Liam Tung reports on the latest globally relevant technology news and events from Scandinavia, served with a side of herring and a shot of Akvavit.
Liam Tung is an Australian business technology journalist living a few too many Swedish miles north of Stockholm for his liking. He gained a bachelors degree in economics and arts (cultural studies) at Sydney's Macquarie University, but hacked (without Norse or malicious code for that matter) his way into a career as an enterprise tech, security and telecommunications journalist with ZDNet Australia. These days Liam is a full time freelance technology journalist who writes for several Australian publications, including the Sydney Morning Herald online. He's interested primarily in how information technology impacts the way business and people communicate, trade, and consume.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told analysts on Thursday that the Windows Phone ecosystem, and its own device hopes, will improve as mobile operators' concerns grow over a two operating system world - and if Microsoft decides to make an own-brand phone.
Norway has got its second 4G network after Telenor rolled its fourth-generation coverage out in 11 municipalities, following its rival NetCom.
Jolla, the Finnish start-up championing the Linux-based operating system MeeGo, will give delegates at a Helsinki conference the first taste of its Sailfish OS and its SDK in a matter of weeks, with news on a separate operating system effort to follow before too long.
Nokia is turning the cost-cutting scrutiny on its real estate - one option under consideration is offloading its corporate HQ and then renting the facility.
The OS, codenamed 'Sailfish,' will be the centre of a new Hong Kong-based ecosystem alliance, according to the company, which has picked a datacentre in the region to support its plans.
PRQ, the former web host for Wikileaks and The Pirate Bay, has gone offline after a copyright-related police raid, drawing threats of retaliation from hacktivist group Anonymous.
Norway's Data Protection Authority has given the all clear for councils to use Google Apps, so long as they do not use it to communicate private data about the public.
Telia's plans to charge customers extra for mobile subscriptions with IP telephony included have been put on hold in Sweden and Denmark - but VoIP-less plans are still on the cards.
Nokia's decline and swingeing job cuts have been tough on Finland, particularly on its software industry. The country's developers are staking their future on Windows Phone - could the gamble be just what the Finnish tech sector needs to get back on its feet?
It's handbags at dawn after Nokia seized the chance to make hay after a rare misstep by Apple, trumpeting its own maps efforts and accusing Cupertino of prioritising form over function.