Twitter Aims To Monetize

We all knew that sooner or later (and it seems to be later in this case) that the growing microblogging platform Twitter would look to expand their service in a way that would bring them revenue. It may have taken the folks at Twitter a little longer than most companies, but it seems as though they are about to begin serious monetization efforts. The Wall Street journal is reporting that Twitter is developing a paid account option that will be marketed to their more serious users, including users that market their business through the service.

The real question is what additional features will paid accounts offer in order to entice users? While details are not confirmed, it is believed that paid Twitter accounts would provide services targetted toward business users, such as allowing them to verify representatives. They would also have access to advanced tracking tools in order to see what folks are saying about them, with the goal of making the most out of their Twitter activities.

A New Mobile Browser From Firefox

As I probably have mentioned a few dozen times on this blog in the past, Firefox by Mozilla has long been my browser of choice. I have just found it more user friendly than IE (Firefox had “tabs” first, which many of us now could not live without), and significantly faster. Plus, I love the addons. I did, however, try Google Chrome when it first came out, but had some privacy concerns which they have now fixed. I may try Chrome again in the future, but for now I am still a FireFox girl.

So, with that in mind, I was quite excited today when I heard that FireFox/Mozilla has released a Beta version of a new mobile browser, called Fennec. Yeah, okay, weird name, but I have been looking for a better mobile browser for quite some time now (Opera Mini is okay, but fails to open many pages for me). The new Mobile Fennec browser should be helpful to many has it has support for FireFox applications, and offers easy to use zooming and scrolling options. It really makes the best of a small screen size, to give the feel of a big screen experience. I’m still getting used to Fennec, but I’d recommend checking it out if you do a lot of mobile surfing.

Dell Unveils Pricey New Laptop

Dell is putting itself plainly in Macbook Air territory, with the release of a new laptop product which closely mimics the Apple offering. Dell’s new laptop offering called “Adamo” is an ultra thin laptop, which Dell says is the thinnest laptop around, period. It’s also highly expensive, with base models of the device starting at a whopping two thousand US dollars. Clearly designed for the fashion forward executive type, the Adamo is a sleek and stunning device, and they are even offering a high end model of the Adamo called “Desire”. I suppose the device is intended to appeal to those few who aren’t suffering through this current economic decline.

You want specs? The Adamo base model features a 13.4 inch screen, low voltage rates, a 1.2 gigahertz core duo processor, and 128 DB SSD, as well as 2GB of ram. It will be interesting to see how well the Adamo can fare against the very popular Macbook Air.

LOL – Robot Model To Appear On Japanese Catwalk

Why is it whenever there is news of robotic advancement it always seems to hail from a major Japanese city? Well, today’s news is no different, as researchers from Tsukuba Japan are showing off a new and extremely life like robot, called the HRP 4C.

The HRP 4C robot walks in a human like manner, and also uses its many motors to create life like facial expressions, including sympathy and unhappiness. In fact, the robot appears so human esque that it will be appearing in a high class Tokyo fashion show later this month. Move over models, the HRP 4C is ready to strut down the catwalk!

Shuttle Discovery On Its Way

The space shuttle Discovery launched off Sunday evening for the international Space Station after continued delays of about a month due to technical problems. The shuttle took off at 7:43 p.m. EST from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with its 7-astronaut crew, including Koichi Wakata, who will stay on the space station as Japan’s first resident crew member. The other shuttle crew members will be on a 2-week mission and are in charge of installing the final set of solar panels at the space station.

The shuttle was originally set to launch in mid-February. Due to the delays, the mission has been truncated by a day to thirteen days and 1 of 4 spacewalks has been cancelled. This is since Discovery needs to depart the space station prior to the arrival of a Russian rocket, which takes off March 26 to bring a new crew to the ISS.

Yahoo Adds Fire Eagle to Facebook

Yahoo announced some exciting news today, as the tech company has designed a new application which will merge Fire Eagle with its user’s Facebook accounts. If you’re not familiar with Fire Eagle, you may want to check it out as it’s a pretty unique location integrated blogging software from Yahoo.

The new application is quite neat itself, as its users will be able to share their location with friends and other associates through Facebook. Of course, the settings allow for users to stipulate when information about their whereabouts is shared, and how detailed it is. Neat stuff.

Have You Checked Out Google Mars?

Ooh, as a space enthusiast I was very excited to hear that Google is now providing real time images of Mars, through their Google Mars service. The images are taken from the Odyssey space craft’s themis camera. What’s also neat is that Google Mars users can enjoy “tours” of the planet, as well as some of the first made maps of Mars, which are considered to have existed for over one hundred years.

Apparently Google has so much power that their interest in Mars has given odds makers a reason to increase the estimated likelyhood that life will be discovered on Mars. It used to be a one in five hundred chance, and is now listed at fifty to one. Go, Google, Go!

The iPod Shuffle is Shuffled!

Here’s some interesting news for all you iPod users: This week Apple threw a surprise at us and released a new model of the iPod shuffle — just when everybody was expecting an Apple branded Netbook, too! So, what’s new with the shuffle?

Well, believe it or not, Apple actually managed to make the new model quite a bit smaller than the last. It’s both shorter in length, and is slimmer than the previous version as well. Due to the new, smaller size, some of the control buttons have been moved to the headphone cord, a move that is not sitting too well with those who would prefer to swap the iPhone ear buds for something else.

The shuffle also includes another significant change, in that the new version has a speech option that will announce the song and artist when enabled. It can also recite play lists for the user.

Discovery Set to Launch on Wednesday

NASA is planning for the first space shuttle launch this year, a mission intended to complete the International Space Station’s power system and external beams. The Discovery shuttle is set for liftoff at 9:20 p.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center. Astronauts are planning to transport and install a last set of solar wing panels and bring Japan’s first live-aboard station crewman to his new home. The flight has remained on hold since February 12 as managers and engineers reviewed a possible safety issue with valves needed to keep the fuel tank at the right pressure during the 8.5-minute flight into orbit.

NASA replaced the valves and authorized the launch team to begin the 3-day countdown. A final review is set for Monday. Meteorologists are forecasting a 90% likelihood the weather will be good  for launching. The mission, lasting 2 weeks, will complete the station’s 11-part exterior truss. The final piece contains a $300 million set of solar wing panels needed to fully power up the station.

Canadian Launches “Eyeborg Project”

Here’s some crazy news that will no doubt interest sci-fi fans, and technology enthusiasts alike: A Canadian film producer plans to have a micro- camera set up in his prosthetic eyeball in order to create a documentary film concerning the effects of surveillance in public life. My first thought upon hearing this was: Talk about a “first person” point of view (sorry, bad joke)!

The man’s name is Rob Spence, a thirty six year old, who has been without one of his eyeballs since the time of an unfortunate child hood accident. He is calling his new undertaking “Project Eyeborg”, and while the “Eyeborg” camera will not be attached to his nerve or brain tissue, it will include a small battery, transmitter and circuit board – all to go inside his eye socket. Spence will also be able to turn of the camera when it is not needed. It’s truly like something out of the movies, and if you’re interested, you can read more on his blog: eyeborgblog.com.