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Snowboarding legend Seth Wescott once said, “In snowboarding, there’s a huge focus on style. It’s the aesthetic that draws us in. It’s this which also makes it so appealing  to photographers. But how do you go about capturing all that awesomeness on a Nokia Lumia 920? One person who knows better than most is Stefanie Suchy, a photographer who recently won the Noka x Burton competition. Part of her prize was to jet off to Vail, Colorado, to photograph the Burton US Open Snowboarding Championship on her Nokia Lumia 920. Now she shares her tips on how to take snowboarding photos that rock.

Trust the automatic settings

“Don’t worry if you’re used to controlling everything on your DSLR. The automatics on the Nokia Lumia 920 camera are super fast and trustworthy. Even though I shot in some terrible conditions for automatic cameras, white snow and black jackets, concerts, dark parties, I didn’t have one picture that was under or overexposed. And I took eight hundred.”

Shoot from the hip and the head

“Once you learn to rely on the camera, it actually becomes an advantage that it has automatic settings. You stop wasting time looking for technical stuff and instead you just shoot! I was shooting from my hips or with the camera above my head. And even if though there were times when the photos missed a part, or the flash wasn’t strong enough to freeze the movement at a party, I still managed to catch the great moments I’d have missed setting up my DSLR camera.”

Experiment with low light and apps

“It has such an impressive camera that it’s easy to forget it’s a phone. Especially in low light moments it really captures the atmosphere, and it’s great for sports because it’s fast and shake-free. Plus it has some fun apps like the Burton Sequencer, which is a great tool for board sports of all kinds. Experiment with all these.”

Go wide and close

“I love wide-angle pictures, and luckily the Nokia Lumia 920 has a great wide-angle format that allows you to showcase the atmosphere and the surroundings. However, you can still get really, really close. Try to get as close as possible and then tip on the screen on the area you want to focus on. The closer you are the more blurry the background, which makes the shot look really pro. Yet because of the wide angle you don’t need to sacrifice the atmosphere, which is great.”

Keep in the fast lane

“When you’re trying to capture moments when riders are shooting past, make sure you already have the camera button pressed half way down. The camera’s even faster then as it’s already focused. This gives you the chance to capture the exact moment and perfect image of a rider flying by.”

You only have to look at Stef’s stunning shots to see she knows what’s she talking about. But what tips do you have for extreme Lumia 920 photography? As ever we’d love hear them in the comments below.  

Otrzymywaliśmy wiele pytań odnośnie wprowadzenia tego smartfona do sprzedaży- Nokia Lumia 620 zapowiada się świetnie. Fajnie, ze Windows Phone wchodzi pod strzechy Nokia Lumia 620 Jednocześnie zmieniamy ceny następujących modeli: Nexus 4 od LG LG Swift L3 Samsung B5512 Galaxy Y Pro Duos Sony Xperia P Szczegóły jak zwykle w cenniku.

Rozpoczynamy sprzedaż długo wyczekiwanego smartfona BlackBerry Z10 z najnowszym systemem od BlackBerry. Testowaliśmy to urządzenie i trzeba przyznać – to zupełnie nowa jakość smartfonów od kanadyjskiego producenta. \ Blackberry Z10 pojawił się już w sklepie internetowym Play póki co w przedsprzedaży. Wysyłka urządzenia rozpocznie się 2 kwietnia. Kto planuje kupić nowego BB?

Otrzymywaliśmy wiele pytań odnośnie wprowadzenia tego smartfona do sprzedaży- Nokia Lumia 620 zapowiada się świetnie. Fajnie, ze Windows Phone wchodzi pod strzechy Nokia Lumia 620 Jednocześnie zmieniamy ceny następujących modeli: Nexus 4 od LG LG Swift L3 Samsung B5512 Galaxy Y Pro Duos Sony Xperia P Szczegóły jak zwykle w cenniku.

Rozpoczynamy sprzedaż długo wyczekiwanego smartfona BlackBerry Z10 z najnowszym systemem od BlackBerry. Testowaliśmy to urządzenie i trzeba przyznać – to zupełnie nowa jakość smartfonów od kanadyjskiego producenta. \ Blackberry Z10 pojawił się już w sklepie internetowym Play póki co w przedsprzedaży. Wysyłka urządzenia rozpocznie się 2 kwietnia. Kto planuje kupić nowego BB?

The creative process behind Xperia Z, Xperia ZL and Xperia Tablet Z was one of microscopic attention – and you might have seen, we’ve been testing your eyes for detail recently…

We’ve been hiding Xperia devices in detailed images of iconic cities around the world in Xperia Smart Challenge… the competition ends this week and to celebrate its culmination and success, we’ve the got the first Xperia Tablet Z up-for-grabs!

Simply visit the site and login via your Facebook or Google accounts and then seek out the devices to be in with a chance of winning Xperia prizes across different categories. 

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the small matter of – every participant going into a hat for a three day trip to the Maldives! 

What are you waiting for?!

Late last year Nokia created DVLUP, a new web-based community and rewards program for Windows Phone app developers. It combines the best features from video gaming (who wants to level up?), check-in apps like Foursquare, and loyalty programs like when you collect points from airline miles, and mashes all of those things together to come up with a unique experience that has developers coming back for more. 

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Once developers join DVLUP (membership is free), they have the opportunity to compete with one another, complete quizzes and challenges, earn digital badges and points (aka XP) and then scoop up some nifty prizes along the way for all of their hard work.

The site has its own leaderboard, so developers can see their progress compared to fellow members, and they can quickly register to participate in new challenges that give them the opportunity to earn XP – the tougher the challenge, the more points that will be awarded.

But what’s in it for me?

While the DVLUP site is strictly FOR developers, those of us who use Nokia Lumia phones – and the cool apps you can find in Windows Phone Store – are the real beneficiaries of their work.

At this point, you may be scratching your head, thinking ‘How is that possible’?

As developers complete challenges, they are also working on apps and games for use on your Nokia Lumia. To get credit and earn points, they must successfully complete those challenges – and that means new content for you and me. The challenges include both updates to existing apps so improvements are being made, as well as reviews of quality, which ensure that the apps available are worth the download in the first place.

The power of many

Some of the challenges are linked to Nokia’s IdeasProject site, which means the initial inspiration for the challenges are coming directly from consumers who are thinking about new and creative ways to use their Nokia phones. Who knows – you could submit an idea that later becomes a DVLUP challenge, which in turn could become an app that you later get to use on you own phone. It is like one big circle of awesomeness for everyone involved.

Currently, DVLUP is open to Windows Phone developers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Additional countries will be added to the program in the coming months – we are getting inquiries from developers worldwide who are eager to join in on the fun!

We’ll report about some of the leading members of the DVLUP community in the coming months, so you can get a close-up look at their work and their apps.

To keep up with all things DVLUP, follow their Twitter handle @DVLUP.

It’s day three of March Apps Madness. We kicked off Thursday with the first round of voting on the games category and went in to the weekend with our social apps voting.

Today we start voting on the next batch of our apps with News and Entertainment apps. These are our go-to apps for staying connected with current events and factoids for water cooler conversations.

 If you need to research your choice and study the form, visit the Windows Phone Store – and remember, you can try the apps before you buy on a Nokia Lumia phone.

Under each pairing, select your favorite among the two choices below.  We’ll take it from there. 

Gas Buddy

Giving you the most comprehensive real-time gas prices and helping you find the cheapest prices in your area. Help fight high gas prices together by reporting gas prices, and get a chance to win free gas in the process! 

This is an all new, all Windows Phone 8 version of the GasBuddy app you know and love. There’s too many changes, fixes, improvements, and additions to mention, but rest assured, this is THE way to use GasBuddy.

All About Windows Phone

Keep up to date with the latest Windows Phone news, reviews, apps and much more with the FREE All About Windows Phone (AAWP) app. AAWP is the number one independent source of information for the Windows Phone platform.

The app is packed full with everything you need to know as it happens including latest articles, device, app and game reviews, tutorials, opinion-editorials, links, media and podcasts. You can now easily browse, read and share all the essential news quickly and easily on the move and the live tile support will notify you when new articles are available so you can stay ahead of the game.

 Once you’ve found something of interest you can share it with friends on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or email. If you need to know something specific, you can search for a related article in the handy search tool. What makes the app even more appealing is you can join in the discussion and add your own comments via the app.

Take Our Poll

USA TODAY 

NEW in this Version

- Photo Gallery improvements

- Design and performance enhancements for Windows Phone 8 – Updated Live Tile support

- Theme support for a dark or light interface

- Weather city personalization

- Fast App Switching

- Various Bug Fixes 

Headlines – Browse and read stories from News, Money, Sports, Life, Tech and Travel. Watch related videos, enlarge images and share stories via Facebook, Twitter, email or text message. 

Scores – Review the latest sports scores for NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS, college football and college basketball.

Weather Flow

The weather experience tailored for Windows Phone 8 with amazing live tiles and awesome lock screen support.

Features you’ll love in Weather Flow include:

* Choose from two different live tile styles and three different live tile settings. Use the simple and elegant modern style or the graphical and beautiful rich style. Set the content of the live tile to show current, daily and hourly forecasts.

* Choose from three different lock screen styles and three different lock screen information settings. Choose your background image to represent the current weather, use a custom image or use the daily Bing wallpaper. Set the content of the lock screen to display the current weather, daily or hourly forecasts.

* Supports both metric (Celsius) and imperial (Fahrenheit)

* All three tile types (small, medium, wide) are supported with backtiles

* Track weather for multiple locations in the app. Forecasts and weather conditions are provided for locations around the world.

* Pin multiple locations to your start screen to track whether it’s warm or cold, rainy, cloudy, windy or sunny there.

Take Our Poll

Plex

Plex for Windows Phone brings the power of Plex to your mobile device. With Plex, you can stream your music, videos and photos from your home computers running Plex Media Server (available from http://www.plexapp.com/getplex/) and access content from a wide range of channels. Channels are available for iTunes, and for online services like YouTube, Vimeo and Revision3. There’s also a remote control feature for Plex Media Center. 

Additionally, you can sign up for the myPlex service, which lets you connect to servers shared with you by your friends, queue videos from your web browser to watch later, and connect to your Plex Media Server at home wherever you are in the world via Wi-Fi or a cellular connection, with no configuration necessary! 

Plex Media Server streams your media directly from your computer, so there’s no need to convert before viewing. Plex is smart, too – if your media isn’t already in a format your device can play, it’ll convert it on-the-fly.

The Register

Biting the hand that feeds IT  With more than 6 million readers a month, The Register is the one of the world’s biggest online tech publications. 

It has news desks in London, San Francisco and Sydney to make sure you get the news you need on the tech market wherever and whenever it happens. And it has columnists who’ll give you an interesting take on the implications. 

It has an active community of IT Pros from across the world, who discuss everything from cloud to chips, systems design to sys admins, Virtualisation to Vatican bloggers, Latvian hackers to liquid crystal solid-state raygun turrets. 

Take Our Poll

AmazingWeather HD

The fastest most beautiful and informative weather app with dynamic lockscreens and mix and match live tiles to bring you the ultimate experience on your phone. 

Beauty meets brain in AmazingWeather HD; have the most aesthetically pleasing app with live HD animations or a sleek modern look, and get the most weather details in addition to quick 7 days overview, hourly data,charts, warnings, satellite images, detailed forecasts, GPS live tiles, lockscreens and much much more! 

Bring new life to your phone with Lockscreens, a collection of background images specifically hand picked and styled in two themes with a variety of options to display weather info in your own unique taste.

Baconit

Baconit is a modern metro reddit app for Windows Phone. Baconit fully supports Windows Phone 8, and provides a beautiful, clean, fast, and easy interface to reddit.

Reddit is a leading source for news, events, politics, technology, gamming, humor, and much more. With Baconit, the user is able to easily and quickly browse all of the information on reddit with a quick, clean, and beautiful metro inspired interface.

Take Our Poll

You’ve probably heard about Near Field Communication (NFC), the technology, which allows for simplified transactions, data exchange, and connections with a touch. It’s been a hot technology topic for a while, and last year research firm Juniper Research predicted that 300 million smartphones will be NFC-enabled by the year 2014. But, why wait that long? There are plenty of things you can already do with this magical technology right now.

Travel’s easier with Oyster

Although NFC only seems to have hit the news this in the last couple of years, it’s actually been around for quite a while. If you live in London, for example, you can use it to help you travel around the city. In fact, five million NFC Oyster travel cards are touched against readers on the Underground every single day. They’re so popular they even brought one out to celebrate the last Royal Wedding.

Makes music more mobile

How much music do you have on your mobile? Whether it’s ten tunes or ten thousand, chances are you probably don’t listen to them much on a speaker. Happily with portable NFC speaker like the JBL Playup for Nokia that’s all set to change. This Bluetooth speaker allows your music to be streamed wirelessly from any Bluetooth device. What’s more, its NFC enabled, which means that to enjoy tunes from your mobile phone you simply tap and play.

Helps you save money

More and more companies are starting to use NFC marketing campaigns to promote their products. If you have an NFC enabled mobile phone, you just tap it against their promotional material and get anything from a money off voucher to a free meal. Never again will you have to cut off vouchers only to lose them before you have the chance to cash them in. With one small tap they’ll be on your phone forever.

Makes wireless sharing simple

Wireless file sharing is one feature Bluetooth’s had in the bag for years, but now Nokia is using NFC to share files on its Windows Phone 8 Nokia Lumias. This new way of sharing is very similar to Bluetooth. It allows you to connect to another device and wirelessly send whatever you like to that device. However, unlike with Bluetooth, you simply touch your phones together or Tap + Send.

Keeps you in touch with your stereo.

A recent report by Forrester found that a whopping 63% of 16-24 years olds listen to tunes on their smartphones, which seems to suggest that mobile music is the future. However if, like us, you still love to chill out to your stereo, you’ll be pleased to hear about the NFC enabled Nokia Music Receiver. This wireless dock allows music to be streamed from a Bluetooth device to your home stereo system, ensuring CD-quality sound from up to 100m away. And all this with a simple tap.

There are five ways NFC is rocking our world right now. But what about you? If you’ve got any others to add the list please let us know in the comments below.

This post is about hiding or removing the commonly required labels on the Nokia Lumia 820. But before we get to that, we need a little context on why that’s important or interesting.

Nokia’s design stance isn’t to do things differently for the sake of it, but rather to be meaningfully different.

Often the design work is about taking things away rather than adding more.

When Nokia’s design team came to create the Lumia family of Windows Phone devices, it became clear that when the phone is switched on, then the screen needed to be the centre of attention.

Everything else should recede into the background to bring the display front and centre.

Niilo and Jonne

I heard about some of the lengths that Nokia go to in this regard in a recent conversation with Niilo Alfthan and Jonne Harju from the design team working on Nokia smartphones.

They told me about their problem with text and labels.

Niilo explains: “Electronic devices and phones in particular, need to carry quite a lot of writing on their bodies.

“Some of these are legal requirements; other pieces of text carry service information and serial numbers.”

No distractions, please

Nokia’s designers wanted nothing to interfere with the phones’ smooth curves and seamless colour.

“On a unibody construction, they can make for a distraction, “ says Jonne. “We became quite obsessed with reducing the visual clutter. The owner should feel that we really care about the most minute detail.”

For the Lumia 920, a solution was derived that had been successfully piloted on earlier models. Instead of having text and numbers stamped on the surface, the designers used the hidden SIM tray, front and back, to carry some codes. There’s also a hidden metal tab with more of the necessary information.

With the Lumia 820, a different approach was required. The rear cover is, of course, swappable, leaving the battery exposed. Batteries have a legal requirement to have all sorts of details about their capabilities and recycling information.

Nokia Design didn’t want this visible, so instead they put the information on a sticker underneath the battery. “When the owner opens up the phone, they just see pure black,” says Niilo.

The information has to be on a sticker, because some service operations can mean that the IMEI number of the phone changes, for example, so it would need to be replaced.

“As you can imagine, Nokia has millions of little white stickers in stock, since they are used on every phone,” Niilo continues.

Black on black

But for this model, with its black interior, the team decided that such visual clutter was unacceptable. So instead, when you open up a Lumia 820 and remove the battery, you’ll find a black sticker.

It’s a really small thing, but realising that someone has cared so much about such tiny details makes a big difference.

“We are consciously raising the bar,” Jonne concludes. “It’s been by no means easy to do, but it’s now something we want to keep going forward.”

image credit: Mat Honan