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I’s Friday! Which means a quick trip around the world to check out the best from the Nimbuzz local blogs this week:

See the titles after the JUMP:

Nimbuzz Argentina
Llamadas internacionales MUY económicas: cómo usar NimbuzzOut

Nimbuzz Brazil
TIM, Claro e Vivo disponibilizam cadastros para interessados em iPhone 4

Nimbuzz Deutschland
Was ist Deutschlands bestes Handynetz?

Nimbuzz Espana
Facebook para Blackberry

Nimbuzz France
L’iOs 4.1 amène nouveautés & corrections de bugs pour vos iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS & iPhone 4

Nimbuzz India
Nokia 5250 touch phone: Features & Price

Nimbuzz Indonesia
Online & Fashionable Secara Bersamaan!

Nimbuzz Italia
Trucchetti Nimbuzz: come scegliere una buona password

Nimbuzz Russia
iPhone 4 – теперь и в России

Nimbuzz Turkey
Steve Jobs, Bugün iOS güncellemesini duyurdu! iOS 4.1 haftaya bizlerle

Nimbuzz USA
Join Nimbuzz @TeensinTech miniConference! Two FREE Tickets!

Although Nimbuzz is a Dutch company and we have our HQ in Rotterdam our team comes from all over the world.

Yes, English is the common language we use, but we know things can get lost in translation, especially when communicating with you guys and people who use Nimbuzz all over the world.

Luckily, we got some amazing talent on board we took it upon ourselves to create local blogs for you in (accessible via the flags at the top of the sidebar ) .

This way you’ll get the latest news about Nimbuzz, special deals on phones in your country, insights into the mobile landscape, and access to Nimbuzz team members that speak your language and take your feedback.

Starting today we want to introduce the team behind the blogs and because Thiago, our man in Brazil came up with the idea he will be the first to say hello and why you should visit the Nimbuzz Brazil blog.

Hi everybody,

My name is Thiago Dantas. I’ve been working at Nimbuzz for almost five months and I’m responsible for our Nimbuzz Brazil blog.

I’m a big soccer fan, love technology, writing, social media and marketing.

I try to make the Nimbuzz Brazil blog the best reference of news and tips about Nimbuzz for those who speak portuguese as well as good oportunites of using your cellphone, apps and saving money.

So, if you guys want to know more about these things, you are welcome to visit our blog

You can also find us on Twitter: @nimbuzzbr

Cheers.

And now the Portuguese version

Olá pessoal,

Meu nome é Thiago Dantas.Estou trabalhando na Nimbuzz a quase cinco meses, atualmente eu sou a pessoa responsável pela produção de conteúdo do blog da Nimbuzz Brasil.

Sou fanático por futebol e adoro escrever, tecnologia, marketing e social media.

Tenho como intenção transformar nosso blog na melhor referência de notícias e dicas sobre a Nimbuzz e nossos aplicativos para aqueles que falam português assim como mostrar as melhores formas de usar seu smatphone, aplicativos úteis e formas de economizar dinheiro.

Então, se vocês se interessam por esse tipo de assunto, podem se considerar mais do que convidados a visitar o blog da Nimbuzz Brasil

Você também pode nos encontrar no Twitter, no @nimbuzzbr.

Até a próxima.

Next week stay tuned because we will head over to India to meet Shawnawaz our local voice there!

A week ago, we kicked off our Demand More from Your Mobile Phone blog series to help you get more out of that hot little device that rarely leaves the comfort of your palms.

Let’s take a quick review of what we have learned: Nimbuzz lets you talk all you want with other Nimbuzz users, completely free! On top of that, we throw in calls to your Skype, MSN, Yahoo, and Google friends, also for free!

But we realize not everyone you need to contact has caught on to Nimbuzz yet. You probably have some prehistoric friends who are not even on the Internet!

So this week it’s on to the low cost options Nimbuzz offers to help you Talk More using the mobile Internet, not expensive cell phone networks.

We launched NimbuzzOut so you can conserve your cash on international calls to other mobile phones and landlines at much lower rates than the traditional mobile operators. You can save up to 95% on your mobile phone bill.

With NimbuzzOut you can call anyone, anywhere, on any phone, for super low prices.  No matter who you need to reach or how you need to reach them, you can do it with Nimbuzz.

GigaOm says “Nimbuzz is on par with Skype.  Bottom line: If you are looking for a well-designed, easy-to-use, all-in-one messaging client that also makes cheap long-distance calls, then you don’t need to look any further than Nimbuzz. I have no qualms in recommending NimbuzzOut.”

All you need is a mobile Internet connection or Wi-Fi and some NimbuzzOut credits.

After buying NimbuzzOut credits you can:

• Save money on international calling
• See your account balance in real time
• View call rates before placing a call
• Check your call history online
• View your all time credit purchases

So whether your call is free, to Nimbuzz friends, or on NimbuzzOut, it’s all in crystal clear audio quality with unbeatable ease-of-use, powered by the latest state-of-the art audio engine.

And if you read this far you also deserve some NimbuzzOut goodies! Use the “DISCOUNT15” promo code when buying NimbuzzOut credits to get a 15% discount. You need to insert the code below the “Amount”  field, on the first step of the buying flow.  (The promo code will be active until September the 30th)

That wraps up all the possibilities for talking more on Nimbuzz. Any questions?

Next Thursday, the Demand More from Your Mobile Phone blog series continues with a lesson on how you can Message More. Because a mobile phone can do so much more with Nimbuzz. See you back here!

September 1st, Civolution announced that it has deployed a radical and comprehensive network upgrade for its Teletrax global broadcast monitoring service. The upgrade - Teletrax 4.0 - includes tracking of SD and HD video material as well as capabilities for combined watermarking and fingerprinting broadcast monitoring applications.

Read the full press release here >>

We will be performing some maintenance work on our Skype solution on Monday, August the 30th, for 1 hour between 13.00 – 14.00 CET.

This means that during this period you will not be able to connect to Skype via Nimbuzz and call or chat with your buddies. Also connectivity issues could occur for the rest of the day. The service will be running again on full capacity by tomorrow morning 8:00AM CET

Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your understanding

It’s weekend again everybody , so let’s take a quick trip around the world to check out the best articles from the Nimbuzz local blogs published in the last week.

See the titles after the JUMP:

Nimbuzz Argentina
¡Se viene TwittBaires y Nimbuzz va a estar ahí!

Nimbuzz Brazil
Novo Poll: Qual função do Nimbuzz você mais gosta?

Nimbuzz Deutschland
Bundesliga-Apps für Symbian, Android und iPhone OS

Nimbuzz Espana
Las mejores tarifas 3G en España

Nimbuzz France
Les meilleures applications pour HTC Wildfire, Samsung Galaxy S, Motorola Milestone / Dext

Nimbuzz India
Nimbuzz looking for Nimbuzz India Ambassadors

Nimbuzz Indonesia
Ponsel Android baru dibawah Rp 3juta (Huawei Aviator, Nexian Journey, and LG Optimus)

Nimbuzz Iran
گوشي موبايل يا كنسول بازي دستي!

Nimbuzz Italia
Problemi su BlackBerry, Android, iPhone, PC o MAC con Nimbuzz?

Nimbuzz Russia
Хотите встретить новых друзей? Добавьте меня в Nimbuzz. Мое имя пользователя…

Nimbuzz Turkey
Numarasını 31 Ağustos’a kadar Avea’ya taşıyanlara 3 Ay boyunca kullanabilecekleri 1GB internet paketi hediye!

Nimbuzz USA
Phone Battles: iPhone 4 vs Xperia X10

Another week, another milestone!

We just reached 3 million downloads in the Nokia Ovi Store! Thank you to everybody that made it possible!

Have a Nokia and don’t have eBuddy on it yet? Follow this link to the Ovi and download it now!

In addition, Nokia is giving out free phones to Ovi Store members this month! Click on here to take part! But hurry, the competition ends on the 30th of August!

Remember when you first discovered Skype? It was almost unbelievable! Cheap and free calls over the Internet? Where do I sign up? It was something amazing to recommend to all your friends and family.

Nimbuzz then came along and we pumped up the volume by bringing that innovation and excitement to the mobile world. But we also thought you could (and should) do more with your mobile phone. After all, it wasn’t designed to be simply an ultra-cool accessory or just to make calls, but should allow you to do more.

We went a few steps further and imagined a world with the freedom to communicate from your mobile to anyone in the world, on any network, in any social community, on any device, at any time, in any way. Talking. Chatting. Messaging. Sharing photos and files. All for free!

As the lazy days of summer come to an end and a busy fall approaches, we know you have friends and family all around the world you want to keep in touch with. So here it is, the Demand More from Your Mobile Phone blog series – the first in a series of posts that recap how much you can do with Nimbuzz on your mobile phone. Yes, you have the right to declare your mobile freedom with Nimbuzz – connect and communicate anyway you want to.

Check out Part 1 after the jump. And then stay tuned each week as we highlight another way Nimbuzz is outsmarting all the others and making you feel like a genius.

Part I – Talk More

The world we live in is not only fast-paced, but highly connected. This goes in particular for mobile communications. Yet the more connected and communicative we are, the more it seems we fall prey to entanglement by the webs of communication.

Suddenly, you’re faced with costs shooting out from all over the place. You are limited to how many minutes you can call or when you can communicate, be it with friends and family or in business. As if that were not enough, if you’re not trapped in the “how much or when” model, oftentimes you are stuck with extra costs for unlimited services.

It’s time to declare your mobile freedom to talk more! With a data plan, your Nimbuzz to Nimbuzz calls, as well as calls to your people on all networks, such as Skype, MSN, Yahoo and more, are placed over the Internet and are absolutely free. Period.

So not only does Nimbuzz save you money on calling, we also save you the hassle (and let’s face it, headache) associated with most mobile calling plans. Forget about different networks, communities, platforms, minutes and time restrictions. Nimbuzz gives you more freedom on every device, every operator and every connection.

So what does this mean for you?

It means we’ve just given you a chainsaw to hack away at those entangled webs of communication. It’s a part of a changing way of life.

But what if I need to call someone in the dark ages on their landline? Or internationally? You may ask. Nimbuzz again gives you the freedom to talk more there too, at low, low costs. Check back with us next week for Part II of the Demand More from Your Mobile Phone blog series to learn about paid calling options on Nimbuzz.

Be more mobile!

Image credit goes to Mobile Marketing Watch

Na de fusie van Fortis Nederland en ABN AMRO gaat Fortis in Nederland uit het straatbeeld verdwijnen. Dit betekent echter ook, dat alle klanten van Fortis Nederland gebruik dienen te gaan maken van de internetbankieren omgeving van ABN AMRO. ABN AMRO geeft op haar website en de website van Fortis een uitgebreide beschrijving van de stappen die er genomen worden.

Wat betekent dit voor mijn rekeningen in Yunoo?

Beheer je rekeningen van Fortis in Yunoo, dan dient de bank van deze rekening omgezet te worden naar ABN AMRO. Hoe je precies je rekeningen kunt wijzigen, is in onze help te vinden. Lukt dit niet, dan kun je altijd bij ons terecht via support@yunoo.nl of GetSatisfaction

Labco and Sodexo have formed a joint venture - Integrated Pathology Partnerships (iPP)  - to enable UK healthcare organisations to deliver cost effective pathology services.  This is the first time that a facilities management company and an independent professional pathology company have joined forces to enable NHS Trusts to outsource pathology services.

iPP brings together the skills of two leading global service providers: Labco, a major European clinical diagnostics company owned and run by an international network of pathologists, and Sodexo, a leading global provider of facilities management services to the healthcare market.

iPP aims to partner with UK healthcare organisations to deliver pathology services that are responsive to users, cost effective and support NHS national clinical programmes. To date, pathology services have been predominantly carried out by Trusts in-house given limited opportunity to outsource to  independent experts.

Geoff Searle, managing director for the new joint venture, iPP, said: "We believe this new joint venture addresses many of the issues raised in the Carter Review* concerning improvements to quality and patient safety and increased efficiency, and that iPP will help the NHS achieve its ambitious £500m savings target for pathology services in England."

He added: "The combination of resources and clinical disciplines, which iPP draws from its two parent companies, equips us to be a strategic partner to the NHS and independent hospitals. We can assist healthcare providers and commissioners in meeting the challenges of quality, cost and rising demand in delivery of UK pathology services. Labco has excellent past performance in pathology in several major European healthcare markets and Sodexo has earned a key position in the NHS as a valued outsourcing partner."

Simon Scrivens, managing director for Sodexo, said: "This is an exciting development for Sodexo. We have been successfully delivering a wide range of services to the healthcare market for many years and we are delighted to be working with Labco through iPP, which has expertise in this field, to move into this new area of service provision."

Eric Souêtre, CEO of Labco said "Labco has unrivalled experience in Europe of managing pathology services through outsourcing models and has an excellent track record of successfully transferring its technical and medical knowledge to new healthcare markets: we are looking forward to helping our future UK clients improve their pathology services."

Stuart Quin, Investment Manager at 3i, a leading international investor and backer of Labco added: "Today's announcement underlines 3i's strategy to partner with fast growing international healthcare businesses. The iPP joint venture will bring an innovative model of delivering pathology services across Europe to improve quality and drive efficiencies in the UK market."

Operating models will vary and IPP will offer a range of services and partnership options depending on each healthcare organisation's needs.

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

*The Carter Review of Pathology in 2008 made 20 recommendations covering eight broad topics. Carter estimated the pathology market was worth £2.5 billion a year to the health service alone. To date, the NHS has dominated the pathology market with the majority of clinical tests being performed either by the health service or on its behalf. The NHS has set itself a target of £500m in savings for pathology services in England.

iPP
Integrated Pathology Partnerships (iPP) is dedicated to enabling UK healthcare organisations to strengthen the quality, delivery and cost-effectiveness of pathology services. The joint founders of our company are Labco, a major European clinical diagnostics company and Sodexo, a leading global provider of outsourced solutions for healthcare.

The combined clinical and outsourcing resources of iPP equip it to be a strategic partner to both the NHS and independent hospitals.
www.integratedpathologypartnerships.com

Sodexo
Sodexo is one of the world's leading providers of onsite service solutions.. The company has a major presence in the UK healthcare market with over 9,000 employees directly involved in the sector, of which 6,000 are working in NHS organisations across the UK having transferred from the NHS to Sodexo.

The services offered by Sodexo include a wide range of traditional hard and soft facilities management services such as catering, cleaning, portering and reception as well as decontamination, sterile services and clinical technology services.

Operating as a partner to the NHS as well as private healthcare providers for over twenty years, Sodexo currently delivers a wide range of services in almost 100 hospitals in the UK. It is also involved in a number of large and complex PFI schemes, both as a service provider and an equity partner.
Sodexo in the UK and Ireland employs around 43,000 people and delivers on-site service solutions to clients at over 2,300 locations in the corporate, healthcare, education, leisure and defence sectors.
www.sodexo.com

Labco
Labco is a leading medical diagnostics group that operates over 300 laboratories in six European countries, performing analyses for more than 10,000,000 patients a year from a range of over 2,500 clinical tests.

Labco has unrivalled experience, in multiple settings, of delivering diagnostics services, including pathology,  and performs over 250,000 tests each day. Such settings include community and academic hospitals (both public and private), inpatient, outpatient, general practitioners, health clinics etc. In addition, Labco has an excellent track record of successfully transferring its technical and medical knowledge to new healthcare markets.

In its outsourcing collaborations, Labco engages in very long-term relationships with its customers, and most of its contracts run for between seven and fifteen years. Many of these contracts have already been renewed by satisfied customers and to date Labco has yet to lose a customer. This 100% retention rate is testament to Labco's commitment to offering world-class services and focus on patient, clinician and customer satisfaction.

Labco's approach to business is based on scientific input in diagnostics. Labco's European expansion relies on the operational independence of the pathologist, underpinned by efficient management. Labco's commitment to meeting the highest national and international accreditation and certification standards is evidenced by its ongoing and substantial investment in company-wide quality programmes and innovation. Labco employs around 4,500 staff including 500 pathologists.
www.labco.eu

3i
3i is an international investor focused on buyouts, growth capital and infrastructure, investing in Europe, Asia and North America. Our competitive advantage comes from our international network and the strength and breadth of our business relationships.  These underpin the value that we deliver to our portfolio, shareholders and fund investors.
www.3i.com

PRESS CONTACTS

For Sodexo:
Clare Collins / Piers Zangana
+44 (0)20 7535 7400
clare.collins@sodexo.com / piers.zangana@sodexo.com 

For Labco:
Anne Souêtre, +32 (0)2 627 85 91, anne.souetre@labco.eu

For 3i:
Rachel Richards, +44 20 7975 3573, rachel.richards@3i.com

3i, an international investor focused on buyouts, growth capital and infrastructure, and funds managed by 3i announce today that Inspicio, one of its portfolio companies, has agreed to sell Inspectorate, its global commodity testing and inspection division, to Bureau Veritas for an enterprise value of £450 million.  The transaction is subject to formal approval by the relevant competition authorities.

The combination of Bureau Veritas, a global leader in conformity assessment and certification services in the areas of quality, health and safety, environment and social responsibility, and Inspectorate will further strengthen the global market leading positions of both businesses and will allow the combined group to continue to serve its customers with the highest possible quality, assurance and integrity; underpinned by a truly global infrastructure and support network. 

3i and funds managed by 3i acquired a majority stake in Inspicio, following a £345 million public to private transaction in February 2008.  Inspectorate is the global commodity testing and inspection division within the Inspicio group and accounts for approx. 70% of the group's turnover.
 
Over the past two and a half years Inspectorate has grown strongly following significant investment from 3i to support the completion of a number of bolt-on acquisitions and capital expenditure to both upgrade existing and establish new laboratories; resulting in the number of employees and turnover increasing by c. 2,000 and 75% respectively, since 3i's investment.  Today, the business is a market leader in global commodity testing and inspection, with a network of over 7,000 people and operations in 150 laboratories in 60 countries.  For the year ending December 2009, Inspectorate generated revenues of £246m.

The Inspicio Group will be rebranded as ESG.  ESG will comprise Environmental Scientifics Group (a UK market leader in geotechnical, laboratory and analytical and compliance testing, inspection and certification ("TIC") services) and Eclipse Scientific Group (a UK and Irish market leading food testing business).  This group will be led by the current management team of the Environmental Scientifics Group; with Alex Sleeth as Group CEO and Nick Louden as Group CFO.  3i and funds managed by 3i will remain the majority shareholder in ESG, supporting further growth and consolidation of the business.  Following completion of the transaction, Robert Walvis (Inspicio Chairman), Mark Silver (Inspicio CEO) and Richard McBride (Inspicio CFO) will step down from the Board of Inspicio.

Mark Silver, CEO of Inspicio, commented:

"Inspicio has come a long way since its founding in 2005.  Going forward, this is a great transaction for Inspectorate and I'm sure Bureau Veritas will be a fantastic partner to support the next stage of the business' development.  Moreover, the future of Inspicio's Environmental and Food business is in very safe hands under Alex's leadership and I am sure ESG will continue to be a success story in the TIC sector."

Alan Giddins, 3i Partner, commented:

"3i has worked closely with Inspicio's management team over the past couple of years to help build Inspectorate into a market leading business. Our experience in the testing and inspection sector has enabled us to support Inspectorate in its consolidation and international growth strategy, making it an ideal partner for further growth with Bureau Veritas.   This marks an exciting new chapter for ESG as it continues to build on its market leading positions in the Environmental and Food sectors.  We are looking forward to working together with Alex, Nick and the rest of the management team to continue to grow the business and play a key role in the ongoing consolidation of what are highly fragmented markets."

Alex Sleeth, CEO of ESG, commented:

"For us at ESG, it is business as usual. Our number one focus remains on continuing to serve all our customers to the highest standards.  The combination of the unique range of services we are able to offer, the experience of the management team together with the breadth of talent throughout the Environmental and Food businesses ensures we are well placed to deliver on our vision to be the service provider of choice in each of our markets."

 

For further information, contact:
Kathryn van der Kroft, 3i      Tel: +44 20 7975 3021
Mark Silver, Inspicio       Tel: +44 20 7004 2780

About 3i
3i is an international investor focused on Buyouts, Growth Capital and Infrastructure, investing in Europe, Asia and North America. Our competitive advantage comes from our international network and the strength and breadth of our business relationships.  These underpin the value that we deliver to our portfolio, shareholders and fund investors.

About ESG
ESG is a leading Environmental Compliance and Food Testing Company offering inspection, testing and advice to customers through an unrivalled range of technical expertise and accredited services.  With a history dating back more than 100 years, ESG has consistently developed its offer and now provides a complete solution for all legislative and regulatory environmental and food compliance.  The business has more than 1,000 employees and serves over 5,000 customers. All ESG's services are delivered across the UK and Ireland through a strong network of local accredited laboratories supported by a centralised head office. ESG specialises in five distinct areas: Geotechnical; Materials Testing; Laboratory and Analytical Services; Compliance; and Food Testing.

About Bureau Veritas
Bureau Veritas is the world's second largest group in conformity assessment and certification services. The Group, founded in 1828, has over 39,000 employees in 900 offices and 180 laboratories in 140 countries. Bureau Veritas helps its 370,000 clients worldwide to improve their performances by offering services and innovative solutions to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and management systems meet all quality, health and safety, environmental and social responsibility standards and regulations.

KNEIP, an independent service provider to the global asset management industry, has repurchased all shares held by 3i, an international investor in growth capital, buyouts and infrastructure, following strong growth for the group during the last three years.

Luxembourg-based KNEIP provides a range of domestic and cross-border services to many of the world's largest fund management companies, providing its services to funds which have combined assets under management in excess of €1.8 trillion. 3i first invested for a significant minority stake in KNEIP during May 2007 to help increase the company's service offering and expand its geographical reach.

Via a collaborative partnership over the last three years and with 3i's support, KNEIP has successfully launched new offices in both London and Paris, attracting customers across both regions. In addition, KNEIP has made three international acquisitions. In 2009 KNEIP purchased La Cote Bleue in Paris, a press agency and major supplier of fund listings to the French media. Also in 2009, KNEIP acquired the assets of web development company Akiraweb to strengthen its capabilities in technological development and research, as well as Luxemburg-based fund publication specialist Lombard Fund Services which provided multi-lingual translation services and helped to enhance KNEIP's existing customer service.

During the last three years, KNEIP has successfully grown its business internationally, with staff numbers rising from 130 to 170 employees across UK, France, Switzerland and Luxembourg, providing services in 54 countries and on the internet across the globe. KNEIP has successfully maintained growth despite a global recession and against the backdrop of a particularly hard-hit financial sector.

Bob Kneip, CEO of KNEIP, comments: "In spite of the extremely challenging environment of the last 18 months, KNEIP has grown its revenue, customer service and geographic presence. 3i has been a supportive partner during the last three years and we look forward to continuing to build the business over the coming years."

Pieter De Jong, 3i Partner based in the Benelux, added: "3i has been proud to lend its expertise and international contacts to assist the geographical expansion and growth of KNEIP, to reach its position today as the leading European service provider to the global asset management industry." 

NORMA Group acquires American provider of specialised engineered joining technology solutions complementing its innovative product range

NORMA Group, a global leader in metal and plastic engineered joining technologies, acquired R.G.RAY Corporation, USA on May 21st.

R.G.RAY is a leading designer and manufacturer of heavy duty engineered clamps for use in engine, pump / filtration, aircraft, commercial vehicle and industrial applications. Serving over 450 customers, R.G.RAY has developed long-standing relationships with a diverse group of global manufacturers. R.G.RAY's industry leadership and application driven approach to product design has solidified its market position among global competitors within the heavy duty engineered clamps industry. The acquisition will help NORMA to further strengthen its presence in North America and also to extend its product range in international markets.

"As a leading solution provider of engineered joining technologies the acquisition of R.G.RAY significantly strengthens NORMA Group's product portfolio to the benefit of our customers globally", said Werner Deggim, CEO of NORMA Group. "Besides our strong innovation pipeline we will continue to look for further opportunities to complement our existing product portfolio and global market reach".

"Becoming a part of NORMA Group is a perfect fit for R.G.RAY. We believe that the combination of both businesses is a great opportunity for our companies. Our customers will widely benefit by getting access to a significantly extended solution range. The global presence and reputation of NORMA Group will enable a wider distribution of the engineered products we are proud to have developed", said Dan Mitrano, CEO of R.G.RAY Corporation.

 

You can now use NimbuzzOut to call 33 countries worldwide for only 2 cents ($) per minute!

Just to put this in perspective with these rates you can call for 50 minutes spending only $1!

These almost free rates apply when calling to landlines in the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Guam, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel,  Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia,  Netherlands,  New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, USA.

The same rates of 2 cents ($) per minute also apply when calling to mobile phones in the following countries Canada, China, Guam, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, Singapore and US or to landlines in the following cities Buenos Aires  and Cordoba (Argentina),  Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo (Brazil), Guadalajara and Mexico City (Mexico),  Moscow and St. Petersburgh (Russia)

We have super low rates for everywhere else as well. Curious to see how much you can save? Check our NimbuzzOut rates.

NimbuzzOut is available on iPhone, Android, Symbian, PC, Mac.  Purchase or top-up your NimbuzzOut credits from here: Buy NimbuzzOut credits!

HINT:  For all of you who never knew : You can make FREE calls from Nimbuzz to Nimbuzz.  Yes. Free.  All you need is an internet enabled phone with a data plan and Nimbuzz installed.  Tell your friends!     (You won’t even need to dial a number. Just click on your friends name and select “Call”.)

Friday again everybody! That means it’s time for a quick spin around the world to see what were the best news published on our local blogs!

Read more after the jump:

Nimbuzz Argentina
BlackBerry Pearl 3G llega a Argentina – Características técnicas

Nimbuzz Brazil
Próxima versão do OS Android pode se chamar Honeycomb

Nimbuzz Deutschland
Mobil Surfen jetzt NOCH billiger

Nimbuzz Espana
Facebook para Blackberry

Nimbuzz France
Les applications mobiles pour le Ramadan 2010 en France pour Nokia, iPhone, Android

Nimbuzz India
Cheap Android phones in India! Less than 15.000!

Nimbuzz Indonesia
Aplikasi Terbaik untuk Ramadhan

Nimbuzz Italia
Cellulari economici di qualità in Italia

Nimbuzz Russia
Выгодный домашний интернет

Nimbuzz Turkey
Turkcell’den Nokia X6 kampanyası

Nimbuzz USA
AT&T: iPhone 4, HTC Aria, Samsung Captivate, BlackBerry 9700 some of the best phones in the US!

A strong password can save you a lot of trouble in the long run.

Of course it’s easier to choose  something it’s simple to remember like “12345″  but that will make it very vulnerable to hacking and people might not even need a computer to discover it.

Because security is the top priority for Nimbuzz, here are a few tips on how to choose a strong password:

• Try to mix lower- and upper-case characters, numbers, and punctuation marks
• Avoid choosing one of the worst Top500 passwords (i.e.: 123455, password, ,qwerty, abcdef,6543212)
• Use acronyms: I Love To Chat On Nimbuzz Every Day ->ILTCONED
• Memorize them and avoid writing it on paper
• Usually a longer password is a stronger password
• Don’t use the same password for all your accounts
• Make you password difficult for others to guess, don’t use your dog pet name or month of birth
• Always test how secure is your password

Do you have other tips to choose a strong password? Please share them with all the Nimbuzzers in the comment section below.

Last week we discussed the advantages of Touchscreen vs QWERTY vs T9 and which would be the best choice. As @cycnus very well observed in the comments,  there’s a new concept from Nokia that should be included in our discussion, the Nokia x3 touchscreen and T9 combo.

I already had the chance to test the new Nokia X3 and I liked it.

It felt natural to switch between the keypad and the touchscreen. Typing on the keypad was pretty fast, which was proof that all the years I spent learning the keypad were still paying off   The keypad to me was still intuitive and comfortable to use.

When navigating trough the menu I touched the screen instinctively to confirm an action, not because I was prompted to. In other words it was very easy for me to adapt to the phone’s advantage of getting the best of both worlds.

The learning period was really short.

The X3 will be priced at $161 (125 Euros).

Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type features:

• 16-button keypad
• 2.4-inch QVGA touchscreen
• 3G
• WiFi
• music player
• FM radio
• Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity
• 5MP camera with 4X digital zoom
• S40 Operating System
• Ovi app store pre-installed
• Nimbuzz compatible

Watch the official Nokia X3-02 presentation below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

More details are on the X3-02 official page

Civolution will be demonstrating newly enhanced solutions at IBC (Hall 2, Stand C28) and discussing how growing adoption by media organisations of all sizes is leading to content identification technologies reaching a key inflection point. Read the full press release here >>

It seems like yesterday when reached 250,000 fans on our Facebook page.

Now, less than 6 months later, we are delighted to announce that we have reached 500,000 fans on the eBuddy Facebook page!

Thank you to all our fans for making our Facebook presence such a success!

PS: Not a fan yet? Visit www.facebook.com/ebuddy and be a part of it too!

We just crossed another milestone together with you!

Over 200,000 Twitter followers and more than 100,000 fans on Facebook – YAY!!  Thank you guys! (To see the above image in action, please check out the Nimbuzz Twitter Parade.)

200,000 followers, that’s a lot indeed.  How much?  Well think of it this way:

• If we were to create a guest book to be printed with the names of all our Twitter followers, it would be 800 pages long!
• There are 4 times as many Nimbuzz followers on Twitter as attendees at the Mobile World Congress!
• Being a Dutch company, we are proud to be the third most popular Twitter user in the Netherlands.
• The community of Nimbuzz fans on Twitter is 40 times bigger than the number of people attending the annual Google I/O conference.
• All Nimbuzz followers would fill the 3 biggest football stadiums of the 2010 Fifa World Cup (Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban).

We have been tweeting for 2 years, 10 months and 2 days by now and got an excellent score for our tweets on Twitter Grader – 100/100  .  Based on the follower numbers, we entered the Top 50 in Social Media and Tech, along with influential names such as @Mashable @Techcrunch @Scobleizer @Wired.

Not following Nimbuzz yet? Here is why you might want to:

Well, you would always be the first to know of any news and update we have for all you Nimbuzz fans out there.  Via Nimbuzz on Twitter, you can find out the last news and information in real time. We always share interesting statistics as well, give yo insider tips and answer your questions.

Via the Nimbuzz Facebook page you can stay up to date with topics we put on our blog and join discussions with the rest of the Nimbuzz fans on Facebook.  See who else is a fan of Nimbuzz and meet people from all over the world.  Share your experiences and get access to Nimbuzz photos and videos.