Unearthing some of the top WEB IPO’s of all time – excluding Facebook

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Unearthing some of the top WEB IPO’s of all time – excluding Facebook

Some of today’s top companies, may it be manufacturing today’s emerging technology or making the most popular websites, have stayed in the convention of focusing much of their efforts on growing and eventually being bought out by either a competitor or a tycoon who just wants to expand his hive of businesses. It wasn’t long ago that the investing community had an assurance that the IPO’s will reemerge. But on Friday morning, 18 May 2012, Facebook will change that.

Facebook has made an announcement and priced its initial public offering (IPO) at $38 a share. With this number, Facebook is giving itself a valuation of $104 billion, and raising a total of $18.41 billion.

Here, will give you some of the top Web IPO’s all time. Keep in mind that the list DOES NOT include Facebook. Not yet.

Standing at number 1 is the world’s most popular website and search engine giant, Google. It’s IPO date is 18 August, 2004 and has raised a cash total of $1.67 billion. Since its IPO, Google has increased its shares up to 481 percent. They’re today’s largest search company, and with that who knows when that number will stop increasing.

Next to Google is Russia’s largest search engine, Yandex. It raised a total of $1.3 billion during its IPO on 23 May, 2011. But unlike Google who are continually increasing its shares, Yandex shares are down to 43 percent since its IPO.

The third largest cash raised in an IPO was recorded on 15 December, 1999 when Infonet Services opened its doors to the investing community. It raised a total of $1.08 billion. However, the company no longer operates as a standalone company.

The game developer that gave us popular MMORPG’s like Dragon Nest SEA, Ragnarok Online, and Dungeons and Dragons online comes in next. Shanda Games earned $1.04 billion in its IPO in 24 September, 2009.

Zynga, the developer that gave us Mafia Wars and Farmville, has raised a total of $1 billion. Although shares were down since its 15 December, 2011 IPO, the company still looks good and is planning to release a sequel of the popular Farmville.

Another game developer follows suit with a total raise of $877 million. But sadly, since its IPO on 31 October, 2007, Giant Interactive’s stock lost 73% of its value.

The Chinese social networking site, Renren, stands firm in the list with a cash raise of $743 million. Its IPO date is on 3 May, 2011, but since then their shares are down to 63%.

For more emerging technology news, visit Rapid Tech Review’s Reviews sections.

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Fujifilm X-Pro1 Review

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Fujifilm X Pro1 OP11100690 300x222 Fujifilm X Pro1 Review

The Fujifilm X-Pro1 follows in the footsteps on all other Leica cameras in that they’re excessively expensive and offer the performance and image quality in most other compacts at a fraction of the price. But at $1,700 for the body only, the X-Pro1 is a bargain next to the Leica M9-P’s $8,000 price tag. This puts it in the same field as its predecessors the X100 and the X10.

 The Hardware

The X-Pro1 is most definitely a throwback camera. It has big control wheels and over-sized buttons harking back to an age when bigger was better. This part is all a matter of preference. If you like what you see, you’re already past this part.

The X-Pro1 is also most definitely not as compact as our modern sensibilities would allow. After all, it’s retro. It’s 140mm wide, which makes it much larger that almost all other cameras currently in the market. Yet, despite its bulk it’s surprisingly lightweight at 1.4 pounds with the 35mm lens on. One drawback though is the fact that it’s not weather-sealed.

One of the X-Pro1’s highlights is its hybrid viewfinder, which allows you to switch between optical and electronic mode. Both modes have an information overlay including a live histogram, spirit level, and lens-matched frame guide. As always, you still have the option of taking shots with the 3-inch LCD panel with a 640×480 resolution.

The X-Pro1 comes with three prime lenses that fit perfectly with its new mount; an 18mm f/2.0 wide lens, a 35mm f/1.4 lens for general use, and a 60mm f/2.4 zoom lens, all of which come with metal hoods. There’s also a Leica adaptor for Leica lenses.

 The Software (User Interface)

First of all, you won’t find an ISO dial. Instead you have are three dials that are much more usual in normal situations; the shutter speed dial, the exposure compensation dial, and a settings dial, lets you change up settings without having to confirm your changes or even taking your eye off the viewfinder. There’s also an assignable Fn button.

The autofocus is slower than most DSLRs. In fact, it’s painfully slow. Drive performance is great, able to shoot about 37 images in 11 seconds. The battery life is really very impressive.

 The Skinny

The Fujifilm X-Pro1 is a very impressive brand new technology. It may not be for everyone. It’s still a ridiculously expensive camera but if it’s your kind of thing and you have the cash to spare, then by all means, this is a great camera.

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New Technology: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Trailer Released to Public

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black ops 2 New Technology: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Trailer Released to Public

Just recently, Activision released the first trailer of the sequel to theirblack-ops blockbuster; Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. “Hair-raising”, as one reviewer said, and all of us will be looking forward to the day it’s released. The Call of Duty series has become a worldwide phenomenon amongst first-person shooter fans, from their Modern Warfare series up to the Black Ops transition.

With the Black Ops 2, Activision will be serving up more things on the table that will have all of the game’s fans crazy in waiting. The game is due out for PC, XBOX 360, and PlayStation 3 with a tentative release date of November 13, 2012. Quite a long wait, but Activision will be posting more videos and updates to suffice our cravings during the wait period for sure.

The game will be a sequel to the first Black Ops, with a continued story following the son of Alex Mason, David. About one third of the game will be set in the 80’s, and will eventually move to the not so distant future of 2025. In this plausible future, the sleeping giant China holds 95% of all the earth’s natural resources, thus, granting them the power to make every electronic gadget, new technology devices, and weaponry.

It will also feature futuristic weapons of mass destruction such as robots, gyrocopters, and new heavy machine guns. Although some might find everything about the game overblown, Activision has pointed out that the dark future portrayed in Black Ops 2 is rooted to real world technology based on actual military research. In addition, the company hired two retired high-ranking officials of the military and the author of the New York Times bestseller “Wired for War” just for this project.

Activision has not released any details multiplayer-wise, but the single player campaign has a few good changes in it. The company introduced similar gameplay as the series Mass Effect. Black Ops 2 will feature a branching storyline based on the player’s in-game actions. In addition to that, losing a mission does not end the game, but instead makes you to do it all over again. This gameplay mechanic spins the outcome, eventually bringing you to a different path in the story. How Activision will be implementing it in the game still remains a mystery.

Here’s hoping that diehard COD fans out there can wait a few more months until the game’s release.

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HTC One X Review

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Rapid Tech Review brings you the latest technology gadget reviews and news. This week, we feature HTC’s brand new contender in the smartphone wars, the HTC One X.

htc HTC One X Review

At first glance, the HTC One X looks drastically different from other HTC handsets. The aluminum unibody typically used in HTC’s devices has been replaced with polycarbonate plastic. Unlike most plastic encased handheld devices, the One X’s high-grade plastic chassis feels good, much like that of the Nokia Lumia 900. It has rounded out edges and a slightly curved back, and measuring at 5.3” tall, 2.75” wide, and 0.36” thick, it’s an impressively constructed phone that weighs just 4.6 ounces, giving it a comfortable heft.

htc1 HTC One X Review

The Hardware

The screen is huge; a 4.7” super LCD screen with 1280×720 resolution. It’s nice and bright, with good viewing angles. Above the screen is a 1.3-megapixel camera. Below it, you’ll find the three capacitive buttons (back, home, recent apps). On the right side edge are the volume rockers and on the opposite side is a Micro-USB port. On top, you’ll see the micro-SIM card compartment, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the power button. At the back is the 8-megapixel camera with LED flash. The device’s single-piece plastic construction means that there are no removable parts, hence no removable battery pack or memory expansion.

The 8-megapixel camera absolutely shines with HTC’s ImageSense technology, giving you plenty of features, like face detection, auto smile capture, HDR, continuous shooting mode, and panorama. The One X lets you shoot and record video at 1080p HD with a special Slow Motion mode, and even shoot stills while you’re rolling video. The photo quality is as great as you’ll even get on a smartphone, with vivid colors and sharp details.

htc review hardware HTC One X Review

The Software

The HTC One X’s true power is in its powerful software capabilities. It runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with the addition of HTC’s Sense 4 user interface. Like the HTC One S, the X has seven screens to accommodate app shortcuts and animated widgets. It has a great weather application on the default screen that has lots of useful features like detailed forecast, atmospheric conditions, and a 3D globe visual.

As with any Android device, the One X comes will all the Google services, like Gmail, Google Maps, Google+, and the Play Store. The Play Store now offers music, movies, books, and games available for purchase. It also has HTC’s Watch app, which lets you rent or purchase TV shows or movies. There’s also lots of different third-party software such as Kindle eBook reader, TuneIn Internet Radio, and the MOG music subscription service.

Performance-wise, the HTC One X’s 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor runs perfectly with its 1GB or RAM. Ice Cream Sandwich runs smoothly without hitches. 4G LTE doesn’t disappoint either, with speeds topping at over 20Mbps. Call quality is exactly what you’d expect from an AT&T service. The phones speaker doesn’t sound broken at the highest volume setting. Battery life will last up to 12.5 days on standby and 8.5 hours of talk time, according to AT&T.

htc review software HTC One X Review

The Skinny

At $199.99 on AT&T, the HTC One X is a remarkable phone that’s fast, has a great camera, runs on Android 4.0, and has great 4G LTE speeds. Arguably one the best Android phones available today.

For more reviews on the latest technology gadgets, visit Rapid Tech Review’s gadget review sections.

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RIM Reveals Blackberry Prototype: New Technology News

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Research in Motion has unveiled their new BlackBerry smartphone prototype. The announcement was made by RIM’s new chief executive Thorsten Heins at the company’s BlackBerry World conference in Orlando.

The BlackBerry prototype is powered by RIM’s new operating system, BlackBerry 10.Heins is rallying app developers to make applications for the new operating system. He promised each developer present at the conference would be taking home the BlackBerry prototype. He has stated that the device is not the final finished BlackBerry product.

Research in Motion, a once iconic name in smartphone technology, has had a difficult time keeping up with its competition, Apple’s iPhone and the many devices that run on Google’s Android operating system. The company has often delayed development on their upcoming operating system, BlackBerry 10, and will yet again have to delay it until later in the year.

Heins said, “I’m very, very confident we will be there later this year with an exciting product. Make no mistake, this in not the final device, this is not the final hardware.”

The new BlackBerry prototype features a touch screen without the BlackBerry’s illustrious physical QWERTY keypad. The new device will now feature a modified touch screen keypad that lets users full words with one stroke.

BlackBerry touchscreens have had little success with most consumer markets. BlackBerry handsets that lack physical keypads have largely been ignored in favor of the more popular Apple and Android smartphones.

BlackBerrys remain popular in the corporate market, thanks to its security and reliability, and many companies still issue BlackBerrys to their employees. This practice has dipped following a growing “bring your own phone” trend that favor the consumer oriented iPhone or Android devices.

All this recent development still doesn’t appear to be fast enough to keep up with the release of the iPhone 5, Windows 8, and new Android devices well on their way. 2012 may very well be when we see if RIM can continue to stay competitive in the smartphone market.

For more new technology news see the news section on Rapid Tech Review.

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Asus Transformer Pad TF300

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172243 transformerpadtf3001 300x230 Asus Transformer Pad TF300

The Asus Transformer Prime TF201 was the only true contender against the iPad for Android users. It was more powerful and thinner than the iPad, and had a keyboard dock for extra measure. But at $500, it wasn’t really the most affordable tablet on the market. It also suffered from issues with the GPS and Wi-Fi speed.

Now, Asus has released the Transformer Pad TF300, which comes installed with Android 4.0.3 and starts at $379 for 16GB of storage space. It also packs a quad-core Tegra 3 chip, an 8-megapixel camera, and a 12-hour battery life.

The Hardware

asus transformer pad tf300 1198352 g3 300x258 Asus Transformer Pad TF300

Looking at the TF300, it obviously a step down from the TF201 in terms of design. It’s thicker by a few millimeters, a little heavier, and the Prime’s aluminum unibody has been replaced with plastic. It is still thinner and lighter than most of the tablets on the market.

The Transformer Pad TF300 comes in 3 colors (Royal Blue, Torch Red, and Iceberg White). It sports a 1.2-megapixel front camera and an 8-megapixel back camera without an LED flashlight, unlike the Prime.

The keyboard dock ($150) is the same with Prime’s, with the exception of the plastic build. The keys are spaced well enough, though bigger hands might be less comfortable. Take note that the Prime fits well into the TF300’s dock but the TF300 is not compatible with the Prime’s keyboard dock.

The Software

asus transformer pad tf300 1198352 g2 300x239 Asus Transformer Pad TF300

The Asus Transformer Pad TF300 is the first Asus tablet preinstalled with Android Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.3). Once you’ve registered your device, Asus MyCloud provides you with 8GB of free cloud storage with Asus WebStorage. You also have access to the @Vibe online music store, and remote access to your desktop. One of the best emerging technology today.

The TF300 runs on 1GB of RAM and a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, which you can chose to run in normal, balanced, or power-saving mode. On both balanced and power-saving mode, the CPU is set to save on battery, and runs on full power on normal mode.

The Skinny

ASUS Transformer Pad TF3001 300x156 Asus Transformer Pad TF300

For the Asus Transformer Pad TF300’s price, it isn’t that far a step down from the higher-end Prime. It’s certainly a great deal at $379, easily edging out other tablets in its category. Android Ice Cream Sandwich makes it all the more sweeter.

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Retro Gadgets: The Best Throwback Tech

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It seems like the further we go along with technology, the more romantic we feel about the “analogue” days of tech when, instead of touch screens, we had knobs. Now, that technology and gadgets have really caught up to the mainstream and are now a huge part of pop culture, it’s developed a retro and vintage niche among people.

This is probably why you can now find some new gadgets that feature retro or vintage technology. Many small manufacturing companies are now creating throwback gadgets for the nostalgic techie in you. Here are some examples of retro gadgets that we found online.

Menlo Park Lamps

menlo park lamp 1 300x214 Retro Gadgets: The Best Throwback Tech

First, off are these beautifully vintage lamps. Inspired by Thomas Edison’s vintage lightbulbs, The Dapper Llama creates fine handmade wooden table lamps, which add a rich and nostalgic ambient glow to any room. This is a must have for steampunk junkies.

Retro Rotary iPhone Dock

retro iphone charger 300x225 Retro Gadgets: The Best Throwback Tech

These handmade iRetrofone docks are sculpted and cast one at a time from resin, are compatible with all iPhone models and let you charge your phone with your own USB cable. Love that handset. The dock doesn’t actually work as a functioning speaker or attachment to the phone, but it’s a great retro look nonetheless.

FC Mobile II

042509 nes 1 300x264 Retro Gadgets: The Best Throwback Tech

Hyperkin’s FC Mobile II allows you to play NES games on a portable console with a 2.5” LCD; this new version includes two wireless controllers and a light gun. If you’ve held onto your old NES cartridges, you’ll be able to enjoy portable retro gadget gaming with this little doohickey.

LG Classic TV

012510 tv 1 236x300 Retro Gadgets: The Best Throwback Tech

Old is new again with LG’s 14” Classic TV; it packs a digital tuner, remote, composite video, but goes retro with CRT, rabbit-ear antenna, chrome legs, and knobs. This insanely stylish piece of vintage technology will go great with your retro TV room.

Leather Copenhagen Chair

copenhagen chair 1 300x292 Retro Gadgets: The Best Throwback Tech

Mid-century modern fans should enjoy this luxurious not to Anre Jacobsen in this 1950s Leather Copenhagen Chair. It swivels 360 degrees on a brushed aluminum base and is offered in 4 colors. Feel like a groovy sir with this happenin’ piece.

Spitfire MP3 Player

010412 spitfire mp3 player 1 300x226 Retro Gadgets: The Best Throwback Tech

An MP3 player in a classic form. Has an LCD screen, SD card slot and runs on AAA batteries. Could be good as a kid’s first MP3 player – at least it’s more practical that an actual Walkman. Keep it old school without having to sacrifice retro style with the Spitfire MP3 Player.

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