I shot this quick video on the N82 in my kitchen so I apologize for the out of focus text. I think the point is still quite clear … this is a great way for anyone to enjoy Google Reader on the go!

I’m definitely switching from the standard /m site which only offers a single item at a time. This is MUCH more efficient and works well even over EDGE.

Technorati Tags: google reader, iphone, rss, mobile, nokia, nseries, n82, n800, n810

The key to solving any problem is straightforward:

This is similar to Federico Mena Quintero’s characterisation of profiling code. In fact, a surprising array of problems are suitable for attach with measure, change, re-measure, rinse, repeat.

The over-riding arc I’ve been hearing so far is “Nokia is hoarding control over the project, and aren’t doing enough to help the maemo community”. I think that’s a mite unfair, and often I get the feeling that people on the mailing list are confusing a reality where there are problems, but they are poorly characterised, and malicious intent on the part of Nokia.

Some examples:

• No, Nokia isn’t all-powerful, and can’t make Google fix Reader so it works better in microb
• Parts of the platform are restricted and can’t easily be replaced with later versions. Let’s get an explanation for that, and talk to the right person to get it fixed. Right now we don’t have the reasoning behind the decision, and that’s what’s missing in characterising the problem
• “Nokia is keeping control of the project” - what are Nokia keeping control of? Let’s identify the list of resources that would be useful to community members, and work, one by one, on seeing if Nokia is actually keeping control of them
• “The N8×0 tablets ship with proprietary components” - my priority is to ensure that you have documentation for everything possible on the tablet, but to me, there are two different things, maemo, the community project, and the N8×0 tablets, which are commercial ventures using maemo [*]

So I plan to apply this optimisation technique to various problems in maemo. For each proposal I make, I will be looking for feedback from Nokia and the maemo community to see if it is a step in the right direction.

For a start, I will be proposing policies for access to maemo resources, including maemo.org email addresses, the maemo trademark (which is of course linked to the email addresses), and any parts of the maemo platform which community members don’t feel are sufficiently open.

My goal is not to get everything open in doing this. It is to make clear the limits of the maemo project, and in this way ensure that expectations on both sides of the equation are coherent. I hope that Nokia will accept the proposals I make, but even if there are arguments against, I believe those arguments can be open, and clearly understood by all involved.

* I don’t believe that there has ever been ambiguity about this - all of the tablet which can be open is open, but some decisions to use closed components were made in the interests of product differentiation, cost and other reasons. The N8×0 is not meant to be a completely Free product (unlike the Neo1971 or OLPC, which do aim to be completely Free). What we should insist on is that someone buying an N8×0 has all of the tools they need to paperweight it with custom, non-Nokia, software, and access as much of the hardware as possible with free software.

Wow!

Its been a long time coming but it looks like Carman, the excellent car OBD-II analyzer for the Maemo platform (from the makers of Canola) is finally being developed again. After 4 months of no messages to the Carman commits mailing list this little gem appeared:

+ * Added support for new Maemo OS2008 (N8xx)

I for one can't wait until the team at Open Bossa integrate Carman, Canola and navigation into one package. From their demonstration at the Brazilian car exposition it seems that this is a proof of concept at somebodies desk already.

In other news… sorry it’s been a while. I’ve been pretty wrapped up with work and travel. More soon … have a Hava in the house and will have a report to share in the next few days.

Technorati Tags: nokia, maemo, video, conversion

Forgotten this blogging thing altogether… well, here goes:

Geoclue 0.11

Geoclue 0.11 was released. I’m fairly satisfied with it and would love
comments from application developers. Some highlights:

• Refined API. Easier to use and includes some nice additions like async-method calls (no more freezing UIs).
• Usable Master provider:
  Geoclue Master provides Address and Position data using the best available geoclue provider. Master may not be industrial quality yet, but it is IMO usable (testing is more than welcome).
  See documentation for usage examples.
• A couple of new providers:
  Gsmloc — uses a cell phone, libgammu and http://gsmloc.org to get a position. No signals though.
  Localnet — uses router MAC address and a local file to get an address. Excellent for often visited places.

Get Geoclue as a tar-ball or via git:

git clone git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/geoclue

OpenedHand is hiring

Several open positions: We’re looking for people with kernel, OpenEmbedded, GTK+, Clutter, UI design and graphic design skills (not necessarily all in the same person). Take a look.

Guadec 2008

Looks like I will be in Guadec talking about Geoclue! This will be joint operation with Iain and Bergie, and we’ll cover Geoclue, Gypsy and location-aware applications in general. I’m really looking forward to the whole event: I’ve wanted to go for a couple of years, but never really had the chance.