One of my favorite devices over the past year has been the Nokia 770, I own one, it's great. Its a pretty amazing thing to have what is basically a full blown computer in your pocket runs a very capable version of Linux. Nokia has decided to bump up their 770 and rename it the N800, making it an official part of Nokia's prestigious N series of "mobile computers". Although not a lot of changes were made, there was definitely enough to warrant a new exterior and a new model scheme altogether. What they have added to this already capable device is a VGA camer with video VOIP capabilities, Dual SD card slots that replace the MMC Mobile slot, a new case design, dual stereo speakers, 128mb internal memory(up from 64m)and a scroll rocker button for web browsing. All in all I feel that this update offers some great improvements that make an allready fantastic device even better.
A few months back I decided to make a drastic change in my day to day computing by selling my trusty Clamshell iBook and replace it with a something that is much more portable in the true sense of the word. Having had a brush with the Nokia 770 and having been able to try it out I knew that I wouldn't be dissapointed by it, so I tracked one down and picked it up. Now this isn't a review of the 770 if that's what you are thinking. I will leave it at this, the 770 is great, it runs what is basically a full desktop version of linux with a vast and growing catalog of software available for it.
What I wanted to talk about today was a brand new piece of software that is putting a skip in the step of every Nokia 770 that this software grazes. Canola! No, not the oil that you use for cooking, but a brand new piece of multimedia software that has the 770 community a buzz. Canola is a media player that has a similar feeling to Apple's Front Row software with ease of use and simple but beautiful graphics. Canola will play any local media files from movies to audio to pictures but will also stream files located on your network or stream internet broadcasts and podcasts. I installed the newest version on my 770 and it appears that the program is still in Beta but from playing with it you would never know. The whole program is very polished and very easy to use. In order to set up the program the makers of Canola have provided an internal web server with a web page to set all your basic settings including changing the theme. The controls are very simple and very easy to use and each of the touch points are located on the edge of the screen so you can use your fingers instead of the stylus if you choose. All in all, this program gives yet another reason to pick up a 770 if you haven't yet and for those that have, I highly recommend installing this program.
WIDGETIZE