Verizon Wireless said Wednesday that the multimedia Flash technology, which enhances graphics and enables rich video and animation on PCs, will be embedded in applications made for Verizon Wireless cell phones. Verizon is the first wireless carrier in North America to embed Flash Lite, the companies said.

“Flash Lite for Brew“, developed by Adobe and Qualcomm, beefs up graphics and animation for Verizon’s “Get It Now” downloads, explains C/Net. Qualcomm’s Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) development platform is similar and competitive with cellular-based Java applications. A preview release of the Flash Lite 2.1 Update to Flash Professional 8 is available for free download, enabling developers to create, preview and test Flash Lite content and applications.

The Weather Channel today announced the launch of its first Flash Lite downloadable application. The subscription service delivers detailed forecasts, animated radar and satellite maps, severe weather alerts and national severe news including hurricane coverage.

Verizon’s “Get It Now” service includes games, ring tones and other applications such as news and weather. The technology will initially work on four Verizon Wireless phones: The LG VX9800, the Motorola Razr V3c and V3m, and the Samsung SCH-a950. Flash Lite will be available on additional handsets in the coming weeks, Verizon said.

Nokia has integrated Macromedia Flash technology into the Series 60 Platform. Macromedia and Nokia will also provide integrated mobile development tool sets that will enable developers to more rapidly and efficiently create compelling Flash content for mobile devices, while leveraging their existing expertise and brand assets.

The BREW 2006 Developer Awards winners include:

• Best Up and Coming Application: EZ Naviwalk by KDDI and NAVITIME JAPAN (Japan)
• Best Location-Based Service Application: LOC-AID People by LOC-AID Technologies (U.S.)
• Best Communications Application: Uta-tomo (Music Friends) by Sony and Media Socket (Japan)
• Best Information Application: Barcode Reader & Maker by 3Gvision and MEDIASEEK (Japan)
• Best Entertainment Application: Amp’d Live by Amp’d Mobile (U.S.)
• Best Game Application: Need for Speed Underground 2 by Electronic Arts (U.S.)
• Best Ringtone Application: RealTone Jukebox by 9 Squared (U.S.)
• People’s Choice Award: Zuma by Glu Mobile (U.S.)

The open source SVG Tiny (Scalable Vector Graphics), as in this Opera demo, is suitable for highly restricted mobile devices. Macromedia Flash Lite also supports Mobile SVG-T (Tiny) playback in addition to its native Flash content. The second open source profile, SVG Basic (SVGB) is targeted for higher level mobile devices. Here’s a list of phones that come equipped with SVG Tiny. SVG.org has more.

Macromedia’s Flash Player for Pocket PC provides a slick interface. Developers who want to create standalone projectors for easy distribution of their content can get Standalone Macromedia Flash Player.

WirelessDevNet has news on the latest applications. Biskero.org has a ton of information on FlashLite for mobiles. BREW applications primarily run on Qualcomm CDMA phones and must be digitally signed, unlike its main competitor, the J2ME platform. Java ME devices implement a profile enabling any developer to upload and execute software on any supported handset. The most common profile is the Mobile Information Device Profile (Midlet), for cell phones and PDAs. Openwap.org has news on the latest open source Midlets for Java phones like Gmail mobile, Google Maps Mobile and MicroJabber.

Winners of the Flash Lite Application contest supply inspiration.Daisyphone (right), is a java applet that can be downloaded free to cellphones or PDA. It lets you create collaborative public media. Individuals can compose their own sampled sound, then upload it to a public sound sculpture.

The tempo is set by the speed at which a ‘radar arm’ rotates around the daisy. You place notes on the petals of Daisyphone and choose your instruments from the stamen. People are given different colours.

How about a giant umbrella on Waterfront Park that visualizes “city cloud” status and acts as a collaborative art project:

• The umbrella handle, resembling a small tree trunk, is created from 1,000 recycled cell phones. They randomly ring with bird and animal songs.
• The umbrella would be 25 feet in diameter and composed of 2,000 LEDs, changing colors depending on node activity in the city cloud.
• Electro Luminesent wire (ElWire) would delineate 32 sectors and “sweep” like a radar
• A java applet, based on the Daisyphone (right), could be downloaded into cellphones or laptops to create a collaborative musical composition as the radar sweeps around the umbrella.
• A picnic table under the umbrella provides shelter.

Starlight (below), along with other visualization tools can generate a graphical view of data, revealing patterns not obvious.

FlashKit’s Starlight Java Applet can be downloaded to a laptop. It maps information on the FlashKit site. C/Net’s What’s Hot is a simplified graphic/text mapper, embedded in a web page.

Java ME (Micro Edition) is the new iteration of J2ME. Mobile AJAX is the new, new thing. Some microbrowsers on cellphones can handle latest techologies like CSS 2.1 and Ajax.

Perhaps a city cloud “umbrella” could physically map traffic and weather using glowing EL-Wire and LEDs on the underside of an umbrella. To map internet space, a flash application might be downloaded directly to PDAs and laptops.

Viacom Outdoor has a permanent network of Bluetooth-enabled poster sites on the London Undergound. Tube users can download content on to their mobiles using Bluetooth devices housed inside the interactive posters.

Viacom Outdoor has installed 15 Bluetooth ‘Jacks’ developed by technology company Wideray.WiFi in combination with collaborative, interactive, projects might reflect and extend social connections. Multiplayer Wireless Games and innovative wireless projects might be free in public areas.One Percent for Art is a program that designates one percent of the capital cost of government construction projects for public art. Many city and county governments have found that a percent for art program is a good investment.In 2005, the City of Portland and Multnomah County mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of their Percent for Art ordinances. It’s administered by the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC). It also receives grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts and private donors.

Some agencies have public art programs, too. Portland’s TriMet created one in 1992 in anticipation of the westside MAX light rail. The program became permanent in 1997. TriMet’s public art program has added vitality to the regional transit system. The Portland Mall renovation project has allocated approximately $750,000 to fund the Mall art program.

Java-based (J2ME — Java 2 Micro Edition) is used by New York’s Virtual Guide with the Voyager 2.0 development package making it compatible with a wide variety of operating systems and mobile devices.

I believe that a public art component is essential for city clouds. It sets a tone of collaboration, promoting understanding, diffusing tensions and enhancing productivity.

The Wireless Athens Zone has developed hundreds of mobile applications. Each year, they select a theme to anchor its investigation of mobile media. Students and faculty collaborate with industry leaders to produce prototypes around this theme. Mobile Open Source has free tools.

Second Life, created by Linden Labs has competition from other virtual worlds such as Multiverse and Bigworld Technology, as well as open source platforms like Uni-Verse.org.

Every big-city municipal wireless installation needs a corresponding Location Based Services development lab at the local community college or university. Isn’t that obvious? Ask your administration what they’re doing. Then kick some butt.

DailyWireless has more on Virtual Guides, GPS PDAs, Audio Beamforming, Shakespeare PDA Tour and Embedded MP-3 Virtual Tours. I hear bird songs, whales and insects.

“To see the world in a grain of sand,
And heaven in a wildflower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.”

- William Blake

DailyWireless has additional pointers permanently linked on the left column under “Metro Art”. Those links include; ArtBeat, Artbots, Burning Man, Eyebeam and Rhizome, Coin-operated, Cockeyed, Chunk 6-6-6, Harmony Central, JSyn, Lego Mindstorms, Luminesent Wire, mms2web, PortlandPublicArt, Spectropolis, SLop, Urban Tapestries, Unmediated, VJ Central, Video Synths, WebJam, WebJay, Wireless Art and Wisdom of the Elders.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Wednesday, October 25th, 2006 at 7:07 am.