Nokia unveils the N97

Nokia has unveiled the Nokia N97, claiming it to be the world's most advanced mobile computer. The Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5" touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, providing an 'always open' window to social networking sites and Internet destinations.

"From the desktop to the laptop and now to your pocket, the Nokia N97 is the most powerful, multi-sensory mobile computer in existence," said Jonas Geust, Vice President, heading Nokia Nseries. "Together with the Ovi services announced today, the Nokia N97 mobile computer adjusts to the world around us, helping stay connected to the people and things that matter most. With the Nokia N97, Nseries leads the charge in helping to transform the Internet into your Internet".

The Nokia N97 introduces the concept of 'social location'. With integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, the Nokia N97 mobile computer understands where it is. The Nokia N97 makes it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their 'status' and share their 'social location' as well as related pictures or videos.

The home screen of the Nokia N97 mobile computer features friends, social networks and news, available by simply touching the home screen. The 16:9 widescreen display can be fully personalized with frequently updated widgets of favorite web services and social networking sites.

The Nokia N97 supports up to 48 GB of storage, including 32 GB of on-board memory, expandable with a 16 GB microSD card for music, media and more. This is complemented by excellent music capabilities, full support for the Nokia Music Store and continuous playback time of up to 1.5 days. The Nokia N97 also has a 5-Megapixel camera with high-quality Carl Zeiss optics, 16:9 and DVD quality video capture, and support for services like Share on Ovi for immediate sharing over HSDPA and WLAN.

The new device N97 is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 at an estimated retail price of EUR 550 before taxes or subsidies.

iPhone 2.2 Firmware Update Available Now - No Cut & Paste Yet

In case you don't know, the new Apple iPhone 2.2 Firmware is out today, as well as the iTunes 8.0.2 update. Go download it NOW, because the new features are impressive. I'm totally bummed there is no CUT & PASTE yet though.

Here's a list of the new features.

• Enhancements to Maps
  • Google Street View*
  • Public transit and walking directions
  • Display address of dropped pins
  • Share location via email
• Decrease in call setup failures and dropped calls

• Enhancements to Mail
  • Resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email
  • Improved formatting of wide HTML email
• Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular network)

• Improved stability and performance of Safari
• Improved sound quality of Visual Voicemail messages
• Pressing Home button from any Home screen displays the first Home screen
• Preference to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard Settings

BlackBerry Storm Review Roundup

The BlackBerry Storm, Verizon and RIM’s answer to Apple’s iPhone, reviews are in. Here's a cheat cheat of the most important ones. Is it an iPhone killer?

• Walt Mossberg. The Wall Street Journal. BlackBerry’s Storm Presses Into the Touch-Phone Fray: Mixed positive. He likes the high-res camera (which does video), the replaceable battery, the push e-mail, the ability to cut-and-paste, the corporate security features and Verizon’s 3G network — an improvement over AT&T’s. He misses Wi-Fi, however, and he’s not particularly fond of the so-called SurePress touchscreen. “The feature does provide a more reassuring confirmation that a key has been struck or an icon has been clicked than the mere visual feedback one receives from the iPhone. But neither I, nor any of the several BlackBerry addicts I asked to try it out, considered typing on the Storm’s keyboard to be very similar to using the keyboard of a traditional full-sized BlackBerry.” (link)

• Joshua Topolsky. Engadget. BlackBerry Storm review: “The selling points are easy: the phone is gorgeous to look at and hold, it’s designed and backed by RIM (now almost a household name thanks to their prevalence in the business and entertainment markets), and it’s packed with features that, at first glance, make it seem not only as good as the iPhone, but better. The only hitch in this plan is a major one: it’s not as easy, enjoyable, or consistent to use as the iPhone, and the one place where everyone is sure they have an upper hand — that wow-inducing clickable screen — just isn’t all that great.” (link)

• Daniel Dumas. Wired.com. RIM’s First Touchscreen Device Almost Eclipses the iPhone: “WIRED Click screen is a revelation for touch compatible devices. Converts iTunes to BlackBerry media without breaking a sweat. Included GSM card means the Storm is a true globetrotter - it can work in virtually any foreign port. Photos, video, and text pop like Ice Cube’s AK (on a bad day). Posh fit and finish look rich enough to buy YOU dinner. — TIRED OS lag on a piece of hardware this gorgeous is unacceptable. Scrolling through menus is jagged, slow, and pokey. Accelerometer sometimes takes a good 5-10 seconds to orient itself. Lack of Wi-Fi is lame. Verizon’s totalitarian control over the Storm’s OS is even lamer.” (link)

• Yardena Arar. PC World. BlackBerry’s Storm: Awkward and Disappointing: “The decision by Research in Motion to differentiate the Storm by giving its capacitive touch screen a mechanical component (the entire screen functions as a button for confirming selections or initiating actions) turns out to be more confusing than helpful. Ultimately, the Storm’s touch interface feels like a failed experiment. — It’s too bad, because the Storm has some nice features and makes a great first impression.” (link)

• The Boy Genius. The Boy Genius Report. Verizon BlackBerry Storm review: “The good thing is that this is, afterall, a BlackBerry, and once you get past accepting that there will be some hiccups, it’s really not all that bad. It’s a great phone, a very good device for email, a really good media player, and a decent web browsing machine. You’ll just have to decide what your priorities are in a mobile device and see if the Storms meets that.” (link)

So what do yo uthink? Is this the BlackBerry for you? Is it an iPhone killer?

Personally, until RIM/Blackberry can effectively handle multiple IMAP email accounts - including folder management - it's dead to me.

Mozilla Launches Fashion Your Firefox and Makes It Easy to Customize the Browsing Experience

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – November 18, 2008 - Mozilla today released Fashion Your Firefox®, a new Web application that enables Firefox users to customize their browser based on their interests and online activities. With Fashion Your Firefox, add-ons that fit people’s online lifestyles are organized in easy to discover ways and are available for installation in just a few easy clicks.

Fashion Your Firefox presents add-ons in activity-based categories that make them easy to find and install. Add-ons are tiny pieces of software that add new features or functionality to Firefox, letting people customize their browser to meet their tastes. There are currently more than 1 billion downloads of Firefox add-ons.

Categories in Fashion Your Firefox include:

• Shutterbug: View and share pictures and videos online
• Rock Star: Listen to music while surfing, working, emailing or researching online
• News Junkie: Get the most up-to-date news and weather
• Shopaholic: Shop and take advantage of online deals
• Digital Pack Rat: Keep track of favorite sites, bookmarks and blogs
• Social Butterfly: Share, bookmark, and e-mail web pages via an array of social networking & bookmarking sites
• Finder and Seeker: Find and make information on the Web more relevant
• Decorator: Apply browser themes
• Executive Assistant: Organize online activities

“One of the best parts about Firefox is the amazing richness of our 5,000-plus free add-ons,” said Mike Shaver, vice president of engineering at Mozilla. “We’re excited to introduce Fashion Your Firefox because it makes it even easier for people to discover useful add-ons that make the browsing experience better and more personal.”

“StumbleUpon helps millions of users discover new Web content based on their interests. With Fashion Your Firefox, we look forward to introducing personalized Web discovery to a much larger audience,” says Garrett Camp, co-founder and chief architect at StumbleUpon.

“Firefox’s robust add-ons platform allows us to create the most dynamic and intuitive media navigation experience, and we’re very excited about the mainstream potential of the 'Fashion Your Firefox' release,” says Josh Schwarzapel, a co-founder of Cooliris.

“At Foxmarks we improve the online experience for consumers by keeping bookmarks in sync and accessible across multiple computers, anytime, anywhere. Fashion Your Firefox helps us connect with Firefox users in a personalized way,” said James Joaquin, CEO, Foxmarks.

For more information about Fashion Your Firefox and how it can help customize your browser, visit www.fashionyourfirefox.com.

Steve Jobs Flipping off IBM (Pic)

Check out this great picture of Steve Jobs flipping off IBM in the mid 1980s. A rare moment captured. It looks like a picture of a picture.

Ubuntu to get prettier than OS X?

Word on the street is that Ubuntu is going to get prettified in the near future.


Well, maybe not that prettified.

From the original article:

When Mark Shuttleworth, the man behind Canonical/Ubuntu, made the comment that Ubuntu should be prettier than Apple OSX in near term I got excited - the man was absolutely right. It doesn’t matter how customizable and operating is, or how good can you make it look with some effort if it does look bad out of the box. The out-of-the-box experience is the key to reach the average users, and if that is not aesthetically pleasing a lot of effort is needed to win the user back. Interestingly Ubuntu with their orange/brown themes and very basic Gnome looks is possibly the worst looking distribution out of the major players. So here comes release 8.10, the Intrepid Ibex - a first step to the direction of making Ubuntu look good? We’ll see about that…
....
Unfortunately the Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex does not live up to it’s name. It lacks any ground braking changes, innovation in design or brave new approaches on the visuals and usability.

One of my biggest complaints with Linux is the lack of a truly streamlined desktop experience. Each developer takes their own route for user interface and "prettification". This mean inconsistent menus, strange window behaviors, and even conflicting theming options that seeming to fight each other for control. I'm not a n00b, I've been running Linux for over 8 years now.

The real problem is, to impose usability standards on applications goes against the open-source grain of exploration and creativity in problem solving. There is no Steve Jobs to force developers into doing it in any particular way, and developers don't want that either. End users are another story.

I'd also argue that "pretty" is not vital to an OS, but usable is. Therein lies the rub for me. Until Linux runs Photoshop natively, it's usability as a desktop for me is dimished. Also, OS X has the pretty interface and the BSD based functionality to make it a daily driver operating system.

That being said, all of my servers are some flavor of linux.

So for now, I'd say embrace Linux for what it is - a user-friendly distribution with serious horsepower under the hood for power users. If you haven't tried it, and you are a Windows user, you should. Immediately. For OS X users, your mileage may vary.