java Developer News in the iTunes Store or the iPhone App Store.



For the Java Developer News use the following link

Download from the App Store

Bihar News :

For the Bihar News you can use the the following link

Download from the App Store