RSS Reader for a mobile platform Project Idea

RSS Reader for a mobile platform Project Idea

To develop an RSS reader using J2ME MIDP

Technology Used

J2ME

Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition version is a technology that allows programmers to use the Java programming language and related tools to develop programs for mobile wireless information devices such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants. 

J2ME api consists of programming specifications and a special virtual machine, the K Virtual Machine that allows a J2ME-encoded program to run in the mobile device. 
Platform

MIDP 1.0

Connected, Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) and the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) lay out the application program interface (API) and virtual machine features needed to support mobile devices.  MIDP adds to the CLDC the user interface, networking, and messaging details needed to interface with mobile devices.  MIDP includes the idea of a midlet, a small Java application similar to an applet but one that conforms with CLDC and MIDP and is intended for mobile devices. 
Software And Hardware Requirements

NetBeans IDE for J2ME

MIDP 1.0

Basic Java Enabled Phone with GPRS connectivity

Brief Project Description

RSS is a format for syndicating news websites which have content of news type websites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs.  But you can’t say this is only for news portals or websites.  We can even broke any content in small parts and then it can be syndicated via RSS technology to other places: the recent changes page of a wikipedia on internet, even the revision history of a book can be stored. 

This RSS aware program or reader is precisely what we aim to achieve, using the J2ME for MIDP 1.0, which would make it compatible with older phones as well as those present in the market today. 

The project is aimed at satisfying the following requisites:

The RSS reader must be able to bookmark sites as per the user’s requirements

When the user runs the application, the reader retrieves links to the new updates on these sites

The user then has the option of following these links to retrieve the news/information itself

Following the Software Development Life Cycle in a proper & sequential manner to include all phases of software development; including developing requirement analysis documents, developing design documents, implementation, unit testing, integrated testing and user acceptance. 
Benefits

The user never has to visit the sites to check if new information has been added

The application is highly cost effective as the GPRS connection is used economically in comparison to the scenario in which the user logs on to all the sites he/she is interested in in order to check for updates.