A few weeks after the first Elephant experience my partner and I decided to get our cameras out and go on hunt number too.
Below you will find loads more images of some of the amazing art we saw on this great adventure.
The Elephant Parade has now come to an end, however if you are still interested in buying some miniature elephants you can do so at Foubert’s Place until the 23rd July or Selfridges until the end of August.
The event seems to have been a great success with the main website saying the following with regards to the money raised.
From all of us at Elephant Family we thank, honour and salute you for your astonishing generosity.
Elephant Parade put a smile on your faces, but not half as big a smile as you have put on the faces of endangered Asian elephants.
We DOUBLED our target – a staggering total of 4 MILLION pounds!!!
You are the generation that have helped return the forests to the elephants – a true gesture of grace in perpetuity.
So sit back and enjoy the wild life.
I one thing I loved about this little adventure was that we also got to take in some of London’s wonderful sites.
As you can see above on the left that I managed to find the rare Green African Elephant
nothing like home chicken salad to to give you that energy boost that we need.
Hi Madeba
what better to do when you hot than to take a “shower” :-)
I loved the first teaser video that @Bennycrime made which we watched at the NokiaNav Finale.
Now the time has come to see the finished product of what was an amazing experience for everyone involved.
I don’t really think that I have to comment on the video as my comments and actions within the video speak for themselves. Embarrassing but funny and honest nonetheless. Enjoy and feel free to tease me about that funny little leap of love
If when doing the update OTA you end up with a screen saying the following:
Then this is what you need to do:
Connect your N900 to your PC via usb, selecting the “PC Suite” option.
Open up NSU and continue to search for an update of the firmware.
NSU will either give you the option to update to PR1.2 or it will tell you there are no updates ready for your phone.
What you need to do is continue by re-installing the same firmware you currently have(the older one PR1.1)
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU BACKUP YOUR DEVICE
Once the update is complete, disconnect your N900 from your PC.
Try again to update OTA on your Phone and when you reach the stage you got stuck at the last time you should see the below image.
The problem seems to be because the OTA system thinks that your phone is not ready to be updated to PR1.2 because of it’s current firmware.
Strange I know!!
Just wanted to make an update here thanks to @thefalken from rachaelandtom.info it actually seems that the reason people are getting this problem is because of not having (~55meg) free space on rootfs.
I hope this helps anyone who is having problems. If not please let me know and I’ll see what I can do to help.
N900 PR1.2 firmware is ready for UK users and from tomorrow will be ready for Global users.
This is not a joke, unlike the one made in April which fooled everyone he he he he read here. This might sound funny but one of the best things about this release is that all the millions of threads and online posts of people complaining about the delayed release of this firmware might finally stop.
I had problems trying to find the update using NSU so decide to go OTA.
The download as you can see is 113.6MB so if you don’t have a 3G data bundle I recommend you wait until you can find a wifi access point.
Some of the new functionality that I have looked at and liked so far:
The main UI menu has changed so there is now no “more” button which is cool because everything is on one screen and you can edit the position of your apps.
I’ve seen the option to do video calling but have not yet had the chance to try it out so watch this space.
Portrait mode when web-browsing is now in and is very cool (I love it).
Many more screens now have the ability to search by typing in letters from the keyboard (e.g App Manager).
At long last the long press for use of the symbol keys is in place, this is awesome
Ovi Maps now loads slightly faster and the GPS lock is extremely fast the UI has also changed.
The UI does seem faster at first glance and apps generally seem to open up much quicker which is also great.
I also noticed that there is a user guide for the N900 on the device (2nd icon Top right in the image below)
Here are few things that have bugged me so far:
I still find that I had to delete the birthday smart calendar and then added it again to get it working, this has happened after every firmware update and most people don’t realise.
I had some big problems trying to get Nokia Messaging working again with the default email client in the end something changed and started working again. Sorry I don’t have a solution here.
Most people are find things running faster but my App Manager is still a little slow.
I’ll do my best to test and try out more of the changes/fixes over the next few days.
I’ve done some reading over at Nokia Conversations and it turns out that on the 27th May that OVI will finally go live with changes for the N900 and we can expect some new games such as:
Thanks to @WOMWorld/Nokia and to the #NokiaNav Challenge (read here, here and here) which ended last Friday (14th May 2010), I’ve had the privilege of testing the yet to be released Nokia CK-200 in car Bluetooth car kit which was announced over at Nokia Conversations on the 4th May.
The finale of the #NokiaNav challenge was the perfect ending to an amazing week, with lots of great food, way too many beers and loads of funny, interesting and like minded people.
So what is the CK-200 and what makes it great you ask?
Not only is this a sexy looking device but it is very easy to use.
The big selling point for me on this little car assistant is the ability to connect to 2 bluetooth handsets at once. This is very handy for those with a business or personal device. It’s also practical when you and your other half are in the car at the same time, allowing both devices to be used for calling out and receiving calls. The CK-200 also has the ability of reading out SMSs and sending pre-defined SMSs.
The CK-200 comes with a small yet easy to use remote control:
The remote gives you full access to all the functions of the CK-200 from configuring volume; to deciding which devices are trusted; to downloading of Contacts from your phone. There is also a one touch switch phone button making it easy control the right phone.
I loved the fact that the size and design of the device has been done in such a way that the CK-200 is never a distraction. I only ever needed to look at it when it was safe and easy to do so. When looking at the display screen, it is very clear and uncluttered, making things very easy to read. For any in-car system this is a huge compliment!
After speaking to some of the other lucky #NokiaNav drivers, I was told that the Nokia kit doesn’t really get on well with Apple and as a result had some issues with connecting, remembering that this could just be a firmware issue, considering we had pre-production devices.
Somewhere in the middle of my 3rd or 4th beer I was lucky enough to get some Q&A time with the lovely Elina Paavilainen-Heikkinen who is the Product Manager for the CK-200.
When I asked about one of the issues I had which was the downloading of contacts from the N900 to the CK-200, I saw a smile and glint of frustration on Elina’s face. I was told that yes the N900 is not compatible with this feature and because of the contact/Bluetooth setup on the N900 it was probably not likely to happen in the future.
When I ask, “What is your best feature on the CK-200?” I got the reply that, the CK-200 team have many ideas and upgrades that they hope to implement in the future. She loved the fact that owners of the CK-200 could easily disconnect the system and install firmware updates from their home PC.
Now we all know how much Nokia users love their firmware, so this to me is also a really great feature.
The device is expected to launch this summer in the UK and at a price of €140 (price before taxes, subsidies, and installation), I expect this to be an important accessory for all the Nokia drivers, especially those now using the Free OVI Maps Voice navigation.
My biggest worry is about the Installation. The CK-200 needs to be installed directly into the cars radio/speaker system. Elina mentioned that they have designed the kit with minimal external cables to make this process as painless as possible. I’m also told that it is highly recommended that you get this installed by professionals.
So my question is will the need for professional installation going to impact on the sales of this lovely device?
Today was a very exciting and fun day out with my other half.
We decided to spend the day hunting elephants all around London. As part of the Elephant Parade in London 258 brighlty painted elephants have been placed all across London in the hope that people will become more aware of the problem that Asian Elephants are now facing.
Each elephant was painted by either a different celeb or artist with their own inspiration and ideas. All the elephants will be auctioned off at the end of the conservation event between the dates of 24th June – 4July at the Royal Hospital Chelsea so up and get out there. If you love the elephants as much as I have you might even want to buy some miniture ones which can be done from this site.
Before setting off you on your big hunt, be sure to plan your route carefully, because as we found the time seems to fly away, and the elephants aren’t always that easy to find. #
Something I haven’t mentioned before, is that along side the black box I found in the boot of the DB9, was a beautiful picnic basket.
AS you can there was a little note attached to the basket (WOMWorld/Nokia love there little notes), which said the following:
(Click to enlarge)
A strange challenge you might think to yourself, but I can see why they thought this might be cool.
Firstly in case you hadn’t noticed I have DB9 which means I’m probably going to do loads of driving to find just the right spot. Secondly I have an n97mini with Ovi Maps free voice navigation on it.
So before I tell you about my crazy and exciting picnic adventures let me tell more about Ovi Maps Free Navigation.
Nokia has recently entered the world of satnav’s and how better to do it than to simple through some free software on the millions of devices that are already out there! I found using the software really great and fairly easy to use.Tthere are a few more shortcuts that I would like to see on the map screen when you are following the map and perhaps a more filtered/organised way of saving/finding addresses. (I must admit I have only used it for a few days so I simply may not have found the easiest way to do things yet.)
The only two major problems I have had was a miss calculation when I took a wrong turn which resulted in my journey being extended for 1 hour (Do I have to repeat that I was sitting in a DB9 so I wasn’t complaining at all), the only other issue I had was my phone battery died, I can’t really blame the software for that he he he
Below are some screen shots of the Ovi Maps Navigation system:
The other cool thing about the navigation is that you can create your own custom voices, instead of having to select the default settings. Let me warn you that the Surfer dude guidance voice can be very annoying.if want to create your own voice head over to Ovi Store and download the app now or if you want to read more about it and listen to what other people have created go here
So now onto the good stuff… and before I start let me just say DON’T JUDGE ME
My first picnic was in the beautiful Wimbledon Common, it started out all pleasant as you can see from the images below.
As you can see the picnic basket was amazing, and so was the location that ovi took us.
If you have a sharp eye you may have noticed some tech sitting on the basket. It wouldn’t have been a real NokiaNav picnic without some Nokia devices.
These little bad boys took me by surprise. The sound is really good on them and they are very very compact. I am definitely going to get myself some for the future.
The adventures continued when I decided to ask Ovi Maps to take me to Windsor for some sight seeing.
I thought that having a picnic in the middle of town outside the castle wasn’t the best idea, mainly because people started pointing (Pointing is rude you know!!)
Luckily for me Windsor Park is a beautiful place to be and was not to far away from these very interesting postboxes.
.
Seeing as though I was in Windsor I thought it be wise to let my inner child out and visit LEGOLAND.
Unfortunatly for me it was closed, however this wasn’t going to stop me…
It was very funny when the security guards came out and asked what I was doing, to which I answered, “I came all this way, I might as well still have fun and take pictures”. It did help that I had a Aston Martin DB9 with me he he he.
Let me warn you though if you try to have to many picnics you might go a little crazy as the two images below seem show.
Like any great Sat Nav system, it is very easy to simple click on the map and ask to be taken to a petrol station or a museum or in my case a food location.
Drive thru style
Now you might think that there isn’t anything more I could possible say about driving or having a picnic. Well I you would be wrong! The best picnic to me always has to have two things.
1) something nice to eat
2) good sights
So what better picnic to have than to eat strawberries off of a Aston Martin DB9 in the middle of a park
Following on from my previous post about the beautiful DB9 in the house. Yesterday I arrived home after work to find @bennycrimeand @JoelFDiamond waiting with smiles to do some filming and get the #NokiaNav Challenge two on the go.
To start off with I was instructed to use the N97mini to download a new location via ovi maps. This was a very simple and easy to do synchronization process which took me minutes to complete.
Now that I “knew” where I was going, it was time to fill the car up. When I say fill!!! I mean to the top he he he. Lets just day the DB9 was not made for 4 people, however with me in the drivers seat I was more than comfortable.
After finding the best place to stick the N97mini with Ovi Maps and starting up the CK-200 hands free ki,t it was time to head off. The drive took me up to the beautiful Cannizaro House near Wimbledon Common.
I was then instructed to go inside and see if there was an envelope for me.
Indeed there was package for me, the funny thing was that the guy wanted to see ID which I didn’t have, luckily having the cameras with me made him realise I was the right man for the secret message.
Once again there was only mystery to be found in the envelope.
The first thing that popped into my mind was the big black box in the boot of the DB9 parked outside. So with no further delay I ran outside popped the boot, and started to open the box.
As you can see the good times keep rolling on. The black Box contained a set of BH-905 bluetooth Nokia Headsets with the following note:
Now that challenge two was over, all I need to do was get back into the beautiful car I’ve been given and burn some more rubber. (I thought I’d tease you all with some more images.)
If you have any questions regarding some of the nokia devices I have received please let me know and I will be more than happy to answer any questions.
You may have read my previous two posts here and here regarding the very mysterious #NokiaNav challenge and may still be wondering what is happening.
Yesterday afternoon I arrived at Heathrow Airport to this:
So things were starting to kick off but everything was still a mystery. On Saturday 4 other bloggers got some fancy cars from WOMWorld/Nokia which also related to the #NokiaNav Challenge.
I will no doubt find out more on sunday when I get back from Ireland what this all means.
In the mean time head over to the featured NokiaNav page at WOMWorld to who else is involved and what they think is going on or follow the chatter on twitter with #NokiaNav
Lastley there is a meet up that ties in with this whole event which you can find out more about at twtvite .
