Nokia’s Internet tablets don’t support open multimedia formats

Apparently Nokia’s Internet tablets (770 or n800) don’t support Ogg Theora / Vorbis open formats. It’s too bad, since the 700 has dropped in price and is now available around U$140. In a 2005 Linux Journal interview, Dr. Ari Jaaksi of Nokia had an interesting answer to LJ’s question about open formats support:

LJ: Given the proclivities of the Linux community, it has to be asked: will Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora be supported on the 770?
AJ: There’s nothing technical that prevents it. However, the 770 is a consumer device. The challenge is that there is not much [Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora] content right now.

So if I understand correctly, there was a decision from Nokia to actually drop support for open formats on their Internet tablet because it’s a consumer product.

I am left wondering why they didn’t use WinCE in the first place. And no, the n800 that was recenly released still does not support Ogg open formats for audio and video.

 

InfraRecorder: the Free CD/DVD burning solution for Windows

Burning an ISO image of your favorite Gnu/Linux distribution to a CD or DVD is often one of the first steps one goes through when switching from another operating systems or simply wanting to try a Live CD.

If you are ever in a situation where you need to burn an ISO image on Windows, or if you’re providing someone with information on how to do so, you may want to consider adding InfraRecorder (released under GPL) to your toolbox. Infrarecorder will be featured in one of the upcoming self-learning videos from ILearnLinux.com.

From the website:

InfraRecorder is a free CD/DVD burning solution for Microsoft Windows. It offers a wide range of powerful features; all through an easy to use application interface and Windows Explorer integration.
Features:

  • Create custom data, audio and mixed-mode projects and record them to physical discs as well as disc images.
  • Supports recording to dual-layer DVDs.
  • Blank (erase) rewritable discs using four different methods.
  • Record disc images (ISO and BIN/CUE).
  • Fixate discs (write lead-out information to prevent further data from being added to the disc).
  • Scan the SCSI/IDE bus for devices and collect information about their capabilities.
  • Create disc copies, on the fly and using a temporary disc image.
  • Import session data from multi-session discs and add more sessions to them.
  • Display disc information.
  • Save audio and data tracks to files (.wav, .wma, .ogg, .mp3 and .iso).
 

Finally, I can order an IPhone

Warning: Parent advisory – strong content

My colleague Kurt just let me know about this IPhone review that will supposedly convince anyone not sure about getting an IPhone to do so.

I could not wait until I read this review before I shared it, so here it is, the only IPhone review you will ever need (and I trust Kurt).

Now back to http://www.apple.com