Just as we heard, Intel and Nokia have today announced a long-term partnership that just might / might not revolutionize the way you live. The all-too-mysterious release doesn’t go into great detail about what exactly the partnership will lead to, but it’s clear that the two are joining hands in order to “shape the next era of mobile computing.” Indeed, the duo has stated that they expect “many innovations to result from this collaboration over time” and they are hoping to “define a new mobile platform beyond today’s smartphones, notebooks and netbooks, enabling the development of a variety of innovative hardware, software and mobile internet services.” It’s hard to say if we’ll be seeing a Nokia UMPC, MID or smartbook in the near future, but we have to wonder if the world is even interested. An Intel-powered smartphone? Color us interested. An Intel-powered Nokiabook? Meh.
We keep hearing about how Pandora’s“almost” in production… and we don’t like to be naysayers, so we’re not going to get sarcastic about it now. And while it is taking it’s sweet time in getting to us, but the evidence of progress just keeps piling on, day in, day out. The newest photos that have emerged show a nearly final casing, and we have to say, we do like what we’re seeing. We’re assured that video is en route, and we’ll let you know as soon as it turns up. Because, you know: we want to believe. There are another two shots after the break, hit the read link for the full set.
The long-burning question on the DisplayLink scene (you know, with its DisplayLink bars and coffee shops, and the annual DisplayLink parade) has been: “When will Linux users be able to get in on some of that video-via-USB action?” Well, it looks like we have an answer for you, penguin-heads. As of today, the company is announcing the release of the open-source implementation of its graphics software, offering support for the Alex family (DL-120 and DL-160) chips. So prepare to go wild writing drivers for all of your favorite Linux-based devices, and be sure to drop us a line when you do. Seriously — it’s been a while since you called. Hit the read link to get started, or check out the full PR bit after the break.
Between Android and the myriad of LiMo builds out there, we’re not sure the world needs another open-source phone operating system, but Nokia and Intel seem to think differently: the two behemoths have joined up to develop oFono, a Linux-based mobile OS for GSM handsets. We don’t know many details, but he project seems to be pulling people from both Intel’s Moblin initiative and Nokia’s Maemo project, and job postings from a “major handset company” searching for a GUI designer in either Dallas or San Jose have appeared, so it sounds like something big is in the works. We’ll see.
Read – oFono web site Read – PhoneDog post about the job listing
Okay, now we get it — the flood of Android phones we were expecting at MWC and CTIA this year are actually arriving a month or two late. Nice. Anywho, with Samsung just recently dishing out official dirt on its Google-fied I7500 and HTC pushing out its Magic overseas, Acer is making darn sure it’s not left out as the bandwagon cruises by. During the firm’s Q1 investor’s conference today, Gianfranco Lanci (President and CEO) noted that “the entire industry is looking at Android,” and that his company “is testing Android on a lot of different solutions.” Specifically, he stated that it was “working on an Android solution for the smartphone, but it’s too early to say if [Acer] is going to [put the OS] on a netbook in the near future.” ‘Course, he could be spitting out positive vibes to just make sure we don’t forget about ’em, but here’s hoping Mr. Lanci takes him own quotes seriously. We’ll be watching — like Rockwell, minus the catchy chorus.
We heard murmurings of a possible app store for GamePark’s Wiz open source handheld back when we first laid our hands on it, but now it’s officially on its way. GamePark Holdings’ awesomely-named Game Contents Open Store is now set to open in August, allowing all users to produce and download homebrewed apps and games for the Wiz. The SDK is currently in development, and there aren’t any further details beyond that, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for you.
Go ‘head, Shuttle — break on out of that shell! The company notorious for pumping out the same barebone rectangle with a different model name and a few extra ports has finally seen fit to do something a touch different, and what we’re dealt is the X270V. This so-called Mini-PC relies on Intel’s 1.6GHz Atom 330 to push the computations, while up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM keeps things in order. There’s also gigabit Ethernet, 6-channel audio, a PS/2 connector for the retro folks, six USB sockets and VGA / DVI outputs. Shuttle also claims this bugger is energy efficient, though it doesn’t go into great detail about just how much it’ll save you each month. Oh, and it also comes loaded with openSUSE 11 (a Linux flavor, for those unaware). Interested? Move to Europe and plop down at least €299 ($390).
The gang over at Surveyor Robotics have introduced SRV-1 Console, an open source Android app for operating robots based on the company’s camera board and firmware. Using the G1’s WiFi capabilities, the operator can access a live video feed from the robot and control the device using the handset’s touchscreen and accelerometer. So far the app’s been demonstrated with several robots, including the SRV-1 Blackfin, the YARB Robotic Blimp, and last but not least, our old friend Forknife. We have all the robots in action via Youtube video after the break.
DoubleTwist is a new, open-source, universal media manager in beta for the Mac. It gathers music, videos and photos, supports tons of devices and has a P2P/social networking component. Will it be great?
DoubleTwist was created by the famous DVD copy-protection reverse-engineer who calls himself DVD Jon, so you know it’s friendly to the budget-minded poweruser. So far, it’s been a joy to use, but it’s still in beta and has some flaws. Here’s what it does now, and what it should do:
WHAT DOUBLETWIST DOES Manages Photos, Music and Video on Your Computer It watches your Music, Photos and Movies folders, and lets you drag and drop any other folders into its media browser. There’s also a Spotlight-esque search function to check your folders. Music is organized in sortable list form, while photos and videos are displayed as tiles.
Lets You Maintain an Online “Feed” and Send/Receive Media To/From Other doubleTwist Users DoubleTwist has a built in social-networking aspect that lets you create an account, add friends and shoot files back and forth. You can post video, photos and music to a “feed,” which is basically a media-rich version of the Facebook wall, and it gets syndicated to all your friends.
They say you can send any type of file back and forth on doubleTwist, which seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. We haven’t yet had the chance to fully test this feature, but they remain pretty vague on its limits . And for those who aren’t signed up, you can send them an email link to the doubleTwist servers, where they can view/watch/hear the content you want them to receive.
To add friends on doubleTwist, you basically send any file as a message to the email address your friend used for their doubleTwist account. Once your friend reads/accepts the message inside the doubleTwist app, you’re officially “friends” and any non-drm song/video/photo you send back and forth can be dragged from the message thread to your media library.
Connects to a Variety of Phones and Devices DoubleTwist is really touting its ability to connect with devices here, especially BlackBerry and Android phones. (Not surprisingly, you can’t yet sync with Apple products.) When you plug in your device, it shows up under its model name, and doubleTwist organizes media files in the same way it does for your computer. You can drag and drop freely between the two devices. (see top photo)
Auto-Converts Files to Provide Compatibility With Your Device Because it only works with devices it knows, doubleTwist autoconverts media files as necessary. So if you have a .mp4 video file that your phone doesn’t support, doubleTwist will detect this before uploading and convert appropriately. (We’ll be testing this to see how long a movie in the wrong format might take.)
Connects to Your iTunes Library for Access to Playlists and Other Stuff Like other media devices and apps, doubleTwist can read your iTunes Library XML file, which provides access to playlists and podcasts, in addition to the the rest of your library. Most of the crap that pops up in the left column of iTunes will show up here.
Uploads Photos and Videos to Online Services With Flickr and Facebook integration, you can drag, drop and tag your photos, then upload them with a click, and without exiting doubleTwist. The same thing goes for sending videos to YouTube.
WHAT DOUBLETWIST SHOULD DO iPhone and iPod Support As we mentioned, there’s not a lot of love for iPhone and iPod yet, but the doubleTwist team says this functionality will actually appear in future versions.
AirTunes Support One of my favorite features of using iTunes with an Airport Express is the AirTunes streaming feature. There are 3rd-party apps, such as AirFoil, that take advantage of this feature, so it shouldn’t be too hard to work this into future versions.
Native Playlist Support and Streaming Libraries For now, there is no way to import or create music playlists, aside from what’s already in iTunes. You also can’t connect to other people’s libraries or an iTunes Music Server on your network. This means you’ll still be using iTunes for some stuff.
Advanced File Categorization/Organization Right now, the categorization and organization of media files are a bit rudimentary. Music shows up in a list view, but the only sortable categories are Title, Artist, and Time. Photos and Videos only show up as tiles, with no other view or sort options, except adjusting thumbnail size.
For people with tons of files, this doesn’t quite cut it.
I also don’t really like that when you play a song, it launches a second window which compiles the list of songs played while the app has been open. But there’s no way to remove songs from the list aside from closing the app, nor can you keep playback all in one window. It’s not major, but kinda bleh.
BOTTOM LINE DoubleTwist is an extremely promising app that really could become the de facto standard for media players if they continue to develop and improve on this beta. The idea of not having to use iPhoto ever again (I hate it), or getting more functionality than what VLC offers for videos is pretty exciting. [doubleTwist via MacRumors]
Ruslan Kogan, the Australian who built up our hopes only to let them down recently with his make believe Agora, is back with more outlandish promises, and for whatever reason, we think he actually expects us to just believe him this time. During a recent interview, Kogan noted that he would like to be taking orders for a Linux-based netbook that he designs and specs in as little as “two to two and a half weeks.” He’s expecting to sell the 10-inch machines for around $529 to $539, which will buy you an Intel Atom processor, 160GB of HDD space, 1GB of RAM and a decent amount of magical pixie dust, we imagine. In related news, Kogan’s also hoping to have OLED TVs out within just a few months and region-free BD decks shortly thereafter. See, our skepticism isn’t that unwarranted, now is it?
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Manages Photos, Music and Video on Your Computer
Like other media devices and apps, doubleTwist can read your iTunes Library XML file, which provides access to playlists and podcasts, in addition to the the rest of your library. Most of the crap that pops up in the left column of iTunes will show up here.
With Flickr and Facebook integration, you can drag, drop and tag your photos, then upload them with a click, and without exiting doubleTwist. The same thing goes for sending videos to YouTube.
I also don’t really like that when you play a song, it launches a second window which compiles the list of songs played while the app has been open. But there’s no way to remove songs from the list aside from closing the app, nor can you keep playback all in one window. It’s not major, but kinda bleh.
