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Comment Apple does this for other things too... (Score 2, Informative) 307

by the ReviveR (#33159682) Attached to: Apple Mines App Store Submissions For Patent Ideas
Software isn't the only thing. When ever someone comes up with something really innovative for iPhone, Apple throws a patent at it.

iControlPad is one of the more innovative hardware addons I've come across. They too are talking to a lawyer because of Apple blatantly patented their design.

It was also on slashdot few months ago.

One more reason for me to not touch Apple products.

Submission + - Firefox Mobile reaches 1.0 (mozilla.com)

Submitted by Majix
Majix writes: Firefox Mobile, the mobile browser developed by Mozilla based on the same engine as in the recently released Firefox 3.6, has finally hit version 1.0. The first device to be officially supported is the Nokia N900. With a long list of features, Firefox Mobile looks to be the most complete mobile browser to date. Highlights include the familiar Awesome Bar, Weave Sync for sharing your browser state between your PC and mobile, and of course tabbed browsing and Firefox add-ons. With the Nokia 900 and Firefox Mobile 1.0, even Flash content including the normal YouTube site is working, showing that a mobile browser does not have to equal a compromised Internet experience.
Linux

Submission + - Nokia to Make GPS Navigation Free on Smartphones (nokia.com)

Submitted by mliu
mliu writes: In what is sure to be a blow to the already beleaguered stand alone GPS market, Nokia, the global leader in smartphone market share, has released a fully offline-enabled free GPS navigation and mapping application for its Symbian smartphones. Furthermore, the application also includes Lonely Planet and Michelin guides. Unfortunately, the N900, which is beloved by geeks for its Maemo Linux-based operating system, has not seen any of the navigation love so far. With Google's release of Google Navigation for Android smartphones, and now Nokia doing one better and releasing an offline-enabled navigation application, hopefully this is the start of a trend where this becomes an expected component of any smartphone.
Google

Submission + - Google.cn Attack Part Of A Broad Spying Effort (computerworld.com) 2

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: Google's decision Tuesday to risk walking away from China (Um, the world's largest Internet market) may have come as a shock, but security experts see it as the most public admission of a top IT problem for U.S. companies: ongoing corporate espionage originating from China. It's a problem that the U.S. lawmakers have complained about loudly. In the corporate world, online attacks that appear to come from China have been an ongoing problem for years, but big companies haven't said much about this, eager to remain in the good graces of the world's powerhouse economy. Google, by implying that Beijing had sponsored the attack, has placed itself in the center of an international controversy, exposing what appears to be a state-sponsored corporate espionage campaign that compromised more than 30 technology, financial and media companies, most of them global Fortune 500 enterprises. The U.S. government is taking the attack seriously. Late Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement asking the Chinese government to explain itself, saying that Google's allegations 'raise very serious concerns and questions.' She continued: 'The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy.'

Submission + - India developing vehicle to knock Enemy satellites (popsci.com)

Submitted by Frankie70
Frankie70 writes: Beware, enemies of India: Star Wars are back in fashion. With perennial (and nuclear armed) foe Pakistan always teetering on the brink of political collapse and neighboring regional superpower China taking greater strides into space technology, India has announced that it is developing an exo-atmospheric "kill vehicle" that will knock enemy satellites out of orbit.

Submission + - Constitutionality of RIAA Damages Challenged (blogspot.com)

Submitted by NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: In SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, defendant has filed a motion for new trial, attacking, among other things, the constitutionality of the jury's $675,000 award as being violative of due process. In his 32-page brief (PDF), Tenenbaum argues that the award exceeded constitutional due process standards, both under the Court's 1919 decision in St. Louis Railway v. Williams, as well as under its more recent authorities State Farm v. Campbell and BMW v. Gore. Defendant also argues that the Court's application of fair use doctrine was incorrect, that statutory damages should not be imposed against music consumers, and that the Court erred in a key evidentiary ruling.

Comment Re:Warning (Score 2, Informative) 95

by the ReviveR (#30591294) Attached to: <em>Duke Nukem 3D</em> Ported To Nokia N900
You should have just gotten new one using warranty. Since droid seems to get the same sort of bug, it is quite possible there is simply a bad batch of omap 3 processors going around.

My N900 has been very stable. I've had it for over 5 weeks now and I've so far gotten a single reboot. That was when I was trying to open unsupported file with development version of KMplayer. Even then the phone just autobooted and everything was back to normal.

I would have to say N900 is surprisingly stable for something so new and groundbreaking.

Comment Porting for N900 is easy, controls not so much... (Score 2, Interesting) 95

by the ReviveR (#30591218) Attached to: <em>Duke Nukem 3D</em> Ported To Nokia N900
The biggest problem with old games on mobiles is definitely the controls. If you have seen Duke Nukem 3D on iPhone you would have to agree the controls make it nearly unplayable. I remember playing through couple of levels on my N810 and the keyboard makes it more playable but it can still be tiresome experience for your fingers. Connecting Wiimote to N900 gives good controls but the Wiimote is too big to carry around.

On positive side, porting games like these to n900 is pretty easy. So far I've seen Star Control 2, Quake 3, Jagged Alliance 2, Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior. All were ported by someone for free. If you connect Wiimote to N900 and N900 to your TV, it's almost as good as cheap console.

BTW, Quake 3 would probably have made a more impressive headline =)
Apple

Submission + - Nokia claims Apple violated additional patents (globeinvestor.com)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "The Associated Press is reporting that: "Nokia is broadening its legal fight with Apple , saying almost all of the company's products violate its patents, not just the iPhone.
Nokia Corp. said Tuesday that it has filed a complaint against Apple Inc. with the U.S. International Trade Commission. The Finnish phone maker says Apple's iPhone, iPods and computers all violate its intellectual property rights.""

Comment Re:5 Megapixel camera?!? Why this thing again? (Score 1) 119

by the ReviveR (#30547322) Attached to: iPhone 4 Rumors Rumble

MP counts say nothing. I have used a 1.3MP digital camera from the early 00's that takes better pictures than every camera phone I ever used. Unless you get a phone with optical zoom you can almost be guaranteed the quality will be crap.

1 good megapixel is better than 8 crap ones

I've had a bit different experience, although I do agree that the MP count is mostly meaningless. High MP actually seriously drops the quality because of the tiny sensors can't get enough light.

Nokia seems to have the upper hand in mobile cameras and once again these phones are not something most americans end up seeing. Most of their top of the line phones have had Carl Zeiss optics for a while now. The tiny sensor is still a problem so any low light situation creates ugly grainy images. However with proper lighting (or with Xenon flash like in the old Nokia N82) you can get some really good pics. Nokia pretty much stopped increasing the sensor size a few years ago at 5 MP and has been trying to improve the quality since.

Comment Re:Okay, I'll be the one to say it... (Score 4, Informative) 416

by the ReviveR (#30513204) Attached to: Android's Success a Threat To Free Software?
The N900 is NOT very expensive (well not cheap either), it's about the same as any other top of the line smartphone. The reason it may seem like that is because in US you cannot get it subsidized.

Here is a copy paste of an earlier post I made....

Here are some prices from one of the cheaper web stores in Finland. Please note that these have taxes included and probably the "europeans are idiots" bonus (1 dollar = 1 euro)

  • iPhone 3GS 32GB - 528 euro (+ 12 month contract with "normal" prices)
  • iPhone 3G 8GB - 396 euro (+12 month contract with "normal" prices)
  • HTC Hero - 489.90 euro (no contract)
  • Motorola Milestone - 549.90 euro (no contract + 50 euro more for localized keyboard)
  • Nokia N900 - 569.00 euro (no contract)
  • Samsung Galaxy i7500 - 489.90 euro( no contract)
  • Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Android - 749.90 euro (no contract)

Based on these it would seem that most top of the line phones actually cost around 500 - 600 euro (that is probably 500$-600$ in US) and even correlates pretty nicely with release schedule. Don't get the price on the Sony Ericsson, though it isn't actually out yet I think.

BTW: People were able to get it as cheap as $442 from Dell a while back. Don't know what is the cheapest now (nor would I buy anything from Dell :)

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