The best Apps of the 2009

It has been a time since the launch of the Ovi store and lots of apps have been released for the joy of the Nokia users. Just recently the daily app blog organized an app award, the best of the best apps would receive the honor to be called a must have, a title that every app wishes to be granted with.

They put the nominees in 8 different categories: Music, Social Networking, Twitter (so important these days that it needs it own category), City Guides and Mapping, Entertainment, News and Info, Games, and finally, Utilities. And let the users vote for their favorite app, at the end they would count the votes and choose the winners. I should tell you who won.

In the Music Category, the winner of the Must Have App is:  Shazam! I really like this app, so useful for those moments when you hear a song but you cant know the song and the singer/band, and asking a friend later won’t help much. A few minutes ago I just heard a song in a tv commercial and wondering “nice song, I like it, I would like to know the name to buy it on the Music Store later”, but no, I dont have Shazam on my phone, YET!

In the Social Networking the only winner is: Nimbuzz! Today the social networks are a very important part of our daily life, so much that we usually use more than one, and that is when Nimbuzz comes along to help. With a large list of supported social networks and instant messengers, Nimbuzz connects you with the people you care, all in one place. No need to have mutiple clients on your phone, just one: Nimbuzz

The winner of the Twitter category is no surprise: Gravity, with universal acclaim it has been named THE twitter app for your phone. With neat and practical interface it makes easier than ever to tweet on the go. There is a 10 day trial on the Ovi Store, so check it out. I really liked it even when I am not a big tweeter fan.

The winner of the City Guides and Mapping is: World Mate 2009. If you are always traveling around then this is for you. It has free content wich includes, world clock, currency converter, weather forecast and so on. But the real value of this app is the paid upgrade which include realtime flight alerts for 350 airlines. You can not miss a flight with this, unless you really want to.

On the Entertainment Category the winner is: SPB TV. Well I have to admit that I have never tested this app, I just tried downloading it from the Ovi Store but looks like it is not working. Bad luck I guess. Anyways, I saw the demo on the developer site and I think it worths it. You get television off the internet, not sure which channels you can get but I bet that they should entertain you. Also it’s suscription free, you just buy the app and you’re done.

In the News and Info category the winner is Accuweather.com. I’m not really sure on this, I have tested this app since the first day I own my N97. Everything works fine, I like the UI, and the widget works perfectly. The only downside of this is that it is not that accurate. I have seen the app tell me that my city is at 30°C and then I see my local weather forecast tell me we are on 20°C. So maybe they should get the info right and I maybe will put it in my homescreen.

In the Game Category the winner is MicroPool s60. I have to say that I’m not a big player of my phone, I prefer a giant tv with killer sound and real graphics. Also I prefer to save my battery for the whole day. But when I’m bored or waiting in a room or something I usually pull my phone to play some games that keep me distracted. One of the games I really like is pool. And Micro Pool is one of he best games I have ever played on a cellphone, they even call it a ’simulator’ and that means that you get real physics, real sounds and the best graphics you can get.

Finally the winner of the Utilities category we have: Vlingo. The idea behind this app is really good, you talk to your phone and it will do what you want. You can send messages or make notes among other things. And the best thing is that it rarely mishears your words. You talk to it and it will send your voice over internet and then execute your commands. But, sadly, even when you can choose the spanish language, the Vlingo app struggles to understand me when I talk in my native tongue.

So that’s it folks, to get more details visit the App Awards website and get the Must Have Apps of the 2009. Hope we get even better apps for this 2010. Happy New Year .

David Castro

[Via http://carltone65.wordpress.com]

eMarketer: 12 дигитален маркетинг Прогнози за 2010 г.

eMarketer е един от най-цитирани ресурси за интернет маркетинг тенденции, така че когато получих някои вкусно прогнози за 2010 г., мислех, че те са твърде полезно да се придържате към себе си. Тези идеи са бъдещите модели на ипотпал, ефекта на прозрачност по отношение на рекламата, социалните и търсене, мобилни, социална търговия, връзки с обществеността, социална реклама, кикотене, видео и мама / поп използване на интернет. Радвам се!Комбиниране на хибридни план, който абонаментни такси с реклама
Все повече търговци ще приеме за онлайн реклама, видео, подкрепян от побратимени бум на видео потоци и видео рекламни мрежи.

[Via http://ipotpalex.wordpress.com]

maemo.org community council 2009-2010: midterm assessment

Is the current maemo.org community council hitting a sophomore slump?

Before I go further, a disclaimer: I’m on it.

A gauntlet… or mild molotov cocktail… is thrown

The impetus for tonight’s analysis was a thought-provoking discussion on the community council mailing list this morning.  I’m not going to replicate who-said-what or plaster this post with immaterial details– what I am going to do is extract some key points and offer my perspective and suggestions on the subject.

The essential compliant posed was that some or all members of the current council are not fulfilling their roles and/or campaign promises.  That perhaps they/we got in over our heads.

I’m going to take issue first with the original complaint, and then cover the known gaps.

Ideally, this would not be an issue

It’s true that there were broad and lofty goals targeted by candidates during the last campaign (if one can actually call it that) but I’m not going to equate them with political promises.  I think such a comparison is, sorry, naive.  Some could in turn counter that it was equally naive for candidates to be so idealistic, but on the other hand, those running did so with a positive, proactive mindset and a true desire to improve maemo.org.  I would rather see 5 idealists run than 5 cynics any day.

And I’ll pre-emptively concede that idealism naturally leads to disillusionment–particularly if too much of that energy is unfulfilled.  And that gets to the core of where I see our current challenges.  More on that shortly.

Backfilling the Grand Canyon

There are a lot of known potholes in the maemo.org ecosystem, and several came up in the discussion.  I’ll summarize my take on key points/questions as follows:

1. is the council the right body to lead sprint meetings?
2. what exactly IS the council’s role?  Has it changed from body to body?
3. what can be done to smooth council transitions post election?
4. what can be done to maintain council member interest, focus and energy?
5. when is the best time to meet?
6. what can be done to improve communication?
7. are the right people being elected?

Points for potholes

I’ll try to keep this short and not too sour.

1. I don’t think the council should be chairing sprint meetings.  Now that the maemo.org crew has a team lead, and a sharp one at that, I think it makes sense for us to hand over those reins.  The council should still stay involved, but as a stakeholding body and facilitator of certain solutions.
2. This is the big question, and there’s disagreement on it.  I’ll sum up my sentiments by saying I think our role should be more on the community side than maemo.org infrastructure side.  I think we need to be much, much closer to the pulse of the people.  In my biased opinion the community outreach program I’ve started is exactly the sort of venture we should drive.  In a nut shell, I see us as the “water-carriers” for the community.
3. Since we are still relatively new at this, council transitions have been rough.  I have been told by previous office holders that they did not want to interfere.  While I’m not looking for interference, mentoring would be great.  I would like there to be more of a formal process, especially the first month.  In fact I would go so far as to suggest the previous chair act as a co-chair for the incoming council chairperson.  At the very least, there should be some handoff meetings.  We meant to hold one in Amsterdam at Maemo Summit 2009 and it didn’t really happen.  Pity.
4. The current council stalled a bit in December.  No surprise: holidays and server issues were a big impact.  But beyond that, there are times when I have personally felt frustrated at hitting a wall… especially ones that looked easy to overcome but required a little engagement from certain individuals or the community at large.  One person proposed periodic council meetings and I second the suggestion.  I would also see value in Nokia gathering the council together for a face-to-face midterm meeting to reinvigorate weary members.  The maemo.org team could participate as well.  Granted there would be an expense, but I believe the council provides value that merits whatever travel costs would be incurred.  Finally, we need more help from Nokia when projects stall– especially since that tends to occur when our legwork is done and we have identified Nokia as the solution provider.
5. Sprint meetings have been held on weekdays which is not good for the volunteers… although it may work well for maemo.org.  I would like to see more Saturday or Sunday meetimgs, sprint or otherwise.
6. There have been comments made suggesting one promised fix to ongoing issues was more communication.  I don’t think increasing the amount of verbiage is a solution for anything other than a sports game cheering section.  Rather, we need more effective communications.  Part of that means recognizing that one size does not fit all.  Sometimes a forum is the best place, sometimes it’s IRC, sometimes it’s email or other… but the need should be met with its particular appropriate venue rather than participants getting religious over their preferred milieu.  We also need to get smarter about “write once read many” and I think we’re making slow progress there.  Along those lines: there was a complaint about few blog postings at the official maemo.org council blog page.  I see more value in driving feeds from our individual blogs (like this one) there, much like is currently done on Planet Maemo.
7. This is a tough one.  I’ve seen some people claim we’re not qualified.  Okay, who is?  Should there be official criteria beyond current eligibility requirements?  What do people want?  IQ tests?  Doctorates?  10 page resumés?  I’m being a bit hyperbolic but my underlying intent is serious.  My opinion: people skills are the most important.  Everything else is icing.

I’m hoping this piece provokes some spirited but civil discussion of the points I brought up here.  There was more to the original discussion but, again, these were what I wanted to personally highlight.

I appreciate the patience and support we’ve been shown, though, and look forward to further guidance from the community.  Thanks, and by all means comment!

[Via http://tabulacrypticum.wordpress.com]

N900: Do's & Don'ts with App Manager + Hard Reset

I thought I would give you guys a bit of a heads up about installing applications as a few people (my self included) have got to the point where applications just seem to stop installing or the phone crashes.

First thing first, before you install applications you are not sure of or just want to try, I would recommend that you do a backup (which i’m sure you already know how to do). The great thing with the N900 is that you can make as many backups as you like and you can save them either to your mass memory or your memory card.

Restart Phone

When you restart your phone make sure you:

• Switch phone off
• Remove battery and wait a few seconds
• Insert battery
• Switch phone back on

I’m sorry if this is obvious to you but most people don’t remove the battery when restarting and it sometimes means that the phone does not restart properly!

Backup Phone

Personally I have found this to be the best practice to backup up me phone:

• Run the default backup application and backup everything to either your mass memory or your memory card.
• Connect your phone to your computer in Mass storage mode and copy everything over
• Disconnect phone and reconnect in PC Suite mode and make a backup using Nokia PC Suite – for some strange reason since Nokia released an update I have not been able to get mine to backup this way but in all honestly it’s not really necessary.

Repositories

For 90% of people out there I would recommend that you do not add any more repositories then are currently there, as some of the ones like extras testing, and extras devel are likely to make your phone crash. If you insist on adding them then the details for the repositories are below:

Maemo Extra Testing (as Jay showed us in an earlier post):

As you can tell by the name of this one, it is a load of applications that are still being tested, so don’t expect them all to work properly and they can start to cause problems fi you install things you are not sure about.

Catalogue Name: maemo.org extras testing
Web Address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-testing/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free

Maemo Extra Development

I DO NOT recommend this one for noobs or even pro’s, this is only really for Developers, as I know a lot of people who have completely bricked their phones  after installing applications from it so only add at your own risk! (I’m only sharing it so that developers can see what applications are currently being designed)

Catalogue Name: maemo.org extras devel
Web Address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-devel/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free

Troubleshooting

These are a few things you can try to fix common problems which I have found.

Error: “Unable to install XXXX”

Details say something like “xxx-xx-xx.img” needs to be installed first.

If you have got this error after adding one of the above repositories and there is usually a simple fix. The error comes up because you have disabled some of the other repositories and the files it requires are actually embedded within the default ones.

Solution: Enable all the repositories and it should allow you to install (If it still doesn’t just restart your phone and  try again).

Error: “Unable to install XXXX – Not enough space”

This usually happens because the phone itself only actually has about 227.6MB for the main applications (I found this out after installing “DiskUsage” from the Extras Development repository).

Solution: Uninstall one of your current applications and restart your phone, I found that the phone does not allow you to reuse the space allocated by an uninstalled application until you have restarted the phone.

Removing all applications from your phone

Personally I started fresh on my phone by doing re-install using the Nokia Software Updater. This should not delete your user data such as contacts, calender, messages, media, etc but I would recommend doing a backup first anyway…just incase!

This should remove all installed applications.

Hard Reset of phone

Make sure your phone is fully charged before you do the following!!

The only way I’v found so far to do a hard reset of your phone is a method which is shown by “adamf” who appears to be an employee over at Nokia Support Discussions, you can find information about it below but I do warn you it is a very long procedure an would only recommend you do it if you have no other choice!

http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions/board/message?board.id=topfaq&thread.id=168

p.s. I have not tried myself so cannot guarantee results but if you do please comment below, I would love to know how you got on!

[Via http://mynokiablog.com]

Behold, the Old school 101

Now 2010 has finally came, there are lots of products that are about to be released and probably has finally conquered the market. Gadgets, software and many other techie products have evolved for years. Who misses the rotary phone? I bet no techie lad would ever want to use that during these days. I remember the scene in Aliens in the Attic movie wherein the kids are having an emergency and have the need to call 911 but their mobile phones doesn’t have any  signal, who saves the day? The rotary phone. Well, there are certain old school inventions that still preserve its functionality and usability. Now, let me list some of the things that we use to dream of but now filled with dust all over it.

1. Nokia cell phone evolution

I remember the time when I was in grade school I asked my parents for a cell phone as a gift for my graduation they gave me the Nokia 3310 unit, I remember I was one of the first among our campus to have that kind of mobile phone. Now who among us uses the unit? Sadly, the Nokia trend rapidly shifts on and on. From the bulky Nokia 5110, 3210, 3310, 8210, 8310 and the rest is history. Shifting models from greenish screen LCDs and colored LCDs to touch screen technology. No doubt that Nokia is the number 1 trendy mobile phone maker. But who would have thought that the leading maker of trendy mobile phone has started making rubber boots and tires then evolved the business in making wires and cables and now, mobile phones.

2. Nintendo Gameboy advancement

This is what every kid of 90s (here in our country) dreamed to have. The big, hulking and greenish screened handheld gaming console tremendously made a massive success throughout the world. Playing Tetris and Doctor Mario all day? How about Sailor Moon and Pacman? Now here comes the Gameboy color. Great thing that there’s worm light and magnifying glasses made customized for this unit so gaming would be more ease.  Make way for Gameboy Advance, the first unit to have an added LEFT and RIGHT button at the topmost part of the handheld. How about Gameboy Advance SP? The first unit to have an internal front-light goodbye wormlight. Plus it has an internal rechargeable battery. Gameboy Micro, the smallest handheld gaming console made by Nintendo. The sleek and fashionable (the exterior or faceplates can be changed and there are various designs to choose from) unit also supports GBA cartridges. Now the Gameboy DS, DS lite and DSi no wondered equally compete Sony’s PSP. The handheld that have-it-all, camera, touch screen, Wi-Fi surfing and more.

3. Home Entertainment: Gaming Consoles

I wasn’t born during the peak time when Atari was born. But my mom said that it was far the greatest video gaming console that time. I was used on playing the ever famous Nintendo Family Computer. There are various cartridges to play with like Super Mario Brothers, Street Fighter, Mortal Combat, Contra, Ice Climber and many more. I had like 3 of this gaming console (It wasn’t that durable so it is somewhat disposable). Now there came Sega, Dreamcast, GameCube and the most famous up to this date, Sony PlayStation. Now, gaming is much more fun than ever. Do you remember the revolutionary indeed Dance Dance Revolution? Now, Xbox is born interacting with many other players and who would ever forget the best selling game Halo 2? Now the successor of these last two consoles are fairly successful as the first one, I am talking about the Sony PlayStation2 which is nowadays competing well enough in the market, Sony PlayStation2 Slim and the latest Sony PlayStation 3 and lastly, Xbox 360. Nintendo Wii also principally competes with PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This is by far my most favorite among the gaming consoles that was ever created. Wireless and real-life interaction on the game is a big plus. How about you, what’s your favorite console?

4. Every moments captured

I’m sure no Millennial Generation baby can still remember the Camera obscura or the darkened chamber box that used to capture black and white still images. So I’d start the recall from the past in a camera wherein we use the roll film. I still remember the time when we had out of town getaway or a big family affair we never forget to bring these. Afterwards, we go to the nearby developing studio to see the results and yes we are so excited but then after seeing the pictures we are somewhat dismayed because that is not what we exactly pictured in our mind. But as time go by, Polaroid produces a camera that can develop the images right after you capture the pictures. But admit it Polaroid films are just to expensive during those times and none of the elders would allow their child to bring the device alone. Now let me hail the inventors of Digital camera or what we are fond calling digicams. Capturing images are easier, you can it on the bigger LCD screen and review the captured photos right after, thanks to your memory cards. As time goes, many technologies merged their capabilities to make life easier. Now, make way to the camera phones. Well, here in the country the first one to make it to the market is again from Nokia, the Nokia 7650. Can you imagine how great technology has grown?

5. Music Trip Way Back

We all love music don’t we? It doesn’t matter if it’s metal, pop, ballad, classic, techno, hippie, rhythm and blues and even if we live here in the Philippines we still do adapt and love the J-pop or even K-pop music. Radio with cassette tape players is cool way back then. I remember I even had to ask my mom for a Walkman bought in Hong Kong before. But, CDs are later introduced and every kid wants the good ol’ Discman. Boy band days that didn’t join the bandwagon? Now, centennial year came in and we say hello to big MP3 players and downloaded every music that we wanted (During those times I remember saving up my money for a prepaid card of Dial-up internet provider). Now various designs came, from the big and bulky up to stylish, slimmest and smallest.

Then, we had the black and white TV, there came the antenna for better viewing, the colored TV eventually came with cable service providers. Now a lot of homes are using HDTVs. We had the best OS before and that’s during the reign of Windows 98, now who would want to downgrade and use that again if we had XP that offers plug and play? If we had sleek and sexier feel of Vista? And now that 2010 came, everybody can’t wait to have a copy of the much awaited Windows 7.

Well, if I ever enumerate all the advancements of certain gadgets and software we’ll never run out of it. There’s this famous saying from Charles H. Duell: “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” This literally proved him wrong. There are still more years to come and yet to wait. But, forecast for gadgets and software are always welcome.  So, what’s your idea for the next advancement?

[Via http://halietep.wordpress.com]

Nokia N900

Running on the new Maemo 5 software, the Nokia N900 empowers users to have dozens of application windows open and running simultaneously while taking full advantage of the cellular features, touch screen and QWERTY keyboard. Designed for computer-grade performance in a compact size, Maemo complements Nokia’s other software platforms, such as Symbian, which powers Nokia’s smartphones.

To make web browsing more enjoyable, the Nokia N900 features a high-resolution WVGA touch screen and fast internet connectivity with 10/2 HSPA and WLAN. Thanks to the browser powered by Mozilla technology, websites look the way they would on any computer. Online videos and interactive applications are vivid with full Adobe Flash(TM) 9.4 support. Maemo software updates happen automatically over the internet.
Specifications:

- 3.5-inch 800×480 (WVGA) touchscreen
- OMAP3430 500/600 Mhz processor
- 1GB total virtual runtime memory
- 32GB internal storage, expandable up to 48GB via external memory
- 5.0 MP Carl Zeiss camera with dual-LED flash, auto-focus and sliding cover
- Wi-Fi, HSPA, GPS, accelerometer
- Maemo 5
- Dimensions: 59.7mm x 111mm x 18.2mm
- Weight: 180g

[Via http://techreviewer.wordpress.com]

Cantik, Mungil dan Sederhana

Berawal dari HP CDMA NEXIAN yang sudah rusak akibat di pakai mainan si kecil dan jatuh, sehingga menyebabkan handphone-nya hancur berantakan.  Sebenarnya HP CDMA NEXIAN type NX-980 tersebut sudah cukup lumayan menurut saya, karena fitur yang ada sudah cukup merepresentasikan tujuan dari membeli Handphone tersebut, hanya saja karena rusak dengan sangat terpaksa harus beli lagi, biar tetap berkomunikasi kembali dengan lancar. Dan setelah survey ke beberapa counter di daerah saya, akhirnya pilihan jatuh ke Nokia 2505; yang jelas ada beberapa alasan mengapa saya memilih HP CDMA Merk Nokia type 2505 ini.

Sebenarnya ada 3 pilihan HP CDMA Merk Nokia yang menjadi pertimbangan saya, yaitu :

Handphone Nokia type 2865 ini sebenarnya bagus dengan fitur yang lengkap, namun dari sisi harga yang masih berkisar antara Rp. 1.000.000, 00 waktu itu menjadi pertimbangan tersendiri bagi saya karena mengingat fungsionalitas dari HP CDMA nantinya cukup mobile, sehingga tidak perlu yang mahal inti-nya cukup untuk telpon dan sms saja dengan sedikit tambahan layanan seperti ada-nya FM radio dan Game sederhana. Kemudian mencoba melihat Handphone yang kedua yaitu Nokia yang type 2255  untuk type ini dari sisi harga sebenarnya sudah sesuai dengan apa yang saya harapkan, tapi kurang sreg hanya masalah ada antene-nya, juga masih terlihat terlalu tebal, karena lebih suka yang tipis kelihatan mungil dan cantik. Yang akhirnya pilihan jatuh pada CDMA Nokia type 2505, yang bentuk dan ukurannya hampir sama dengan type 2255 hanya saja lebih tipis dan tidak ada antene-nya, kalo dari sisi fitur perbedaannya tidak terlalu mencolok, karena keduanya memiliki spesifikasi yang hampir sama, dan spesefikasi untuk Nokia CDMA type 2505 kurang lebih sebagai berikut :

Pilihan warna ada 3 macam yaitu :

Hitam, Pink dan Sampanye atau merah, itu pilihan yang ada untuk type 2550, seperti yang tampak dalam gambar diatas. Setelah membeli dan menggunakan Handphone ini ternyata Handphone ini berkurva lembut dan permukaan yang halus jika disentuh. Desainnya begitu mempesona dengan daya tarik yang eksotik,  Handphone  ini merupakan handset yang sangat sempurna untuk orang yang mengerti gaya dan menginginkan keunikan. Pengalaman yang elegan dengan fitur yang mengejutkan. Warna yang mengkilat, elegant dengan bentuk ramping hanya 16,55 mm. Temukan tombol yang Anda cari di ruangan gelap dengan flashlight. Tampilan gambar yang begitu jernih, resolusi warna layar 65,536 warna dengan 128 x 160 Pixcel. Santai dan dengarkan musik terbaru dengan radio FM, Speakerphone handsfree dua arah, Speaker MIDI 32-poliponik, antarmuka pengguna Nokia populer dengan scroll 4 arah dan tombol pilih di tengah dan bisa menyimpan sampai 300 kontak dalam buku telepon, dengan 5 entri setiap kontak, atau untuk mengetahui secara detail dan lengkap dapat di lihat disini.

Sewaktu membeli pada tanggal 16 Desember 2009 dapat harga sekitar Rp. 600.000,00, demikian semoga informasi ini bermanfaat dan terima kasih.

[Via http://yudishtira.wordpress.com]