Hot Cup of Joe Tablet

Google announces Reader for iPhone

2008-05-16T16:10:00.000-07:00

A Brand New Google Reader for the iPhone.
And, guess what?

It works great on my NIT!

If you've already logged into iGoogle or one of your Google accounts (Notebook, Docs, etc.), just adding a "/i" at the end of the Reader link will get you to a very fast and simple display of all your feeds. The link is: http://www.google.com/reader/i so try it for yourself

By clicking the feeds link in the upper left corner (I think I saw it on the bottom left as well), you can go to your feeds list which, in my case, includes folders. You can then click on a folder to see a list of sub-folders or links within the folder. Clicking the folder again will allow you to get all the feeds in that folder sorted by date.

Or you can click on an individual feed within the folder and just look at feeds within that site.

You can click "show original" to have the browser open a new window to the original item so as to view the full post and comments and allow you to comment as well.

iReader is my N800's new bestest friend!

Office Suite for the N800 / N810

2008-03-17T09:06:00.001-07:00

I love my N800. I use it to listen to podcasts, read blogs through Google Reader, and read email. I will probably make frequent use of things like Google Docs an Google Notebook once I get a bluetooth keyboard.

But the Nokia Internet Tablet is so limited out of the box when compared with its full potential.

I'm not a programmer nor would I consider myself well-versed in Linux though I did play around with it on a machine I built about 15 years ago. I'm a user. I use the applications and leave it up to the programmers, hackers and the like to design and port applications. But surely its helpful if they're aware of what it is that end-users like myself are interested in.

I'm an anthropologist, so I view the situation from an anthropological perspective. Like all people, status among peers is probably important to software developers, programmers and the hackers who do things like porting applications from one platform to another. So what better way to increase your status than to create or port an application that gains huge popularity? Moreover, if the N800/N810 gains more popularity among the widest possible audience that would be a good thing for Nokia and, ultimately, Nokia Internet Tablet users since it helps ensure the continued support and development of IT devices.

What I'm getting at is this: I'm bewildered that the N8x0 IT doesn't have some basic applications available like a good PIM, Word Processer, Spreadsheet, Database, and Presentation app. Open Office seems to be the logical choice, but I'm not sure to what extent Open Office depends upon Java, which isn't used in Maemo, so I don't know how feasible it would be to port a lite version for Maemo. But the above applications would increase the utility of the IT, making it appeal to the widest possible audience.

Personally, I'd like to see the a personal information manager designed to make use of the IT's unique features: pop-out camera, WiFi, finger scrolling, etc. I'd find it extremely useful to be able to create a PIM entry based on a camera photo. Open the PIM app, click on New Entry, pop-out the camera, twirl it around, center on the subject, and create a picture entry for a person or object that can be stored in the PIM. This would be more than a contact manager, it could be used to store and catalog anything from an inventory of tools to artifacts at a site (I'm an archaeologist) or friends -linked to the picture could be a catalog number, GPS location, bar-code, telephone/address etc. Gizmo or Skype could be accessed directly from the PIM and entries could be organized by labels and categories similar to Wordpress blog entries, allowing for printing and emailing of reports based on a unique label or set of labels (friend, male; artifact, potsherd; building, san antonio, old; etc). Okay... I'm completely brainstorming here, but it's the kind of thing I'd find useful.

Another obvious bit of kit that's completely missing is a presentation application. I realize that you aren't going to set up your IT in front of a classroom or and give a lecture, but there are many times where I've sat and gone over a visual presentation to a group of 1-3 people sitting at a table. Such an application, with the ability to play short audio/video clips as well as photos, would be invaluable to anyone that's sat a small table in a Starbucks explaining the virtues of a product, job opportunity, or just bouncing an idea off of a couple of colleagues. And with the recent news of the No Bounds Project, the notion of using a N800 to give a presentation to a large audience isn't so absurd after all. If I could attach my N800 to a television or the projector in a classroom, I could easily use it to give a class lecture or presentation to a hundred people.

Lots of people have commented in places like the Internet Tablet Talk Forums that Google Docs, Google Calendar, and the like satisfy the need to have a an office suite, but I wholeheartedly disagree. I'm frequently without a WiFi connection and would like the ability to access and use an office suite or other professional applications in between hotspots. I'm sure that there are many who would agree.

But in spite of these limitations, I'm very happy with my N800. I love it! I can get on the internet while my wife and kid are hogging the computer with the Webkinz fascination they have. The amount of music I can access is limited only by the number of SD cards I can afford and I can even watch videos that I converted from DVD to .avi through the same converter tool I use for my iRiver, displaying it on a larger screen.

HOJ Tablet - ???

2008-03-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

I'm an archaeologist/anthropologist -still in grad school- and I blog elsewhere on the topic of archaeology, anthropology, science and skepticism.

So what am I doing here?

Initially, I started to use this old test account for my blog (where I would test new widgets and CSS adjustments to the template for my old blog) as a start screen for quick links in my new Nokia N800 (the post below and links in the sidebar). I wanted a startpage for my browser that I could just click with the stylus on my internet tablet to take me to favorite podcasts, blogs, weather, Google apps, etc.

The Nokia N800 (for any of my HOJ readers following a link from there) is a internet tablet that runs Maemo, a Debian based version of Linux designed for the small platform of internet tablet like the N770, the N800, and the new N810.

Right out of the box the N800 can check my email, browse the web, view movies (saved in .avi on the SD card or even embedded like YouTube), listen to internet radio, etc. All through a WiFi connection via my home WiFi or my university's network as well as other WiFi hotspots in coffee shops, bookstores, airport, and hotels around the world.

Coupled with a bluetooth keyboard, the device can be used quite well for blogging, writing email, and even more involved documents via Google Docs and Google Notebook. I just purchased my N800 in the past two weeks, so I'm still playing around with it, but you can also use Gizmo, Google Talk, and Skype to chat or talk on the phone (even video phone via the N800's pop-out webcam) -though I haven't really dived into this feature as yet. I've installed Skype and Gizmo -it comes with Google Talk- (but recently un-installed Skype) and registered at Google's Grandcentral, but I'm still waiting on an invite. If anyone would like to send me one, leave a comment here...

I guess what I'll do on this blog is share my experiences using an internet tablet in an academic and professional environment; applications I'd like to see on the IT; applications and uses I've discovered from elsewhere; promotion of the efforts of others in the IT community; and to encourage my friends and readers of my other blog to consider the Internet Tablet as a viable tool and toy.

N800 Quick Links

2008-03-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

Google

Gmail
iGoogle
Google News
Google Reader
Google Docs
Google Notebook
Google Image Search
Google Search
Google Scholar
Google Video
Google Maps

Maemo and N800 Related

Nokia 2008
Planet Maemo
Internet Tablet Talk
Maemo Apps
Maemo Downloads
Tablet Guru
Tablet Blog
Ultra Mobile Geek
WomWorld N800
N800 Blog

Misc Sites

Weather Underground