Nokia mobile phone to China

Nokia has announced three mobile phone 6316s, 3806 and 1506 in China. Device runs on networks of CDMA standard and will be distributed mobile operator China Telecom.

Nokia 6316s endowed with multimedia functions, GPS, 2,2-inch display QVGA, 2 megapixel camera module and Bluetooth. The device supports networks 3G. Nokia 6316s offered in three colors: black, gold and red.

Elegant monoblock Nokia 3806 has a 2.2-inch display QVGA, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.1, a slot for memory cards. Phone available in black, white and pink-gold colors.

Easy Nokia 1506 will be available in two colors: black and purple. Make notes a small thickness of the model, metallic navigation key, voice recorder, speakerphone and high-capacity battery.

Nokia 1506 will be available in China by the end of 2009, while the Nokia 3806 and Nokia 6316s during the first quarter of 2010.

iPhone case also adds 8x zoom camera lens

Earlier this week, my iPhone 3G had an unfortunate run in with the tiled floor of my bathroom which resulted in the purchase of an iPhone 3GS. I’m loving the updated camera on the 3GS, but the good folks at USBFever asked me (via their Website) if I “want to turn [my] iPhone to superb stuff?”

I, like any iPhone owner, would love my iPhone to be superb stuff and that’s where the 8X Telescope with Hard Case for iPhone 3G/3GS comes in. As you might have guessed, the 8X Telescope with Hard Case for iPhone is an iPhone case with a 8x zoom lens—which appears to be almost as long as the product's name—attached to it.

To use, pop your iPhone into the case and snap it onto the included stand. You can now shoot photos or videos of things eight times farther away. The telescope attachment is fixed, so it's always going to zoom at eight times. There's also a manual focus for fine-tuning your image. Check out this kind of creepy YouTube video to see the whole thing in action.

8X Telescope with Hard Case for iPhone will start shipping on November 25th and will set you back $29.

Free Nero 9 Upgrade

 On the ocassion of the release of Windows 7, Samsung is offering a Nero 9 bundle for Windows 7 upgrade for free to the existing owners of Samsung/TSST drives bnundled with Nero 8.

The eligible models for the Nero 9 Essentials upgrade service include:

SH-S22A/L (TS-H662A/L), SH-S223B/L (TS-H663B/L), SH-S223C (TS-H663C), SH-S243D/N (TS-H663D/N) as well as the external SE-S084C.

The upgrade is available here.

The free upgrade offer will be valid until April 2010. Samsung /TSST models released after November 2009 will already include Nero 9 in their retail package.

Facebook Groups Hijacked By Online Activists

Members of the controlyour.info (CYI) group claimed on Tuesday to have seized control of nearly 300 Facebook community groups in an effort to draw attention to questions concerning online privacy awareness.

The activists discovered that many groups on Facebook were left without an administrator, after a Google search
. Then they joined 289 open groups and made theirselves administrators. Once they were administrators theyr owned the groups and could have changed any setting. However, they chose to change the picture, the name and the description of every group.

"Our intention was and is to restore these groups to their original form and find a suitable admin among the members. To be able to do this, we first backed up all the data we wanted to replace," the FYI members wrote in a blog post.

"If you chose to express yourself on the Internet, make sure the expressions are your own and not a spammers. This isn't some kind of scare tactic, nor is it a hack, it's a feature that can be used, and is being used, in bad ways."

The FYI members admitted that they had broken the terms of service, as defined in the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities of Facebook"You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission".

"We created fictive accounts for one reason: we wanted to put focus on our message rather than our persons. It also eased the process of joining and administrating this large number of groups," the activists added.

Garmin-Asus nvifone M20 Now with Windows Mobile 6.5

Garmin-Asus, a co-branded alliance between Garmin and ASUSTeK, today announced that the n?vifone M20?an phone is now available with Windows Mobile 6.5.

With Windows Mobile 6.5, the new n?vifone M20 boasts interface improvements, such as large touch-optimized icons and a streamlined Home screen, and comes preloaded with Facebook. In addition, users will be able to take advantage of Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile to download and install additional applications to their M20. The Windows Marketplace offers mobile applications for free or purchase, from important business tools to popular social networking applications such as MySpace to games. Last but not least, the new My Phone service offers a wealth of features such as data migration, data auto-syncing, backup and restoration, remote data wiping, as well as viewing, syncing and sharing of photos across PC, phone and web platforms.

Garmin-Asus has blended its signature navigation centric user interface with Windows Mobile 6.5. "Through its innovative integration of a phone, navigator, and browser, the n?vifone M20 is designed to enhance the lives of consumers today," said Benson Lin, Vice President and General Manager of the ASUS Handheld Business Group. "With Windows Mobile 6.5, users can enjoy the same great LBS (location-based service) features of the original n?vifone M20, but with a richer and more rewarding user experience."

The Garmin-Asus n?vifone M20 running Windows Mobile 6.5 will be available in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech, Turkey and other markets by the end of 2009.

Existing users of n?vifone M20 phones running Windows Mobile 6.1 are also eligible for the free update to Windows Mobile 6.5. Details on how to perform the update can be found on www.garminasus.com.

Microsoft Bans Xbox Live Users

Thousands of gamers have been cut off from Microsoft's online gaming service Xbox Live for modifying their consoles to play pirated games.

According to various online reports, 600,000 gamers may have been affected until now. Microsoft talks about a "small percentage" of the 20 million Xbox Live users worldwide that have been banned. The reason is that these gamers had modified their Xbox 360 console. This violates the service's "terms of use" and would result in a player being disconnected, according ot Microsoft.

Affected users no longer have access to Xbox Live, although their Xbox 360 game device is still working.

"To help protect that experience for our customers, the Xbox LIVE Enforcement team monitors the service for behavior that violates the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and Code of Conduct. Violations of the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and the Code of Conduct can result in a variety of actions, up to and including a permanent suspension of a console from connecting to Xbox LIVE," reads Xbox LIVE policies text.

Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb had warned Xbox Live users last week.

"We?ve been actively banning consoles from Xbox LIVE that have been modified to play pirated games. Our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox LIVE community remains a top priority. All consumers should know that piracy is illegal, and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs, violates the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox LIVE. The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive from manufacturers, retailers, and the third parties that support them. This would also be a good time to remind you that the warranty on an Xbox 360 console is not transferrable and if you purchase a used console that has been previously banned, you will not be able to connect to Xbox LIVE," Nelson wrote on his blog.

Many gamers modify their consoles by installing new chips or software that allows them to run unofficial programs. Some chips are specifically designed to play pirated games. According to Microsoft, when a console is suspended from accessing the service, it will display the following message:

"This console has been banned for violations of the Terms of Use. To protect the Xbox LIVE service and its members, Microsoft does not provide details about console bans. There is no recourse for Terms of Use violations."

Consoles can be suspended from Xbox LIVE for a number of reasons including, but not limited to:

• Console tampering: Physically opening the Xbox and modifying it to play illegitimate software.
•  Online fraud: Attempting to social engineer users, take over Xbox LIVE accounts, or other fraudulent activities.
•  Repeat egregious violations: Multiple actions taken on accounts on the console by the Enforcement team for disrupting the service or impacting users.

In addition, there are some reasons that a console could be permanently suspended from the service, Microsoft added.

The company did not provide details on how the Xbox team detects modified consoles.

"There are many factors that lead to the suspension of a console and we do not publicly disclose any of those details," the company said.

Earlier this month, Microsoft also released an update for the Xbox 360 that made unauthorized third party storage devices cease to work with the console. Apparently, 'authorized' storage devices extend as far as Microsoft's own products.