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Paul Coulton over on the Forum Nokia Blogs, posted an entry about a Java application that he created that can be used to create 3D photos! The 3D photos that are created are the kind that jump off the screen at you if you wear those funky 3D glasses.
It is a pretty interesting idea. Basically using the application you take 2 photos, the application combines the 2 photos into one 3D photo, and if you like the 3D photo it can be uploaded to the 3D photo website simply by selecting Upload from Options. Since there are no settings required to upload it makes the uploading process pretty easy. I tried it out on a Nokia N93i, here's a thumbnail of the 3D photo I created.
While trying out the application I found one negative thing, sometimes when the Java application was creating the 3D photo it crashes with an out of memory error message. I guess the algorithm used to create the 3D photo is very memory intensive.
You can check out other 3D photos that people have uploaded on the m3DCam website. The m3DCam application itself can also be downloaded from the same site with a few different versions available for different camera models.
Source: Paul Coulton's Forum Nokia Blog
Reading Carol's recent post about FlickrVision reminded me of a great Flash Lite application that can be used to search and view Flickr photos on S60 devices that have Flash Lite support.
The application was created by Justin Everett-Church that has been working with Flash for many years. You can Download the Flash Lite Flickr Search application here on Justin's Flash Blog and copy it to your S60 device then search for any photos you like. Photos are shown four at a time in a nice slide show style. Many S60 3rd edition devices come pre-installed with Flash Lite support. Be sure to check this extensive list to see what devices have Flash Lite support pre-installed (they need to add the N95 with pre-installed Flash Lite support).
From Boo Hoo For You, we move to a very different part of the world, with what I can only imagine as starkly contrasting mobile lifestyle and usage.
According to Daily Monitor, some of the latest Nokia multimedia handsets are now available in the Ugandan market. These include the N93i, N95 and N76.
"I can confirm that these state of the art phones are here at very competitive prices for the Ugandan population," said Mr Akashar Kumar the General Manager for Midcom, the authorised Nokia dealer.
I remember reading a while back about the Village Phone initiative in Uganda, presented by Jan Chipchase.
The Village Phone extends regular base station cellular coverage from around 15 kilometers to around 30 kilometers through the use of a village phone kit - an antenna and ten meter cable and a coupler connected to a regular Nokia 1100 mobile phone plus of course, a micro-finance loan. The net result? In a number of cases it provides the first convenient, reliable and affordable connectivity to the outside world for many rural communities as well as providing a stable income for the local entrepreneur that takes out the loan.
While it might not be profitable for the entrepreneurs, I wonder what kind of impact it would have on the rural communities if the Nseries devices are introduced as their "Village Phones". For most, the multimedia phone would also be their first digital camera, first media player, first camcorder, and first internet browser. But their introduction to this multimedia experience would likely be as a community, around a shared device; rather than individually with a personal device.
"What happens when people share an object that is inherently designed for personal use?" Jan and colleague Indri Tulusan delve into this question and more in the essay: Shared Phone Use. Still a compelling read for me the second time around. The same device, say an N95, will be so different in terms of meaning, usage and experience in a different pair of hands.
Sometimes, it's not just about what technology can do, but also the human reaction and behaviour towards the technology. What does your Nokia (Multimedia) device mean to you? A necessity, a status symbol, or perhaps both? and more?
- Carol.
Update: Shortly after posting this entry, I came across a 2-day old article by BBC News - Designing mobiles for the world - where they interviewed Jan Chipchase. He examines how people use mobile phones in their daily lives, and it is with the understanding of human behaviour in various context of culture and landscape that can influence the direction of future designs.
Like many of you, my S60 devices are so much a part of me that I feel lost without them. But besides depending on your devices for daily activities such as connecting with friends and families, keeping appointments and creating memories, what are some the more interesting and special things that you do with your S60 device that others might be surprised to learn about?
Here's your chance to share your idea(s) and perhaps even win a prize! Ricky Cadden, editor of Symbian-Guru.com, is hosting an S60 video contest in celebration of the half-year mark of his website being live. He is looking for videos of the most creative thing you do with your S60 device. The prizes are yet to be announced, but I think watching each others videos and perhaps learning a thing or two is plenty reward in itself!
And it's not everyday I see a contest like this that doesn't preclude Nokia employees from participating :) Rules and details are on Ricky's site, but the contest is ongoing for a month until June 25th, you can enter as many times as you want, and readers get to vote for the winner from the finalists! So start shooting and sharing, all you proud S60 device owners!
- Carol.
The Nokia N95 is capable of capturing videos with fairly high quality: VGA resolution at some 30fps with AAC audio sampled at 48kHz. There are of course many stand-alone camcorders that can produce better quality videos, but none of them can beat the N95 in terms of portability. I was never one who took a lot of videos, however with devices like the N93 and N95, I find myself doing that more often.
There are times -- for example recording a long video clip (for me anything more than 3 minutes is long... I have a short attention span), or if you want to get in the action yourself -- when we need to keep the N95 still in a fixed position. A tripod is best at such a task. Mark Guim got his hands on a Nokia DT-22 Universal Tripod and has posted a great review on it. But what if you don't have a tripod, or own one but don't have it handy when you need it?
Some have already discovered that you can stand the N95 up vertically without supporting it. However, the videos captured in this orientation will be sideways, such as this one (of a widgets demo) by Stefan Constantinescu at the S60 Summit 2007. Wouldn't it be great if the N95 stands by itself horizontally? I tried that, it didn't work, until I found a trick:
Yes, in the slide-out position (is that what it's called?), the N95 is more than happy to keep still and steady for as long as you need it to! (Well, ok, you'll also need a flat surface and no sudden gusts of wind... that's why tripods will always have their place.)
This only applies to the N95. It doesn't work for the similarly video-capable N93. What about other S60 video devices? Do you have related tricks you've discovered with your S60 "cameras/camcorders" to share?
- Carol.
Addendum: I uploaded the above video (which was taken by an N93) to YouTube yesterday. Before I've had a chance to compose this entry today, Mark has already posted a video response as well as a blog entry about it! He was able to make his N95 stand on its side without sliding the slider out. Click away to see how he did that!
There's something mesmerizing about watching random pictures pop up across your computer screen. I'm sure many of you know about Flickrvision - a mashup of Flickr and Google Maps to render photos in real time across a world map. (There's also Twittervision, which does the same with Twitter and Google Maps.) However these sites are not exactly mobile friendly.
Dave Troy, who brought us both the abovementioned mashups, has now released Flickrvision Mobile. It is quite spartan compared to its non-mobile counterpart, with a one-line text description of the location accompanying the picture, rather than full geographical visualization. But it achieves its purpose well -- I was enthralled for several minutes when I first loaded it up on my Nokia E62.
Here's a video of Flickrvision Mobile running on the N95 and E62. The photos load more quickly on the N95 because it's using a WLAN connection, whereas E62 is connected via EGPRS. Video clip recorded with N93.
Flickrvision Mobile works great in the S60 browser. For some reason it doesn't work with Opera Mini. And while it's a fun idea, I wonder how long the fascination will last? Can you think of some uses for it other than killing time? :)
- Carol.
[ Source: mTrends ]
Did you know that you can play your videos recorded with S60 3rd edition devices on your Playstation 3?
Below is a video I recorded with a Nokia N93i of a Playstation 3 playing a video recorded with a Nokia N95 directly from the N95 via USB cable. Confused? Watch the video.
Play Videos On Playstation 3 Recorded With Nokia Nseries on Vimeo
How do you do this? It's actually really easy, here's how:
Step 1. On your S60 3rd edition device open the File Manager.
Step 2. Go to the Memory Card and create a new folder named "Video" (without the quotes).
Step 3. Move or Copy any videos you want to play on the Playstation 3 to the Video folder.
Step 4. Connect the Mini USB cable from your Playstation3 to your S60 3rd edition device and choose Mass Storage.
Step 5. On the Playstation 3 navigate to Video, open the USB device, and play the videos.
This should work for all S60 3rd edition and 3rd edition FP1 devices since they all support USB mass storage. Also you can copy the videos from the memory card to the Playstation 3's hard drive using the Playstation 3's interface for later viewing.
Note: I've tested playing videos that were recorded with N93, N93i, and N95 that record in MP4 format at VGA resolution and it has worked fine for those devices. But I haven't tried other formats or resolutions so I don't know if the Playstation 3 supports other video formats/resolutions. If you've tried playing videos recorded by other S60 devices leave a comment to let me know what device and if it has worked or not.
Networking:
Network modes can be dynamically changed between Dual mode, UMTS, and GSM without having to restart your device. You can change the Network modes by opening the Settings application and selecting Phone -> Network -> Network mode. In S60 versions prior to 3rd edition FP1 when you changed the Network mode the phone would restart in order to apply the change.
USB Mass storage:
The USB Mass storage mode can be activated in any profile and without closing applications. Connect the USB cable from your computer to your S60 3rd edition FP1 device and choose Mass storage from the menu that pops up. The device will go into Mass storage mode and the files on your Memory card will be accessible from your computer without having to close applications and without going to Offline mode. It is a nice improvement since you can still receive calls or have applications open in the background while transferring files on your memory card.
In the first S60 3rd edition release prior to FP1, when USB Mass storage is used all open applications are closed and the device is put in Offline mode.
Note: I saw these improvements on the Nokia N95 but they should also be present on other 3rd edition FP1 devices as well. Leave a comment if you have an FP1 devices (ie. N76) that you've tried the above on, or find the described features aren't working the same on your device.
Jippii, after several years of pilots and trials Finnish mobile TV is ready for prime time. I should highlight this post is about DVB-H based mobile TV. Video streaming through the "traditional" data connections has been available already earlier in Finland by several operators. DVB-H however is a completely new data bearer and requires a new antenna, receiver chip etc. on the device.
The actual DVB-H network operated by Digita (a subsidiary of French TDF group) has been available since December last year. Only last week there was a significant milestone when the first commercial receiving device came available (that's Nokia N92) and both of the two national television broadcasters agreed to start programming on the network (MTV3 and Nelonen). The public broadcaster YLE is yet to start broadcasting due to some unclarified issues with the copyright compensations.
Finland is not the first country to start with DVB-H, the first ones were Italy and Vietnam (correct me if wrong). Finnish DVB-H network is not even nearly country-wide: it's only available in couple of cities (Helsinki, Turku and Oulu) but Digita claims 25 percent of population has the chance to start watching. Sadly Tampere where I live is not covered yet but this should be corrected before end of this year.
I've followed closely all of the mobile TV technologies being created and it's of course great to see DVB-H finally available. How succesful it becomes is of course a different question altogether. When compared to usual streaming video services it's at least faster and more reliable, and should be cheaper to all parties involved.
If you have the chance to visit our S60 Evening at Helsinki, I'll be around to show what's on air from a Nokia N77.
-Jukka
While this is not really related to S60 Multimedia, I couldn't resist posting it:
This is in fact part of a marketing site by Symbian, called "Boo Hoo for You!", focusing on Symbian smartphones in Japan, shaming us "Western" smartphone users (thus the "boo hoo"... if you didn't watch the video).
I don't think it is so much about how more advanced some of the technology is in Japan, as it is about how integrated all these technology is in their daily lives. Here we are talking about advanced PIM and Multimedia features in our phones decent enough to replace stand-alone PDAs, cameras and MP3 players etc. But for the Japanese, their cellphones are literally replacing their wallets and keys.
When you're running late and rushing out the door, do you reach for and grab your camera or your keys?
Then again I wonder about security of these devices. The biometrics feature will prevent someone who steals your phone from using it, but it doesn't prevent the phone from actually being stolen (or lost, or misplaced... as some of us scatterbrains are prone to do.) And what about battery life? When you use a device for everything from shopping to transport throughout the day, what happens when you reach home late at night and the phone is out of juice and you can't unlock the door?
Kevin (Korpi), would you care to comment? I'm interested in your viewpoint since you actually live in Japan and I've only spent a few hours in Narita Airport.
Back on the Boo Hoo site, you can check out the Japanese smartphone features, download the Boo-Hoo ring tone, watch the BHFY clip (which I've already embedded above), and even win a Symbian smartphone! (But I'm guessing it will be a Japanese one based on the FOMA platform rather than S60, and will only work in Japan...)
(Special thanks to Kevin Scott for the forward!)
- Carol.
Pjotro, the man with the music suit, will be performing on a future episode of the late night TV show Last Call with Carson Daly!
For those of you that haven't heard of Pjotro head on over to his site where you can make music and watch him dance to it. Also check out Pjotro Vs DJ EFFeX the beatbox battle to determine, who is music?
I wish I could watch this show but I'm not in the US.
Pjotro - The man with the musical suit
Originally uploaded by Pjotro.
Source: Pjotro's Blog
If not for a 12-day Costa Rican vacation that I've already planned for the first half of June, I will go for the Chicago event at the very least, since it's only a 2-hour flight from Dallas!
I'm guessing Jukka will be at the Helsinki event? What about Kevin, will you be able to attend either one?
- Nokia Flagship Store in Chicago (store info)
- Thursday June 7, 2007 from 18:00 to 20:00 (registration)
- Nokia Flagship Store in Helsinki (store info)
- Thursday June 14, 2007 from 19:00 to 21:00 (registration)
To all those who are going, ENJOY!! And please share all your posts and pictures and videos from the events. In the meantime, if I can get a cell or wifi signal deep in the rainforests, I will be moblogging / vlogging too... maybe.
- Carol.
Hi everyone! First, I'd like to say a heartfelt thanks to Phil and Jukka for helping and encouraging Kevin and I in our new roles as S60 Bloggers.
Next is a little snippet about myself, extracted from the slightly extended version you can find on this blog's about page: "I'm a Software Engineer in the Video group in S60 Multimedia. Our team is responsible for the development and productization of the Media Player UI, the video engines, down to the MDF adaptation of video decoders and post processors. I'm currently working on the video engine for S60 3rd Edition FP2. So while I might be focusing more on video in this blog, I do have a personal vested interest in music and photography, and hopefully that'll allow me to comment on the audio and imaging aspects of S60 Multimedia as well."
I've been debating about what to write for my first post. There are several topics brewing in my coffee pot of a mind, I can already smell the aroma. Hope you'll enjoy the taste as we go along. Since Kevin started things off with a great tip, I'll keep with the theme for now.
Yesterday, as I was browsing through the Nokia Hong Kong site (à la Darla Mack), I came across this list of S60 Handset Usage Tips. I'm not sure why it's only on the Nokia HK site - tried searching for the same on several other Nokia sites without avail.
The list probably doesn't provide much new info for the S60 power user (which I suspect many of you reading this are). However I'd like to highlight the ones related to multimedia applications, especially some of the hot keys which aren't labelled like the soft keys. From feedback I've received, even some long-time S60 users aren't aware of all of them.
When playing back a video clip:
Navikey/joystick right and left: adjust volume up and down. If your device has dedicated volume keys, this might not work.
Navikey/joystick up and down: seek forward and back through the clip.
2: toggle between Full Screen and Normal modes (works in RealPlayer UI, may not work in Gallery UI)
*: toggle between Full Screen and Normal modes (I'm not sure if this is in addition to or in place of '2'. It will be in newer products)
#: mute/unmute the sound (Also in newer products.)
When viewing an image:
1: Rotate anti-clockwise
3: Rotate clockwise
5: Zoom in
0: Zoom out
2,4,6,8 or Navikeys/joystick: move the picture in four different directions while zoomed in
*: switch between full screen and standard mode.
For the Music Player, the functions of keys are displayed in the UI, as they don't have to compete for screen real estate with videos and images. In addition, some devices have dedicated music keys.
Most of the functions described above can be accessed through menu options, but the hot keys can save you key strokes. However, they don't always work the same way across different devices, even those running the same release of S60. For example, optimized versions of Gallery and Music Player found on Nseries products behave differently than those on Eseries. Will reading the user guides help? I don't know, I haven't tried :-P
One last note about the 'Pencil' or 'Edit' key (after reading a brief discussion here): it seems that the key is going away in current and future S60 devices. But no worries. The '#' key can do pretty much everything the 'Edit' key used to do:
Selecting text for copying: press and hold '#' and use the directional keys.
Selecting a single item in a list: press and hold '#' (instead of having to press 'Edit' followed by 'Selection/middle' key).
Selecting multiple items: press and hold '#' followed by up/down keys.
(Note: this was tested on a 6290. I am assuming it will work similarly for other devices without the 'Edit' key.)
As more and more capabilities are added to S60 devices (not just multimedia of course), we start to see dedicated camera keys, music keys, email/multimedia/pim/gps(?) keys etc. Is adding more physical keys and buttons the answer, or perhaps having a standard set of hot keys? What are some of your views on this?
- Carol.
I'll start out my first blog entry here with a tip for those of you with an S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 device (for example, Nokia N95, N76, and future FP1 devices). Have you ever seen a great animated Gif image on the web and thought, I wish I could use that image as a screensaver? Well now you can!
Just save a Gif image or send an animated Gif to your S60 3rd Edition FP1 device. Then open the Themes application, Select Power saver, Select Animation, Select Animation file, and choose the Gif image that you would like to use as your screensaver. After you've selected the desired image you can also adjust how long you want the animation to be displayed. Press Back then wait in anticipation for your new screensaver to appear.
If you get tired of the animation you chose it can be changed by Pressing Options -> Change then choose another gif.
Note: This also works with non-animated Gif images but animated Gifs tend to look cooler. =)
This is a great way to show off your favorite cartoon, actor, movie, musician, or whatever you like! Now that you know this trick what are you're favorite Gif images that you plan to use as your screensaver? I've only tried this on the Nokia N95 so for those of you out there that have other S60 3rd Ed. FP1 devices (ie. N76) let us know if this also works for you. Feel free to leave your answer and what favorite animation you've chosen in the comments.
As I'm new around here I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Kevin Korpi, and I work in the Multimedia team based in Tokyo, Japan. In my daily work I am a software test engineer, this means I get to test some of the latest software on S60 devices. Not only do I test these devices at work, but I also use them in my personal life. With S60 I enjoy taking photos, listening to audio podcasts, watching video podcasts, and browsing the web. In this blog I will be posting tips and tricks as well as information on new S60 applications.
Outside from work I play video games on my Wii and Nintendo DS; tinker with GNU/Linux on my home computers; and read up on blogs and tech sites about the latest technology and web trends. Many of those blogs and tech sites have been added to the newly organized Links area on the lower right side of the blog. My fellow blogger Carol and I will be covering many aspects of S60 in hopes of helping you, our readers, learn new and useful things about S60 software and cool things you can do with your S60 device.
Couple of weeks ago when I did my "sort of" comeback post I invited any interested fellow Nokians to join me on this blog as contributors. Much to my delight I got two replies and they are now ready to go!
Both of our new bloggers have intimate knowledge on various aspects of S60 Multimedia. They work with leading edge devices and software and actually use those also outside of work. And now they want to share all that with you :)
Let's give a warm welcome to Carol and Kevin! They will now introduce themselves more properly, read on.
-Jukka
