Android and Agents

I am able to revive my interest in agent computing a bit with a few projects, especially the development of a Social Computing Room on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. The whole smart space, ambient computing thing really plays into where I see the web evolving...that is, an always connected web of people and things, with a continuous flow of information shaped by location, presence, situation, and the filtering effects of social networks.

Agents to me are the perfect interface between myself, my devices, my environment, and others around me. Agents can also play a part in mediating between my 'personal cloud', and the larger web. This mediation is two way...I may be life-blogging, sending real-time media, location reports, etc. I may also be watching for events, conditions, or proximity.

Anyhow, I am looking at setting up some agents to automate things in the Social Computing Room, so I popped out to the JADE site to see if I had the latest version, to find that they are working on a JADE agent toolkit for the Anderoid platform:

Version 1.0 of JADE-ANDROID, a software package that allows developing agent oriented applications based on JADE for the ANDROID platform, has been released. Android is the software stack for mobile devices including the operating system released by the Open Handset Alliance in November 2007. The possibility of combining the expressiveness of FIPA communication supported by JADE agents with the power of the ANDROID platform brings, in our opinion, a strong value in the development of innovative applications based on social models and peer-to-peer paradigms. See the JADE-ANDROID guide for more details

That looks really interesting, note their (tilab's) own observation about the relation of Android to social network enabled, peer-to-peer applications.

Incidentally, I note that I have crossed the 100th blog post line, so w00t!

Building the 'web of things' means breaking some eggs

I've been writing a lot about the 3D web lately, and I'm still pretty jazzed about what I've seen. Part of the appeal is the way that environments like Second Life serve as a metaphor for the merging of the physical and virtual worlds that is taking place all around us.

Anyhow, way back in the day, I was writing here about the next web, or Web3.0, or whatever you want to call it. Back in those old days, about 12 months ago, I was really thinking more about the new web, and the mobile web, like in this dusty old post. Someone had already fronted Mobile2.0 as a variant of Web3.0, in the confusing cloud of infotech talking heads.

Anyhow, one barrier to 'Mobile2.0' is the fact that networks and devices can't be ubiquitous if you can't get your cell phone to run an app or use the network you want, witness the entire iPhone hacking phenomenon. The subtext of the whole Google Android platform seems to be an attempt to smash through the walled gardens that are your typical telecom, witness the mission of the Open Handset Alliance. Anyhow, the actions of Google, and the recent announcement by Verizon that they are going to open their platform to any app and any service hint at the cracks that are appearing in the walled gardens. Does this hint at a new wave of innovation driven by the availability of an open platform? I'd think so, but at any rate, changes in the mobile space are coming, and they'll contribute to the next 'version' of the web!