Mgestyk’s system-wide camera control system looks fun, but FluidTunes, a simple program that lets your toss around your iTunes library via your iSight, has two important things that it doesn’t: free-ness and out-now-ness.
Available now as a free universal binary, FluidTunes is a simple creature; despite what looks to be a solid gesture recognition engine, it can only control iTunes, and only in a specific Coverflow mode. Still, if all you want to do is indulge your moderately lame futuristic interface fantasy for a few minutes, well, FluidTunes can probably grant you that. [Cult of Mac]
Apple is hoping to boost the industry (and presumably user) adoption of the DisplayPort technology by licensing its own, proprietary take on the standard, the Mini DisplayPort found on the new unibody MacBooks and the 24" Cinema Display. And best of all, the license will be free.
It’s easy to see why. Apple is often early to the game with what it sees as superior technology, but it doesn’t always mean that that tech will become widespread (AAC audio, anyone?) Freely licensing the rather well appointed mini version of DisplayPort should not only make Apple’s invention a viable standard, it also means that MacBook owners will be able to buy third party monitors that actually work with their notebooks.
DisplayPort has a few advantages over DVI. First, it is two-way, like Apple’s power-hungry ADC connector. This means that it can talk back to the computer, allowing such UI niceties as brightness controls on the keyboard. Interestingly, DisplayPort could also be used as a high-bandwidth video-in for the computer, which could go some way to quelling the fuss about Apple abandoning that other connection standard, FireWire 400.
It’s early so you’re probably not really officially working yet so ease into the day with this wee video of Apple getting an OD of The Simpsons’ treatment.
Apple is no stranger to having The Simpsons taking pot shots at its products and ‘ethos’, but for whatever reason, the weekend show in the US brought out the heavy artillery for a full on bombardment of Apple Stores, customers, designer chic, products, Steve Jobs, lifestyle guru-ness [I know it’s not a real word] – you name it, it was all fair game.
Twenty-four hours after teasing us with news of a major product announcement, Nokia officially took the wraps off its mystery smartphone on Tuesday at the Nokia World 2008 conference in Barcelona, Spain. And despite some close guesses, no one got it quite right, so without further ado, let us introduce you to the Nokia N97.
Part of the company’s high-end N series of multimedia computers, the N97 trumps all previous models with a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard and a tilting 3.5-inch touch screen (anyone else reminded of the AT&T Tilt or Sony Ericsson Xperia X1?). Yes, there’s the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, but the N97 includes phone capabilities and is designed for the “needs of Internet-savvy consumers.”
For example, the smartphone provides easy access to a number of social-networking sites, and the Web browser supports streaming Flash videos. The N97 also introduces something Nokia calls “social location,” which uses the capabilities of the integrated A-GPS sensors and electronic compass to automatically update users’ social networks, or let them share their location via photos or videos with friends.
The Home screen can be personalized with widgets of favorite Web and social-networking sites. Finally, the N97 is fully compatible with Nokia’s Ovi Internet services, which include the Nokia Music Store, Nokia Maps, and the N-Gage gaming platform–though these services have yet to fully launch in the United States.
The Symbian-based smartphone also features a music and video player, a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, and a whopping 32GB of onboard memory that can be expanded with a 16GB microSD card.
The quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) world phone is HSDPA-capable handset, but it currently supports only the 900/1900/2100MHz bands (AT&T’s 3G network runs on 850/1900MHz, while T-Mobile runs on 1700/2100MHz). There is integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, however.
It’s been a long time coming, but after dabbling with touch on the midrange 5800, Nokia has finally brought a touchscreen to an S60 “N-Series” smartphone, the N97. Take a look at our hands-on impressions and the complete rundown on Nokia’s new flagship.
But it’s not quite a full dive into touch—there’s still a horizontal QWERTY keyboard hidden below the 3.5″ 640×360 resistive touchscreen and accesable via a smooth 30° flip mechanism. The N97 will run an even further touch-enhanced Symbian OS, S60 v5, which features the 5800’s quick contacts bar and adds an assortment of customizable desktop widgets that can pipe in your Facebook info, RSS feeds and the like, much like those found on Nokia’s internet tablet OS. The widgets will be open to third party developers and available via the traditional “Downloads” Symbian app “for now” says Nokia—so not quite the App Store equivalent fans would hope for, but customization via software add-ons is definitely the route being pursued here.
But alas, the downsides. Characteristically for Nokia, the N97 is aimed at Europe and Asia first. So big ballers in Moscow and Macau can expect to be toting an N97 sometime in the “first half of 2009,” with a U.S. release (with the appropriate 3G bands) to follow “soon after.” In Europe it’ll run a hefty €550 ($695) unsubsidized.
The model we briefly handled tonight in NYC was, of course, the Euro version, with no U.S. 3G (and, sadly, no Wi-Fi network availabile). Its handlers were keeping it close to the vest, and with no connectivity there wasn’t much testing to be done, but we can say that the hardware is indeed pretty—befitting a $700 Nokia piece. The desktop Symbian widgets look nice, but the drawbacks of a resistive touchscreen (there, as always, to ensure character recognition via a stylus for Nokia’s Asian market) were immediately noticeable when dragging widgets around the desktop. A resistive touchscreen relies on pressing two layers of screen together with a fingernail or stylus to register a signal, so it is not as responsive as a capacitive screen which is driven by the natural electricity in your fingers (more on the difference here).
Rounding out the gaudy specs are 32GB of on-board memory (with 16GB more available via microSD), A-GPS with Nokia’s refreshed Maps 3.0 app and a compass, accelerometer for landscape/portrait screen switching, 5MP camera with Zeiss lens and LED flash, 3.5mm headphone jack, and N-Gage support.
Full press release follows:
Desktop. Laptop. Pocket: The era of the personal Internet dawns with the Nokia N97
Tilting touch display, QWERTY keyboard and personalized home screen – a true mobile computer.
Barcelona, Spain – Nokia today unveiled the Nokia N97, the world’s most advanced mobile computer, which will transform the way people connect to the Internet and to each other. Designed for the needs of Internet- savvy consumers, the Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5” touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, providing an ‘always open’ window to favorite social networking sites and Internet destinations. Nokia’s flagship Nseries device introduces leading technology – including multiple sensors, memory, processing power and connection speeds – for people to create a personal Internet and share their ‘social location.’
“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 intuitively 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 the people, content and media that matter the most. Friends, social networks and news are 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 is also perfectly suited for browsing the web, streaming Flash videos or playing games. Both the physical QWERTY and virtual touch input ensure efficiency in blogging, chatting, posting, sending texts or emailing.
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 Nokia N97 is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 at an estimated retail price of EUR 550 before taxes or subsidies.
Details are in, Nokia has a new flagship phone. The N97 packs a 3.5-inch, 640 x 360 pixel (that’s a 16:9 aspect ratio) resistive touchscreen display with tactile feedback and QWERTY keyboard into this sliding communicator with an “always open” window to favorite internet or social networking sites. Nokia calls it the “world’s most advanced mobile computer.” To back up the claim they’ve dropped in HSDPA, WiFi, and Bluetooth radios, A-GPS, a 3.5-mm headjack, 32GB of onboard memory with microSD expansion (for up to 48GB total capacity), and a battery capable of up to 1.5 days of continuous audio playback or 4.5-hours video. 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss glass and “DVD quality” video capture at 30fps, too. The specs are certainly impressive, let’s see if the S60 5th Edition OS can support it. The N97 will launch with a retail price set at around €550 ($693) excluding subsidies and taxes, phone to ship in H1 2009.
Update: Hah, Nokia just boasted on stage at Nokia World that the N97 was the scoop “Engadget didn’t get.” O RLY??? Sure looks like the device codenamed Eitri that we broke to the world last month.
Update 2: Video demonstration after the break.
Update 3: Thanks for the widget love, Nokia (pic after the break, and thanks Eric).
In a move that will undoubtedly increase its street cred among technophiles and tinkerers alike, Atheros announced that it’s releasing the specs to allow open source drivers for its ATH5K and ATH9K chip families. The move comes after Atheros first released some open source drivers for newer 802.11n chipsets and now the company is finally opening up its HAL (hardware abstraction layer) to developers, even using Linux as the reference public code base. No word on when any of this stuff will be released, but rest assured, we’ll be on the lookout for more info — we’re sure the hackers out there are champing at the bit.
With energy conservation and easy eco-friendliness on just about everybody’s agenda these days, one of the most popular concepts is the “Smart Home,” a living environment that knows just how much power you actually need to be comfortable and gives you not a drop more. Nokia’s hopping on that wagon with its new Nokia Home Control Center, a Linux-based platform that will control your house’s resources via your mobile phone.
According to Nokia, the NHCC will allow third-party developers to create services that are added onto the accessibility platform. That way, you’ll rarely come across an incident where some new smart home tech you bought doesn’t actually work with your main controller. NHCC works with Z-Wave, ZigBee and KNX, three of the most common command languages for home networks. It will be launched some time in 2009. [Nokia via Treehugger]
We’ve seen plenty of cute flash drivesin our day, but this one that looks like spare change — you know, cold, hard, days of yore currency — well, let’s just say this USB 2.0 drive is like heaven on earth. You can get it in an 8GB silver “dime” size, or the 4GB copper “penny” variation for a starting price of $19.99. Come to think of it, you might want to stock up just in case our economy utterly fails and we actually start using these as you know, money.
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It’s been a long time coming, but after dabbling with touch on the midrange 
With energy conservation and easy eco-friendliness on just about everybody’s agenda these days, one of the most popular concepts is the “Smart Home,” a living environment that knows just how much power you actually need to be comfortable and gives you not a drop more. Nokia’s hopping on that wagon with its new Nokia Home Control Center, a Linux-based platform that will control your house’s resources via your mobile phone.
