After investigation of reports that the servers of Zyngas game Mafia Wars: Shakedown is dropping rapidly, DPS Computing investigated.  We have found that indeed the performance over the past week of these servers has been quite woeful (for at least some of us anyway!).  The results of this unexpected performance drop have included the game running more slowly, taking more time to action requests and in some cases, failing to load the game at all at certain times.  The problems seem to be affecting the games servers more during the late afternoon and evening.

Possible reasons for this sudden drop in performance could be due to the games popularity – and as more and more users continue to install the iPad 2 game the possibilities of performance dropping further are very real.

Of course, over subscription of members on the server is only one possible reason for the problems encountered by DPS Computing and the people who have reported the problem to us.

Thus far, there has been no indication from Zynga about the recent performance of the Shakedown servers.  We will of course update you if this changes.

In the meantime, if you are a current player of the iPad 2 game, Mafia Wars: Shakedown, please comment below and indicate how server performance has been for you over the past few days.

Facebook has announced today, for the first time, it will be selling shares in the company with a total estimated value of $5 billion.

The social networking site, which this year will be 8 years old, is taking strong steps towards making social networking profitable.

Mark Zuckerberg, the current CEO of Facebook and it’s founder, aged 27 is now estimated to be worth nearly $20 billion and owns 28.4% of the company.  The Facebook IPO is set to be the biggest in history for an internet based company with as much excitement, if not more, than there was when Google announced their IPO in 2004.

Facebook is now estimated to have 845 million users worldwide, with approximately 30 million users in Britain alone.  The company turned a profit of around $1 billion last year.

Despite mounting pressure from outsiders to turn Facebook more away from their current mission to make the world more open, towards an even more profitable company, Mr Zuckerberg is resisting the pressure and insisting that he wants to stay on the current course the company is on.

In a letter released by Mark Zuckerberg, he said:

“Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected.”

“We think it’s important that everyone who invests in Facebook understands what this mission means to us, how we make decisions and why we do the things we do.”

The new iPhone 4s, which launched only a couple of weeks ago has ran into major difficulties with a lot of its users experiencing extremely low battery life.  Results from user testing on iOS 5 have indicated that it might be the location services feature that is the problem.  The current theory is that location data is being pulled far too frequently from mobile phone masts and is therefore draining the phones battery at a much acceleratedspeed.

This flaw will no doubt be slightly embarrassing to Apple but a swift and efficient resolution from them will likely mean that it has done them no harm in the long run.

Location services are provided on most smart phones these days.  Even when these services are running correctly, they are a huge drain on battery as they are simultaneously using information from mobile masts, WiFi and Global Positioning System Satellites.

According to iDownload, turning off the automatic time zone setting will mean that your battery life will last much longer.  The bug means

that when this option is selected your location is calculated over and over again constantly so in case you change timezone the phone can update the correct time.

DPS Computing would advise all iPhone 4S users to currently turn this setting off – unless of course you are somebody that changes time

zone every second  .

Apple are continuing to investigate and hope to find the problem soon as some tests have been inconclusive with the iDownload results above.

The new Google Plus network, which has currently been under testing by a limited number of users for the past 12 weeks, has been opened up for everyone to join and test as of today. 

Although initially invitation only, as in the past with Gmail / Google Mail, in recent weeks it has become much easier to get an invitation to join the site.

Google Plus is Googles attempt to make their search engine ‘social’.  On some levels it is attempting to compete with Facebook and many of its features are similar to features in other popular social networking sites.  For example friends can be added to different circles (much like lists in Facebook) and content can then be either completely open or restricted to certain ‘circles’ of friends.  You can also set statuses, upload photos and many other things you can do on other social networks.

The key difference with Google Plus being that it integrates fully into the Google search engine and can be used, for example, to recommend links / sites found with the search engine to your friends.  Also the new Google Hangouts feature, which enables people to have a video call with multiple people at the same time, is likely to be a feature that wins over users.  Although many features are similar the unique selling point seems to be the integration with the Google search engine, which is undoubtedly the worlds most popular search engine.

Due to the size of the company and also the popularity of the search engine (along with Googles other products) Google Plus looks set for success.  The only question that remains is quite how successful it can become.  One thing that is for certain is that there is still a long way for Google to go with its new social tool if it is to compete with the likes of Facebook and MySpace.

Our very own DPS David said: “I have been personally checking out Google Plus over the past few weeks and have found that it is a very promising tool.  However, as it currently stands, there is still a long way for it to become a competitor in this market but if Google carries on with the same effort and determination that has seen Google Plus come to life I’m sure they can make a challenge ultimately to become one of the “Big 3″ social networks.”

The latest addition to the Google Street View is set to be the Amazon rainforest.  This is the set to be the latest in an ever growing line of daring mappings which already include Antarctica, the grounds of the historic Bletchley Park and some of the UK’s most popular landmarks and tourist attractions.

The first piece expected to be uploaded to Google Street View is a 50km stretch of the Rio Negro river.

For this new adventure Google have ditched the usual Street View Car in favour of a Street View Trike.  Google have said that it will be pedaled “along the narrow dirt paths of the Amazon villages and manoeuvre[d] up close to where civilization meets the rainforest”.

After the initial sweep of the area is completed by the Google Street View team, they are hoping to leave some of the technology used behind and train a local organisation, Foundation for a Sustainable Amazon, to use the equipment to allow them to keep the Google Street View imagery  and information up to date.

Google added: “By teaching locals how to operate these tools, they can continue sharing their points of view, culture and ways of life with audiences across the globe”.

The recent acquisition by Google of Motorolla Mobile has been questioned by many people as a very dubious piece of business.  In justifying the acquisition of the mobile handset making division of Motorolla, Larry Page, Googles co-founder and CEO said: “Motorola has a history of over 80 years of innovation in communications technology and products, and in the development of intellectual property, which have helped drive the remarkable revolution in mobile computing we are all enjoying today. Its many industry milestones include the introduction of the world’s first portable cellphone nearly 30 years ago, and the StarTAC – the smallest and lightest phone on Earth at time of launch.” All of which is true, but is also ancient history. He went on to point out that Motorola had bet its ranch on Google’s Android operating system for mobile devices and that this implied “a natural fit between our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers everywhere.”

The Guardian has written an article on the subject to try and shed some light on the situation.  A serious piece of business or have Google got an ulterior motive?

UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, today announced plans that the government was considering passing legislation to block social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as the Blackberry Messenger Service (BBM) during times of ‘civil unrest’.

This action has been prompted by the recent UK riots which insurers have said will cost the country “well over one hundred million pounds” to put right.

David Cameron said, “Everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organized via social media”.  “When people are using social media for violence we need to stop them,” he added, “so we are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”

The move by the coalition government, which is seen as highly controversial, is likely to come across opposition from sections of the public as well as some of the businesses running the services themselves.

A British tabloid newspaper, the Evening Standard, has suggested that the UK riots may have originated from the “evil effects” of games such as Rockstars hit Grand Theft Auto.  The Evening Standard made these claims after a local police man stated that games such as Grand Theft Auto encourage and fueled the recent violence.

The police officer stated “These are bad people who did this. Kids out of control. When I was young it was all Pacman and board games. Now they’re playing Grand Theft Auto and want to live it for themselves,”.

The isn’t the first time that Grand Theft Auto has been in the news surrounded by controversy.  Many people have claimed that the British Classification Board should refuse to certify the game, therefore making it illegal in the UK.  Games, such as GTA, have been blamed in the past for poor behavior of the younger generation and for encouraging gratuitous violence and criminality.

Grand Theft Auto, known by fans as GTA, is set in cities in the USA but the game itself was originally created in the UK.  The original game featured an expansion pack which was set in London.

TalkTalk are the latest ISP to announce they will be upgrading areas to super fast fibre optic broadband.  Dubbed the “Fibre Optic Boost” TalkTalk have claimed that customers will be able to achieve up to 40mg broadband which no doubt will boost the company that has been plagued with bad reviews and disgruntled customers.

Customers wishing for their area to be upgraded are advised to register their interest on TalkTalks website, similar to the way BT rolled out Infinity, their fibre optic offering.  The more people that register in a particular area the more likely TalkTalk are to roll out the new service in that area which will be similar to BTs Infinity in the fact that it will be pot luck and a post code lottery as to whether you can receive it in your area.

TalkTalk has assured their customers that upgrading will be easy.

FIFA 11 stays top of the game charts this week despite its sales halving over the previous week – which I’m sure we’ll all agree is quite impressive!

Just Dance 2 has managed to clamber over Call of Duty: Black Ops to snatch the number two spot with the later taking third place.

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is just behind in fourth place with Wii Fit Plus making a return to the top 5 after a little time away.

It would seem the shock entry at number 5 is due to people suddenly worrying what to do with all the post festive period weight!