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Quite often do we run into situations where certain calls are unwanted. Maybe you’re at work and you don’t want anybody outside of the working environment calling you, or maybe there’s just a certain annoying person who you don’t want to talk with. In any case, Callerx is a simple app that will help you solve these problems.
Once launched, you will be greeted with a screen that easily allows you to view all inbound calls and manage your lists with blocked/allowed phone numbers.

Adding new numbers or contacts to the list of blocked/allowed numbers can be done by pressing the ‘Manage Lists’ button, choosing a list of your choice and picking a menu option. It’s that simple.

Callerx also allows you to block any numbers that are not listed by enabling the whitelist mode and has an option to block all unknown numbers.
Being a daemon, it is configured to auto-start at each boot, and can be configured via a command line, by editing ‘blacklist.txt’ and ‘whitelist.txt’ files located under your MyDocs directory and calling
/etc/init.d/callerx loadblacklist for switching to blacklist mode or
/etc/init.d/callerx loadwhitelist for whitelist mode
Easy to use and effective, Callerx is all you need to stop any unwanted calls from ever bothering you.
 

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Apart from being software developer at work and N900 fan in the mean time, I’m also amateur bass guitar player. If you share similar interests you know that practice is the best way to become better. As bassist I know how important is to follow the rythm and keep constant tempo and stay tuned. N900 is also a good tool to do it.
To keep the rythm and tempo it’s good to have metronome. In case of N900 we have Maetronome application. Pretty simple, single screen with basic settings of bitrate and time signature. Good thing is that first beat in each bar is indicated by beep and every subsequent by knock, so you can easily follow the rythm exactly.
Every guitarist also know that it’s good to tune the instrument before playing. For this we have Tuner application for N900 with features available in every digital guitar tuner. Just start the application and you can set base frequency and check weather your tune is similar to tones generated by on-screen keyboard. When you play a note on your guitar it will be taken by N900 microphone and you will know what note are you close to and how to correct the tuning.
This way you can replace two additional things in your backpack for just one N900 that you probably carry all the time. I think this is good solution.
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For more info on devel and testing catalogues visit Application catalogues tutorial
Please visit Nokia N900 Forum

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At last it is here! The well known Tuxracer game from Linux has been adapted to the N900 by Mikko Vartiainen. Long time ago, when it came out to the Linux platform, we implemented the game to a gesture controlled platform which lets you control the penguin with your hands. It was really cool, and people liked it very much. So this is what I waited for.

Now you can control the game with the accelerator of your phone. In this 3D game you can choose from different levels and scenes and improve your skills. Believe me, it is really not easy, to navigate the penguin through the tracks by moving your phone. It has some similarities to Bounce.

Try first to manage the tutorials to learn the tricks you can do with the phone when controlling the penguin. Then start racing which level you like. The high-scores will be stored, so you can compare your progress.

Really a nice amusement game, also to challenge your friends.
- sam | visit our Nokia N900 forum -

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today I saw a video presentation of a new Samsung Phone in the Phonereport Blog and  I have to say that I was really impressed. Wouldn’t it be nice to have something similar for our phone too? Unfortunately there is no such function for the N900, but you can “pimp” your phone with some 3D generated backgrounds. Maybe you have the ability to create 3D pictures yourself with some programs or you can download a few examples from the N900 wallpapers site.
Here is a very nice one, which I found on this site:

It doesn’t come close to the Samsung effect, but it is a nice three dimensional rendering, which gives you at least a little bit of a visual perspective. To install this background, please follow the instructions in one of my previous posts How to make A Wallpaper by yourself, or just download the pictures and set them one by one as background pics on your phone.
- sam | visit our Nokia N900 forum -

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As I mentioned in my further post about the Nokia Map Loader, I would test the downloaded maps on the N900 on my road trip only with the GPS functionality. The main reason why, is saving roaming costs being abroad, which can be very high in some countries.
Finally I got home and the test succeeded with almost satisfying results. Mostly I described the functions of Ovi Maps in my post Ovi Maps – Navigation on the N900, so please get further information about how to use the map functionality there.
Although there are some issues with Ovi Maps, like the lack of Turn by Turn, no history, no bookmarks, no rerouting, and so on, it works as it should, for now. (We all hope, that Nokia is releasing the full navigation package for the N900 soon.)

Planning the route without the A-GPS functionality is almost the same routine as normal. You have only to disable the network function in the GPS settings of your phone first. It is then going to ask you if you want to connect to the internet (which are available) and negate this one. Be also sure that the settings for the internet is set to “always ask”. Then set your route and wait for the route calculation. In this mode it will take a little longer for it has no assistance from the mobile network (this is what the name stands for: Assisted Global Position System), but once its calculated you will have your route shown as it used to be with assistance on.

I was guided well and getting no bills from roaming partners in other countries.

- sam | visit our Nokia N900 forum -

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And here we go again. Have you already pimped up your phone? Have you found the right background, or have you even build one by yourself? A very popular site on wallpapers is N900Wallpapers.com. All kinds of backgrounds can be found there, sorted in many several categories. You may also upload your own creations and share them to others. All you have to do, is to create an account, choose your files and upload.
Another possibility is to create a panorama view of a landscape on your desktop. This video tutorial shows you how to do it. It is pretty similar to the instructions I posted some time ago on how to make a wallpaper by yourself. This is made with Adobe Photoshop, but you may use GIMP as well.
Panorama desktop for N900
Very nice, thanks to Mark Guims post on the The Nokia Blog.
Another nice wallpaper gallery can be found here. These are backgrounds with the dimensions 800 x 480 pixels, so they don’t fit for loop-able versions, but you will find a lot of pretty pictures inside the gallery.
So here is my this weeks favorite  loopable wallpaper background I found on a site I can’t remember (maybe it was the N900Wallpapers.com site, but anyway):

- sam | visit our Nokia N900 forum -

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Altough there aren’t so many official applications which are available in the Ovi Store or in the Maemo download section (not mentioned the countless programs, that come with the testing and the devel section), I have already established three of my favorite apps to my own personal list. I have written about them in earlier posts, so you can get more information about the programs by clicking the links. I decided to list useful applications in my point of view, such I am using for my everyday job.
On the third place, I placed BlueMaemo. Presentations can be controlled directly from your N900, which is the essential task I use it for, and makes it really a good alternative to the mac remote-control. And as a nice side-effect, people are very astonished about the way I am showing my content.
Second I choosed Evernote. I really don’t want to miss it anymore. It is not really a native application on the phone (it just opens in the browser, and I do not use it that way), but with the instant messaging plugin you can post your thoughts, ideas, photos and everthing else right to your Evernote account to edit the notes later on your desktop pc, mac, whatever, assumed you have installed the Evernote software on your working station. Just brilliant.
At least on place one, is the blogging app MaStory. This is really my number one favourite. I love to write my articles independent of where I am, and post them from everywhere. This app just works great and at that so simple to use. I have the full overview over my writings, publications or drafts, mediauploads and comments, categories and tags.
So tell me, which apps you like the most.
- sam | visit our Nokia N900 forum -

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I was very curious about the Theme Maker. The new version 1.2.9, which supports also the N900 has been out for a while and I wanted to try making a theme of my own to use it on my phone. After downloading Theme Maker from the Maemo Garage section, there was no installing necessary, just unzipping the folder to the desktop. First I didn’t know how it could work, and the instructions are a little bit exhausting to read. I am also more the learning by doing type.
After getting more and more into the material I asserted that this one isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. First of all you really need an image editing software. The package includes templates with all the buttons, backgrounds, icons, etc. which can be edited, but it’s kind of complicated, because all the drafts are in just one layer. So in principle you have to make new ones because just changing or replacing colors would not lead to satisfying results. Once you have done all the creative work, the compilation process is the easy part. This is actually the program. Starting Theme Maker and pointing to the paths of the created image files, clicking the “Build” button will do the rest.
A new theme is created which can be installed on the phone. I didn’t managed it yet. It is really a lot of work to make a fine theme to personalize your device.
Fact is, with Theme Maker you are of course able to build a theme, but you have to be a graphic designer with good tools to construct a real shiny one. It is really not comparable with carbide.ui.
- sam | visit our Nokia N900 forum -

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First, I downloaded Evernote, I really didn’t figured it out, for what it was good to. I installed it on my N900, on my macbook and on my work-pc.
I’m kind of an old school note writer. Ideas, sketches, things I have to remember, I used to write down my every day notes on my writing pad, which I was carrying with me, always.

Now with the app installed, I just started to make my notes, on my N900, my mac and pc. On the N900 it isn’t really an app yet (I hope it will become soon), but you can access your account with all your synced notes over the desktop shortcut, which will open the integrated browser. But the thing is, that in combination for example with pixelpipe you are able to send instant messages straight to your Evernote account, which is synchronized with all your other devices you have installed Evernote.
Take snapshots, write down your ideas, shopping lists, whatever you want to remember, from everywhere and share it to your “digital” notepad all with just “one click” over your N900.

I started to like Evernote very much. It has made my life another time easier again. But in an productive way. I use it already for my everyday work. The big advantage is really having your notes put in one place together, so you can work out your savings from your phone directly when you’re back on your working place.
Fact is, Evernote is a great app, and I don’t want to miss it anymore.
- Sam -

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