Category: gadgets and technology

Wired notes the upcoming release of technology from Tom Tom and Johnson Controls to better integrate a PAN (Personal Area Network) in your car. I’m hoping that the upcoming Tom Tom Car Connect is the first step… it’s supposedly coming out shortly and will integrate the GPS, with the car audio for spoken directions and calls on the internal audio system as well as light control (day and night modes) with when your headlights turn on.

Your car and GPS system could soon be speaking the same language, enabling it to tell you when its sick or when you should make a turn. Automotive companies Johnson Controls and Tom Tom are integrating satellite-based navigation system with vehicle communication networks.

Johnson Controls created a Bluetooth gateway so that wireless devices can communicate directly with the vehicle network. According to the Small Business Times, entertainment devices will be able to send their audio wirelessly to the car speakers.

So listening to your messages or making calls on your mobile phone won’t require cables or complicated software integration. Wireless networks will be coming to vehicles in a big way within the next few years, including being able to download movies or music to your car from your home network. [Wired : Autopia]

Technorati Tags: Bluetooth, GPS, TomTom

The main (maybe only real) disappointment with the Nokia E61 is the built in PIM functions are pretty weak. Sure you get a calendar and Task manager, but they are not anything like the built-in stuff you find on a Palm – which is my gadget heritage. Today there are no quality released versions of applications to fill this gap, but there are two betas (one open and one closed) in process which will certainly be competing for the GTD of the E61set.

I’ve installed Aquacalendar 5 beta today and it’s considerably better than the current release version 4.1. I’m looking forward to tracking the progress here…

There’s also the pending open beta of Papyrus. This had actually initially caught my eye – especially based on having tried the current version of Aquacalendar.

It’s hard to say who will win and I’m sure what will follow as these apps are released will be something similar to the Agendus vs. Datebk debates many have witnessed on Palm threads. My guess is that both will do what you need, but handle things in different ways based on the philosophy of the developers. Either way, mobile productivity is about to get much better.

Technorati Tags: Aquacalendar, E61, Calendar, Software, E-Series, GTD, Papyrus, Series 60, Nokia

Just caught this on PVRWire…

Nokia has been rumored on the T3.co.uk website to be launching a living room video streaming device.

According to unnamed source on T3 the device will be based on the Nokia’s Audio Gateway and will use WiFi to stream video stored on your cell phone.

That certainly sounds like a waste of time to me. Why would you want to stream low quality video on your cell phone to your network enabled PVR or PC? I’m suspecting, or at least hoping there is something a little more to this.
[PVR Wire]

I think it’s actually pretty clear. Nokia is competing very directly with Apple as noted by T3. The N-Series devices are getting quite powerful and in daily use are great as personal, 1-2 foot type units. If you add-in a connection back in the living room you get a 10 foot shared experience. I’m not thinking there’s much of a unique UI to this (yet) it’s more in how and with whom you share content collected through the phone. The N93 can record DVD quality video and has a TV out function. The N95 can also record video in DVD quality, but also has a 5 megapixel camera and supports UPnP which means once it’s connected on your home network, you might not have to even connect a dongle in order to view content in a shared environment through whatever this device becomes.

When I own the N95 (predicting I will…) I can definitely see adding this second unit as a complement for sharing. I’m sure there will be other N-Series or related products that can also stream to this either with out without wires. Just like the iPod, if you have Gigs of information in a small form factor, you’ll want that to become the central component source for what you watch and listen to – especially at home.

Technorati Tags: Apple, N-Series, Nokia, Rumor

A new version of AutoLock has been released (didn’t notice before). With its inactivity timer down to 10 seconds, it makes a great tool for any 3rd Ed. user.[e61life]

While I have not had any phantom dials, I decided to still use this excellent piece of freeware…

Technorati Tags: E-Series, E61, N-Series, Nokia

E-Series noted an update to the Cute Blue theme… now the default on my E61.

Technorati Tags: E-Series, E61, Nokia

Andy notes the new Nokia N80 (which I’ve been coveting) along with the fall edition of the Nokia Blogger Program!

If we can choose to continue, please sign me right back up!

I’ll have to check this out next time I am headed to the city…

On the morning of September 9th, New Yorkers will experience a new way to shop for wireless devices when Nokia opens its second US Flagship Store in New York’s exclusive Fifth Avenue shopping district at 5 East 57th Street. [Nokia]

Technorati Tags: E-Series, Marketing, Mobile, N-Series, Nokia

Reports are starting to appear now that the Nokia E62 is coming soon. Thus far the previews are strong — including a nice one from Mossberg this week. I was initially disappointed to learn that this device will not include either 3G or WIFI options as in it’s European sibling the E61, but at the rumored price of $99 with service contract it may more than make up for it. As I begin a new job next week, I might see if I can squeak by without a Blackberry (the usual corporate issue) until this is released.

Technorati Tags: Nokia, E-Series, E61, Blackberry, E62, Cingular