Author: Duncan Geere
Facebook hits another milestone – 150 million users
This afternoon, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on the site’s blog that the social networking behemoth has passed 150 million users, and half of those check the site every single day. That’s crazy, and made even more crazy by Zuckerberg pointing that if Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria.
Other than that announcement, there might be a clue in Zuckerberg’s closing paragraph, where he says: “we look forward to offering even more ways for you to connect with the people who matter most”. Facebook Connect hasn’t been explosive in its popularity, so perhaps the company has something different in the works…
Related posts: Facebook Connect to help claim more internet real estate | Facebook is… the nation’s most popular thing-to-do on Christmas Day
CES 2009: New SD card standard paves the way for 2TB capacities
The SD association has announced a new top-end to the capacities of its eponymous flash memory cards. The new spec is called “SDXC” – short for “eXtended Capacity”, and it’ll hold up to 2TB of data, with transfer speeds rocketing up to 104MB/s. In contrast, the previous maximums were 32GB and 10MB/s.
This is just a specification – there’s no products yet – and support for the format will have to make its way into devices before it’ll be much use selling the cards. However, I think it’s fairly safe to say that we’ll be seeing these on shelves in a year or so.
(via Gizmodo)
For more CES coverage, click here
CES 2009: World's first projector phone
I’ll be honest here – I’ve never sat there with my phone and wished I could project its contents onto a handy flat surface, but I recognise that there’s a few situations it might come in handy – a camping trip, or impromptu business meeting, perhaps.
Well, even if there’s not much demand, Logitech Wireless has a solution regardless. It’s the “Logic Bolt”. It’s got an inbult projector, which can throw a 64″ image onto any white, flat, surface that you desire. It’s also got GPS, a 3-megapixel camera and a touchscreen. Not exactly pretty though, is it?
(via ShinyShiny)
More CES gubbins here.
CES 2009: WowWee Cinemin Pico Projectors – candybar, swivel and dock
Last time we heard from WowWee, they showed Ashley a robot at last year’s CES. I guess they decided that there’s not much money in robots, because this year they’ve got a bunch of cheap, tiny, but remarkably attractive projectors instead.
From left to right, there’s the “Stick”, which takes SD cards, but also has some internal memory, the “Station”, which lets you both dock your iPod and display its contents, and the “Swivel” which has a 90° hinge, letting you project your videos skyward. It also packs a three-hour battery life, for those long sessions of lying on your back. No pricing or availability yet, beyond “2009”.
Find more CES coverage here. Tempted? I sure am.
Related posts: Optoma Pico portable projector – pack 60 inches in your pocket | Toshiba pico projector – nice tech but is it totally useless?
Nokia 5800 'Tube' finally touches down in the UK
We were wondering when the Nokia 5800 was going to show up, but it wasn’t ‘in time for Christmas’, after all. Nokia has just dropped us an email to confirm that you’ll be able to get your sweaty hands on the ‘Tube’ in the UK on Friday 23rd January.
Initially, it’ll only be available in Nokia’s Regent Street and Heathrow Terminal 5 flagship stores, as well as online, but come Friday 30th, it’ll be available from anywhere. Interestingly, Nokia will be selling it unlocked and SIM-free to start with, for £250. I would get excited, but with the N97 just round the corner, the Tube can get stuffed.
Nokia Shop
Related posts: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic coming very soon, in time for Christmas perhaps? | Shiny Preview: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic aka The Tube
Rock adds Intel's Q9000 quad-core chip to its Xtreme 780 gaming laptop
There are very few true PC gamers that’ll willingly buy a laptop over a desktop, primarily because the performance-price difference is so great. Rock’s just added an Intel Q9000 chip to its flagship gaming laptop – the Xtreme 780, but I suspect the majority of gamers out there simply won’t care.
It’s not even that great a machine. Quad-core aside, the 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS is merely adequate, the 2GB of memory will look very meagre before the end of 2009, and a 250GB hard drive is considerably less than most gamers will need. For £1700, which is what the Xtreme 780 costs, you could make two desktop PCs that outspec this laptop.
Logitech shows off its revamped gaming lineup – two keyboards a headset and a mouse
Next up, it’s Logitech’s turn to show off its new products to the world. They’ve got the G19 keyboard, the G13 gameboard, the G9x mouse and the G35 surround sound headset. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that the G stands for ‘gaming’, because these are all very squarely focused at PC gamers.
I’ll start with the G19, which we spotted previously, but called the G18. In every other respect, though, it seems to be the same model – it’s got the same 320 x 240 colour LCD, the same 12 macro keys, and the superb “game mode” switch that disables the Windows key so you don’t hit it by accident at a crucial moment. No sign of that D-pad, though.
VIDEO: Tilt-shifted monster trucks look like toys
This remarkable video is the work of Australian Keith Loutit, who specialises in tilt-shift photography. This technique involves manipulating the focus of an image so that it appears toylike. There’s a great Photoshop how-to here, and a gallery of other tilt-shift pics here. Post your favourites in the comments below.
(via the Telegraph)
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HP launching two Pavilion laptops, and one Firebird desktop
HP has announced a couple of new notebook PCs in its Pavilion range, and a successor to its high-end Blackbird desktop – the Firebird. Let’s take a look at the notebooks first.
They’re named Pavilion dv2 and Pavilion dv3. The dv2 is a slim-and-light machine, with 3.8 pound weight, and thickness of just one inch. The full specs aren’t available, but it’ll include an AMD Athlon processor, 12″ display, “nearly” full-size keyboard, discrete graphics and up to 500GB of hard disc space. There’s an optional external Blu-ray drive, too.
Sandisk reveals one-button-backup USB flash drives
Now that flash memory has got to a price competitive with mechanical storage, we’re starting to see it crop up in all sorts of places. One of those places is backup, where the speed of the memory presents a clear advantage over a traditional disk drive.
With that in mind, Sandisk has brought out a new backup-focused USB drive, which is the first in the world to work its magic with just a button press – no software installation needed. The capacities aren’t huge yet – the biggest is 64GB – but that should cover the contents of ‘My Documents’ for the vast majority of consumers.
The SanDisk Ultra Backup will go on sale in April, and cost between $40 (£28) and $200 (£137) depending on the size you plump for. How big is your “My Documents” folder? How about when you don’t include the porn? Let us know in the comments.
Sandisk Press Release
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