Japan

Social networking site Facebook is opening an operations office in India, its first in Asia, to help manage rapid growth in the number of users.

The office, in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, will have advertising and developer support teams, the company said Monday. It will supplement Facebook's other centers in Palo Alto, California; Dublin, Ireland; and Austin, Texas.

The move is part of a push to create support centers across time zones, with round-the-clock, multilingual support, the company said.

by Frans de Waal
Yesterday in a restaurant in Tokyo, someone at the table next to us lit up a cigarette. I asked my Japanese host if no one ever asked smokers to go outside. His answer took me by surprise: one is not allowed to smoke on the street. Inside is fine, outside is wrong. It's the opposite of what we are used to in the West.

by Frans de Waal
Yesterday in a restaurant in Tokyo, someone at the table next to us lit up a cigarette. I asked my Japanese host if no one ever asked smokers to go outside. His answer took me by surprise: one is not allowed to smoke on the street. Inside is fine, outside is wrong. It's the opposite of what we are used to in the West.

From Science:

On the heels of the big 3-D television presence at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Sony and Samsung are joining Panasonic, LG Electronics, and others in promoting the new technology. On Tuesday, Sony said it is aiming for 10 percent of its TV sales within the next year to be 3-D models, and Samsung announced a range of HDTV sets and Blu-ray players will ship later this month.

At a press conference Tuesday in New York City, Samsung announced what it described as the "world's first available full HD 3D LED TV," as well as a variety of related 3-D home entertainment products.

In one of the funnier moments of Sunday's Academy Awards, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin thought they spotted Avatar director James Cameron in the audience. The hosts whipped out 3-D glasses to scan the audience for the man whose top-grossing film has fueled more interest in 3-D viewing.

Common Sight

While the gag got some laughs, it may not be unusual for more people to carry around 3-D glasses this year. All the top manufacturers are planning 3-D television models.

Apple's iPad tablet will go on sale a few days later than originally announced -- a fact that is attracting attention. The company announced Friday that the Wi-Fi version will be released for sale on April 3 in the U.S. At the iPad announcement in January, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company said the product would ship in late March.

There have been rumors that the sale date was pushed back to accommodate an unspecified production problem. The 3G version goes on sale in late April, and preordering for either model in the U.S. begins in a week.

Reshaping the Landscape?

EcoGeeks love robots.  And recycling.  So, what could be better than a robot that helps us recycle?

By Namit Arora