While we’ve seen no shortage of smartphone-powered robots in the past, the Nokia camp has been sadly under-represented. But, there’s a new one coming to balance things out, a machine called Niko that has Lego Mindstorm NXT 2.0 components for a body and an N900 for a brain. The bot has been under construction for a few weeks but it has just made its YouTube debut with the short video posted after the break, showing it roving around and taking a photo whenever it bumps into something. When all systems are go and the machine is set free Niko will be posting messages and pictures to Twitter describing its every move in thrilling detail. We can’t wait for it to start picking fights with @CourtneyLoveUK.
Maemo 5 didn’t stand on its own for long before being mashed together with Intel’s Moblin, but Nokia’s N900 still stands as one of the best handhelds for web browsing. It’s hardly the world-beater that Nokia (may have) hoped it to be, but that’s not because the internals aren’t impressive. We’re guessing that only a handful of you made the effort to fork over wads of cash in order to pick an unlocked version up, but if you did, you no doubt have some opinions post-purchase. Is the display living up to your expectations? Are you and Maemo getting along alright? How’s that keyboard? We’re eager to know how you’d tweak the N900 if you had the keys to the design kingdom, and with MeeGo already being announced, we’re forbidding you from suggesting the obvious. Or you can, but we’ll be plugging our ears, closing our eyes and humming annoyingly.
If your N900 is in need of a little more excitement, this post is for you. First up is word of a new firmware release (3.2010.02-8 (PR 1.1.1)), 16.2MB worth of apparently minor changes along with a slew of new regions, the inclusion of which may mean good things for those who haven’t been granted to this smartphone yet. If that’s not enough for you, at MWC Nokia is showing off some new apps for the handset, the most notable being a couple of 3D games that look a wee bit simplistic in terms of gameplay but don’t disappoint in terms of graphics. No word on when exactly these will be hitting Ovi Store — well, nothing more specific than “soon.” Video after the break (of the games, not the firmware update).
Is the N900 the most hacker-friendly phone ever created? All sources are pointing to “yes.” Just two short months ago, we saw one determined code monkey turn his N900 into a PS3 controller; today, we’re looking at someone who did the exact opposite. If you’ve memorized the Debian source code and aren’t afraid to dabble in the wild and murky world of N900 modding, you too can one day use a spare SIXAXIS controller in order to dictate gameplay on your Nokia handset. All the instructions you need are there in the source link, and for everyone else just looking to have a watch from the sidelines, hop on past the break and mash play.
Curious folks around the world enjoy a bit of hackintosh every now and then (although once is enough for many), but no geek has successfully ventured as far as Toni Nikkanen of Finland, who became the first person to run OS X on a phone — the Nokia N900. As you can see in the video after the break, Toni’s hack relies on PearPC — a PowerPC emulator — to install good ol’ OS X 10.3 (Panther), but the mammoth sluggishness means it’s far from usable. Still, if you can spare 90 minutes for each boot-up plus plenty more for the snail-paced cursor, then head to the source to learn from Herra Nikkanen.
As if you needed any more evidence of the tech supremacy of your Nokia N900 or N810, here’s Firefox making its official mobile debut on the most righteous Maemo OS. Available for download right now, version 1.0 will come with a pretty sweet feature named Weave Sync, which harmonizes your bookmarks, tabs, history and passwords across devices, making for a seamless transition between your desktop computer and your mobile one. We reckon we could get used to that. Alas, Flash support is still somewhat shaky, and does not come enabled by default, though you’re free to flip the switch and ride the lightning as it were. We’re sure Mozilla will appreciate any crash reports you might want to throw its way as well. So come on already, download the darn thing and let us know if it improves on the already spectacular browsing experience of the N900.
It’s not the first N900 KIRF we’ve seen but it’s definitely the truest fake physical reproduction of Nokia’s flagship “mobile computer” to date. Not necessarily a good thing since its the raw power and OS that makes the N900 such a compelling handset — not its looks. Nevertheless, the industrial design, port placements, and QWERTY layout of this “N900 Style” handset is a near exact physical knock-off of its Nokia inspiration. Critically absent is Maemo 5 riding an ARM Cortex A8 processor, 32GB of integrated storage, WiFi, 3G data radio, Carl Zeiss optics, and the peace of mind you get when purchasing a genuine Nokia handset. Besides, even with dual-SIM support, do you really want to spend $120 for a JAVA-built S60 5th-ish user experience on a 3.2-inch display pushing 240 x 320 pixels? Oh hell no. One more shot after the break if you’re feeling surly.
Should you be the sort of person who doesn’t mind fiddling around with alpha level software, you’ll definitely want to know about the BlueMaemo Bluetooth emulator. Available via the Extras-Devel repository on your N900, this app allows the device to mimic other Bluetooth gadgets, such as keyboards, mice, and yes indeedy, gaming controllers. Its developer Valério Domingos humbly points out that the purpose of connecting up to a PS3 is purely for menu navigation and easier text input, though we’ve no doubt a few hardcore Nokia loyalists will try using this in an action game to prove the N900′s superiority. You may follow Valério and his ongoing refinement of the app in the Maemo.org link below, or you can jump past the break to see the full controller layout and an instructional video on how to hook things up — it’s in Italian, but you should be able to grasp what’s going on senza problemi.
We’ll just come out and say it: this is so awesome. In fact, if you want to just take our word for it, skip the copy and head straight to the video after the break — you really only need to watch the first four or so minutes… Still here? Alright then. The shiny cube comes straight from Espoo and houses a N900, but the only way to get into the box is to plug it into a computer, establish a link, and then type in the right terminal command to unlock the lid (spoiler: it’s company motto “connecting people” — how clever) in addition to — poof — smoke! (Our favorite part.) Given the technical prerequisites, our guess is this has something to do with Nokia’s the hack-centric “Push” program, but really that’s just a guess. Like we said, video after the break, and if you opt to watch past the first couple minutes, you’ll get to see a plastic fox. Trust us.
We’re not sure anyone out there needs any more proof that the Nokia N900 is powerhouse, but just in case you still had doubts, check this video of a WebGL-enabled Firefox build smoothly rendering some complex 3D models on Espoo’s “internet tablet with phone capabilities.” It’s pretty impressive stuff, especially considering WebGL is still being standardized and it hasn’t gotten beyond Firefox nightlies on the desktop yet. Check it after the break.
