Kodak pushes pixels

Kodak's new 50-million-pixel camera sensor manages to squeeze more pixels onto an array while simultaneously increasing the speed and reducing the power consumption of the device, says Technology Review.

While such high resolution goes beyond the needs of most consumers, for professional photographers the new sensor will enable photographs to be taken at an unprecedented level of detail.

For example, in a picture taken of a field one-and-a-half miles across, the sensor would make it possible for a viewer to detect an object measuring just one foot across.

In the latest expansion beyond its main mission of organising the world's information, Internet search leader Google hopes to orchestrate more virtual socialising on the Web, says Washington Post.

Google debuted a free service in which three-dimensional software enables people to congregate in fantasy rooms and other computer-manufactured versions of real life.

The service, called Lively, represents Google's answer to an already well-established site, Second Life, where people deploy animated alter egos known as avatars to navigate virtual reality.