Planet maemo: category "feed:68a214557791eb7b58e154b2ee45d63e"

Daniel Gentleman

New Poll: Social Networking

2008-04-02 14:36 UTC  by  Daniel Gentleman
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The last poll asked:
If the tablets could be 100% reliable, faster, and more functional using up to 30% closed source components...

You answered:
It's a good thing. The tablets are awesome and they need better software. 58 (21%) It's a good thing ONLY if it doesn't impact 3rd party development. 130 (48%) It's a bad thing. The tablets were born and raised on open source. 39 (14%) It's already bad. The tablets should be 100% open. 68 (25%)

My secret motive of that post: I wanted to see how Internet Tablet users would react to Internet Tablet competitors. It's clear from developer commentary that the tablets themselves will be "as open as possible" even if they offer closed source software like Skype, Rhapsody, Canola, and more. 39% of you resist closed-source software, 48% don't mind it as long as it doesn't interfere with 3rd party apps, and 21% of you want it to "just work." More portable internet devices are trying to enter the marketplace and it'd be interesting to see how people stand on this issue. If you have a tech blog of your own that is NOT centered around the Internet Tablets, you may be interested in the results from the same poll. Let me know if you post it.

As usual, I won't draw conclusions from this poll. I'll leave it up as a topic for conversation.

This week's poll: Which Web 2.0 and/or social networking sites do you post to?
  • Twitter
  • Jaiku
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • YouTube
  • Ovi
  • Blogs
  • Flickr
  • Picasa
  • Wikipedia
  • Other
  • None
This is just a curiosity thing for me. I want to know where my readers make content of their own. As usual, visit http://tabletblog.com/ directly to vote. Thanks!

Categories: web2.0
Daniel Gentleman

The press release is finally posted!

Excerpt from the marketing talk:
"By delivering the kind of open Internet experience that consumers previously only expected on a desktop PC, the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition is a compelling example of how next generation broadband wireless technology will not only change the way people think about the Internet, it will change the very nature of the Internet itself," said Ari Virtanen, Vice President of Convergence Products for Nokia.

The press release also says:
The Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition is expected to be available in the United States during the summer of 2008 in areas where WiMAX connectivity is available.

As for myself - I can't wait to see it in action. The device is now on nseries.com too. They call it N810 WME int he URL, so I'll start calling it that too.

Current Internet Tablet users have something to look forward to as well:
Also being introduced with the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition is the newest Internet Tablet operating system. This new upgraded OS2008 introduces useful new features to the platform, including an enhanced e-mail client, support for Chinese character rendering in the browser and RSS feeds and Seamless Software Update functionality to eliminate manual software updates, making periodic updates of the operating system quick and easy. While standard on the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition, current owners of Nokia N810 and N800 Internet Tablets with earlier operating systems will be able to upgrade their device to the revised operating system for free during the second quarter of 2008.

Categories: N810 WiMAX Edition
Daniel Gentleman

Greetings from CTIA! Actually I am not at CTIA (I wish!) but, thanks to Monsoon Multimedia, I have had the opportunity to play with a preview of the newly announced HAVA Player for the Nokia N800 and N810 Internet Tablets. I have to say - I can't wait to make this a permanent fixture in my home. Before we look at the Nokia Internet Tablet HAVA player, let's get some questions out of the way.
Click to read 858 more words
Categories: video
Daniel Gentleman

No more Linux

2008-03-31 17:24 UTC  by  Daniel Gentleman
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For very unusual reasons, I have decided to give up Linux blogging. If you're betting, put the odds at 364:1. I explain the details over at ultramobilegeek.com.

Categories: humor
Daniel Gentleman

Updating my link list - submit yours!

2008-03-31 14:49 UTC  by  Daniel Gentleman
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I am creating a new link list of friendly blogs. Mine is woefully out of date. Here are some I am going to add. Suggest more?

Always included are:

Categories: community
Daniel Gentleman

Great job, Krisse! Krisse found that there are "official" product images up even if the spec sheets are not. I guess we don't have to wait until April 1 to hear the news.

Airport blogging now. More later.

Categories: speculation
Daniel Gentleman

My N800 got stoned

2008-03-26 18:38 UTC  by  Daniel Gentleman
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I mentioned that my N810 took a trip to Amsterdam with a friend. Well - some things happen in Amsterdam, as shown by the photo above.

He told me Wayfinder was precious to him on the trip even though that device was not upgraded to include the route navigation. I haven't retrieved the device from him yet - but I will make sure I clean it up well when I do. Clearly, I (and Nokia and Wayfinder) do NOT endorse drug use. I will say that a good GPS and internet tablet could be very handy if you find yourself (legally) baked out of your gourd in a foreign country.

Reminder: Wayfinder is still hosting a contest in which a sweet Sony VAIO laptop and more prizes in a video competition. Has anyone tried their Facebook application yet? I want to but only three of my friends in Phoenix have Internet Tablets and it's hard to coordinate a test of this with them.

Categories: N800
Daniel Gentleman

Going to visit Nokia

2008-03-26 18:11 UTC  by  Daniel Gentleman
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Tomorrow afternoon, I am hopping a flight to Dallas to participate in a Lunch and Learn session with Nokia. Except for my flight and hotel information, that's literally all I know about the trip.

One thing I do know: I've never had a meeting with Nokia that I did not enjoy. Next post will be from Dallas!

Categories: Nokia
Daniel Gentleman
Techlogg just announced that Rockpod 08 Lite now has N800 (and N810, by inheritance) and N95 compatibility. I am in the middle of some other articles now and have yet to try it. Readers: Anyone want to give it a go and report on results?

Categories: video
Daniel Gentleman

Closed source poll clarification

2008-03-25 11:59 UTC  by  Daniel Gentleman
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Yesterday's poll got some attention. I wasn't exactly clear on what I meant by the poll. I was simply asking users if they'd be OKAY with closed source components being added IF they made the functionality better and more stable. It's a pure hypothetical.

I'm going to post Quim Gil's comment here:

Hi, I'm sorry to tell this poll doesn't make much sense. "Reliable, faster, and more functional" are not qualities of closed source software... nor open source. There is good software and there is bad software, and in fact openness has helped a lot of open source components to be reliable, fast and functional to industry levels. This is why Linux and many other OSS components are used in the maemo stack.

Let's cut those rumors about more closed source coming to maemo. Can someone point to a source telling something sensible about this? Wasn't Ari Jaaksi saying few days ago in OSiM USA that Nokia wants to dive deeper in its relationship with the Open Source community? (Stefan already points to the link in the first comment of this thread).

I'd find much more interesting a poll asking about the currently closed components people (specially developers) would like to see opensourced. See my last comment at http://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1584

Even better than polls are good reasons to opensource a closed component (owned by Nokia - Skype and Canola are out of the maemo game: ask their developers). For instance, Intel/Ubuntu had good reasons to have Hildon Input Method framework open since they needed this for their platform development and the component was open.
Indeed - the poll is only topical because some people left Nokia and because there is speculation why. It is not a reflection of the reality of the situation - just a conversation. Thanks to everyone for the comments so far. Keep them coming - this is a good conversation topic.

Categories: polls
Daniel Gentleman
Following Nokia's mention that Microsoft Silverlight will come to Internet Tablets, I reached out to Microsoft's PR department asking if someone wishes to discuss what it means to tablet users.

Their PR department was very fast in responding and following up, but the response was not what I had hoped for:

Thank you for your patience as I looked into your request. I have connected with my colleagues and learned, unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate your interview request at this time. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

We do want to offer the attached reviewer's guide and encourage you to visit www.silverlight.net for more information on Microsoft Silverlight.

We hope that in the future, we will able to assist with any requests you may have. I know that you specified that you did not have a hard deadline on your request and I have shared this with my appropriate colleagues should an opportunity present itself to arrange an interview.

I will continue to cover this unperturbed. If we all have to wait for it, then we all have to wait. After all - Silverlight still needs people USING it first, right?

Categories: Silverlight
Daniel Gentleman

OSNews takes on the N810

2008-03-24 12:56 UTC  by  Daniel Gentleman
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Eugenia posted a look into the N810 and compares it to the N800. Also are comparisons between Internet Tablet OS 2007 and OS2008.

She covers strengths and weaknesses as well - including a problem she and I tried to root out with h.264 videos. Everything I convert with the Internet Tablet Video Converter works fine. Some things I convert with my Elgato turbo.264 work but the tablet chokes on high bit rates.. Downloaded files are a gamble.

Overall, she gives the tablet an 8/10. I agree with her gripes about Internet Tablet OS changes breaking previously-ported applications. Her luck with the GPS module surprises me - Most users I've talked to (including myself - I talk to myself a lot) have had problems getting satellite locks.

Also note: My video overview of the N810 is posted in there. If you want to re-post any of my stuff, just let me know you did it. I try not to be overzealous of protecting my content unless it is reproduced in whole or without credit. On a few occasions, my content has been reproduced in whole but translated to another language and I am OK with that too as long as there is a link/credit to the original article. Most of my YouTube videos have the credit in the opening titles, so have at them.

Categories: reviews