The Ranger supercomputer is the 17^th fastest in the world. It’s a Texas computational mega-beast with 62,976 processor cores reaching a peak performance of 580 teraflops, memory of 123 terabytes and disk storage of 1.73 petabytes.

Computer speed is normally measured by researchers in the number of floating-point operations per second (flops). Ranger has a peak performance of equal to 5.8 x 10^14 flops.

By comparison, smartphones do about 100 megaflops = 10^8 flops. So, you could say that Ranger is 5.8 million times faster. 

With power like that it’s hard to believe you could perform the same calculations on a smartphone with similar spec to a Nokia Lumia 800 or N9 as on a supercomputer – but researchers in the US have done just that.  

 A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard are about to announce a widely available app that can provide real-time and reliable simulations to the same problems – from a smartphone anywhere on the planet.  

That’s never been more relevant: Last year sales of smartphones overtook personal computers for the first time. A report by Canalys showed that in 2011 the number of smartphones shipped grew by  a massive 62.7% – with 488 million smartphones compared to only 415 million PCs.  

Sarah Perez on Techcrunch responded to the figures, asking “When will the post-PC era arrive? It just did.” Remember your kid isn’t going to get a desktop, she added – they’re getting a tablet, or a phone because “smartphones are PCs, too. The most affordable ones.”

The future of computing may be a little more complicated than that, but in essence we’ll be doing more of what we used to do on a computer – on our phones instead.

With apps like the one developed at MIT that could mean essential engineering and infrastructure – like building bridges – could be made more easily available on construction sites, and to communities in the developing world. The app could also be used for landmine detection, and determining the optimal shape for buildings.

 One of the project leaders, David Knezevic, said:

“Smartphones are the new frontier in computational engineering.”  

Knezevic, who is now at Harvard, first developed the app as a post-doctoral associate in mechanical engineering at MIT, working in the lab of Professor Anthony Patera.

 “At the moment all of this work is done on desktops, or supercomputers,” Knezevic said. “Its time consuming, and very expensive.”

The research team used the Ranger supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center to generate a small “reduced model” which was transferred to a smart phone.

This kind of model reduction has been used before; in October we wrote about the team of Danish scientists who have developed the world’s first mobile brain scanner using a Nokia smartphone.  

In this case, Knezevic believes the approach of the MIT team is distinguished by rigorous “error bounds” created using mathematical theories devised in Professor Patera’s labs. This tells a user the range of possible solutions, and estimates accuracy.

 For Knezevic the hardest part of the project was developing those mathematical algorithms: “It took a decade of work in the MIT research group.”

 The app uses a range of parameters that have been set by the user to draw data from the original supercomputer simulation.  By moving the slider bars on the smart phone, someone who wants to build a bridge can estimate stresses by changing the density of the material, or the thickness of the pylons.

The result is a 3D visualization, developed at MIT by Phuong Huynh. Huynh, who is originally from Vietnam, said: “What was really challenging is that a smart phone doesn’t have a lot of memory, so we needed to work out how to extract only the data needed to create what is visual. In other words, for the visualization, you don’t need to use all the data relating to what is inside – only what is on screen.”

It all began as a brainstorming session, according to Huynh. That session  turned into a research project – and is now soon to be developed more widely as an app on different smartphone platforms. Knezevic can’t reveal more yet, but expects full details will be announced within the next few months.

It will be the conclusion of years of work turning the most complex calculations into something simple, and user friendly. When you explain that it can solve, in a second, a problem that would take two hours on a supercomputer, Knezevic says that people, “instantly understand what it is all about.”

Knezevic adds that it is important to remember that the original simulations will still be generated on a supercomputer. Smarter smartphones don’t make computers redundant – a recent article in WIRED  by Robert McMillan highlighted the work of Wu Feng from Virginia Tech in making smaller supercomputers that can operate as business desktops, while Jason Perlow pointed out on Zdnet that ‘post-PC’ probably means greater integration between smartphones, tablets, desk tops and cloud computing.   

If the nature of those relationships have yet to evolve, everyone agrees that the future will provide a more integrated, and mobile, experience  - with small devices providing real answers to big problems.

Under the name of Nokia Maps Suite we have, in fact, packaged a series of tools that will help you experience adventures everyday: Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive and Nokia Public Transport are just the beginning. You are going to love all the apps included in the newest release of Nokia Maps Suite. Just point your browser to Nokia Beta Labs to download it now.

With Nokia Maps you always know where you are and what’s around you thanks to our impressive coverage of over 190 countries and tens of millions of points of interest (POI). To find more easily the place you are looking for we are testing voice search in English language, in the UK (it only works if you have a UK SIM in your Nokia smartphone).

Geotagged photos and contacts on your Nokia smartphone are now displayed in Nokia Maps, which is therefore getting more personal. You can see all your memories on the map and immediately recognize home or office addresses of the people that matter to you. To use this feature, of course, you have to save the location data of your photos and save addresses in your phonebook.

Nokia Drive has been updated too. First of all with there’s the same voice search engine we are testing in Nokia Maps (same conditions apply). But I know from Twitter that many of you will be happy to use the multi-point route planner we have included. And when you have created your favourite route you can easily save it on your Nokia smartphone with Nokia Belle.

If you love traveling with buses and trains like I do, you are probably already using Nokia Public Transport. The version included in Nokia Maps Suite beta has a more extensive coverage and a new algorithm that calculates the best route to your destination. The feature I love the most is the possibility to save my favourite destination on the app home screen. In addition to this, there’s also the possibility to start Nokia Public Transport from Nokia Maps by long pressing on any point on the map.

Nokia Maps Suite also brings you the latest weather forecasts. This is useful when trying to decide if you need an umbrella, or not, before you walk out the door. But, you can also look at the weather for almost any area (we support more than 100) you want. Whether it’s your next travel destination or where the people you care about live. All one swipe away.

Two home screen widgets are included in Nokia Maps Suite, too: My location and Places. With them you can save among your favourites and share with your friends either your location or a nearby place. Directly from your home screen.

I’m sure you are going to enjoy this beta release of Nokia Maps Suite but remember to leave your feedback at Nokia Beta Labs. This is how we can fix small imperfections and improve your Nokia Maps Suite experience.

If you’ve not updated to Nokia Belle yet and are wondering why you should, there are plenty of reasons, explains Vesa Jutila.

“Nokia Belle will transform the experience that existing owners of Nokia N8, E7, C7, C6-01, X7, E6, Nokia Oro and Nokia 500 devices will have been used to on their phone. By migrating to the Nokia Belle operating system and the significant improvements it offers, users will effectively be getting a brand new phone out of their existing handset.”

We think – as do the majority of you – that Nokia has done a great job on releasing Nokia Belle across most of the globe at the same time. However, it seems some people are unable to download in certain countries.

Nokia Belle is specifically tailored to each phone model and variant, which means that updates for some variants are at the moment still under creation. As usual we don’t comment on timelines, but your phone will notify you once the update is available (just switch on the software update auto-check in your software update app). We are also working very closely with our operator contacts to get operator variants tested and approved. Some countries and operators have nevertheless decided to not make Nokia Belle available due to technical reasons. In detail that means, if the information in the availability page states “Nokia Belle not available” the update unfortunately won’t be released for this variant.

We’ve received word today that countries where Nokia Belle is not currently available, might be available, soon. So, keep your eyes on that roll-out list.

We asked Vesa about the availability of Nokia Belle.

“Yesterday, we started to offer Belle downloads in more than 120 countries, and we are happy that many consumers have already downloaded Nokia Belle and are pleased with what Belle can offer them. We are working hard to get Nokia Belle available in more countries and for more variants as soon as possible, including Nokia 500. The schedule for that device is a bit different due to its technical specifications, and we will share more information once Belle is ready for Nokia 500, within the next few weeks.”

This means that Nokia Bells for Nokia 500 is coming, but Nokia can only release it as soon as it is ready. We’re sure you can appreciate that.

For those that have checked the roll-out status list, you’ll have seen that certain product codes are listed along side phone model numbers. This lets you know if you can update, or not. Some people are concerned their product code isn’t on the list. We asked Nokia this question and got the following information:

We are constantly adding more product codes to the Availability page.

You can also switch on the software update auto-check in the software update app on your phone that will notify you as soon as an update is available.

We also asked about the widgets that were spotted in previous Nokia Belle videos, such as the weather widget.

The widgets included in Nokia Belle are the same across all devices, and thus the Nokia Belle update for N8, E7, X7, C6-01, C7 and Nokia Oro includes the same widgets as the Nokia 700, 701 and 603 launched last year with Nokia Belle. Unfortunately, the weather widget is not available on Nokia Belle as it was a concept that was in the end not included in the final software version.

Some people owning older Nokia phones, such as the Nokia 5800 or Nokia 5230 are asking if they can update to Nokia Belle? The answer is clear.

Unfortunately, Nokia Belle is available only for Nokia N8, E7, X7, E6, C6-01, C7 and Nokia Oro (and Nokia 500 soon). We regularly deliver software updates to all Nokia phones to give you both performance improvements as well as additional features.

We hope this answers some of your questions. We are working on provideing more.

We’ve all been there. Delved a hand into our right pocket, gasped in horror at the lack of mobile phone and then delved into the left one hoping that we carelessly placed the phone in the wrong place, only to find that your phone is not where it normally is. Whether your phone has been stolen, or you’ve simply lost it, there’s no doubt you’ll want it back.

Before you find yourself in the situation above, first make sure your Nokia Lumia 710, Nokia Lumia 800 or Nokia Lumia 900 is set up correctly.

You’ll want to add a password to your phone so that if anybody were to get hold of it, they’ll never be able to get past the lock screen.

From the home screen, swipe to the left to bring up the applications list and from there find the settings option. Under lock + wallpaper you’ll find the option to turn the password on, or off. Once you’ve entered a very memorable number you can select how often you want your phone to ask you for this password. Ideally, the shorter time the better. This will reduce the chance of people getting their hands on your information.

Once you’re back at the settings menu, select the find my phone option. Tick the two check-boxes that ask to connect to these features more quickly and to save your location every few hours for better mapping. You don’t have to check these boxes, but it will make locating your phone quicker – should you ever need to.

Check out the new Nokia Lumia 900

All about our biggest, thinnest smartphone.

Exclusive to AT&T in the USA

Should the unfortunate ever happen, you’ll need to log onto https://www.windowsphone.com and look for the My Phone tab at the top. Once you’ve signed in using the same Windows Live ID your phone is signed in with, the left side of the screen will host your phone details, including: the name of your phone; model number; and your phone number. Sitting underneath these phone details is where you’ll head if you ever want to be reunited with your Nokia Lumia.

Providing your phone is turned on, you’ve got the ability to find it. Find My Phone will initially show you a map of the world with no specific location. Once you hit the button to find your phone, the service will take a few moments to pin-point your precious phone, using a map, so you know exactly where it is. You could then go and collect it if it’s a familiar place. However, if it’s showing that your phone is somewhere you’ve never been, chances are it’s been stolen and in the hands of a thief. It’s probably wise to phone the police at this point.

If the map shows you that your phone is still in your house, or in that café you were just in, you could select the Ring option. A ringing sound – different from the one you’ve selected as a ringtone – will lead the way to your phone. You can also use this in reverse and use the system to trace you. This could be useful when you are going off on a trip or skiing, for example. Simply give your log-in details to someone you can trust and keep your phone on and they can use it to find you.

If you’ve set your lock screen password to 30 minutes and it has just been stolen or lost, you can force the phone to lock. Again, at https://www.windowsphone.com and under My Phone you can press the Lock option. With this, you can also send the ring tone so that whoever has your phone knows you’re onto them.

If the worst comes to worst and you’ve not been able to trace your phone but you’ve got loads of important information stored on it that you wouldn’t like in the wrong hands, you can erase everything on the phone, from your computer. Select the Erase option and your phone will be wiped. Obviously, only do this if you’re absolutely sure you can’t get the phone back.

Have you secured your Nokia Lumia phone?

Image credit: Ev0luti0nary

GLOBAL – We know that the Nokia N9 has a lot of fans among Conversations readers. Heck, it’s such a lovely phone with some very cool innovations that you can’t find elsewhere.

But is it perfect? Well, that’s a matter of taste. Maybe no phone is ever perfect. Happily, though, people have been busily tweaking their N9 to make it behave even better. These are the hacks I’ve got installed. Maybe you have some of your own favourites. In which case, leave your comments below.

Make your calendar cooler

There are a number of programs designed to better integrate the N9’s calendar into the phone. The one I’m using is Organiser Feed, which does two useful things.

First, it makes the icon on the launcher screen reflect today’s date, rather than the 12^th, which is only correct 1/30^th of the time.

The second part of the program adds your forthcoming events to the notifications screen, which is really useful.

Completionists might also want a real-time clock for their launcher icon. I’m not so sure this is necessary, since you can see a clock any time you look at the standby or lock screen.

Connect your contacts

One very useful thing that you can do with both Windows Phone and Symbian based phones is put your most-used contacts onto your home screen, so you can get in touch with them without having to go through the address book every time.

You can’t do that on a Nokia N9 out of the box, but now you can with ContactLaunch. If a lot of your phone use is contacting the same few people, then it really cuts through the palaver of making a call or sending a text. This is the only paid-for item in this list. It costs £1.

Sorting out Swipe

The no-buttons, three screen interface of the Nokia N9 has been greeted with acclaim. But there’s something a little quirky about it. If you swipe to the left from a running application, it takes you back to the home screens. But which one? Sometimes it seems random, or it’s never the one that you actually wanted, which is another two swipes left. [There is actually a logic to this: it takes you back to the screen you launched the app from, but it’s easy to forget how you arrived at your current app].

Anyway, there’s no need to play Home Screen Lotto if you install Swipe Manager. You can simply decide what direction means what: if you want a left swipe to take you to the launcher, and right to take you to the task manager, then you can have this, or the reverse, and the same with upwards and downwards.

So what are you ‘must-have’ tweaks for the Nokia N9 interface?

Nordic Choice Hotels and OpenWays have teamed up to produce Mobile Key DUAL© with Pure NFC.

The program changes the way people access hotels to make the whole process much quicker and easier for the customer. Nokia is helping, too, and supplying a whole heap of Nokia N9′s to the cause.

Nordic Choice Hotels is the leading hotel chain in Nordic countries and OpenWays is the leader in hotel access via mobile phones. So, it makes perfect sense that the two companies would want to work together for this program.

In the spring of 2012, these two companies will kit-out several hotel sites – yet to be announced – with Mobile Key Dual combining CAC™ (Crypto Acoustic Credential) and NFC technologies onto their hotel room doors. Pure NFC means there’s no need for operators to get involved and instead anybody wanting to use this technology, can. Providing you have an NFC-enabled phone.

The aim of Mobile Key DUAL© with Pure NFC is to offer all hotel guests the option to bypass the front desk, go straight to their rooms and simply gain entry by presenting their phone against their room lock. The digital key is sent to your phone via a data connection of any type once you’ve registered and open up the app.

Mobile Key also works in tandem with key cards said Pascal Métivier, Founder and CEO of OpenWays:

“It is a mobile based front desk bypass solution. It’s an optional service offered to guests that prefer not to stop at the front desk and it’s all about freedom of choice and efficiency. Many travellers wish to go straight to their room after a long journey rather than having to go to the front desk for a traditional check in.”

This makes standing in queue at the check-in desk a thing of the past. Instead, just walk into the hotel, go straight to you room and use your NFC-enabled phoned. No waiting for the person in front of you to settle their bill. No filling in forms. No waiting for room allocation. Just walk in and check in at the room with just a touch of your phone.

As part of the deployment with Nordic Choice, Nokia provided Nokia N9 handsets which have been provisioned with a special app that’s been developed using Qt. This app is the interface between your room lock and your phone. It enables you to check-in, check-out or even displays a map of the how to get to your room, should you need it.

With NFC-enabled phones gradually hitting the market – and Nokia declaring that all future Symbian phones will have NFC – anybody with such a phone should be able to interact with the world around them, by just touching their phone against it. The Mobile Key DUAL© with Pure NFC is another great example of technology being used to make the mundane things in life less boring and time consuming.

Would you use an NFC-enabled phone as an access key? Let us know, in the comments section below.

Image credit: Bohman

GLOBAL - This time next year, you could be a millionaire game developer – with the right idea and a little help from a man called Aaron Reed.

The software engineer –  from at Neumont University near Salt Lake City, Utah –
has written a book on developing games for Windows Phones and he reckons the whole process is pretty easy.

To build games for Xbox 360 and Windows Phone, you need to learn Microsoft’s XNA 4.0 development framework. And this book claims you can achieve that—even if you have no experience of developing games. There’s also plenty of help from Microsoft at the Xbox developer site (above).

Says Aaron: “For the first time in history, developers can write games for PC, a next generation console like the Xbox 360 and a next generation smartphone like Windows Phone all with the same code base.

“The gaming industry is booming and continues to grow. With hardware advances being made daily and the push toward mobile devices becoming more powerful and interactive, the industry is as exciting as ever.”

Beginners will find several XNA key concepts hard to grasp but the book, called  Learning XNA 4.0 (O’Reilly Media), walks you through each step.

Each chapter takes the form of a lesson, complete with diagrams, examples and exercises. There are also tests to check that you get each stage of the program.

You can learn development from 2D animation to 3D cameras and effects, have a look at high-level shader language (HLSL) and build three games using 2D, 3D, and multiplayer techniques.

OK, it might not make you a millionaire, but it could help you get a new job.

When we announced that Nokia Belle was coming soon, we meant it. Starting today, with Nokia Belle, you’ll be able to transform your Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia E6, Nokia X7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7, or Nokia Oro device, by adding a whole load of enhancements. For Nokia 500, Nokia Belle will be made available within the next few weeks.

Nokia Belle delivers more personalisation options than before. You can have up to six home screens that are easy to personalize, leaving all your favourite applications and services only a few taps away. New larger live widgets display what’s really important to you right onto the homescreen, so you’ll always be kept up-to-date. Want to place a shortcut from one screen onto another? That’s simple. A long press and a drag to the side of the screen moves it to that screen.

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The new and improved Nokia Belle interface also includes new features like imaging applications with HD video recording at 30 frames per second and a visually improved browser enabling high-quality browsing and viewing of Web videos. The menus have been simplified and a notifications bar has been added to make accessing key settings or features, very fast. Plus, with Belle you can also boost your productivity on the go with a wider selection of powerful Microsoft® Apps, such as Lync and OneNote that will soon be available for free download on top of Nokia Belle. Stay tuned – more details to follow shortly!

Nokia Belle will be available in the majority of the markets today, including countries like India, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Poland, UK, Germany, Italy, Vietnam and Indonesia. You can check the availability of Nokia Belle in your country in our Nokia Belle pages – including the Nokia Belle update rollout status.

As Nokia Belle is a major update, you’ll need to connect your phone to a PC to perform the update. To start, make sure you have the latest version of Nokia Suite (3.3 or later) running on your computer, and then connect your phone to the computer with a USB cable. For a step-by-step download tutorial, there’s a video available that tells you everything you need to know.

If you’ve got any questions about Nokia Belle, you could try the frequently asked questions page that explains all. We have also now published another post in an attempt to address many of your comments.

Have you upgraded your phone to Nokia Belle? What do you like most about it? Let us know, using the comments section below.

Update Feb 8: your Nokia Belle download FAQs answered.

PORTLAND, OR, United States – The 2008 election that put Barack Obama into power was a watershed in so many ways but perhaps most notably it defined new ways of reaching voters and catalyzing a constituency eager to see new leadership in the Oval Office.

Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign was executed in a way that took advantage of new communication methods, mainly in mobile and social media. These enabled his campaign workers to more effectively reach out to voters and volunteers and persuade them to become active participants in the campaign.

In 2008, Obama had active profiles in more than 30 social media channels. Also, and maybe more importantly, he utilized mobile phones to speak to, encourage and amp up eager fans and followers.

To pull this off, in 2008, the Obama campaign collected 3 million phone numbers in the lead up to the campaign. By announcing his choice for Vice President via text message, he pushed SMS into the forefront of his campaign’s communication strategy.

There’s a very good reason to rely upon SMS as a method for mobilizing voters and support. Traditional methods such as knocking on doors and computerized calls (called robo-calls) to traditional phones can cost in upwards of $20-30 per vote. Alternatively, SMS messaging is cheap, fast and efficient.

Another strategy developed by the Democrat campaign in 2008 was the Barack Obama smartphone application, which informed users on upcoming appearances, photos, video and messages from the candidate.

Fast forward to 2012 

With the proliferation of smartphones in the United States in 2012, where some 40% of Americans are toting smartphones these days, mobile apps and even text messaging will be even more of a force for campaigns.

Just as in the 2008 election, Barack Obama’s campaign is the most forward thinking, judging by the mobile optimized site the campaign has in place.

At this point, hardly any of the Republican candidates who are locked in activity surrounding the primary election have embraced their mobile campaigns. Of the top three front runners, including Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, only Romney has a mobile-optimized website.

Social media alive and well in 2012 campaigning

In an online age where almost 82% of American adults receive their news online, which candidate will win the social media fight?

Since 2008, a lot has changed in the world of online social media.  Looking at Facebook: in 2008, there were 44.3 million Facebook users, now there are more than 143 million. Twitter’s numbers tell a similar tale: in 2008, there were 3.4 million tweet-talking users and now there are 24.1 million.

As a result, Americans expect their candidates to be active online, as Mashable reports, 62% of Americans believe candidates should have an active social media presence. 

So, which candidates have the biggest following online? Let’s look at Twitter numbers to compare.  Barack Obama has 12.3 million followers whereas Newt Gingrich as 1.4 million. Looking more at the Republican side, Mitt Romney has nearly 308,000 followers on Twitter; Ron Paul has 221,400 followers and Rick Santorum closes out with 102,000.

Looking ahead

As the numbers speak, it’s obvious that the trend in how Americans consume news is translating into a new reality where candidates must operate in two worlds. The first being traditional communication, which means kissing babies, holding press conferences and making stump speeches.

However, a second medium of social networking and mobile phone marketing has now emerged as a new way to attract voters. As the 2012 starts to heat up going into Spring, Republican candidates will likely mimic Obama’s successful campaign of 2008. 

Are you up for engaging with candidates via mobile messaging and social networking? 

Sound off below.

Image credit: debaird and Tony the Misfit

The Nokia Lumia 800, dubbed the first real Windows Phone, has been turning heads ever since it was launched back in October, thanks to its stunning curved design in cyan, magenta and black.

But news of the phone’s launch in white today is the icing on the cake.

In white, the smoothly-crafted polycarbonate unibody case perfectly offsets the uniquely curved ClearBlack touch screen.

It is the ultimate minimalist colour scheme to emphasise the purity of the phone’s design, allowing the live Windows tiles and images on the display to come to life with no distractions.

And it adds a fourth choice to the Nokia Lumia 800 package in stores, giving the smartphone a unique presence in the style stakes.

Adopting the same shiny white that has already appeared on the N9, this design stands out in a crowd like no other phone. Nokia Conversations colleagues who have tested it in public have been approached by total strangers asking where they can get one.

This is no spray-on finish. Like the other Nokia Lumia 800’s colours, the unibody polycarbonate is dyed all the way through and milled like metal to give it the high-tech feel.

And, like all Nokia Lumia 800s, this white edition can only be fully appreciated when you hold it in your hand and tap the screen to try its premium smartphone features including, fast Web browsing, apps, music, Nokia Drive (the free turn-by-turn navigation system), and Nokia Maps.

Not forgetting its use as a phone, with superb, clear reception via its superior antenna, engineered to prevent losing calls, thanks to the choice of a polycarbonate casing instead of metal.

The white Nokia Lumia 800 is due to be rolled out first in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Finland, Poland and Switzerland, with other countries to follow.

Now find out how Nokia designed the white Lumia. Visit the Nokia site for more details. And feel free to download our exclusive images at the bottom right of the page.

Keep your eye on Nokia Conversations for details of when and where the white Nokia Lumia 800 will go on sale later this month.

Photos by Leo Acker