Nokia in Symbian U-turn

Nokia has said Symbian will not be discontinued, despite a recent partnership with Microsoft to make Windows 7 the main operating platform for its phones, notes Computing.co.uk.

This is a U-turn on the phone manufacturer's original stance. Nokia plans to continue selling Symbian devices, because it is obliged to do so, according to several reports.

“Just because we are changing our direction in terms of a smartphone platform, it doesn't mean that the existing platform is completely broken,” said Vlasta Berka, GM for Nokia Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, at the unveiling of the E7 smartphone, in Singapore.

Google has stepped up its data battle with Facebook by blunting the social networking site's app on its phones, says the BBC.

An update for its latest mobile operating system will see users' Facebook contacts disappear from the phone's address book.

Google said it took the action as it was no longer willing to exempt Facebook from its data-sharing rules. The decision has been seen as indicative of growing tensions between the two Internet giants.

Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden in a sex crimes inquiry, a British judge ruled yesterday, rejecting claims by the WikiLeaks founder that he would not face a fair trial there, writes the Associated Press.

Assange's lawyer says he would appeal. Judge Howard Riddle rejected claims from the WikiLeaks founder that he would not face a fair trial, saying the allegations of rape and sexual molestation by two women against Assange meet the definition of extraditable offences and that the Swedish warrant had been properly issued and was valid.

Assange, 39, a key figure in the release of tens of thousands of secret US government and military documents, has been out on bail during the extradition fight. He has seven days to appeal the ruling in British courts.

Apple has updated the MacBook Pro family with next-generation processors and graphics, a new FaceTime HD camera and high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology, states The Gadgeteer.

The Thunderbolt I/O technology, previously known as LightPeak, supports high-resolution displays and high-performance data devices through a single, compact port.

Featuring two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps each, Thunderbolt delivers PCI Express directly to external high-performance peripherals such as Raid arrays, and can support FireWire and USB consumer devices and Gigabit Ethernet networks via adapters.