Google offers Gingerbread for the holidays with the Nexus S and also unveiled Chrome Web Store for free and paid apps for the Chrome browser and Chrome OS. Here's an interview with DroidCon organiser, Dominic Travers about his first impressions of the NFC-enabled handset.

Calling all London-based mobile peeps, on Monday 13th December, the Mobile Gameshow will bring together 150 people for an afternoon event for anyone involved in the mobile industry.

 A stand out feature of the Google Nexus S is that it supports near field communications. NFC will become increasingly more popular in the next couple of years as all the top handset manufactures, including Nokia, RIM and Apple - pledge their support for the contactless technology. Check out the demo below.

A quick look at both last year's Google Nexus 1 and the brand new Google Nexus S - running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).

Google has officially launched it's latest flagship device- which is not only the world's first phone running Android 2.3 OS but thanks to its Contour Display, it's the first mobile phone with a curved screen. The 4-inch touchscreen has a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, combined Flash and HTML5 technology for Internet browsing and a front and rear-facing camera.

Google has officially launched the latest Nexus S running on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Unlike last year's model that was available on google.com/phone - the Nexus S is exclusive to Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy in the UK.

The most exciting thing for me is that the phone is NFC-capable. Near field communications or 'contactless' technology is starting to become a reality as more handset manufactures start developing their next batch of smartphones equipped with NFC chips. Can't wait to cut down the clutter in my handbag and just use my smartphone to touch in and out of London's underground or to buy my afternoon latte and cookie.

The Google Nexus S will retail unlocked for £549.95 or free with a £35 per month contract. The Samsung phone is not only the world's first phone running Android 2.3 OS but thanks to its Contour Display, it also wins bragging rights for being the first mobile with a curved screen. It comes with 16 GB of internal memory, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor plus dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and combined Flash and HTML5 technology for Internet browsing.

The phone features a 4” display that is up to 1.5x brighter than traditional LCD displays, has improved motion gesture sensors and location tracking without requiring GPS. There's a front and back-facing camera and since it's a ‘pure Google’ smartphone - users will be the first to receive software upgrades and new applications as they become available. But are you prepared to drop that much cash on a phone?

Also, was wondering what the S stands for? Samsung, Super AMOLED, Speed... someone suggested Sexy... I can live with that!

And having met with the Swedish software firm multiple times, so do I.

Their mobile user interfaces are cutting-edge and fresh. Unlike the rest who always play catch up to Apple, the Astonishing Tribe (TAT) look outside the iPhone for inspiration.

The fact that Research in Motion bought them (for an undisclosed sum) can only mean one thing:  

Blackberry is BACK!

RIM is seriously planning to kick some ass and win back some of the market share they recently lost to rivals Apple and Android. I can't wait to check out how slick the Playbook is going to look!!!

In 2009, I met with CEO, Charlotta Falvin - here's the interview about TAT thinking outside the iPhone box and the difficulty for handset manufacturers to compete with webOS and iOS user interfaces.

Last week's advances by Google to acquire deal-of-the-day website Groupon for nearly $6 billion was reportedly turned down, with the online sensation favouring an initial public offering (IPO) instead.

Amidst all the bidding craze, the Chicago-based startup snapped up three similar websites and launched in four markets in Asia, totaling its presence to 300 global markets. The company decided against the takeover bid estimated to be worth $5.3 billion, with an additional $700 million in performance bonuses for management.

Exactly two years old, the online coupon site is hugely profitable - making an estimated $500 million in annual sales. This unprecedented growth has sparked an unsuccessful bidding war between Yahoo and Google, and will likely continue to attract hopeful offers.

In addition to it's Asian expansion last week, it also launched 'Merchant Store,' an e-commerce platform where retailers claim their store, create a deal, advertise it and limit the number of users who can purchase it.

When Mark Zuckerberg claimed that privacy is dead - maybe he had a point - or at least with Generation Y. Nowadays, with the proliferation of social networking, over-sharing of information and general privacy concerns - Tim Leberecht, CMO at Frog Design, tells me in a candid interview how good design can combat these new social media fears.