J2ME developers and programmers: The mobile game industry winners

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Who could have predicted that the 80’s game of Pong would spawn a multi-billion dollar gaming industry complete with PCs, PDAs, and wireless phones that are specifically designed to handle the speed and graphics that today’s games demand?<br /><br />If you think that current gaming technology is hot then, as they say, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”<br /><br />Wireless or mobile gaming is the future and the future is now. 2004 saw an explosion in mobile gaming technology which redefined the mobile phone as a gaming device. Handsets capable of displaying graphics equal in quality to the GameStations and GameCubes of the 1990’s were available everywhere, and game developers like Synergetix and It's Alive! were on everyone’s radar screen.<br /><br />Now, just a year later, Real-time multiplayer games, some offering high-quality, 3D graphics, can be played over most telecom networks at prices that won’t put you in the poorhouse.<br /><br />Never one to be too far behind the bleeding edge, even the Adult Entertainment industry is turning out PDA and cell phone-based games including gambling programs and a variety of role-based and action games where lots of sexy women end up losing their clothes. The graphics are, shall we say, stunning.<br /><br />A peek under the technology hood<br /><br />While the average gamer may be ignorant of the technology that is driving the wireless gaming industry, the geeks among us are very familiar with terms like J2ME, Symbian, and Brew; the development and distribution platforms upon which the wireless gaming industry has built its success.<br /><br />J2ME (Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition) is a derivative of Sun Microcomputer’s JAVA development platform. J2ME is specifically designed to build applications that run on portable and wireless devices including cell phones and PDAs. It’s also finding wide acceptance among companies that develop applications for TV boxes and many of the new embedded devices which are flooding both the consumer and industrial markets.<br /><br />BREW, another development language from QUALCOMM, provides a development platform that’s also suited for the wireless industry. BREW’s claim to fame is that fact that the developer can write device-independent applications which do not need to be recompiled for different phone manufacturers.<br /><br />SYMBIAN is probably the most commonly used OS in the game-enabled wireless telephone market. Embraced by all major phone manufacturers, SYMBIAN supports J2ME, BREW, C++, and JAVA.<br /><br /><br />So, what does the future hold for this high-tech blockbuster that’s still in its infancy?<br /><br />According to industry analysts Frost & Sullivan, the “global mobile game industry, which generated US$436.4 million in 2002, will balloon to US$9.34 billion by 2008.“ Asia is at the epicenter of the wireless gaming explosion where an estimated 500 million people are wireless Internet subscribers and two out of five are wireless gamers.<br /><br />Some gaming fortune tellers predict that the convergence of GPS and wireless gaming technology will result in live-action and role playing games that will adapt themselves to the player’s physical location and include geographic-specific scenarios that change as the player moves to new locations.<br /><br />Judging by the progress that’s been made in the last two years alone, the future of wireless gaming may be the most revenue and employment-generating technology of the 21st century. </div>

J2ME developers and programmers: The mobile game industry winners

Who could have predicted that the 80’s game of Pong would spawn a multi-billion dollar gaming industry complete with PCs, PDAs, and wireless...

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Internet Monitoring, Safety And Security

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Internet monitoring is a necessary part of having internet service. Whether you allow your children to surf the web or if you have the need to monitor employees, effective programs can be used to help you to do this simply. There are many aspects that can be monitored and the results can be delivered to you privately. No one needs to know that you are using internet monitoring technologies either.<br /><br />There are many options when it comes to internet monitoring. No matter what your need is in these products, you can expect to use high tech gadgets and software. But, they are simplistic to use. Many software programs that monitor internet usage will tell you such things as how long the individual was online as well as what websites they visited, who they chatted with in instant messages, as well as anything that they input into the web. Emails can be tracked as well as a number of other things.<br /><br />Why should you use internet monitoring? If you are not sure your employees are using their time on the job for job related tasks, this can help you know for sure. If you are unsure of who your spouse is chatting with at night, consider the use of these monitoring solutions. Do you know if someone is stalking your child as they play games on the web? If they use instant message software, find out who they are talking to and what they are saying. Internet monitoring is really a necessary part of keeping people safe and your business under control. Effective internet monitoring software products can be purchased and installed quickly and discreetly. Be in the know.<br /><br />There are also many information portals now devoted to the subject and we recommend reading about it at one of these. Try googling for “internet monitoring” and you will be surprised by the abundance of information on the subject. Alternatively you may try looking on Yahoo, MSN or even a decent directory site, all are good sources of this information. </div>

Internet Monitoring, Safety And Security

Internet monitoring is a necessary part of having internet service. Whether you allow your children to surf the web or if you have the need ...

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Malicious Advertising

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Advertising is a necessary irritant in the world today. You can't drive down the street without coming across an ad, either a billboard suspended over a road or a large poster plastered down the side of a bus. If you walk into a shopping centre it doesn't matter where you look, you see an advertisement of some kind. Even the tables in the food court now have ads embedded in them, and on my last trip to Melbourne I noticed that they were starting to embed flat screen TVs into the tables to deliver the full commercial experience to your meal. If you jump on the Internet you have to contend with pop-ups and banner ads, with some advertising agents being ruthless enough to write malicious code that embeds the ad into your computer so that you still receive the pop-ups even when you're not at the original site.<br /><br />In the past, pop-ups and banner ads have been easy enough to avoid with the right software installed (incidentally, am I the only one who finds pop-up ads that advertise pop-up blockers tremendously amusing?) but now the software developers have worked their way around that little problem. The solution was simple; sell advertising space in your software, not just on your web page.<br /><br />As much as I like to complain about this new idea, it does come with a significant upside. These days, not all Shareware applications drop out after a limited period of use, nor do they constantly remind you to register. Having ads in the software provides the application developers with the necessary funding to live but leaves the user free from having to pay to use the software. It ends up being in the developer's best interest to ensure that the user continues to use the software for as long as possible, because that means an increased income. In my opinion this was a brilliant idea, and I wholeheartedly supported it until they started building unblockable pop-ups into the software.<br /><br />The gaming world is getting in on the act as well, which could be both positive and negative. The Internet provides the functionality for games to constantly update the virtual world with new billboards, TV ads, clothing and so on, keeping the content fresh and the ads current. From an advertising standpoint it's an amazing idea, people are spending less and less time watching TV and more and more time immersed in virtual worlds. The interactive nature of the ads means that they will remain in a player's mind for a lot longer than the TV ad break that can be walked away from, flicked over or simply ignored. The game developers on the other hand now have an added source of income, meaning that they can take more risks without the fear of losing money.<br /><br />Advertising in games is not a new idea, the soft drink '7-Up' created a game many years ago called 'Cool Spot', which had the player controlling a red dot with sunglasses in his quest to collect 7-Up logos. The game was remarkably solid, leaving the players to enjoy the game while still getting its message across. I played it a long time ago as a child, but I still remember how much fun it was and exactly what product it was pushing. Pepsi released a Playstation game called 'Pepsi Man' that involved a blue and white striped super-hero running around collecting cans of Pepsi. Red Bull got in on the game with 'Wipeout' featuring 'Red Bull' banners and a loading screen bearing the phrase "Increase your reaction time with Red Bull". 'Worms 3D' featured Red Bull as a power up. 'Crazy Taxi' had customers jump in the player's taxi and holler "Take me to KFC!" or any of the numerous other licensed locations in the game. 'True Crime' had the characters dressed in 'Puma' attire, with the main character changing his outfits several times throughout the game. Until now I've always thought that the ads in games were amusing and, so long as they didn't interfere with the playing of the game, I was all for them. However, there are new ideas afoot that seem set to change my mind.<br /><br />The main problem I have with ads in games now is the same as my issue with Pay TV. You're shelling out a lot of money for a product (new games being sold for upwards of $50.00 U.S.) and you're still getting ads. If developers are going to start flooding my entertainment with advertising, I'd like to see a significant drop in the price of games.<br /><br />The other big issue is that of spyware. Until now, spyware has been a hated part of existence. This malicious software digs its way into your system and collects information about you: your Internet surfing habits, the contents of your hard drive(s) and even the unblocked ports available on your computer. This has lead to the necessity of loading a system with anti-spyware utilities to run alongside the pop-up killers, anti-virus programs, firewalls, registry guards and whatever other protective measures a paranoid PC user has to implement. Now paradoxically, someone has had the 'fantastic' idea of building spyware into software, and games in particular.<br /><br />In the future the games that you've just paid such a high price for will sit there monitoring you in the background, watching your every virtual move. Then they can target ads that are more likely to have an impact on you based on the contents of your hard drive or your Internet surfing habits. The best part about it is that as soon as you click 'I Agree' and install the software, it becomes legitimate and you've agreed for them to access information about you. Many software products already feature clauses in their license agreements that have the user permitting the developers to collect 'anonymous information in order to provide the customer with a better experience'. The other part of this that irks me is the fact that I'm going to have to have my computer connected to the Internet and chew through my download limit just to play a single-player game.<br /><br />In the end, I suppose that there's no way to avoid advertising in our current world. Having it implemented into software and games was simply the next logical step. I suspect that I will be looking to download the inevitable 'Ad Blocker' cracks that I imagine will appear shortly after the wholesale introduction of advertising into the gaming industry, but I do believe that with appropriate tact and respect for privacy, advertising could turn out to be a positive addition to the interactive experience.<br /><div><br /></div></div>

Malicious Advertising

Advertising is a necessary irritant in the world today. You can't drive down the street without coming across an ad, either a billboard ...

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Looking after your Computer

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">If you are going to work and do a lot of browsing on the Internet, the first thing you need to learn is how to take care of your computer.<br /><br />It is far better that you take the trouble to look after your computer regularly, rather than have it freeze or crash when you lose everything on it, at which time you’ll have to pay out a lot to have it fixed.<br /><br />Here are some tips to prevent disasters:<br /><br />1) Set your virus checker to update itself automatically. This way, it is always updated with the latest protection.<br /><br />2) Scan your computer daily when you finish working on it.<br /><br />3) If on a certain day you happen to download many pages, software, programs, zipped files, exe files, etc., immediately after downloading everything, scan your computer. This way, just in case a virus existed in anything you downloaded, you will catch it in time before it infects your entire Hard Drive.<br /><br />4) Use your online scanner to scan your computer once a week.<br /><br />5) Use your adware/spyware checker once a week.<br /><br />6) Do not open any attachments in emails from people you do not know.<br /><br />7) Do not open any attachments even from people you do know, if you are not expecting anything from them.<br /><br />8) A virus could replicate itself to everyone on the address book and send itself out by email, without the owner even knowing this has been done.<br /><br />9) Do not download free music on the Internet – these free sites are always infected.<br /><br />10) Do not download any free games from the Internet.<br /><br />11) Adult sites are particularly prone to viruses.<br /><br />12) Back up all your data on a daily basis. Use floppy disks, flash drives, memory sticks, zip disks, CD-Roms, etc.<br /><br />13) Print out contracts, payment forms, agreements and all legal documents and file them away in a ring-binder.<br /><br />14) Try not to keep anything to do with your finances, payment details, payment processor passwords, credit card details, etc. on your computer.<br /><br />15) A hacker could easily access all these details, if they are anywhere on your computer.<br /><br />Sadly, despite all these precautions your computer might still get infected, as the people who invent these malicious programs are getting even sneakier.<br /><br />When this happens, the easiest way to rid your computer of a virus is by rebooting your computer. This is not as difficult as it may sound, and if you learn how to do this yourself you could save yourself hundreds of dollars in repair bills.<br /><br />Click on this link to find out how to reboot your computer step-by-step:<br /><br />http://www.ecourses-for-newbies.com/vp.htm </div>

Looking after your Computer

If you are going to work and do a lot of browsing on the Internet, the first thing you need to learn is how to take care of your computer. I...

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M-Commerce Twice the Cash Value of E-Commerce

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Do you even know what M-Commerce is?<br /><br />Well you better learn fast. Predictions in Europe for M-Commerce, the second largest market behind Asia, are for a spend of €7.4 Billion in 2006 that's over $8 Billion. That's twice the predicted spend of traditional web services!<br /><br />So what is M-Commerce?<br />It's very simple, mobile / cell phone based sales. Usually relating to content such as games, wallpaper, ringtones etc. But there's much more to it than that. Keep reading.<br /><br />What's the big deal?<br />More people own a mobile phone than a PC, they're better integrated in to daily life. People are very comfortable using them. They are now in fact heavily relied upon, as the phone feature is only a small part of what can be perceived as a miniature multi-purpose multi-capable portable computer.<br /><br />Mobile Growth<br />Mobile growth already outstrips all other communication channels. Half of all Americans are mobile phone subscribers. In the UK the ownership of a mobile phone is equivalent to 1.5 phones per head of population. According to research, mobile content services will be worth $121 Billion worldwide by 2008. White label distribution of ringtones, images, games and other promotions will drive up to 1/5th of the revenue generated. It's estimated 1.5 Billion people worldwide own a mobile phone.<br /><br />With more and more technology add-ons to tempt the consumer these devices are now Cameras, MP3 players, game consoles, voice notepads, picture albums, diary organiser, PDF readers etc etc.<br /><br />In fact I'm writing this article on my PDA / Phone whilst sat in the sunshine in the garden. With two taps on the screen I can hook up to my home wireless network and check my emails, browse the net, update my Blog or edit and publish article submissions on one of my sites all via broadband.<br /><br />We are not that far away from always on Net connections. Once this arrives it will allow anyone to do this almost wherever they are. Certainly in the major cities around the world. When this happens there will be a third Internet boom as Joe public try's out the Net connection again that was always too shoddy to use in the past.<br /><br />And what will they want? Content! ringtones, wallpaper, games, MP3's etc<br /><br />But I'm getting ahead of myself. The real money isn't even going to be made via a Net sale. The real money will be made via SMS(Short Message Service), MMS(Multimedia Messaging System) and this ones a goldmine...Micro payments.<br /><br />Recent research has shown a doubling of worldwide revenue from streaming TV and sports bulletin subscriptions. 380 million people worldwide are expected to subscribe to similar services in 2005. Including TV show bulletins particularly from 'reality TV' shows, News bulletins or Soap updates.<br /><br />Big deal you're not a TV network how can you make some money out of this boom?<br />I'll go into that in a second but first I want to go back to those Micro payments I mentioned earlier. The real gold dust.<br /><br />Micro Payment Profits<br />Micro payments have been around for a while here in the UK. A smaller land mass has allowed for a quicker rollout of mobile technologies here. Nationwide Network coverage is easier to achieve. I believe the first example in the US to take it mainstream was by the 'American Idol' show. Viewers voted for the acts on the show via their mobile phone. They where then charged a small premium for their vote on top of their networks regular SMS charge. Think of the millions of votes that the show attracted and the revenue generated.<br /><br />That's micro payments in action.<br /><br />The beauty of this is that people don't feel like they're spending money because they don't need to whip out their credit card, it's an easier payment method, usually involving a simple text to a small number and the payment is small. They also trust their mobile for making payments unlike an online transaction.<br /><br />Any payments made will appear on their next phone bill. People are already used to paying in this way, they're comfortable with it. Whether it's to vote for an act on a TV show, for a game download or to grab the latest ringtone.<br /><br />What have you got that you could take micro payments for?<br />You should be considering how you can utilise your current website network to tap into this market. Do you offer subscriptions? Is there a service you offer that you could convert to subscriptions.<br /><br />How Can You Make Some Money?<br />Here's a quick example. Your newsletter. Would your subscribers be willing to pay a small premium to have your newsletter delivered directly to their mobile? Wherever they are, without the need to be sat in front of a PC. Thus bypassing the SPAM filter problem and guaranteeing they receive your valuable content. You could sell it as valuable service for your customers with added content not available on your site or via your regular newsletter.<br /><br />Or offer them up to the minute breaking news in their industry, which they receive as it breaks and not when they check their email five hours later when it's to late to take action.<br /><br />Digital artists sell your wallpaper designs direct to the consumer via the mobile phone. New bands forget the record company contract sell your music via MP3's direct to the consumer. Investment advisors get subscribers to your 'Hot Tips' bulletins. Store owners offer a sale bulletin service etc etc<br /><br />The Future<br />The omnipresent Google are moving forward with major mobile initiatives. Spending vast amounts of money to stake a claim in this fledgling market. There's the mobile version of Froogle for one and they've also developed mobile business listings specifically for the potentially huge 'local search' market. They also offer a free SMS based information service http://www.google.com/sms/ and http://www.google.co.uk/sms/<br /><br />Another major company Real Networks, creators of Real media Player, recently bought Finnish mobile phone game developers Mr Goodliving for $15M. Essentially buying a back catalogue of high profile mobile games.<br /><br />NTL a cable TV company here in the UK recently streamed the Grand National, the biggest race horse meet here in the UK, live to Nokia owning subscribers.<br /><br />This is early days and that's a small glimpse of the future.<br /><br />The M-Commerce Market is very different from the online market in terms of what content consumers are currently paying for. The biggest revenue generators online, 70%, are porn and dating sites. A similar percentage via mobile is for games, music and video. Films, that's another one, Nokia are now distributing Hollywood movies via memory card!<br /><br />The technology specifically 3G, an always on network with transfer rates of 384kbs a second, is here and trickling into mainstream culture. These devices are in fact capable of 1920kbs. Compare that to GPRS at 56kbs. You don't need these speeds to take advantage of this market but you should keep them in mind to realise the full potential of where mobile communication is going.<br /><br />Here's a brief, eye opening, wish list from consumers for future mobile phone payment abilities:-<br /><br />10 Use your mobile as a key<br />9 Marketing communications<br />8 Retail checkout payments<br />7 Vending machine payments<br />6 Flight check in<br />5 Credit / debit cards<br />4 Season tickets<br />3 Loyalty cards<br />2 Parking Meter payments<br />1 Mobile Coupon redemption<br /><br />Getting Started How do you Accept Payments?<br />Reverse SMS is very popular at the moment. It provides the ability for you to direct consumers to secret download links on your site whilst taking payment through a premium SMS message. Another method known as 'WAP Push' sends a link via SMS that automatically launches when the message is opened. You will need to set up your own WAP / SMS Gateway on your server which will require server administrator access to use both these solutions.<br /><br />But there are other easier solutions a number of websites are springing up that allow you to upload your content available for download, games, video, wallpaper, MP3's etc . A small fee is taken from each paid download by the SMS Gateway company..<br /><br />I've compiled a list of useful links to a number of the above solutions and I've also thrown in a couple of links to 'mobaphile' websites were you will find some interesting predictions for the future development of mobile phones along with some real off the wall ideas for making money with mobiles. http://www.how-to-make-money-online.info/m-commerce-resources.php<br /><br />To paraphrase a strap line 'The future's bright the future's mobile'. </div>

M-Commerce Twice the Cash Value of E-Commerce

Do you even know what M-Commerce is? Well you better learn fast. Predictions in Europe for M-Commerce, the second largest market behind Asia...

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Mobile phone accessories – both fancy and technical – enhance user experience of cellular devices

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Aside replacement and ornamental purposes, mobile phone accessories boost or enhance the use of our cellular devices. There are several types of accessories when it comes to mobile phones. We have operational accessories that helps users to safeguard their phones or enhance their operations. These include battery chargers, hands free kits antenna boosters and batteries.<br /><br />Some accessories come in the form of attachment which are devices that enable you extend your phone to some other object. An example is speaker phone kits that enable you to drive whilst receiving calls and car phone holders that serve as carrying cases for drivers.<br /><br />Cases form another category of accessories and are purchased to hold the phones. They come in various shapes and there are some that can be worn around the belt.<br /><br />Then come the technical accessories like games, radiation shields, antenna boosters and ringtone downloads which have more to do with the technical functionality of the device.<br /><br />Next comes the most common of all accessories – phone covers and face plates which can be found in various fancy designs.<br /><br />That said, do we really need phone accessories? Yes we do – whether for fun or for protection of our mobile phones.<br /><br />A Bluetooth device enables you to receive calls with just a small piece of cordless device in your ear. Will you risk driving by trying to reach your phone from the dashboard of you got a call?<br /><br />While traveling, a travel charger may be needed in addition to the regular one. If you are hard pressed for time to charge the phone but still need to keep it running, you can plug the phone to the car charger whilst on the road to save time and to get the capacity to make and receive calls.<br /><br />You need that case to protect your phone from scratches. Tech people are in constant interaction with hard objects like tools which can scratch their phones. So getting a case to protect the phone can save you the headache of buying a new phone too soon because of scratches.<br />If you make or receive a lot of calls, you may wish to keep a spare battery in case you lose power from the current one and not in a position to immediately recharge.<br />Lastly, if your mates have the same kind of phone as yours, you may want to get a customized ringtone to differentiate yourself. You can’t always be reaching for your phone when you hear that ringtone – it may be someone else’s ringing.<br /><br />Accessories can be fun or a necessity depending on who is buying. Nevertheless, we should be very careful to buy right. Before you make a purchase, you have to triple check to make sure that the product or service is compatible with your phone. It should fit the phone with ease and if the accessory is electronic in nature, refer to the owner’s manual to check if that’s the right thing you are putting inside the phone. </div>

Mobile phone accessories – both fancy and technical – enhance user experience of cellular devices

Aside replacement and ornamental purposes, mobile phone accessories boost or enhance the use of our cellular devices. There are several type...

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Should you care for your Windows registry health?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">What are Windows registry? Why are they so important for your operating system? What can you do to keep them reliable?<br /><br />According to Microsoft site, registry are "a central hierarchical database used in Microsoft Windows ... to store information necessary to configure the system for one or more users, applications and hardware devices." You can add to that data regarding file types like what application is used to open them, what icons should be display for them and so on.<br /><br />I will try to explain what's happening on 2 of the most common scenarios that take place on your computer:<br /><br />1. You get a new program (software or game). You want to give it a try, so you install it. At that point, new data is written in your windows registry. That data include program folder, associated files, various settings that are used by the program, whether it will run on startup (HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Run/ ) or only at the first startup (HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/RunOnce/ ).<br /><br />No problem so far. But what's happening if you decide to uninstall it? That's that point where things get tricky.<br />Even if you receive a "successfully uninstall" message, pieces of data remain in your registry. Of course, this is not happening on all cases, but sadly it does in many of them.<br /><br />In a worst case scenario, if for instance files "*.abc" are registered to an application that you just removed and the whole registration process wasn't properly removed from registry, you will get an error when you try to run that sort of files. Those invalid registry entries won't bother you visibly all the time, but they will cause your computer to slow down or even crash in some cases.<br /><br />2. You install some new hardware, like another network card or something. When you plug it in, Windows will detect it and install the best drivers for it. Of course, a significant quantity of data is written into registry. Again no problem so far. When you shutdown you computer and remove the just installed device, registry entries are not deleted. They just remain there. If you try, after a period of time, to install a similar device, conflicts may appear, because you computer might confuse them. This is happening because of the old and possibly corrupt registry entries.<br /><br />A solution to avoid those kind of problems is to create regular backups of your entire Windows registry. That way you can easily restore them the moment you feel something is not working right. But be careful, because an old backup might cause your newest programs or hardware devices to malfunction. Another way to solve the problems is to use a registry tool that would parse your registry and fix all invalid, missing or corrupt entries that it could find.<br /><br />You can visit CoreDownload, a software archive with more than 23.000 programs where you will find a variety of registry tools that can fix all your problems. </div>

Should you care for your Windows registry health?

What are Windows registry? Why are they so important for your operating system? What can you do to keep them reliable? According to Microsof...

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