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.

In a rather off-the-track technology related report, a hospital named Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has come into a bit of trouble due to problems with its CT scanner; a programming error has caused the machine to give patients eight times the maximum amount of radiation that's nominal.

According to the LA Times, the hospital recently began utilizing a new protocol in order to create a specialized type of scan used to diagnose strokes, which unfortunately went a bit wrong. In order to use said protocol, the machine had to be reset, thus overriding the pre-programmed instructions that were included with the scanner when it was installed.

An official for the hospital said that, "There was a misunderstanding about an embedded default setting applied by the machine… as a result, the use of this protocol resulted in a higher than expected amount of radiation." Higher than expected sadly means that is was increased by eight times, which, when combined with a brain scan, lead to radiation sickness.

Apparently other hospitals are now investigating their own equipment to ensure everything is working as it should, but it just goes to show that whilst technology may be great in some aspects, it can also be very dangerous.

OCZ is showing strong commitment to be at the forefront of SSD technology. Over the past year the company has released nearly a dozen different series targeting every possible market, from affordable netbook oriented products to enterprise-grade solid state drives for servers and data warehouses.

They have had a great deal of success with multi-level cell (MLC) drives such as the Vertex we reviewed a few months ago. At the other side of the spectrum, single-level cell (SLC) solid state drives tend to sell for more outrageous prices.



OCZ has been working on making this technology a bit kinder on your bank account. Their latest 2.5" consumer drive is known under the Agility EX moniker, and is touted as the most cost-efficient SSD based on single-level cell memory with a cost per gigabyte at around $6.65 -- or 40% less than the Vertex EX and other similarly equipped SLC solid state drives.

View: OCZ Agility EX 60GB SLC SSD Review

These articles are brought to you in partnership with TechSpot

A survey published by online charity YouthNet, has found that 75 percent of 16-to-24 year-olds feel that they "couldn't live" without the Internet. The report also found that 82 percent would look online for advice and that 45 percent "felt happiest" when spending time online.

Thirty-two percent of respondents also said that they didn't need to ask a real person about their problems as they could find everything they needed online. Less than half would give advice online, with just 37 percent saying they would give advice on sensitive issues to those seeking it online.

The report, which was presented to the House of Commons, looked at how young people have evolved to living with the Internet and the challenges it can cause for organisations looking to offer support to young people.

Despite many high-profile security threats in recent times, over three quarters of young people believe the Internet to be a safe place, if you know what you are doing. It also showed that most believes themselves to be Internet-literate and aware of technology, with the skills to sense potential threats online.

The report also said that the Internet had made 16-to-24 year-olds fundamentally different to previous generations, with young people now living "hybrid lives." Described as the "ever on" group, young people of today demand immediate access to information and friends, according to the report.

The author of the report, Professor Michael Hulme of Lancaster University concluded, "For young people, the internet is part of the fabric of their world and does not exist in isolation from the physical world, rather it operates as a fully integrated element.

In the future as access becomes ever more mobile, multi-platform, faster and with richer media – in other words ever on and everywhere – the need and demand for advice through the internet will become even more critical."