Archive for category Mobile
The launch pad for the next year!
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile on December 31, 2003
Here we are at the end of a year that was sparkling to say the least. š
I hope that what’s happened in the second half of the 2003, from the release of Ecpc to the beginning of the collaboration with the local newspaper La Provincia, from the Mobile Fun Awards to the TV interview at NetcafĆ©, will be a solid launch pad for the 2004.
As always all of this couldnāt have been possible without the help of friends and the people I had the chance to meet in this period and who helped me in a way or the other.
Iād like to sincerely thank them by saying that I can almost hear them whispering a few but intense words, the words that Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) tells to James Ryan (Matt Damon) in the last touching scene of one of my favorite movies about World War 2 that I watched on DVD just a few days ago, Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielberg: Earn thisā¦ earn it.
Ecpc review on Il Mio Palmare and article about Wise-lab
Posted by Albegor in Como, Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on December 22, 2003
As Christmas is getting closer, thanks to the staff of the italian magazine Il Mio Palmare, their readers can find a review of Ecpc on the december issue and even a little present: they can buy the software with a 20% discount. How? By reading the review on the magazine of course! š
During the last week I also wrote an article for the local daily newspaper La Provincia about my friends at Wise-lab, a new promising web-company based in Como.
You can read the article at this link in PDF format or at this one in RepliGo format. They have been so glad about it that they promptly added a link to Ecpc on their website. š
A Merry Christmas to them, to all Ecpc users and to anyone reading the weBlog!
A Dell Axim X3 in my hand
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on December 11, 2003
Yesterday, together with the first shy snow flakes, a rushy UPS courier delivered a new Pocket PC, the new Dell Axim X3! š
Itās a really nice piece of hardware and the good design and that āsheet of paperā effect surprised me, since itās so light weight. I canāt say how much hard earned it is!
I chosen the standard model with no wireless connectivity, adding to the order a 64Mb SD card, to keep the expenses low, since Iām going to spend some money in software and maybe accessories.
Hardware is nothing without software after all, isnāt it? š
I can finally update the My Pocket PC page with the new Axim and I canāt wait to test its graphics performance with my code, an area in which it excels as you can read in the recent review appeared on The Register.
But now Iāve got some hard work to do on the incoming version 1.3 of Ecpc.
It looks so good on the 16bit Axim displayā¦
Forum opened!
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on December 6, 2003
It took a while, but Iām pretty satisfied with the final result. The forum is now open! š
Itās powered by phpBB version 2.0.6 and customized with the Aeolus theme created by Vjacheslav Trushkin, a graphics style I really like, although you can choose to use the default Subsilver style.
Thereās also the multilanguage support including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Finnish languages integrated with the language auto detection mod.
Then, thanks to another mod, you can select the flag of your country from the profile and it will be displayed just below the avatar in your posts. š
I hope youāll like to forum structure since you can post comments about all the news I write on the homepage, both in english and italian, which I renamed to weBlog, as well as discussing about Ecpc in the Products section and swap Euro coins in the Swapping section, which will include more languages once there will be a sufficient number of requests.
The rank titles system is based on the experience levels of my favorite wargame, Combat Mission, with a couple of additions and the rank indicator bar is built with the Ecpc icon. 
The forum is a service both for users of the software and for visitors of the website, so I hope youāll have fun posting there!
Portuguese translation almost done and link and reviews pages updated
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on December 2, 2003
Iām happy to announce that the portuguese translation of Ecpc is almost complete, as you can see on the Wishlist page, and Iāve already started working on the next 1.3 release.
Iāve also updated the Links page adding a few new websites who published the last Ecpc press release, such as Nederlandse Pocket PC-club, on which followed some nice comments you can read in dutch obviously. š
Then in the Reviews page Iāve added a short news about Ecpc appeared in the november issue of the italian magazine Il Mio Palmare, which is only an anticipation of what youāll find in the december issue, and finally Iāve added the positive comment wrote by Heiko Heubach on Pocketland.de.
Thatās all for now! š
Ecpc on the French magazine Palmtops and Translations status table added
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on November 28, 2003
As the work on the forum is progressing Iāve taken some time to update the Magazine Reviews section with a nice article about Ecpc appeared on the october issue of the french magazine Palmtops.
Iāve also added a new question to the FAQ page and most importantly Iāve built a table in the Wishlist page to show the status of the translations of Ecpc in the various european languages, as long as the names ofĀ people taking care of them.
Would you like to join them translating Ecpc in the language of your country? š
Getting published in the Internet era
I saved this post for some time waiting for the most appropriate time to post it, and here is it, hoping it can bring a bit of distraction in such a delicate moment in which all Italy is holding tight around the 19 victims in Nasiriya.
This shot comes from the award winning film Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni Iāve watched on DVD some weeks ago. Being a truly work of genius with so many details making up for a great film about the love for life, I spotted this curious scene in which Guido (Roberto Benigni) is trying to help his friend Ferruccio (Sergio Bini Bustric) to get in touch with Mrs. Guicciardini (Lidia Alfonsi), so that she can publish Ferruccioās poetry works. They had a little trouble in that right moment, but thanks to Guido, Ferruccio will eventually get the great opportunity.
Well, if you’re lucky enough to have a friend like him you can bet youāll get published everywhere! š
But for anyone else the Internet is an invaluable resource to reach the same objective nowadays.
The real problem comes after publishing something, as Iām experiencing at first hand, because even if your work is good itās too easy passing unnoticed in the frenetic traffic flow of the super-information highway.
I briefly addressed the question in the tutorial about Pocket PC development since thereās no doubt itās a serious issue for any independent developer.
A wonderful movie, by the way. š
If you have the DVD you shouldnāt miss the interview of Benigni, in particular when he answers to the question about how ideas are born and he says it would take much more space on the DVD to fully explain it!
NetcafƩ backstage pictures online and #GPI Best Tutorial Contest results
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on November 12, 2003
This is a very bad day for Italy, especially for the families of the soldiers attacked by kamikazes at the Carabinieriās headquarters in Nasiriya, Iraq.
However the show must go on, as they say with a bit of cynicism, and Iāve got two updates for the visitors of the website: first of all here are the backstage pictures of the interview at NetcafĆ© and also the pictures of the Mobile Fun Awards.
Then #GameProg-Ita, which currently has some server problems, announced the results of the Best Tutorial Contest.
You can find my tutorial about Pocket PC development at this page, along with the comments of the jury. Aside from the result of the contest, I hope this will be an useful resource for the italian game development community and I think I’ll translate the tutorial in english and publish it here on the website as soon as possible.
Although I was glad to read the comments from Marco Trivellato of Milestone and from the other jurors, the results clearly rewarded the articles more technical than mine but, after all, it was the Best Tutorial Contest, not the Best Paper Contest! š
Congratulations to the winner, Federico āNinjaCrossā Coletto!
Ecpc now on Pocketland.de and collecting translations
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on November 10, 2003
As you can see in the Download&Buy page Ecpc version 1.2 is now available also from the german e-shop Pocketland.de, an important reference point for german speaking europeans. š
Collecting translations is not as easy as collecting Euro coins, but as you can read on Mipcdebolsillo, a website managed by Julio Meneses, it seems Iāve found someone who can help translating Ecpc into spanish language.
Also, thanks to the announcement of the new release appeared on Aximsite, Wannahave, a forum moderator, will translate Ecpc into dutch.
Very good then, but the translation in french is very high priority now since it has been delayed for too long, unfortunately!
I think this release is mature enough for some serious reviews, so Iāll be actively searching for interested reviewers.
Wannahave for example is already planning to write one for Aximsite. š
Euro coins pocket collector 1.2 RELEASED!
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on November 5, 2003
Ecpc version 1.2 has just been released and you can review the list of the improvements in the Updates page! š
To understand that this is a big release you should take a look at the new features, which also include the complete translation in german!
Iāve also made minor updates to some pages of the website and uploaded my updated collection files in the Swapping page.
I wanted to open the Forum at the same time of the announcement of the new release, but Iāve still a lot of work to properly configure and customize it, so Iāll open it in a few days.
Meanwhile, enjoy the new release! š