Nintendo was the first company to score 0/10 in the guide.Being new to this guide, the company still has plenty of room for improvement.

Here are the ranking based on the guide (in descending order):

7.7 Sony Ericsson – New leader due to improved takeback reporting, new models PVC free, but falls down on takeback practice.

7.7 Samsung – Big improvements, with more products free of the worst toxic chemicals. Loses points for incomplete takeback practice.

7.3 Sony – More products free of toxic PVC and improved reporting on recycling and takeback especially in the US.

7.3 Dell – Unchanged since the last version, still no products on the market without the worst chemicals.

7.3 Lenovo – Unchanged since the last version, still no products on the market without the worst chemicals.

7 Toshiba – Much improved on toxic chemicals but still lobbies in the US for regressive takeback policies.

7 LGE – Unchanged since the last version, need better takeback for products other than phones.

7 Fujitsu-Siemens – Unchanged since the last version, needs toxic elimination timelines, better takeback coverage and reporting of amounts recycled.

6.7 Nokia- A steep fall! Strong on toxic chemicals but penalty point deducted for deficiencies in takeback practice in Thailand, Russia and Argentina during our testsing.

6.7 HP – Finally provided timelines for eliminating worst toxic chemicals, though not for all products; needs to improve takeback coverage.

6 Apple – Slightly improved with new iMacs and some iPods reducing the use of toxic chemicals, takeback programme still needs more work.

5.7 Acer – Unchanged since the last version, needs better takeback coverage and reporting of amounts recycled.

5 Panasonic – Unchanged since the last version, need better takeback coverage and reporting of amounts recycled.

5 Motorola – Big faller due to penalty point for poor takeback practice in Philippines, Thailand and India revealed by our testing. Still no timelines for eliminating the most harmful chemicals.

4.7 Sharp – New to the guide – some plus points on toxic chemicals elimination but poor takeback policy and practice.

2.7 Microsoft – New to the guide – long timeline for toxic chemicals elimination (2011) and poor takeback policy and practice.

2 Philips – New to the guide – no timeline for toxic chemicals elimination and zero points on e-waste policy and practice.

0 Nintendo – New to the guide – first global brand to score zero across all criteria!

Image via CrunchBase

Picnik, via its official blog, announced on Friday that the online photo-editor will be closing down on April 19, 2012 after 5 years of operation.

With Picnik, users can

• Fix photos in just one click
• Crop, resize, and rotate in real-time
• Use advanced controls to fine-tune your results
• Use tons of special effects, from artsy to fun
• Edit pictures super fast, right in their browser – nothing to download or install
• Choose from basketfuls of shapes from hand-picked designers

But on January 20, Picnik announced that it is moving their easy yet powerful photo editing tools to Google+.   Picnik is giving chance to its users to download their photos via its Picnik Takeout tool.  It easily downloads your photos to your desktop in convenient zip files.  You can also select to copy your photos to Google+ where you can store and share your creations.

Picnik will start begin processing full refunds for their Premium members, which means even if you are on your very last day of an annual membership, they will refund you the entire $24.95 (membership cost).

As a parting promo, they offered Premium tools to all its members for free!

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Image by topgold via Flickr

The colorful Dual-SIM Nokia Asha 200 is now available in the Philippines.

Nokia Asha 200 is many phones-in-one. The Easy-Swap dual SIM feature lets you assign a name, logo, and ringtone for up to 5 SIM cards without turning off your phone. Listen to music with its enhanced stereo FM radio and record them straight to your phone with FM recording. It features a QWERTY keyboard where you can type out your messages and replies in no time, makes staying in touch easy.

Nokia Asha 200 Specs:

Dimensions:

Size: 115.4 x 61.1 x 14.0 mm

Weight (with battery): 105 g

Volume: 84.7 cc

Memory:

Up to 10 MB free user memory (incl. pre-installed content)

Support for up to 32 GB with a microSD memory card (hotswappable)

Battery Performance:

Talk time (maximum):

• GSM up to 7 h

Standby time (maximum):

• GSM up to 37 days (single SIM)
• GSM up to 23 days (dual SIM)

Music playback time (maximum): up to 52 h

More specs at http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-asha-200/specifications.

The Nokia Asha 200 is available in Nokia Stores nationwide with a suggested retail price of P3,500.  It is available in 8 colors – graphite, pink, aqua, green, blue, orange, light pink and pearl white.

Below is the video of the Nokia Asha 200:

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Image courtesy of Technobitez.com

Once users click the Like button, the page redirects them to a URL which downloads and installs a malicious plugin named Free Cheesecake Factory Coupons. Once activated, the plugin will flood affected users’ walls with catchy status, “Get Christmas Theme for FB on – – >>0< < – – free Christmas Theme for all FB users!!”

This malware has been detected as TROJ_REDIR.CU. According to Trend Micro, this Trojan arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites. The malware is, however, classified as low risk by the security firm. Nonetheless, they advise users to be more extra vigilant during this holiday season since hackers will always take advantage.

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The  Ateneo de Naga University and the typhoon forecasting center of the Naga College Foundation released a locally made typhoon-tracking application for iPhones and other iOS devices and Android-ran phones developed by programmer Magno Conag III and Michael Padua, owner of Typhoon 2000. The app was already released to Android market in Google on Sept. 6 and iOS in Apple on Oct. 6 but was only  launched Dec. 15 in Quezon City.

The iTyphoon is an application focused on typhoons entering the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) and made easy through animation, graphic display, concise forecast using visual language and complemented with access to Google map.

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One million pre-orders was taken by the Apple in the first 24 hours when iPhone 4S was lunched in the initial 7 countries (including US, Canada, Japan, France, Australia, and Germany). Also, they sold 4 million sales during their opening weekend.

FEATURES:

-Dual-core A5 chip (Up to 2x faster performance and 7x faster graphics)
-All-new 8MP camera and optics (1080p HD video recording)
-iOS 5 (Notification Center. iMessage. And over 200 more new features)
-iCloud (It stores your content and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices)
-Siri (Use your voice to send messages, set reminders, search for information, and more.)

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Instagram, a photo-sharing application that is exclusively for iOS 3.1.2 gadgets, is now coming to Android. The application have been popular to millions of iPone, iPad, and iPodTouch users for through it, users are able to take photos, apply filters and then share it on the social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Flickr, and Posterous.

Chief Executive Kevin Systrom announced that Instragram will finally have an Android version. The creation of this Android app was even rumored a year ago but it has never came to be. However, Android users are hoping that with the two new dedicated developers of Instagram will be successful in making the Android version this time.

With the popularity that the Instagram has among the users, it is just right for it to have an Android version because Android is getting extremely popular among the people. With this, Instagram will be able to touch and gain a extremely large new audience.

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The flight attendants, in accordance with company standad safety procedures, carried out recovery actions immediately and successfully extinguished the red glow. Fortunately, all passengers and flight crew on board were unharmed.

This would not be the 1st Apple gadget to have had problems of explosions. There has been many allegations that various Apple mobile devices had caught fire. One of the allegations was made by a teenager in France who allegedly was slightly injured after his iPhone exploded.

More recently, Apple recalled the original Nano music player which were reportedly at risk of overheating.

Apple has not issued any statement yet regarding the incident.

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The Nokia Lumia 800 is due to hit the UK stores in November. Read reviews about the Nokia Lumia 800.

The Nokia Lumia 800

- 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 processor
- 3.7? AMOLED ClearBlack curved display (800 x 480)
- 8-megapixel rear camera (720p HD video)
- 16GB onboard storage
- HSPA+
- Windows Phone 7.5 Mango
- FM Radio
- TV Output
- Bluetooth
- WiFi
- GPS
- Dimensions: 116.5 mm x 61.2 mm x 12.1 mm
- Weight: 142g
- Battery: 1,450mAh

Read the full specs of Nokia Lumia 800 here.

The Nokia Lumia 800 is expected to sell at 420 Euros (about P26,000). Although, the price will depend on retailers.

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The Aakash tablet was developed by UK-based company DataWind and Indian Institute of Technology (Rajasthan) with support from the Indian government.  It will be released to high school and college students .

The tablet runs on Android 2.2 (Froyo) on a 7? touch screen with 800×480 resolution.  It WiFi enabled and runs on a 256 MB RAM.  It has 2GB flash memory, 32 GB expandable memory slot and two USB ports.  Since it is designed especially to students, it supports word processing, web browsing, video conferencing, etc.

It is developed with custom-made low-cost motherboards and a 2-watt power system to make it work effectively in areas that have a poor power-supply.  It has a three-hour battery life.   This could be the cheapest alternative to the iPad.

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