Swirl Connect: location-based mobile social software

We have quietly released Swirl Connect, software for your mobile phone that helps you stay connected with your friends and their latest activity, as well find new people and places, whether you’re mobile or at home on your PC.

The current release is slightly hobbled, as $$$$ is tight, and we had to turn off the messaging features, but there’s still plenty to do and see. Here are a few features:

• Find your friends and get alerted to their latest activity
• Explore nearby places of interest
• View and share photos, notes, and places on your PC or mobile phone
• Mobile instant message or group message with your friends
• Meet new people while you’re on the move
• Get location-based alerts
• Interact with both PC and mobile users in real time

Try it out! It’s free, supports popular Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, and Motorola phones (with plenty more coming), and is a lot of fun.

Tips for Writing MIDP Applications, Part 1

Several months ago, I wrote an article on creating bluepulse widgets. At the time, I put another article -– this one -– on my mental to-do list. There it languished, being pushed ever further down until I read this article from little springs design. It’s tongue-and-cheek, and contains some great tips for what not to do when writing a mobile application.

I wholeheartedly agree with the intent of each of the ten guidelines they mention, but I tend to view articles from the design perspective with a degree of trepidation. Full disclosure: yes, I’ve killed a back button or two in my day, and I continue to do so. The intent is always honorable, but execution of some well-meaning guidelines can get hairy. Nowhere is this more true than in the mobile space, where, despite standards, developers face a near-vertical incline when deploying to many handsets.

From a development perspective, here are several good practices for building mobile applications. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list. I should also point out that these guidelines apply specifically to the development of MIDP applications.

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