Google and Friends to Bring Satellite Internets To 3 Billion People in Africa and Other Developing Markets [Google]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/389128343/google-and-friends-to-bring-satellite-internets-to-3-billion-people-in-africa-and-other-developing-markets

Today Google, along with HSBC and a few other investors, helped place an order for 16 low-orbit Thales Alenia satellites to begin the push for a massive broadband deployment in Africa and beyond that it hopes will help connect the 3 billion people in the world who are currently webless. It's a noble plan, with quite a long ways to go.

Google and their partners threw in $60 million out of the required $150-$180m into the kitty of O3b Networks (the other 3 billion, get it?), the firm established to launch the satellites and manage the initiative. A satellite downlink is of course only the first step in setting up a fresh broadband network, but the company also has plans to convert mobile phone towers into multipurpose high-speed network nodes, which when complete is estimated to cost $750m all told. Google says it will help drop the price of broadband by up to 95% in some places where it's a rare commodity. When the satellites are launched in 2010, that's one step closer to 3 billion more new Googlers, looking at AdSense ads all the way, of course. [Financial Times via /.]

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Crysis Warhead Ultra Optimized PC Comes with Face-Melting Specs... for $700? [PCs]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/389163372/crysis-warhead-ultra-optimized-pc-comes-with-face+melting-specs-for-700

The guys at GameCyte are keyed up to try out Crysis Warhead on the Optimized PC, a Core 2 Duo E7300, GeForce 9800GT system built by Ultra and vetted by game developer Crytek to bring the game fully to life (and death). The clincher: It only costs $700. Since the GameCyte guys thought this was too good to be true, they started asking Ultra some uncomfortable questions.

Fearing that the system came as a bag of components, they were relieved to hear that it was actually a fully built and tested system. Fearing a white-box scenario where you have to add on your own OS, they again were happy to hear it comes with Windows XP Pro installed with the latest service pack—though it doesn't appear the game comes in the bundle. Ultra claims that the Optimized PC will run Crysis Warhead at the highest DX9 setting, at 30 frames per second, and that the game was actually "fine tuned" to work with Nvidia 9800 GT video card.

Pre-orders at TigerDirect.com start next week. Sounds like a sweet deal to me—even if you still have to buy the game and a monitor and speakers—but give me your thoughts... You buyin' this? [GameCyte]

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iPod Touch v2 Secretly Has Bluetooth, But Will Apple Enable It? [Ipod Touch Version 2]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/389175718/ipod-touch-v2-secretly-has-bluetooth-but-will-apple-enable-it

In their teardown of the iPod touch version 2, iFixit found a secret surprise: A Broadcom Bluetooth chipset! Though totally unannounced and not listed on the spec page (Apple says Nike+ doesn't use Bluetooth), the iPod touch's Bluetooth chipset supports 2.1+EDR. We don't know for sure yet if it has A2DP, which would let you use stereo headphones—and be another hardware one-up over the iPhone besides ">the built-in Nike+ functions. We've got our fingers crossed—what else would it be used for? Update: MacRumors notes that Nike+ uses the same 2.4GHz frequency as Bluetooth, so that might be what's going on here. [iFixit]

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How to Get the Real Magnetosphere Visualizer in iTunes [Itunes Visualizer]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/389175717/how-to-get-the-real-magnetosphere-visualizer-in-itunes

Apple may have absorbed the super-neato Magnetosphere visualizer into iTunes, but they did make some tweaks in their Borging process. Just like those Picard-obsessed skinjobs, the iTunes version is obsessed with planets and launching millions of photon torpedoes into them. The original, seen here, has more sparklies and lines, which is quite a bit of a different feel than the one you already have. Unfortunately Magnetosphere download links have been taken down everywhere, but we managed to find one linked to on the official site. If those go down, we've got a Mac Mirror and Windows Mirror too. Enjoy.

Instructions: To install it on Mac, put it in /Users/username/Library/iTunes/iTunes Plug-ins

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Sony Shows Off Completely Wireless OLED TV [OLED TV]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/389331909/sony-shows-off-completely-wireless-oled-tv

Now not only can you get Sony's OLED TV for the bargain bin price of $1,748, you'll also soon be able to make that 11-inch hunk of visual sexiness completely wireless. Sony recently revealed a completely cordless version of the XEL-1 with an integrated HDTV tuner, a battery, and a wall mount. No specific information about the timing and price of the "I've got no strings" version, but Sony promises it'll be out "soon." [AV Watch via Engadget]

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