Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President in charge of Mobile Solutions (Symbian and MeeGo devices) and a member of the Nokia Group Executive Board, has resigned. He will work out his six month notice period, will continue in his current tasks for the time being and will be attending Nokia World. Coming just days after the appointment of Stephen Elop as the new CEO of Nokia, it seems very likely that Vanjoki was one of the internal candidates passed over for the job, consequently he has decided to move on.

Nokia's Board of Directors has appointed Stephen Elop, currently head of Microsoft's Business division, to replace Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo as CEO of Nokia as of September 21st. As a Canadian, he becomes the first non-Finn to lead the company, reflecting Nokia's increasingly global management and work force. The market is responding positively to the news, with Nokia shares up 5% in early trading.

In two weeks time, at the IBC conference, Amino Communications will be showcasing its Amino Freedom product, a a set-top box powered by MeeGo. It is a hybrid / OTT (Over-the-Top) device, which delivers additional content, via an Internet connection, supplementing the traditional digital (DVB-T) transmissions. It is has the full Internet (including Silverlight and Flash support) access via a browser, acts as a PVR and is able to access a home network (UPnP / DNLA). 

TAT (The Astonishing Tribe), a company specialising in the creation and licensing of mobile user interfaces, believes that "tablets as a radically different type of device" and that this has important implications for user interface design. They have released a video showcasing their Velvet UI, a "playful cloth shader concept UI for MeeGo tablets", which has been developed in conjunction with Wind River. 

Yesterday Nokia and Intel announced the establishment of a joint research centre, based at the University of Oulu (Finland). The lab, which will have around two dozen researchers, will focus on mobile user experiences, with a particular emphasis on 3D experiences and technology. Likely research areas include 3D virtual worlds, 3D user interfaces and immersive gaming. 

Here's a common scenario. You've acquired a spare battery for your smartphone, either by buying one on purpose or by inheriting one from another device. Yet, in order to charge each, you've got to power the device down and swap cells, effectively using the phone itself as the charger. If, like me, you juggle more than one phone and more than one battery for each, this can get very tiresome. Enter this latest mains battery charger from Mobile Fun, compatible with nearly every Nokia smartphone battery from the last few years and reviewed right here. Summary? It's a slam dunk.

On Monday MeeGo made available the second update for the MeeGo 1.0 Core Software Platform and Netbook User Experience project release (the version of MeeGo designed to be run on netbooks). The updated version, 1.02, resolves several email and media player issues, updates syncevolution and connection manager and has more than 70 bug fixes. Read on for further details.

Registration for the MeeGo Conference 2010 is now open. Registration for the conference, which takes place between November 15th and 17th, is free and is available via the MeeGo conference website. A discounted hotel rate (from €105 per night) has been organised at the nearby D4 hotels, at which a number of additional networking opportunities will take place. 

Last month International Syst announced the formal release of Metasys MeeGo, an operating system based on the MeeGo netbook experience software platform. It is designed to support the 'didactic requirements of the educational process' and to be 'used in the new generation of Intel powered convertible classmate PC'.

Nokia's social media outreach initiatives continue apace. Today, from 6 pm (UK time), Niklas Savander, who recently became Nokia's head of sales and marketing, will be answering questions  submitted to his Twitter account @NiklasatNokia. The Nokia Conversations Blog has invited everyone to ask any Nokia related questions they may have. Answers will come back via Twitter or via video.