In a move to curb the alarmingly high rate of youth depression and suicide, social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter could be scanned for signs of "at risk" behaviour.

Researchers at New Zealand's Victoria University claim to have devised a program that is capable of scanning posts within social networking sites to identify keywords that could indicate that a poster is at risk of depression, self-harm, suicide or even harming others.

"Our technology picks up words and phrases such as 'depressed', or 'I don't want to live anymore' or 'I want to kill somebody'", Dr Tiong-Thye Goh said. To filter out those users who are using such terms in a jokingly sense or being overly dramatic, the program can rank phrases and keywords according to their frequency of use. Dr Goh said, "...if certain keywords are used a lot it is likely that the particular person may be emotionally depressed".

Dr Goh believes that social networking sites have, in recent years, become a significant avenue in which young people openly express their feelings and concerns with others. Therefore, a program with this technology is highly valuable.

In time, the project will be expanded to implement technology that allows a poster deemed to be at risk to be contacted. Dr Goh gave one possible example as a short message that asks, "How are you?" with three different response options being, "Good", "A bit down", or "Bad - need help". The option of needing help could link to a website with resources and contact numbers to assist the poster.

The program is still being developed.

At a sponsored dinner on Tuesday night, Dell Founder and CEO, Michael Dell, told of his dislike for netbooks and admitted that the "biggest mistake" of his career was not diversifying the company sooner.

When asked about the growing netbook market, Dell said that "a fair amount of customers" were unsatisfied with the poor performance parts and the smaller screen size when compared to traditional laptop computers.

"Take a user who's used to a 15 inch notebook and then give him a 10 inch netbook. He'll say 'Oh, this is so cool, it's so lightweight'. Then 36 hours later he'll say the screen's not big enough, give me my 15 inch back".

This reportedly got the room talking, given that Dell itself offers a range of netbook computers for sale.

When asked by a diner what his biggest mistake as an executive was, Dell said it was retaining the existing strategy of direct sales for too long and not diversifying the business sooner. "We probably should have - or could have - intervened a bit earlier and said 'we should hit the reset button here and try some new things to anticipate this challenge coming up'", he said.

The challenge Dell is talking about is the expansion of its competitors like IBM and HP into a broader market of hardware, IT services and "solutions".

Last month, Dell agreed to purchase computer services company Perot Systems for $US3.9 billion in an effort to better compete with IBM and HP. However, Dell was clear in his intentions not to emulate the rival companies business model. "We want to do it different to the other guys", he said, by offering more remotely managed services to consumers.

On a positive note, Dell took the opportunity during his speech to express his enthusiasm towards Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 7. "If you get the latest processor technology and you get Windows 7 and Office 2010, you will love your PC again...it's a dramatic improvement", Dell told the audience.

Dell predicted that the combination of Windows 7 with new chips from Intel will lead to a "very powerful refresh cycle" in the near future.

Apple's Time Capsule backup device has a lifespan of less than 18 months, if device users are telling the truth.

This figure comes from The Apple Time Capsule Memorial Register, which is a new site at which Time Capsule users log the serial number of their device, the date of purchase and the date at which the device ceased to function.

The site has currently logged over 260 dead Time Capsules since its launch less than 10 days ago.

Disgruntled Time Capsule user, "zmippie" created the register in response to the number of complaints he read in Apple's own support forum. "In the end, hopefully, by getting a better view on the size of this premature TC [Time Capsule] failure, we can poke Apple to take action", "zmippie" wrote in one forum post. He continues, "I don't think this problem ends after the first batch of TCs have all died, because apparently the design hasn't been changed since the initial release in early 2008".

There are presently two main complaint threads on the Apple support forums about the Time Capsule failures that hold more than 600 messages from users. Most speculate that the Capsule's power supply has failed, or an internal connection to the supply has failed.

In a credit to Apple, however, users have reported that Apple has been replacing dead devices under the standard 12 month warranty issued on purchase of a Time Capsule, as well as under the AppleCare replacement warranty, if the user has purchased it.

Apple's latest Time Capsules include a 1TB model and a 2TB model. The failing models are largely being reported as the older generation 1TB and 500GB models.

Apple has yet to release a statement in response to these claims.

With consumers around the globe looking for ways to cut costs across the board, Walmart today announced it will launch an exclusive service called Straight Talk nationwide on October 18th. Don't like signing a contract with a carrier and pre-paid doesn't sound too appealing to you? Straight Talk is a new solution for customers and doesn't require any contract.

Walmart announced two plans that customers will be able to choose from starting October 18th:

Straight Talk "All You Need" 30-day Plan that includes the following for only $30 a month:

• 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30MB of mobile web access
• Nationwide coverage
• 411 Information calls at no extra charge

Straight Talk's Unlimited 30-day Plan that includes the following for $45 a month:

• Unlimited minutes, unlimited text and unlimited mobile web access
• Nationwide coverage
• Unlimited 411 Information calls at no extra charge

"It has been very encouraging to see the excitement and response to the Straight Talk pilot in 234 stores that began last summer at Walmart," said Greg Hall, vice president of Media Services, Walmart U.S. "In light of the savings customers continue to need, we have worked very quickly to extend this offering to all of our Walmart customers nationwide, and just before the holidays."

Consumers may refill their monthly balances by buying refill cards at Walmart, or by registering online at www.Walmart.com or www.StraightTalk.com. Also available at Walmart are a range of Straight Talk phone products to suit different needs, from the entry-level LG 220 flip phone at $39.98, to the LG Slider 290 at $79.98 to the Samsung 451 QWERTY keyboard phone at $99.88.

Business Week is reporting that a consortium of companies which includes the likes of Intel, Cisco, and Apple is set to release new technology called 'Wi-Fi Direct' which will turn a slew of gadgets into hotspots.

Wi-fi (when considered 'outside' as in not at work or at home) is currently only available to the general laptop, netbook or phone user in a disjointed array of pubs and cafe's across the globe where users can intermittently enjoy broadband out of the confinement of offices and houses. Wi-fi users who like to get out of the office can fret no more however, because come mid-2010, a technological upgrade will make it easier for users of consumer electronics to exchange files between electronic gadgets.

Yesterday, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced plans saying that its members will release technology that effectively turns gadgets into mini access points. These gadgets, equipped with the new technology will then able to create wireless connections with other Wi-Fi-enabled gadgets or broadband modems within a radius of about 300 feet.

This new technology named "Wi-Fi Direct" will be built directly into consumer electronics and automatically scan the vicinity for existing hotspots along with the numerous Wi-Fi equipped devices, including phones, TV's, computers and gaming consoles. Users with existing Wi-Fi-enabled technology will be able to upgrade to the new standard. Whilst this is positive news there are concerns that the companies involved may be overlooking the fact that these new plans will reduce the need for the more traditional router.

"The feature also could disrupt usage of wireless Bluetooth technology that, for example, helps users of the Apple iPhone play games with each other outside a wireless network. In the future, some consumers may use Wi-Fi Direct instead. Though Wi-Fi connectivity tends to drain battery life faster than Bluetooth, it's also faster and allows for transfer of richer multimedia content like video."

Intel seem to be serious about the success of this project and are, according to Business Week, already briefing retailers as to the finer details of the plans. This is part of a plan by the Wi-Fi alliance to back the plans with a major marketing scheme. Intel will also heavily promote the capability in the first quarter of 2010 as it unveils its next-generation Wi-Fi chip package for computers.