The gossip around Facebook's impending initial public offering (IPO) that's expected to take place in the coming weeks, or even days, received another juicy bit of intrigue when one of the firm's founders, Eduardo Saverin, renounced his US citizenship.

The move was immediately cited as a tax dodge by critics, as by taking citizenship of Singapore he is reported to save some $600m in tax on the cool $4bn he is expected to make when the firm's stock hits the markets.

According to the BBC, a spokesperson for Saverin explained the decision by saying he, "found it more practical to become a resident of Singapore since he plans to live there for an indefinite period of time".

While it makes good fiscal sense for Saverin, there is something slightly unwholesome about the situation, as Facebook is cited as one of the shining lights in Silicon Valley's ability to conjure up new, world-changing businesses that make the US as a world-leading tech hub.

For one of its co-creators to give up his relationship with this country for the purposes of saving a chunk of change (admittedly a rather large chunk), seems a touch rash, but as Saverin was actually born in Brazil, perhaps he doesn't have such strong ties to the nation.

It comes just a few days after founder-in-chief Mark Zuckerberg was slated for wearing a hoodie and sandals to a meeting with investors.

However, with both Zuckerberg and Saverin now expected to rake in billions, neither probably care much what the critics have to say about their living locations or sartorial style.

^{Phone Box on Ladcastle Road Dobcross (Paul Anderson) / CC BY-SA 2.0}

What's red, useless, sits on the street and could be yours for £2,000? No, not Andy Carroll but if you want to fork out a wedge of cash for something similar, then BT are once again flogging off their red phone boxes.

The grand red K6 boxes are testament to the mobile revolution that has swept the world over the past decade. Who needs to fumble around for 10p pieces to make a call, when everyone carries a mobile?

According to BT's figures, the number of calls made from payphones has dropped 80 per cent in the past five years, and six out of ten phone boxes lose money.

Little wonder then that those in charge of BT's payphone business have looked at alternative ways to make money.

“Now you can buy a  twentieth century design icon that’s famous around the world for your home or garden or you could even buy one as a gift for the person you know who has everything,” gushed Katherine Ainley, general manager for BT payphones, announcing the sell off.

It's not the first time BT has sold off its red phone boxes – it got rid of a load back in the 1980s, when it realised that horrible-looking plastic cubicles were far cheaper to maintain.

And other companies have been selling the phone boxes ever since – usually at eye-watering prices.

Meanwhile, BT has for the past four years been offering local communities a chance to “adopt” a red phone box – although the cost for doing so is a meagre £1, rather than the near £2,000 it would cost to buy one.

But as the internet age gathers pace, it seems likely that BT's kiosks won't be the only bit of red street furniture destined for the history books. Surely it can't be too much longer before the Royal Mail starts flogging off post boxes too?

Forget data mining, Google's bosses seem to have set their sights on far loftier goals – asteroid mining. Well, that at least, is the assumption.

Later this April, a new company called Planetary Resources, is set to reveal its purpose to an eagerly-awaiting public. The firm is backed by a host of star names, including Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, along with film director and aquatic explorer James Cameron and former Microsoft bigwig Charles Simonyi.

The details of what Planetary Resources will attempt are at this stage pretty sketchy – an invitation to the company launch – spotted by MIT's Tech Review – promises to “unveil a new space venture with a mission to ensure humanity's prosperity".

"The company will overlay two critical sectors - space exploration and natural resources - to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP."

Those details are enough to convince many that what's being proposed is an asteroid mining operation. And perhaps with good reason.

Planetary Resources is led by Peter Diamandis, founder of the X-Prize foundation, which offered a $10m prize private-sector manned spaceflight. 

Also on board is renowned space entrepreneur Eric Anderson. In 2010, Anderson gave a speech at the TEDGlobal 2010 conference promoting the idea that asteroid mining could be used to make commercial space travel profitable.

More recently, Diamandis has been giving his own TED talk. Earlier this year, he took to the stage promising his audience that mankind's future was one blessed with an abundance of resources – perhaps hinting at his ideas for where else we might look for precious minerals.

Keep watching the skies...

The launch of a new Apple product is always accompanied by the inevitable queue, with eager fans getting in line outside stores around the world to ensure they can say they were one of the first to get hold of whatever new shiny device the firm is selling.

The new iPad was no different, with some fans getting in line last weekend, although most had a far more casual one night sleepover on the cold, hard, unforgiving concrete of Regent's Street.

When V3 popped along this morning to see what was going on we came across the usual mix of the weird and wonderful, which we've documented below in photographic glory, because a picture is worth a thousand words...

Apple teased the assembled queuers by putting a solitary device tantalisingly within reach behind a thin-sheet of glass.

Meanwhile, the world's media (sort of) continued to gather to try and get a spot to snap those on the other side of the barriers. V3 had arrived at 7:30am, so had no such trouble bagging a top spot.

Eventually, as the clock ticked around to 8am, the crowds were let in, to huge cheers and applause from Apple's blue-shirted staff. Some people going into the store to buy the new iPad, already had the new iPad they'd bought at midnight from other locations, and were filming the experience on the device, which was an odd sight.

Things started to get really surreal, though, when a gaggle of clearly-fake air hostesses turned up and started posing with the first few fans through the door. Apple apparently had no issue with this and let it take place without incident.

As if this wasn't enough, one chap then added a giant cat's head to the situation, with wonderfully bizarre results.

While for the on-looking press this was an amusing side-note, for most exiting the store it was a chance to celebrate getting their hands on the device, as first-in-line Zohaib Ali did with style.

Eventually, though, when the dust had settled there's only a few traces left that would hint at the madness that had gone before. No doubt the iPhone 5 launch - or will it be the new iPhone? - will see the whole circus start up again.

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.

When Google announced its decision to splash out $12.5bn on Motorola there was immediate speculation that the deal could alienate other Android manufactures, chiefly HTC and Samsung.

At the time Google went to great lengths to reassure those firms, and the market in general, that the deal would not upset the Android apple cart, with Motorola receiving no preferential treatment despite being a part of Google.

Executive chairman Eric Schmidt even said during a visit to South Korea, the home of Samsung, that Motorola would remain an independent business unit.

His words at the time: "We're not going to change in any material way the way we operate."

However, in an all-too-predicatable twist, the firm is now said to be on the verge of booting out current chief executive Sanjay Jha and replacing him with the Google man who oversaw the deal, Dennis Woodside, according to sources quoted by Bloomberg.

Google has not responded to a request for comment on that report.

This looks like a clear contradition - after all parachuting in your own man to replace the leader of a firm you are buying seems to present a pretty substantial material change. How independent can Motorola be if headed up by a Google executive?

No doubt those at Samsung, HTC and the rest of the Android collective will note this development with interest and reconsider what Google is up to.

The rumours will also be of great interest to Microsoft, which will be hoping to entice any concerned Android vendors to its Windows Phone operating system, particularly as the platform continues to garner positive reviews.

The relationship between Google and Microsoft have reached an all-time low, and so the folks at Redmond are probably considering how best to further stir the waters of the Android community - although V3 hopes it doesn't involve anything as awful as this video that hit the web this week:

While the world worked itself into a frenzy over Facebook's IPO earlier this month, the other social media giant Twitter has said it will postpone plans to go public for years because it is not ready to disclose its earnings to the market, according to reports.

In an email obtained by CNN, Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo told staff last year that the firm will not be taking the same path as Facebook in making an initial public offering (IPO) anytime soon.

"We don't want to be public until we have very predictable quarterly earnings growth," Costolo wrote in his August email, according to CNN.

"We're not ready to be a public company for a couple years."

For the last year, Twitter shareholders have been banned from selling more than 20 per cent of their shares.

The reason for this is that if companies have more than 500 shareholders owning one class of equity shares the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandates the business to disclose financial results.

Twitter told V3 it could not comment on the email.

The firm has been discussing possibilities of an IPO route to revenue growth since 2009.

In related news French president Nicholas Sarkozy has joined Twitter. The president has not always shown a liking for emerging technologies and the social web, particularly when the new technologies come into conflict with traditional media establishments.

It remains to be seen if he proves as sensational as some of the other recent converts to the micro-blogging service, most notably Rupert Murdoch who has already hit out at Google on the service.

Apple's share price passed the $500 mark for the first time in the firm's history on Monday afternoon as the success of its iPad 2 and iPhone devices continue to make the firm one of the world's most valuable companies.

It has taken just six months since passing the $400 on the Nasdaq market to rocket to £500 and comes three years after the firm's share price was a comparatively paltry $89.31 in February 2009.

Since then the success of its iPhone and iPad ranges, particularly their increasing use among both consumers and business users, has fuelled the firm's valuation, which is now inching towards $470bn as it continues to rake in record profits.

The firm's financial success is in stark contrast to some of its key rivals, with the likes of Microsoft stagnating on $30 per share price - and a market cap of $256bn - and Nokia on just $5 a share or a $18.5bn market cap, as other firms find it hard to make any traction in the smartphone and tablet markets.

Only Google can outperform Apple for share-value, with its stock currently priced around the $613 mark, but with fewer shares it circulation, it's value is a 'paltry' $199bn.

The question everyone will be asking, though, is clear: why on earth didn't I buy some shares in Apple three years ago?