Well, we can’t be right all the time!  Yesterday we predicted Nokia would announce a range of handsets, and it appears that Nokia have no such plans (we are hearing rumours that Nokia will be organising it’s own event in March / April time where it will release a number of phones, including the ones we hinted at), but instead Nokia did announce that it’s Linux OS, Maemo, will be merging it’s Open Source efforts with Intel’s Moblin platform to produce a new OS environment called MeeGo, which will offer support for both netbooks as well as Internet Tablet phones.

For more information on the new venture, and what it means for both platforms, head to the MeeGo website.

What a nice change; a device launched in the US, but at the launch, it was announced that the device will be coming to the UK!  T-Mobile UK are working with ICD to release the ICD Vega Kitchen computer / Android Tablet in the UK later this year.  Well, compared to the O2 Joggler, this might well have just those few extra facilities to actually be a bigger success story…

The spec of the Vega includes:

• Processor — Nvidia Tegra 250 (1GHz)
• Memory – 512MB DDR DRAM
• Flash — 512MB NAND flash; 32GB internal SD card; external Micro SD slot
• Display — 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 resistive touchscreen; HDMI output
• Wireless:
  • 802.11b/g WiFi
  • Bluetooth 2.1
  • Optional 2G or 3G cellular
• USB — 1 x USB 2.0 High-Speed OTG
• Camera — 1.3-megapixel
• Audio — 3.5mm audio jack; external speakers; dual microphones
• Other features:
  • Accelerometer
  • Ambient light sensor
  • Charging dock
  • Magnetic docking
• Power — 11AH 3.9V lithium-ion battery (4 hours life); 110-240V input; 12VDC output (35 W, for dock)
• Dimensions — 14.7 x 10.0 x 0.6 inches (373 x 254 x 16mm)
• Weight — 2.9 lbs (1.3kg)
• Operating system — Android 2.0

The dock may also feature an additional speaker, and possibly an HDMI port too, but with that 3G support, you’ll be able to make calls, and this is no sudden decision by T-Mobile, who have, apparently been working with ICD for 18 months.

Taken advantage of the Android platform, Linuxdevices have said “The Android software on the device offers one-touch access to a household calendar, enabling families to organize schedules in one place, say the companies. The web-accessible device can automatically send SMS text reminders of calendar items to cellphones. Additional features are said to include web browsing, on-demand TV, access to social networks, video chat, and games.”

ICD also announced a 15.6″ unit (ICD Ultra) and made reference to also working on an 11″ tablet too.  The ICD Ultra adds to the Vega specs with a GPS too.

One small point to watch out for; these, and many other “Android” devices are likely to be using the Open Source Android OS, and will not be “Google Experience” devices, so don’t expect this device to automatically take a Google account and support all the Google features that you may have on your “Google Experience” Android phone…

The only other unknown at this point is the price, but we would expect something similar to O2 and the Joggler where there are options for subsidised pricing…

Some content courtesy of Linux Devices, and thanks to Stuart for the Heads Up!

This is a screenshot from the latest Boxee Beta.  Boxee is an XBMC spin off which should work on Windows, Mac, Linux and Apple TV, and there have been a number of worthwhile articles about it if you are interested.

Firstly, Lifehacker have produced a Beta Walkthrough, which covers looks of detail over the software, including looking at some of the application addons that include Social Networking sites.

Now, if you are looking for a complete guide to installing Boxee, then head to Liam Green-Hughes site, where he has covered the install on the Acer Aspire Revo in sufficient detail to allow anyone to be able to get it installed and working.

Of course, if you are not keen on installing the software yourself, or don’t have an Acer Aspire Revo, then one option is to wait for their own hardware (in conjunction with D-Link) to be released…

This will be produced with a nice stylish RF remote (with a QWERTY keyboard on the back for performing searches and entering information).  It’s due to go on sale in the US for only $200, although it’s not clear what it will cost (or whether it will even be available) in the UK.  Just in case you’re worried that it’s a large ugly box, the height of that box is about 6 inches!

Two little stories have caught my attention this week regarding the Nokia N900, Nokia’s new Maemo based Internet Tablet Phone.  Firstly, from Liam Green-Hughes (who has written up his First Looks review of the Nokia N900 here), and in that article he mentions a little third party utility called FM RDS Notify.  As the Nokia N900 ships, you have support for an FM transmitter, which when you connect to an RDS-compatible stereo (such as in the car), you will see “Nokia” displayed when music is playing.  However, FM RDS Notify takes that capability a stage further, and puts more useful information into the RDS data information of the FM signal, allowing details of the current music track playing to appear on the stereo instead.

However, it doesn’t stop there; it can also display the details of the current caller (should be be on the phone), or even display SMS messages.  Although the application is currently only in the Extras-devel repository, and not the more mainstream Extras respository, I’m sure it will move over in time, as the application develops.  It already has some impressive functionality for what is v0.3, and the first version was only released back in late December!

The other interesting app for the Nokia N900 is Barriosquare, which is a FourSquare client for the Nokia N900.  Now, FourSquare is only starting to become popular in the UK, but has been running for some while in the US.  FourSquare combines the Social Networking aspects of sites like Twitter and merges in the location, and there is even an element of competition on who can “login” to an individual location the most and claim the “Mayor” badge for that location.  Using the public API to the website, a single developer has managed to create the application.

And that’s the power of the Nokia N900; individual developers can create a free app for the device and release it via the repositories and then everyone can access that new utility, that new feature which enhances the whole device just a little more.  The same sort of idea is available for most platforms through their App Store, but Maemo developers have embraced the idea of the Linux repositories offering free applications, and many of the enhancement applications are going to remain free, even when Nokia release a paid App Store for Maemo.

Although in my mind it will never be an iPhone killer, the Nokia N900 is certainly a phone that any serious techie should at least consider seriously; even with all the work that’s gone into Maemo 5, it’s still a little bit specialised to recommend the Nokia N900 to someone not used to smartphones and tinkering with their phone, but for the target market, apps like these will continue to make the Nokia N900 shine.

Some content around Barriosquare courtesy of thenokiablog.

The Maemo Last.fm client, Vagalume (which also works on a variety of Linux OSes), has been updated to v.0.8.1.  This new version (which has been released for the existing OSes as well as the new Maemo 5 OS), offers a range of new features…

• Implemented the Last.fm Web Services API v2.0
• Support for Libre.fm and other Last.fm-compatible services
• Support for Maemo 5 (Nokia N900)
• New icon that replaces the classic Vagalume logo
• New CD case image to place the album cover artwork
• New feature to stop playback after a given time (”sleep timer”)
• New menu option to play any user’s tag radio
• New “Add bookmark” and “Bookmark this radio” menu entries
• New configuration setting to download free tracks automatically
• Add {station} keyword to the IM status template
• Use system-wide Gnome audio settings
• Mixer support to change the volume in non-Maemo targets
• Added Polish translation
• Autocompletion support for combo box entries
• Make url and email clickable on the about dialog
• vagalumectl: new commands to show and hide the player window
• Fix some timeout problems in HTTP requests

What’s nice to see is support for Libre.fm, which is a similar setup to Last.fm, but designed around Free music, and hence as no subscription to pay.  It uses a very similar API to access the music as Last.fm, so it will be interesting to see whether we start to see other clients, such as the Symbian mobbler client also supporting this site.

Since the initial v0.8 release, a minor update has already been released which fixes a minor install issue with the Nokia N900, and also falls back to the old Last.fm API should the new one not work.

For me, it’s nice to see this client not abandoning the elder Nokia Maemo devices, and I hope many other Maemo applications offer continued support for these devices (eg Nokia N800, Nokia N810), which still function perfectly well, even if they can’t run the latest OS.

If you aren’t seeing Vagalume in the Application Manager on the Nokia N900, then follow Gerry’s advice here to activate the “Maemo Extras” application repository to get access to more applications.

When we covered the WikiReader here, the offline wikipedia device last week, we weren’t sure whether or not it would support software updates.  Well, we had a brief chat with the manufacturers (OpenMoko, the same guys who were behind the FreeRunner linux based mobile phone) and they have confirmed that there are two ways of performing software updates.

• Firstly, and the easiest way; each wikipedia data update will ship on SD card with the latest software / firmware for the device (the SD card delivery option is a chargeable option). For those who download the free 4GB image instead, this will also contain the software update when released (they plan to release wikipedia updates twice a year on SD card and quarterly for download).
• Secondly, if you are really keen, you can actually access their source code and compile it yourself! For those not quite that keen, we believe you can also access a pre-compiled copy of the software providing you access to any new functions / bugfixes from the same website, although for many, it will be easier to stick to the SD card image updates.

This is good news, and we are always supportive of companies who not just produce units, but continue to support them into the future; okay the device may only get 1 or 2 minor software updates, but if the company ever completely gave up on the device, we reckon it wouldn’t be long before an enterprising developer (or community) would step in and help out.  As it is, the device has ongoing support, and apparently takes about 6 days in shipping time between the US and Europe (although watch out for the UK Postal Strikes getting in the way).

We also chatted about the update service, and although they will be producing quarterly updates available to download, the SD card option will be $29  shipping for two updates per year, so, assuming the same $19.20 shipping charge applies, that will be $29 + 2 * $19.20, so still less than $70 all in.

I was fortunate to be invited to an online feedback session with David Kerrigan, who heads up the Internet services at 3UK the other night to discuss the recently launched MiFi device.  One common concern by the early reviewers was the 4 lights, and whether it was clear enough about what the status of the device was.  David said he took these comments onboard, and would look to see what could be done; a little LCD display was discussed, but whether 3UK are able to implement it we don’t know yet.

I raised a question about the lack of GPRS fallback on all 3UK Mobile Broadband devices, and David re-iterated 3UK’s position that with their plans for their “monster” network over the next year, they feel the problems of lack of coverage will go away such that thoughts of GPRS fallback should no longer occur.

Questions were raised over the current management interface, especially for Mac and Linux users, and David confirmed that “early next year” there should be a web interface available for these devices.  When pushed, David took onboard my comments about making new facilities such as this available to existing users, as well as users of the “next generation” MiFi device, and David stated he would feedback to the developers that this was wanted as a firmware upgrade for existing devices, as well as new devices, and I hope the developers listen and provide functionality like this to the early adopters.

A couple of important points from me; firstly, this confirms 3UK’s statement earlier in the year that they want to listen more, and take onboard feedback.  I’m impressed that they are willing and open to discussions on their devices, and for that, I fully support 3UK.  With their new improved network rolling out I guess that just leaves their Customer Service as an issue, although I’m not sure any mobile network could be said to have a “good Customer Service” experience.

Finally, a few snippets of other news; the Android phone announcement should be any day now, and promises to be an interesting device.  Also, 3UK confirmed that they will not be carrying the iPhone any time soon (that’s not to say they won’t ever carry it, just don’t hold your breath!); they said they feel their upcoming range of phones will offer a similar “or better” mobile internet experience, although they did finish with “We’re not saying never.. just not yet”!!

I’d like to thank David from 3UK, Sarah B from 3UK (PR), and the team at 3mobilebuzz for organising the feedback session.  If you have any opinions on 3UK, the MiFi device, or any other area of 3UK’s service, then leave a comment, and I’ll pass it back to 3UK at the next feedback session.

This is the Linutop 3, a small form factor PC running Linux.  Linutop promote these PCs for various usages; kiosks, digital signage, standalone usage, but we think these PCs also work well in a couple of other scenarios too; as fanless PCs, they can serve well in bedrooms, or in the lounge to act as a quiet PC for various internet tasks.

The Linutop 3 has a Via C7 1GHz processor (compared to the Geode 500MHz in the Linutop 2), and features 1GB DDR2 RAM (up from 512KB) and 2GB of Flash (up from 1GB).

In fact, we’ve had a Linutop 2 in for review for some while, and really accpreciate the additional effort Linutop has taken with the OS; as well as providing a customised Ubuntu install (based on Ubunto v8.04), it also features additional controls, such as locking the whole OS so nothing is preserved between boots (very useful for kiosk environments).  On top of that, Linutop update their OS image every few months, incorporating the latest software updates into the core Flash image, allowing valuable space that the software updates take up to be reclaimed.  You can also backup to a USB key, or boot and restore the device from a key (providing a nice easy upgrade path when they release the new OS images, although you do lose all data).

Within that OS image, Linutop include Firefox (with Flash support), OpenOffice, VLC Media Player, and even Pidgin Instant Messaging.

The Linutop 3 is larger than the Linutop 2 (9.3 x 9.3 x 2.2 inches, compared to 5.5 x 5.5 x 1.4), is a little heavier, and now draws 20 Watts instead of a more average 8 Watts from the Linutop 2.  This low power consumption makes these devices very good for leaving permanently on all the time, without the normal overhead of a full PC.  However, these devices will never compete on speed of tasks, so be prepared for a slightly slower experience.

In other areas, the Linutop 3 offers DVI support and a higher resolution that than the Linutop 2 (now 1920 x 1080), more USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet (up from Fast Ethernet), and an internal PCIe expansion option.

Our biggest issue with the Linutop 2 is the difficulty in getting BBC iPlayer working on the device, which would make it a lot more useful…

The Linutop 3 sells for €340, and the Linutop 2 is still available at €280 (both require an additional €28 for delivery) direct from the manufacturer here.  By the way, if you think the Linutop 2 is the same as other manufacturer’s devices in the same form factor (eg the Viglen unit), think again; the Linutop 2 is a higher spec device, both in terms of memory, flash and processor.

Along with many other people, we thought the UbiSurfer was a really cool product.  However, if you go to the Maplin Ubisurfer product page, you’ll find lots of people complaining of a number of issues with the device.  Well, Datawind have listened, and have now released a rather large patch (nearly 17Mb!) which should address a lot of the initial issues found with the device.  If you head to this webpage, you’ll find the download links and instructions on how to install the updates.

Given that the device is linux based, and has a built in software updater facility for some of the apps, we’re wondering why this needs to be applied in this way though; surely a better solution would have been to make the update available from within the device itself; even going further and automatically notifying people of the update; let’s hope functions like this are available in a future release.

Ignoring our concerns over the distribution of the patch, Maplin assure us that it has resolved the majority of issues, and should make the device more user friendly.

Also, if you were thinking about getting one of the devices, head over to the update page and you can at least see what the screen loos like when using Firefox; of course, if you are after something a little more portable, you may want to look at the latest Pocket Surfer 3 instead.

If the new Pocket Surfer 3 from yesterday was not your cup of tea, then maybe the new UbiSurfer is more your thing…

This is a small form factor laptop sized device, running Linux, but benefitting from both Datawind’s GPRS web compression technology, and their experience with the Pocket Surfer to bring an interesting, and well priced device to our shelves (and it’s available in Maplin already here at £149.99 until 4th August when the price goes back up to £159.99).

Just like the Pocket Surfer 3, the device comes with an embedded Vodafone SIM, and offers 30 hours of internet access per month for 12 months, and just like the Pocket Surfer 3, costs £29.99 for an additional 12 months, and can additionally have unlimited browsing for £5.99 per month.  It also benefits from the same 5p/25p per minute roaming data charges.  It, however, is not eligible for the lifetime unlimited browsing option at this time.

As well as featuring built in GPRS, it has built in Ethernet support and Wi-Fi (to allow connection via Hotspots, although it’s not clear whether you are limited to free hotspots, or whether Datawind have some agreement in place for wider access), a 7″ 800×480 screen and features local storage of 1GB, with access to a free 50GB online storage account.  At 222 x 165 x 29.5mm and 700g, it’s bigger and heavier than the Pocket Surfer 3, but it does also support video playback and audio too (and even has a microphone, which makes us wonder if VOIP could ever be made an option…).  As well as mic and headphone sockets, it also features 3 USB ports and an SD card slot.

As well as a web browser, it features Calendar, Media Player, XIP Office (Word processor, Spreadsheet and    Presentation), PDF Viewer, Email, IM support, Paint, and finally even a few Games.  Just like the Pocket Surfer 3, it features a QWERTY keyboard and touchpad (although it’s much larger than the Pocket Surfer version), yet still offers 4 hours active usage or 4 days standby, and because the device is Linux/GPE based, it even offers built in software updating capability.

This makes for another interesting device, although it does seem to offer a conundrum; do you go for the smaller, lighter audioless Pocket Surfer 3, or have the fuller multimedia experience of the UbiSurfer at the expense of size and weight…

One complaint levelled at Nokia’s Share Online service is that it’s limited to 3 services (Flickr, Ovi and Vox).  Well, that’s not quite true.  Although no other services are available for configuration from Nokia (and you can’t add your own manually), it seems some companies have fathomed out what’s involved, and will allow you to connect Share Online to their services…

Firstly, one of the popular twitter image sites, mobypicture have provided simple instructions for using Nokia Share Online (and Nokia Lifeblog for elder phones).  These instructions are here.

Secondly, pixelpipe, an up and coming competitor to ShoZu, have also setup the ability to use their services via Share Online, therefore saving the need for the installation of an additional app just to upload photos.  Pixelpipe support a whole range of upload options; email, MMS (strangely very popular right now for iPhone users!), and they also have support for iPhones directly, Nokia phones (using Share Online) and finally an Android app for Android phones.  More information on all these options can be found here.

Actually, pixelpipe support a whole range of upload options, ranging from Windows app, Firefox, Linux and Mac utilities, and they even have facilities for uploading via instant messaging! pixelpipe currently support 75 services to post that content (text, photos, video, even audio files) to, with a full range of social networking sites, photo & video services, and blogging and micro-blogging platforms.

The only downside with using Share Online instead of ShoZu is that ShoZu does have the facility for offering an automatic upload option (and also can ask you to confirm before sending), whereas with Share Online it’s more of a manual process (also, ShoZu is much better at queuing multiple requests), but for some, ShoZu either doesn’t work, or isn’t worth the memory used to keep it running in the background to provide these services.

Finally, although we’ve not compared the list to work out whether it’s absolutely true; pixelpipe claim to support at least 25 more sites than ShoZu…

We’re impressed companies have worked out how to link into the limited Share Online functionality, and it’s nice to see a greater range of choice of how to upload your photos and videos, and with two of these services supporting a single upload and making the file available on multiple sites, these are worthy of further investigation for many as a method of keeping data usage down.

Skype have recently released the latest beta version of their Skype client, v4.1.  One of the main new features in this version over the current version is support for screen sharing, as can be seen in the above screenshot.  This feature already exists in the beta v2.8 Mac version, and the plan is for the feature to be compatible across Mac, Windows and Linux.

Skype have also added / returned the following features:

• Birthday reminders
• Ability to send contact details to other Skype users
• Ability to import contacts from GMail, Windows Live (Hotmail), Yahoo!, AOL and LinkedIN
• Updated IE and Firefox plugins which now recognize your Skype contacts mentioned on web pages and highlight phone numbers which you can call for free

Skype have also updated their audio and video engines and they have also fixed a number of occasional crashes.

This new beta can be downloaded from here, or you can wait a short while, and, once formally released, it should be offered from within the client itself.

Although there are still few details, it looks like Archos is looking to use Android as the OS for a future Media Tablet.  Archos have been producing their media devices for some while, and have used Linux, so adopting Android makes some sense.  The spec is likely to include a 5″ touchscreen, upto 500GB hard disk, enough battery life for 7 hours playback (under optimal conditions), Flash support, and the ability to also double as a phone.  Archos are planning on adding to the Android interface, and provide extra facilities.

Story and screen mockup courtesy of Engadget.

This is the new O2 Joggler Home Appliance, with it’s 7″ touchscreen, launched yesterday by O2 UK.  It’s an OpenFrame-based products (although it has to be said, there’s very little that’s Open about their products, more below), which offers a chance to become the focal point for the whole family (especially if they are all O2 customers…)

It comes with a range of applications built in, with options to download more over time.  These include:

• Weather information (from Sky News Weather)
• Road Traffic information (from TrafficMaster)
• News and Sports (Sky News and Sky Sports)
• Ability to show photos (stored on it’s 1GB internal memory, or from USB stick)
• Ability to play music / video (either local or streamed from your PC; although iTunes format not supported, which is unfortunate given O2’s iPhone exclusive)
• Ability to play games, like Sodoku
• Tools (alarm clock, calculator)

In fact, O2 have already announced that during May the following additional applications will be available:

• Messaging; send up to 50 free SMS text messages to any UK mobile per month
• Internet Radio support

However, one of the key selling points of this device is the calendar, which is available both on the device and as a standalone free service on the internet.  “Appointments, birthdays, school runs, work deadlines and more can all be stored on the O2 Joggler’s calendar, which will text handy reminders to family members’ O2 mobile phones.”  That’s last point is quite key; the reminders by SMS are only available to O2 UK customers, which I guess is O2 trying to encourage the whole family to select their mobile network and remain loyal.

It connects to your home Broadband either wirelessly or using an ethernet cable, and needs a permanent power supply (no batteries). There is no in-built SIM and therefore no ongoing costs or monthly subscription, and will be available next month (6th April) at £150, or will be free if you elect to take this device instead of a new handset when your contract is up for renewal.  However, this upgrade route is only open to those who are on 18 or 24 months contracts, ie not PAYG or Simplicity (SIM only) customers, although PAYG customers can use part of their upgrade discount to reduce the price of the Joggler, and it’s not available at all as an upgrade deal to corporate customers.

Mobile Industry Review were at the launch, and have even produced a short video and their opinion of the device here.

The device is running a dedicated O2 specific OpenFrame firmware, which although it runs on Linux underneath is not an open platform.  As OpenFrame firmwares are only provided to companies who sell these devices like O2, there is no ability (yet) to hack a different firmware onto this device, or to remove the O2 branding.  Other devices who have used the OpenFrame software have had additional applications, such as the ability to display photos from Flickr, videos from YouTube, and support for reading RSS feeds, all missing from the O2 device (as Mobile Industry Review point out, some even have a Domino’s Pizza option, but not this one), which does show the potential missed opportunity here.

Mobile Industry Review also point out that they are aware some of the other UK mobile operators are planning similar devices, so this may well be an interesting type of device to keep your eyes on.  However, right now, with no support for syncing the calendar from work diaries, or even Google Calendar, nor support for being able to sync the calendar onto phones (irrespective of whether they are S60, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry or iPhone), it does appear they have missed a trick here; an OpenSource equivalent of this, which offered access to other solutions such as Apple’s Mobile.Me or Google would be more popular, and fit better into the likely customer base.

Also announced by O2 is a new family bolt-on for O2 customers.  One O2 customers pay extra each month for the bolt-on and this allows them to add a number of other O2 customers into their “family” group (no pricing or maximum numbers available) and once setup, all parties can call, text or MMS each other for free.  Link these two solutions together, and you have the potential for the O2 Joggler to become the hub of a small family’s communications, as long as you don’t want to share the calendar from beyond the device.

All in all, an interesting product, but with rumours of new iPhones due out in the next few months, now might not be the best time to use up your O2 upgrade on this device…

We’ve covered Linutop before when it was first released, but Linutop have released a new device, Linutop 2.4, and we decided to look further…

The pint-sized, open source Linux PC is designed to run silently and is highly energy efficient (8W/12V-3,3A).  Due to its small size and low maintenance requirements, and although Linutop state “the Linutop 2.4 is the ideal solution for internet kiosks, network monitoring and digital displays” we think the device would also be welcome in bedrooms and even lounges as a media device, or to act as a PC connection to other energy efficient solutions and even energy monitoring tools, such as the Current Cost devices.

The Linutop 2.4 simplifies remote connection setup with its innovative real-time remote management.  This makes it as easy as possible for IT managers and even office workers with limited IT knowledge to manage any PC via a network connection.  The small Linux PC can also be used as a thin client in order to connect to remote application on the network, which in turn minimises maintenance costs because the devices can be managed centrally.

If you fancy one in your lounge, but don’t want it on display, then the VESA mount adaptor maybe the solution for you, allowing you to hide the device behind a monitor / TV…

New network management feature

The Linutop 2.4 enables USB backup that simplifies the duplication of the configuration on several devices.  “This approach makes it very simple to duplicate or update the configuration of the device.  Users can save the setup of the Linutop 2.4 on a USB stick and easily copy it on an unlimited number of devices,” explains Frederic Baille, CEO and co-founder of Linutop.

The Linutop 2.4 also includes a new network management feature that simplifies the use of WiFi USB antennas.  The small Linux PC now automatically reconnects to wireless networks after any unforeseen drops in the network connection.

Constant growth in the UK

For Frederic Baille, the Linutop 2.4 is an ideal product for UK market: “UK businesses are hungry for small, compact and uncomplicated systems.  We launched Linutop in the UK in 2007, and have achieved double digit growth rates in under 12 months.  The telecoms, manufacturing and retail sectors have responded particularly well to this light-weight, cost-effective solution.  This is because we are always striving to make computing as simple and straightforward as possible – no muss, no fuss.”

About Linutop 2.4

Linutop is a small, Linux-based PC intended for accessing the Internet, displaying digital contents and performing standard office tasks.  The fact that it does not contain an internal hard disk means that it is completely silent, more compact, requires very little energy to run and is more robust than traditional hard drive based devices.  It comes with optimised software to access the Internet and digital content, including text, photos, music and video.

• Processor: AMD Geode LX800 (x86)
• Weight: 580 gr (20 oz)
• Power: <8W/12V-3,3A / AC adapter 110-240V~ 50/60Hz
• Size: 14 x 14 x 3.5 cm (5.5×5.5×1.38 in)
• RAM: 512 MB up to 1GB
• Storage: 1 GB Flash Memory (Internal)
• Network: 10/100baseT Ethernet (RJ-45)
• PXE Boot: Thin client use
• Audio: 1 in & 2 out 3mm jack
• Video:VGA output (SUB-D15), resolution 1920×1440 max, 2D Graphic Acceleration
• Extension: 4x USB 2.0 ports
• Anti-theft: Kensington Security Slot
• Miscs: Internal clock backup. Power on button. Strong Aluminum Case
• Warranty: 1 year (extensible to 3 years)

The Linutop 2.4 is available for direct purchase via resellers and at www.linutop.com priced at £280 + VAT.

The BBC have announced this week that their iPlayer service now supports Mac and Linux, such that viewers can now download programmes.  The BBC have achieved this by working with Adobe to produce a solution in AIR, which is cross platform.  However, this is only available to BBC iPlayer Labs users in the short term, with it being rolled out to everyone during 2009.  Right now, there are also only a handful of shows that are supported by the new platform, although more will be coming in time, so although the BBC are happy for people to apply to the new beta service, they recommend you don’t uninstall the old version for a while.

After the initial announcement that Nokia will be offering Home Automation solutions, they have now published more information their plans…

1. At the moment we are finalising and testing the platform together with some companies with whom we have been working from the very beginning.
2. July 1st, 2009 we plan to open the APIs for wider use, after the platform is stable enough so that we expect no major changes to the API structure. For a small number of companies it will be possible to start development after March 1st, 2009 providing that they are willing to accept the potential changes to the platform and APIs.
3. The first full version of the Nokia Home Control Center hardware is expected to be ready in July 1st, 2009 – a small number of prototypes will be out earlier to designated collaborators.
4. The first commercial products are expected to be launched in October 1st in a few European countries.

Nokia have also released a document with more details of their plans, which can be read in the rest of the article, including support for more Home Automation protocols than we first expected.

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After the debarcle of the 3 D100 Router which didn’t, doesn’t and probably never will come with a battery (despite the initial 3 technical specs saying it did), this broadband router does feature a battery, although just to upset us further, it isn’t yet available, let alone in the UK…

Novatel Wireless have announced the Mobile WiFi Hotspot (also named MiFi), which features either an HSPA or EV-DO modem (the latter mainly used the States, and the version that’s received a lot of publicity in the last week), along with that battery, which should provide up to 4 hours of broadband access.  Interestingly, it looks like the device itself runs a version of Linux, and Novatel has hinted that applications or additional facilities may be possible.

The device should be available next year for US$300, but Novatel are assuming it will be sold by their carrier partners (ie the mobile networks themselves), so we should well see lower subsidised prices.  More news as and when it becomes available in the UK.

More information available from Linux Devices.

The Drobo and DroboShare devices have been very popular RAID-like external storage devices for a while now.  A while ago, Drobo announced an SDK for the devices, which would allow developers to write applications to sit and run directly on the Linux based units.  Well, yesterday, Drobo announced the first few applications that are ready…

The apps include a Media Server, a UPnP / DLNA Media Server, a BitTorrent client, rsync, an app to allow remote access to your data over the internet, and a utility for limiting the amount of space Apple’s Time Machine can use.

Much more information is available over at Automated Home, who were one of the first to break the news yesterday, and if you don’t have a Drobo, they are available from Amazon here, and then you just need to provide your own disks to use in it.

After the Asus Eee PC, here comes Maplin with their own equivalent.  The Maplin minibook has a quite impressive spec:

• Small on price and very small on size – ultra compact and just 650g!
• Ideal for web surfing, email, word processing and spreadsheets
• A perfect travel or business companion with built in Wi-Fi technology…be truly mobile
• 7-inch TFT widescreen screen and stylish piano black finish casing
• Easy to use Linux operating system
• 3 x USB 2.0 ports
• Stereo speakers and built-in microphone
• Touch mouse pad
• Email and Office (word processor and spreadsheet program)
• PDF viewer
• SD / SDHC Card reader
• 10/100Mbps Ethernet port
• 2GB SSD (soild state disk) shock proof storage
• Expand the storage with USB or SD Flash Memory (not external hard drives)
• Supports up to 4GB SD cards and 4GB USB sticks
• Multi-theme display (Child or Adult mode)
• DDR2 128MB memory
• AC adaptor / charger
• Complete with Xip office applications
• 12 month warranty

Even better, it’s on special offer during August at £169.99, and will be £219.99 from 3rd September.