Our latest mobile application is called ecohero™.  Do you have a great idea for a green or eco-conscious mobile application?  We are looking for a few great micro-applications to distribute in conjunction with ecohero.  Whether you have an existing green application or a green website that you think would be perfect in a mobile application we want to talk to you.  Click the contact tab and give us a shout and become part of the ecohero team!

Our team is growing and to celebrate we have a new logo and a new
website.  Out with the old, in with the new.  The site still needs some
work, but it is getting closer.  What do you think?

Android is gaining serious ground in the smartphone market. RIM, Windows Mobile and Palm have all seen double digit declines in share. Android is presently #5 in total smartphone traffic – on a single carrier – T-Mobile. Look for Android and iPhone dominating 75% of the market by the end of 2010. [via Eric Schonfeld]

Occasionally people will express amazement about how much stuff we are accomplishing here at Big In Japan with our small team. I’ve been a member of plenty of small teams before, but there is definitely something special about working here that I haven’t experienced anywhere else.

I believe that what it boils down to is a rare combination of synergy and passion. Everyone here at Big In Japan loves what they do and wants to be the very best at it.

At some point in my programming career I became seduced with the idea of doing development on resource constrained devices.  Developing for a limited platform seemed, perhaps oxymoronically, liberating (but that’s a whole other blogpost) .  When Android hit the scene, I was instantly fascinated by the idea, and as soon as the first Android campfire was announced at Google’s Mountain View campus, I booked a ticket.  For me, this was the coder equivalent of camping out for a Star Wars premier. I wanted to be first in line and not miss a single thing. Truth be told, I didn’t get much practical information out of the event itself, but what I did get was a huge dose of enthusiasm that I took home with me and poured into my early projects. This is what I wanted to do, and here at Big In Japan, I get to do it every day.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve learned a lot about what I’m good at, but more importantly, I’ve also learned what I’m not good at. Everyone has areas where they can improve, and in my opinion, the best way to improve a skill in anything is by rubbing shoulders with those who already posses that skill.

I’m a complete introvert, which is not an uncommon trait for engineers who spend the majority of their time wrestling with lines of code in silent isolation.  In a room full of strangers, I feel about as comfortable as a deer hunter wearing a buckskin cap at a PETA conference.

In the business arena, networking skills are critically important. I didn’t realize just how important, until I witnessed Alex Muse in action at  some of the SpringStage happy hour events.  The way the guy can move through a crowd of entrepreneurs and investors reminds me of a chessmaster taking on 10 opponents simultaneously with seemingly no effort.  He’s opened so many doors for our company, voiced more great ideas than I can keep track of, and has worked tirelessly to get us where we are today.

When it comes to software design, the importance of a good UI is not to be under-estimated. I took one photoshop course in college, and my highlight achievement was when I managed to superimpose a gold-suited Elvis onto a red couch.  Lucky for me, my teacher turned out to be an Elvis fanatic, so I got an A. At Big In Japan, luck isn’t part of the equation.  We’ve got Rylan Barnes, who not only is the originator of ShopSavvy, but has a largely unheralded talent for UI design that I’ve rarely, if ever, seen from a developer.  His dogged insistence that we have a solid and simple user experience pays off huge dividends.  Oh yeah, and did I mention he’s a damn good programmer too?

Mark Twain defined synergy as the bonus that is achieved when things work together harmoniously, and that is exactly what working at Big In Japan feels like.  Working with these guys is inspiring, it makes me want to work harder and push through limitations, and that’s really the secret mix behind our success, the subtle re-enforcement we give to each other that keeps allowing us to take things up another level.

Many of you have asked how to update ShopSavvy on your G1.  It is very easy.  Simply go the Android Market and select ‘My Downloads’ and then select ShopSavvy.  Click on the update button and presto you have updated ShopSavvy.  Here is a short video explaining how to do it:

According to an article in Cnet ‘Android sales to outstrip iPhone by 2012!“  More than a million G1s have been sold in the UK according to Telefonica Europe.   Awesome – we are betting they are right.

For those of you who don’t like to read I recorded a short video explaining the features available in Gigan:

Only a month later than promised, we are pleased to announce Gigan will be available today!  MG Sigler has a great post regarding the release on VentureBeat titled, “ShopSavvy perfects its Android app with better location and barcode scanning.“  Specifically the Gigan release offers:

1. Skyhook integration (better and faster location)
2. Faster barcode scanning (new scanning library)
3. Stealth barcode scanning modes (beep, vibrate or silent)
4. Menu shortcuts (visual indicator to indicate Menu tab contains data)
5. Privacy settings (turn off location)
6. Sharing features including Twitter and Facebook

Gigan follows our Mothra release back in January.  Each of our releases are named after opponents of Godzilla.  Gigan is a daikaiju from the Godzilla series, introduced in the 1972 film Godzilla vs. Gigan. Gigan is a cybernetic monster sporting a buzzsaw weapon in its frontal abdominal region and large metallic hooks for hands. Gigan is sometimes considered Godzilla’s most brutal and violent opponent, and has a large fan following (including Godzilla: Final Wars director Ryuhei Kitamura) despite the generally perceived low quality of its first two films. Its new designs for the Millennium series was praised by many and ranked among fans as the best improvements to a daikaiju.