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Nokia announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Plazes (www.plazes.com), a privately-owned start-up company of 13 people with its principal operations in Berlin. The deal was initially announced on June 23, 2008.

By acquiring Plazes, Nokia will extend its context-based service offering with social presence and time-based activity planning features. Plazes adds the elements of “place” and “time” to social networking through features that allow people to alert friends of their activity and location; review their own and others’ past activities; share their experiences and make plans with friends, who are then able to respond with comments and suggestions as well as their own location information.

Swiss luxury designer and jeweler Knalihs Athem has recently created a diamond encrusted Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte. This exclusive limited edition phone is encrusted with more that 1000 finest quality brilliant cut diamonds that weigh 6.75 carats in total. The company plan to create 20 Nokia 8800 with this design and to be shipped to worldwide.

Each handset will be accompanied by appropriate and official diamond grading report from a gemological lab. In addition, the handset can also be personalized with name, initials, lucky number, logo and almost about anything of your choice. The Diamond encrusted Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte by Knalihs Athem has a starting price of US $20,000. Check out their site at www.athem.ch for more info.

Just less than a month from the last Nokia N78 software update, Nokia has released another software update, which will update your Nokia N78 to version 12.046. This new update will not only available through the “over-the-air” software update, but will can also be updated through the Nokia software updater.

According to the software update site, The new version includes a number of performance improvements including softkey selection, Bluetooth stability, video playback, email sending and alarm clock functions.

To get this software through your Nokia N78 directly, click Menu > Tools > Utilities > Device Manager. Select Options > Check for updates and follow the on-screen prompts. Remember that you can also use Wi-Fi to download the update.

Nokia has completed its acquisition of NAVTEQ, a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information. NAVTEQ is a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information for automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation devices, Internet-based mapping applications, and government and business solutions. NAVTEQ also owns Traffic.com, a web and interactive service that provides traffic information and content to consumers. The Chicago-based company was founded in 1985, generated 2006 revenues of $582 million and has approximately 3,000 employees located in 168 offices in 30 countries.

“NAVTEQ’s map data already play an important role in Nokia Maps service, which brings downloadable maps, voice-guided navigation and other context-aware web services to people’s pockets. Now that the acquisition has been completed, this role will become even more important as context-aware Internet services grow,” added Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President for Services & Software, Nokia.

Nokia Maps covers over 200 countries, with over 70 of them navigable. Nokia Maps 2.0 has improved its optional Car Navigation, enhanced its pedestrian navigation, added multimedia city guides, offers satellite images, and is sporting a redesigned user interface.

After about 2 months of the Vista problem announcement, Nokia has now released an upgrade for its Nokia Software Updater. The new version 1.4.49 include a better support of Windows Vista to upgrade your Nokia phone firmware.

You can download the software from http://www.nokia.com/softwareupdates

Other than the new software updater announcement, Nokia has posted another notes below

Support for Nokia 5310 and Nokia 6500 Classic has temporarily been removed from the Nokia Software Updater service. Other Nokia products are not affected. Support will be reinstated as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.