Tuesday, September 13, 2005
SR vs AE
Have not written in this journal for a long time. StationRipper started making some money as of 2.0 (released start of this year), so I'm kind chasing after that (getting the word out, improving it, etc.). No idea when I'll get back to AE, as there really hasn't been a lot of movement on getting the average person walking around with GPS's and always-on internet.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Break
So I've got the basics pretty much working. Just need to add apps. The prob is, PocketPC is just kinda sucking. And even if I get some of the apps I've been thinking about going, I don't see a lot of users having always-on internet AND a GPS connection. At least any time soon. I've got to believe at some point this is going to happen, I just don't know when. I'd guess at least three years, but who knows.
I think I'm gonna go take a break for a while - been using streamripper32 for a while now. Like it, but it really sucks, so am thinkin about doing something about that.
I think I'm gonna go take a break for a while - been using streamripper32 for a while now. Like it, but it really sucks, so am thinkin about doing something about that.
Sunday, June 1, 2003
Columbia
I've gone downtown Columbia a couple of times with the laptop - annotated around the state house, USC, and downtown. When I walked back around those locations, it popped up the info and a pic (like, what statue on the state grounds I was standing next to). VERY VERY COOL!!!! Only downside was no wireless, so the laptop had the web server running in it. Guards gave me some funny looks, but didn't bother me.
Sunday, May 25, 2003
Working
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.
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.
Monday, April 21, 2003
PocketPC
Still working hard on AE, I just haven’t had much time in the last few weeks. I’ve been steadily working on making the web site working better (nailed voting tonight, works much better now).
Most of my time has been spent working on the PocketPC application. I’ve almost finished a wrapper around the HTTP Calls/XML return (pass some params into a function, get a CList or Map back that has the return data). It should make it much easier for someone to develop new stuff. I’m using it for app that logs in, allows the user to type lat/lon and distance, and returns those locs for group 1. The big pieces to finish are the COM port/GPS device stuff, and configuration.
I originally was going to just write it in eVB, but after using the environment for a few hours, I gave up in disgust. VB 6 is bad enough, but eVB sucks sooo very bad. So, I’m doing it in embedded Visual C++, and actually using MFC. Kinda nice, in that I did MFC for so long, it’s pretty easy to write GUI apps. But it’s still a pain, in the API set available on the PocketPC is reduced, and they did some really STUPID things. Like, normally you do a SelectNode with a param, and it returns a result. So WHY on the PocketPC is the result passes as a param? I’m not complaining about the style of doing return codes that way, but now instead of just copying code I already have done, I have to re-write everything yuck.
I saw NY City is putting in a big public WiFi network next month. I’m going to investigate it a bit, and if it looks like I can just use it, I may plan a long weekend trip to NY soon, to set up a guide. I need to get the Pocket PC app fully working, as it’s a pain dragging around the laptop.
Most of my time has been spent working on the PocketPC application. I’ve almost finished a wrapper around the HTTP Calls/XML return (pass some params into a function, get a CList or Map back that has the return data). It should make it much easier for someone to develop new stuff. I’m using it for app that logs in, allows the user to type lat/lon and distance, and returns those locs for group 1. The big pieces to finish are the COM port/GPS device stuff, and configuration.
I originally was going to just write it in eVB, but after using the environment for a few hours, I gave up in disgust. VB 6 is bad enough, but eVB sucks sooo very bad. So, I’m doing it in embedded Visual C++, and actually using MFC. Kinda nice, in that I did MFC for so long, it’s pretty easy to write GUI apps. But it’s still a pain, in the API set available on the PocketPC is reduced, and they did some really STUPID things. Like, normally you do a SelectNode with a param, and it returns a result. So WHY on the PocketPC is the result passes as a param? I’m not complaining about the style of doing return codes that way, but now instead of just copying code I already have done, I have to re-write everything yuck.
I saw NY City is putting in a big public WiFi network next month. I’m going to investigate it a bit, and if it looks like I can just use it, I may plan a long weekend trip to NY soon, to set up a guide. I need to get the Pocket PC app fully working, as it’s a pain dragging around the laptop.
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Slashdot
Well, something somewhat interesting. I just noticed a article I posted on Slashdot was accepted. It’s not ABOUT AE (damn! Hehehe), but it’s about GPS and the upcoming war. The interesting thing is, that means a LINK to AE will be on the main Slashdot page, as the URL you get when you click on my name (ward99). Woot! Hehe, should see some big traffic from that, based on the last time it happened.
Monday, March 17, 2003
Location Alert
Wowza. I took LocationAlert and added the ability to Annotated locations. So I may not write LocationAnnotation at this point, as LocationAlert does it. It’s VERY cool. Simple to use, and does exactly what I want. I guess I’m ready to do the PocketPC
On that note, I installed the SDK this weekend and wrote a simple app, but as soon as I ran it blue-screened XP. Fun. It was trying to access the PDA hooked up to the machine, and, as I haven’t bought one yet, didn’t like it I guess. Guess it’s time to spend yet another $600 bucks *shudder*. I’m tyring not to think how much cash has been poured down AE at this point. If you start calculating my time in, the total cost is starting to get a bit high (and the personal, both in$$$ and personal time work on it)
I’m actually thinking of taking a break soon, I hope after I have something on the PocketPC. I’m starting to get burned out, and my day job is suffering. To this point, I’ve been able to do everything on weekends or (sometimes) weeknights, without the day job getting hit… but last week I was so fried from trying to do both for the last few weeks, that I was kinda flaky, and didn’t get much work done.
Oh… http://sh1.antville.org/ had a post about AE (specifically, the IraqiList) so I’ve been getting a fair amount of traffic, at least a few hits a hour. And several people have used IraqiAlert AND LocationAlert. Nifty!
I want to try harping IraqiAlert, as I think it has the potential for some press. As the war is about to start, I’m running out of time. I’m going to research Iraqi Troop movements, troops that might have bio/chem. Weapons (as was rumored today). That would be a good addition.
On that note, I installed the SDK this weekend and wrote a simple app, but as soon as I ran it blue-screened XP. Fun. It was trying to access the PDA hooked up to the machine, and, as I haven’t bought one yet, didn’t like it I guess. Guess it’s time to spend yet another $600 bucks *shudder*. I’m tyring not to think how much cash has been poured down AE at this point. If you start calculating my time in, the total cost is starting to get a bit high (and the personal, both in$$$ and personal time work on it)
I’m actually thinking of taking a break soon, I hope after I have something on the PocketPC. I’m starting to get burned out, and my day job is suffering. To this point, I’ve been able to do everything on weekends or (sometimes) weeknights, without the day job getting hit… but last week I was so fried from trying to do both for the last few weeks, that I was kinda flaky, and didn’t get much work done.
Oh… http://sh1.antville.org/ had a post about AE (specifically, the IraqiList) so I’ve been getting a fair amount of traffic, at least a few hits a hour. And several people have used IraqiAlert AND LocationAlert. Nifty!
I want to try harping IraqiAlert, as I think it has the potential for some press. As the war is about to start, I’m running out of time. I’m going to research Iraqi Troop movements, troops that might have bio/chem. Weapons (as was rumored today). That would be a good addition.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
