Nokia N8 starts shipping Sep 30, E7 to be announced next week?

The long wait isn't over yet - new info says the Nokia N8 will start shipping in late September, at least for those who pre-ordered. In the mean time, the Nokia E7 popped up, reportedly going official as soon as next week.

The Nokia N8 has been on a handful of sites for pre-order, each site citing a different launch date. Some of those dates flew through with no N8 in sight, other dates are always a couple of weeks ahead.



The end just might be in sight though - a Finnish site spoke to Nokia's Senior Communications Manager who said that Nokia N8 pre-orders will shipping September 30. He also said that the N8 will cost 499 euros - since we've seen different prices for different countries, that shipping date might be for Finland only.
Still, the Nokia World event is fast approaching (it's on September 14 and 15) - there Nokia is expected to unveil the Nokia E7. The E7 is a Symbian^3 phone with a slide out QWERTY and got leaked a few times, with speculation that it's the Nokia N9.

Nokia E7 photos
Well, it's not the N9, but the specs still seem quite impressive - a 4" touchscreen (probably nHD), 3G, Wi-Fi, 8MP camera with dual LED flash and an HDMI port. If these specs pan out, the Nokia E7 should sit somewhere between the Nokia C7 (which has a smaller screen and no QWERTY) and the Nokia N9 (which touts an aluminum body and MeeGo). The Nokia E7 specs are unconfirmed, but that should change next week.

T-Mobile’s IPv6 beta-service (Available on the Nokia N900)

T-Mobile USA is currently inviting its subscribers to test their IPv6 beta service if they have an IPv6 enabled device. The N900 does not support IPv6 out-of-the-box but the Maemo platform is easily capable of enabling IPv6 via a custom kernel. So, if you are feeling adventurous with the N900 and want to help the best carrier in the US, sign-up for the beta!To test the beta-service, you need to:
1. be on T-Mobile’s unlimited data-plan. This also includes those who managed to get the $10 unlimited plan.
2. register on their website by filling out a form and wait for the confirmation. The response time in my case was a couple of hours.
The setup for the N900 is quite straightforward. In general the following will setup a dual-stack (IPv6/IPv4), 
1. Install Power kernel.
2. Download the 2 enable and disable scripts,place them in the /etc/network/if-up.d/ and /etc/network/if-down.d/ folders respectively, and make them executable.
3. Edit the APN info in the 00_enable_apn_ipv6 script.
MY_IPv4_APN="internet2.voicestream.com"
MY_IPv6_APN="ccinternet2.t-mobile.com"
MY_IPv6_USERNAME=""
MY_IPv6_PASSWORD=""
ADD_IPv6_DNS="yes"
4. Enable IPv6 DNS in the browser. about:config. set disableIPv6 to false. Its worth noting that Opera Mobile supports it by default!
5. Restart 3G service using 3G/2G Mode Selection Applet. Select 2G then 3G.
6. Start the T-Mobile internet connection and navigate to http://ipv6.whatismyipv6.com/ to see your IPv6 address.

The Browser will work but Skype won’t. Other services not yet working (IPv6 enabled) are MSN and Tor.
There’s some useful info on Google’s IPv6 service, here
Enjoy!

The Coke Laziness Machine.

You've probably seen the video above. It was posted in January and has over two million views on YouTube. A UK version was apparently launched today in the hope of repeating the viral trick (though it appears to have been online since early July and as of this morning had not managed that feat, having only been viewed 3,000 times).

I don't get it. There are no media regions in the digital world and thus think global, act local must mean more than repeating the same stunt in different countries and posting it to the web. If it's interesting the first time, then it will have spread and "we" will all have seen and have no interest in seeing it again. Or am I missing something?

How Marketing Is Really Seen.

Overheard on a train:

We'll give the marketing agency the message and image we want to convey and we'll just get them to make it look nice.

Make It Obvious.

Many people think that the art of the headline is to attract attention. Well, the one above ticked that box for me but when I delved deeper, I discovered that the noise was emanating, irony of ironies, from a "marketing" company upstairs (read phone sales training company) and that the closure was voluntary, not enforced.

The art of the headline is not just to attract attention. It must also impart information and lead to something that doesn't disappoint.



Addendum: If you utilise multiple meanings in your heading, then you must deliver on all of them. This is advanced practice and should only be attempted by experts.

How To Easily Overclock Your Nokia N900 In Under Two Minutes

The ability to overclock the N900 has existed for a long time now and we have covered it before. But overclocking the N900 has never been so easy, two simple installs from the Application Manager and a short command via the terminal is all it takes. If you have been wanting to try it out but were holding out because it seemed too complicated, this guide is for you.

However, please note that overclocking the N900 will void your warranty, although it is possible to the flash to the stock kernel/state if you no longer want to overclock your device. Apart from that you also risk damaging your device and losing data. Please continue at your own peril.
That said, lets get started.

• The first thing you need to do is install ‘rootsh’ from the Application Manager, make sure you have the relevant repositories enabled.
• Next install the ‘Enhanced linux kernel for power users‘ from the ‘System’ section in the Application Manager. It supports overclocking upto 1.15 Ghz.
• Restart the device.
• Now install ‘Enhanced kernel for power users (settings)‘.
• Open the X-Terminal and enter the following command.

sudo gainroot
kernel-config load ideal

This will load the ideal profile which overclocks your phone to 850 MHz. At this point if you experience reboots or the phone seems to act funny, try using the ‘lv’ settings that uses slightly higher voltages than the ‘ideal’ profile. If it is still unstable try ‘ulv’. The various presets are ‘default’ – ‘lv’ – ‘ulv’ – ‘xlv’ – ‘ideal’ – ‘starving’.

sudo gainroot
kernel-config load lv
kernel-config limits 250 850

If the N900 seems stable, you can have these settings as a preset of your own.

sudo gainroot
kernel-config load lv
kernel-config limits 250 850
kernel-config save myideal

With the current configuration, the N900 will resort to the default 600 MHz state everytime it is rebooted. This is done to avoid letting the N900 get caught in a reboot loop. If you are happy with the N900′s performance and stability, you can then also set the N900 to overclock by default on startup. Use the following command:

sudo gainroot
kernel-config default ideal (whichever preset you want to set as default e.g. myideal)
kernel-config show (this will show you your current settings)

If you want to revert to the original settings, here is the procedure to follow. Jakiman over at talk.maemo.org has a very comprehensive guide as well, if you are looking for more information I suggest you give it a read.

One last thing, if you want to configure the N900′s overclocking setting with a visual UI and not the terminal, install QCPUFreq from the Application Manager. Then once you have installed the packages mentioned above all you will need to do is move the slider to overclock to the desired level. My suggestion is don’t go past the 850 MHz mark.
Before you do this, please keep in mind one thing ‘because it can be doesn’t mean, you have to do it!’

Make Marketing Relevant.

Before enjoying an epic of epic-ish epicness last night, I was assailed in my cinema seat by a horrible advertisement featuring inane vox-pop proclamations extolling the wonders of cinema.

That's right, my enjoyment of the cinema experience was diminished by an advertisement preaching the joy of the cinema experience to people who were already sitting in a cinema!

The screen real-estate was there, the audience was there and the had an ad, so the marketing geniuses decided to throw them all together. No doubt because there was no incremental financial cost and it would gain eyeball attention. It took me back to the bad old days when magazines would call up an old colleague to tell him that he'd paid for space in their next edition and what did he want them to run in it. His answer was usually the same tired old ad he'd run in the previous edition.

Advertising opportunities may be abundant, but to undervalue them like this is to reveal a failure to comprehend that the scarce and thus valuable element in the equation is your audience's time. That is and always has been finite. If you make them waste it, there will be a very real cost to you. Even if you can't see it in your budget.