12 Days of Christmas iTunes Giveaway

Apple’s iTunes Store is offering twelve days of giveaways from the 26th December to the 6th January.

For iTunes 12 Days Of Christmas, we’ve delved deep into our catalogue to pull out some real treats for the holiday season. Check back here every day for rare singles, exclusive live tracks and free music videos from some of the biggest artists in the world today. Plus classic TV programmes that you just won’t want to miss. Consider them little stocking fillers for your new iPod.

Find out more.

BBC iPlayer on the Nokia N810

So can you watch content on your Nokia N810

No it doesn’t work as you would like it to, in the main as I guess the processor on the N810 is not powerful enough.

The Flash player on the N810 is the full version which means unlike the iPhone it can access Flash content easily on the web, like BBC iPlayer, but alas though it can access the content, it can’t play it properly.

You can play video on the Nokia N810, but generally you need to encode it specifically for the N810 otherwise it either won’t play or stutters a lot.

Unlike the iPhone, the iPod touch and Google’s G1, as the N810 uses (a variant) of the Firefox browser, the BBC don’t supply the mobile Mp4 files which work on the iPhone and G1 and therefore the N810 is reliant on the Flash versions which (as they are higher quality) require more processing power.

I am going to see if I can play an iPhone BBC iPlayer file on the N810 which should give me an idea if the processor is powerful enough. Will keep you informed.

BBC iPlayer now available on Mac and Linux

Well I know you are thinking that you could access BBC iPlayer already on your Mac or Linux PC!

Well what we’re talking about here is not the Flash based web BBC iPlayer, but the iPlayer which allows you to download BBC programmes and watch them while offline.

Not tried it yet, but thinking it could be useful for train journeys.

Read more on BBC News.

The BBC has created a version of the iPlayer that works with both Mac and Linux computers.

The two systems, which have been able to stream BBC programmes via the iPlayer for a year, will now be able to handle downloads.

The BBC, working with Adobe, has developed the new version, known as BBC iPlayer Desktop.

Nokia N73 “broken”

After some testing I have come to the conclusion that there is a mechanical problem with my Nokia N73, after seeing it “crash” after placing it on my desk, it just turned itself off. I thought it might be the battery contacts, but they seem fine, but I think it might be another technical problem, maybe a loose connection somewhere.

Seadragon Mobile

In an interesting move, Microsoft Labs have released an application for the iPhone.

Seadragon

Seadragon is designed to provide next-generation visual experiences, regardless of the size of the screen, size of the file or speed of your network. It’s already available on a number of platforms, including Microsoft Surface, and in Photosynth and Silverlight. Now we’re bringing that same graphical smoothness right to the iPhone in your pocket.

Probably the best way to describe it, as a Google Maps but for any large scale image.

Find out more.

Download the app from the iTunes Store.

New phone

Well my Nokia N73 is “broken” in the sense that it keeps turning itself off on a too regular basis. Upgrading the firmware hasn’t helped and as a result I am thinking about a new phone.

Obvious choice would be the Nokia N97, but it’s not out yet, so can I wait, or do I go for the E71.

Hmm. Decisions.

Fixing Twitterfon

Twitterfon is one of my favourite applications for the iPhone (and iPod touch) however recently it has been crashing consistently everytime I start it up.

According to the Twitterfon website blog, the problem lies with Twitter.

Some users have been reporting me that TwitterFon crashes on launch. This has been happening since this afternoon. The root cause is that twitter has changed their JSON response which favorite status value is null instead of bool unexpectedly and randomly.

Not quite sure that that means as I am not really a techie, honestly!

However all is not lost.

If you apply this patch (and you may have to do it more than once) then it should fix the Twitterfon application until an update is released.

Nokia N97 – Looking good!

Nokia’s new N97 phone is looking really good.

I hope it is as good as it appears to be.

Nokia’s press release on the Nokia N97:

The N97 isn’t a device that will trigger knee-jerk hysteria, but instead it should breed cool-headed excitement at the prospect of a new era of mobile experience.

It may be an Nseries handset, but the N97 carves a new space in the otherwise blurred realm between smartphone and laptop – a product built on a foundation of rock solid mobile principles, Nokia innovations, and tangible new technologies, pushed to the extreme and embodied in a slimline pocket shell.