Just saw the Matrix: Reloaded, again. Very cool movie. Picked up a lot of stuff the second time around. I’ll be very interested in seeing what the next is like (and what’s REALLY going on, hehehe). I’m betting on the whole “Matrix in a Matrix” thing.
I haven’t been writing in this much, or working on AE as much as I’d like, but I HAVE been making progress. I actually put the first PocketPC version of LocationAlert up on SourceForge this afternoon. It doesn’t remember stuff (login, selected group, settings) and you can’t Annotate a location yet – but it works fully beyond that. I ended up writing a very neat Worker Thread that does the actually requests to the Web Service. Basically you post a message to the thread; it does its thing, and then posts a message back to you. Works VERY nice. It’s a huge improvement over the VB one, as the interface doesn’t generally loc up (only exception to that is the settings page, which I may nor may not deal with)
I’ve actually created a generic library, which that threading is part of, which I’m going to release as a separate project. It could be the basis for any MFC program to interact with AE. I then may write a COM wrapper, so it can be used from any program, which would be even nicer. It’s on PPC right now, but as far as I know I should be able to move it straight to Windows
I plan on finishing up LocationAlertCE now (all I really have left is to remember stuff, and be able to annotate a location). Then an installer and it should be set. I’ll probably then move to working on the off-line version (which may or may not be the same program). It will only be able to Annotate right now, but that’s OK, as I really NEED something like that to Annotated the area, at least where I can’t get a wireless network. Later on I MIGHT let it download and work offline (but I have a feeling memory on the PPC will rear its ugly head if I do that)
After that, I think I’m going to do “GeoNotes”, which will be a much more bare-bones program. Show the closest location on a single page, be able to flip through pages (closest to farthest), and Annotated (“note”) a location. This will be the first non-techie AE-enabled program that I’ve done. The LocationAlert programs are what I really consider to be the reference software. That is, the thing that tests all the basic features of AE, and shows how to do everything. GeoNotes will be the first attempt at a more mass-appeal application of the technology.
On another note, I’ve continued to think of ways to make money at this. It occurred to me that getting “Complete” PocketPC (or Pilot) hardware together will be a bit complex. The ultimate system would have a WiFi card, GPS, AND a Camera. The software would use all three to Annotated locations (so basically press a button, add a note and upload the lat/long, note, and pic to the main site). REALLY nice, if I can get to that point.
Sooo… If that’s even possible to do, I could sell custom (for now) built PocketPC that have all of that. And maybe the software will be JUST for custom PC’s (or the first that I sell, if you buy it alone). Order all the stuff, put it together, ship it out, make a hundred (???) or so on each. Not something I want to do full-time, but maybe a way to make cash to cover my ever rising experiences, and something I might be able to spin off into a company later on.
Speaking of companies, one of the big things I’ve got left to do is incorporating. Not something I’m looking forward to, as I’ll have to deal with the accounting/tax/etc.
But, I am coming out of the base development now (Wahoo!). It’s just about time to start handling more the business side (form the company, try to find partners, maybe get more serious about finding an investor). My primary concern is how much more it’s going to cost. I’ve already been pumping my spare (and not so spare, sometimes) money into this. I wish I had a pile of it to do all the things that need to get done (like… hire people, hah). I think I’ll have enough money next month to finance the incorporation, at least.
