Forget 15 minutes of fame, researchers at Google have concluded today's stars don't dim quite so quickly, thanks to sites likes Twitter.

A group of researchers from Google, eBay and Berkeley University have been studying the famous and wanted to know how fame had changed over the past two and a half centuries.

They suspected that thanks to social media and 24-hour rolling news, fame today would be far more fleeting.

But how to set about measuring fame? The researchers, led by Alex Fabrikant of Google Research, alighted upon a pair of measurements: the likelihood a reader might read a news article at random and find their name mentioned in it; and the period around which that name continues to appear in news stories.

They also accounted for those that appeared genuinely famous – either by a large volume of mentions or a long-lasting series of mentions. Luckily for them, to help with this they had access to Google's digitised news archive, which stretches back 250 years.

The researchers then set about using tools to pick out people's names from this vast archive – some of which is stored as digital content, while a huge proportion is generated from optical character recognition tools being applied to microfilm.

Up until the 1940s, the researchers predictions appeared to be correct: there was a gradual decline in the length of time people stayed in the news.

But following the Second World War, the researchers detected a complete volte face.

“Over the course of 70 years, through a world war, a global depression, a two order of magnitude growth in (available) media volume, and a technological curve moving from party-line telephones to satellites and Twitter, both of our fame duration metrics showed that neither the typical person in the news, nor the most famous, experienced any statistically significant decrease in fame durations," the report explained.

What's more, after 1940, those people that were famous appeared to stay famous for a longer time than previously.

Which is great news for Peter Andre, but probably bad news for humanity.

Tablet computers have only been around in their current guise for two years but their popularity in the consumer markets has meant that the Office of National Statistics has added the device to its national shopping basket used to measure the spend of UK consumers.

The organisation said that the devices were now making such an impact on the market that they needed to be included in its retail guide, particularly as they were accounting for much of the nation's spend on technology, in place of older devices.

"Developments in technology influence the basket update and in 2012 tablet computers (such as the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab) are being included for the first time," it said.

"This mirrors the evolution of computer equipment through desktop personal computers, laptops and now tablets, and they are being introduced to capture price changes in this rapidly expanding market."

With the new iPad set to be launched on Friday, and no doubt ready to fly off the shelves into the arms of grateful consumers eager to get their hands on the latest iDevice from Apple, the ONS's timing appears justified.

It wasn't just tablets that were added, though, with bundled communication packages - telephone lines, internet and TV services - also included, underlining the new way many consumers purchase digital services.

The inclusion of these services, as well as tablet computers, in the ONS's updated shopping list underlines just how central technology has become to the lives of the general public, both for use in the workplace and at home.

The Eurostar, despite having a perception of being an elegant, sophisticated way to hop across the Channel and sample the delights of Paris or Amsterdam with ease, is actually a fairly dull travel experience, not helped by the occasional horror stories that come from nine-hour delays.

Still, some 20 million people use it every year, and, instead of staring out of the windows at the dull, industrial landscapes of northern France and southern England (the route really is dull) most will spend the time using tablets and smartphones to read news, send emails and other web activities.

Except, of course, during the bit actually in the tunnel when all signal disappears for the duration, until you emerge, blinking, into France or the UK.

However, Eurotunnel, the management firm for the Channel Tunnel, is set to change all this having announced a deal with French telecoms operators to install 2G and 3G networks ahead of the Olympic Games so our Gallic cousins can enjoy Le Web as they head to Blighty.

The service will at first only be available in the France to UK tunnel, with operators Bouygues Telecom, Orange SFR and Free agreeing a deal with the French government and Eurotunnel to manage the €14 million installation.

Of course, this does mean that yet another small pocket of internet-less existence in the Western world will be gone, as we continue with our desire to provide pervasive web access wherever we may be, so we can't escape life, work, family, stock prices, and the rest.

Still, the UK to France tunnel won't be fitted with the necessary equipment until after the games, so those travelling to the continent can at least disappear for a little while yet, and then claim roaming charges make it too expensive to call home or check data on-the-go.

However, with the European Commission (EC) hoping to slash roaming costs too, there may soon be no excuse there either, so prepare yourselves for a world of endless, non-stop, unfettered communication - there is no escape, resistance is futile.

One of the most interesting things about Facebook filing its $5bn initial public offering (IPO) is that it finally provides some hard evidence into the company's success and operating strategies, having for so long been a private company with closed books.

Mostly notably, the firm is already making some strong returns on its advertising model, with revenues up to $3.7bn for 2011, an increase of $1.7bn from 2010, showing the company's advertising-led model is paying off.

However, it is not just advertising that is driving this income, with the firm revealing in the filing that Zynga was responsible for 12 per cent of this income, as Facebook takes a cut of any purchases made by users in the games that run on the site.

Away from the financial figures, the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), also highlights some of the ways in which the company is setting itself up to deal with having to appease Joe Public once they get their greasy mitts on shares in the firm.

The most interesting of the caveats Facebook has placed within its IPO relates Mark Zuckerberg's right to appoint the company's successor in the event of his death.

"In the event that Mr. Zuckerberg controls our company at the time of his death, control may be transferred to a person or entity that he designates as his successor," the filing notes.

However, Zuckerberg clearly has no intention of handing control over any time soon as he's made sure that the share structure of the company works in his favour.

Each share of the 28.4 per cent stake he controls in the firm has a 10 times greater power than normal shares on any issues shareholders vote on, ensuring he retains overall control of the firm.

"[This] provides Zuckerberg with the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if he owns significantly less than a majority of the shares, [...] including the election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or its assets," it reads.

Zuckerberg has also committed to only draw a salary of $1 a year from 1 January, 2013, similar to Steve Jobs during his time at Apple. He probably expects to eek out a living via bonus schemes and share grants.

The firm will also likely be forced to start providing regular updates on the number of active users on the site, which has now been revealed as 845 million, so it may even be the case it can tout one billion members in the run up the firm going public in May.

No doubt that will send already rabid investors into a full-blown frenzy. All this from its inception in a dorm room in Harvard. Amazing.

ORLANDO: As one of the technology industry's biggest spenders on research and development, it was no surprise to find IBM showing off a range of projects that staff in its Center for Social Business are busy working on behind the scenes.

The project that most caught V3's eye was its Gamification Engine for the Enterprise product that looks to offer organisations a way to provide staff with a more engaging way to share knowledge or learn new skills.

The interface is heavily reminiscent of geo-location service Foursquare, with users able to acquire badges if they complete certain tasks or goals, as well as comparing their ranking with other users in a certain group or division on a public leaderboard.

The tool lets users earn badges, rewards and compete with co-workers.

Yaniv Corem, a software engineer at IBM, explained to V3 that, thanks to services like Foursquare, staff in organisations are "no strangers to gamification" and that the tool could have several uses within the business community.

"With this tool you can build databases of knowledge on key topics by allowing staff to share information in a competitive and playful way," he said.

Corem added that the firm is considering adding the tool to its Connections platform at some point in the future, but that nothing was guaranteed as yet.

Another tool the firm is working on is its "time-based storytelling" offering Historio, which it has already used itself to gather together information on its 100th anniversary celebrations that took place in 2011 (see image below).

Each blue dot represents a key moment in IBM's history, which links to more information on that topic, including text, images and video.

Jamie Rasmussen, another IBM software engineer, explained the tool could have uses for businesses to document their company’s history to the public, as IBM has done, or for staff to share knowledge of a product's history internally.
 
Another interesting tool the firm was showcasing was a Twitter analysis platform that attempts to gather 'human data' on users of the site to analyse the likelihood of them responding to a question or their interest in a given topic.

"This will help a brand know if it is worth trying to engage with a user, the best questions to ask and whether they should offer an incentive to encourage feedback," IBM research staff member Jeffrey Nichols told V3.

Such projects show that, after 100 years of being one of the biggest technology firms in the world, IBM has no intention of resting on its laurels and is keen to place itself at the heart of the social business revolution taking place in the market.

ORLANDO: With IBM beating the drum on the use of social tools and collaborative software, its chief information officer Jeanette Horan, outlined the firm's own work in these areas, to show it practices what it preaches.

With almost half a million full-time employees (currently around 450,000) IBM has a huge workforce using a vast array of tools, both internally and externally and the figures she revealed are truly astounding:

•    On average 360,000 staff use the firm’s instant messaging platform every day.
•    This generates a staggering 50 million instant messages per day.
•    There are 198,000 members of staff on Facebook.
•    A much smaller 20,000 are on Twitter.
•    LinkedIn Is the most popular platform, though, with 281,000 users.
•    20,000 members of staff run their own internal blog on the firm’s Connections tool.

She also revealed its willingness to shake things up by explaining it runs a reverse-mentoring system in the company where some of the youngest new staff members teach its most senior executives how to use the latest social tools.

However, one area the firm admitted it is still addressing is the growing issue of what should happen to employees' Twitter accounts after they leave the company.
 
Carol Sormilic, vice president global workforce and web processes, explained to V3 that it is an area the firm is currently debating internally, but has yet to reach an answer.

One area where the firm is up and running, though, is letting staff bring their own devices to work after the end of a two-year pilot that involved feedback from 20,000 members of staff, which actually equates to just five per cent of its workforce.

This led to the creation of a set of policies that include an enforced eight-digit password for each device to access the corporate network and Horan revealed that she herself uses her own personal BlackBerry phone as her work device.

On the issue of cloud computing, Horan explained that IBM operates six datacentres to help it run a private cloud computing network as the size of the firm makes this a viable return on investment.

“We have the scale to be able to see the benefits of managing the cloud behind the firewall,” she added.

As well as a fascinating insight into the day-to-day IT demands of a firm the size of IBM, its willingness to embrace new trends and give staff the power to take advantage of new tools may give IT leaders in other, smaller, firms the courage to go forward with their own plans in these areas.

Microsoft may again be bidding for Yahoo, but this time for a minority stake in the company and in partnership with private investment firm Silver Lake Partners, according to reports.

AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong has said, meanwhile, that his firm does not plan to buy any Yahoo assets.

Yahoo has asked for bids to be submitted this week, according to Bloomberg. Other bids are expected to come from private investment firms Thomas H Lee Partners and TPG Capital, reports say.

Another report by DealBook has said that Microsoft will join forces with Silver Lake Partners and TPG Capital to secure 20 per cent of Yahoo.

All the firms involved in the bid have refused to give official statements, but the fact that Microsoft is making another offer for Yahoo would hardly come as a surprise.

Relationships between Microsoft and Yahoo have been far from stable in recent years but, even though Yahoo has fallen a long way from its status as an internet giant, Microsoft remains interested. Microsoft still basically wants Yahoo to compete better with Google.

Redmond attempted to buy Yahoo in 2008 for $44.6bn (£30bn) but was rebuffed. At that point Mcirosoft chief executive Steve Ballmer denied any chance of new acquisition talks and said that his firm had "moved on".

But Microsoft and Yahoo announced a 10-year search partnership in 2009 to allow them to compete with Google.

The deal was signed by Yahoo's new chief executive at the time, Carol Bartz, who was hired to turn Yahoo around after the firm's search market share had fallen sharply against Google's. Bartz was recently fired by Yahoo's board for failing to succeed with this strategy.

Bartz's priority was clearly to improve Yahoo's display advertising business, launching Rich Ads In Search, which let advertisers include images, video and location in adverts. However, problems with Bartz's strategy arose this year, as Yahoo's advertising business was not keeping pace with its rivals'.

Meanwhile, problems also arose with Bartz's 10-year search deal with Microsoft, and in April Yahoo attributed a 28 per cent profit slump to technical problems arising from the partnership.

Ever since the riots that swept the UK in August there's been much debate and hand-wringing over what should be done with social media sites during times of unrest, with the government even threatening to shut down sites like Twitter.

Thankfully, Thersea May and co. seem to have come to their senses and said they will not be seeking additional powers to block sites. There was a timely reminder that these services can benefit law enforcement agencies on Thursday when it was revealed that over 600 police officers are now on Twitter.

Speaking at a Westminster Forum event, Paul Reilly, a lecturer in media and communications at the University of Leicester, noted that since the riots the number of police officers on Twitter had grown to 632.

"Every territorial force now has a Twitter feed as part of steps being taken to use this tool to engage and provide accurate information and stop rumours circulating," he added.

"Police in Northern Ireland have been particularly proactive in the use of social media and received praise for this and other forces are using these tools more effectively now but there has been a degree of caution among some too."

He added that this number had grown significantly since the riots as more officers out on the streets look for ways to engage with their community.

Furthermore, not only does Twitter offer engagement but it also offers a wealth of information that police forces can access, as Justin Crump, the chief executive of security intelligence consultancy firm Sibylline, explained.

"Social media is open source intelligence on steroids. It moves at a hell of a pace and can be very biased and you have to be very disciplined to deal with it but if you integrate people, processes and technology you can gain benefits," he said.

Indeed, V3 spoke with South Yorkshire Police in October who are using Twitter to increase engagement with the community and track potential disturbances, as police across the land prove that shutting down social media sites would be a disastrous decision.