Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Aw, thank you! The video quality wasn't too high (stupid WMM), but for the audio, I used my husband's podcasting setup. Of course I had to rerecord several times because I kept tripping over my own tongue!

In spite of the scads of friends I could probably get to come vote for me, I've refrained. If I win, great! If not, I'll save my pennies for the N800 most likely; the N810 is quite a bit beyond my budget. That's the stay-at-home-mom thing -- if I went back to work, I'd get hit with a massive daycare bill for the two kids in exchange for a bit more spending money. Doable, maybe, but I'd rather spend more time with the kids (and husband, I suppose!), even if it means less extra spending money. Ah well. :)

But I have to say, this contest HAS brought more awareness of the Nokia N8xx products to my friends, family, and other acquaintances. I literally stumbled across the device's existance due to the randomness of engadget, leading me to Dan's blog. Certainly it would be great if Nokia saw fit to recognize some or even all of the video entries with a free (or even developer-priced!) N810, but I'm not holding my breath.

-Jennifer

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

We just did a bunch of free advertising for them... why would they waste that by equalling things out with product giveaways? :)

(There are some things allowed in my bed... my girlfriend, the cats, but certainly not corporations.) :cool:

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

At least none of us are walking around wearing "Nokia IT" tee shirts. :D

Can't speak for my youngest son, who had to wear his maemo shirt when he visited me at work Monday...

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

At least he dodged the booth with the hot coals and the Nokia brand. A forehead's a terrible thing to waste. :)

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

I liked the motorcycle one. I use it for the same thing. Also its difficult to bring a laptop around on trips on a motorcycle.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

The few times I have worked on my bike (I prefer to get a pro to meddle with something which such potential for death and destruction) my hands have been far too dirty to touch my beloved electronics. Do you wipe before returning to the keyboard or do you just not stick your fingers into the greasy bits?

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Probably has a 'Sunday' stylus and a greasy one. :)

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

grrrr, why is Pkicktalk winning? honestly i don't think he deserves to win, especially as he's some fancy documentary person. he probably has enough cash to buy his own damn tablet. /bitter poor person

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

If you have to ask then you are right to have someone else work on your bike. :D

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

I just think it's worth noting here that Nokia has just given away 500 N810 discounts with an average value of roughly 400 dollars (depends on end-price, currency exchange rates etc). That's 200,000 dollars of generosity - on ONE product.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

So what's another 31 tablet's worth of generosity :D??

I'm with you Cat. Honestly more than a little surprised at our current leader. Hedge mentioned this isn't a charity (didn't he? Or did someone else...) and that's true. Really it's Thoughtfix's money so however he wants to do the contest is fine. But I must say it does seem wrong that our man the movie dude is ahead.

~!M

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

It was cynical, it was me. That's a $200,000 investment in what would otherwise be much more in development. The free apps that prop up the tablets are doing a lot to sell more than the 500 discounted ones.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

I was sleeping in when the finalists were being announced and when I went to see your video it appeared to be just that advert. Thankfully it didn't change my vote, but I thought you should know.

250 votes, even if all the original candidates have told their friends and family and most of them actually listened, is probably not going to be that much interest to Nokia if I were to bet on it.

As for "next time", I think there are a number of good suggestions, such as not showing the results until voting has closed, or new members not voting. But hey, new members means more publicity and I can't blame anyone for siding with that.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Speaking of apps. Has anyone seen a good maemo one for converting between GPS formats. Like NMEA to GPX or KML. I'm hoping to do conversion before emailing files home (or ftping them to a webserver). I found a "Maemo App" site the other day, but it was more reviewing the device than actually lisitng available applications.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

http://maemo.org/downloads/OS2007

???

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

I'm surprised the library dude isn't doing better. Presumably he has multiple internet access terminals readily available and an entire student body he could tap for gratuitous votes.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Very odd growth spurts, it'd be really interesting to go over that back end data. ;)

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Yep. I could have. But I didn't because this isn't supposed to be a "Register and vote for me!" contest.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

And beisdes, I voted for you, so you can always cherish that.

<3 Hedge

:p

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

RE: Offical Nokia contest and

*drool* I SOOOooo want there to be a next time - this was loads of fun, and have a ton of great ideas. It would be terrific if Nokia did a more official version of this contest - but I also think it's unlikely. Giving out the discounts on the N810 was pretty generous, so it's probably not gonna happen. Still, if Nokia wants to expand the market for the NIT, having user created content showing what they can do is a great way to get people interested.

This contest? AWESOME - Huzzah for thoughtfix!

- - -

Results coming soon, eh? Go Thomas!

Is anyone else more interested in this contest than they are in most sporting events? (save for football hooliganery, of course :D )

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

In the original contest announcement, it was my intention for the internet tablet community to pick the winner. While I welcome the new community members, I am afraid a good number of people registered with the exclusive purpose of voting for their friend in this contest. It is for this reason that I am making a change.

I apologize, but all votes made by users who joined these forums after 11/17 will be scrubbed from the database. Additionally, the contest results will be hidden until the voting is complete. This comes as a reaction to both vote tallies, analysis of the registration date/post count of voters, and to community concerns.

I do appreciate the attention that others are bringing to this contest. It's a good thing. Also - Voting is extended until the 29th to give additional users a chance to vote. Thank you all for participating.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

I wish I had known about this forum when I put my video up on youtube. I would have registered. Now I can only sit back and watch without being a part of the voting process. Too bad, although I don't blame you thoughtfix. I feel that this is a change for the best.
For the record, I originally voted for SunWalker2007. As I have travelled/backpaced extensively in the past, the idea of his trip intrigued me and I thought of how useful an N810 would have been when I was on my travels.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Thanks for the cheers and votes hedgecore and ihavenothingprofoundtosay.

Thanks of course to thoughtfix. I hope this hasn't gone from a great idea to a bad headache.

Another week to wait? Arrrrrgh. But it's a small price to pay to have a fair contest for everyone.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

In regards to voting for your own video... assume that everyone would vote for their own (it's only logical... hell, I would've.) That pretty much negates 1 vote for each submission across the board which ends up being equal whether you allow new members to vote or not.

Secondly, for the people that *are* new here... I don't think you're going to see any favouritism from old crusty people. Content's content. :)

*Edit: I guess if you were an existing member in the top 5 you could've voted for yourself now that I think about it. It's amazing what people will do for free things. I went to the vegetarian food fair here in Toronto a few years back and people were parked by all the free samples gulping them down saying how real meat tasted better (Fake meat... c'mon... there's SO much more out there than trying to mimic what ya gave up.) When I left people were stampeding out the door to the hotdog vendors on the street and saying things like "oh my god, give me two sausages... mmmMM *Home Simpson eating sounds*"

AND. Now that I also think about it. Dan. You're doing what you can to run a straight and fair contest. Kudos to you sir. (Things like that keep making me click on your ads every day) ;)

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Yeah I guess this is the fairest way. Better to have an exact rule than a case-by-case basis which leaves things open for interpretation.

Last night when it looked like the voting was over I decided that if I won I'd remake my video showing the N810 in use. I didn't have much time on my first go because I found out about the competition one day and only had that evening spare to do it, so this time I'd have scenes, show my workflow of photos, GPS and blog. I even got to the point of picking a place in Auckland where all the shop windows are in Chienese/Korean/Japanese so I could pretend I was walking through Japan using my new device.

Oh well, it sucks that I can't even vote for myself but hey, I didn't have a N810 last week, I probably won't have one next week, nothing lost. Thanks ThoughtFix and co. for at least putting me in the top 5 and kudos to Jennifer for not getting swept away in device lust (greed?) like I did.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Stop giving me kudos. I just had an idea. It's those 32 people who took the ideas and made real, creative works out of it that should all get pats on the back. The five finalists have fantastic videos and, in different ways, all show how valuable a device like this can be. They're attracting more attention to the concepts so consumers, hackers like us, manufacturers, and developers of the future all have better ideas on how too move forward.

I'll tell you what: THIS blogger is helped quite a bit by seeing the entries. Perhaps I can gather more sponsorship for the next contest (after CES is paid off?) and make it easier than the video creation. I have something in mind but need prizes first.

This was the toughest thing I've had to do as a business owner so far. Taxes next year will top it off. ;) After the first time, it gets easier. Hush, you pervert. I wasn't talking about THAT. ;)

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

I'm the guy who made the video about the doctor, and I guess my vote was scrubbed because I registered a few days ago..? Thoughtfix - you said you extended the vote to the 29th.. so will we newbies be able to revote?- and SunWalker - I voted/will vote for you!

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Nice videos everyone!

Really hard to choose, ended up voting for PKickTalk because (to me) seemed like he'd have the most fun with it

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Since there is no way for us to know who registered as a new community member or who registered to vote for their friends/family, I can't make exceptions. I brought your video to the table on finalist discussion though! I have a marked weakness for the medical profession as my mother is a nurse practitioner and my dad (stepfather) worked in pharmaceutical manufacturing/design for some time. I just accepted a job for a hospice care provider as their Linux systems administrator and am very proud to contribute to medicine even in my geeky way. I start Monday.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Heh, votes from Hedgecore are cherishable.

*Edit* Hmm...apparently 'refresh' isn't foolproof, as when I posted this Hedgecore's comment was the last in line.

I have a hard time picking between n1nja and sunwalker, they're my favorites. I guess I prefer ninjas by a small margin. If either of you win then I'll be pleased :)

If PKick wins I'll be bummed. C'est la guerre

~!M

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

I bet people who registered and voted had a better chance of being a part of this community before they were told their votes meant nothing. Is it really fair to change the rules right after voting has ended? Or to suddenly explain what the point of this contest was. Why does it matter?

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

Ah, that's a shame; I guess I should have registered a few days earlier, but nothing for it now. For the record, my vote was for SunWalker2007 and no, I am not some best mate of his trying to pad the votes. In fact, I was working on my own entry to the contest but got discouraged when I saw that (perhaps unsurprisingly) some of my ideas for it overlapped with recently-uploaded submissions. Anyway, I no longer have any way of viewing the current tallies thanks to the vote wipe, but I assume the woman with the cute kid will win, as that's the most predictable outcome.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

I think the reason I give Dan kudos isn't necessarily because of this insane contribution to the community - - it's moreso that he put himself in this spot. Sucker. :D

Guys, I'm a data analyst by trade. I eat data for breakfast, massage it for brunch, ETL it for lunch, crunch it for afternoon tea, and deliver a polished log (pun intended!) for dinner. Data is also very high in calories, which explains my appearance. I digress. I refreshed a few times a day and watched the votes change. I don't know the reasoning for a lot of it, but the trends were disturbing as Dan (who actually had the data) pointed out. I don't buy that certain time zones (thay may or may not be local to the people garnering the votes) are naturally predispositioned for certain content.

I know that feelings of exclusion might be high right now being told your vote doesn't count, but what would you have him do? Being around here for a while, there people here are fair. The only time I've ever seen the board as a whole team up against someone was when they were deliberately being a poop-disturber (damn you censorship) and deserved it.

I guess what I'd like to say, is that if you want those feelings of exclusion to go away, stick around for a while. We're a pretty eccentric bunch here. (TexRat, for example, is a 7 foot 2 inch Turkish punk rocker with a 2 foot neon green fan mohawk and plays the squeeze box in a band that uses an actual ring tailed lemur as their drummer.)

*edit: If you're gonna vote on the video with the kid, c'mon... do it based on the contest criteria, not out of sympathy/charity/gender/etc. reasons. :cool:

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

You forgot to mention he likes to wear purple, snake skin cowboy boots and most of the times has his pet boa constrictor draped around his neck...

... and I always thought he was Ukrainian.



Enjoying a day off...

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

The guys choosing the finalists had a tough job. I liked DentalHTcorp's, theicerabbit's and sjgadsby's entries but none made the final :(.

Hedgecore should get a prize just for coming out of the bathroom with his tablet :p but alas his video is now gone or at least I couldn't find it.

Some of the video's submitted did make excessive claims for the tablet. For example it would never be chosen to be used in a medical environment - the slowness of data input for one thing would count against it and it's also not robust enough and when you also consider that you cannot add medical applications to it then it's obviously a non-runner.

There's a reason Nokia have positioned the tablet as an N-Series device and not an E-series device - it simply does not stand up to the requirments of a business environment.

joedavi's motorbike entry didn't impress me initially but, on review, I thought it was the best response from the finalists to Thoughtfix's original specification for the competition i.e. show how you've integrated the tablet into your life and thus it got my vote.

Oh and major kudos to Thoughtfix for running the competition and paying for the prize out of his own pocket.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

You're just jealous. ;)

I came up with all sort of ways I would use the N810, that I ultimately cut from the video because they're fairly esoteric to most people. That little bit I kept in here about the Society for Creative Anachronism? It's a world-wide organization with over 30,000 members. Being that we're often at campsites, electricity isn't always easy to come by; and I often don't want to bring along a laptop in case of bad weather, and it's way too big to be unobtrusive (I don't really have theft concerns). Back when I was still toting around my little Visor PDA, it was darned useful at events. See, I'm a big heraldry geek -- that's coats of arms and stuff, and who outranks who in the award structure and so on. There's only so much of that I can keep memorized at once, and it's far far easier to look something up electronically than to carry around 1500+ pages (no I am not kidding) of printout -- or worse yet, to have to say "Uh, sorry Your Majesty, but can you email me when you get home and ask?" :)

Yeah, it's darned geeky, and pretty nerdy to boot....

-Jennifer

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

jdsemma: Y'know, if you made a steampunk case design for it, you might be able to get away with it (or mount it in a crystal ball or something). ;)

(Oh, and I took my entry down now that I'm done with it. I never show my face on the internet in the hopes I can still drop off the grid some day.) :)

*edit: Oh, and I'm glad someone realized that bathroom thing, I didn't think the flush was loud enough, hahahah.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

*slaps Hedgie with a large trout*

Seriously, though, to me Jennifer's entry best fit the spirit of the contest among the finalists-- but there were nonfinalists who, IMO, got that part down well enough to be finalists.

But ever since I quit running from girls I've understood that the world is a very subjective place and you just can't quantify raw opinions, no matter WHAT data analysts like Hedgie and I might swear. We just say otherwise to make Marketing folks go away. ;)

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

After the walk I plan to settle down in a fairly small town to teach English, it's the most marketable skill I'll have over there. I doubt my Japanese will be fluent at that stage because I won't be talking that much while I walk alone in the hills so I'll need some help translating. I follow JapanesePod101.com for weekly lessons and having device to retrieve those lessons is essential. I'll still be keeping a blog of my integration into society there and I'll still be looking up Google Maps for views of local walking tracks. I don't think a laptop would be suitable, even a little EEE PC. With a Solio and a Nokia power cable I'll be free to take off and roam where I want to, capturing my musing as I go and not having to knock on doors for a power socket. I do intend to make daily use of the tablet when I'm done and would choose it over a laptop which is never going to be light enough and independent enough for back-packing.







P.S. If the "looks" thing is a comment on not being able to afford a decent hair cut I should mention that's for charity. NZ, UK and Aus have a thing called MOvember where guys grow mustaches for the month, I thought a mohawk would be funnier.

Re: Vote for the N810 Winner!
 

I find that fascinating because the video struck me as being disingenuous. I'll have to rewatch it and see if I get the same feeling. I wonder what cues I'm picking up on that make me think one thing, and which you are picking up on that lead you to the opposite conclusion.

I really need to find a book or take a class on this sort of thing. Non-verbal communication is intriguing.

~!M