So today we want to do even more of the same..... .............by turning the spotlight onto Lebanon and Jordan. The N9 Show Yourself Competition  Wouldn't you love to be the next billboard pin-up in your home city? Imagine driving past a huge billboard with your friends and pointing up to a massive picture of yourself smiling and having fun! Well this dream came true for some lucky Nokia fans taking part in the N9 Show Yourself competition in Lebanon and Jordan. [...]

.. via mrsapplegate First up is the candid cat shot above by mrsapplegate on Flickr. She's expertly captured the shocked expression from Sammy, her devoted housecat as he eyes up the snow through the window. Next up we have this mysterious moment by Paul Bevan, using a Nokia N82. "This shoe seemed to have been abandoned in the snow in a car park at Aberystwyth University, makes you wonder what story it has to tell" he explained on Flickr. [...]

This week though we have found some great promotional videos from the launch of the Lumia 800 in Germany and India. Nokia Germany ICEBERG AHEAD! Imagine walking around the shops with your friends and seeing a huge block of ice with something frozen inside it! You would naturally be intrigued to find out what the hell it was doing there and how you could get your hands-on whatever was inside. [...]

So wr-app up warm, this could get chilly! Pic courtesy of NokiaInnovation and the N8 How cold is it going to be? Weatherbug Price - Free Available at - Windows Marketplace Immediate alerts of extreme weather that's headed your way, nine (count them) layers of weather maps and a pollen forecast (not exactly applicable right now, but give it a few months). Get this on your homescreen. [...]

 Our quest led us to the very knowledgable..... Mat Hunter via nursingtimes.net ...Mat Hunter; the Chief Design Officer at the Design Council. Mat heads up the organisation’s Design Challenges programme and gave us an interview account of his past and present work as a designer. We hope you enjoy the insight! Can you tell us a little about what you do at the Design Council? I spent a lot of my time running Design Challenges. [...]

Let's kick off with a splash of colour shall we? Here we have Lebanese fashionisa, Lana, who admits to have been eyeing up the N9 even before we had the chance to send her one. Blue being her favourite colour, it seemed right that we honoured this with a cyan phone! via larmoiredelana Her review is as expected and predominantly about aesthetics and design. The N9, with its mix of 'rigidity and very roundish corners', makes Lana say it's the most beautiful smartphone seen this year. [...]

S. in the New Year, and it's got people talking. Courtesy of The Verge John Biggs at TechCrunch reckons the Lumia 710 is "what Nokia does best: solid, acceptably-specced hardware at a price that’s approaching free" He's a fan of the phone and its entry-point status, saying that is poses a "real and credible threat to Android" Strong words indeed. He's not the only one, though. Paul Ferson, writing at Neowin, reckons the Nokia Lumia 710 "appears to be an affordable route into the Windows Phone 7 smartphone world, on top of being able to appeal to more than just new smartphone buyers" All looking rosy so far, and looking into the comments on the post that popped up on The Verge by Sean Hollister shows that the Lumia 710 has its strong supporters. [...]