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Apple seeks cheaper flash memory for iPhone, video iPod and notebooks

Apple's quest to reduce product costs has been bad news for memory manufacturer, Micron Technology, industry sources say. “We're hearing that Apple has significantly reduced its NAND flash purchasing at Micron,” report analysts at WR Hambrecht and Co in a briefing released this week.

Non-profit OLPC 'will be profitable for some'

While the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project has taken on the aura of a charity – if you believe what you read in the mainstream media – the hard numbers tell a different story. Analysts say the component suppliers that have taken a gamble on the project stand a fair chance of coming out winners.

Age-detection system to keep kids out of video arcades and liquor stores

A system that can guess a person's age just by looking at their face could be used to keep underage kids and teenagers out of video game arcades and liquor stores, its inventors believe. It could also help detect unwanted adults entering schools.

The Japanese-developed technology takes only 0.2 seconds to put an approximate age to any face picked up by its cameras.

iPhone as popular as Nokia in US, survey shows

Despite being four months away from release, Apple's iPhone is already among the four biggest brands in the high-end cell phone market, according to a new US consumer survey sponsored by Goldman Sachs.

Potential mobile phone buyers ranked Apple almost equal with Nokia, even though they gave their opinions before Apple had even formally announced the iPhone. Nokia is the world's largest mobile phone maker.

Great Wall of China disappears again

US astronauts who claim to have spotted the Great Wall of China from space must be imagining things, Chinese scientists say. The Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space, because the human eye cannot resolve such fine detail, a team of academics stated in a recently published paper.

At least two US astronauts say they spotted the Great Wall from earth orbit – above 150km. They include last man on the moon, Gene Cernan; and international space station crewmember Ed Lu.