By JBC on 21 October 2009
GLOBAL – Grand Vals, more commonly known now as the Nokia ringtone, is the single most played tune in the world. Every day the tune blasts out an estimated 1.8 billion times. For the majority of people, it means one of two things – pick up, or hang up. For millions, perhaps billions, more it induces a sudden panic pocket check which usually results in “no, not mine, must be someone else’s”.
By Mike on 20 October 2009
GLOBAL – We remain fascinated observers of writers and artists beginning to truly explore the medium of mobile publishing. And the recent addition of the first comic book to be exclusively released freely via the Ovi Store (Atomic Dreams issue one – pictured) has served to punctuate interest in this area of lesser-trodden ground. It’s fair to say that some people are exploring the medium head-first, as is the case with Carnival Comics, the publishers of the new Atomic Dreams series, alongside arguably one of the boldest and most innovative attempts so far to capture the multimedia possibilities of mobile publishing as realized by the Manga Man mobile universe, as created by the charming and acclaimed sci-fi writer Alex Besher (read the full story).
Read on to find more and to share your thoughts on the new mobile digital comic and publishing scene.
By JBC on 20 October 2009
GLOBAL – Dip a hand into Ovi Store’s pocket and you’d be surprised what old treasures you might find. Rotary Dialer is an app that turns your touchscreen device into a traditional (old school) rotary dialer telephone, allowing you to dial numbers like you did in the good old days (assuming you were born before 1985, that is). It’s a cool little app, costs nothing and will surely keep you amused whilst you’re trying to get hold of someone. Or something. But what is our fascination with old school tech?
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By JBC on 19 October 2009
GLOBAL – Another week and another drop of the Conversations line into the MyDailyApp rockpool. This week the App-seekers have fished out a prize catch from the Ovi Store with a big focus on tapping into your social side.
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By Mike on 19 October 2009
GLOBAL – The honeymoon period you experience when you first get hold of a new device can often be filled with mini epiphanies and moments of adventurer’s delight (or in few cases, knuckle-biting despair), and in the case of the Nokia N900 the former is most certainly proving to be the case. It would seem I’m currently caught on a journey similar to that of Matthew Miller from NokiaExperts.com, who quite simply reports “the more I play with the device the more impressed I get”. I concur. Now, there’s a lovely logic about this, as one of the main things that’s most exciting about the upcoming N900 is the community aspect and vast scope of possibilities that an open source Maemo platform offers, both in terms of rapid distribution of innovative developments and the noble eagerness associated with sharing fresh treasures of information to help your fellow peer. It’s fair to say the N900 is designed to get better the more you use it.
With that in mind, Matthew recently highlighted a number of smart keyboard tips and lesser-known tricks, brought to our attention via the ever-quick-to-share Guru at Maemo-Guru.com, even prior to its launch. A great sign of things to come no doubt. So in the spirit of this fledgling community, read on to find out more about the N900’s QWERTY keyboard shortcuts, and to share your thoughts on what it might mean to how you might behave with the N900.
By Mike on 16 October 2009
LONDON, England – We’ve been camped out on the doorstep eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Nokia N900, and now it’s here! We’ve been asking you what you’d like us to do with the N900 (and over the coming weeks we’ll continue to sift through many of your great suggestions) with a view to thoroughly exploring Nokia’s fourth Maemo device. So to kick things off, I shot a quick basic video of simply getting started with the N900 – as a Maemo newcomer I didn’t know what to expect or how to interact with it, but the initial set-up process and Get Started video app act as a surprisingly good tutorial. Watch our first living-with encounter featuring the new Nokia N900 here…
By JBC on 16 October 2009
GLOBAL – We had a tremendous response to our call for what you’d like to see in the N900, and what you’d like to see the N900 do. We filtered through the latter and have a list of 82 separate functions you’d like to see performed on an N900! However, one comment jumped out this week which broached the subject of introducing another technology in the N900 – Near Field Communications (NFC). There’s been plenty of research and testing going on around NFC, and I’m afraid we’ve no idea about any plans to introduce it in the N900, but ARJWright’s comment is a solid one, which is why he’s picked up this week’s Comment of the week gong along with the second last license we have for Gravity (don’t worry, we have something else lined up for the week after next!)
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By Mike on 15 October 2009
ENGLAND, UK – It’s hard to believe it’s been an entire year since Comes With Music debuted its all-you-can-eat download service on UK turf. But today marks exactly one year of active duty, during which time Comes With Music has fast matured into an invaluable music solution for many people (read more Comes With Music stories). Sure, it started with a lot of folk not really certain about what Comes With Music offered – in fact, here on Conversations in particular, we never shied away from the important education process that is needed in order to fathom that you can download and forever-keep as many tracks as you like – but the past 365 days have seen a much greater understanding and appreciation for the service emerge. Equally, it’s still evolving and getting improving (and becoming more widely available across the globe) and that’s perhaps the most exciting aspect of all. So, to celebrate its first birthday, if you were one of the first people to sign up to Comes With Music in the UK, Nokia is offering those early birds a free treat as a big thank you. Read on to find out more.
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