What's The Procedure: Tutorials and Reviews for Random Tech

Moving from Symbian to Android: Where Am I (GPS Navigation)?

2012-01-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

One redeeming feature of the Nokia ecosystem is the turn-by-turn, spoken street name, FREE navigation. Later Nokia Maps versions running on Symbian 3 continue to offer class-leading navigation, that give some dedicated GPS devices a run for their money. Nokia's venture into Windows Phone is showing those users what Symbian users have been enjoying for years now.

Let me say from the outset, you will not find a free app like Nokia Maps in the Android ecosystem.

Android uses Google Maps (not even going to hyperlink this) by default. And that's great, if you have a consistent 3G connection, and a fat data allowance. Yes, you can download "offline" map data now, but it is only for a 10 mile (16 km) radius. What happens if you want to do an interstate road trip and not get slammed for data? Not good enough as a Nokia Maps replacement.

Waze is an interesting free solution that relies on other Waze users to provide mapping telemetry. If you live in the US or Europe with lot of other Waze users, you will likely love this app. If you live in Australia, you're probably not going to like it. Not good enough as a reliable mapping solution.

Android Solution: Sygic

The closest I've come to decent mapping for Android users is Sygic. Sygic provides accurate, offline maps for Australia and New Zealand.

Turn-by-turn, spoken street name navigation is also provided.

Sygic's interface is lovely. Simple, but also incredibly powerful when you need it. Add Points of Interest (POI) from within the application. Or import POI from any compatible source as an overlay to the offline maps.

The only downside of Sygic is the maps for Australia and New Zealand cost about $30. Once you buy the maps, you continue to receive updates forever (perpetual license). That's a lot cheaper than purchasing a dedicated GPS and having to update maps every three years. From what I can tell, if you change or upgrade your Android device, the licence is transferable as well.

But you need to plan ahead and check that points of interest (POI) are present on the map. If not, you can add them, and they are persistent in subsequent searches. You'll probably find that some other Sygic users have uploaded photos of POIs in the area you need, so if you have been there before and know the basic map geography, the photographs help you pick the right location to navigate to with or without a POI entry.

The 7 Day trial of this app is not really long enough: it needs to be a full month. If Sygic offered a month trial on this product, I would not have installed a cracked version because I could test it over multiple trips in the month and see how incredibly worth the $30 it is. Hope you read this Sygic (and I will be making a purchase shortly for the record).

You also have to pay extra for live traffic alerts, per year (ouch). But as one of my colleagues suggested, just fire up google maps when you hit a traffic jam and take a look at the way ahead on the free traffic alert system built-in to Google Maps.

Dishonourable Mention: Navigon

I only stumbled across this solution by accident, after heading to the SGS2 product site and glancing at the Australia product features of the SGS2. It listed Navigon as being offered as the navigation solution, but the app was nowhere to be found on the device. You would think it should have been at least already installed when you set up the phone or something?

Turns out that you can get completely free Australian and New Zealand Navigon maps for being a Samsung customer. The paid version of Navigon for non-Samsung customers costs upwards of $60, so I see this as a real advantage of being a Samsung customer.

At least that is what I thought...

It all started when I attempted to download the maps initially.

WARNING: When you are downloading the maps initially, do not navigate away from the download screen. Your download will be abandoned, because Navigon in their wisdom do not allow the download to continue in the background, or provide any "WARNING: You are about to stop your download" PEBKAC prevention.

So I managed to download the maps the second time, and start the app. The GPS lock took ages, in direct line of sight of the cloudless blue sky. After 5 minutes, I just closed the app. When I opened the map view, it was like something from GPS units of 4 years ago. Blocky maps, with horrible map panning that would re-draw as you drag the map around.

Navigon and the maps are free. The add-ons are not. There are three to choose from, which give you the same turn by turn guidance and dashboard stuff as Sygic does, and one for Traffic (which is an extra, yearly subscription service in Sygic). The real sour point here is that to purchase all four will cost you more than purchasing an Australian/New Zealand license of Sygic (at current exchange rates).

T O T A L F A I L

If you need offline maps for Australia and New Zealand, and own a Samsung device, do not even bother with Navigon. Utter rubbish. I'm removing it as I write this blog.

Moving from Symbian to Android: Let the music play

2012-01-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

With Symbian 3, there were not many choices for music player software. You really only had the default "Music" software. And even if you could find an alternative music player that offered a similar feature set, you were likely not able to set it as the default player due to Symbian's frustrating "our default apps are better than yours, nyaaaah" attitude.

There was nothing wrong with that Symbian 3 music player. While it was basic, it did have a lovely cover-flow feature (quite iPod like, actually), and good support for many proprietary CODECs.

As soon as I started the Samsung Music Player on the Galaxy S2, I thought to myself "well, I'll be looking for another music player very quickly". The default player is a steaming pile of excrement. I can't really put it any other way, without using stronger language.

In my quest to find an immediate replacement for the player, I chose WinAmp. It is free, it is not that shiny, but it does the job much better than the dookie that is the Samsung Music Player. If you like to use WinAmp on your PC, you'll likely love the fact that you will be able to wirelessly sync your music to your Android phone.

For a really excellent summary of players you can use on Android, check out Joshua Goldman's CNET post: Best Android Music Players. I'm not going to repeat them all here because Joshua has said it all really. For those who want the tl:dr version, choose PlayerPro, PowerAMP, or Audiogalaxy.

Moving from Symbian to Android: O Sleeping Screen, where art thou

2012-01-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

I still do miss Sleeping Screen, the impressive free app that turns your Nokia AMOLED phone screen into a minimalistic notification system for your sleeping phone (when your phone is on stand-by).

I followed this app when it was just a promising Nokia Beta Labs offering, until it's maturity into the Nokia Store. The great thing about Sleeping Screen is you get an overview of missed calls, texts, and calendar alarms on your standby screen.

The killer feature offered by this app was that you could use the provided converter to make any photo or image to a reduced-pixel image. Because AMOLED can turn on individual pixels, and requires no LED light source, the pictures consume very little battery, while still offering quite amazing resolution. This gives you ultimate flexibility as to what pictures you want refreshing on your standby screen. You can see some results on my post about Sleeping Screen.

Many Android handsets feature a multi-coloured LED that gives you a basic indication of what notification type you have waiting for you on your handset. In my case, the Samsung Galaxy S2 does not have a LED.

Solution: NoLED.

While NoLED does not give you screensaver images, it gives you everything else.

It will notify you of missed calls, SMS, email, and other apps with small coloured dots. The dots move around the screen (configurable).

You can expand the dots to icons (similar to sleeping screen), app thumbnails (where available). It will even tell you how much charge is left on your phone when a notification is received, so you can do away with the battery widget on your home screen. You can even go so far as to instruct NoLED to sleep between a time range so it doesn't wake you up at night.

In short, NoLED is ultra-configurable. And it is free. You can opt to donate a small amount to the developers for their excellent work. I likely will.

This app is the best solution I've found to solve the gap between Sleeping Screen and the default lock screen on the Samsung Galaxy S2. If you have found another app that is better, please comment so other readers can benefit from your experience.

Moving from Symbian to Android

2012-01-02T19:06:00.000-08:00

I'm tired of Symbian, but I also love things like Sleeping Screen and Nokia Maps. What do I choose to make the transition as friendly as possible?

Don't worry: I was there about two weeks ago. I upgraded from a Nokia N8 to a Samsung Galaxy S2 (SGS2), and have spent the last few weeks tweaking and researching apps and services that give me the functionality I was used to on Symbian, and in many cases offer functionality better than Symbian. If you're considering the jump, read my posts in the coming days about my findings so far.

Topics I'll be covering are:

Notifications (Sleeping Screen vs NoLED)
Maps and Navigation (Nokia Maps vs Google Maps, Waze, and Sygic)
Music (Default app vs [insert any number of choices here])
Apps (This will be a short post from the Nokia perspective...)
Other miscellaneous things I think of after writing this blog ;)

Pros and Cons: Moving from Nokia to Android

2011-12-14T16:53:00.000-08:00

After about 15 years of using Nokia phones, I will be moving to a Samsung Galaxy S II Google Android handset.

This is a bittersweet decision, because I rate Nokia handsets as some of the most durable phones on the market. If only Nokia decided to push forward with MeeGo, or became a handset OEM like HTC, I might not be writing this entry.

I currently own a Nokia N8, which in today's handset marketplace has an inadequate processor, RAM, and arguably OS in comparison with the Dual Core 1GB RAM Android handsets. The N8 has one feature I rate incredibly highly on a Phone however: the camera. The N8 sports a 12MP Carl Zeiss CCD. At the time of writing this, there is simply no better camera hardware on a smart phone out there. Fact.

I'm of the "one device to rule them all" mindset, so having a great camera at my fingertips is something I rate highly. The amount of times I have been able to capture critical family moments, or capture something unique and beautiful while I'm out and about have made the Nokia N8 worth every single cent.

For me, camera quality has made the transition over to Android very difficult. There are plenty of Android handsets out there with Dual Cores and 1GB RAM, but the Achilles heel of every handset I've researched is the camera. While Android phones like the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc have probably the best camera optics out there, their overall processor and RAM specifications are, well, not up to spec.

From my research, I've come to accept there is currently no Android phone out there with the right combination of specifications for me:

12MP, quality camera
a Xenon flash
minimum 1.2 GHz dual cores
minimum 1GB RAM.

At best, handsets have dual LED flash. Most have single LED.

I know I'm taking a downgrade in camera features, but here's how I see the losses and gains from moving from Nokia Symbian 3 to Android (in my case Gingerbread):

Nokia Losses:

Best of breed Carl Zeiss camera phone technology. Android OEMs: get with the program here.
Great handset build quality.
~~Interface familiarity~~.
Gravity Social Media client. Probably the best twitter client invented, and constantly requested by Nokia deserters using iOS and Android.

Android Gains (with Nokia N8 Symbian 3 comparisons):

Device specifications that are not redundant before they are even released.

Nokia are only just releasing 1Ghz processor phones to the market.

Rapidly evolving OS, with a reliable release cadence.

Symbian 3 Anna (PR2.0) worldwide deployment was delayed at least 6 months later than promised at launch. Why is this such a big deal? This update introduced a PORTRAIT QWERTY keyboard. Yes, this was not shipped by default with the original PR1.0
When Nokia did release PR2.0, Australia was last on the list.
Symbian 3 Belle (PR3.0), the next major cosmetic interface change has already slipped into next year.
Android users will be amazed to hear that PR3.0 gives Symbian users a pull-down NOTIFICATIONS TRAY. Better late than never, I guess...

App ecosystem that has much wider commercial uptake and support.

Developers rarely port apps to Symbian 3. Too much trouble for too little return.

Open content-rich web pages quickly and reliably.

Try to open complex pages on Symbian 3 N8, and you can almost bet you'll get the "Out Of Memory" error pop up. It's embarrassing. 256MB RAM is simply not enough.
I recently learned that the separate GPU in the Nokia N8 is allocated a measly 32Mb. This will make it even harder for game developers to make titles backwards compatible for older devices. Makes navigation choppy, and gaming limited.

Having application choices for basic user tasks.

Symbian 3 makes it really difficult to specify any base application that isn't core.
Music Player default is basically hard-coded.
Camera button will only open the Symbian 3 camera interface.
You can select a default browser other than the WebKit Nokia browser, which was (and still is) utter rubbish. However for native Symbian apps, the WebKit browser is loaded anyhow, totally ignoring your preferences. Grrr!

Google integration natively supported.

On Symbian 3, I have to shoehorn in Google services. It is not natively offered.

GoogaSync for *multiple* Google Calendars.
SyncML to get my Google contacts.

The only natively-supported way to import basic Google contacts and your primary calendar is to use the single Mail for Exchange profile available. If you need that single MfE account for your work emails, you're out of luck, sport!

I won't list the different types of Nokia handsets I've owned over my lifetime as a mobile phone consumer. Most of them were revolutionary at the time, and I still have fond memories of them. I will have fond memories of the Nokia N8, but sometimes you have to realise that vendor loyalty is not a reason to stick with something.

Hopefully I won't live to regret it.

The Scourge of Christmas Past, Present, and Future

2011-12-01T13:56:00.001-08:00

MULTI-STRAND INCANDESCENT CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. WHAT CIRCLE OF HELL DID THESE COME FROM.

<Breathe, J-man, Breathe>

OK. So last night I had the most unpleasant job of untangling a 300 string set of these Christmas Lights. Being the smart geek, I had wound them around a large postage tube to try and keep them from getting untangled, but even that didn't help.

To cut a long story short, after a lot of violent shaking, and spaghetti maze solving, I untangled the string.

After hanging the damn things, half of the string just did not work. At all. What a soul destroying waste of time. Never again.

We did purchase an LED set of lights, but it was a 100 string. We really needed a 300 string. My better half just would not put them up on the tree, saying they would look ridiculous. They probably would.

So, being the geek that I am, I got thinking about the problem and have come up with a Christmas Lights product that makes all the terrible design elements of Christmas Lights a thing of Christmas Past.

The Pitch

Modular Christmas Lights, with the following features:

Green (or white), flat, flexible, cable.
Colour switching LEDs so you do not have to have one colour per strand.
Each light string is 1m long, and has keyed connectors.

20 individual LEDs per strand (a bulb every 5 cm)
This would give excellent light output.

Usable in 100, 150, 200, 250, or 300 bulb lengths:

Connect how ever many you need.
Never have the problem with trying to wrap the excess bulb length around the bottom of the tree.

LED bulb is mounted in a neat, terminal block style housing.

One light in center of cable, but connected internally to the correct cable will look a lot better than a LED that is protruding from the cable.
No protruding bulbs means no tangle.

Bulb Controller, with the following features:

Seven modes, similar to what most offer now.
Music Response mode. Responds to bass frequencies to control the light pulse.
Each mode cycles through with a single push button (like most on market now).
LED 'mode' indicator built in, so you know exactly what mode is running.
No bulky wall plug: normal corded wall plug, with unit sitting on the floor.
Auto detects the modular length connected based on pre-set resistance, and adjusts light intensity accordingly.
Set the light intensity: soft or bright.

Packages Available:

300 bulb length, for big trees.
150 bulb length for small trees.
Other lengths sold separately, for an affordable price.
150 bulb length pack controller can be expanded up to 300 bulbs with separately purchased lengths.

Pack Includes:

Selected bulb length.
Bulb Controller
Soft bag for lineal storage of string lengths, and all accessories

So who wants to put up some venture capital and we get these puppies onto the market for Christmas next year?

Cotton Candy Computer: Paradigm Shift for Mobiles?

2011-11-27T13:29:00.001-08:00

FXI Technologies released details of a USB computer recently that started my brain going overtime. With what is essentially a Galaxy S II in a USB (look at the device specifications for a complete picture), I began to wonder what this might mean for mobiles phones in the future.

http://www.fxitech.com/products/

Cotton Candy is rumored to be available next year for about $200. Pair this up with a pico-projector , like this, a Bluetooth Keyboard/Mouse, and you arguably have a use-anywhere PC. The fact hasn't escaped me that there are these things called Laptop Computers that do more than what Cotton Candy does out of the box. That's not the point. The fact that you can plug this into any TV with HDMI and USB and start using it as a computer blows my mind.

So why is this a potential paradigm shift for mobile phone design?

I believe the next evolution in mobile phone design will be when manufacturers can separate the Human Interface Device (HID) elements from the phone hardware. Cotton Candy already proves you can fit most of the hardware and software of a mobile phone into a USB stick. The limitation at the moment is the battery, and the ever increasing demand for bigger and better screens and resolution.

Separate out screen, battery, and phone hardware into discrete elements, and you have something that could change the game.

In my grand design, our mobiles of the future would work as follows.

HID Component

Glasses with projector like technology to display the interface.

Glasses would have "Transitions" style photo-sensitive coating so they could be used day or night.
Image overlay would activate when call received or activated by the user.
Overlay would darken when in bright light.

Interface overlay, consisting of:

Augmented Reality (AR) to overlay the interface on any flat surface .
Make a gesture with your hand to activate dialler, or interface.
Could use a ring with an AR symbol to automatically activate the interface. Hold your hand up in front of the screen, and the AR symbol tells the interface that you need access to the User Interface (UI).
Advanced voice commands could replace many UI elements with voice commands.

Phone Component

Something like the Cotton Candy, but with added mobile bits like antenna and GSM incorporated.
Cloud connected, with offline storage provided by removable media.

Power Source Component

Induction Power for all related devices.
Store the battery in your bag.
Huge capacity.

I can keep dreaming, but I have a feeling that it might not be for as long as I think. I think we will be seeing this type of interface or device offered in about 15 years. We would not have envisaged a USB PC as powerful as Cotton Candy was possible two years ago.

Mobile Phone Designers and Developers: you have heaps of time to work out the rest. ;)

Nokia Care Brisbane. Time For a Second Chance

2011-11-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

Last night I determined that the power button on my Nokia N8 was not working.

I hard reset the phone, and the fault was confirmed. I could not turn on the phone by any means.

Luckily I had an alarm set for my wake up call this morning which forced the phone to boot and I was able to select "Turn Phone On" from the alarm menu (great thinking Nokia for adding in this failsafe).

This is the second Nokia N8 I have had to send in for service. I have to say the N8 is probably the worst handset I have ever owned from Nokia as far as hardware reliability goes.

So off I go to the Nokia Care Centre in Brisbane at 9am when they open. You might remember I had a pretty woeful customer service experience there the first time I had to check my N8 in for mainboard replacement.

I really hope that Nokia Care Brisbane has instituted some customer service training since my last visit. Either way I'll let you know once my phone has been fixed/replaced/upgraded.

It should be as simple as replacing the h/w power switch on the mainboard. Whether it is easier to just replace the phone and fix the switch afterwards, I'll leave that up to the great techs at Nokia Care.

UPDATE: Submitted for Repair

Much better experience than last time. Was greeted by Elaine this time.

Elaine explained to me that my phone was 2 days out of warranty, but the great thing was that she was able to organise the phone to be repaired under warranty. I really appreciated this, and I want to thank Elaine for bending the rules in this case.

Elaine also organised a loan handset for me (for a refundable deposit of $100). While it was an E71 (certainly a jump back from the N8, and it took me a while to get used to the interface after S60v5 and S^3), it was much better to get the loaner than be without a phone for up to three days (the maximum time Nokia Care will take to repair the phone, according to their charter).

Elaine did mention that while the charter said up to three days, she said that if the fix was an easy one, it may be ready by this afternoon. That's a pretty good turnaround.

I'll keep you posted on the result: positive or negative.

UPDATE: Fixed within a Day!

Great job Nokia Care Brisbane. I received a call the same day to confirm my phone was ready for collection.

The fault was a mechanical failure of the Power switch. They also reformatted the phone to remove a lock-up fault I experienced when trying to transfer my files off the phone in Mass Storage mode (unfortunately I lost some photos/videos).

CUSTOMER SERVICE: A+

Nokia Care Brisbane really has instituted some staff training, and I can't speak highly enough of the staff and the way they assisted me with this problem. This was a completely different experience from when I was basically chastised for being a blogger and speaking ill of them when the N8 had a complete mainboard failure.

Using ffmpeg to record screencasts compatible with Vimeo

2011-10-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

Summary:

This command breakdown explains the ffmpeg command specific to screen captures using h.264 and mp3 lame.

This command line procedure captures your left hand screen using h.264 high quality capture settings. Your audio is encoded in mp3, and is captured in 320mb/s 44100 khz audio from your default laptop audio mic, or from a headset with a mic jack.

Prerequisites:

Set Default Monitor:

Open gnome-display-properties (System > Preferences > Monitors)
Drag the screen you want to capture to be on the left.
Click the left monitor in the dialog.
Write down the resolution displayed. This is required in the command line procedure.
Click Set As Default.

This now sets the record target display as 0.0, or DEFAULT.

Get Packages:

Install Codecs from RPM Fusion Non-free repo

Install the @rpmfusion-nonfree repo
sudo yum install ffmpeg lame-devel

Install Codecs from RPM Fusion Free repo

sudo yum install h264enc x264 x264-devel

Background:

The ffmpeg command is broken down into the following primary parts:

input
output (encode)
output container (filename).

To record your desktop, you require two input sources to be configured:

Audio from your laptop mic, USB headset, or 3.5 minijack microphone/headset
Video from the desktop of your computer.

Input

Audio Input Parameters

-f alsa (specify an input format for alsa audio)
-i plughw:0,0 (specify the input type for the default internal sound card (mic pickup in laptop, or if you are using a mic connected to the mic jack such as the one for the Logitech H230)
NOTE:

If you are using a USB headset or mic, plug in the device and run “cat /proc/asound/cards”
You will get a listing of plugged in sound cards.
change “plughw:0,0, to plughw:[n],0. Where [n] corresponds to the sound device you just plugged in.

Video Input Parameters

-f x11grab (specify an input format of X11 Screen Capture)
-s 1680x1050 (specify screen’s resolution. Note there are NO SPACES in resolution)
-r 24 (specify a framerate of 24 fps)
-b 100k (specifies the framerate capture. Although Vimeo recommend bitrate to be 5000, ffmpeg doesn’t
-bf 4 (specify the MPEG B-frame type you want to capture is for MPEG-4. Other options are BF 1 for MPEG-1 and BF 2 for MPEG 2). You are recording to MP4 format, so select MP4 to match).
-g 15 (specify “Groups of Pictures” to have PAL compression [NTSC is 16])
-i :0.0+0,0 (0.0 specifies the $DEFAULT (system default) monitor display. The second set of numbers after the + specify the offset value from the left-hand display. So if you want to capture the second screen, and the L/H monitor runs 1680x1050, the offset value is 1680). The setting as specified captures the left screen.

CRUCIAL: -s and -r *must* appear before -i on the command line. You are passing the frame rate and screen resolution *to* the display and capture area. Place it after -i and you are specifying these values for the *next* input format.

Output

ffmpeg output properties are set using codecs and their specific settings. You need settings for both Audio and Video.

Specify the Output (encode) properties in the order you specified the input types:

Audio Output Parameters

-acodec libmp3lame (specifies that you will encode using mp3 libraries. These encode fine when pushed to Vimeo.)

-ar 44100 (specifies the audio frequency is 44100 khz, which is the Vimeo maximum)
-ab 320k (specifies the audio bitrate is 320kbps, which is the Vimeo maximum)

Video Output Parameters

-vcodec libx264 (specifies the h.264 codec)

-vpre lossless_fast (specifies lossless fast encoding is used. You don’t need to use lossless_medium or lossless_high to get better quality.

Output Container

Finally, the output file name, which is added as the last command line argument. Ensure it has the .mp4 container extension in the name.

Usage Example

ffmpeg -f alsa -i plughw:0,0 -f x11grab -s 1680x1050 -r 24 -b 100k -bf 4 -g 15 -i :0.0+0,0 -acodec libmp3lame -ar 44100 -ab 320k -vcodec libx264 -vpre lossless_fast Desktop_Recording.mp4

This captures the left screen at 1680x1050 resolution. The framerate is 24fps. The audio is encoded in MP3 format at 44100 khz / 320kbps. The file saved is Desktop_Recording.mp4, and is saved in the same directory you executed this command in.

To stop the recording, press Ctrl+C. in the termnal.

recordMyDesktop and HandBrake for Vimeo

2011-10-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

I've decided to create some screencasts about my favourite XML WYSIWYG editor, Serna Free (by Syntext Software).

This is mostly to educate new users to of the program how to get the most out of this powerful WYSIWYG editor.

There was a first step that needed to happen before doing that though, and that was covering how you can use open source screen-casting tools and conversion utilities to get output that Vimeo can upload.

I've created a Vimeo screen-cast about using recordMyDesktop and converting the Ogg Vorbis output to h.264 using Handbrake.

This video will play best when you view it in full-screen mode (icon next to the HD symbol) and activate HD mode.

I hope it helps you do some screen-casts of your own on fedora.

Using Open Source to Reinvigorate Pinball 2000

2011-10-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

I remember when I was restoring pinball machines that I learned a very important lesson about computer repair. I accidentally caused mainboard damage to a Pinball 2000 (Pin2K) game: Star Wars Episode 1. It is very easy to do, because the two Molex connectors from the ATX power supply were not keyed, and you could reverse the ground for power. I did this, and took out the power circuit on the mainboard.

This was a *big* problem, because the Pin2K mainboards were a BAT style PC mainboard running a Cyrix Media GX CPU which was connected to a Cyrix CX5520 bridge. These motherboards were used mainly in set-top boxes such as cable TV systems.

The Pin2K series used a PCI custom card called a PRISM card. This card contained all the game logic, sound effects, and video packages for the games. If the power spike travelled to the PRISM card, you basically had yourself a fantastic $8000 piece of furniture.

At the time, the machine was mothballed.

I recently discovered that Big Guys Pinball have reverse engineered the Pin2K core, and created some custom boards which can be used to replace damaged Pin2K logic box systems. The new system is called nucore.

The great thing is they are using Linux (Ubuntu 8), and COTS motherboards and Video Cards, to make this system a reality. You can purchase the components separately, or as a plug-and-play system ready for production use.

The more exciting part to this development is that talks are currently happening to continue Pin2K development. When Williams wrapped up production in 1999, two tables were mothballed. Talks are now underway to commence production of Wizard Blocks, and Playboy.

I will be very interested to see if the cost of production will discourage production of these tables. Some of the challenges with these new tables is the fact that some game logic and a lot of artwork is missing.

Hooray for Open Source, and Ingenuity!

Nokia Sleeping Screen Beta, and its awesome "Image Downsampling" feature

2011-08-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

Nokia Beta Labs recently released an updated version of Sleeping Screen. Sleeping Screen uses low power AMOLED modes to display downsampled images on the stand-by Symbian 3 screensaver. When you receive a call, message, or a calendar reminder triggers, Sleeping Screen displays this info on the handset.

I'm not going to do a review on Sleeping Screen (because I think many of the more prominent bloggers have done that quite well already). Instead I'm responding to a request by @nokia and @nokiabetalabs to show fine examples of images converted by the program's Image Downsampling functionality.

This functionality was driven by the Beta Labs community through numerous Enhancement requests for "more screen saver images". It appears to me that the development team have included the tool they used to convert images to AMOLED-efficient images.

This is a HUGE feature that deserves a showcase, and I'm sure I'm not the only person out of the 50,000+ followers of this app that would like to thank the development team for including it.

I own a Nokia N8, and I decided to convert the high-quality sample images included when you purchase the handset. Some results work better than others, however some results are truly awesome. The original image appears first in each group, followed by the converted image.

Enjoy

Jared

Image 1:

Image 2:

Image 3:

Image 4:

Image 5:

Image 6:

Image 7:

Image 8:

Image 9:

Image 10 (and quite possibly my favourite result):

Image 11:

Image 12:

Image 13:

Image 14:

Image 15:

BUG: Serna Free and "Serna: Critical Error" fo controller error

2011-07-26T23:41:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging this here because I encountered this error with Serna Free XML Editor before, and when I went back to search for it on their forums it was nowhere to be found. This bug was found in the Serna Free 4.3 version, packaged as an RPM. It has taken me a good 5 hours to diagnose this issue in a user guide I was working on. I'll record my findings in a bug-style format. Hopefully it helps you diagnose this issue if you find it.

tl:dr

The solution for me was to ensure entities containing XML markup were not nested in tags like <literal> or similar XML markup. Even though my XML code was valid to DocBook 4.5, it seems Serna has a problem rendering this element combination in WYSIWYG mode.

If you choose an Entity file to store all your entity declarations (rather than declaring entities in each XML file comprising your book), you must ensure each XML file has a parameter entity in the DOCTYPE declaration of each XML file that points to the file. Serna needs this to parse entities correctly.

Read on for the full brain dump below and more info about the stuff I mentioned above.

Issue

Serna Free v4.3 (referred to as Serna from this point on) can not open a large XML file in "Open Normally" mode without crashing with an "fo controller" error.

Details

I have a guide that is over 200 (serna) pages long, and after adding some entities to replace long file paths, the guide would not open.

This problem started to present after replacing some file names with a local entity containing a full file path, complete with XML markup.

<!FILEPATH "<filename><replaceable>VERY</replaceable>/long/<replaceable>path&</replaceable>/to/the/config-file.xml</filename>">

I went to lunch while Serna was open and when I came back and tried to resume adding the local entities to the book, the Add Entity catalog would not display the local list of entities.

I closed Serna. That is when I found the problem in $Issue.

Serna would try to open the document and expand all sections, however it got to about (serna page) 71 and then the Serna: Critical Error displayed.

Troubleshooting

Level 1

I checked the following:

All XML files had correct external (parsed) parameter entity declarations in the DOCTYPE declaration [1]. Serna needs parameter entities declared in each file in the book, so it has access to the entity catalog file (saved as .ent) for the book.
The book was well-formed and valid.
The book built using a documentation build chain (in this case Publican).

All these items checked out.

Level 2

I opened the document in "Collapsed Mode" and manually expanded each Chapter and Section from the beginning until I got up to about page 65. Serna started to overwrite some graphics over the text in the WYSIWYG view. Serna then proceeded to crash at about (serna page) 70.

Level 3

I then removed Serna using the Fedora Package Manager, and then reinstalled Serna using the RPM provided on the Syntext website. I tried to open the same book again and saw the same results. This did not resolve the issue.

Resolution

I deduced that the problem only occurred after adding the Entities in bulk to the file. So I opened each file in a plain text editor (gedit) and searched for all the $FILEPATH; entities backtracked through the file and found that some of the entities were nested in <literal> or other semantic XML tags.

$FILEPATH;

</literal>

So when Serna attempted to parse the XML combination, the Entity was expanded to:

<literal>
<filename><replaceable>VERY</replaceable>/long/<replaceable>path&</replaceable>/to/the/config-file.xml</filename>
</literal>

Serna seemed to have some difficulty rendering the WYSIWYG XSL for this element combination and therefore couldn't successfully paginate past this point. The structure is valid according to the DocBook Guide.

Summary

Ensure all files in your book contain the parameter entity for each file, and ensure entities containing XML markup as part of the entity *do not* get nested in semantic XML markup tags

[1] Parameter entities are declared in the DOCTYPE declaration of XML files to specify a local file that contains entity declarations. Refer to this page (scroll to bottom) for more info.

Panasonic Australia 2011 Launch - Reflecting on a Great Evening

2011-05-14T05:21:00.000-07:00

Had a great time down at the Panasonic Product Launch in Sydney on Wednesday 11th May. The focus was definitely fixed on Plasma, 3D (TV | Cameras | Camcorders), and the inter-connected digital home.

It was great to finally meet fellow Brisbaneite @willislim after Ovi Map Drama [1], Lindt Cafe Stress [2], and Sydney Traffic Fail [3], I bolted into Hoyts Cinemas in the Moore Park Entertainment Quarter and grabbed the nearest beer. Ahhhh.

The first group I walked up to coincidentally had @willislim in it, so that was easy. :D

Shortly after I slogged that beer down (best one I'd had all day), Soup Mama Sharyn (the Director of Soup Project) officially welcomed us to the Panasonic Insiders event, and gave us an event run-down. I had a great chat to Sharyn after the event, which was a great highlight of the trip for me as well.

We then stepped into the industry event part of the launch (I called it The Pit), and went into our own private theatre to watch a (passive glasses) 3D presentation where Panasonic people spoke to us about emerging markets, and the coolness that Panasonic is offering in this year's product lineup. We also got to see The Dwyers in the full 15 minute youTube themed "real life" short. Through the wonders of Teh Internetz, they showed us how you could become famous by using Panasonic 3D Video Cameras and other Panasonic gear to populate your youTube channel. l33t.

Dual-tuner Digital TV (DVB) Recorders with a whopping 1TB drive built-in impressed me. They act as broadcast hubs for your entire house, which let you stream media to all TVs (if your house is full of Panasonic TVs that is). Great if you don't want a PC Media Centre to do the same job. Plasma is still a huge focus for Panasonic, however Panasonic believes the two main consumers this year are those who just want a 2nd TV for the bedroom, and those who are tech-savvy and do their research before purchasing.

After the Panasonic people, and The Dwyers, we then emerged out of the theater eager to get our hands on some Panasonic product and test it out. For me, this is where the event really started. I had the pleasure of chatting to Scott Mellish, the Product and Technology Trainer for NSW. Scott was so incredibly passionate about Panasonic and the technology it offers, that I found I had chatted to him for about 30 minutes non-stop.

He was able to clearly explain how Panasonic delivers 3D (using active shutter technology), compared to some of the newer offerings by LG (they offer passive 3D, a polarised light solution like you get in cinemas). He also explained the new LCD In-plane Switching (IPS) technology and why this is better than the Vertical Alignment (VA) displays.

I hope someone at Panasonic sees how well Scott performed, and gives Scott a big pat on the back. And also tell him that he owes me a couple of beers: because I got so caught up talking to him, I missed out on much of the after-event food and beverage up in the Panasonic Insiders lounge. ;)

Thanks to Soup and Panasonic for welcoming me from interstate. I'm so pleased I got a chance to attend the event, and really hope I get invited back for more in the future.

[1] Got the AirTrain from Sydney Domestic, and (no) thanks to Ovi Maps got off at St James to what was supposed to be Four Points by Sheraton. Unfortunately this information was incorrect and it was actually Sheraton On The Park. A frustrating 15 minute walk to Darling Harbour later, and I checked into Four Points by Sheraton. I've reported the mapping errors so no one else gets caught (hopefully). #OviMaps #FAIL

[2] I quickly suited-up after the quickest shower I can ever remember. My wife strongly suggested to me that I visit Lindt Cafe, and procure some renowned Macaroons. I really should have been in a taxi at that stage, but had to pull through. A promise is a promise, after all. ;) I have to say the Lindt Cafe is not an easy place to find. The cafe frontage is not right on the wharf promenade, and you have to go into this semi-circle cutout. I hurriedly stalked up and down the Cockle Bay Wharf cursing to myself "these Macaroons better be worth it". "Just look for the area that has the fountain, and you've found it" a couple of boat cruise guys reassured me. I've added that place to Ovi Maps as well. Lindt Cafe is going to try and make their signage a bit better. It is *worth* the effort to find them, trust me.

[3] After Macaroons were safely back in the room, I dashed out the door and got a taxi out the front. It was 5.40pm, and the event tweet clearly stated the start time was 6pm. I was combing the #panasonic2011launch hashtag vigorously for clues about whether the event had started. I used to curse about Brisbane traffic being bad in peak-hour but compared to Sydney CBD peak-hour traffic, Brisbane traffic is a joyous, free-flowing, commuters dream. I found out later that those with google maps and traffic alerts were just seeing streets paved in red on their devices. Darling Harbour to Moore Park cost me $35. Journey took me about 30 minutes. Could I have walked it faster?

Panasonic Australia 2011 Product Launch

2011-05-06T23:06:00.000-07:00

Some exciting times ahead for me this week. I have been invited to the Panasonic 2011 Product Launch in Sydney, Australia.

How did I get invited to this industry-only event, you ask? Well, I didn't bribe anyone. I didn't mug someone for their passes. All I did was become part of the Panasonic Insider project with The Soup.

Panasonic Insider is an initiative by Panasonic Australia to give technophiles a way of singing the virtues of their consumer electronics. The initiative primarily uses Facebook as its interaction point. Soupers (that is what Soup members are called) gain access to the insiders portal, where they can discuss products and help others with buying decisions. After all, the best recommendation for consumer technology is often one from a trusted friend. Not a salesperson.

Soup asked its Insiders what they wanted out of being a Panasonic Insider. I made the comment that if I was to feel like a true insider, then I need to see the products first before anyone else does. Looks like Soup and Panasonic Australia took my feedback on board.

I completed a survey from Soup asking whether I would like to enter a competition to be invited to an industry-only launch in Sydney. Naturally I used all my persuasive powers as a writer to convince them how passionate I am about new technology. Seems like I was quite convincing. It's not a lie either: I am fiercely passionate about technology, but usually can't afford to splash out on much anymore now we have a little one.

I'll be winging my way down to Sydney on a QANTAS budgie, and staying at an upmarket central city hotel. All expenses paid.

The event is being held in the Moore Park Entertainment Quarter. Launch events like this are usually reserved for those people such as Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, and other major retailers. I'm going to be getting amongst it big time while I'm down there. I'll be tweeting live, and getting heaps of photographs of all the new shiny.

So if you want to get a sneak peek of what Panasonic will be tempting you with in the stores this year, follow @jaredmorgs on Wednesday 11th May AEST.

I'll be providing more in-depth blog entries about the event, and what I saw that made my jaw drop. I'll also try to get some video, and push it up to youTube when I'm in range of a WiFi connection.

Would be great if they were giving out free tech as well. ;) Well, you can only hope. ;)

How Do I Reinstall an App from Ovi Store?

2011-04-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

This is a question I had to ask myself when I was trying out @offscr (Offscreen Technologies) Grid Touch v1.5 [1]

Short answer: Do not uninstall any apps on S^3 handsets unless you have Ovi Store open. If you don't, Ovi Store's installed apps database may not update correctly.

UPDATE: Even this method is not always foolproof. Sometimes you just have to try and find a site outside of the Nokia ecosystem to download the .sis installer you need.

Long answer, read on:

I had to uninstall and reinstall the application after a non-repeatable bug prevented the application starting after a phone restart (it was a one-time glitch, and the application is behaving as it should now).

The problem was that after uninstalling Grid Touch and visiting Ovi Store on the N8 to reinstall, the Ovi Store only gave me an option to "Launch". There was no way at all I could download the application again.

Grid Touch is only available through the Ovi Store, so I could not download a .sis installer package and get around the issue that way. Searching for a solution to this issue returned no specific results, so I'm writing this in case anyone else has the same issue.

I suspect Ovi Store saves an "installed applications" database on your device, probably in XML, that keeps track of what applications are installed from the store. The problem is that when you delete an application, the database is not updated. This results in an incorrect installation state to the Nokia Launcher, and when you click Launch in Ovi Store, Nokia Smart Installer can not open the deleted program.

Here are the steps to resolve the issue on the N8. This procedure should work for all Symbian 3 (S^3) devices until @ovibynokia implement a fix to Ovi Store v2.06.00042.

Uninstall any applications you need to reinstall from the Installed apps menu.
On the Ovi Web interface, delete the applications uninstalled from the phone from the Your Stuff section.
On the N8, select Menu Button>Settings>Application Manager>Installed apps.
Scroll to the Ovi Store application.
Long-tap, and select Uninstall.
Wait for the operation to complete.
Tap back until you Exit the Settings Menu.
On the menu screen, tap the Store icon.
Install the Ovi Store again.
Start Ovi Store on the device.

You should now be able to reinstall the applications that you uninstalled.

[1] Grid Touch v1.5 has been rebuilt using Qt, and it now has Menu Button integration. Providing you keep the app open in the background, the menu button opens the application and you have instant access to all programs on your device. The best thing about Grid Touch is that it is free to download and use.

DropBox on Symbian^3: WebDAV vs Native App

2011-04-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

If you're like me, you've found that DropBox is kind of irreplaceable in day to day life. [0].

One really frustrating thing about DropBox is that they offer DropBox API apps for Apple, Android, and even Blackberry. But poor old Nokians miss out. We have to suffer with 3rd-party WebDAV providers such as www.dropdav.com, and set up a virtual drive in our Symbian 3 File Manager.

I've been using the WebDAV method ever since I got DropBox. I like that you can connect to your cloud-stored files anywhere you have a data or WiFi connection. I mainly use the service to store .sis and .sisx installer files I use on my N8.

My experience so far with WebDAV access is that it is slow at best, and at worst incredibly slow. Using WebDAV, it is sometimes quicker to use USB on-the-go to copy the file from the DropBox folder on the PC, connect the thumb-drive to the N8, transfer it to storage, then open the file. Of course, this totally defeats the purpose of having your files stored in the cloud.

Then I discovered Dropian.

Dropian is a Qt 4.7.1 application for Symbian 60v5 handsets (such as the N97 and 5800XM), and Symbian 3 handsets (such as the N8 and C7). Although the app is in advanced beta, the quality and stability of this app would lead you to believe it was ready for prime time. Like the Nokia Bubbles developers, Bojan Komljenovic (@knobtviker) is awaiting Nokia Smart Installer to be formally released before he can upload Dropian to Ovi Store (currently estimated at Week 17, or the first week of May)[1].

My summary of Dropian is as follow:

Quick
Because Dropian uses the DropBox API, it is able to run incredibly quickly and retrieve your files with minimal delay.
Clean UI
Dropian uses a very clean, simple user-interface. For most common file formats, @knobtviker has ensured you see the file format's logo icon.
Simple File Management
Download Files (to a local folder that you specify), and Upload Files from your device to the cloud. Downloading and Uploading status is echoed back to you with a time estimation and status bar; something you just do not get with WebDAV.
Join DropBox directly from the application
Dropian has an account creation function built into the app.

Things that I think could be improved:

More file format icons
I've currently seen Adobe Acrobat icons, and Image icons. Purely for my benefit, I would love to see icons for .sis and .sisx extensions.
Single Tap Selection
Currently you have to double-tap each file or folder to open or navigate. I think standardising the interface to single-tap to access or tap and hold for context menu (if required) would be a positive UI enhancement.
Open files directly from the app, rather than local download
You must locally download files to your device, and sometimes all I want to do is launch a Symbian installer directly from my DropBox. WebDAV does allow you to open files directly, and this would be an awesome feature if implemented in Dropian.

If you end up using this app, and like it, I would encourage you to donate to the developer. The poor guy is doing all this on very limited hardware:

Seriously, my workstation is a Pentium 4 with 512MB RAM. It’s dying when it has to compile around 7000 lines of code.
30% of developing time is spent with me drinking water while waiting for it to compile. It’s funny sometimes…

[0] If you are yet to join DropBox, do so by clicking this link (to get 250MB extra storage) http://db.tt/0Xhcl6o

[1] This delay is holding innovation up in other areas as well. The incredibly popular Nokia Beta Labs application Nokia Bubbles is also delayed because of Nokia Smart Installer.

OtterBox Nokia N8 Impact and Commuter Case Comparison

2011-01-27T03:29:00.000-08:00

I have already covered the protection the OtterBox Impact Series case offers over the Nokia silicone sleeve, but how does the Polycarbonate Commuter series stand up against the honeycomb rubberised interior of the Impact series. Read on to find out.

The first thing you notice about the Commuter series of any OtterBox product is that it comes in two parts: the inner rubberised sleeve you tuck your phone into, and the outer polycarbonate shell that engulfs the silicone sleeve.

For those of us who purchased the Impact case and have decided to get a Commuter, understand that the Impact series case is not compatible with the polycarbonate shell. You must use the Commuter silicone sleeve only.

You'll also notice that the silicone sleeve is very thin when compared to the Impact series cases and it does not have any honeycombing in the silicone to absorb shock. You might think that because the silicone is so thin, it offers you less protection from drop impact. What's important to understand here is that the polycarbonate shell forms an integral part of the Commuter protection factor. It acts as a shock absorbing layer by taking the direct hits to the device, and dissipating the impact force across the silicone inner sleeve.

In comparison, the Impact case contains honeycombing on the impact sides (back, sides, corners) which is designed to dissipate impacts without the aide of the polycarbonate shell.

Compared to the Impact series, the rubberised buttons are a factor easier to press compared to the heavy rubberised protection the Impact series is forced to offer. You will find pressing the N8's camera button much easier, and it will result in steadier shots as you press-hold the button to lock the scene and auto-focus on the device's camera.

Another advantage the Commuter series range offers over Impact series variants is that you get dust-covers for the major ports your handset has. On the N8 Commuter, you get dust-covers for the headphone socket, MicroUSB socket, and the 2.5mm power socket. Keeping dust and lint out of these ports can only be beneficial for the continued reliability of these sockets.

When you install the sleeved phone into the polycarbonate shell, do not be afraid to put a bit of force behind it. The polycarbonate shell is incredibly tough, and can easily take the bending and contortion required to get the shell into position.

Once your phone is safely armored, you'll notice that the feel is very different to the Impact case. The phone feels less bulky encased in the Commuter series. The polycarbonate shell gives a smooth texture to the phone, which makes removing it from your jeans pocket or mobile phone pouch effortless compared to the somewhat "grabby" feel of the 100% rubberised texture of the Impact series.

So after reading how awesome the Commuter series case is, why would you consider purchasing an Impact series case? Well, one factor is the price: Impact series cases are about $15 cheaper than the commuter series cases.

If your money is tight, you won't be disappointed if you invest in a Impact series. It is better than any other silicone sleeve-style case on the market. If you do have the extra $15, I would personally recommend forking out the extra and getting a Commuter case. The extra attention to detail with dust covers, and the way the two halves fit together so perfectly show the case designers pay extra attention to getting things just right.

Whichever way you choose to go, just *get* an OtterBox. When you accidentally drop your device on a hard surface and your friends wince, you'll be confident that you can pick your device off the ground and it will still work.

Nokia Panorama

2011-01-20T19:44:00.000-08:00

Those who follow me on twitter will be well aware of my passion for the Nokia Panorama app for the Nokia N8.

This free app lets you take multi-shot panoramas, and stitches them together for you right before your eyes.

I've been taking some shots from our bridges in the Brisbane CBD. The bridges offer excellent panorama opportunities of the river, and have really allowed me to test the capabilities of the app.

Here are some examples. No photoshop. Click the image for the original size version.

Merivale Rail Bridge, taken from the Go-Between Bridge

If you look closely, you'll see a stitching imperfection in the image. This is not Nokia Panorama's fault: it is the photographers. ;). This was the first image I took with Nokia Panorama. It was about to bucket down rain and I rushed it. I needed to be standing in the center of the Go-Between Bridge so the pan angle wasn't so acute.

For those of you who are interested in how this bridge was constructed, I managed to find this youTube video (not sure where Part 1 is). For those who live locally, it is a bit of a trip back in time.

Love the quote at the end of the video:

Bridges, like friendships, link people together. Friendships, like bridges, if well built, are long lasting. Transfield, by their work, have done both in Brisbane.

Brisbane River in Flood: State Library of Queensland and the Gallery of Modern Art

This picture was taken at the very beginning of the 2011 Brisbane Floods. The water is over the walkway in the right of the image. The bridge in the main part of the image is the Victoria Bridge. The 2011 Brisbane Floods rose half way up the bridge pylons.

Brisbane River after 2011 Brisbane Flood waters receded

The striking thing about this image is the high water mark on the William Jolly Bridge (Grey Street Bridge). Look closely and you can see the brown stains evident of high water mark the river reached. This image was taken from the Kurilpa Bridge.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. They won't be the last I take with Nokia Panorama.

SyncML Procedure for Symbian 3 Handsets

2011-01-13T03:00:00.001-08:00

I had to use SyncML for my contacts on my Nokia N8, because we only have one Mail for Exchange profile available. I also couldn't sync multiple calendars, so I'm using GoogaSync for that.

To help others, I have written the full, verified procedure to set up SyncML on your Symbian 3 device. Correct at time of writing this Sidewiki entry. It's on my blog:

http://jaredleonmorgan.blogspot.com/2011/01/sync-google-contacts-and-calendar-on.html

If anyone is reading this from google you have CC-BY-SA to add the procedure to the front page of the SyncML website so other Nokia users can benefit.

Cheers

Jared
in reference to: Nokia N-Series or E-Series (Symbian S60 3rd Edition) : Device Set Up Instructions - Google Mobile Help (view on Google Sidewiki)

Sync Google Contacts and Calendar on Symbian 3 devices without using Mail for Exchange (MfE)

2011-01-10T22:40:00.000-08:00

So you have a shiny N8 or other Symbian 3 (S^3) device. You use Google to manage your contacts, calendar, and to-do items on your PC/Mac/Linux/Whatever, and what that information synchronised to your phone.

You know that Mail for Exchange (MfE) on your S^3 device can do this for you, but you also know there are limitations:

MfE will only show your primary Google calendar, and will not support shared calendars.
MfE is limited to one instance on your device. That means that if you need to access your work account, then you have to make a hard decision about what to choose.

There's a way, but I'll say that it is not free like MfE. There are two things you need to do to avoid using your precious MfE account.

Sync Calendar using GoogaSync

Download and install GoogaSync on your S^3 device. This application is a paid application, and at the time of writing costs about US$20.

Tip: I'm sure you could get this price down a bit if you search for "GoogaSync Discount Coupon Code" on google. ;)

You get this from the Nokia Store as a trial for 14 days, by which time you will see it "does what is says on the tin". Set up could not be simpler, and you can schedule your sync schedule. It runs as a service, so it just synchronises your contacts at a frequency that suits you throughout the day. No need to have the application open.

Sync Contacts using Google SyncML

While Google offers Google Sync over MfE, you also have the option to synchronise your Contacts (and *only* your contacts) using SyncML.

Basically any handset with SyncML compatibility can use this service, however each handset has slightly different Sync setup procedures.

There are excellent resources on the Google SyncML site, and a procedure exists for Symbian 60 v3 and v5, but I think they are still catching up a bit with Symbian 3 (feel free to use this verified procedure, Google).

For those of us on S^3, here are the step-by-step instructions for our devices.

I have verified this procedure on my Nokia N8, which currently has the PR 1.0 launch firmware.

On the N8, press the Menu button.
Tap Settings > Connectivity > Data Transfer > Sync
Tap Options > New sync profile
In the wizard, tap Start.
For the Profile Name, specify any name you wish (for example, "Gmail Contacts SyncML") and tap Next.
For the Server Version, select "1.2", and tap Next.
For Applications in Sync, select "Contacts" only.
Important: Google only offers Contact sync. Enabling other options will cause sync failure.
For Contacts Database, specify "contacts", and tap Next.
Important: The word "contacts" must be lower-case in order to sync with google servers.
For Data Bearer, select "Internet", and tap Next.
For Host Address, specify "https://m.google.com/syncml". Ensure you specify "https" for a secure connection. Tap Next.
For Server ID, specify "Google", and tap Next.
Important: The word "Google" must be title-case in order to sync with google servers.
For Username, specify your full gmail account name (for example, fullusername@gmail.com) and tap Next.
For Password, specify your gmail password, and tap Next.
The wizard informs you that you have successfully set up the basic settings required. Acknowledge this message. The wizard closes.
You are now back at the Sync main screen, and your new profile is displayed.
Tap Options > Synchronise.
Wait until the Sync is complete.
Verify the sync by opening your Contacts and reviewing the list in comparison to your Google contacts on a PC.

Summary

You don't have to use your only MfE account if you are prepared to spend just a little cash on alternative solutions.

Credits

Thanks to the author of this post, who alerted me to the fact that SyncML was an available option for Symbian. Thanks also to the many forum posts I've read (too many to individually credit) that talked about GoogaSync.

Nokia Care Center Brisbane: I'm Deeply Sorry for Having an Opinion

2011-01-06T16:42:00.000-08:00

You'll be aware of the issues I've been having with my two month old Nokia N8. If you're not, then please check out the original blog entry about the issue here.

I have the N8 back now from the Nokia Care Center in Brisbane. The remedy for my issue was to replace the handset with a "warranty replacement unit". Apparently the software was also upgraded on the new handset. I'm still a little bit hazy about how upgrading the software could possible solve a hardware issue (again, read the original blog entry), but they are the experts.

I'll start this entry by saying the following positive things about the Nokia Care Center Brisbane:

They met their customer charter of returning the phone in under three business days.
They did offer me a collection of complimentary accessories to compensate me for the inconvenience.

It appears that the Nokia Care Centre in Brisbane are aware of this blog. How do I know this? Did they comment on the original blog entry. No.

I found this out by the sarcastic customer service I received when picking up the handset. When I entered the store, it had no other customers in it except for another customer looking at the wall of accessories.

After providing the job number (BRI098880), the young lady on the counter that day (at about 4.10pm on Jan 6th 2011) said in a sarcastic tone:

"Oh, so you're our 'blogger', are you..."

I must say I was taken aback. I stammered a response back:

"Aaah. Well. Yeah, I guess so."

She then responded with a drawn-out:

"Yeahhhhh"

At this point she disappeared into the back office for about 2 minutes to retrieve the phone.

She returned and sat down. She explained to me that they had replaced the handset with a new one. Then she said something that truly astounded me:

"So we have given you a Nokia Care pack with some accessories in it so you stop ragging us out online"

Wh-what? I just couldn't quite believe it. I haven't received "customer service" like this for a long while. I thought that companies realised that their customer service is one tweet or blog post away from public scrutiny.

It seems that the Nokia Care Center Brisbane hasn't quite got this yet. So let me help them understand.

There are a few points I can offer here to help the Nokia Care Center get with the modern age of word-of-mouth:

If you know your customer is a blogger, DON'T be rude to them when you interact. No matter how annoyed you may be.
Give customers the finest customer service you can possibly muster. Customers will then not only be impressed, but will also share this experience with others.
There's a time and place to take out your frustration on customers. That is around the water cooler or coffee machine in your break room; not while the customer is in front of you.

The sad thing is, if the person on the front counter had remembered her training in customer service, then I probably would have been writing this blog post instead.

If I ever have to deal with the Brisbane Nokia Care Center again, hopefully I'll have a more positive customer service experience.

Nokia Care Center Brisbane: (what could have been a) Great Customer Service Experience

2011-01-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

This is what I would have blogged if I had not received the sub-standard customer service detailed in this post. Unfortunately, the following post was not an accurate reflection of how Nokia Care Center Brisbane handled my repair issue.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I wanted to share what could be one of the best customer service experiences I've had in a long time.

You may be aware that I had the non-booting N8 phone issue recently, as outlined in this post. It turns out that Nokia had read my whining on my blog, and took notice. The professional and courteous staff at the Nokia Care Center Brisbane really embody the Nokia Customer Service Charter.

When I picked up the handset, the young lady who assisted me was nothing but courteous. She apologised for the inconvenience I had experienced during the Christmas break because of the Nokia Care Centre close-down.

Nokia Care Brisbane gave me a brand new handset with updated firmware, and as a sweetener, I was offered a Nokia Cares pack with a charger, hands-free kit, and a sync-cable.

Unfortunately the sync-cable wasn't compatible with my N8 (it was a miniUSB not a microUSB), but the hands free and charger will be great to have as a back up.

She also made a point of telling me that she has passed on the issue about customer access over break periods onto management for review. Hopefully other customers won't be inconvenienced by a gap in customer service availability in the future.

I'm really glad I wrote the original blog entry, because it's times like this that as a consumer you feel happy you invested the effort.

Thanks again Nokia

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Nokia N8: Two Month Wonder

2010-12-30T00:40:00.000-08:00

I purchased a Nokia N8 in Australia three days before it was released in Australia through eBay.

I have been heavily using the phone's capabilities ever since I got it. I have to say this device impresses me with its capabilities on a daily basis.

Despite assurances that the release firmware for the N8 was thoroughly tested (to prevent the backlash of the N97 launch firmware), you still have to expect some quirks. I'm used to the usual Nokia quirks such as occasional restarts.

Initially the restarts were relatively "normal". The N8 shutdown, and then went straight back to the home screen after the Nokia logo displayed. This is common of Nokia handset restarts.

I also had cases where I was getting "SIM Card Errors", but I tracked that down to the age of my SIM. Replacing that solved that issue.

Then things started to get worse.

When using applications such as Ovi Maps I had about 15 minutes of stability, then the application would stop responding and the phone turned off. My phone exhibited instability that started with occasional soft restarts. It then started to power down and stay off (with three bars of battery left). Plugging it into the charger and waiting a few moments got it back a couple of times.

Now it is totally dead:

It won't take any power from either the 2.5mm power jack or the MicroUSB charger.
The charging light next to the MicroUSB socket does not illuminate.
It won't turn on.
The Three Finger Salute does nothing.
8-second Power Button reset does nothing.

I'm in Brisbane, Australia. I contacted the Nokia Care hotline for Australia, and was assisted by a courteous and professional operator. She logged information about the phone and the issues, and created a priority service form that was pre-filled with all relevant information. This was sent to me by email, and all I needed to do was print it out and sign it.

The operator gave me the bad news that the Nokia Care Centre (NCC) for the entire Brisbane areas was not open until the 3rd January 2011. That's a five day delay to just get the phone assessed.

Based on the feedback in this Nokia Conversations post the fault is known, and the NCCs should know how to fix the issue. The "engine" (from what I understand, that is Nokia nomenclature for the motherboard) seems to be at fault. The "isolated issue" seems to be affecting a fair few owners according to the comments on the entry.

When the fault was new, some owners were commenting that while Nokia was "aware of the situation", their phones were not being repaired for about 2 weeks. With a fault as major at this, I hope the course of action will be a direct swap with a new (not refurbished) handset. After two months, this issue has to be a clean-cut case.

If your N8 is still operational then do the following (sooner, rather than later):

* back up everything on your device regularly using Ovi Suite.
* sync your contacts to the Ovi cloud.
* install your apps on a small SDHC card (say 2GB - 4GB). It's removable, and transferable storage.

If your N8 has suffered the same fate as mine, and you have not followed the preceding points, then I'm sorry. :( You will lose all files, settings, contacts photos and music when your phone is either replaced with a new model, or the mainboard is replaced. When you eventually get your device returned to you, implement the points to save a lot of messing around if the problem re-occurs.

Changing to a SDHC card for your apps will still mean you need to reinstall the app from the Ovi Store (I think the app puts tendrils out into the Mass Storage or phone memory). The settings files should be reinstated as soon as you reinstall the apps. Note that installing Java games to SDHC doesn't seem to preserve user settings and game progress, so you will not have any luck with these types of apps.

OtterBox Defender Series for Nokia N8 versus Nokia CC-1005 Silicone Sleeves

2010-12-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

I've recently purchased a Nokia N8 Silver handset. The phone is ultra-durable, as this youTube video shows.
Call me cautious, but I'm not trusting enough to leave my phone without protection. Better to spend a small amount to protect your shiny consumer electronics rather than risk catastrophic damage resulting from a drop.

I want to share with you my experiences with the official Nokia CC-1005 Silicone Sleeve and the OtterBox Impact Case for the Nokia N8. Both products have their advantages and disadvantages.

Nokia CC-1005 Silicone Sleeve

I was kindly offered an official Nokia CC-1005 Silicone Sleeve because I registered my interest for the Nokia N8 with Nokia Australia. I must say it was very nice of Nokia Australia to offer this to their keen followers, and I accepted the offer gratefully.

I've been using the CC-1005 case now for about two weeks. Here are my thoughts.

Positives:

It was free (normally retails for A$19.95)
It is perfectly colour-matched with the range of N8 colour schemes.
It features Nokia NSeries livery on the back of the case.
It makes the slippery N8 nice and tactile.
It is easy to install (very flexible)
Menu button light shines through the silicone case.
Hole present for a lanyard loop.

Negatives:

The textured silicone makes it hard to whip the phone out of your pocket (or phone pouch). It drags on the way out.
No access to the SDHC and SIM slots on the left of the phone.
Camera button mold has very little texture on the button (unlike the volume control rockers). This makes easily finding the button a problem.
No dust cover for the MicroUSB port.
When scrolling left or right, the case edges flop if you extent your gesture past the screen boundaries.

OtterBox Impact Series Case for Nokia N8

I follow OtterBox on Twitter (@OtterBox), and their tweet stream alerted me to an offer they had running for the Thanksgiving holiday period (not just for US addresses either, which was awesome). Unfortunately the offer has ended now, but you could get the OtterBox Impact Series case for US$19.95, and they would throw in their "Handy Dandy Versatile Stand" (HDVS) for free with the phone.

I was introduced to OtterBox by one of my iPhone-loving work colleagues, who has the Defender series case for that product. I was so impressed with the quality, I ordered a Nokia N97 Commuter Case at the time. The HDVS was just the thing I needed to prompt a purchase for the Nokia N8.

Positives:

The buttons molds all sit quite proud of the case. This makes "finger feeling" for a button very intuitive.
The case is textured on the sides for easy gripping, but smooth on the back and front. This eliminates the problem the CC-1005 case has with pocket gripping.
The Unlock Slider key hole on the right of the phone is catered for with a tapered recess in the case.
Less gap around the open holes limit the dust that can enter the case.
The camera housing sits below the case profile by approximately 1mm. This protects this sensitive part of the device from direct impact, unlike the CC-1005.
Capacitive screen protection film is included in the package, to give you added protection.

Negatives:

You have one colour choice: Black.
No provision for a lanyard loop.
No access to the SDHC and SIM slots on the left of the phone.
Menu button light does not shine through the OtterBox case like it does with the CC-1005.
No dust cover for the MicroUSB port. This was a great feature on the Commuter series case of the N97. Must be a feature of Commuter cases only.
When scrolling left or right, the case edges flop if you extent your gesture past the screen boundaries.

Summary

You'll notice the Negatives for both protective cases are almost identical.

Both cases have the silicone flop issue. If this really bothers you, install a thin strip of double-sided clear tape on the sides of the case so the case sticks to the phone body.

Otterbox have made different colour cases for the iPhone, so matching the Nokia N8 colours to the Impact case would be a great selling point. Some N8 colours are very hard to get due to their popularity. This is why the CC-1005 is attractive to those who want to change the colour of their handset.

I really like the fact that the status light is visible through the CC-1005 case. You could argue that because of the N8's various status alerts that the warning light is redundant, but it is still a feature of the phone that is obstructed by the Impact case.

Where to buy

You can get the CC-1005 from your local Nokia accessories stockist, or online.

You can get the OtterBox Impact Case for Nokia N8 from www.otterbox.com

"No Thanks, I don't need a Receipt"

2010-12-03T22:20:00.000-08:00

I was reading a blog post about Identifying Bad Processes which commented that:

...is your purse or wallet overflowing with receipts? Receipt clutter is almost always caused by either not having a process for handling receipts or having a process you don’t use because the method is inconvenient, poorly designed, or not the best process for your needs...

It got me thinking about why we have so many receipts cluttering up our wallets and purses. Sure, there are some receipts that you simply must keep for proof of purchase, or warranty purposes. But then there are those redundant receipts that vendors seem to give you (often without asking if you actually want a receipt to start with).

Until recently, I used to always select "printed receipt" to see my bank balance from an ATM. But as soon as I viewed the balance, I posted it through the slot in the metal "Receipts" bin. From the overstuffed receipts bin, I'd hazard a guess that most of us do the same. After seeing the mess of receipts poking out of the bin, I made a conscious decision to select "balance displayed on screen" instead. One less thing to put in the wallet.

Another thing that usually hangs around in my wallet is the humble shopping list. Not any more. Those of us with smartphones have no excuse to be using paper lists. The Nokia N8 has a pretty comprehensive App Store called Ovi. The ShoppingList app from Nokia's Ovi Store lets me select from a list of common grocery items to add to my list. And if there's something not on the list, I can add it using the free text field. Best of all, it's 100% free.

Another twitter follower suggested that iPhone and Android owners can also ditch their paper shopping lists for the Grocery Gadget app. You can share your lists with a number of people, and a number of devices (Blackberry and Nokia versions coming soon according to the website).

How about when you need to collect an item that requires a reference number? Put it in your phone as a To-Do item, or just in the notepad on your device. No need to use a sticky note that is only going to become wedged in your wallet or purse and stick to stuff.

A quick twitter poll uncovered a number of other excellent solutions to reduce your wallet bloat:

Buying lunch with EFTPOS; you aren't going to return your sandwich, so you don't need a receipt.
Buying fuel from the petrol station; the fuel is in your car, you can't return it.
Printing out online movie tickets; just make a calendar appointment in your phone for the movie time and date, and put the reference number in the appointment as well.
Receipts for Taxation purposes; in Australia, the ATO only requires a bank statement for taxation proof of purchase.

So what other ways have you found to reduce your wallet bloat?

N8 Music Sync Tips and Tricks

2010-11-09T17:01:00.000-08:00

I've recently purchased a Nokia N8, and I'm loving the feature set of this phone.

What I discovered the hard way is syncing music is done differently compared to my previous phone: the Nokia N97.

With the N97, you connect the device using "Mass Storage" mode rather than the "PC Suite" mode, or the painfully slow "Music Transfer" mode. Windows Media Player 11 (WMP) cleanly transfers the files to the mass storage drive. You sometimes had to rebuild the music database, but that was only a minor task.

With the N8, you should always connect your device using the "Ovi Suite" mode (previously called PC Suite mode). Because the music playback navigation experience is richer on the N8, some extra files get created for you when you transfer, and the way album metadata is stored on the N8 will greatly affect your navigation experience.

I've discovered there are a number of advantages using the "Ovi Suite" connection method for music transfer:

Music Database is rebuilt automatically.
.alb files are created and copied to device correctly.
Album metadata is presented better when browsing albums from handset.

I made the mistake of syncing music using Mass Storage mode and WMP, and the result was messy:

Badly arranged album info.
Missing/corrupt Album/Artist tags.
Had to manually rebuild music database.

If you have loaded a stack of songs to your N8, and want to start from scratch, this is my method for cleaning the device of music and associated files before you resync music.

NOTE: Make *sure* you have the original music stored on the Mass Storage drive backed up somewhere. This procedure will delete all music content from your Mass Storage drive on your N8.

Connect N8 to PC in Mass Storage mode (more efficient for file management tasks in Windows).
Navigate to "Nokia Ovi Suite" folder (the name given to your N8 Mass Storage).
Delete 'music', and "Albums" folders.
Create new, empty, "music" and "Albums" folders.
Disconnect N8 from PC.
Reconnect N8 to PC, and ensure it connects using Ovi Suite mode.
Open WMP (or whatever music program that you normally sync music with).
Create playlist, and sync to N8.
Once complete, disconnect N8 from PC.
Verify your music has synced to your phone by opening Music Player and browsing the albums.

The N8 will default to Ovi Suite mode when you connect, so unless you're like me and manually force the phone to connect in Mass Storage mode you will probably never see the problem. But if you do, and you search on google, hopefully this quick blog post will help you work out the root cause.

Enjoy your choons!

Nokia N97 GPS Fix

2010-05-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

I recently acquired a N97 from one of my work colleagues. It is exactly the right type of phone for my usage profile, but the N97 is notorious for dodgy GPS connection times. The one I purchased had this problem.

The reason for the issues is the "sticker antennae" Nokia use for the aerials. The way the contact pad slots into the gold pin for each antenna seems to be the main problem.

One hacky way of getting around this is to use a thin thread of copper wire and push it into the gap between the gold aerial connector and the antenna sticker. This effectively increases the metal surface area of the antenna and gives better GPS locking times. If you search for this technique in Google, you will find many different ways of trying this method.

Success using this method is variable, and you have the disadvantage of having a long piece of wire you have to worry about when taking off the back cover to do battery resets.

The other method is to send your phone off to Nokia Care and pay an absolute fortune to get the backplate replaced. Expect at least $150 or more. In Brisbane, Nokia Care wanted to charge $35 just to *quote* for the repair. No.

If you can undo screws, follow instructions, and have a certain level of confidence in your ability not to brick hardware, you can do what I did: get the backplate from a chinese spare parts reseller and fix the phone yourself.

You would think that you should simply be able to purchase the sticker antennae for about $5, peel off the old one, and stick on the new one. Unfortunately no one resells the antennae stickers separately. You have to replace the whole backplate assembly.

To order the backplate, you can try Cellular Nationwide Network who have a lot of spare parts for the N97, and many other phone models. For a couple of dollars, you can even order the tools you will need to undo the torx screws. My order included 5 torx screwdrivers, a case opening tool, and the white backplate. Including shipping it came to about AUD $80.

Shipping was extremely cheap at $5, and the items came enclosed in a box with excellent protective packaging.

I then followed this excellent YouTube tutorial which shows in detail how to safely remove the backplate and internal phone guts to remove the mainboard. Just remember: slowly and gently remove the connectors inside the phone and you will be fine.

Before I changed the backplate, I had to wait about 2 minutes to get a GPS lock. Assisted GPS mode made this time about 30 seconds.

With the new backplate fitted, I started up Ovi Maps and was frankly amazed to discover that I got a Satellite GPS lock in less than 15 seconds (with Assisted GPS). I turned off Assisted GPS mode and restarted Ovi Maps. The time it took to establish a Satellite connection was four seconds! While I know that GPS will establish a connection very quickly if you are in the same place, that process would have taken at least 2 minutes before replacing the backplate. Astounding!

So for those N97 owners who are frustrated with their GPS, I would definitely recommend replacing the backplate yourself. Yes, there are warranty issues if you replace the backplate yourself. But if your phone is out of warranty, I would just go for it.

Sony MDR-EX90SL Headphone Mod - HUGE difference in sound!!!

2009-12-07T22:25:00.000-08:00

OK. I love my music, and I love headphones that can replicate bass really well. About a year ago now, I decided to purchase the Sony MDR-EX90SL (the SL stands for Short Lead).

I've been pretty happy with them up until now, but I have found that when I increase the volume of the phones a bit in the office, there is quite a bit of noise bleed.

The MDR-EX90 is one of the few headphones of this type that feature a 13.5mm driver. Most other canal style headphones around this price point only have a 9mm or 10mm driver because the headphone body is designed to sit in the ear.

Headphone Ergonomics

To accommodate this design, the headphones have a standard headphone driver (think Apple headphones), but there is a plastic cover with sound ports, and a canal plug (that takes the silicone tip). This plastic cover channels the sound into the canal tube into your ear canal. So rather than having the round speaker body wedged into your ear opening, you have a comfortable silicone bud that allows the 12mm driver to float away from your ear.

For some reason, the headphone designers chose to leave what I can only guess are "bass ports" open on the face of the plastic cover. Design FAIL! This is the part of the headphone design which causes the sound bleed and loss of bass reproduction.

The fix is so simple, it is ridiculous. You can turn your already great MDR-EX90 set into something out of this world for about 5c worth of material and about 10 minutes worth of time.

You will need:

small scissiors (capable of cutting very close to edges of objects)
some clear packing tape. Think sellotape, but not magic tape.

This is how you do it:

Remove the silicone rubber tips (to avoid damage).
Cut a square of tape that will fit over the driver face. If you have overhang it doesn't matter; you will be trimming off the excess.
Put the tape square over the underneath of the driver (where the holes are near the L and R markings).
Using the scissors, cut around the voice tube, so the tape fits neatly around the base of the voice tube. A "U" shape is effective for this area.
Ensure the "bass ports" are completely sealed with tape; the mod will fail if any air can escape.
If you don't get it right the first time, hang the expense and use another square of tape. :)
Once you are happy with the seal, trim the excess tape from around the outside edge of the driver. Cut as close to the side of the driver as possible, so you don't leave any jagged edges of tape. Jagged edges of tape will annoy your ears.
You have now modded one channel. Repeat the steps for the other headphone channel.
Now test the performance on music that you know intimately; you'll notice the difference. You'll also have to turn the volume down quite a bit!

What you've effectively done is sealed the headphones without having to take them apart and risk damaging the delicate driver. All the sound will be directed where it should be, right down into your ear canal.

You'll also notice the increased sound isolation.

If you have a hole punch, you might find it easier to punch a neat hole in a sticker the same size as the canal tube diameter. Peel the sticker backing off, push the canal tube through the hole, trim the sticker to suit, and you're done.

Enjoy your new sound!

Educating Developers about Content Authoring - The MCDUG.

2009-09-29T17:53:00.000-07:00

In my gig as a Technical Writer for Red Hat Brisbane, I have the opportunity to work with incredibly skilled Open Source developers, and write about cutting edge technology in the Open Source software arena.

Sometimes, it is necessary to step away from the technology aspects and focus on writing content that will help a team work together more effectively. I'm talking about writing documentation that supports aspects of the open source project, not what the open source project is working on. Yes, I'm talking about a procedures guide.

The Mobicents team expressed interest in taking back ownership of the community XML documentation being maintained by Red Hat. The decision had a number of positive effects:

Developers could contribute directly to the user documentation.
The open source community had access to the community content source.
The Red Hat Content Author (me) could focus on developing the Red Hat product documentation for the project.

Because the team was going to be writing the initial content themselves using XML, I realised that the Self Managed Community Documentation (SMCD) project would fail quickly without clearly defined processes, and support with XML authoring.

I decided to take a step back from writing content for the software, and invested time in creating the Mobicents Community Documentation User Guide (MCDUG). I had to juggle urgent documentation tasks with my MCDUG writing, but the juggling act was worth it.

I have completed the first full release of the MCDUG (now evolved into the JBoss Documentation Guide). The guide is hosted on the JBoss.org Hudson build server, and is freely available to anyone who wishes to read it.

Much of the guide contains information that will only be relevant to Mobicents Developers, however there is some useful information about DocBook XML structure that may be useful to those new to XML Authoring.

I'm referring new Red Hat Content Authors to the structure tips contained in the MCDUG, and the information seems to be helping them get accustomed to working with XML faster.

My ultimate hope is the MCDUG will be used daily by the Mobicents developers, and will continue to evolve with the SMCD project. After all, a procedures guide is only relevant if the procedures are relevant.