the ReviveR - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Warning (Score 2, Informative) 95

by the ReviveR on Wednesday December 30, 2009 @03:53AM (#30591294) Attached to: <em>Duke Nukem 3D</em> Ported To Nokia N900

You should have just gotten new one using warranty. Since droid seems to get the same sort of bug, it is quite possible there is simply a bad batch of omap 3 processors going around.

My N900 has been very stable. I've had it for over 5 weeks now and I've so far gotten a single reboot. That was when I was trying to open unsupported file with development version of KMplayer. Even then the phone just autobooted and everything was back to normal.

I would have to say N900 is surprisingly stable for something so new and groundbreaking.

Comment Porting for N900 is easy, controls not so much... (Score 2, Interesting) 95

by the ReviveR on Wednesday December 30, 2009 @03:27AM (#30591218) Attached to: <em>Duke Nukem 3D</em> Ported To Nokia N900

The biggest problem with old games on mobiles is definitely the controls. If you have seen Duke Nukem 3D on iPhone you would have to agree the controls make it nearly unplayable. I remember playing through couple of levels on my N810 and the keyboard makes it more playable but it can still be tiresome experience for your fingers. Connecting Wiimote to N900 gives good controls but the Wiimote is too big to carry around.

On positive side, porting games like these to n900 is pretty easy. So far I've seen Star Control 2, Quake 3, Jagged Alliance 2, Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior. All were ported by someone for free. If you connect Wiimote to N900 and N900 to your TV, it's almost as good as cheap console.

BTW, Quake 3 would probably have made a more impressive headline =)

Submission + - Nokia claims Apple violated additional patents (globeinvestor.com)

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Tuesday December 29, 2009 @05:06PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "The Associated Press is reporting that: "Nokia is broadening its legal fight with Apple , saying almost all of the company's products violate its patents, not just the iPhone.
Nokia Corp. said Tuesday that it has filed a complaint against Apple Inc. with the U.S. International Trade Commission. The Finnish phone maker says Apple's iPhone, iPods and computers all violate its intellectual property rights.""

Submission + - Duke Nukem 3D Ported To Nokia N900

Submitted by andylim on Tuesday December 29, 2009 @02:52PM

andylim writes: It looks as if Duke Nukem isn't completely 'nuked' after all. Someone has ported the 90s classic on to a Nokia N900. As you'll see in the video, you control Duke using the Qwerty keypad and shoot using the touchscreen. Wondering how long it will take for this to get on other mobile platforms?

Comment Re:5 Megapixel camera?!? Why this thing again? (Score 1) 119

by the ReviveR on Thursday December 24, 2009 @06:08PM (#30547322) Attached to: iPhone 4 Rumors Rumble

MP counts say nothing. I have used a 1.3MP digital camera from the early 00's that takes better pictures than every camera phone I ever used. Unless you get a phone with optical zoom you can almost be guaranteed the quality will be crap.

1 good megapixel is better than 8 crap ones

I've had a bit different experience, although I do agree that the MP count is mostly meaningless. High MP actually seriously drops the quality because of the tiny sensors can't get enough light.

Nokia seems to have the upper hand in mobile cameras and once again these phones are not something most americans end up seeing. Most of their top of the line phones have had Carl Zeiss optics for a while now. The tiny sensor is still a problem so any low light situation creates ugly grainy images. However with proper lighting (or with Xenon flash like in the old Nokia N82) you can get some really good pics. Nokia pretty much stopped increasing the sensor size a few years ago at 5 MP and has been trying to improve the quality since.

Submission + - SPAM: Firefox for mobiles will be launched shortly

Submitted by Cytalk on Wednesday December 23, 2009 @12:46PM

Cytalk writes: (BBC) The first mobile phone version of the popular web browser Firefox is “days away” from launch, the head of the project has told the BBC.
The browser, codenamed Fennec, will initially be available for Nokia’s N900 phone, followed by other handsets.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Preview of Easy Debian for the N900 (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 23, 2009 @04:57AM

An anonymous reader writes: Easy Debian is intended to be the quick and simple way to install programs from the Debian repositories in Maemo. Here's a short preview with about 10 screenshots of various desktop apps running on the N900, plus some commentary about problems that are preventing release. (If you're a PulseAudio developer and finally want some good publicity, you should probably go lend a hand.)

Submission + - Firefox Mobile Release Days Away (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by

Entropy98

on Wednesday December 23, 2009 @01:46AM

Entropy98 writes: "Firefox Mobile, in development for the last 1.5 years, could be released before the end of the year.
It will initially be available for the Nokia N900, to be followed by other handsets, but not the iPhone (Apple doesn't allow 3rd party browsers)

FTA: The open-source browser will be able to synchronise with the desktop version.
Software will mean that any web pages open in a user's desktop browser will automatically open in the mobile version.
"At the end of the working day you can walk away from your computer and keep on going on your phone," Mr Sullivan told the BBC.
"It encrypts all of the information and sends it back through the cloud between your desktop and mobile."

I wonder if it will be able to handle the 100+ tabs I typically have open?"

Comment Re:Okay, I'll be the one to say it... (Score 4, Informative) 416

by the ReviveR on Monday December 21, 2009 @12:28PM (#30513204) Attached to: Android's Success a Threat To Free Software?

The N900 is NOT very expensive (well not cheap either), it's about the same as any other top of the line smartphone. The reason it may seem like that is because in US you cannot get it subsidized.

Here is a copy paste of an earlier post I made....

Here are some prices from one of the cheaper web stores in Finland. Please note that these have taxes included and probably the "europeans are idiots" bonus (1 dollar = 1 euro)

iPhone 3GS 32GB - 528 euro (+ 12 month contract with "normal" prices)
iPhone 3G 8GB - 396 euro (+12 month contract with "normal" prices)
HTC Hero - 489.90 euro (no contract)
Motorola Milestone - 549.90 euro (no contract + 50 euro more for localized keyboard)
Nokia N900 - 569.00 euro (no contract)
Samsung Galaxy i7500 - 489.90 euro( no contract)
Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Android - 749.90 euro (no contract)

Based on these it would seem that most top of the line phones actually cost around 500 - 600 euro (that is probably 500$-600$ in US) and even correlates pretty nicely with release schedule. Don't get the price on the Sony Ericsson, though it isn't actually out yet I think.

BTW: People were able to get it as cheap as $442 from Dell a while back. Don't know what is the cheapest now (nor would I buy anything from Dell :)

Submission + - Carriers & Manufacturers Are Strangling Androi (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by loconet on Saturday December 19, 2009 @01:17AM

loconet writes: The Google Phone could be a ploy to upset the wireless industry, or it could be an expensive niche device. Either way, it'd be a bid to take Android back from the companies that seem hell-bent on destroying it. Read on to see how the Android's fragmented model is harming it and how Google could save it.

Submission + - Sarkozy Again Involved With Copyright Infringement (independent.co.uk)

Submitted by

I Don't Believe in Imagniary Property

on Thursday December 17, 2009 @07:44PM

I Don't Believe in Imagniary Property writes: "Hopefully, French President Nicolas Sarkozy will do the honorable thing and ban himself from the internet forever, because he's once again involved with copyright infringement. This time, the UMP (Sarkozy's political party), made a video to post online that included copyrighted songs. They licensed one version of the song, but then used another version which they did not have a license for. Because he's already had strike one and strike two, this would be his third strike if he were subject to the HADOPI law that cuts off one's internet access after three accusations of copyright infringement. So, by the legal standard he supports, he should get off of the internet, forever."

Submission + - DRM prevented 3D-showings of "Avatar" in Germany (heise.de)

Submitted by Fraggy_the_undead on Thursday December 17, 2009 @08:31AM

Fraggy_the_undead writes: according to German IT news site heise.de (German, google translation), yesterday several 3D-showings of "Avatar" couldn't take place, because the movies were DRM protected in a way, that there had to be a key per copy of the film, per film projector and per movie server in the theater. The keys supplier by the name Deluxe was apparently unable to provide a sufficient number of valid keys in time.
Moviegoers were offered to get a refund or view an analogue 2D showing instead.

Submission + - Mozilla: Firefox Mobile will kill app stores (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by Barence on Thursday December 17, 2009 @04:12AM

Barence writes: Mozilla claims that its new Firefox Mobile browser could be the beginning of the end for the hugely popular app stores created by Apple and its ilk. Mozilla claims Firefox Mobile will have the fastest Javascript engine of any mobile browser, and that will allow developers to write apps once for the web, instead of multiple versions for the different mobile platforms. "As developers get more frustrated with quality assurance, the amount of handsets they have to buy, whether their security updates will get past the iPhone approval process... I think they'll move to the web," Mozilla's mobile VP, Jay Sullivan, told PC Pro. "In the interim period, apps will be very successful. Over time, the web will win because it always does."

Submission + - BetaNet Sues Everyone for Remote SW Activation (channelregister.co.uk)

Submitted by eldavojohn on Wednesday December 16, 2009 @08:28AM

eldavojohn writes: Not to be out patent trolled by Eolas, a mystery company named 'BetaNet, LLC' is suing: Adobe Systems, Inc, Apple, Inc., Arial Software, LLC, Autodesk, Inc.,, CARBONITE, INC., Corel Corp., Eastman Kodak Co., International Business Machines Corp., Intuit, Inc., Microsoft Corp., McAfee, Inc., Oracle Corp., Rockwell Automation, Inc., Rosetta Stone, Inc., SAP America, Inc., Siemens Corp. and Sony Creative Software, Inc. for infringement of their patent entitled Secure system for activating personal computer software at remote locations. And of course, this was filed in our favoritest of favorite places: Marshall, TX (Texas Eastern District Court).

Comment Any credible sources? (Score 1) 161

by the ReviveR on Tuesday December 15, 2009 @03:10PM (#30448310) Attached to: Ads To Offset Cost of Unlocked Google Phone?

Is there any bit more official or trusted source that is actually confirming that google is bringing out its own phone?

Eldar Murtazin which I would consider a moderately trustworthy source regarding mobiles says that he has talked about it with a google employee and it's a fake.

So many news and comments that seem to think this is real that I can't really form an opinion myself. If google does do this, it is a bit of a slap on the face for it's Android allies. Google is suddenly a competitor with a clear advantage.

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