Marcelo (aka handful) of INdT has announced that the new version of Carman is coming August. Carman is an on-baord diagnostic analyzer for the internet tablet that lets you monitor and detect problems on your automobile by accessing the data stored on your car’s on-board computer, the same data that service technicians use.
The new version gets a user interface overhaul and uses the same graphics library of Canola. A Trip Report feature has been added that lets you graph your trips so you can find the fastest and most econimical route, based on engine stress. It also adds simple navigation using maps from OpenStreetMaps.
Enjoy some screenshots below. You can find more at Marcelo’s blog.
You must have all seen the video that I made of the HAVA Player for the Internet Tablet in action. If this is an Internet Tablet feature that interests you, you can then participate on Monsoon Multimedia’s HAVA beta program to get an advance copy of the software as well as help better the software.
As a beta participant, you can avail of discounted HAVA hardware which you can purchase now. Monsoon is then releasing the first beta of the HAVA Player for the Internet Tablet to the beta participants on May 8.
See the full HAVA Beta Program details after the jump.
You’ve all seen the press release and the official product page. Below are some additional information I got at CTIA about the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition:
It will run Diablo. Update for N810 and N800 coming.
The email client is now Modest.
There are no finalized rates/plans yet for XOHM (WiMAX).
Over-the-air update is now built-in.
Bulge at the back for better XOHM reception. I didn’t find the slight bulge to be an issue.
Price will be $475 and should be out 2Q.
No PIM planned yet.
No one will confirm if this if the “4 of 5.”
Connectivity has “Any Connection” option to switch automatically to WiMAX, WiFi, and Bluetooth. There is also an option for “WLAN and WiMAX.”
Navigation software gets an upgrade.
Still no video support for Skype.
Color is black brushed metal, black keyboard, and goldish bezel.
Case is pretty much the same but inside is carrot orange instead of sky blue.
Full demo video from Satu Sipola, Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition Product Manager after the jump.
In Las Vegas, where the CTIA Wireless 2008 show is going on, Nokia officially announced its N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition today at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.
Because WiMAX signals extend 2-3 miles — as compared to a few hundred feet for WiFi — WiMAX networks enable broadband internet connections (2-4 Mbps, with peaks of up to 10 Mbps) for users on the move.
The device will be “available in the United States during the summer of 2008 in areas where WiMAX connectivity is available.”
Nokia also announced an
upgraded OS2008 [that] introduces useful new features to the platform, including an enhanced e-mail client, support for Chinese character rendering in the browser and RSS feeds and Seamless Software Update functionality to eliminate manual software updates, making periodic updates of the operating system quick and easy. While standard on the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition, current owners of Nokia N810 and N800 Internet Tablets with earlier operating systems will be able to upgrade their device to the revised operating system for free during the second quarter of 2008.
I’m not sure if this adds anything to what we already knew about the next OS release, but since Reggie is having all the fun in Las Vegas, I’m reduced to reading and re-reading the press release.
Here’s the obligatory statement of significance by an upper-level executive:
“By delivering the kind of open Internet experience that consumers previously only expected on a desktop PC, the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition is a compelling example of how next generation broadband wireless technology will not only change the way people think about the Internet, it will change the very nature of the Internet itself,” said Ari Virtanen, Vice President of Convergence Products for Nokia.
“Much in the way that the evolution of the fixed Internet from dial-up to broadband enabled a host of new Internet services and changed people’s expectations of what an Internet experience should be, the transition to a broadband Internet experience set free from the constraints of a fixed network will spark the next wave of new mobile Internet services, and will forever change the perception of what the Internet can be.”
I think Ari means the walkaround web is a totally new experience and the new tablet will be the first to deliver it in this form. No argument there. (I guess if you’re in one of those WiMAX locations, we’re talking about the drive-around web, actually.)
Just so there’s no confusion about this new tablet: When not in range of a WiMAX network, the Nokia N810 WE can also “access the Internet over Wi-Fi or via conventional cellular data networks by pairing to a compatible mobile phone via Bluetooth technology.”
Nokia’s press release ambiguously notes that “a number of VoIP and IM clients are available, including Skype, Google Talk, and Gizmo5, which can also take advantage of the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition’s built-in web cam for video calls.” Whether this statement includes Skype among the VoIP clients that can make cam calls depends upon how you parse the sentence. Clarification is already being sought on this.
Added later:
Where will you find WiMAX? Alex Vorn at World of Gadgets cites these locales in 2008: Baltimore, Washington DC and Chicago (with Boston “soon” and New York after that).
itT was lucky enough to be among the first ones to try out the new HAVA Player for the Nokia Internet Tablet from Monsoon Multimedia, Inc.
Basically, the HAVA Player lets you take your TV anywhere and access your DVR, Cable, or Satellite boxes (standard and HD channels) connected to a HAVA appliance at home, via the Nokia Internet Tablet, as long as it is connected via WiFi or by any other high-speed connection.
From our initial tests, the Internet Tablet version of the HAVA Player even outperformed the PC version, with regards to video and sound quality. There were some minor sync problems that happen occasionally, especially when you keep switching from fullscreen to the remote control screen, but I never encountered the slow down nor the sound tone change that happens on the PC HAVA Player. The app is still on beta and should be released sometime the third quarter of this year.
We have been playing with the beta version for a week now but we weren’t allowed to disclose anything about it since we were under NDA until CTIA (a press release is coming out from Monsoon in a while). We are releasing a 11 minute first look video that I took this weekend. I hope you all enjoy it!
As always, feel free to comment and suggest features. The Monsoon folks will surely be monitoring this thread.
Urho Konttori just released Theme Maker 1.1.3, an OS2008 (Chinook) theme maker. The app, that runs on a PC, Mac, Linux, takes in an 8000 (not a typo) x 800 pixel .PNG file and automatically dissects them to hundreds of components and then packages them to a debian (.deb) installer file. Urho provides a template file (in .psd) that he suggests you edit in Adobe Photoshop or GIMP.
To give everyone an idea on how huge the template is and I guess how long Urho has been working on the dissecting program on his Theme Maker, below is the full template where I highlighted (in red) part of which I used on the image above.
Being one man’s continuing quest for happiness despite years of unfulfillment
I’ve been using computers a long time (don’t ask) and using microcomputers long before Microsoft even sold an OS. I was a DOS guy before I could afford a Macintosh, though I was using Macs at work starting back in 1985. And I happily benefitted from the Mac’s strength in desktop publishing software for more than a decade.
When I re-oriented my publishing career towards XML and e-books in 1999, I was forced to be a dual-platform guy. There just weren’t any XML tools on the Mac, so I bought a cheapo PC and moved back and forth between my two computers depending on the task.
As I used XML more and my Mac grew ever more gray-bearded, I started buying new programs for the PC instead of for the Mac. This was a huge emotional issue. Where the dollars go, there follows the heart (at least in electronics). Gradually I was transformed from a full-blown Mac enthusiast (and off-hours tech support for various family members long-distance) into a full-time WinXP user. It helped that my job now supplied me with a laptop that I carried from Manhattan office to home office (where I work two days a week) to out-of-state offices every week or three.
When the replacement for XP — then known as Longhorn, now as Vista — first raised its head, I found myself unable to accept the transition. Microsoft wanted me to pay more for the OS than I thought I should pay for the computer itself. And forget Apple. That was a company everyone agreed was the next Polaroid, Xerox and Kodak combined, destined never to regain financial security or market strength.*
I figured then that my next OS would be Linux.
I won’t go into my beliefs regarding open software, copyright and monopolies. Suffice to say that I’m an extremist. Probably many of you here at ITT have followed the same path towards the sanity of open software (maybe not as far as I). But that pushed me towards Linux, too, of course. Continue reading ‘Me and Linux, round 4 and a half’
Nokia has released a new firmware update to OS2008. Maemo.org is reporting that this release (v2.2007.51-3) fixes the following bugs:
2417 No includes for libapt-pkg (aka libapt-pkg-dev)
2917 libgdbm-dev is reported missing with chinook’s apt-get
2766 Missing libxslt1-dev in chinook
2901 Can’t install blues-utils-tools on current n810.
Reports from Internet Tablet Talk members say that the only thing this update fixes is the power-on problem. It looks like however that this update is more for the developers, as indicated at Maemo.org and from the release notes and from the Maemo 4.0 to 4.0.1 comparison table.
Previously released on OS2007 as beta, Nokia just announced Video Center’s official release for OS2008. Video Center lets you subscribe, download, stream, and manage video from feeds and gives you the option to store them on your Internet Tablet for later viewing.
Video Center is currently configured to support video feeds from PodShow and Rocketboom with other official feeds to be added in the future. You can add your own video feeds however, as long as they are in RSS 2.0, XMLTV, or SPF format.
