Archive for category Software
EcPc 1.5 VGA Beta Version Released and Wireless Forum Spring
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on April 28, 2005
If you have a new Pocket PC device with a VGA display prepare to be stunned just like I was when I run for the first time the VGA version of EcPc on my Loox 720 because I’ve uploaded to FirstLoox.org a public beta! 🙂
I’ts a homage to the community grown around one of the best VGA devices around, but obviously this beta is intended to be tested on any other VGA device on the market. It’s a beta and that means it contains some limitations and possibly even some bugs, so please read this post in the forum for the details and provide any feedback so that I can complete and release the final version as soon as possible.
I also would need some help to complete the dutch translation, which is now at 70%.
If you aren’t a VGA Pocket PC user you can take a look at some screenshots in the updates page, read about the new features such as the background skin and wait for the QVGA version, which will be released together with the VGA one.
On april 21st I attended the Wireless Forum Spring event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Milan, one whole day of conference sessions about wireless mobile technologies. There were up to nine different sections in order to cover almost the whole spectrum of the subject matter, from the Machine2Machine Forum to the Mobile Force Forum, from the Forum about RFID to the one about VoIP, the most crowded one, from the WLAN Business Forum to the Wired World Forum. I choose to follow most of the Mobile Force Forum and I did a good choice since I found most of the presentations interesting for my future software projects. 😉
Here you can find a brief article about the Wireless Forum Spring I wrote for the local daily newspaper La Provincia.
Now that the beta is out for some public testing I’ll take a few minutes rest before getting back at the code to fix that damned routine! 🙂
An Historic Day in Rome and EcPc 1.5 VGA Preview Posted
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on April 8, 2005
We’re living historic days: I mean the passing of Pope Giovanni Paolo II and the funeral ceremony taking place today in Rome.
However, work can’t wait, especially if you have a lot of it. I’m glad to present a preview of the incoming VGA version of EcPc. I posted a series of screenshots here in the forum, so be sure to check them out and be amazed by the graphics. 🙂
The new version will contain a series of enhancements regarding mainly graphics and not new features. When the beta will be ready I’ll make it available in exclusive to FirsLoox site members, so that they can test the new version on the best VGA Pocket PC around, the Loox 720. 😉
As I previously wrote, I’m planning a restyle of the site and I’m evaluating different solutions with the advice from some expert friends. In particular I’m evaluating content management systems such as Drupal. It’s something new to discover and it’s pretty time consuming.
Another important step has been the acceptance by the Volta Center of the project I proposed them and which I mentioned in a previous post . They judged it interesting and we’ll work together in the next weeks to make a due diligence study which will act as the foundation for the development and the eventual experimental deployment of the application.
I can’t tell any detail at the moment, but I’ll keep you updated as it progresses. In the meantime get ready to download the new VGA version of EcPc on your Pocket PC. 🙂
Defendemos La Alegria at Zelig Circus and EcPc Easter Discount
Posted by Albegor in Como, Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on March 26, 2005
Although spring isn’t in full swing yet, there’s a sort of feeling in the air, a feeling of change, I can tell it by looking at people and not just the weather.
With all the bad news from all around the world a laugh is what is needed to stay up with the mood and I definitely had lots of laughs on monday when I had the chance to attend to Zelig Circus, the most followed comic TV show in Italy, thanks to the staff of Il Sole. 🙂
We had a small booth inside the tent’s show and we took care of giving leaflets of the charity association to the 1800 people who were lucky enough to get a ticket for the show. It’s impressive when all the people clap their hands together while laughing at the jokes performed by Zelig’s characters, it’s very different from the small screen experience. 😉
I wasn’t allowed to take pictures during the recordings, but I took some before and after. The first two you see here are TV captures depicting the stage with the presenters Claudio Bisio and Vanessa Incontrada at the beginning of the show and the energetic Papy Ultras (Pino Campagna), one of my favorites! 
I hope to be able to repeat the experience, in the meantime I spotted some interesting discounts in the PocketLand special offers, so I think I’ll make some software shopping for my Pocket PC in the next days before they expire. I just asked the activation of a discount code for EcPc to give the chance to anyone interested to add even my software to their Easter shopping cart. The code is 19570032670125A, it expires after 1st april and is automatically applied if you go to the special offers page.
No Cebit 2005 But A Lot Of Work Behind The Scenes
Posted by Albegor in Como, Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on March 18, 2005
I was uncertain until the end if going to the Cebit 2005, then I decided to not leave since that wasn’t the kind of journey I could just wake up and go as I did with the 3GSM in Cannes. The long travel to Hannover required some careful planning, especially for the accommodation, something I didn’t in due time. No problems, it will be for the next year and fortunately I’ve been able to read many reports from the event, although that can’t substitute the feeling of being right there.
The VGA version of EcPc is at a good point, I completed all the new high resolution graphics and I’m putting together a Beta right now. I’ll post a preview in the forum once ready. 😉
Do you know the Handango Champion Awards? They’re the annual awards by Handango honoring the best in the mobile software catalogue. The deadline is Thursday, March 24th, so I’d like to invite you to vote EcPc by clicking here and following these instructions: select Windows Mobile Pocket PC in the first question about the operating system, then on the second page select the Best Application for Life category, write Euro Coins Pocket Collector in the application name field, Albegor as developer, 81123 as Product ID, leave your e-mail address and your brief motivation if you want. 🙂
You can read more about the awards and the winners of the last year by clicking here.
This week I presented a project to the Alessandro Volta Center for Scientific Culture and during the discussion I had with an engineer, Matteo Baracani, I was pleased of the compliments for the work I did until now and the awards EcPc earned, something which probably exceeds the value of the degree I did not get (yet), the infamous italian “piece of paper” for friends. 😉
Well, I ended the discussion with a joke and told him that if I’d had 1 Euro for each compliment I got now I would be like… and he told “Bill Gates”!
We laughed, but the true is that it was a bitter laugh for me. It’s curious how people always think about Mr. Gates when it comes to talking about software and money. I don’t need the money Gates has to make up for a decent life, although I do recognize a minimum is necessary to bring to completion good ideas, so I hope they’ll evaluate positively the project so that I can start working seriously on it. It could turn into the most important project for this year. 8)
In the meantime if you want you can vote for EcPc in the Handango Champion Awards, thanks!
Euro Coins Pocket Collector VGA 1.5 Coming Soon and New Translations
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on March 3, 2005
I’ve got a 5 cents Euro coin from Monaco in my collection. 🙂
I found it by chance the last summer and I think this remains the best way to find what you’re searching for because it’s easy to think Lady Luck kissed you for an instant. 😉
Collecting satisfactions apart, I dedicated only little time to marketing activities after the release of the new version of EcPc since I’m working on the VGA version since I’m going to bring it to the Cebit 2005 in a few days. I can only say that the coins look even better than the real ones with so much pixels available! 8)
In the meantime I’ve managed to propose an exclusive discount only for the subscribers of PPCThoughts.
I became a subscriber some months ago because I wanted to support what actually is my favorite website which keeps me daily updated about the mobile world, so I wanted to give something back to the community by offering to subscribers a 50% discount on the regular price of EcPc. Consider this another privilege of being a PPCThoughts subscriber. 😉
I’m adding a few new translations to EcPc, they are hungarian, greek and dutch, but I’ll wait to get at least a consistent part of the translation before adding them to the current list. The spanish one could benefit from some help, so you’ll be welcome if you want.
Touch and Go at the 3GSM World Congress 2005
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on February 16, 2005
The planned touch and go in Cannes to attend the 3GSM World Congress 2005 went all right except for the choice of plan B for the return trip.
I traveled there, had a walk on the seaside of Cannes, entered the 3GSM in its last day, had a quick but well pre-planned look around the booths, had the chance to meet with some people of the mobile business as well as unexpectedly finding a well known italian guy ;), I took some pics of the new mobile devices, then walk back to the train station to search for some place to rest in Ventimiglia, instead of Rapallo, as I initially planned.
Next year in Barcelona then, as the 3GSM next logo clearly states.
Now I’ve got all the weekend to take care of the e-mails I got following the release of the new version of EcPc.
Have a bit of patience if you’re waiting for a reply, ok? 🙂
Euro Coins Pocket Collector 1.4 RELEASED!
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on February 16, 2005
Here we are, at last! 🙂
After exactly 1 year and 1 month since the last release 1.3 I published version 1.4 of Euro coins Pocket collector.
It may seem a very long time, but a genuine passion never fades away although it may goes through up and downs during the course of life.
I’ve updated most of the content of the website, so please have a look around after you downloaded the latest version, read about the updates, then have a look at the FAQ, especially users of the previous versions, the wishlist and finally post your feedback in the new forum.
I’m leaving for the 3GSM World Congress 2005 in Cannes in a few hours, but once I’ll be back I’m going to write a series of tutorials to properly explain the most advanced features of Ecpc such as the Compare&Swap mode.
Hope you’ll appreciate the new version, now embracing a fair Shareware licensing model, as well as the new icon and the banner below made by my friend graphics artist! 😉
Netcafé interview subtitled, Creative Commons and Firefox
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on January 28, 2005
This is another thing I had to do since a long time of which I underestimated the importance, at least from a marketing point of view: I mean adding subtitles to the Netcafé TV interview. 🙂
Technically they’re captions, since I added them using Windows Media Encoder 9 tools. For the occasion I even re-encoded the videos at a higher quality.
I had the chance to show it to some friends on the Pocket PC, but the occasional visitor may easily miss it because he has to browse the site to find it and once found he can’t understand the language if it doesn’t know italian. That explains the work on the english subtitles and that hint to the visitor in a hurry at the top of the page. 😉
While transcribing the interview I liked in particular the questions at the end of the last part of the interview, when Gabriele asked me about the prices and the diffusion of PDAs with a bit of skepticism. Well, we are the country of mobile phones after all, as he often says, and we still have much difficulty to understand the true potential of PDAs not only as personal organizers but also as mini computers, at least compared to other countries. That may change quickly as PDAs with phone capabilities and new Smartphones will start to spread out.
I think my last answers will hold some true even for the next Christmases, who knows?
You may also notice on the left column of this page I adopted the Creative Commons license model for the contents of the website and the link to Firefox, the only browser I’m using.
I even ordered a custom CC shirt from Ken Mickles at GiantRobotPrinting.com. I’ll take a picture of it once it’ll be here.
Watch the videos and stay tuned for more news about Ecpc. 8)
Update: we’re almost there, Ecpc 1.4 will be released in a few days. In the meantime you can read my latest articles about the Loox 720 and the Microsoft Genuine Advantage anti-piracy program published here on the local daily newspaper La Provincia.
How does the Loox look?
Posted by Albegor in Euro Coins Pocket Collector, Mobile, Software on January 25, 2005
It’s just a word joke, but now that a Fujitsu Siemens Pocket Loox 720 is in my hands I can give an answer to that question: the Look rocks, definitely! 🙂
It was a while I was examining the latest VGA Pocket PC models for the next purchase and when I read about the Loox 720 and its exceptional overall features in various reviews I decided that was the one I had to get although the wallet wouldn’t have agreed as much as the will.
“What a display!” has been the recurring first exclamation when I showed it to friends last week, but from the best VGA LCD on the market to the loudspeaker positioned on the front side there are a lot of killer features inside this limousine among current PDAs.
I got it from Clove Technology, and they were kind to check for any dead pixels on the LCD before shipping it. The italian version should be available in february from Trilogy, although I really hope to see more stuff and accessories for the Loox from this new italian shop soon enough.
In fact the first thing I’m going to add is a screen protector to safeguard such a punch in the eyes! 😉
Then a nice case, and then who knows, surely any useful software optimized for VGA. I’ll write more about the Loox, but the first impression I got is that VGA is the future. I purchased my first Pocket PC to be able to increase productivity, being able to read documents away from the PC, so now with 4x times the resolution of a QVGA Pocket PC you can imagine my joy in reading docs on the Loox!
Of course I’ve already installed the useful GAPI speed up driver hack by Picard and SE_VGA which is invaluable when using PIE to browse the Internet.
I’ve already did some experiments with the VGA Emulator in the past months, but the impact of seeing such an amount of pixels on a real 3.6-inch LCD is a completely different thing.
I’ve no more excuses to not work on a VGA version of Ecpc. Actually Ecpc, as any other software designed for a QVGA display, does look too much blocky due to pixel doubling routines. Adding detail is a lot more fun, easier and in the end rewarding than removing it to adapt the interface of Ecpc to the smaller Smartphone display, for example. 😉
Light Up Only Your Dreams Announced
Here we go with another update planned since a long time. 😉
Today has been a sort of D-day in Italy since it came into force the law forbidding smoke in public locals.
There have been a lot of talk about it lately, with different opinions on both sides, smokers and non-smokers, often losing sight of the real meaning of this law just like only we italians can do: it’s a law which expresses a strong civic sense since it represents a victory of the respect for the good health of non-smokers.
Something that has no relation at all with the argumentations of smokers who (consciously) forget their affection is not a bad habit, but a deadly disease actually.
But what does this have to to with me?
Well, passive smoke did affect me negatively for the last years, then there could ever have been a better time to announce my new educational software application I was planning to build in the last months? 8)
Given its educational nature and my strong commitment to the subject matter this will be a totally No Profit work.
You can get more info about this project in the products page. All I can add for now is that this project, called “Light Up Only Your Dreams” will proceed as quickly as I’ll manage to organize priorities during the next months, but a release for the 31st may, the World No Tobacco Day looks too good to be true!