Nokia continues reinvention, details new fonts and branding

Nokia's current typeface -- Nokia Sans -- feels like one of the great constants in the consumer electronics industry, a design that instantly screams "Nokia" the moment you see it (for better or worse). That kind of strong, tight brand recognition from something as basic and simple as a character on a screen really isn't something that you can buy -- it needs to be built and cultivated over many, many years -- so we're sure that Espoo's decision to chuck it and start fresh wasn't taken lightly. In fact, we're sure it wasn't taken lightly because the company has published an 800-plus word explanation and defense of its decision to kill off Nokia Sans and replace it with Nokia Pure, a font it describes as the embodiment of "beauty in supreme usability."

Of course, it's no coincidence that the font change comes just as Nokia's trying to go back to the drawing board, both with its hiring of outsider Stephen Elop and its decision to phase out Symbian and add Windows Phone into the mix; sure enough, the company says that it plans to use Pure on its devices and that "it has been designed specially for mobile and digital environments." What do you think?

[Thanks, Esko]

What do you think of Nokia's new font, Nokia Pure?

It's great!Terrible move -- long live Nokia Sans!Not sure, I'm conflicted; I need to sleep on itWho cares? It's not about the font, it's about the hardware

Triforce Johnson gets his Nintendo 3DS first, the legend continues

There are fans, and then there are fans, if you know what we mean, and Isaiah Triforce Johnson has secured his spot in column number two with a Power Gloved fist -- here he is accepting the very first Nintendo 3DS on the east coast from Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America. Johnson camped out all week in front of Best Buy's Union Square location to be first in line at the launch event, replicating his feat of five years prior when he was first to purchase the Wii. Of course, Japanese gamers have had the autostereocopic handheld for over a month now, but we have to give credit where it's due -- we're already imagining Greg Packer and Triforce Johnson duking it out in a little Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition duel. By the way, we snapped a few shots of the 3DS launch event this morning -- check them out below.

Nintendo 3DS launch event