|
|
Jason R Briggs
|
As well as being a contributing editor for Java Developers Journal, Jason R Briggs is a Java programmer and Development Manager for a wireless technology company, based in Auckland, New Zealand.
|
Java Games Development -
Part 3 By Jason R Briggs Part 1 of this series
appeared in the August
issue of Java Developer's
Journal (Vol. 8, issue
8), and Part 2 appeared
in the September issue
(Vol. 8, issue 9). Oct. 1, 2003 12:00 AM Reads: 20,613 | Java Games Development -
Part 2 By Jason R Briggs Part 1 of this series
appeared in the August
issue of Java Developer's
Journal (Vol. 8, issue
8). JDJ: I'd just like
to pick up on that 85%
portability goal Jeff
mentioned earlier. I'm
just going on
assumptions, but I think
if you were developing a
title for the... Sep. 1, 2003 12:00 AM Reads: 13,777 | Java Games Development -
Part 1 By Jason R Briggs I recently had a
hankering to play an
older (not ancient) PC
game that I used to
enjoy. Since I've moved
my entire desktop over to
Linux (for almost a year
ago now) that meant
stealing my wife's
Windows laptop and trying
to install the game on
that. Aug. 1, 2003 12:00 AM Reads: 20,211 Replies: 4 | P800 by Sony Ericsson By Jason R Briggs This review has,
admittedly, been quite
some time coming. Had I
been looking at basic
phone features, I could
have produced something
months ago - however,
this magazine is not the
mobile phone-geek's
equivalent of the
Trainspotter's Almanac
(fortunately), and we ... Jun. 1, 2003 12:00 AM Reads: 14,248 Replies: 1 | Spring . . . A Time of
Change By Jason R Briggs This will be my last
outing as J2ME Editor for
JDJ. It's been an
interesting 22 issues,
with big changes within
both the Java and the
J2ME spaces. Over the
past two years, the
number of JSRs related in
some way to J2ME has
increased (almost
exponentially), an
as... Mar. 1, 2003 12:00 AM Reads: 11,242 | The Phone Smarts By Jason R Briggs Thanks to the nice folks
at Metrowerks, I finally
have a smart phone to
play with. As some of you
may well be aware, I was
suffering from an
affliction of
round-the-corner-itis
that had prevented me
from investing in a Java
phone. However, when one
is provided for... Feb. 1, 2003 12:00 AM Reads: 11,614 | A United Front By Jason R Briggs Along with many others,
I've believed for quite
some time now that there
must be a change in the
custodianship of Java for
the platform to survive
these uncertain times. My
personal belief is that
any future custodian of
the Java platform must be
an organization of ... Jan. 1, 2003 12:00 AM Reads: 12,930 Replies: 3 | The Latest in Mobility:
Something for Everyone By Jason R Briggs I recently noticed that
Qualcomm has licensed the
ARM1136J-S microprocessor
core. The interesting
thing to note about this
announcement is one of
the letters in that
microprocessor version:
the 'J'. ARM's 1136J-S is
a Jazelle-enabled chip,
meaning it's optimized
... Dec. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 11,859 | Has Hell Frozen Over? By Jason R Briggs It's just as well I'm not
a gambler. After
pessimistically deciding
that it would be a
clichéd 'cold day in
hell' before I saw a
Java-enabled phone arrive
on these shores, our
local Vodafone launched
the excellent Nokia 7650. Nov. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 12,026 | Don't Believe Everything
You Read By Jason R Briggs Where do market analysts
get their figures? When
you get a job as an
industry or market
analyst, do they give you
a complimentary
calculator that has a
single button with a
label marked 'Random' on
the front? Oct. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 11,585 | The Sky Is Falling By Jason R Briggs Apparently it hasn't been
a good quarter for many
PDA makers. Shipments
were down from the same
period last year so, of
course, doom and gloom
are predicted by all and
sundry. Actually I'm
exaggerating; one of the
reports I read was fairly
evenhanded in its
approa... Sep. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 10,965 | The Computer of Tomorrow By Jason R Briggs At times, I wonder just
how far short the
computer industry has
fallen of its promise of
a few decades ago. I'm
not talking about the
lofty ideal of the
computer of the future
that science fiction
authors were predicting
we'd be using by now,
such as machines capa... Aug. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 10,020 Replies: 1 | Books and Chewing Gum By Jason R Briggs A recent press release
from Palm got me thinking
about their PDAs, as well
as why Palm (in the UK)
never returned my
e-mails...but that's
another matter (and half
a world away now). In any
case, according to the
release, 5,000 Palms are
to be purchased as part
of ... Jul. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 11,142 | The Longer-Life Pen By Jason R Briggs I've been thinking a PhD
student should consider
doing a thesis on the
life expectancy of a pen
after it's purchased.
I've come up with an
approximate calculation
for mine: LE (Life
Expectancy) =DWU (Date of
Wanting to Use)-1; in
other words, a pen will
go miss... Jun. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 11,594 | Reflections By Jason R Briggs JavaOne is over, and it's
time to sit back and
reflect...and to sift
through the hundreds of
press releases and
announcements that
ricochet around the
Internet like balls
around a pinball machine.
While I couldn't be there
myself, when I checked
my e-mails each d... May. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 11,025 | A Long Way to Go By Jason R Briggs A strange accident
occurred on my flight
back to New Zealand.
Somehow, the plane flew
through a rip in
space-time and we wound
up in a freak alternate
dimension. The thing is,
it was initially very
difficult to tell that we
weren't in the right
dimension anymore, ... Apr. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 11,707 Replies: 3 | A Star Alternative By Jason R Briggs A few months ago Alan
mentioned that he had
finally shifted to Star
Office. As someone who
has been using the
software suite since Sun
took it over, I applaud
his decision to move away
from that other office
package. However, the
shift doesn’t come
without a... Mar. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 12,163 Replies: 2 | Leveling the Playing
Field By Jason R Briggs You've heard this said
before. In fact, If
you regularly peruse the
pages of JDJ, you've
heard it here more than
once. In case it
hasn'y sunk in, repeat
after me: J2ME
(especially MIDP) will
provide tremendous
opportunities for
developers Mar. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 10,067 | Chasing the Sun By Jason R Briggs I've been hearing lately
that Bluetooth is making
a comeback. Considering
that it had hardly gotten
started when it was
written off in certain
quarters, it's amusing to
see a comeback prediction
so soon. In any case, I
can see that short-range
wireless protocols, su... Feb. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 11,146 Replies: 1 | A Perfect World By Jason R Briggs I was reading a forum
discussion recently that
argued that J2ME was a
mess. The general
consensus (admittedly
there weren't that many
messages) seemed to be
that this conclusion was
correct. My automatic
response was 'What a
complete load of
bollocks' (which I ... Jan. 1, 2002 12:00 AM Reads: 10,228 | A Dodgy Character By Jason R Briggs After what seems like
months of waiting (and it
probably has been), a
color mobile phone (as
opposed to a PDA/phone
combination) has finally
appeared on the British
market. With a 101x80
pixel 256-color STN
display, an e-mail
application, calendar,
games, and PC
... Dec. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 11,365 | Wireless Java: Developing
with Java 2 Micro Edition By Jason R Briggs I don't usually buy
technical books. Most of
the time I manage to find
what I'm looking for
after a bit of hunting on
the Web, virtual
elbow-grease, so to
speak. However,
occasionally a
tree-killing madness does
come over me and Amazon
gets the chance to clear
t... Dec. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 11,715 | Whiteboard SDK, Bluetooth
Edition by Zucotto
Wireless Inc. By Jason R Briggs A contagious disease that
results in oddly colored
teeth? A South Seas
pirate with a penchant
for eating toxic sea
food? Or perhaps a
superhero with really
unhelpful superpowers? If
you answered yes to any
of these questions,
chances are you've had
your Java blink... Dec. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 12,140 Replies: 1 | The Poor Cousin By Jason R Briggs A big date in the
European gamer's calendar
is the European Con-
sumer Trade Show (ECTS)
in London. It's a time
for 16-year old boys to
polish up their fake IDs,
dust off the letters
confirming their
internship at a large
game publisher (printed
earlier in the wee... Nov. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 10,232 | Kbrowser By Jason R Briggs Before we get started,
it's worthwhile noting
that I'm not a big fan of
WAP. Well, not the
protocol itself exactly,
but WML-based Web sites -
the whole idea of
browsing the Web on your
mobile seems somewhat
flawed when your screen
real estate is minimal
and you pr... Nov. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 11,650 | Wishful Thinking By Jason R Briggs I've come to the
conclusion that Japan is
the place to live. Not
that I really want to
move to a country that by
all reports is an
extremely crowded and
busy place, but the
Japanese always seem to
get the best gadgets. Oct. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 10,802 | Nokia 9210 Communicator By Jason R Briggs Convergence. A word loved
by PR companies and
feared by nontechnical
consumers. If you believe
industry pundits, we'll
all be carrying
combination mobile
phone-PDA-TV-toasters in
the next few years.
You'll be able to make a
phone call, write a memo,
watch the morn... Oct. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 12,420 | Cat Fight By Jason R Briggs If the computer industry
was a cat fight, right
now fur would be flying
in every direction.
Microsoft's recent
decision to drop Java
from their Windows XP
distribution is a prime
case in point. Spin
merchants pop up left,
right, and center to fire
a barrage of FUD... Sep. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 12,430 | A Beginner's Guide to
Writing Applications for
the MID Profile By Jason R Briggs In Parts 1 and 2 of this
series, we covered the
basic features of the
various MIDP APIs. We
looked at creating and
packaging a MIDlet,
creating a user
interface, and some basic
graphics operations. We
also discovered how to
store data with the
record management s... Sep. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 13,525 | Out of Nowhere By Jason R Briggs If you've ever spent time
in the Middle East,
you'll know that
bargaining is a way of
life. You haggle over
everything, especially if
you're a tourist - they
automatically triple and
quadruple the price if
you're a foreigner. So it
doesn't seem that unusual
to be ... Aug. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 11,489 | The Missing Bits By Jason R Briggs In Part 1 of this
article, which can be
found in JDJ (Vol. 6,
issue 7), we covered the
basics of creating a
Mobile Information Device
Profile application (also
called a MIDlet). We
covered some of the
functionality available
in the user interface
packages and a sl... Aug. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 14,288 | Modern Rituals By Jason R Briggs It's an odd sensation
when you're wandering
around and everyone
immediately looks at your
chest. (No, I don't have
a strange growth
protruding from my
sternum.) I recently
visited the Embedded
Systems Show (ESS) in
London. The offending
item, attracting all the
... Jul. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 10,369 | Hello World, A Beginner's
Guide To Writing
Applications For The MID
Profile By Jason R Briggs The first thing you're
likely to see, upon
sitting down to learn a
new language, is the
ubiquitous 'Hello...'
application. My father
bought me the TRS-80
Basic for Kids book when
I was 8-years old, and
I'm pretty sure that the
first example was either
'Hello Worl... Jul. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 16,660 | J2ME Editorial By Jason R Briggs Technology seems at times
to proceed at a breakneck
pace. The downside to
this expectation for a
consistently high rate of
technological improvement
is that at other times,
progress comes at a more
leisurely pace -
analogous to watching
paint dry or sloth
racing. Jun. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 9,930 | The Incredibly Shrinking
Platform By Jason R Briggs Okay. Let's get one thing
clear right away. I am
not writing (or better
yet, dictating) this on a
Java-enabled PDA while
sitting on the bus on my
way to work - a fact that
I find somewhat
disturbing, and more than
a little annoying.
Perhaps not as disturbing
as my... Jun. 1, 2001 12:00 AM Reads: 7,812 | By Jason R Briggs It's a well-known fact
that Web forums seldom
stay on topic - and even
if they do, there's
usually one group of
contributors who like to
wander off on a tangent.
There's nothing
particularly wrong with
that, in fact, it makes
for interesting reading
at times. Jan. 1, 2000 12:00 AM Reads: 5,542 Replies: 10 | GruntSpud...Still in
Alpha, But It's
Definitely Worth a Look By Jason R Briggs Source Control. The bane
of software developers;
if only because you have
to interrupt your thought
processes in order to
make sure you've safely
backed up those preceding
thought processes. That
fact doesn't change
whether you're a J2EE,
J2SE, or J2ME
developer... Jan. 1, 2000 12:00 AM Reads: 6,549 Replies: 5 |
TODAY'S TOP 10 LINKS YOU MUST CLICK ON! YOUR FEEDBACK  | Is Sun Looking to Replace
CEO Jonathan Schwartz? By Maureen O'Gara Brigdson Smith wrote:
remember, Eric Schmidt
was Schwartz's first boss
at Sun - something tells
me if he left Sun, it'd
take four minutes for him
to end up to Google. | | What Does the Future Hold
for the Java Language? By Joe Winchester Tommy wrote: I simply do
not agree on many parts:
- .NET has a lot of
traction
- you can
certainly know well (and
master) more than one
language. If you cannot
master more than one
language, this could
potentially be one of
your limits.
- Java is not a perfect
language
- It is ea... | | i-Technology Opinion: Why
Use Extreme Programming? By Troy Holmes James Nwaba wrote: This
is a nice article - very
straight froward, easy to
understand.However, there
was no mention of any
organization that have
implemented XP.
The author said, "Many of
the concepts found in
this lightweight method
of development have been
implemented into the ... | | iPhone Office: 100 Ways
to Turn Your Device into
the Ultimate Productivity
Tool By Jessica Merritt QueZZtion wrote: Can the
iPhone really work as a
multimedia remote for
iTunes or even a desktop? | | DoJa in NTT DoCoMo Phones By Zev Blut Venkat wrote: Excellent
explanation. It will be
helpful if it was in
pictorial form ie with
the emulator images. Can
u please send me the
I-mode to I appli
communication and a brief
explanatioj about the
architecture.Thanks in
advance. |
SUBSCRIBE TO THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL NEWSLETTERS Help Wanted: SYS-CON Media is looking for i-technology reporters, and journalists. Please apply to reporters(at)sys-con.com.
We are also seeking online advertising sales representatives with proven track record. Please apply to careers(at)sys-con.com. |
|
SYS-CON FEATURED WHITEPAPERS |
About Newsfeeds / Video Feeds