Memory Status Touch application keeps track of your Nokia 5800, N97 and 5530 memory status
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - So you're moving from the United States to another country and the most important thing you can think of is how you can watch the new season of "American Idol"?
You're not alone -- "placeshifting" is one of the hottest new areas in TV technology. People no longer need to live in a country to see all of their local TV stations. In fact, they don't even need a TV anymore.
There are platforms for watching popular shows on the Internet and there is technology to actually make a full television feed available just like in the living room. Either way, it can be relatively cheap and surprisingly easy to keep up while on an overseas assignment.
PLACESHIFTING
The best-known technology for moving an entire TV feed from one place to another is the Slingbox (www.slingbox.com), which came out a few years ago. Although the developer was later acquired by satellite company EchoStar, the device works with any platform, even an over-the-air antenna.
The Slingbox, which currently comes in two models starting at $180, connects to a video feed and to the Internet, and lets users watch that feed as though they were in the same room. It even offers an on-screen remote control for changing channels, pausing, opening menus, and so on.
The Slingbox is available for Windows and Mac, as well as the BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, Symbian and classic Palm mobile platforms.
One downside of the Slingbox, though, is that it does not offer wireless support out of the box, meaning users need to put their Slingbox close to their Internet router or buy a separate wireless or home powerline adapter. Also, it is not designed to let users record video onto computers.
For those who want wireless or who want to record to a PC, Monsoon Multimedia's Hava Media Player (www.myhava.com) offers many of those features. It leverages the Windows Media Center software to turn a PC into a personal video recorder, using a remote video stream from a Hava box. Hava has four models that start at $120.
However, Hava does not offer a Mac version, and its cellular support is limited to Symbian and Windows Mobile. Hava also charges a subscription fee for some services.
The problem with the Slingbox and the Hava is that if something goes wrong overseas -- a power outage, a broken cable, an overly inquisitive cat -- they can be difficult or impossible to fix.
For American expats with money to burn and a need for guaranteed service, there are options like Nationphone & TV. The company will actually sign you up for cable service, put your cable box in their data center and stream the output to you over a fiber-optic connection.
The service costs $99 a month for 65 channels without a digital video recorder, or $199 a month for 200 channels with a recorder and premium movie stations. There is also a one-time set-up fee of $175. (here)
THE INTERNET
Until now, Push Gmail on the iPhone was only possible through 3rd party apps like the super-simple GPush app.
If you're an iPhone or iPod Touch user you'll need iPhone OS 3.0 as that's the first version of the OS to support push notification from 3rd party apps.
Hope over to m.google.com/sync for the instructions. The only problem for iPhone users is that if you've already got one Exchange account set up (probably a work one), you may not be able to add Push Gmail as a second account.
Let us know how you get on with Google Sync and take a look at our smartphone top 10 to get the low down on the best pocket emailers.
South Koreans will soon join the millions of others worldwide as its government on Wednesday approved the sale of the iPhone there.
(Credit: Apple)For years, the Korea Communications Commission used technical rules to stifle competition, allowing homegrown companies like Samsung and LG to take over the market, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
With an estimated 93 percent of South Korea's population subscribing to a mobile service, Apple should be able to overcome one of the biggest barriers to smartphone success in South Korea--applications. Apple has been able to entice developers worldwide to build apps for the iPhone, with 75,000 apps available and 1.8 billion apps downloaded thus far.
There was no indication of a release date, price, or carrier for the iPhone yet in South Korea.
This is the second piece of news related to international iPhone sales in less than a month. Apple landed a deal with China Unicom in late August to begin selling the iPhone in that country. Apple is also in talks with China Mobile, that country's largest wireless carrier with 141 million subscribers.
Nokia is starting to ramp up the number of apps that will appear exclusively on the Ovi Store, it’s one-stop shop for the latest Nokia apps and utilities. The first of which takes the already hugely popular Facebook app and gives it a twist in the form of the Facebook Birthday for the Nokia N97.
Facebook Birthday works in conjunction with your Facebook account by sending you a reminder two days before your friend’s birthday, giving you plenty of time to plan something special, or just be aware that you need to get in touch with them. What’s more, the app also allows you to send a special Nokia birthday card.
Check out the Top Ten Free Nokia N97 Apps
The app is based around a calendar view and allows you to import your Facebook friends details from your Contacts list. It’s really a simple idea with a lot of thought behind it. If you’re not already using Facebook on your Nokia N97 then now is the perfect time to start.
The first version of Facebook Birthday is aimed at Nokia’s flagship handset, the Nokia N97, but should work with other Symbian S60 5th Edition devices. What’s more, we expect the app to be quite a hit with the social networkign set, so no doubt will quickly appear on other S60 handsets and it may even make its way on to S40 devices over time.
The Nokia N97 Facebook Birthday is due for release from the Nokia Ovi Store in the next week or so.
The folks at fonearena has published another hands-on video of the Nokia X6. Check it out after the break.
Nokia X6 is the most technologically advanced music-oriented handset of the manufacturer to date and sports 3.2-inch touch sensitive screen, 32GB built-in memory, 5-megapixel camera with double LED flash and Carl Zeiss optics, A-GPS, 3.5mm jack and battery that will allow 35hrs of continuous audio playback.
My buddy Stefanos takes a look at the Nokia N97 and the N97 Mini. Check it out after the break.
