Hi,

I have a long background in developing for touch-screen handhelds of approximately 13 years, using either C, C++ or C#. I am now considering offering one of my Windows Mobile/WinCE products on the iPhone. The application will have to query SQL 2005. This maybe done once at the start of a working day or have to receive "in-the-field" updates through out the day. At the moment I offer either XML files for syncing or syncing SQL running on the smart device with the main business server, depending on the user environment.

I would just like to get a feel for how much porting work is going to be needed. Is anyone out there linking to SQL 2005 and what types of objects are available to handle the data/results from queries? For example, is there anything like a .net DataSet object? My applications at the moment do not conform to Windows Mobile development standards at all, all of the applications do not require a stylus, they are big simple to use buttons, easily pressed with a finger, how easy is it to implement your own owner drawn controls, buttons mainly on iPhones?

One final question, is it easy/possible to implement kiosk type applications? In some instances it will be essential that the user has NO access to any other software or functions of the iPhone, they can literally only do what my application lets them.

Thanks,
CB

PS, I hope you don't put me off, I'm itching to have an excuse to start developing for iPhones!

Lynne Spears tell-all book Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World is remarkably jam-packed with action for an evangelical book about parenting. Lynne reveals Britney started knocking back booze at 13 and, with her mom's help, tricked Justin Timberlake into thinking she was a virgin when really Britney nailed a football player at 14. The best part is: Justin fell for it! Oh, man, these Disney kids are dumb. Although, that could just be the drink. NY Daily News has the details: Alcohol!: The pop icon took a liking to booze when she was a 13-year-old Mouseketeer and began experimenting with drugs at 15. Drugs! By age 16, Britney's wild-child behavior stunned her family when she was caught with cocaine and marijuana on a private jet, Lynn Spears claims. SEX! She admits she allowed her then 16-year-old daughter to sleep with Timberlake, her Mickey Mouse Club co-star, and went along with the hoax that Britney was a virgin. Lynne Spears reveals Timberlake was misled and that Britney lost her virginity to a Kentwood, La., high school football player. I'm starting to think the title of the book should've been Through the Storm - of Shit that I Created Because I Have the Parenting Skills of a Lawnmower. I mean, Christ, what was the point of this thing? Other than to surprise us all that Britney hasn't stripped naked and hijacked a school bus yet. That was the point? Well then, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. Photo: Thomas Nelson

SAI Chairman Kevin Ryan, the globe-trotting former CEO of online ad powerhouse Doubleclick, weighs in on the Kindle debate. Also on Hulu:

I bought the kindle for my 13 year old son for our trip to india - he LOVED it. He bought 13 books, read them all, did not have to carry any of them, and we saved over $80.

Worth noting that at least in our case, we would have purchased those books at Barnes and noble for about $200 and instead spent $120 at Amazon (just in the the last 2 weeks) I have not started using it yet.

also - I really like hulu for watching jon stewart

Hmm... We can understand why your son might have TOLD you he read those 13 books on his awesome summer vacation. But did you actually SEE this voracious scholarship...or could the Kindle have sat unused in his bag?

Actually, never mind. If the Kindle turns out to be the best way ever for kids to fool their parents into think they're doing something constructive, it will be a massive global hit. Especially if Amazon can figure out a way to put a little TV tuner in there.

See Also: Amazon May Actually Have Sold a Bunch of Kindles

My latest Locus Magazine column is live: "Macropayments" explains why I don't have a tipjar: Two columns back, in "Think Like a Dandelion," I talked about the reproductive strategies employed in species where reproduction is cheap, like dandelions. Unlike humans, dandelions don’t worry about the disposition of each of their children — they only want to be sure that every opportunity for success is fulfilled, that every crack in every sidewalk has a dandelion growing out of it. It’s a damned successful strategy, for dandelions at least. You’d be hard pressed to find a lawn, no matter how carefully tended and how thoroughly poisoned, that doesn’t have a dandelion or two sprouting on it. To concretize the metaphor: I don’t care about making sure that everyone who gets a copy of my books pays me for them — what I care about is ensuring that the everyone who would pay me decent money for a book has the opportunity to do so. I don’t want to hold 13-year-olds by the ankles and shake them until their allowance falls out of their pockets, but I do want to be sure that when their parents are thinking about a gift for them, the first thing that springs to mind is my latest $20-$25 hardcover. Macropayments...