www.site247.co.uk is a live demo of a work in progress.

Players can create accounts, log in, and chat with each other.

So far, not much else, but it is a work in progress.  An OpenFire Jabber server handles all comms between the players and the back end game server.

Both the web interface and the server are written in Java.

Players will have to accept the security certificate – self signed – before the game will run.

My New Android Phone

My new mobile phone is a Samsung Galaxy Portal.  I chose the Galaxy Portal because at the time, it was the cheapest Android phone I could get on contract with three – It was possible to get the phone for just a few pounds more than I was already paying.

Since then, there is now a cheaper Android phone from ZTE I could have had that without any increase, so I’m interested to see how it compares to my Galaxy.

I’m happy with the Samsung, even though its costing me a little more.  One of the first things I tried with it was the Skype Client.  I Use Skype quite a lot, and on three, the free Skype calls appear to be routed through their voice network – incoming calls appear as a regular call – but even so, on the Nokia E63 I was using, skype calls didn’t quite have the same quality as regular mobile calls or pc based skype calls.  On the Galaxy, the skype calls have much better quality audio.

The Next thing I noticed (possibly because I was doing so much Skype Calling was that battery life on the Galaxy is much shorter than on the Nokia – but I have been used to the  E63′s long battery life.

Searching around, I read that leaving programs running can draw more from the battery, I’m guessing that the processor is slowed down by the Android system when its not needed.  What I couldn’t find in the Android software, was a way of seeing what was actually still running.

To the rescue came ‘Task Manager’ from Rhythm Software, it can be installed free (add supported) using Google Market.

Task Manager will Show you all of the apps and running in your phone and let you shut them off all at once – you can mark apps you want to keep running, and these wont be listed next time you use Task Manager.

Another App I picked up from Google Market is ‘IM+ Lite’ its Instant Messaging Software, but importantly for me, it will talk to any Jabber/XMPP chat server, as well as Google, Live, Yahoo etc.. Using it, I can send commands to my Router-Hardware controller that uses a php chat client to listen for commands – more on that here.

After being used to having the qwerty keyboard on the Nokia E63, it takes me a bit of getting used to the touch screen on the Galaxy Portal.  My fingers seem to be the wrong shape and size

In the Android system however, you are not stuck with the keyboard software that comes with the phone.  I tried several different keyboard apps from the market before finding ThickButtons.  ThickButtons  cleverly watches as you type and after each key, makes the buttons it thinks you might be going to use next bigger!  This works very well – for me, so far, and I’m pleased, because before I found it, I was starting to  wonder just how long I would go before having to get a Android Phone with a ‘propper’ keyboard.

Even if your fingers are the right shape and size,  you might want to check out the ThickButtons app to see if it increases your typing rate.

Both the hardware I’m using and the Internet Services available.

When I first looked at using the sweex router for hardware control, access to the router from the Internet meant opening a port on your router, and running a web server.

But today, it is possible to use a chat server somewhere on the Internet to make the link between you and your devices – or your devices and each other!

There is also Openfire a Java Chat / Jabber server that will run on just about any server you can install a Java SDK on.  Run this at one site (opening the necessary firewall ports), and you can have two way communication with hardware at any other net connected site.

As Soon as I get the time, I’ll be writing up how to flash the router from scratch with stock openwrt midge  and control its i/o ports using a Jabber / Chat client on an Android Phone.