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Facebook, Google- European privacy battle looms: European regulators are investigating whether the practice of posting photos, videos and other information about people on sites such as Facebook without their consent is a breach of privacy laws.

The Swiss and German probes go to the heart of a debate that has gained momentum in Europe amid high-profile privacy cases: To what extent are social networking platforms responsible for the content their members upload? continue reading…

Nokia and Intel are merging now: Nokia and Intel are to merge their top-end smartphone operating systems, they announced on Monday, as they face increasing competition from newcomers Google and Apple.

The cellphone industry has started to focus increasingly on handset services and operating software after Apple launched its iPhone and Google rolled out its Android operating system — helping to boost sales of top-end phones.

Now Nokia, the world’s biggest maker of mobile handsets, will merge its Linux Maemo software platform, used in its flagship N900 phone, with Intel’s Moblin, which is also based on Linux open-sourced software, the companies said on Monday.

“They have understood the only way to beat Microsoft and Apple is to do it through the scale — get the platform to more devices,” said John Strand, owner and chief executive of Strand Consult.

“However, they have not realized its not about getting to many platforms, its about making something the consumer likes — the bees don’t go for the biggest garden, they go for the most beautiful flowers,” Strand said.

Nokia rolled out its first Maemo phone — the result of a five-year development project — only three months ago, with analysts seeing Maemo boosting the firm’s chances of succeeding in the higher end of the market.

The market for software platforms on cellphones is led by Nokia’s Symbian operating system, but it has lost much ground lately to Apple, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and Google.

Nokia said it was still committed to using Symbian in most of its smartphones, but would use the new Meego in the most advanced models.

The software deal announced on Monday is also set to boost Intel’s chances of getting its chips into the cellphones of the Finnish company, which controls around 40 percent of the global phone market.

“We believe the partnership … will result in significant sales volumes for Intel,” said CCS Insight analyst John Jackson.(Source: Yahoo news)

Archos has finally unveiled Archos 7’s specifications. This Android-powered internet tablet features a 7-inch LCD display and an 8GB of storage capacity. The gadget also supports MP4, WMV, AVI, FLAC and FLV. The Archos 7 will be launched in March 2010 for £150 or around $242.

Apple iphone Backs VoIP Calls Over 3G Networks: Apple Inc. is allowing iPhone owners to use Internet calling services over cellular networks.

Several companies offering Voice over Internet Protocol — or VoIP — services said this week that Apple now allows their applications to work on the iPhone.

VoIP calling has been available on the iPhone, but only over Wi-Fi connections, which don’t have the range of 3G cellular networks.

Apple on Thursday confirmed the change and said it applies to applications for the iPhone and the new iPad tablet device unveiled this week, some of which will come with 3G capabilities.

Apple’s earlier decision to block a Google Inc. calling application triggered an inquiry by the Federal Communications Commission, which is investigating competition in the wireless industry.

Apple said at the time that it blocked Google Voice because the program duplicated some of the iPhone’s features, and that it was still studying the application.

Two months after the FCC sent letters to Apple, Google, and AT&T Inc. — the iPhone’s exclusive U.S. wireless carrier — AT&T said it had tweaked its technology to allow VoIP services on the iPhone to work over its 3G wireless network, even though the services challenge AT&T’s core calling business.

AT&T also revealed that Apple wasn’t allowed to enable any Internet calling applications that use AT&T’s 3G network without AT&T’s permission. Apple vowed to get VoIP applications into its App Store.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on Thursday praised Apple’s latest decision, calling it “an action that will create new opportunities for entrepreneurs and provide more choices for consumers.”

The much anticipated smart phone, Motorola Droid is on sale today in the US. Just to recap the features – it has a 3.7 inch , 16:9 touchscreen display with a resolution of 480×854. It’s also equipped with a 5 megapixel camera that supports 4x zoom, auto focus and dual LED flash.

The Motorola Droid is available from Verizon for $199.99 for 2-year contract and includes a mail-in $100 rebate. There is also a 12-month contract available which will cost you $269.99.

The HTC Droid Eris features a 3.2-inch capacitive touch display, a 5 megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, headphone jack, digital compass, voice dialing, GPS, full browser with Flash Lite, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, plus lots of Google services.