New Nokia N8

The Nokia N8 comes with an array of applications such as free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, making this the perfect substitution for a Satellite Navigation system. The Nokia N8 boasts to take you exactly where you want to be, it also features information on 70 worldwide destinations, making it a great handset for those that love to travel.

The Nokia N8 offers an impressive total of 16GB of in-built storage space, however, if you desire even more storage this is in fact expandable up to a total of 48GB, which is available via the use of a Micro SD card. This enables users to send and transfer large files to a memory stick through the USB On-the-Go device.

Such a declaration is offering developers a new platform to work from. The Nokia N8 also comes complete with Qt, which is a software development environment that in actual fact simplifies the development. Such software makes it possible to create applications just once and then organize them across other software platforms, such as Symbian for example.

In order to enable developers to start grasping the prospective of Qt, Nokia has also made the simple to use Nokia Qt SDK available in its initial form.

The Nokia N8 will be going live late in 2010 and will be released only to select markets.

The Nokia N8 introduces the global device unveiling of the new Symbian 3 software; such software features an assortment of major developments and improvements. These improvements include a total of three personal homescreens, each are easily scrolled through by a simple touch of the screen.

A selection of improved usability options are also available, which feature across the user interface and include elements such as ‘pinch-to-zoom’ options and single tap and multi-tap support motions. Due to the new 2D and 3D graphics architecture, both quicker and more amenable user interface is available; this takes complete advantage of the all-new hardware acceleration. More applications can be run alongside one and another due to the highly efficient memory management, allowing users to multi-task with ease.

If you’re looking to buy the new Nokia N8, then check out www.phones4u.co.uk and find yourself the best deal.

RIM Reports From India

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion says news reports suggesting that it's close to an agreement to provide India with lawful access to monitor and access network data are "inaccurate" and "misleading."
One story CNET found, published yesterday in the Indian paper Mint, quotes an unnamed senior official from India's Home Ministry who said that an agreement is near that would give the Indian government access to the encrypted data on RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES).

"They have in principle agreed to provide us recorded data from their servers," the senior home ministry official said, according to Mint. "Now they have assured us that they will discuss the issue first among themselves and find a way to meet our demands. Later, they would be providing live access to BES."

The Mint story further said that RIM has already acquiesced to India's demand to monitor the BlackBerry e-mail service by giving the government manual access and will provide a final solution by January 31. Late last month, India called off a ban of BlackBerry services that was scheduled for October 31, citing an interim agreement reached with RIM. The Home Ministry also said at the time that RIM promised India it would offer a final solution by January 31, designed to give the government continued access.

But firing off a statement yesterday, RIM is denying and repudiating the new claims coming from the Indian media.

"RIM has once again found it necessary to address certain media reports in India containing inaccurate and misleading statements and information based on unsubstantiated claims from unnamed sources," the company stated. "Our customers can be reassured that the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution continues to be the gold standard for security-conscious organizations in India and worldwide. All our discussions with the government of India have been and continue to be productive and fully consistent with the four core principles we follow in addressing lawful access matters around the world. Any suggestion to the contrary is false."

In its statement, RIM reiterated its four principles for allowing access to its data, summarized below:

1) The access must be legal according to the country's laws and national security requirements; 2) access to data must be vendor neutral, so the same rules apply to other carriers as well to as RIM; 3) RIM's security architecture remains unchanged as a result of the access; and 4) no special deals for specific countries.

RIM has found itself in a difficult situation with India as well as other countries demanding access to the e-mails flowing through its BlackBerry network, all citing national security reasons. Though ongoing business with these nations and continued access to its customers are both vital to the company, RIM has insisted all along that the data on its network is encrypted and that it does not have the ability to hand over the encryption keys.

In its statement, RIM added that it fully expects the matter with India to be resolved satisfactorily.

RIM representatives were not immediately available for comment and further direction to other related Indian news reports. Nor was the Mint reporter who authored the aforementioned story.

gets your online deal now

Kenji Onozawa went to Best Buy at 4 a.m. on Black Friday last year searching for discounts on a Blu-ray player and a netbook.

Supplies of those hot items ran out before he reached the front of the line, however, and he left the store, sleepy and disappointed, with only a "Lion King" DVD in hand. All told, he said, it was "possibly one of the most miserable experiences" he'd ever had.

This year, Onozawa has given up real-world shopping. He plans to do all his gadget buying online.

"I can shop from my bed instead of waking up at 3 a.m. to wait out in the cold for three hours to fight everybody for 20 percent off more than that," the 29-year-old said by phone from Seattle, Washington, where he lives. "All I need is ... my pillow and my iPad and I'm good. I can do all the shopping wherever I am."

Share your pictures of Black Friday

While Black Friday -- the day after Thanksgiving in the United States -- is one of the biggest retail shopping days of the year, tech-smart consumers are increasingly turning to the internet for the best gadget deals. Last year, 84 million people in the United States went online from mid-November to mid-December to shop for gift items, which was up 12 percent over the year before, according to comScore, a company that tracks online traffic.

Furthermore, the growth in online purchases is expected to outpace that in brick-and-mortar stores this holiday season. Analysts are predicting 9 to 16 percent increases in online sales, compared to a 2.3 percent increase in real-world spending, as calculated by the National Retail Federation.
Attribute part of the trend to practicality, since people like Onozawa can stay in their PJs to shop instead of throwing elbows in madhouse crowds.

But penny-pinchers may also be driving the phenomenon. Many of the best discounts on electronics -- especially big-ticket items like TVs, laptops and gaming systems -- are found on the internet, not at retail stores.

Online discounts "are as juicy or even more appealing than what some of the retailers are promising on Black Friday," said Mike Gikas, a senior editor for electronics and technology at Consumer Reports, the nonprofit group.

Gikas advised people to stay away from the Black Friday mania "unless you like rubbing against people you don't know -- or getting trampled."

On the internet, particular days seem to have less importance than at retail stores. Wal-Mart, Amazon, Target and Best Buy are already offering online discounts on electronics that may match or beat Black Friday prices. Target.com, for example, is selling a Samsung HDTV for $50 less than Wal-Mart's advertised Black Friday discount price of $500, said Dan de Grandpre, editor-in-chief at DealNews, a website that tracks product discounts.

Other online deals may not surface until mid-December.

Because retail stores have overstocked their supplies of TVs, merchandise shouldn't run out and "the deals will get better, guaranteed, as you get closer to Christmas," said Gikas.

Some discounts may pop up online on Friday, in tandem with in-store deals. Apple, which isn't known for discounting its high-end products, says it will have a one-day online sale at Apple.com on Friday. The ad on its website makes no mention of a companion sale in Apple retail stores.

In recent years, a phenomenon marketers call "Cyber Monday" has emerged as a sort of online holiday shopping event. On the Monday after Thanksgiving, legend has it, consumers rush to the internet -- presumably from their workplace computers -- to shop for the rest of their lists.

But experts say that shopping holiday is largely bunk. The internet tracker comScore said Cyber Monday never has been the biggest online shopping day of the year. That day typically comes on a Monday in December, said comScore's senior director of industry analysis, Andrew Lipsman.

Still, the Monday after Thanksgiving is a bigger day for online shopping than either Thanksgiving day -- which has been talked about as the hot new day to shop online -- and Black Friday. Last year, Americans spent almost $900 million at online retail stores on the Monday after Thanksgiving -- compared with $595 million on Black Friday and $300 million on Thanksgiving Day, comScore said.

For people shopping for technology gifts both online and at real stores, there are a number of apps and websites to help the search.

Several websites, like DealNews, RetailMeNot and DealDump, aggregate online shopping deals in one place so consumers can find them.

But a simple internet search for a specific product may be all you need to come up with a good price comparison, said Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst at IDC, who recommends tech consumers avoid Black Friday entirely.

Smartphone apps and social shopping sites also are empowering consumers in new ways. The apps RedLaser and ScanLife, for example, let users scan product barcodes in brick-and-mortar stores and then see a list of websites that are selling that exact item, often for less money or without sales tax, as Slate's Farhad Manjoo points out.

Llamas said the smartphone is one of the consumer's "most valuable weapons."

"The best thing is you have your handy dandy barcode scanner app," he said. "Let that be your guide. Go to one store, look up the product and say [to a store employee], 'What can you do for me?'"

Consumers should also look for free shipping deals online. More than 40 percent of online transactions in April through June included free shipping, said Lipsman of comScore.

Sites that don't offer free shipping are also likely to lose consumers, he said.

"It's something consumers have come to expect," he said.

Onozawa, the Seattle shopper, is on the lookout for Microsoft's Kinect gaming add-on, an HDTV and maybe an MP3 player this holiday shopping season.

Instead of hunting around stores, he's watching Twitter feeds and browsing websites in hopes that he'll get the best deal.

"I'm already shopping online," he said, adding that it's easier -- and less terrifying -- for him than bumping shoulders with the retail mob.

Put down the smartphone and pass the turkey, site says

Was the turkey tasty? You don't have to tweet it.

A family viewing of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade might turn out to be as entertaining as "Call of Duty: Black Ops" if you give it a chance.

And maybe, just maybe, the folks around the dinner table are special enough that you won't need to text 20 friends to see if they're in a food stupor, too.

Those are the hopes of the folks behind"Offlining," a movement to put our precious gadgets aside this holiday. They're calling on the public to declare Thursday a "No-Device Day" and urging them to spend Thanksgiving actually engaging the people around them.

"Use the time you would have spent online to notice the people in your life who are thankful -- including you!" they write on their website, where more than 11,000 people had signed a virtual pledge Wednesday to do just that.

The Offlining site provides a bevy of humorous e-cards users can e-mail to their frends to urge them to take part in the offline day. Among them: pilgrims praying while one buries his face in a laptop computer, a cartoon turkey pointing a gun at a smartphone and an iPhone being sliced up like a Thanksgiving ham.

This isn't their first outing. For the Jewish High Holy Days, they launched a similar campaign with the tag, "You don't have to be Jewish ... ." Among them, a Tiger Woods image with the phrase "You don't have to be Jewish to atone for you texts on Yom Kippur."

Offlining founders Mark DiMassimo and Eric Yaverbaum are, perhaps ironically, marketing professionals who "devoted much of the last couple of decades to convincing you to log on, click here, call now, surf, search, pay bills in your underwear ... ."

They are decidedly not anti-technology, they say. But they say it's time to put things in perspective.

"We invent technology to be our servant, not our master," they write on their site. "So, we decided to strike a blow for mastery, with the aim of tilting the balance and putting humanity back on top where we belong."

To be sure, there's growing sentiment that people, particularly Americans, are becoming increasingly attached to mobile phones and other gadgets.

The Offlining folks may have an uphill battle. A survey this week suggested that most working Americans -- 59 percent -- will check their work e-mail at least once on Thanksgiving.

Web Infection

The number of Web sites infected with malware has doubled from a year ago to more than 1.2 million, according to a study released today by Internet security company Dasient.

Not only are social-media sites getting targeted, but sites of larger government agencies increasingly are hit, including the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Treasury, and the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the report. In the last two years, the NIH has been infected and reinfected five times, and the state of Alabama's site was infected 37 times.


More than 1.5 million malicious ads are served every day, including drive-by downloads and fake antivirus campaigns. Drive-by downloads on legitimate Web sites have become the most popular method for delivering malicious programs, overtaking the use of spam and e-mail attachments, Dasient said.

Correction, 1:03 p.m. PT: This story misstated the number of Web sites infected with malware. The correct number is more than 1.2 million.