Information like company revenue, ownership percentages and the general functions has always been speculated with no real confirmation to any company facts. It is now known that in 2011, Facebook generated almost $4 billion in revenue – mostly from ad services and partnerships with game developers. That’s still a lot of money for a company that offers free services to their members!

However, when that $4 billion is broken down and divided by the number of members, about 845 million, that makes that large revenue not look so great. While still impressive, that breaks down to an annual revenue of just over $4 per member! That’s not a lot of money anymore.

People are now questioning how Facebook will continue to survive. With 845 million members already, how much higher can they go? When will their profits start to slide? How will they avoid going downhill from here? Facebook has become amazingly popular, but it seems as though the numbers have to even out sometime.

Along with their IPO filing, Facebook also released public concerns about other social networking websites that may gain popularity and pull away from their member base. So how would Facebook keep the members they have, but increase their revenue? Speculation suggests that they could start posting more ads on their Website, sell member’s information or start charging for service.

About 483 million people log into their Facebook account on a daily basis. Charging this large number of people would give the social networking giant an easy way to increase their revenue. However, once a member has gotten the free Facebook service for years, it isn’t easy to keep the same customers once you start charging them for the same service. I, for one, would not be willing to pay a fee for a service that I’ve been using for years at no charge.

So how will Facebook step up and keep the Website fresh and interesting to fight off new social network rivals? What will keep them ahead of the game, but continue to increase revenue? Only time will tell what steps Facebook will take to solidify the success of the company.

So for someone like me, who uses their scanner a lot, whether it’s for pictures or documents, this little gadget can come in handy. The LG Smartscan mouse looks pretty normal at first glance. However, if you flip it over, you’ll notice a rectangular screen that it uses to “read” documents. A “Scan” button on the side of the mouse enables you to simply swipe the mouse over the image to capture it as a file.

Now the fun part may be the process of scanning the image. This Smartscan mouse can handle documents as large as a size A3. While holding the “Scan” button, you sweep the mouse back and forth over the document, filling in the spaces that you missed the first time around. It’s sort of like painting the document or photo onto your computer.

Although this sounds kind of neat, one would wonder if the image would actually come out like it’s supposed to look or if it is distorted because of the swiping motions. However, the technology in the mouse automatically keeps track of where the mouse is on the image and shows you the process in real-time as you scan the image into your computer.

It is then possible to save the newly scanned file in several different document or image formats. The LG Smartscan mouse also includes a handy drag and drop feature to quickly add the picture to an album or insert the scanned text into a document. This truly innovative device is sure to save time and tons of space on your desktop!

The computer desktop has disappeared and been replaced with a “Start Screen.” Somewhat generic, but it may be more useful. Like the desktop, it can be customized with shortcuts and newsfeeds. Think about it: In order to check your Facebook in Windows 7, you’d have to open your browser, type in the web address and sign-in. The Windows 8 Start Screen is capable of saving icons that will take you directly to your favorite websites. Just one click and you’re there. Pretty cool and convenient.

It will also be easier to connect to Wi-Fi and 3G networks with the Windows 8 upgrade. This is great news for someone always on the go, but at-home users have concerns that these functions may impair their desktop computers or force them to work around this new feature. As a desktop user myself, I do understand these concerns, but I am also aware that laptop, tablets and mobile phones have pretty much taken over. The mobile trend has caused Microsoft to make it easier for the majority of its customers.

More proof that Microsoft has recognized the mobile trend: there will be a Windows Store. Similar to the Apple and Android apps, you’ll be able to download games, utility apps and thousands more. They will work right on your computer, and what’s even more, they will reportedly work together. So if some of your pictures are on your hard drive, a storage Website and Facebook, you can access them all together in one place. The new Windows Store makes it possible to access all of your downloaded apps from any device, simply by accessing your user account.

Windows 7 introduced a lot of cool new features, but it seems as though Windows 8 will offer the typical user a better experience. Computers have grown, devices have evolved and the way we use technology has changed. It only makes sense that Windows 8, or any new operating system for that matter, would recognize that trend and meet their customer’s needs.

Overclocking is the practice of editing the parameters within a hardware device, pushing it to work harder and faster, but also getting better performance. This is most commonly used with computers and graphic cards, resulting in a better user experience as well as a faster computer or better display.

Now, altering the parameters or structure of any device or software will usually cause warranties or other insurances to become void. However, overclocking has become somewhat of a new trend, with some hardware manufacturers actually embracing this practice. They develop and build devices that have settings that are easy to adjust, making it easier for users to get the most from their hardware.

For someone who likes to play around with settings and such, this sounds appealing – a new product that can be customized to work better than it is originally supposed to, but for the same price. But is that really true? It seems that some companies often charge more money for a piece of hardware that has a high “overclockability” than a basic model that doesn’t list that as a feature. Although the basic model can be altered as well, it may be smarter to save a couple extra bucks and do the work yourself.

Overclocking can also provide a hidden advantage – inadvertently causing another device to work more efficiently. Depending on the way two components work together, increasing the clock rate of your CPU may increase your RAM speed.

Some software programs are available that will help you manage the aspects of your video card or CPU. With a couple mouse clicks, you can easily change the internal temperature, computer fan speed, voltage and other specifications. This is helpful for someone who has interest in overclocking and/or underclocking for short periods of time. For example, running your graphics card at regular specs for web browsing may be ideal, while overclocking may be necessary for playing a video game.

Although there are multiple benefits to overclocking, it is important to keep an eye on how your computer runs when you alter the settings of your CPU, graphics card or other hardware. Overclocking the device ultimately makes it work harder and faster, resulting in a higher temperature and the requirement for more voltage. Oftentimes, the computer will become noisier as well, because of the need to cool off more often.

Depending on your price range and how much power you need, it may not be worth it to overclock your hardware. Obviously, any device that is overworked or pushed beyond its limits for an extended period of time will ultimately result in failure.

Drivers

Make sure you install the latest versions of your hardware drivers. The most important are the motherboard drivers, followed by the video card and sound drivers. While you should be ale to get current drivers for most hardware, if, for some reason no windows 7 drivers are available, try installing Vista drivers instead because sometimes they will work. Whatever you do, do not use the windows updater.

Microsoft has serious problems with supplying incompatible drivers. I don’t know if the problem is Microsoft or the fact that the manufacturers are not providing Microsoft with the latest drivers.

Paging File

If you machine has either multiple partitions of more than one hard drive, move the paging file to any partition or drive except the c:\ drive by performing the following steps:

1.      Go to: Control Panel -> System.

2.      Click Advanced System Settings -> Advanced tab.

3.      Click the Settings button under the Performance category.

4.      Select  the Advanced tab. Finally, click Change.

5.      Uncheck the box labeled automatically manage paging file size for all drives.

6.      Select C: from the Drive box and switch it to the No paging file option.

7.      Select a different hard drive and choose System managed size.

8.      Click OK and restart your computer.

Mouse Over

To speed things up

1.      Type regedit in the search box and open the registry editor.

2.      Select HKEY_CURRENT_USER

3.      Then expand the Control Panel Folder

4.      Open the Desktop folder

5.      In the right hand pane select the MenuShowDisplay entry

6.      Change the default value from 400 to 10 to make the menus appear sooner

7.      Next click on the Mouse folder

8.      Select MouseHoverTime and change the default to 10

9.      Close the registry editor and reboot the machine

TSRs (Terminate and stay resident programs)

TSRs are applications that are loaded into memory at startup and consume system resources which can reduce performance.

1.      Type msconfig into the search box and then open the application from the menu.

2.      Select the startup tab

3.      Uncheck both the iTunes and Quick Time items (These apps will start if you actually use either program and don’t need to be loaded into memory all of the time)

4.      You can uncheck other programs if you want but make sure you know what the programs actually do.

If you follow these steps, you will have better system performance.

This free app doesn’t offer a lot of options but it provides an easy to use application that can encrypt one or more files. You can create a block of disk space that is encrypted and then mount it so that it appears as a separate hard disk in windows. As long as the disk is mounted it can be used like any other disk. But once dismounted you need a password to read the contents.

You can also encrypt an entire partition or had drive. Of course, you cannot encrypt the boot drive. It is the old lock your keys in the car dilemma. You need the keys to unlock the car to get the keys. The same thing is true with encryption. You cannot encrypt the drive that contains the software that encrypts the data.

It also has a no install option the lets you encrypt a portable volume on USB drive but does require administrator privileges to use it. This provides a free way to protect sensitive data that is stored on portable media.

“The risks stem from the fact that most graphics cards and drivers have not been written with security in mind so that the interface they expose assumes that the applications are trusted,” says Michael Jordon, Research and Development Manager at Context. “While this may be true for local applications, the use of WebGL-enabled browser-based applications with certain graphics cards now poses serious threats from breaking the cross domain security principle to denial of service attacks, potentially leading to full exploitation of a user’s machine.”

Basically the problem lets hackers execute malicious code that can attack the graphics drivers and make the machine unusable. “These issues are inherent to the WebGL specification and would require significant architectural changes in order to remediate in the platform design,” security researcher James Forshaw wrote in the Context advisory.

However, the OpenGL APIs designed to work with HTML 5 are being designed to correct this problem.

Conventional printers need to be connected to either a computer or a network print server to allow you to print to them. Now a new kind of ePrint printer has been developed by HP. These ePrint devices have built in support for Google’s Cloud Print. Basically that means they do not need to be connected to either a computer or a network print server.

Cloud print is a service that lets you print from almost any device, from any operating system, from any browser to any printer without needing specific drivers or a PC connection. Google launched this new service last year but it only seems to be catching on recently. There is also an API (application programming interface) that you can build into the apps you create.

The new printers connect directly to the internet and register themselves with the cloud print service. Then you can add the ePrint enabled printer to your Google account with a unique email address assigned to the printer. After that you can just send jobs to the printer’s email address.

The biggest advantage that I see is being able to print from my smartphone or netbook.

You can also use cloud print with what Google calls a “classic” printer. All you need is the latest version of Chrome. Sign into your Google account, add the printer to your account, then add the chrome cloud print connector… voila! You can now print from a limited number of applications.

Currently you can only use a single Google account and cannot share your printer.

Google is not the only player in the cloud print field, Android has an app that lets you print text messages, email and web pages. Firefox has an app that lets you print web pages.

We will just have to wait and see how this new capability shakes itself out in the future.

DisplayLink software allows up to 10 clients to attach using 10 monitors using a USB connection to save money while providing the user with the same resources as if they had their own PC.

According to  Dennis Crespo, executive vice president of marketing and business development at DisplayLink, “DisplayLink innovations consistently keep pace with the best consumer, education and business products from our partners. We’re committed to continuing to advance and improve DisplayLink’s software in line with our leadership in enabling zero-client solutions.”

These new drivers will reinforce DisplayLink’s leadership position in the USB zero client market. These new drivers can provide much needed flexibility by allowing more than 10 zero clients for smaller cash strapped school districts and others who need the computing capability but don’t have the necessary resources to provide one-person to on PC capability.

We all know that you need to upgrade your PCs drivers regularly to keep the machine running as optimized as possible and provide the latest features added  by the manufacturer of your hardware or the publisher of your software.  However, occasionally, you will install a driver that doesn’t play nice with other drivers on your system.  That’s when you need to rollback the new driver.

Anytime the machine starts acting funny or crashing after an upgrade, the first thing you should do is roll back the new drivers you just installed. Roll them back one at a time if you installed more than one.

Use the following steps to roll back a device driver:

• Open the Device Manager. In windows 7 just type device driver in the search box on the start menu.
• Find the driver you want to roll back in the list of hardware devices.
• Double on the device
• Select the driver tab on the properties screen
• Click on the Roll Back Driver button and follow the wizard to revert to the old driver. If this button is grayed out, it means an older version of the driver is not available.

Usually you will need to reboot the machine.

Rolling back a device driver is as simple as that.