Using Queen BeeCon to get an HTC-style clock/weather homescreen widget

A noticable feature of HTC's Android phones is the large flip-clock weather widget on the homescreen. In a tutorial, Talk user "prozac786" shows how to create one on Maemo 5, using the Queen BeeCon widget manager system: Since there have been a lot of requests and demands for this and the current instructions aren't exactly clear for the basic user to understand, I made a simplified guide on how to get the HTC style Flip Clock/Weather Widget for your N900. This guide is based on my personal experiences yesterday, and literally yesterday I had no idea on how to create this widget, but now I have done it!

Sygic's "Aura" maps update not coming to Maemo

Another casualty of Nokia's faltering and unclear corporate strategy when it comes to all things Maemo and MeeGo, Sygic has announced they wont be releasing their free 3D GPS navigation application Aura for Maemo: We developed our app for Maemo because at that time it seemed that Maemo is going to be a big market. If we knew from the beginning that the OS will stop at one phone, we may have decided not to develop for Maemo at all. [...] We ported Aura to Maemo but decided not to deliver it. Delivering an app to customers is for us a long term commitment to work on the app, to improve it over time. We do sell Mobile Maps for Maemo still because we think the app is of decent quality. Aura has been developed as a new app from the scratch and we may need a few updates to stabilize it. This would consume a lot of resources internally. [...] We are humble developers, we have to adapt... and not hurt customers in the process. For this reason, rather no Aura for Maemo than a half developed one. Although disappointing for those of us who elected to to buy into and support Nokia's open source adventures, it's hardly a surprising result of the recent business decisions, and certainly not something we can blame the developer for.

Updates to NewsFlow - multi-platform Google Reader client

Tommi Laukkanen is producing an increasing number of cross-platform applications, with TwimGo, Kasvopus and NewsFlow. This time it's NewsFlow which gets an update: Good way to start Easter holidays is to write few lines of Qt/QML/JavaScript. Now I spent some time with the NewsFlow app, which is a Google Reader client for Symbian, Maemo and MeeGo devices. Other features in this release include sharing to Facebook/Twitter; improved N900 integration, and UI improvements for unread items.

The app, for Symbian and Maemo, is downloadable from Tommi's Forum Nokia page.