After its October 6th release, the Smeegol project (an openSUSE interpretation of MeeGo, which we reported on), has been told by the Linux Foundation that it must find a new name. In a reply to the project, the Linux Foundation said the project's use of the Smeegol name would not beneficial to MeeGo. Read on for more details.

Nokia's Linux-based phone, the N900, has received an update to its Maemo 5 operating system, which fixes a long list of bugs and performance issues. The PR 1.3 (v20.2010.36-2) update is currently available to UK (and others) users via Nokia Software Updater (NSU) and over the air (OTA) download. However, as an alternative, users can also download images for their region from Nokia's tablet firmware repository. The update also offers support to MeeGo developers, wanting to develop applications ahead of device releases next year, by including the Qt 4.7 development framework and Qt Mobility 1.02. Read on for more details.

Toodledo is an online task manager with a vast array of options for managing everything from mundane tasks to large projects. While they do not yet offer a Symbian application, their "Slim" website offers a compelling browser-based replacement to the standard Symbian task manager. Read on to learn more about the wealth of features.

Watching the feeds and blog sites in the last week would get a hypochondriac very worried, as multiple sites are reporting a “dangerous and new threat” from touchscreen smartphones, specifically that there are highly infectious virii being transmitted by sharing phones (stories like ”The Ultimate Bacteria Carrier” being typical). Really? You know, a bit of research and some common sense proves exactly the opposite. If you want to read more than the first paragraph, that is.

Nokia has released their Q3 2010 results, reporting an operating profit of €529 million, with net sales of €10.3 billion. Nokia's device and service division's profits were €807 million, up 3% year on year. Margins in devices and services were 10.5% (down 0.9% YoY and up 0.9% QoQ). The figures beat market expectations. Converged devices sales (smartphones) were significantly up, at 26.5 million, compared with 16.4 million units in Q3 2009 (up 61% YoY) and compared with 24 million units in Q2 2010 (up 10%, QoQ).  Worldwide smartphone market share was 38%, down 3% sequentially but up 2% year on year. 

Ari Jaaksi, the vice president of MeeGo device at Nokia, has resigned according to a report in Finland's Talous Sanomat (via Engadget). Jaaksi has been at Nokia for 12 years and has been one of the driving forces behind the adoption of open source at Nokia, one of the most profound underlying changes in Nokia's software strategy in recent times. The move comes ahead of the widely anticipated release of the latest iteration of Nokia's Linux based device.

Navteq were present at Nokia World 2010, with one of their GeoData collection cars taking centre stage. They were also showing a promotional video of their LIDAR based 3D data collection system. Also on display was the first showing of a mobile client to actually make use of Navteq's 3D street maps, running on the Maemo-powered Nokia N900. Read on for more details and a demonstration video.

Proporta's range of mobile charger/battery packs has been perennially popular, every single winner on my Phones Show accessory giveaways has so far chosen the Proporta accessory. And with good reason. This, the latest in the line, is bigger and better in every way, with a whopping 5000mAh of charge ready to be transferred into any smartphones of your choice while out and about. Here's my illustrated review of the USB TurboCharger 5000.

One of the future technology demonstrations at Nokia World 2010 was an innovative system for providing indoor location services. Indoor positioning has always been a missing link in navigation software because GPS signals cannot penetrate into buildings. This new system from Nokia Research Centre has the potential to revolutionise navigation, providing a seamless transition between outdoor and indoor navigation. For example, allowing people to navigate to a public place, and then find their way around once inside, and much more. Read on.

Yesterday Nokia announced the official release of Qt 4.7, the latest version of the cross-platform application and UI framework. A key addition is the inclusion of the first stages of Qt Quick (QML and Qt Declarative), a technology that allows for the rapid development of user interfaces and closer co-operation between designers and developers. The Nokia specific (Symbian and MeeGo) version of the Qt SDK, Nokia Qt SDK, will add support for Qt 4.7 shortly.