some words from technology briefcase

Finally…only for developers, the Android 2.3 platform is available as a downloadable component for the Android SDK. The downloadable platform includes an Android library and system image, as well as a set of emulator skins and more. The downloadable platform includes no external libraries.
there are many new feature but the most interesting one (i think) is thise:
Near Field Communications (NFC)
Android 2.3 includes an NFC stack and framework API that lets developers read NDEF tags that are discovered as a user touches an NFC-enabled device to tag elements embedded in stickers, smart posters, and even other devices.
The platform provides the underlying NFC services that work with the device hardware to discover tags when they come into range. On discovering a tag, the platform notifies applications by broadcasting an Intent, appending the tag’s NDEF messages to the Intent as extras. Applications can create Intent filters to recognize and handle targeted tags and messages. For example, after receiving a tag by Intent, applications extract the NDEF messages, store them, alert the user, or handle them in other ways.
The NFC API is available in the android.nfc package. The key classes are:

NfcAdapter, which represents the NFC hardware on the device.
NdefMessage, which represents an NDEF data message, the standard format in which “records” carrying data are transmitted between devices and tags. Applications can receive these messages from ACTION_TAG_DISCOVERED Intents.
NdefRecord, delivered in an NdefMessage, which describes the type of data being shared and carries the data itself.

NFC communication relies on wireless technology in the device hardware, so support for the platform’s NFC features on specific devices is determined by their manufacturers. To determine the NFC support on the current device, applications can call isEnabled() to query theNfcAdapter. The NFC API is always present, however, regardless of underlying hardware support.
To use the NFC API, applications must request permission from the user by declaring <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.NFC"> in their manifest files.
Additionally, developers can request filtering on Android Market, such that their applications are not discoverable to users whose devices do not support NFC. To request filtering, add <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.nfc" android:required="true">to the application’s manifest.
To look at a sample application that uses the NFC API, see NFCDemo.
for the full feature list take a look here: http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.3.html

Cool apps that surprise and delight mobile users—built by developers like you—are a huge part of the Android vision. To support you in your efforts, Google launched the Android Developer Challenge, which will provide awards for great mobile apps built on the Android platform.
visit the official ADC 2 website and take part to the challenge!

A new type of “Browser Customization” tool started to be a real developing tool for addons in Mozilla Firefox.

Mozilla Labs released the version 0.7 of Jetpack!
I will not explain how to use and how to install it (you could even watch video tutorial on the website) but i will show a little example of it.
Once you installed Jetpack, a special tab (about:jetpack) will appear with several tabs: a smart description, a list of installed Jetpack addons, a developing window, tutorial with some demos, memory usage monitor and api tutorial.  In tutorial tab there are examples about scripting under this API but not all are working..
Anyway, there is a script that is checking every minute how many unread mails you have in your gmail account and it shows an icon on your mozilla status bar.  I edited it a little bit and now it will show a toast notification if new mails arrived.  Here the code:
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Just only a day..don’t miss our kickoff meeting

tomorrow from 4.00 p.m. till 8 p.m.
follow us online at http://www.livestream.com/palermogtug

or join our group at  http://sites.google.com/site/palermogtug/home 

Hip Hip Hurrà! for our founder!now he is a Google Qualified Developer, look the online directory to see all details!And don’t forget the GTUG meeting in Palermo, 29 january where Francesco will speak about some Google Maps API case studies.
GTUG Palermo news

http://code.google.com/intl/it-IT/qualify/directory.html
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