MS, Nokia partnership rivals RIM

Microsoft and Nokia's newly announced partnership, which will see a mobile version of Microsoft Office loaded onto Nokia smartphones, has a definite short-term target: Research In Motion's BlackBerry, says eWeek.

An eWeek interview with Microsoft and Nokia spokespeople, following the companies' joint press conference, suggested the mobile Microsoft Office applications would likely come pre-loaded onto Nokia's Eseries smartphones, allowing out-of-box functionality.

BlackBerry and other rival smartphone devices offer a degree of functionality with regard to viewing and editing Office documents. However, Microsoft spokesman Kirk Debique argued the Office applications being pushed through Nokia will be "rounded out with a set of collaboration experiences, such as SharePoint," and that a "more traditional Office experience" would be offered.

Gadgets for iGoogle can now take advantage of the Open Social API to build social networking features into the small little software programs that iGoogle users can use to customise their home pages, according to Marissa Mayer, VP for search products and experience, reports cnet.

For example, gadgets will now be available for Flickr, YouTube and social games like Scrabble.

Google opened up the Open Social API to iGoogle developers last year, but only in the "sandbox", a protected area for experimentation. If developers like what they see, it could help turn iGoogle from a personalised home page for "tens of millions of users", according to Mayer, into sort of a mini social network.

Facebook has begun tests on a new service tailored for mobiles and narrowband Internet connections, states BBC.

Facebook Lite appears to be a cut-down version of Facebook and is aimed at countries where broadband is limited. The site is currently on trial in India and it is thought there are plans to extend this to China and Russia.

In a statement, Facebook said the new service would be a "faster, simpler version similar to the Facebook experience you get on a mobile phone".

Popular URL-shortening service tr.im has restored its service and reopened its Web site, reports PCWorld.

Nambu, tr.im's parent company, had announced last weekend that it was closing the service.

Tr.im's resurrection means shortened links in thousands of Twitter posts, e-mails and text messages will continue to work into next year. The site's URL-redirection service was scheduled to last until the end of 2009, and its future was unclear beyond that.