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Habbo chat disabled as another investor pulls out
Habbo has lost another investment partner as an investigation into alleged user misconduct continues. Earlier this week, UK broadcaster Channel 4 went public with reports of "sexual, perverse, violent, and pornographic" chat in the children's virtual world formerly known as Habbo Hotel. Today, Gamasutra reports that 3i, a private equity group that owns 16 percent of Habbo parent firm Sulake, is pulling out. Previously, Sulake shareholder Balderton Capital returned its stake, while retailers Tesco and WH Smith removed Habbo gift cards from their websites. Sulake CEO Paul LaFontaine subsequently announced that all chat functionality on the Habbo website has been disabled pending the results of a potentially lengthy internal investigation.
Dell Mini 3i OPhone detailed ahead of this week's China Mobile launch
After so much speculation and rumor, it's hard to believe that Dell's first modern cellphone is ready to launch. And while we've already seen the official press release announcing the Mini 3 for Brazil and China, today we get a followup release with a bit more detail. As expected, the Chinese Mini 3i variant is quadband GSM/EDGE only (no 3G) and packs a 3.5-inch nHD, 640x360 touchscreen display just like that found on Nokia's N97. The 58.35 x 122 x 11.7-mm OPhone will ship in "Red Passion" and "Oiled Bronze" colors packing Bluetooth, a 3 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash and video capture mode, microSD slot, and GPS with pre-loaded maps. And in case you're wondering why China first, that's easy: Dell's going after China Mobile's 500 million subscriber base when its first handset hits authorized stores later this week.
Dell Mini 3i unboxed in China, capacitive stylus included
One lucky Chinese blogger was kind enough to share his Dell Mini 3i unboxing experience beyond the Great Firewall, just a tad before Dell officially announced their first-ever smartphone. What's interesting is that the China Mobile version comes with a special stylus for the capacitive touchscreen -- a very handy tool for writing Chinese -- but there's been no mention of this accessory for the Brazilian 3iX. Dell's also bundled a 3.5mm adapter for the mini-USB port in case their handsfree isn't good enough for your audiophilic ears. Yeah, too bad about the missing headphone jack, but don't let this deter you from checking out the Mini 3i's full glory after the break.
