Deal values Facebook at $50bn

Facebook has reportedly raised funds from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor in a deal valuing the social networking site at $50 billion, notes the BBC.

The New York Times says Goldman was investing $450 million in Facebook, and Digital Sky Technologies another $50 million. The paper, citing unnamed sources, says the terms of the deal implied a value for Facebook of just over $50 billion.

Goldman's involvement could also raise speculation that Facebook might float on the stock market. The Financial Times also reported that Goldman was investing $375 million in Facebook, with Digital Sky putting in $75 million.

Verizon Wireless will use this week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas as the coming out party for its 4G wireless network, reports CNet.

While many people have been crossing their fingers for news of a Verizon iPhone at CES, the big news from Verizon will likely be the company's availing of several new 4G wireless products, including at least four handsets and a tablet PC, all using Google's Android operating system.

The carrier, which is the largest wireless operator in the US in terms of subscribers, unveiled its highly-anticipated 4G wireless network in December. But for the past month, the company has only sold laptop cards for the super-fast network, which uses a next-generation networking technology known as long-term evolution, or LTE.

Intel has implemented its X18-M and X25-V flash products in a tablet and netbook form factor with the m-SATA SSD 310 line, writes The Register.

The 40GB 310 has exactly the same I/O performance as Intel's 40GB X25-V with 25 000 random read IOPS, 2 500 random-write IOPS, and 170MB/s sequential-read and 35MB/s sequential-write speeds.

Its 80GB brother has almost exactly the same I/O profile as the 80GB X18-M and X25-M with 35 000 random-read IOPS, 6 600 random-write IOPS, 70MB/s sequential-write bandwidth, but 200MB/s sequential-read compared to the X18-M and X25-M's 250MB/s.

The days of scrounging around for a smartphone charger that fits your particular handset may soon be over - in Europe, at least, reveals Yahoo News.

A pair of European standards bodies has at last finished nailing down the technical specifications for a universal phone charger-based on micro-USB, the compact port that already serves as an interface for many makes and models of cellphones.

With the specs on the new standard agreed upon, the way is finally clear for the first phones to support the upcoming universal chargers - which, according to the European Commission, could begin to arrive in the next few months.