News In Brief: Vodafone, Napster, AOL, Nokia, Seal Shield

Vodafone was forced to evacuate its Newbury call center site Tuesday afternoon due to extreme weather conditions. With up to 30 cm of snow expected to fall overnight in the south of England, the Berkshire site is likely to be the first of many customer service operations struggling to stay open.

Napster’s CEO and chairman of ten years Chris Gorog and president Brad Duea have stepped down the digital music service now owned by consumer electronics and media retail store chain Best Buy. Both positions have been eliminated by Best Buy and Napster COO Christopher Allen will become the GM of Napster within Best Buy.
 
AOL  is reportedly in talks to acquire social media and web 2.0 blog Mashable. Founded in 2005 and owned by 24-year-old Pete Cashmore, the site overtook TechCrunch as the world's most popular technology blog in June. 
 
The new Greek government is reviewing plans for a nationwide fiber-optic broadband network in order to make the project more attractive to private investors. The FTTH program with an indicative budget of €2 billion, is aimed at expanding direct fiber to two million Greek homes, providing internet speeds of at least 100 Mbps. The government plans to invite bids to build the network by May 2011, and pick the tender's winners by July 2011.
 
The US Justice Department has announced it will conduct an antitrust review of Comcast's proposed acquisition of NBC Universal.
 
Nokia has revealed it is considering developing dual-SIM handsets for the Indian market, as it prepares to launch a digital marketing campaign in the region for its top-end devices.
 
Waterproof electronics specialist Seal Shield has launched what it says is the world's first mobile phone that can be washed in a domestic dishwasher. The Seal Cell is a dual SIM, quad-band device with a 2.0 megapixel camera, video and torch light and a ruggedized touch screen. The product is scheduled to begin shipping in early 2010. Pricing has not yet been released.