Apr 21, 2008
Posted by: Kacper Sulisz, Software Developer
As you are reading this, a new peculiar application has already been sent out across the globe by Psiloc.
The application is called Psiloc What? (it's not a question, seriously...that's what we called it).
What is this all about?
We will be launching a new application in a week or two, let's call it "Psiloc C". We are polishing it off now.
It's an application we believe many people will find extremely useful.
We thought it would be nice to have fun while launching it. A sort of competition if you may. This is where "What?" comes into play.
Each day you will be able to update the status of the "What?" application. In each new status,
there will be hints on what the "Psiloc C" is made of. What purpose it serves.
Any time you feel like having a go at the competition, you can guess what according to your opinion the application is, what it's called, what it does etc.
By the end of the competition, we will pick a dozen of best/funniest/interesting guesses and send out free licences for "Psiloc C" to those people.
Go check "What?" here. We dare you! The competition is ON!
Mar 04, 2008
Posted by: Jakub Lipiński, CTO
At Psiloc, we always try to keep up to date with all the mobile software platforms. Although Symbian currently has the largest piece of the smartphone market pie, we are always looking beyond the leader. We enthusiastically welcomed the arrival of the two most recent mobile development platforms. New challenges and competition on the market mean that as a result end-users receive even better devices and software.
iPhone's success, gaining 20% of the US smartphones market and entering the Top 10 of mobile hardware manufactures within only 6 months since its launch, makes this platform very interesting from the developer’s point of view. The usability driven approach to the phone’s user interface is a big challenge for every coder. On the other hand, the Android platform attracts programmers because of the big players involved in the project and with Google in the lead.
There is no SDK for iPhone (as of March 4rd), but there are already devices on the market. There are no Android toys yet, but the SDK is already available. Despite these small obstacles we have decided to research both environments right now. Together with the Mobile Systems and Applications Research and Development Laboratory at Warsaw University of Technology we have started The Latest Mobile Technologies Laboratory, which is looking into the iPhone and Android platforms. There are currently 25 people, both from the University and Psiloc, taking part in the initiative. The group meets every other week and to share its experience regarding the achievements and pitfalls encountered during the research. It also contributes to the web-based collaboration environment helping us to keep all the knowledge in one place. If you want to join us in our struggle, please apply for membership at the laboratory discussion group.
Stay tuned for more news regarding our progress…
Jan 22, 2008
Posted by: Kacper Sulisz, Software Developer
As you are probably very well aware, in a few weeks time, comes the Mobile World Congress (formerly known as 3GSM), a Mecca for the mobile business.
If you just happen to be there, be sure to come by our stand and say hello! We would like to meet up and have a chat with you.
Psiloc will be exhibiting it's products on our few square metres on the ground floor of hall 2 at stand 2A25.
See you around!
Jan 21, 2008
Posted by: Szymon Piechowicz, Intern
Having done my last year of college, having my exams passed and my uni of choice sorted out I had the whole three months of summer holidays ahead of me. Millions of ideas orbiting my head whispering in my ear.
Being that kind of a person that always looks two steps ahead, I also knew that at some point during my studies I will have to get my internships out of the way moreover since my money wouldn't last me for all the things I wanted to do during the holidays I had to find some source of cash flow.
Thus I decided to outwit everyone and get these things done with one shot, I started looking for some summer internships in the mobile business (I always had a passion for mobility and everything that concerns mobile technologies). There were plenty of offers available through my university, unfortunately all were down to earth offers without any real practical value...downright boring to be honest. Thus I was even more motivated to start looking for an internship by myself. Shortly after sending approximately a dozen e-mails, I received a reply from Psiloc - a mobile solutions company. I always regarded mobile technologies as a sign of things to come. So an internship at Psiloc was simply an offer I couldn't refuse.
The more I dug into the subject, the more interesting the topic looked, with the biggest international giants (and I'm not only talking about the IT sector) jumping on the mobile bandwagon. Psiloc seemed like a far out place to have an internship for college graduate due to the complex projects they take on, but I gave it a shot. After something more than two weeks I was invited by the CTO to join their company for the summer period.
I was assigned to a new project, that was just being started the week I came, it was more of a research and development project at first and with internal usage in mind, that if successful, could be pushed to a wider audience. The project was however so fresh in the minds of everyone that there was still no clear vision on how the project were to look or if it will even be accepted by the mobile community.
I was responsible for the mobile (Symbian S60) client, but that’s not where it ended, I quickly got involved in the decision making process of the project internally codenamed GeoLogger … some of you today may know it better by the name of Locatik.
The idea behind Locatik was innovative in many ways. For the company extending it’s field of expertise into the ever more popular Web2.0 space was new, Locatik itself was a product like no other.
The resulting work of my summer internship in the end gave way for a completely new project at the company. Involving a team of people including frequent meetings with the company management. Today when I’m studying at my uni, whenever an opportunity is around I visit Psiloc and see what’s going on at Psiloc and how Locatik is doing. I really miss being part of that project and hope to come back for the next summer holidays for even more exciting stuff!
Good luck Locatik team!
Dec 19, 2007
Posted by: Kacper Sulisz, Software Engineer
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We are just about to release the newest Locatik version 0.91. This incorporates some changes we've made to Locatik over the past few weeks. You can read in detail about the changes in the Learn More section of www.locatik.com. However, since a picture speaks a thousand words, thus we decided to show you a sneak preview of how the new Locatik Widget thing works. Below is a widget we've embedded into our website, it shows my current position.
You can do the same on your website, just follow the next few steps to configure it for your account:
<div id='map' style='display: none; position: relative'>
<script type="text/javascript" id="LocatikWigdet" src="http://www.locatik.com/widget/locatikwigdet.js"
Login = "LocatikUser"
GoogleMapsKey = "ABQIAAAAjqkz2ar4PsujYDwDUa_-fRTGS3GA8Z0MfJHIB4MmwwFNHtl6ZhTHcEXQyNLEaztopNJMxQo5mjGqRQ"
MapWidth = "400px"
MapHeight = "400px"
MapType = "G_NORMAL_MAP"
ZoomControl = "off"
TypeControl = "off"
ScaleControl= "off"
OverviewMapControl = "off"
DefaultZoomLevel = "10"
></script>
</div>
The Map as you can see in the example is embedded in "<div id='map' style='display: none;' class='map'>" element, so you can easily use your own style sheet to change the position of the map. Just create your own CSS class named 'map' and put it in your CSS file in your service. You can also do it by using style attributes,
e.g.: "<div id='map' style='display: none; display:absolute; top:200px; left:100px'>"
The elements of this widget are explained below:
Login - This is the user that the Locatik widget will display (This obviously requires you to have an active Locatik account).
GoogleMapsKey - this is the maps key you obtain from google if you wish to use their maps. You have to get one individually for your widget, go here to learn more. The one thing you cannot forget, is that the resulting KEY IS CASE SENSITIVE.
MapWidth - this is the width of the widget you are placing on your site in pixels, you may adjust this value at will to suite your needs.
MapHeight - this is the height of the widget you are placing on your site in pixels, you may adjust this value at will to suite your needs.
MapType - the value of this property defines how your widget will look, you have several predefined options yo choose from:
- G_NORMAL_MAP displays the normal, default 2D tiles of Google Maps
- G_SATELLITE_MAP displays photographic tiles
- G_HYBRID_MAP displays a mix of photographic tiles and a tile layer for prominent features (roads, city names)
- G_PHYSICAL_MAP displays physical map tiles based on terrain information
ZoomControl - this can be either "on" or "off", determining if the zoom in, zoom out controls known from Google maps are shown on your widget.
TypeControl - this can be either "on" or "off", determining if the map types controls (Satellite/Maps/Hybrid/Terrain) known from Google maps are shown on your widget.
ScaleControl - this can be either "on" or "off", determining if the map scale is shown at the bottom of the screen on your widget.
OverviewMapControl - this can be either "on" or "off", determining if the collapsible map overview known from Google maps is shown on your widget.
DefaultZoomLevel - Each map contains a zoom level, which defines the resolution of the current view. Zoom levels between 0 (the lowest zoom level, in which the entire world can be seen in one widget) to 17 (the highest zoom level, down to individual buildings) are possible within the normal maps view. Zoom levels vary depending on where in the world you're looking, as data in some parts of the globe is more defined than in others.
Hope this explains the Widget clearly. In case you have any problems with the Widget, do let us know.