best cool pics: MeeGo Conference 2011 sights and sounds (video)

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

MeeGo Conference 2011 sights and sounds (video)

So the MeeGo Conference is winding down here in San Francisco and we have prowled the exhibitor area over the past couple of days to bring you a taste of what's stimulated our eyes and ears at the event so far. We got to play with the Indamixx 2 music tablet -- basically an iiView M1Touch Pine Trail tablet running an audio-optimized build of MeeGoo 1.2 Tablet UX, which features a customized kernel for more real-time control and better audio scheduling. It's expected to ship for $700 in "June or July" complete with DAW and DJ apps.

Next we came across a MeeGo-based in-vehicle entertainment system that's currently available in cars from Chinese manufacturer Hawtai Motor. The device is Atom-powered, includes 3G connectivity, and provides navigation, communication, audio / video playback (for both stored and streamed content), along with Internet access. We saw a MeeGo app that gathers contact information on a form, sends it to an NFC-equipped Nokia C7, and writes it to a blank RFID tag. The tag can then be read by any NFC-capable phone, such as Google's Nexus S.

A fun conference isn't complete without some games, and we were treated to a homebrew, QML-based Dance Dance Revolution clone running on MeeGo, written using just a few hundred lines of code. Speaking of QML, we got a demo of another in-vehicle entertainment system with built-in instrumentation. This MeeGo app was designed to interface with a MegaSquirt open source ECU and display engine and other car data on a set of virtual gauges -- this in addition to performing the usual audio and navigation tasks. Check out our gallery below, then grab a snack and hit the break for our 15-minute hands-on video.

Gallery: MeeGo Conference 2011 sights and sounds