Looks like the most popular gadget in Europe this Christmas is the Wii if online searches are anything to judge by. According to the figures released by comScore Inc., the gadgets most frequently searched for in online engines in Europe during the first three weeks of November is the Nintendo Wii followed by the iPod. Next comes the DS lite, the PSP and the iPhone. More in the full article.

Vivendi Games Mobile, a division of Vivendi Games, is giving European mobile phone subscribers a chance to win a Nintendo Wii video game system in exchange for their "worst ever date" stories.

"Terrible dates are something that everyone experiences but few ever really talk about, so this is a chance to celebrate Larryness and engage in some collective laughter therapy courtesy of Nintendo and MySpace," said Paul Maglione, president of Vivendi Games Mobile.

This contest is part of Vivendi's campaign to drum up support for the recently-launched mobile game Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail. The game is now available on wireless networks throughout Australia, New Zealand, and across Europe. Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail will soon be launching on carriers in North America as well.

Those interested have until August 8 to post their worst date story to the Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail Myspace web page and add Larry as their "top friend." You can click on the Read link to head there. There will be five winners in all - one each from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

We got word that telecommunications company O2, which is owned by Spain's Telefonica, has just secured the exclusive UK rights to offer the Apple iPhone. If you're wondering about the T-Mobile contract, it turns out that it's only good in its home country of Germany and not for the whole of Europe.

The terms of the agreement are still not clear but according to the Times Online, the two companies will have a continuing share of the revenues generated by each iPhone customer. Also, O2's own network will be modified to accommodate the iPhone. The UK has a mobile phone consumer base of 18 million.

Apple is also having on-going negotiations with different companies in other countries in the continent and that more contracts are likely to be signed soon. Those in the know are saying that for France, the iPhone is likely to be distributed by company Orange.

Lastly, it was reported as well that rival phone manufacturers are preparing new lines of mobile phones geared to kill the iPhone fever for Vodafone as well as other telecommunications firms. The Apple iPhone is expected to arrive in UK this December with a price tag of GBP 300 GBP or roughly US$ 604.

The International Mobile Gaming Awards announced yesterday the 25 games that topped out in their annual awardings - 5 more than they previously predicted.

These 25 are the best among the 400 entries during this years' festivities, with a total of 42 countries participating in the IMGA; 46% from Europe, 30% from  Asia, 15% from North America, and 9% coming from the rest of the world.

The IMGA, sponsored this year by major companies like Nokia, NVIDIA, and Orange, aims to provide recognition for the most innovative and creative games around the world, and is divided up into five separate categories, with the top 25 divided within each:

1. Best Interactive Experience Award
2. Best Use of Connectivity
3. Excellence in 3D Award
4. Most Innovative Game Award
5. Best Use of Flash Award

Some of the more interesting concepts shown by the entries included educationally-themed ideas, like ways of teaching foreign languages to the players, or teaching them how to dance. One notable was the use of localization technology (layman's terms: cell sites), with over 100 participants playing an interactive outdoors game (outdoors, video games...that doesn't add up) titled Triangler, developed by the Holland-based TNO research lab.

The top 25 list awaits after this jump!

Originally titled Arthur and the Minimoys, this mobile game adaptation of the children's book by Luc Besson has something in it that has captured our attention. It has made us believe in enchanted little creatures, once again. Although we may be too old for fairy tales and those kind of things, we just can't resist this unique game that revolves around the teamwork of a 10-year-old boy - named Arthur - and his friends, Selenia and B?m?e, to save the Minimoy universe from destruction. Through their journey, they are not only in a mission to save the Minimoy universe but they will also discover the true worth of friendship.

They may be small in size (roughly a couple of millimeters tall), Arthur and the Invisibles is packed with huge surprises. Basing from these new screenshots, gameplay introduces a new world filled with adventure that would surely captivate kids and those who are "kid-at-heart". It includes battling a variety of insects, overcoming different obstacles, solving mysteries, and the best of all, sticking to your friends through it all. From sewers, to gardens and to underground tunnels, Arthur and his friends will realize the valuable lesson of teamwork and believing in each other's abilities.

This exciting mobile phone game is being developed by France-based MIG and will be published by Atari. It is set to enchant European mobile phone users at the end of 2006.

John Hsu, a reporter in China's commercial capital of Shanghai, got in ahead of the Blackberry's September launch. He bought his Blackberry online for just $65 - roughly a fifth of its retail price in the United States. He uses it like a regular phone because it looks cool and he thinks its sound quality is better than an average smart phone. Still, he has no plans to subscribe to a Blackberry e-mail service provided by China Mobile, which can cost as much as 598 yuan ($75) a month.

"I would like to get work e-mails on my Blackberry, but the price has to be right," said Hsu, who now pays 20 yuan ($2.50) a month to get personal e-mails on his Hewlett-Packard PDA phone.

Yes, China has caught Blackberry fever, and it comes with complications. If Hsu is representative of price-sensitive Chinese retail customers, the most debilitating and lingering effects of Blackberry fever may be felt by the device's maker, Research in Motion, and service providers such as China Mobile Ltd. In this case, the problem is an old one: cheap knock-offs.

Pirated products have long been a thorn in China's side. The country's audio and video piracy industry is one of, if not the biggest piracy industries in the world. China has a poor track record of enforcing intellectual property rights, and Chinese companies are being hit just as hard as foreign companies. "Piracy is something that affects everybody in China," said Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based research firm Marbridge Consulting.

According to George Guo, senior vice president at top Chinese mobile phone manufacturer TCL Communications, used phones and phones sold by unlicensed vendors forced all the major local mobile phone makers except Lenovo Group Ltd. into the red last year. TCL, which bought France's Alcatel's cell-phone assets, is making a big bet on the better regulated, and arguably less competitive markets abroad.

In 2005, China sold roughly 15 million so-called black-market phones, compared with 80 million handsets sold through licensed dealers, according to Marbridge Consulting. That means an estimated 16 percent of handsets sold in China are either made by unlicensed companies or smuggled in.

A lot of unscrupulous people are getting into the already-prevalent piracy market, lured by great returns in exchange for a considerably smaller investment. An unlicensed factory needs as little as 1 million yuan ($125,000) to start, and can get its phones to market early by skipping the government testing process. Makers of the so-called "black phones" often evade taxes and provide no customer service. Piracy is also a more attractive business than smuggling, because while smuggling can be a capital offense in China, makers of unlicensed phones merely get a slap on the wrist.

The use of refurbished and unlicensed phones is also rampant in Eastern Europe and Middle East, but not in more developed markets. Such products pose a growing threat to the likes of foreign brand names such as Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and Nokia as well as home-grown players such as TCL, Ningbo Bird Co. Ltd., Shenzhen Konka Group.

The Chinese mobile phone industry's future does not look pirate-free just yet, what with the huge market for cheap knock-offs. Consideration for big faceless companies is hard to come by these days, and some people will always let quality be damned and go for what is cheaper, especially considering the high prices of virtually everything else in these times. But is the price you're paying now really worth the effect it has on your whole country's economy? That's the question that those who patronize pirated goods need to ask themselves.

At one of your trips on board Air France, you may notice that "No Smoking" signs are now replaced by "No Mobile" signs - a trend being adapted by many other airlines. Air France, specifically, will only allow mobile usage during flights using special satellite systems, at a cost of about $2.50 a minute. This is one of the number of solutions that are being developed both to improve detection of interference and to enable the safe use of wireless devices in flight.

The use of mobile phones on airplanes in-flight is prohibited worldwide. Usage of other portable electronic devices (PEDs) is also prohibited during takeoff and landing. The reasons, though, remain ambiguous, one of which is that by operating a device that will interfere with the aircraft systems and disrupt the two-way radio used by pilots, a person is endangering the lives of other aircraft passengers.

Whether this reason - along with other reasons - is true or not, you may want to think twice before you turn on your mobile phone while inside the aircraft.

Atari issued an announcement that it will bring Arthur and the Minimoys to mobile phones across Europe in November 2006. The game is based on a four-volume literary adventure written by Luc Besson and is currently being developed for the PSP and Nintendo DS as well.

In the mobile game, players follow the fantastic adventure of young Arthur, Selenia and Bétamèche to save the Minimoys’ world from destruction. Set in Besson’s richly imaginative Minimoy universe which is inhabited by teeny, tiny inhabitants, the unique gameplay requires achieving teamwork between Arthur, Selenia and Bétamèche in order for the players to progress.

In case you're scratching your head and still thinking Arthur and the Miniwhooo? Here are a few info about the game and the upcoming film:

• The books sold more than 1,000,000 books in France alone.
• The film have the highest budget ever for a European animated film ($85 million).
• It is currently being filmed using three technologies (2D, 3D and real film footage) and a groundbreaking animation graphical style.
• The film will be distributed in more than 40 countries, including the United States, Europe and Asia.
• Voices and original music for the film will be provided by superstars David Bowie, Madonna, and Snoop Dogg.

A Dutch company is selling protective condoms intended for painters, butchers, masons, and pool cleaners who need their cell phones near them while working. According to the company, their product, Skins, is not only water-proof but it is also sweat proof, blood proof, and paint proof - so now, your trusty companion is no longer in constant danger.

The company, Innovalife International Ltd., says that approximately 68 million mobile phones have been damaged due to water or dirt, so it is just apt to protect them with the 75 micron thick Skins the phone is protected under nearly all circumstances.

Using the skin is similar to using a regular condom: just place it under your mobile and roll it downwards. And if you're worried about tearing the poor thing, the latex used in this one is seventeen times stronger than regular latex and can be stretched seven times its own length.

The idea is the brainchild of Rogier Van Camp. It sprung into his mind as he was painting a swimming pool in France. His regular job demanded that he had his mobile with him all the time, but keeping it clean with dirty hands proved almost impossible. Now, let's just hope that those who will buy it will use it for their cell phones...and only for their cellphones.