Gadget Time: Sifftables

Posted by Lester Madden under Gadgets

Strange day today as it’s my last day as a Nokia employee. It’s been a bit of a strange year really, this will be my 3rd employer since Christmas and I haven’t moved desk once. Of course the moves have been due to Nokia acquiring Symbian, and now with the Symbian Foundation being launched tomorrow I’ll be taking up the position of Developer Marketing Manager making what I hope is my final move of the year.

AR, We Are Ready And Willing But Where Are You?

Posted by Lester Madden under Augmented Reality

In response to my post on Friday I had a lot of discussions with people in the office talking about the commercial usage of AR. While everyone agrees that it’s a super cool technology, the question on everyone’s lips is, if its so good why isn’t it here already?

Commercializing Augmented Reality

Posted by Lester Madden under Augmented Reality, Smartphones

After yesterdays post about how cool augmented reality is, I spent the morning and most of the afternoon doing demos to people around the office. The guys here were coming up possible uses from everything from tee-shirts to games. I see AR as a technology that is just waiting to become the next big thing, it just needs a killer app to propel it into the public eye before it becomes part of our everyday lives and something we take for granted. Normally that’s waiting for the porn or advertising industries to become adopters.

Augumented Reality Demo For Nokia Devices

Posted by Lester Madden under Augmented Reality, Smartphones, Software, Symbian

When I left school I wanted to write computer games. The problem was couldn’t draw so my skills in the computer gaming world were somewhat limited. So I ended up doing systems programming which didn’t require any game development skills, just good old ODBC to suck data out a database somewhere and display it in a form. I still shed the odd tear at what could have been but I am content with playing games and keeping up to date with future gaming technology.

Blurry Eyed And Street Map

Posted by Lester Madden under General, Software

It’s been a while since I blogged. Not because I have forgotten or been stumped for words recently, but I had laser vision correction surgery last weekend and my focusing has not been that great. It’s normal apparently, it takes around a week for the vision to settle down.  It’s getting better but still hard to focus on the screen.

Everybody Hates iPhone

Posted by Lester Madden under Smartphones

No blog yesterday. I went to the opticians and they put some drops in my eyes and told me that I would be sensitive to light for a few hours. Looking at my monitor was like looking at a million suns.

Coming Soon To A Smartphone Near You

Posted by Lester Madden under Gadgets, Smartphones

We have been able to listen to music on smartphones for a while now. I’m guessing there are not that many models that don’t have the ability to play MP3s shipping anymore. Movies are taken for granted as well with almost every phone model being able to support video playback. Watching movies however on a small screen is not for everyone. I find those seatback video screens on airplanes small enough as it is. Except when the person in front puts their seat right back and it presses up against your face for the next 8 long miserable hours. ah the joys of travelling economy.

The Future Is Already Here

Posted by Lester Madden under Augmented Reality, Gadgets, Smartphones, Symbian

A guy called Charles H. Duell who was the commissioner of the US patents office back in 1899 once said, “everything that can be invented has been invented”. Well he got that one wrong. Funny though, last week I was raving over Microsoft’s augmented reality project only to find that there is a game available on Symbian OS for the Nokia N95.

Interactive Restaurant Ordering

Posted by Lester Madden under Gadgets

This is a pretty innovative way to interact and order your food and drinks at
Inamo Restaurant Bar in London

At least if your date is going badly you can entertain yourself with a game.

Androids, Robots and Blimps

Posted by Lester Madden under Gadgets, Smartphones

More fun with an accelerometer today, this time on a Google Android G1 phone.

Having an accelerometer in a phone is cool, but what’s better is when you let a couple of really bright people loose on the API. Especially if they happen to have a spare robot or blimp around the house.