Nokia knows how to throw a party; the booze was flowing and food was everywhere. I’ve never seen so many N95s in one place and not just the demo units but the ones brought in by guests. Getting a chance to talk with Nokia staff was the best part of the evening and I learned a few things about the U.S. launch.

Nokia isn’t responding to Apple’s launch of the iPhone. They’ve been planning a U.S. campaign for years and it seems the tall ivory towers at Nokia HQ were the cause for delay. It was largely an analysis and numbers game compared to Apple’s “innovation at any cost” strategy.

Nokia USA exec Bill Plummer thanked the crowd for being early adopters and spreading the word about Symbian. He went on to say, and it was mentioned by other Nokia staff and users, that the Nseries devices are for content-creators compared to the iPhone’s position of content-consumption. After witnessing the capabilities of the N95 I’d agree, but the “creator vs consumer” comparison changes based on the context.

Who, exactly, is creating this content with the Nseries and are they willing to spend $500 to $700 to do so? I have an unlikely, but perfect, target customer and it’s not college kids or aspiring YouTubers.

One word: parents.

It’s not always possible, or convenient, to have a still camera and camcorder lying around for capturing those spur-of-the-moment childhood memories but a mobile device is always at hand. The N95 grabs those memories with a 5 megapixel still camera and can capture full-motion video. It may not be HD but neither is my Digital8 camcorder.

What about the N95’s other multimedia features?

How better to silence an upset child than playing their favorite movie. I keep Pixar’s Cars and The Incredibles at the ready on my E61. I also load up on still photos because my son loves seeing his grandparents.

Movies and photos not doing the trick? Load up an educational game (a la the resurrected N-Gage gaming platform) to keep your child occupied while you wait in the pediatrician’s office.

What did I forget?

Phone-to-phone videoconferencing at a moment’s notice, wherever you are. Save money on your mobile bill with the N95’s built-in VOIP (a la Truphone or Gizmo) or the soon-to-be-released Skype client. Use the built-in GPS receiver and Maps application to find your way. Sync your calendar and address book. Read your e-mail.

Parents spare no expense for their children especially when it comes to taking photos and video. Is the ability to watch movies, videochat, have GPS, and use VOIP worth the N95’s $700 price tag? Let’s see what separate devices would cost you.

• 5 MP still camera: $250
• Camcorder: $500
• Video iPod: $250
• Portable GPS: $350
• VOIP phone: $150
• Total: $1,500

The N95’s feature set is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition and $700 is a bargain compared to buying separate devices. Dad and mom can have their own N95 for less than one set of cameras, portable GPS, etc. Some people don’t like an “all-in-one” device but the overall convenience and capabilities outweigh the negatives.

I almost forgot to mention the N95 can make an ordinary phone call.

Our home’s garage door uses two torsion springs. Torsion springs are wound tight on a long rod and provide the force required to effortlessly move the garage door up and down. Since they’re wound tight and under tremendous pressure they can be dangerous if they break loose.

Back to our torsion springs… One was broken and our new garage door opener was having trouble lifting the door. A local garage door business offered to replace the spring for $350 and after some Googling my father and I discovered this is a one or two hour job in the realm of $100-150 for labor. We also discovered a very detailed installation guide by Richard Kinch called “How I Replaced Deadly Garage Door Torsion Springs - And lived to tell the tale.”

At first I wasn’t sure about the sarcasim (or humor if you like) of his web page but further Googling revealed the answer. Everyone with an opinion (and access to the Internet) repeated what they’ve been told by others: DIY replacement of torsion springs is extremely dangerous and many people have been mained or killed through improper installation.

Duh. People are also killed by improperly changing a tire, smoking cigarettes, and having sex with an infected partner.

Yes, torsion springs are dangerous due to the forces involved but if you have a brain (step #1), read some instructions (step #2), get a friend to help (step #3), get the right tools (step #4), and take your time (step #5) the installation is a breeze.

Two torsion springs and installation bars from a local dealer: $70. Time for us to install: 60 minutes including take down of existing bar, springs, and fitting new springs.

Don’t believe the foreboding hype of decapitation as long as you understand the job and take your time doing it.

After a bit of waiting my inbox was greeted with an invite to GrandCentral. EDIT: I’ve got ten invites to pass out if anyone is interested. No more invites are left - I sent my last one today; thanks for some great emails. Contact me if you want one and tell me:

• How will this simplify your mobile device life?
• Do you intend to use it for work or personal?
• The URL of your favorite blog (not the one you’re reading now)
• If there was one thing you could do today that would make your life better tomorrow, what would it be?
• Your three favorite books
• Your three favorite films
• What you want to accomplish in life - your big dream

Why am I asking for all this? Because I hope to learn something from you and telling me what you’re up to in life might be a catalyst to make it happen.

P.S.: Don’t send me the names of books or movies or links that are illegal or obscene.

Ever since Microsoft led the charge with Windows 95 the traditional way of software versioning using decimal numbers (i.e.: Windows 3.0, 3.1, etc.) went out the window. Microsoft felt the consumer needed an easier way to know what they were running and they supposed Windows 4.0 was too difficult to remember. It turns out this was simply marketing mumbo-jumbo because Windows 95 still carried a decimal version number of 4.00.950 and undoubtedly you’d be asked to provide this when communicating with your tech support department.

Although Microsoft abandoned the use of a model year with Windows XP it still rears it’s head in some versions of XP. Consider this screen capture of Windows XP Tablet Edition and remember that the model year was intended to avoid consumer confusion.

That’s right: Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 Version 2002 Service Pack 2.

• So which is it? Version 2002 or 2005?
• Why didn’t the Version 2005 code supercede that from Version 2002?
• What is Service Pack 2 for? Version 2002 or 2005?
• Why isn’t it called Service Pack August 6, 2004?

I’m more confused than ever thanks to someone at Microsoft deciding how product names should be presented to consumers and clearly missing the point.

You may be wondering about the decimal equivalent of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 Version 2002 Service Pack 2. Surely it’s a wicked amalgamation of decimal points and numbers. No, it’s quite simple:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

I’m thankful Microsoft dropped the model year for Windows Vista because, clearly, it wasn’t working.

Final Cut Pro is a processor-intensive application. Not only does rendering in real-time take a considerable amount of your CPU’s power, so does capturing video. You don’t want to drop any frames when capturing because your Mac was busy checking your appointments in the background.

It’s recommended that you quit any software applications that might take processor power away from Final Cut Pro which includes Mail, iCal, and even Safari. If you’re like me, your menu bar has other software running like Plaxo, Nokia Multimedia Transfer, iGTD, Mozy, and a few others.

Before loading FCP I’ll manually close those applications and re-open them when done but there’s a better way using AppleScript. I whipped up a script to automate the process and here’s how it works.

• Modify the list variable to include the names of your applications to stop/start
• Save, compile, and run the script
• Click Stop and any open apps are told to quit; if one of them is already closed the script moves to the next app
• Click Start and any closed apps are told to open; if one of them is already open the script moves to the next app

This script is written to ignore any errors that might manifest themselves. I can’t imagine anything serious would arise from an Open or Quit command but keep this in mind.

Visit the Downloads page to grab the AppleScript.