TechTalk: Exploring the Latest Technology News, Updates, Reviews, and Gossip

Number of Internet users in China hits 210 million: govt BEIJING (AFP) - China had 210 million Internet users by the end of 2007 and will soon have more web surfers than any other country on the planet, an official report said Thursday. China's online population was only five million less than the US, the government-linked China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said in a report. "The CNNIC predicts that at the beginning of 2008, China will become the country with the largest online population in the world," the CNNIC said in its report. China already has the globe's biggest mobile phone user population, numbering 539.4 million at the end of November, according to government figures. China added 73 million new online users last year, as the Internet seemed to be catching on in the countryside, where development has so far been held back by low incomes and weak infrastructure. The number of rural Internet users reached 52.6 million by the end of 2007, up a...

Google philanthropy targets global warming, poverty, and disease SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Google's philanthropic arm on Thursday said it is taking aim at global warming, poverty, and pandemics with millions in cash and the Internet giant's global resources. Google.org executive director Larry Brilliant said the group had a "brutal" job selecting priorities from the world's ills and crafting five core initiatives it feels best match Google's strengths. "It means we left some heart-breaking problems off the table," Brilliant said in a conference call with news reporters. "How do you not take on female genital mutilation? How do you not take on the need for clean water? These problems we are not addressing are not less important ... we are trying to do the things that fit who we are." Google.org announced more than 25 million dollars in grant money being invested in groups combating environmental, energy...

Pocket-sized gadgets get picture projection power LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) - Mobile phones that project video and GPS devices that display maps on anything from table tops to walls are some of the products showcasing hot new projection technologies at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Exhibitors at the world's largest consumer electronics trade show are showing off matchbox-sized gizmos that can turn mobile telephones, MP3 players, and handheld GPS navigation devices into picture and video projectors. "It can be used when you want to share images or video with more than one person who wants to see it," Greg Roberts of 3M corporation said. "It's cool. Young people will love it." With the small gadgets, which attach to handheld devices, one can project digital television shows or videos from the Internet onto walls to share with friends, or do the same with advertising, multi-media work presentations or sales pitches. The technology is expec...

Sony to axe original PlayStation 3 models in Japan TOKYO (AFP) - Sony Corp. said Thursday that it will stop selling the two original PlayStation 3 models in Japan and focus on the new slimmed down version amid fierce competition from rival Nintendo Co. Sony's game unit said it would end shipments of PlayStation 3s with 20- and 60-gigabyte hard disk drives this month in its domestic market. Sony is pinning its hopes on the cheaper PS3 with a 40-GB hard disk drive that was introduced in Japan in November last year in an attempt to better compete with Nintendo's more affordable Wii video game console. Unlike the two original versions, which were launched in November 2006, the newest PS3 model does not play games designed for the PlayStation 2, has two high-speed USB ports instead of four and has no super audio CD system. It was introduced with a price tag of 39,980 yen (364 dolla...

Slimmed down high definition TVs unveiled LAS VEGAS (AFP ) - High definition televisions are slimming down while their pictures and capabilities are beefing up. Innovations at the world's largest consumer electronics show in Las Vegas underscore the trend, with Sony wowing visitors with a 3-mm (.12-inch) thick Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) television. While liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions use backlights, OLED's picture-creating pixels come from screens that can be made paper thin and bendable while using less power. Sony of America chief executive Howard Stringer proclaimed OLED a new industry standard, saying "even the name sounds like a Viking warlord." "This is the future of television," Jose Albanez of Sony said Wednesday while guarding a roped-off OLED display on the exhibit floor of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). OLED televisions hit store shelves in Japan in December and were launched in the US market this week at a price of 2,50...

Internet changing consumer electronics world: Intel chief LAS VEGAS (AFP) - The Internet is a magnificent "disruptive force" changing the world's gadgets along with lifestyles, computer giant Intel's top executive said Monday at the top consumer electronics show. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) abounds with televisions and other devices that link directly to the Internet, bypassing computers, making gadgets smarter and increasingly interconnected, said Intel chief executive Paul Otellini. "The Internet is a disruptive force that is changing the consumer electronics industry," Otellini said, in a speech wrapping up the first day of the CES event in Las Vegas that ends Thursday. "I submit we are just getting started," the head of the world's largest computer chip maker said. "The next generation is the Internet coming to us instead of us going to the Internet." Otellini demonstrated a prototype handheld device...

Date of Birth 20 June 1967, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA Birth Name Nicole Mary Kidman Nickname Nic Height 5' 10½" (1.79 m) Mini Biography Elegant redhead Nicole Kidman, known as one of Hollywood's top Australian imports, was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Anthony (a biochemist and clinical psychologist) and Janelle (a nursing instructor) Kidman. The family moved almost immediately to Washington, DC, where Nicole's father pursued his research on breast cancer, and then, three years later, made the pilgrimage to her parents' native Sydney. Young Nicole's first love was ballet, but she eventually took up mime and drama as well (her first stage role was a bleating sheep in an elementary school Christmas pageant). In her adolescent years, acting edged out the other arts and became a kind of refuge -- as her classmates sought out fun in the sun, the fair-skinned Kidman retreated to dark rehearsal halls to practice her craft...

Sony says sold 1.2 million PS3s in North America at year-end TOKYO (AFP) - Sony's game unit said Monday that it had sold 1.2 million PlayStation 3 video game consoles in North America during the key year-end holiday shopping season. Sony also sold 1.4 million PlayStation Portable handheld machines in the region during the same period from November 23 to December 31, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said in a statement. Sony, facing fierce competition from rival Nintendo Co., slashed 100 dollars from its top model PS3 consoles in the United States and introduced a cheaper, slimmed down version ahead of the crucial year-end sales period. "The PlayStation brand ended the year in a very strong position and clearly indicates more positive momentum going into 2008," Jack Tretton, head of Sony's US games unit, said in a statement. The PlayStation 2 also continued to enjoy brisk demand with sales of 1.3 million machines between November 23 and December 31, Sony said. Sony pre...

Bill Gates headlines consumer electronics tradeshow LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) - Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates unofficially opened the world's largest consumer electronics tradeshow in Las Vegas on Sunday, heralding the onset of a new "digital decade." In his last keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show, Gates lauded how computers and the Internet have become ubiquitous and predicted the coming ten years will deliver even greater technology changes. "The first digital decade has been a great success," Gates told an overflow audience in a ballroom at the Venetian hotel and casino. "This is just the beginning. There is nothing holding us back from going much faster and further in the second digital decade." There are more than a billion personal computers in use in the world and more than 40 percent of people on the planet have mobile telephones, according to Gates. The new digital decade will be increasingly "user-centric" and the trend...

Sony says Skype coming to PlayStation Portable TOKYO (AFP) - Sony said Monday that it had teamed up with Skype to enable users of its new slim PlayStation Portable handheld video game machine to make free or low cost telephone calls around the world. ADVERTISEMENT In the latest move by the electronics giant to try to broaden the appeal of its consoles amid fierce competition with rival Nintendo Co, Sony said the new service would be available in late January for PSP-2000 owners. After a system software update, PSP users will be able to chat for free to other Skype users and, for a charge, call landlines and mobile phones anywhere in the world, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said in a statement. The move aims to "promote the expansion of the PSP platform as a handheld entertainment system to enjoy a variety of interactive digital entertainment," it said. Skype, which was bought by eBay in October of 2004, uses a peer-to-peer network to enable users to make free Internet tele...

Britney Spears 'leaves hospital' Spears will hear on 14 January if she can see her two sons again Britney Spears has been discharged from hospital in Los Angeles, according to a well-known TV therapist who said he had spent an hour with the troubled singer. Dr Phil McGraw said he was convinced she was "in dire need of both medical and psychological intervention". The star was taken to hospital on a stretcher after a hysterical outburst at her home, with police called to try to settle a dispute about her two sons. A court commissioner then removed her right to look after or visit the boys. As a result, Spears' ex-husband, Kevin Federline, now has sole custody of Sean Preston, who is two, and one-year-old Jayden James. A further court hearing is to be held on 14 January to consider the welfare of the children. 'Very concerned' Dr McGraw, who presents a self-titled programme helping people with their psychological problems, said he went to see Spears at the ...