Opera, the Norwegian browser and web technology company, today introduced Fingertouch, a technology which aims to make it easier to interact with a web page on touchscreen devices. On such devices, especially those with smaller screens, when selectable page elements (e.g. links or form elements) are grouped close together on a web page, it can be difficult to accurately select the right element. Opera's Fingertouch looks to solve this problem by providing visual feedback and 'zooming in' on the clustered elements. Read on for more and demo video.
Amazon's portable ebook reader, the Kindle, is in its second hardware iteration, and has now expanded out from the dedicated reader into a software platform. At the moment the Kindle and the Apple iPhone are the only devices in the ecosystem, but you have to expect more platforms to join the party. Here's why.
Fancy plugging your Nokia N95 8GB (or similar) into a battery-powered portable projector and having your own mobile cinema? Thought so. James Burland (Nokia Creative and iPhone buff) has been reviewing the Optoma Pico PK101, using it with both N95 8GB and iPhone, and delivers his verdict here in both text and video form (the video bit is also embedded here below the break).
Ah. Merely days after dismissing Fring (VoIP, Skype, other IM, etc) as not ready for inclusion in my 'top freeware for the Nokia 5800' piece, the guys in Israel go and formally release it! C'est la vie, and you can be sure that Fring will make the next iteration of my roundup. In the meantime, here's Fring's official blog announcing availability. And there's a video after the break. What are you waiting for, go download...
It's Brain Training - for S60, with SPB kindly porting their own take on the genre from their Windows Mobile version. The result is something that's clearly not optimised for non-touch S60 phones, but despite this Ewan found the SPB Brain Evolution games challenging and the overall package good value. Will it actually help your brain to evolve? I suspect not, but it sure looks like a good way to keep your grey matter on an even keel while waiting in queues...
Further to our thoughts on who owns the customer, Jan Rezab on the MobileGamesBlog has pitched in with their ideas on what the networks really think of the rise of manufacturer's app stores. In short they feel that the networks have been lazy, and now the challenge of OEM stores is here they need to sort this out and use their unique selling points – a direct relationship with billing mechanisms already in place – to create the app stores that customers have wanted for years.
Nokia today announced the availability of version 4.5 of the Qt cross platform application and UI framework. The new version sees the first release of the Qt Creator, a cross platform IDE, which combined with the Qt SDK, gives you everything you need to start cross platform development. The release is also the first licensed under LGPL, which is more permissive license and should increase the adoption of Qt.
It is just a matter of time before the Nokia Music Store (purchase per track) goes DRM free, but reports from Nokia's 'Comes with Music' launch in Singapore cite Adam Mirabella, Director of Global Digital Music Retail at Nokia, as saying DRM free music is also 'on the roadmap for the future integration of Comes With Music'. Clearly such a move is still some time away and the statement is not definitive, but it's a sign of how keen Nokia is to push its music offerings.
In All About Symbian Insight 61 (AAS Podcast 117) we look back at some of the software highlights of MWC (including a quick N97 mention), discuss the Nokia Netbook rumours / ideas, talk about Ovi Contacts and go over the latest N-Gage developments. You can listen to AAS Insight 55 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Nokia's Second Life team continue with their regular events, and this Saturday the February edition of the Nokia Connected Worlds panels will take place on the Nokia Island in the virtual world. This month, Hydra and the team will be discussing the issues of disability in SL and other systems, and how they act as enabling tools for many.
One thing which Rafe witnessed at MWC was Stantum's demonstrations of some insanely responsive multi-touch applets working on a standard resistive touchscreen. Leaving aside the demo applets (and also Rafe's own comments, he's still writing up MWC as we speak), then surely this type of technology is what Nokia should be building into its touchscreen phones, so that text input can be increased over the currently limited speeds? Demo and more below.
The rumours of a Nokia Netbook have lit up the internet. Even though it would have been hard to deny, the opportunities for Nokia's software services would surely outweigh the cost of building a commodity consumer electronics device. Ewan explains why.
Living in Reading in the UK, I've been used to seeing a gradual computerisation of everything to do with the city's travel network, right down to electronic signs at some of the busier bus stops - it's clear that there's now computer awareness of all trains, buses and roads. Which begs the question as to why some or all of this data couldn't be put online for Joe Public to access. There's now an answer for Reading (and for several other UK cities), thanks to mxData and their new MetroTV mobile application, screenshots and details below.
It's all about the App Stores and Content Stores now. That's the wave of the future, didn't you know? It'll drive devices sales, the revenue will get shared between developers, networks and manufacturers, and all will be well with the world. But hold on, what happened to last year's Golden Child? Let's find out.
