February 27, 2013

3 days in Barcelona in the Mobile World Congress 2013

There have been very tired days in the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where more than 50 thousand of visitors have been discovering the latest news about mobile.

In eMobc we were part of Wireless Research initiative of Qualcomm where as a startup we participated in the entrepreneur program to develop an application using the latest Qualcomm technologies, Vuforia for augmented reality and Alljoyn for peer to peer communication and we hope we can integrate part of this technologies in emobc develop branch.

Geocongress is an application developed using Android 4.0 with fragments where you can make:

- Map recognition: Recognizes Mobile world congress target and you can see where are located the brands in a map, like Qualcomm and Telefonica. Visitors and exhibitors can write comments so you can know the latest news in a wall so you can move in the fair.

- Stand recognition: Also you can go to the stands and detect a logo and know all the news around that brand and write comments around the stand.

- Chat: We have created a room using Alljoyn so users can join the channel and communicate directly with the other users.

We started the project in the beginning of January and in just one month we integrated Vuforia and Alljoyn. It was very interesting to work with augmented reality because you need to work in both environments (Java in Android for general programming and OpenGL / C++ in another thread with the augmented reality logic). Vuforia uses the NDK to integrate in Android the QCAR library for augmented reality. The hardest part is talking with Java and OpenGL in C++ in different threads and work with the QCAR lifecycle because using fragments we have everything in memory and you have to release correctly every fragment (with activities is easier this part ;-))

About the news in the fair, it was very awesome new Qualcomm 800 chipsets (great performance!), Atheros 802.11AC implementation (incredible fast!), Gimbal (geofencing), Ubuntu Mobile, Firefox OS (the big think in the congress with the big promotion of mozilla guys), ...

Very recommended so we see the next year in the Mobile World Congress. We hope to see a little more about apps and software (for us the missing part).

If you need to know more about Wireless Reach and how we have used eMobc with Qualcomm technologies, we will very happy to assist you. Welcome emobbers!

February 26, 2013

Developers need programming with native mobile frameworks

Nowadays developers need to design mobile applications. There are a lot of mobile platforms, Android, IOS and new ones like the future Ubuntu Mobile or Firefox OS, so it's pretty hard to build native mobile applications.

There is a simple solution like HTML5 but if you want to warranty the user experience you need to provide a native application per platform or either implement a version for each platform in HTML5.
That is the reason because we have implemented a framework using XML. Sometimes you have to provide an abstraction like HTML but you need an implementation for each platform. For example, using Navigation Bar in IOS or Action Bar in Android.

Providing a high language or abstraction lets to use the advantages of each operating system and extend per platform faster if you have to develop a mobile application. So here is how we suggest a possible implementation like in eMobc:

Step 1: Provide a XML to represent every element / screen (for example menus, options like rotation, themes, appearance, navigation and of course the content)
Step 2: Implement a Model for each XML so you can later load the XML in the object model to store the information.
Step 3: Use a main controller and a specific controller to implement every feature or screen.
Step 4: Use a view specific in every device (Example XIB in IOS and XML layouts in Android)

If you think this approach can be useful, you can implemnt using these steps or start contributing eMobc framework or read more about embML.

Written by Alejandro Sánchez Acosta - Managing Director eMobc

About eMobc. eMobc framework is a mobile application framework to develop apps in IOS, Android and HTML using XML. If you want to donate your code of other projects to be integrated in the project or you want to ask for a project please contact us here.

February 20, 2013

How Augmented Reality can help entrepreneurs develop mobile apps?



Technologies like augmented reality can help improve mobile applications so new products or startups can offer a new experience. 

Here we have an interview where Alejandro Sánchez, CEO of eMobc explains in the end of the video how we have used Vuforia and Alljoyn with eMobc providing a new experience to the user with Geocongress application.

Augmented reality lets match image targets like logos in the sample and provide aditional information or actions, for example show comments around the brand or create a new comment, providing a comment system around the brands. Also its possible to georeference places providing in an image target where are located.

Alljoyn also lets provide peer to peer technologies so users can communicate. Its possible to create channels where you can send messages, for example a sample room for your event.

See more about Qualcomm and eMobc in the following video:

Source: http://www.qualcomm.com/media/videos/wireless-reach-spain-csev-video-english

February 12, 2013

Developers Need Frameworks And Tools To Develop Mobile Applications


Programmers and developers who wish to create mobile applications need a plethora of resources and tools to do so. The mobile industry has expanded phenomenally and there are smart phones and tablets based on various operating systems. What anyone would need to make mobile applications is a developer framework.

A developer framework or a mobile application framework as it is also referred to, offers all the resources and tools that any programmer or developer would need to conceptualize, design and create the envisaged mobile applications.

To understand the significance of a state of the art mobile application framework, one has to look at the advantages that are in offing from a developer framework.
  • A mobile application framework offers a base of all major operating systems like iOS, Android, Windows and HTML5 among others to get started with the conceptualization of the mobile applications. Without a foundation offered by a developer framework, it is almost impractical to expect a programmer or developer to get started. Having the foundations of open source operating systems or mobile interfaces, one simply has to work on the idea of the app and not the access to the system.
  • Mobile applications can be easily created if one gets a mobile application framework offering various screens to build the application. To build the app, one needs a server which can be offered by a mobile application framework. It is common for a developer framework to have numerous templates for reference. Developers can refer to them and draw inspiration, customize them or have a completely new stream of imagination to create an unprecedented app design. 
  • A mobile application framework helps developers to make mobile applications for specific platforms like the Android or iOS but the more intriguing attribute is that a developer framework can also help with launching the apps across various platforms like smart phone and tablet. 
  • Making and launching mobile applications are only half of the entire venture. Distributing the apps and having advertisements to generate revenue is as integral to making the venture a success as the creation of the mobile applications. A mobile application framework would already have integrated ad networks and various interlinked interfaces that can help one to create and push ads which can completely change the financial dynamics of the venture. 
In a nutshell, developers and programmers can actually transform their idea into reality with the help of a mobile application framework.