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Lasers, satellites, holograms, smartphones and hoverboards: if there’s anything that science-fiction has taught us, it’s the power of imagination to make our dreams come – wait! Hoverboards?

Back in 1989, Robert Zemeckis’s Back To The Future: Part II reckoned that, come 2015, the humble skateboard would be no more, and we’d all be zipping about, without wheels. above the ground. Well, clock’s still ticking on that one, and though Matel claim to have a sort-of-hoverboard in development, it hasn’t hit the high street yet. While we wait, let’s look at five other unfulfilled sci-fi predictions

Cloned Dinosaurs

Okay, we’re not sure how this would benefit mankind, but we’ve been waiting to hear the real-life roar of a T-Rex since Jurassic Park stormed the box-office in 1993. Surely pterodactyls ought to be soaring around the Manhattan skyline by now? Sadly, Australian scientists say that although DNA strands could survive for up to 6.8 million years and remain readable for 1.5 million years, the last Dino went extinct about 65 million years ago – so the sums just don’t add up. But hey, at least we’ve had Dolly the sheep, right?

Moon Colonies

Not only are we not lounging on our space deck-chairs on the surface of the moon, squinting down at the distant Earth, but we haven’t even been back there since 1972! So much for Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Lathe of Heaven, Asimov’s The Gods Themselves, Wall-E and Moon, – not to mention huge swathes of Arthur C. Clarke’s writing! Our extra-terrestrial frontiersmen may still be grounded, but NASA’s right now got the unmanned Mars Curiosity rover uncovering all the Red Planet’s secrets – so maybe one day, we’ll all be Martians instead of Moon Men.

Teleportation

Star Trek has much to answer for, but the primary culprit is this: how come we still can’t zap ourselves from A to B? We’ve seen it in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Doctor Who, Stargate, Logan’s Run, and, perhaps most gruesomely, The Fly – but, in reality, scientists say that the most we can hope for is the teleportation of particles and information. China’s planning to launch a quantum teleportation satellite in 2016 to test this out. Now, that is pretty exciting, but in the meantime, it’s back to the bus-stop for us…

Nuclear Apocalypse

On the bright side, science-fiction has more than once foretold the nasty end of our cosy modern age due to some catastrophic nuclear holocaust. La Jetée, The Road, Blade Runner, The Hunger Games – it’s a long and growing list by a collection of rather pessimistic writers and directors. And yet, here we are, nearing the end of 2012, still more or less intact! We might not have robotic servants, but we haven’t blown ourselves sky-high. Phew!

Garbage Fuel

As well as hoverboards, Back To The Future (Part III, this time) suggested we’d solve both our landfill and our fuel problems in one convenient stroke by using our trash to power our equipment! Well, while this one isn’t quite as unrealistic as the T-Rex cloning effort, we’re not there yet. Scientists are working on thermo-chemical and fermentation processes to turn medical, radioactive, industrial, and municipal waste into fuel that could replace petrochemical products – and BA are looking into turning waste into jet-fuel! So perhaps Doc Brown wasn’t all wrong…

Clearly, predicting the future is a risky business even for writers who make it there business to do just that. If you think you can do a better job, why not dust off your crystal ball and let us know your predictions for the 21st century.

Image credit: Lee Jordon

Our good friend Patrick Hamilton Walsh from The Phoneographer and is: Nothing but a Nokia recently took his PureView 808 on a short but packed trip to see three cities, in three different countries, in, yes you’ve guessed it, three days! Capturing lots of incredible black and white photos along the way.

“Last week I obtained a Nokia PureView 808 and just by playing around with it I really liked the ‘feel’ of the Black & White images that it could capture. So, as I explored the three cities I continued to to capture images in Black & White, as it just seemed to fit the season”.

Here is a short slideshow of all the photos he took along his travels:

I’m interested to see if any of you can guess the three countries and cities that Patrick visited?!

If you missed Patrick’s Lumia 800 underwater photos then you might want to go diving into the post that Tom Hall wrote recently. How do you think the PureView 808 performed? Let us know in the comments, or on Twitter.

[Image credits: Patrick Hamilton Walsh] 

Nokia Drive is a must-have app that any driver needs to keep in his or her app arsenal. That’s why owners of the new Nokia Lumia 920 or Lumia 820 will notice a tile on the Start screen encouraging them to download the latest and greatest version, called Nokia Drive+ Beta.

This version delivers some of the features you’ve previously requested the most, such as spoken street names and the ability to select which types of route you wish to use or avoid, like toll roads, ferries, etc. However, because this is still a beta version, My Commute isn’t included, but will be added in a future release.

Additionally, while we are still refining Nokia Drive+, for this Beta version, you must download street maps to get the full experience. This means that you can calculate a route completely offline and if you happen to enter a network/operator blackspot your navigated-journey will continue totally uninterrupted. So, make the most of the download function, following our step-by-step guide:

Set up Nokia Drive

Setting up Nokia Drive for voice navigation is simple to do. Firstly, select and download a suitable language voice file. This is the voice that’ll be telling you which direction to take when you’re driving.

Manage downloaded maps

The next step is to download the maps. Make sure you connect to Wi-Fi before you do this, then scroll through the country list to find the required map and select it to download it. You can add additional maps at a later date through the maps settings, or just select them all now to safe time later.

All of these settings can be changed when you first set up your phone. However, if you forget, you’ll be prompted to download the offline maps when you start your next journey.

And, as for selecting which route you want to take, you’ll see here some of the options available.

What do you think of the new additions to Nokia Drive? Let us know, below.

If you’re a fan of Angry Birds and a fan of Star Wars (and let’s be honest, who does that leave out?) then you probably want to know that Angry Birds Star Wars is available to download from the Windows Phone 8 Store right now! That’s right, Red Bird and Pink Bird have undergone an epic transformation in their endless battle against the Bad Piggies.  Get ready to grab your Lightsaber and undertake an intergalactic adventure through iconic locations like Tatooine, the Death Star and beyond.

Download Angry Birds Star Wars

1. Press the Search button on your Nokia Lumia and then tap Vision
2. Scan the QR code
3. Tap on the link when it appears on the screen
4. Install the application from the Windows Phone Marketplace

The game was officially launched at midnight (PST) by Rovio and Lucasfilm and landed on Windows Phone 8 at the same time as Android and iOS. That’s thanks to some close collaboration between Nokia and our Finnish neighbors Rovio to get the game ready so soon after Windows Phone 8 launch.

That means lucky owners of the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 can be among the first in the world to experience the bringing together of two of the world’s most popular entertainment franchises. And what better way to enjoy the game? Dazzling on Nokia’s latest ClearBlack displays those Bad Piggies won’t be able to hide, while the super sensitive touchscreen means you won’t miss a shot (even if like us here in Finland, you’re already wearing your gloves against the cold). You can even load it into your Kids Corner profile and let the kids discover Luke, Leia and all the gang.

There’s no doubt that if you can’t get enough of Angry Birds, the latest Nokia smartphones on Windows Phone 8 are the phones for you. Fans of our ruffled-feathered friends can already download the gravity-defying Angry Birds Space, while Angry Birds Roost, exclusive to Lumia, gives access to the latest Angry Birds news, videos, ringtones and videos.  What’s more, from next week you’ll be able to launch all your Angry Birds adventures from within Angry Birds Roost, providing a single hub for your birdie fix.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

As for when Angry Birds Star Wars might arrive on Lumia phones running on Windows Phone 7.5 – Rovio and Nokia want to make sure everything works as well as it can before they launch the game, but we’ll update you as soon as we know more. In the meantime, go and download Angry Birds Roost to access some free goodies and use the Angry Cam to liven up your photos.

May the birds be with you.

[Angry Birds Star Wars not yet available in your local Store? Fear not, the title is coming, although there may be a published delay while your Store aligns itself with the force].

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

First announced at Mobile World Congress 2012, the World of Red Bull app is now available exclusively for Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 and the rest of the Lumia family – as well as Nokia Asha Touch and QWERTY devices, too.

With this app, you’ll have access to behind the scenes footage of Red Bull athletes, updates on events as they happen, and lifestyle and music news delivered right to your phone.

Discover a world of sports, culture & lifestyle – to only name a few initiatives – such as Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship, Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour, Red Bull Stratos, Red Bull BC One or “Where the Trail Ends”.

The acclaimed Red Bull Media House will serve up jaw-dropping videos showcasing the achievements and adventures of their over 400 sponsored athletes and performers. Updates that include latest photos, videos and behind the scenes news to make sure you feel like you’re a part of the action.

Athletes like: Sebastian Vettel, two-time defending champion F1 champion and Blake Griffin, one of the top power forwards in the NBA. With the World of Red Bull app, you have access to their bios and their stream of content – written, photos and videos. These are among the world’s most exciting and highest-achieving performers, and now the World of Red Bull brings you closer to them and to the electrifying things they do than ever before.

If you’re using the app on a Lumia 920 or 820, you can pin your favourite athletes to your Start Screen and receive notifications when they add new content. It’s the next best thing to knowing them personally. You’ll always be up to date with the athletes, sports and news that matter most to you. The versions for Windows Phone 8 also will include NFC video sharing that will enable users to swap videos simply by touching devices.

With 800 global and local events, the World of Red Bull app makes it super-easy to find something exciting happening near you. Just open the map within the app (powered by the Nokia location platform in the Windows Phone 8 version) and find details about the events.

Getting to the venue is easy, too. Select the event you want to attend and Nokia Maps opens up, providing you with directions on how to get there.

Keeping track of all your favourite Red Bull content is easy with the My Red Bull feature. Simply pick an athlete, video, or event, and select “Add to My Red Bull.” You’ll find the “My Red Bull” tile in the app’s home screen. Tap the tile and find all your preferred content in one place. The customization doesn’t end there, though. You also can share events with your friends on Facebook or Twitter with the added benefit of being able to upload own photos or videos to help relive the experience.

The World of Red Bull is exclusively available on the Nokia Lumia 510, Lumia 610, Lumia 710, Lumia 800, Lumia 810, Lumia 820, Lumia 822, Lumia 900, and Lumia 920.

The World of Red Bull app will also be available on the Series 40 platform including Nokia Asha Touch and QWERTY devices.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

You’re probably familiar with the pace at which we are continuously updating our location-based apps like Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive, Nokia Transport and the acclaimed Nokia City Lens. However, one of your most frequently asked questions is how these apps get their data, in other words what’s the engine that make them work. The answer is very easy. All our location-based apps share the same technology core: the Nokia Location Platform.

It does not only power our location-based apps, but also Yahoo!, Flickr, Bing (therefore Facebook) and the whole Windows Phone 8 ecosystem. In more recent news, Amazon is licensing the Nokia Location Platform for maps and geocoding. Additionally, our maps power 4 out of 5 cars with in-dash navigation (e.g. BMW and Ford). All these companies decided to choose the Nokia because our competence in the location business is a key and differentiating asset, open to other leading players in the industry to offer great location consumer experiences.

Such a competence cannot be established overnight, it has to be meticulously built over the years to provide the best quality and richness of data. Nokia is strongly investing in this business, creating content, building a platform and offering consumer apps. This is the reason why Nokia is the only pure location player.

Going beyond a digital version of the paper map

Nokia realized soon enough the importance of location-based services on mobile and with the acquisition of NAVTEQ in 2006, Nokia also acquired over 20 years of mapping experience. That experience is living now in our location platform.

The Nokia Location Platform is the most advanced mobile location platform with a unique global footprint. It provides maps for almost 200 countries (with more than 100 of them navigable) and provides the best, automotive-grade map quality based on industry-leading technology. We have summarized all the platform attributes in the following infographic.

Because location is playing a central role in Nokia’s strategy, and because of its global footprint, quality and completeness of performance the Nokia Location Platform offers great opportunities for third parties to build upon. We provide the location platform solution they want, regardless of their business and/or screen strategy. We’ve invested in the platform, so they don’t have to, guaranteeing them fast, easy access to continuous innovation.

What this means for Nokia smartphones

Although the Nokia Location Platform is being offered to third parties for their devices and screens, it is important to understand the privileged position of Nokia smartphones in this context.

Nokia has a unique opportunity to build mobile devices and mobile apps made for each other. Not only our apps are optimized for our smartphones, but our experience in the location business gives us the chance to build mobile devices specifically designed to optimize consumer location experience.

Seven years ago we introduced the world’s first smartphone with GPS and navigation. Today, with the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820, we are introducing the first autonomously assisted GPS and GLONASS receivers that optimize the offline experience of potentially any location-based apps on our Windows Phone 8 smartphones.

Nokia Drive is a must-have app that any driver needs to keep in his or her app arsenal. That’s why owners of the new Nokia Lumia 920 or Lumia 820 will notice a tile on the Start screen encouraging them to download the latest and greatest version, called Nokia Drive+ Beta.

This version delivers some of the features you’ve previously requested the most, such as spoken street names and the ability to select which types of route you wish to use or avoid, like toll roads, ferries, etc. However, because this is still a beta version, My Commute isn’t included, but will be added in a future release.

Additionally, while we are still refining Nokia Drive+, for this Beta version, you must download street maps to get the full experience. This means that you can calculate a route completely offline and if you happen to enter a network/operator blackspot your navigated-journey will continue totally uninterrupted. So, make the most of the download function, following our step-by-step guide:

Set up Nokia Drive

Setting up Nokia Drive for voice navigation is simple to do. Firstly, select and download a suitable language voice file. This is the voice that’ll be telling you which direction to take when you’re driving.

Manage downloaded maps

The next step is to download the maps. Make sure you connect to Wi-Fi before you do this, then scroll through the country list to find the required map and select it to download it. You can add additional maps at a later date through the maps settings, or just select them all now to safe time later.

All of these settings can be changed when you first set up your phone. However, if you forget, you’ll be prompted to download the offline maps when you start your next journey.

And, as for selecting which route you want to take, you’ll see here some of the options available.

What do you think of the new additions to Nokia Drive? Let us know, below.

Lasers, satellites, holograms, smartphones and hoverboards: if there’s anything that science-fiction has taught us, it’s the power of imagination to make our dreams come – wait! Hoverboards?

Back in 1989, Robert Zemeckis’s Back To The Future: Part II reckoned that, come 2015, the humble skateboard would be no more, and we’d all be zipping about, without wheels. above the ground. Well, clock’s still ticking on that one, and though Matel claim to have a sort-of-hoverboard in development, it hasn’t hit the high street yet. While we wait, let’s look at five other unfulfilled sci-fi predictions

Cloned Dinosaurs

Okay, we’re not sure how this would benefit mankind, but we’ve been waiting to hear the real-life roar of a T-Rex since Jurassic Park stormed the box-office in 1993. Surely pterodactyls ought to be soaring around the Manhattan skyline by now? Sadly, Australian scientists say that although DNA strands could survive for up to 6.8 million years and remain readable for 1.5 million years, the last Dino went extinct about 65 million years ago – so the sums just don’t add up. But hey, at least we’ve had Dolly the sheep, right?

Moon Colonies

Not only are we not lounging on our space deck-chairs on the surface of the moon, squinting down at the distant Earth, but we haven’t even been back there since 1972! So much for Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Lathe of Heaven, Asimov’s The Gods Themselves, Wall-E and Moon, – not to mention huge swathes of Arthur C. Clarke’s writing! Our extra-terrestrial frontiersmen may still be grounded, but NASA’s right now got the unmanned Mars Curiosity rover uncovering all the Red Planet’s secrets – so maybe one day, we’ll all be Martians instead of Moon Men.

Teleportation

Star Trek has much to answer for, but the primary culprit is this: how come we still can’t zap ourselves from A to B? We’ve seen it in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Doctor Who, Stargate, Logan’s Run, and, perhaps most gruesomely, The Fly – but, in reality, scientists say that the most we can hope for is the teleportation of particles and information. China’s planning to launch a quantum teleportation satellite in 2016 to test this out. Now, that is pretty exciting, but in the meantime, it’s back to the bus-stop for us…

Nuclear Apocalypse

On the bright side, science-fiction has more than once foretold the nasty end of our cosy modern age due to some catastrophic nuclear holocaust. La Jetée, The Road, Blade Runner, The Hunger Games – it’s a long and growing list by a collection of rather pessimistic writers and directors. And yet, here we are, nearing the end of 2012, still more or less intact! We might not have robotic servants, but we haven’t blown ourselves sky-high. Phew!

Garbage Fuel

As well as hoverboards, Back To The Future (Part III, this time) suggested we’d solve both our landfill and our fuel problems in one convenient stroke by using our trash to power our equipment! Well, while this one isn’t quite as unrealistic as the T-Rex cloning effort, we’re not there yet. Scientists are working on thermo-chemical and fermentation processes to turn medical, radioactive, industrial, and municipal waste into fuel that could replace petrochemical products – and BA are looking into turning waste into jet-fuel! So perhaps Doc Brown wasn’t all wrong…

Clearly, predicting the future is a risky business even for writers who make it there business to do just that. If you think you can do a better job, why not dust off your crystal ball and let us know your predictions for the 21st century.

Image credit: Lee Jordon

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

First announced at Mobile World Congress 2012, the World of Red Bull app is now available exclusively for Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 and the rest of the Lumia family – as well as Nokia Asha Touch and QWERTY devices, too.

With this app, you’ll have access to behind the scenes footage of Red Bull athletes, updates on events as they happen, and lifestyle and music news delivered right to your phone.

Discover a world of sports, culture & lifestyle – to only name a few initiatives – such as Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship, Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour, Red Bull Stratos, Red Bull BC One or “Where the Trail Ends”.

The acclaimed Red Bull Media House will serve up jaw-dropping videos showcasing the achievements and adventures of their over 400 sponsored athletes and performers. Updates that include latest photos, videos and behind the scenes news to make sure you feel like you’re a part of the action.

Athletes like: Sebastian Vettel, two-time defending champion F1 champion and Blake Griffin, one of the top power forwards in the NBA. With the World of Red Bull app, you have access to their bios and their stream of content – written, photos and videos. These are among the world’s most exciting and highest-achieving performers, and now the World of Red Bull brings you closer to them and to the electrifying things they do than ever before.

If you’re using the app on a Lumia 920 or 820, you can pin your favourite athletes to your Start Screen and receive notifications when they add new content. It’s the next best thing to knowing them personally. You’ll always be up to date with the athletes, sports and news that matter most to you. The versions for Windows Phone 8 also will include NFC video sharing that will enable users to swap videos simply by touching devices.

With 800 global and local events, the World of Red Bull app makes it super-easy to find something exciting happening near you. Just open the map within the app (powered by the Nokia location platform in the Windows Phone 8 version) and find details about the events.

Getting to the venue is easy, too. Select the event you want to attend and Nokia Maps opens up, providing you with directions on how to get there.

Keeping track of all your favourite Red Bull content is easy with the My Red Bull feature. Simply pick an athlete, video, or event, and select “Add to My Red Bull.” You’ll find the “My Red Bull” tile in the app’s home screen. Tap the tile and find all your preferred content in one place. The customization doesn’t end there, though. You also can share events with your friends on Facebook or Twitter with the added benefit of being able to upload own photos or videos to help relive the experience.

The World of Red Bull is exclusively available on the Nokia Lumia 510, Lumia 610, Lumia 710, Lumia 800, Lumia 810, Lumia 820, Lumia 822, Lumia 900, and Lumia 920.

The World of Red Bull app will also be available on the Series 40 platform including Nokia Asha Touch and QWERTY devices.

Our good friend Patrick Hamilton Walsh from The Phoneographer and is: Nothing but a Nokia recently took his PureView 808 on a short but packed trip to see three cities, in three different countries, in, yes you’ve guessed it, three days! Capturing lots of incredible black and white photos along the way.

“Last week I obtained a Nokia PureView 808 and just by playing around with it I really liked the ‘feel’ of the Black & White images that it could capture. So, as I explored the three cities I continued to to capture images in Black & White, as it just seemed to fit the season”.

Here is a short slideshow of all the photos he took along his travels:

I’m interested to see if any of you can guess the three countries and cities that Patrick visited?!

If you missed Patrick’s Lumia 800 underwater photos then you might want to go diving into the post that Tom Hall wrote recently. How do you think the PureView 808 performed? Let us know in the comments, or on Twitter.

[Image credits: Patrick Hamilton Walsh]