Facebook has made news and headlines many times before and it is doing it again – albeit for somewhat different reasons. Facebook is filing to become a publicly traded company and will allow people to buy shares on the stock market as of Wednesday. Since Facebook literally represents the social network for this era, its initial public offering(IPO) will be historical and astonishing to say the least.

With the FB symbol as its identifying mark for the stock market, Facebook will have more than 845 million users and, some say, is looking to get at least $5 billion during this initial offer. There are other reports that are claiming Facebook is seeking a much higher amount: between $75-$100 billion in fact!  If Facebook were to receive that high of an amount it would put it well above many other companies that have been around for many years – companies such as Ford Motor, Kraft Foods, Goldman Sachs, and more.

The company makes a large portion of its profits off of the advertising and selling that goes on throughout the Facebook network and last year it made $3.7 billion in revenue (increasing 88% from the year before).  The ads on Facebook are highly targeted towards individual users since Facebook utilizes the information and recorded actions of users to collect data. Much like a data processor, Facebook archives everything – from interests, locations, articles, links, and “likes”. This data is then used to help better target and understand users so that more efficient ads can be displayed.

Facebook has changed not only how advertisers work, but it has also led to the rise of a variety of other companies such as Spotify and Zynga – Facebook actually is responsible for 90% of the profits Zynga gets. Having this in mind, the next logical step for Facebook was this historical IPO.

Despite all of the current profits Facebook is making off of advertising, it actually is a meager amount compared to what it should be making. For example, last year Facebook only made about $1 per user which is such a small amount especially since Facebook has the capacity to utilize all of that user information and display targeted ads.

Indeed, Facebook is still seeking to learn how to properly use all of that user data and generate more profits without damaging the sensitive social ecosystem. If Facebook moves too quickly or makes too many drastic changes to its structure then users protest however Facebook is gradually making more and more changes. For instance, Facebook recently introduced the new Timeline which allows users to scroll through and see an overview of people’s activity in a timeline format. On top of that there are also reports that Facebook is designing its own mobile phone which will give it even more of a foothold into people’s lives.

Unfortunately as Facebook’s presence in people’s lives continues to grow, so does the ever mounting scrutiny that is being directed at it from Washington. With privacy issue concerns and more, Washington is doing its best to protect user’s private data from being misused by the social giant.

Facebook is still young, however its part in millions of lives worldwide. As it continues to grow and develop innovative new ways to connect with other users, its value to both advertisers and consumers grows exponentially as well. There are only estimations at how much Facebook will get during its historical IPO, however it is amazing to see this Internet phenomenon, developed from such humble roots, expand and grow with each and every year.

Textbooks are a real problem that desperately needs addressing. For centuries they have been printed and little has changed. Textbooks require too many tangible resources to produce and once they are published, the information is outdated almost instantly.

A more recently acknowledged problem is that the backpacks of school children are now 25% of their own body weight. Back problems and bad posture are the school children’s disease in this day and age. Something must be done about it and Apple has taken it on.

These children are children of technology and their learning aids must match. They could benefit from Apple’s Multi-Touch textbooks. Of course, these textbooks could be made on any platform, but Apple happens to be the company pulling it all together. Granted, it is long overdue, but then, no one else is doing what needs to be done.

The pages of the textbook now come to life at the fingertips of the child. 3-D objects can be rotated, a photo is now a stack of photos, and the page is turned by sliding the finger along the bottom. More importantly, the student can highlight and take notes, as well as search the text. Best of all, the child can carry every book on their iPad.

This is all great, but you have to ask yourself how these so-called “textbooks” are any different from websites. Once the pages contain interactive elements, we are no longer talking about books of text. These are indeed websites contained in an archived format that is readable by a software interface (basically a browser).

I doubt Apple has thought through the impact this may have on the academic and publishing industries either. If Congress wants to go after the culprit for the damages to the economy, namely depriving millions of jobs, they should start with the computer industry giants. Piracy has far less an impact than Silicon Valley.

Professors try hard to win publishing contracts, because it means big money to supplement their mediocre salaries. Apple will be depriving them of this. Apple may argue that they can still publish, and that although the sale price is much lower per text, that they will reach a larger audience through the Internet. However, the academic publishers have perfected their reach in their market. The Internet will not reach more universities, since publishers already supply all universities.

Aside from the economic impact, both pros and cons, there are some invaluable features. One of the most useful is the automatic study cards created from your highlighting. Not only that, each color of highlighting produces a different study card set.

Apple puts out the app to make these books, iBooks 2, for free, but to use the textbooks you have to pay $14.99 . If you want to make your own textbook, you can publish it and make a few bucks, but for this you will need iBooks Author app.

The Wikipedia blackout will be in effect on Wednesday the 18^th and will last all day. The blackout will be on the English version of Wikipedia however Wikipedia states that the other languages will also put up protest banners and may follow suit in order to further spread the word about SOPA and PIPA.

Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales Tweeted the other day that the “emerging consensus of the community seems to be for a global blackout of English Wikipedia”. Wikipedia had apparently considered a softer approach to the blackout but apparently a full blackout was decided on.

For those who don’t know why Wikipedia is protesting SOPA and PIPA you can read more here however a short overview is that SOPA and PIPA take drastic and unnecessary measures in an attempt to stomp out online piracy. Some of these harsh measures include punishing and holding other websites liable for linking to those pirating sites. Innocent site owners will be punished unjustly and the manner in which the United States Government is approaching online piracy is detrimental to free speech.

The SOPA and PIPA acts have both been considered by the government for some time now and Wikipedia has been also considering how best to display their views. This blackout has been considered for several weeks now and Wikipedia wants to use it as a way to send a BIG message to the White House.

So what’s going to happen on Wednesday on the big blackout from Wikipedia? Well, instead of the usual plethora of information that is available on Wikipedia, everything will be directed towards one page – a page with a call to action. This page will explain why Wikipedia feels the way it does about SOPA and PIPA, and it will ask those viewing the page to stand up and either phone or write to the US congress and explain their views as well.

Mr. Wales stated: “I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday,” and if all goes as Wikipedia plans, then it will. It is likely that over a hundred million people will see the Wikipedia call to action page during the blackout. If half, or even a quarter of them follow the directions then it will send a huge message to Congress.

Wikipedia is one of the top five most popular websites in the world and it has millions of visitors to its English version every single day. The blackout will begin on midnight EST and will remain there for a full 24hrs. Hopefully Congress gets the message, hopefully Wikipedia succeeds in creating a movement across the States that will inspire people to make their voice heard.

Watch out for the blackout tomorrow and, if you oppose SOPA, don’t sit idly by thinking that others will take up the call for action in your stead – take just a few minutes of your time and be a part of something that will actually make a difference!

Ice Cream Sandwich is the first Android version that is capable to run on both mobile phones and tablets and also the first one that completely changes the UI, design, style and so on. When Apple released the iPhone they introduced a whole new way of interacting with the phone and later with the tablet. This experience was simple, fast and beautiful.

When Google announced Android mobile operating system and Open Handset Alliance, we expected to see a real competitor for Apple, but we end up with some disappointment. It took 4 full years for Google to understand the real meaning of keeping things simple and only a person was necessary to completely change Android from top to bottom.

This article is not made for that person, but still we have to congratulate Matias Duarte for what he had done at Google since its arrival in May 2010. If Android Honeycomb 3.0 was already developed when he first started to work for Google and was called like an emergency arrival, with Ice Cream Sandwich update we can discover the brilliant mind of Matias Duarte.

Talking about Android and things related, let’s look a little inside Marketplace. It’s a mess!!! Till now every Android app developer used his own hands to design an app and that’s why there are a lot of apps that try to copy the ones from AppStore.

The good news came just few hours ago at CES 2012, where Matias Duarte announced that Android will introduce a style guide website to guide app developers on how they should design an Android app to keep up with the trend. I used the word guide, because according to Matias, this is not something Google will try to enforce, so anyone can use what style and UI they want. The website is available now and app developers or Android users can visit to discover it: Android Design Guide

On a first view of the website I discovered that Android can indeed compete iOS in the future. It’s because now everyone has a start point, a guide that they can follow and discover the design principles, user interface, typography and the pure specifications of the Android. It’s great because there are a lot of “don’t do that”, or “keep in simple” so expect the best from Android in the next months of years.

Overall, this is good for Android, as I said before, because it gives them the change to finally admit that what they were doing was completely wrong and to raise the bar for the future by introducing these guidelines. If this works or not we will probably see in the next months/years, but till Matias Duarte, the brain behind WebOS is in charge, I thing we can expect to see simple and nice things.

Aspire Timeline Ultra

Next up in the line of Acer gadgets is the Aspire Timeline Ultra laptop. It will be offered in both 14 inch and 15 inch screen sizes and it will come with the Dolby Home Theater v4 Surround Sound speakers. Additionally each model will feature the Acer instant on function and will have around 8 hours of battery life. Lastly these models will be around 20mm thick.
Acer was a bit stingy on the details with the Aspire Timeline Ultra, however more will be revealed during the CES show for sure. We do know that it will be shipped out sometime during the first quarter of 2012 but the price is still unknown.

AcerCloud

Cloud services are rapidly taking the digital world by storm and Acer saw the opportunity to create a new service for their customers called the AcerCloud. This service will be available with all Acer Pc’s starting in the second part of 2012. The service is free and it allows users to back up all of their files and keep all of their important documents/pictures on the cloud permanently.
For mobile devices such as phones and tablets, the files will have an expiration date: thirty dates only and the user will be given the option to download them as well.
If this feature sounds somewhat similar to a fruity competitor, then your suspicions would be justified. Unfortunately this doesn’t make the list as Acer’s most innovative entry in the CES however they do have several other gadgets that will delight you!

Acer Iconia Tab A700

Acer is definitely stepping up their game when it comes to tablets with this new Iconia Tab A700. This tablet boasts a 1920 x 1200 screen resolution, a fast 1.3 GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, the Ice Cream Sandwich OS, and it comes packaged in a very light 9.8mm thick sleek looking case.
This Iconia Tab will also feature an HDMI port, microSD Slot, and it will also feature the Acer Ring – a launch menu that lets users select apps from the lock screen. The camera features are unknown as well as the battery life, release date, and price, however you can bet Acer will reveal more during the CES later!

All-In-One Aspire Z7871

Thin is in, and this Acer Aspire Z7871 is an incredibly thin All-In-One desktop computer. It’s a 27 inch desktop with a fantastic keyboard. So how thin is this Aspire AIO? Well, the majority of it is 3.5cm thin, however a portion of the computer has a bump on it that makes it a little larger (but not by much!).
Overall the Aspire Z7871 has a sleek aesthetic look with a very minimal stand and a thin chicklet keyboard. The specs aren’t in on the desktop yet however the keyboard did have something interesting on it: a virtual numpad. The numpad is activated via the screen and it will be interesting to see how users take to the numpad when it is released in the second quarter of this year!

As one of the biggest names in computers, laptops, and other electronics, Lenovo is sure to bring some new toys with them this year at the CES – and they were kind enough to give a few sneak peeks!

So what will Lenovo be revealing at the CES this year? Let’s find out!

ThinkPad Hybrid X1

Back in 2010 Lenovo presented their new laptop called the Skylight at the CES. This laptop featured a customized Linux Operating System and a Qualcomm ARM processor amongst other impressive features. Unfortunately Skylight was never introduced into the market. This year Lenovo is rolling out a new product at the CES which features two different processors, two separate operating systems, and much more all in one laptop called the ThinkPad Hybrid X1.

This ThinkPad Hybrid X1 would allow users to instantly switch to a different OS simply by clicking on a desktop icon. When the switch is made to the Linux OS, all of the work being done on the Windows OS
wouldn’t be lost as the hard drive will simply go to sleep.

The ThinkPad Hybrid will have apps, some handy tools, a web browser, and it will be able to have up to ten hours of battery life when using the Linux OS. While no actual demonstration has been done to see how fast the switch can be made, and the other specs, this ThinkPad will surely delight viewers at the CES when it begins.

ThinkPad Hybrid X1 Specs: Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, Windows 7 OS, 8GB RAM, and additional 1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon AP18060 processor, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB storage and a Linux OS.

ThinkPad T430u

The ThinkPad T430u is a sleek ultrabook with some intense features that will completely destroy its competition when put out into the market. It weighs less than four pounds, has a 14 inch screen, contains that beloved SD card slot, two USB ports, an Ethernet jack, and a HDMI socket. Sounds decent, however let’s find out what truly sets this ultrabook apart from the others.

Lenovo did not release too many details about this ultrabook because it’s not going to be available until later on this year, however they did give us a few carrots. First, the ThinkPad T430u will have the third
generation Core processors from Intel which will make these ultrabooks incredibly fast – much faster than any others out. Additionally, the graphics will be astounding because it will also feature Nvidia graphics options. Since Windows 8 is on the way, this ultrabook will be ready for the new OS. Lastly, the 1TB hard drive just adds icing on the cake for this laptop.

While the features on this ultrabook are incredibly enticing it is unsure what features will be on the model that costs $849 – which is the starting price for the base T430u ThinkPad. During the CES there will be hands on demonstrations for this ultrabook so hopefully more details can be discerned then!

ThinkPad Edge S430, E430, E530, B480, B580

On top of announcing their new ultrabook and hybrid ThinkPad, Lenovo is rolling out a variety of other laptops. First there is the S430. This model won’t be available till June of 2012 however it will feature a 1600 x 900 display, .8 –inches thick, optical drive, and it has a mocha colored lid with an antiglare display all for only $749.

Next is the ThinkPad Edge E430 and E530. The main difference between both of these laptops is that the E430 has a 14” display while the E530 has a 15”. Both of these will feature the third generation Core processors from Intel as well as AMD Fusion APU’s. Additionally each will be available in either black, red, or blue, and will be out on shelves in April starting at $549.

Lastly Lenovo is putting out the budget laptops which will also be available in April of 2012. The specs on the B480 and B580 were not released yet however Lenovo did let us in on their price which will be starting at only $399.

IdeaPad S200 and S206

Here we see a fresh new look for netbooks (something that other companies are leaving behind). The IdeaPad S200 and S206 are a few of the first netbooks that are being powered by the Cedar Trail Atom processors by Intel. These little guys have an 11.6 inch display that features 1366 x 768 resolutions. They also have 500 GB hard drives, 2GB DDR3 SDRAM, and a few other average specs.

Each one of the models will be available in a variety of colors and will be out on the market in June with a price of $349.

Y, G, and Z laptop series updates

Atop of all the ultrabooks and netbooks Lenovo is releasing this year, they are also spicing up a few of their older laptop series including the Y, G, and Z series.

The Y series will see two new models, the Y480 and Y580 which are a 14 inch and a 15.6 inch HD display laptop. Each will have an i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce graphics, and they will also have up to 8GB of DDR l SDRAM as well as up to 1TB HDD. The price for the new Y series laptops will start at $899 and will be available in April.

The G series is seeing three new models: G480, G580, and G780. The screen sizes on these will be, in order, 14”, 15.6”, and 17.3” and these will also feature Core i7 CPU, NVIDIA GeForce graphics, 8GB of DDR3 SDRAM, and the 1TB HDD. The updated G series laptops will be out on shelves in June starting at $399.

Lastly is the Z series. This series will also see three new models; the Z380, Z480, and Z580. These HD display models will be available in 13.4”, 14”, or 15.6” screen sizes and will have the same i7 Core as the previous models as well as the NVIDIA GeForce graphics. Additionally these three new Z series laptops will also feature an “intelligent Touchpad” and will be out in April starting at $599.

IdeaPad U310 and U410

Lenovo isn’t done with ultrabooks even after their fantastic T430u model. No, here they are introducing a more Macbook-ish design with the silver casing and the black keyboards (no backlit keys though) with an array of various colored lids to appease consumers. The IdeaPad U310 and U410 will be available in 13.3” and 14” display sizes and will actually have an SD card reader on them (something that the previous models were lacking). Unfortunately the processor specs and other specs are not released however the hands on display at the CES did reveal that they are a lot like the previous U series ultrabooks.

The price on the new U Series ultrabooks will start at $699 and they will be available in May.

New Lenovo Desktops: B Series All-In-Ones, K430, and H520

Amongst the plethora of new computers and laptops Lenova has released for the CES 2012, they are also releasing a string of new desktops. These desktops include the B Series All-In-Ones, K430, and the H520.

The All-in-ones come in two different models: the B340 and the B540. The B340 is available in both 20 inches and 21.5 inch displays and the 540 has a 23 inch display. Both models have a completely HD multitouch touchscreen with Intel Core CPUs. Additionally they will sport NVIDIA’s GeForce 615M graphics, and contain up to 8GB of DDR 3 memory with up to 2 TB SATA III HDD. The B340 model also comes equipped with the OneKey TV feature and a variety of apps. The All-in-ones will start out at only $699 for the base model and can be purchased in June.

Next in the line of desktops comes the K430. This model has the coveted i7 CPU and it has up to 32GB of DDR3 SDRAM. The graphics are fantastic as you have dual support from both NVIDIA and CrossFireX and you can have up to 4TB HDD. This will be available at $599 starting in May 2012.

Lastly we have the H520 desktop. This is a much smaller desktop that contains an Intel Core CPU with the option of the 2GB Radeon or 2GB Nvidia GeForce graphics card. Additionally this desktop has 8GB of DDR3 SDRAM as well as 2TB HDD. The H520 will go on sale starting at $499 and will be available in June.

K91 55-Inch TV

Aside from computers and laptops Lenovo is also bringing their advanced new 55 inch TV to the CES this year. The K91 is an incredibly advanced flat screen that has tons of fancy new features. The two best features are the Ice Cream Sandwich OS which runs on the Qualcomm 1.5GHz dual-core 8060 Snapdragon CPU. Next this TV can be controlled wirelessly via your voice and it even uses facial recognition for video interaction.

Some other specs: LED backlight, HD IPS panel, 8GB storage, 2GB removable SD card, custom apps, Wi-Fi, and even access to the Android Market and Lenovo Store.

Lenovo IdeaTab S2

Lenovo is now introducing their own tablet into the competitive market. The IdeaTab S2 ten inch tablet comes with a detachable keyboard dock and weighs just a hair above a pound. The IdeaPad S2 is just 1/3 inches thick and it will run on the Qualcomm dual-core Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 processor.

Unfortunately not all of the specs are known about the Lenovo IdeaTab S2 but we do know that combined with the keyboard dock it can last up to 20 hours on a single charge!

This nonsensical circle of littering is making Facebook unbearable for some users – the annoyance at having to look filter their feeds, to sift through hundreds of friends to find a particular name, and to be spammed with crappy invites and requests all the time is turning some people away from Facebook and onto more sophisticated social networking platforms.

Facebook is the most popular social networking site by far and it has completely changed the way people interact with others. In the beginning many people were excited and felt empowered by receiving friend requests and sending their own out. To see the number of friends on your account continuously growing each day probably felt good….more than that, it probably felt great. Like an addiction many of us continuously clicked the “add friend” button or clicked the “accept” button  even if it was just for people we had met the night before and probably would never socialize with again!

Now Facebook is completely comprised of different notifications and each friend that your account has accumulated over the years adds a little more to your notification spam. So what to do?

Well many people will first think “Hey I’m going to just delete them all!” Well, sorry, but unless you only have five spam Facebook friends then you are going to be spending a LOT of time deleting them. Next, people consider simply deleting accounts; however this too is rather impractical due to the amount of pictures and information on the previous account. Fortunately you have two solutions left; beg Facebook for the ability to quickly purge your friends list or put up with it.

Let’s face it, there is no sustainable competition to Facebook right now and there likely won’t be. Facebook has social networking in the bag and it’s not going to let its greedy paws off of it. Users can migrate over to places like Google + and other mostly unheard of social sites, however the chances they will remain active decrease significantly if none of their friends are on there.

So if you’re left with putting up with the spam you can do more than just sit by idly. Just like with losing weight your Facebook friends list can lose a few pounds and the only way you’re going to achieve that is by steady work. Each time you log onto Facebook try to find a small handful of people that are truly nobody important to you then defriend them! After about a month or two your Facebook friends list will be leaner than ever!

So what’s your Facebook like? Is it just an overcrowded mosh pit of people that you hardly know because you added everyone and their brother at the start, or is your friend list composed of people you’ve actually met before and like? Would you want a do-over – a chance to use a mass delete button and then re-add those people that truly matter? Let us know!