Mike_P

Just in case folks here haven't seen the other thread, the javascript enabled browser from www.skyfire.com allows me to kibitz with my Sprint Touch Diamond (Windows Mobile 6.1) smartphone. May be the answer for many of you for whom a downloadable version is available. -- Mike

Ah, this may be a breakthrough. :D I have a pretty capable smartphone (Sprint Touch Diamond) that apparently does not support javascript. The skyfire browser mentioned above seems to enable javascript sites and I can now indeed kibitz on my cellphone. Life is worth living again. :) Many thanks for the heads-up on this. Having said that, with my relatively high screen resolution (but small real estate) I can't quite change the card sizes and hand spacings just right, so it's still pretty awkward to see everything at once without some scrolling around.... but just a little appropriate squishing from the server side (or options for us to do it) would make this just perfect. -- Mike

I know this topic comes up periodically but thought I'd check again on what's available nowadays. I just ordered a new Diamond Touch (Windows Mobile 6.1) with legitimate VGA screen (640x480) and am wondering what my options are -- a quick initial google search shows the newly updated Omar Sharif as well as a couple of flavors of Bridgepower for the PocketPC. Anyone know of any others and have any experience with any of the available programs? I know they are not nearly as good as virtually any human, but I still wonder if anyone has any favorites in terms of graphics, gameplay, user interface, etc. And, of course, the wonderful screen on the Diamond Touch makes me wonder again whether there are reasonable BridgeBase applications, even if only for kibitzing. Of course, once I receive the device I can experiment a bit on this. Any comments/inputs? -- Mike

Thanks everyone. And as for Frances Hinden, I assume everyone is aware of this: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...757C0A962958260 -- Mike

No, I meant "compact disc." :P Sorry, I meant "director," "contest director," or "bridge director," or whatever the proper name is. I told you we were casual and clueless. -- Mike

...between my regular partner and I. This one should be easy for you guys. We play mostly offline and in easygoing non-sanctioned duplicate events, so I suppose this problem doesn't come up that often. The question, briefly, is: Is any deviation in bidding from what appears on the convention card grounds for a CD call and possible penalty? If I open a 4 card major but convention card says 5 card majors, am I subject to CD call? If I decide I need to open 1NT with 18 points, and our convention card says 15-17 am I subject to a CD call? When my partner alerts "15-17" and I don't "correct" her, am I subject to a CD call? If we play standard SAYC, and I have a complete mental breakdown and open 3S with 18 points and 5 spades (resulting in either a terrific or awful outcome), am I subject to a CD call? My partner claims that anytime you don't strictly follow your convention card, you are subject to a challenge and penalty. It seems to me that, presuming that you and your partner have no previous hidden agreements (and are therefore cheating), you are free to make whatever cockamamy bid you want, regardless of what cards you're holding, as long as there are no hidden agreements and your partner is as confused as everyone else. If this is not true, then it seems to me that the bidding process is based not on skill and a sense of context, but instead on who has the best memory to successfully navigate through complex, byzantine bidding systems. -- Mike

Hmm... I assumed the answer was going to be a quick and simple "no," but maybe it's more complicated than that.... ?? -- Mike

Sorry, still a little confused. I bought the commercial CD of GIB for about $80 some time ago, not realizing that it was not being actively supported. Thus, I didn't use it much and bought other bridge software. Is there some sense in which my local copy of GIB can be used in conjunction with BBO in some way? -- Mike

There are also apparently some 3rd party flash players for Palm O.S. I've got a Palm based Treo 700p and would love to find a way to make BBOFlash mobile. Anybody manage to cobble together any kind of capability on this family of smart phones? -- Mike

Ah-h-h-h ............ the last great frontier............

The new client looks good and I'm sure will be terrific in no time, given Fred's history of excellence. However, I still don't get the point. If this is to increase the user base by making the client not system or OS dependent, and not requiring users to maintain/update their resident BBO software, than I'm all for it -- what's good for BBO is good for me. :) But I don't mind the appearance or functionality of the current client, I run Win XP, and I am not overwhelmed running the occasional update. What aspect of this new thing should excite me? :) -- Mike

Agreed. Maybe this can be a portal into BBO for the PDA/Smartphone folks. As a Treo/Palm user my browser is Blazer but can run Opera. But don't need no steenkin' Java.

Why assume that? Because people would inevitably tend to evaluate their opponents as a pair and (out of laziness if nothing else) would tend to rate them identically. This leads to people declining partnerships for fear they will be "dragged down" by opponents' ratings of the pair.

I assume you're suggesting that one would only be given the opportunity to rate one's partner, not either or both of the opponents.....

What a great game. Where else can you get your feelings hurt pretty much continuously? ;)

So true...... Depending, of course, on whether you approach it as an existing market to be exploited or a potential market to be developed.

Which is true of course for everything bridge related. It's interesting. Getting this thing a week or so ago has awakened my inner geek ;) and I find myself exploring the zillion sites that cater to this phenomenon. There you'll find -- primarily young people, both male and female -- outfitting their Blackberrys/Smartphones/PDA's with all the latest doodads such as utilities and skins and games, etc., etc. There is an enormous amount of online chatter about what's the latest widget, coolest game, most useful utility, etc. There is considerable interest in multiplayer online gaming with handhelds, and there are still relatively few titles available. The point is -- there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of primarily young professionals sifting through the downloadable software sites every day looking for nifty applications. I think a BridgeBase-like application appearing on those download sites would provide more visibility to the game in a week than it gets nowadays in a decade. -- Mike

With respect to #1: I tend to agree although there's a good deal of pretty short sessions going on in BBO as it is, I think. Also, online play isn't even the strongest application here. What is much more appropriate for handhelds (and what I'd give my right arm for) is the ability to do things like kibitz, follow live lessons, watch live vugraphs and archives, access online content, use the rich library of free (LTPB for ex.) and for-fee offline content with a handheld application that is a Palm version of the Bridgebase display engine, etc. With respect to #2: Oh, I don't know, it's amazing what a little creativity can do. Have you seen the latest Omar Sharif Bridge for the Palm? The display and UI is really quite adequate, almost elegant. As for your grandmother, I'm sure she is a nice lady (don't forget to wish her a great mother's day!) but she is NOT the future of the game. ;) With respect to #3: I get your point. However, I must say that as long as the bridge community shares a general view that there's no room for technology or innovation because the old bridge players will never use it, the game will continue to decline.

Just got a Treo 700p smartphone (Palm OS) and love it. Can do absolutely everything on it (phone, surf the web, email, mp3 player, take pictures, show photo's, watch movies, e-books, audio books, podcasts, streaming video's, play reasonably entertaining bridge and other games, etc., etc., etc.) and can take it with me everywhere. What I can't do is access BBO, either for online play or to access my paid content. I hope some thought has been given to accommodating this user class which is, by the way, taking over the world! It's not like there's an insufficient user base. :) -- Mike

Geoff, Interesting observations, I'm a little surprised I haven't seen more comments along these lines from other online newcomers. I think it's the nature of the beast. I think an unfortunate characteristic of all the online sites is that, since the automation (an infernal kind of deus ex machina) takes care of all the collecting of cards and shuffling and dealing, etc., there is no downtime, no time to relax or chat. It's like drinking out of a fire hydrant -- the instant the last card is played, the new hand comes down and, if it's your bid, you can almost hear the fingers drumming in the background to get on with it. And yes, it's terribly efficient, but it can be terribly sterile. I find it pretty off-putting, but don't know a good solution. -- Mike

Thanks! That helps. -- Mike

I was the last on my block to ditch the old CRT monitor and get a new, 1600 x 1200 LCD which gives me a super sharp, high resolution screen. Love it. However, this tends to make the BBO display pretty small and tough for old eyes to see. Popular applications such as Firefox provide immediate and real time control of font size using the CTRL key and middle mouse scroll button and other applications (such as Jack) seem to be able to automatically readjust the display size appropriately no matter what resolution setting I have on my desktop. Everytime I invoke the BBO software (which is a lot), I find I have to go through the Desktop "properties/settings/screen resolution - 1024 x 768 pixels/Do you want to keep these settings - yes" dance so the screen is sized so I can see it, and then do the reverse dance to return to other applications. Not a really big thing but getting to be more and more of a nuisance particularly as I suspect much of the planet has now graduated from the old 800 x 600 standard. Haven't seen this comment before -- perhaps I'm missing something.......... Nonetheless, great site, great software, a great asset to the bridge community. -- Mike

Nickf -- thanks for the input. These things represent a very small market but I'm surprised I'm finding so little user feedback on the net anywhere -- difficult to determine real differences in capability, although .pdf's of the 311 and 610 manuals are available online. The 610 is physically bigger and presumably more capable, with a larger screen which I suspect can show 4 hands at a time as opposed to 2 for the 311. On the other hand, the 610 seems to be at least a couple years older, which is eons with today's technology. The 311 seems to be a recent upgrade to the 310, and is the one the manufacturer has chosen to label the "World's strongest hand-held bridge computer," and is the only one Barclay has seen fit to put in their recent catalog. I suppose I'll try giving both Saitek and Barclay a call for further info, but would welcome any additional comments here... -- Mike

This hand-held bridge playing computer (sold by Baron Barclay and others) is tempting. Anyone have any first hand experience? I'm sure its bidding and play is not terrific but then neither is mine. Something you could pull out of your pocket for drill at odd moments could be fun. Any comments on whether its screen display or interface is good, ok, or awful? Other strengths/shortcomings? Alternatives? Thanks, Mike

Just an observation or two on these discussions from those on the other side of the mirror -- the newcomers and novices and rehabilitated kitchen table bridge players such as myself: It seems to me that the game of bridge is very unique in terms of its demographics -- there is no bell curve of experience/skill as is found in most other activities. Even at your local church basement with 12 tables of relatively informal non-sanctioned duplicate bridge, 90% of the population will be over 50 years old, and 90% of them will have been playing for at least 30 years. To the newcomer, that's pretty intimidating and not very welcoming, no matter how nice the folks are. The competitive environment is simply not appropriate. It's no wonder that so few people are willing to fight their way into this magnificent game -- that's nobody's fault, that's just the way it is. The on-line community mirrors the FTF environment almost perfectly. Most discussions are related directly or indirectly to buffering the existing experienced player base against substandard play, of protecting against beginners/intermediates inflating their stats, etc. Sheesh. I think there is a silent population of beginners out here whose major goal is to find a low-level, non-threatening, out-of-the-way hole in the ground where they can learn the game and not feel they are holding everyone up. That's what we're rooting for in this discussion. (I should add here that the BIL club is a magnificent contribution in this regard.) OKBridge is probably another example of this sort of thing. Although it offers a rating system, it is apparently a kiss-of-death to rate oneself below "intermediate" and so absolutely no one ever does, leaving a proliferation of "unknowns." That is not helpful to a newcomer, so I for one have never used the facility despite the substantial subscription fee. This is not a whine, just some philosophical musings and pontifications while I drink my morning coffee. My underlying point is that in dreaming up stratification criteria, protecting the newcomer should be just as important as protecting the established base. This is a great site, if anyone can do it Fred can, and it is of course always true that you need to develop a bit of a thick skin to progress in this game, but...... just saying..... -- Mike