18 posts tagged “nokia”

Now here's a thing. Nokia PC Phone. What is it? Well, it's an extension for Firefox. Basically, you connect your phone then you can use it from the browser. (You don't need PC suite installed, at least I don't think so).

It underlines phone numbers on web pages, which you can click to phone. Kind-of like the Skype/Gizmo extensions, but you'll be using your Nokia instead. It will also pop up when you get a call/text, allowing you to take/reject the call. Handy for meetings, if you put your phone onto silent.

Nokia PC Phone (for Firefox) beta

The folks over at DivX are feeling all festive, and so, in the spirit of the season, you can download the full version of DivXpro for a limited time.

Just head on over there, download it, enter your email addy when you install it, and they'll send you a serial number (you usually have to pay for this).

If you don't know what DivX is, then ignore this. Otherwise, run over and grab it!

(hint for Nokia users: if you install the DivX mobile player, or the CorePlayer, you can convert your dvds/movies to a perfect mobile copy by setting the DivX converter to "mobile". This gives you a brilliantly clear and crisp 320x240 copy. I've used both those players, and found the actual DivX player to be better quality than the Core One. Besides, the DivX mobile player is free)

DivXpro is Windows/Mac compatible

In contrast to the N-Series PC Suite I wrote about last week, yesterday Nokia  launched the latest version of the plain 'ole PC Suite, v6.85. And it's brilliant, imo.

They've totally redesigned the interface to be more in keeping with the N-Series Suite interface, although it's smaller and to the point. Like it. Also, your text messages now show up on a pane inside the interface, and you can click on them to read/reply. Nice. Don't know whether you get message notifications in a toaster/Growl type pop-up, because no-one has texted me yet. Aaaanyhow...

The whole thing runs faster, and works brilliantly on Vista. Remember I was complaining about the HUGE package that the N-Series suite installed? Well, PC Suite is small and lean in comparison, and just does the syncing/backup stuff I need. So well done Nokia. In the future, I'd like to see the N-Series Suite copy PC Suite, rather than the other way around. Or maybe the best of both worlds, which is what PC Suite is at the moment.

Download PC Suite 6.85 from the usual place.

While we're on the subject of Syncing, I came across a really nice piece of freeware yesterday too. Fonebook is a program to sync your Outlook and Facebook contacts (with a couple of caveats). You run the app, and log into Facebook. It will then download your friends list, open your Outlook contacts, and compare them. Where it finds matches, it grabs the information about that person from Facebook (user pic, birthday, about me etc) and puts it in your Outlook. For people on your Facebook friendslist who aren't in your Outlook, it gives you the option to create Outlook contacts for them. BUT.. and here is the problem.. the software can't copy phone numbers and email addresses from Facebook. It's part of Facebook's current TOS, and mostly based on security/privacy concerns. So if you do decide to create Outlook contacts from your Facebook friends, you will need to go in and manually enter email/phone details for them, one by one. Still, once you've done that, they will automatically get synced next time, with the latest user pic etc. All good.

You have the option of not syncing certain people (if a contact has a picture of a dog on their Facebook pic, you may not want that as their contact pic in Outlook). Also, if you remained signed in to Facebook inside the program, you can schedule it to automatically sync, say weekly or whatever. Brilliant. You can then just sync your Outlook with your Nokia and all your contacts on t will have pics. Very nice.

Download Fonebook from here (Windows only)

Nokia have released a new beta of their N-Series PC Suite 2. This is the next generation of their existing PC Suite, completely redesigned. Looking good.

Now for the downside. Apparently, it weighs in a 600 meg installed. Half a gig? Yup.

Here's what I use PC Suite for: syncing my phone with Outlook. Period. Do I really need to install 600 meg of bloat just to sync with Outlook? When similar software to sync to other services weigh in at a couple of megabytes at the most. All I want to do is sync my phone and Outlook at the end of the day, and go. Can't see a network manager being too happy about all the machines in the office suddenly filling up with huge bloaty suites.

I don't need Windows Media player, Lifeblog, Photo editors, Video editors, etc. I have them already. All I want is the sync. Thing is, is there any alternative?

Adobe just announced they are updating their flash player with h.264 and 3gp movie support. Fantastic. Before you all fall asleep, these formats are

1) h.264 (MP4) is the same format iTunes sells videos in
2) 3GP is the format previously/commonly used to take video on cellphones (before h.264)

So instead of your flash page just linking to and playing FLV movie files, you will now be able to link to and stream mp4, m4v, m4a, mov and .3gp video too. Its also supporting the iTunes "standard" for metadata, something I wish other companies would do *cough*Nokia*cough*

Does this mark the beginning of the end for Flash Video? It would seem like it to me, even though it is a good format, h.264 has the edge, so why not go with that? Imagine, places like YouTube won't have to convert your video into Flash format (losing quality) - you can upload an MP4 straight from your cameraphone, and it will get played as-is.

This seemingly boring technical announcement opens up a whole world of possibility - WebVideo 2.0 :p

source

Handy little program this : plus music fixer. You install it on your Nokia, and then it will fix all the tags on iTunes ripped/iTunesplus files so they show up correctly in the Nokia player. You DO need to install Python on your Nokia too, but its worth it. Just ran it against 100+ tracks that were showing up as "Unknown Artist", and now they're all showing up correctly. Wicked.

Word of warning - make sure you're running this on duplicates, not your original files. But 99% of the time the music on your Nokia will just be a copy of the music on your hard-drive anyhow, right?

This looks interesting. Hewlett–Packard have released an early preview of mscape for mobiles. Now, what this is is kind-of hard to figure out, but I'll have a go.  Ever walk around Stonehenge, with those headphones on, telling you the story of the place? Well, think that, but globally.

For example, one guide is called Riot 1831. As you walk around Queens Square in Bristol,you can "listen to the everyday stories and accounts of the rioters who protested in in that actual square for three days in 1831." Awesome for tourists, who often go to places , just sit there and grin while they have their photos taken, because they have no idea why the place is famous, just that its a landmark. Now, extend this to smaller, non-famous events, little snippets of local lore and history, and you have a powerful tool.

All the content will be user generated, from what I gather. You download the toolkit, go outside and take video, photos, put it all together and upload it. Guided tour of your local park? Make one. Five mile trek across the Brecon Beacons? Make one. Because everything is geotagged, people will only get the relevant information depending on where they are. And herein lies the stumbling-block, from what I can tell.

Firstly you need a GPS capable cellphone.. something like a Nokia N95. I'm sure future offerings from all companies will include a GPS system, but at the moment it's high-end phones costing high-end money.

Secondly, bandwidth. Do you download these guides BEFORE you set off for a place? That would limit its usefullness - really you would need to be able to access these on-demand, which means downloading them when needed, straight to your phone. Is that practical, even with 3G?

Full marks to HP though for taking mobile technology in new (and damn useful) directions. We'll have to wait and see if the actual mobile technology is able to keep up with their vision though.

A few posts ago I was wondering why there were only two Twitter clients for mobile phones, and why they didn't work. Well, since then two more have appeared:

Twibble - For Nokia N95s - post Twitters as well as your location based on GPS. Apparently it will work as a regular Twitter client on non-N95s. Have to try this one

Twitter Mobile - you go here from your mobile browser, and twit away. Plus points for working on any phone.

Also, Vox are also getting in on the Twitter action. You can't post a chirp from Vox yet, or have your Twitter feed on your Vox page, but give it time...

I had a parcel today, all the way from Finland. The Nokia PC Suite team sent it to me for beta-testing PC Suite on Vista. (Well, not just me, all the testers probably got them). A nice N-Series cap, a towel with "Nokia PC Suite" embroidered onto it (bizarre, but everyone needs a towel lol), and a tie. You know what, I didn't actually own a tie until today. The last time I wore one was at a funeral about 15 years ago. Guess I'll store it away for the next funeral hehe (as long as its not MINE eek!)

Anyhow, thanks Nokia! I would have prefered a new phone, but beggars can't be choosers ;). At least my new Nokia hat will keep the sun off (see last post)

This is good : enhance your photos using classical art.

The sun is out in force, and i've come out in red lumps. I think I'm allergic to it.

Off to vote in the Welsh elections now. Where's me sunscreen?

and as much as I am a Nokia fan, photos taken with the Sony Ericsson K800i are bloody awesome.