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Wed, 2009-11-04 14:47Beta Labs contributor of the month, October 2009: navio1973
Since we didn't have any major releases in October, the contributor of the month was a difficult choice. In cases like these, we sometimes honor newcomers that contribute a handful of very insightful comments. But for this month we want to recognize a contributor with a steady and strong track record, a constructive approach in his feedback, and an interactive presence. These are all things we appreciate in a beta labs contributor.
For your efforts, navio1973, we'll give you a choice:
- Behind door no. 1 is a 1-year maps license for Ovi Maps. In case you don't have any use for such lisence,
- behind door no. 2 is a Super Secret Surprise Prize.
Congratulations!
Which door will you open, navio1973?
Fri, 2009-10-23 10:46Here and now adds Movies and Restaurants
Written by Pekka Rissanen, Manager, Here and now
Here we go again - this autumn's Here and now update.
Many thanks to Here and now users for all your feedback. Based on that we were finally able to solve the nasty wrong location problem that had us puzzled for quite a while. You can read the story in the forum if you are into technical details.
Also based on your feedback, the client now checks whether Here and now was started from the browser bookmark or from the application grid. On exit it returns to the browser bookmarks only if it was started from the browser. This was supposed to be in the summer release already, but it was left out due to a human error.
This release also fixes some bugs including one that is actually only visible when there are three or more previews. Which is nice, because we have just released two new services:
- Movies listing your favourite flicks nearby (OK, it also shows the ones you do not care about)
- Restaurants showing the fine dining possibilities around you (if they happen to be in the Guide - try it and you'll know what I mean)
Download the updated Here and now and please keep the feedback coming. New developments will be based on that.
On behalf of the Here and now team,
Pekka Rissanen
Audio Smileys archived
Written by Tommi Vilkamo, Manager of Beta Labs
Nokia Audio Smileys, our minor side-project for kids (and like-minded people), didn't really catch fire… So I guess it's time to call it quits and announce this as archived. For those interested, we left the app available "as is". As always, thanks for your feedback on this!!
Are you a mobile accident waiting to happen? Take our survey
Written by Scott Eliot, Portfolio Manager, Nokia
What if you lost your phone? How would you find it? Would your data be lost or were you clever enough to back it up? Is it a pain switching to a new phone because your settings and content are left behind?
Image: "Fish ate my Nokia phone". Source: The Sun
We want to understand what you do to protect yourself and how important the issue of sudden phone and data loss is to you. This brief survey is looking for the consumer view on how consumers protect themselves.
Nokia Ovi Suite 2.0 Beta Graduated
Written by Samuli Ylinen, Nokia Ovi Suite team
Hi all. As some of you Beta Labs users have noticed, we started yesterday deploying Nokia Ovi Suite 2.0.0.10 release via web update for existing Beta users. At the same time, users visiting ovi.com’s and nokia.com’s Nokia Ovi Suite web pages were able to download Nokia Ovi Suite 2.0.0.10 release. If you didn’t get web update notification, you can download software directly.
This means, that Nokia Ovi Suite 2.0 Beta is now Graduated from Nokia Beta Labs, going into public and many many users will start to use this application around the world. We’re also working towards placing Nokia Ovi Suite 2.0.0.10 into product CD/DVDs in device sales boxes.
Creating new products with this level of complexity is never easy. Last year, Nokia had many different PC application products, like Nokia PC Suite, Nokia Ovi Suite 1.0/1.1, Nokia Nseries PC Suite, Nokia Music, Nokia Software Updater, Nokia Map Loader, Nokia PC Suite Enterprise Edition etc etc, each having different targets, feature sets and design principles. This way of working didn’t lead anymore to any positive outcome, most of the effort was going into maintenance and minor improvements and prevented us from concentrating on new things, improving user experience and supporting other than Windows operating system. So we started to really think, what are most important features from end user point of view, which they can’t survive without. Below you see one conceptual screenshot from Nokia Ovi Suite, which was explored during last year. Lots of end user surveying and explorations were done, before we decided the features for the first Nokia Ovi Suite 2.0 release. But as you can see from screenshot, there are tons things, which we are thinking, evaluating and planning for upcoming Nokia Ovi Suite releases. Also change into Qt framework makes it easier from developer point of view and gives us possibility to support other operating systems, like Mac OSX in future.
Currently Nokia Ovi Suite 2.0 supports exactly 142 different device models from Nokia (over 200, if you count in all different variants). Lots of issues found by you have been incorporated into product during the development.
This is good opportunity for us in Nokia Ovi Suite team to thank you for your efforts. We’ve masses of feedback and feature suggestions from you available and we’re consolidating that feedback, what could be done in future Nokia Ovi Suite versions.
What comes to next versions of Nokia Ovi Suite? Our developers are already heavily working towards next Nokia Ovi Suite releases and our hope is, that we will get some new features and improvements available for you in coming months as new Beta releases.
Cheers, Samuli
Beta Labs contributor of the month, September 2009: iivo
The contributor of the month for September 2009 has been selected. Congratulations iivo!
Ovi Lifecasting really appreciates your feedback and as a token of appreciation Beta Labs rewards you with genuine Nokia Kontio rubber boots!
(click the image for more details)
It's autumn again, and the rains have certainly started at least here in Finland. If you were to encounter similar weather, then you definitely need a pair of these modern remnants from Nokia's past.
For those interested, I recommend reading the story of Nokia Footwear.
Thu, 2009-10-01 13:35Ovi Maps for web update!
The team at Ovi Maps HQ has been hard at work on the latest update to Ovi Maps for web, and the results are online now at maps.ovi.com. We've packed in heaps of bug fixes and minor improvements, and a few very exciting new features as well.
Share your favourite places with the world. You had a great evening in a nice restaurant or visited a beautiful exhibition and want to share the location with your friends? Know a great bar or club in your city? You can now create a place on Ovi Maps and share your favourite places with the world.
Ovi Maps is open to everyone, everywhere. You can now use Ovi Maps on any browser and any operating system for your PC or Mac. We now also have a limited functionality version of Ovi Maps available for Chrome, Opera, Linux browsers and everything else. We are working to bring the full rich functionality of the plugin Ovi Maps version to all browsers in the future.
Discover and share Good Things http://maps.ovi.com/goodthings
A Good Thing is anything cool you want to share with the world. Found a funky new hangout that no one knows about? Heard about a gig, flash mob or club night, and want to spread the word? Add it to Ovi Maps, and let everyone in on the fun. If you live in London, you even have the chance to glorify your Good Thing to the whole world by nominating it to be displayed on the giant signpost.
The need for speed
We have been working hard on getting Ovi Maps running quicker and smoother for everyone, and we have made some improvements in this area. We still have more work to do, but we're moving in the right direction.
We hope you like this latest version of Ovi Maps for web. Head over to maps.ovi.com and check it out!
Cheers
Will - Ovi Maps team
Wed, 2009-09-30 08:51Ovi Mail updated - introducing Ovi Mail Setup app for S60
Written by David Dueblin, Product Manager, Ovi Mail
Many of you have asked for S60 setup support for Ovi Mail and we’re happy to introduce it today. We just made the “Ovi Mail Setup” application available in Beta Labs for a wide range of S60 devices (see Download and Installation for supported devices).
What it is
This application allows you to sign-up for an Ovi Mail account directly from your S60 device. Or if you already have an Ovi account it will provision Ovi Mail and configure the email client on the device. And it installs a handy icon in the Installations folder for easy access to Ovi Mail.
What it isn’t
This is not an email client. You will continue using the existing email client on your device. If you’re already successfully using Ovi Mail on your device you don’t need to install this.
Webmail
We have also silently launched an update to our webmail interface. We have simplified the navigation on the left and made it more consistent from page to page. And we’re trying to keep up with the global expansion of Ovi Mail and have added 4 additional languages: Thai, Simplified Chinese, Russian and Finnish. Go to https://mail.ovi.com to see these changes.
We’re looking forward to your feedback on “Ovi Mail Setup”.
- Dave
Mon, 2009-09-28 15:29Hobbyist project Nokia Audiobooks archived - take our survey with 3x$50 Amazon.com gift cards!!
Written by Janne Vainio, the developer of Nokia Audiobooks
Hi all! As many of you know, Nokia Audiobooks has been a semi-official side-project of mine, something that I created two years ago just for fun, and for the sheer love of audiobooks. Lately, however, I have grown too busy to improve and maintain the app properly, so I thought it would be fair to call it a day and officially announce the project as archived (we left it available "as is"). Thanks for all of you who were kind enough to send feedback!!
Anyway, some of my colleagues have an interesting project ongoing in a related area, with potential goodies for you in the future pipeline. So all you book-lovers: please take this audiobook survey, and help them make the right decisions!! Also, note that we'll draw 3x$50 Amazon.com gift cards among the respondents.
[UPDATE: survey closed]
Thanks once again,
- Janne
Please take our Ovi Suite 2.0 beta user experience survey
Now that we are getting closer to the "final" release, please take this Ovi Suite 2.0 beta user experience survey!!