Google has launched its new Google page shortener which will of course work with all Google services. The new g.co shortening service follows the launch of Google’s public URL shortener back in 2009 goo.gl.

They would like you to use it for all your url shortening needs. Google says “Whenever you see a short “g.co” link, you can trust that it will always take you to a Google product or service. We also have a public URL shortener at goo.gl. You can use this to shorten up URLs across the web.”

We are all waiting to buy Sony’s Playstation Vita, but let’s not forget about the PSP, which has been a flagship device for Sony since December 12, 2004. It has accumulated a total of 70 million sales globally. That’s the number being bandied about at E3.

That sounds amazing doesn’t it? Well, sadly it is nowhere near the 100 million DS units that Nintendo had shipped back in 2009. That total includes the original PSP-1000, the PSP-2000, the PSP-3000 and the PSP go. But perhaps the Vita will add some impressive numbers to hit Mario in his plumber pants.

Even though it took awhile, it now seems that the typewriter’s days are officially numbered. Godrej & Boyce closed down the last manufacturing plant of typewriters in the world on Wednesday. In the world! The factory was based in Mumbai, India.

As you may have noticed, the device has been replaced by computers, printers, tablets and keyboards. I’m surprised the old guy lasted this long. Even until 2009, the factory still produced between 10,000 to 12,000 typewriters per year. The demand now? About 800.

There’s good news and there’s bad news for the big N. Nintendo’s net sales of $12.4 billion for the period ending on March 31st 2011 was 29 percent less than during the previous year. Also its $825 million of net profit was 66 percent lower than it earned last year. Things are not so great in the Mushroom Kingdom.

However, there is some good news. The 3DS has reached 3.61 million sales worldwide, but at the same time the Wii is down to 15 million global sales, a 25 percent drop from its 2009 total of 20 million. Looks like the timing is perfect for the new console.

This generation’s console cycle is already longer than usual. However even though we are getting a successor to the PSP, it looks like we are going to have to wait for the PS4. Sony has stated that a PS4 isn’t in the works for launch “anytime soon.” They remain confident in the ten year life-cycle. Apparently very confident.

One analyst says that this could leave the door open for others to enter the console market. Maybe even Apple. Apple TV for instance could use an SDK and App Store to deliver games to television sets. The next generation Apple TV might just have the same hardware and software improvements that accompanied the iPad 2. That could be very interesting.

Out of all of the powerful systems they could have used for this mod, they chose the underpowered Wii. I guess there’s no accounting for taste. Still, it is an awesome mod. It is built from steel and cooled by two liquid-filled containers that look like they should be bubbling and feeding life into a mutant organism.

It is the work of Bit-tech forum member Angel OD and it’s called the “UNLimited Edition” project. He started this baby back in December, 2009 and just recently finished it. So as you can see, it took a Wii bit of time.

It had been thought that the iPod Classic would be discontinued. It was introduced nearly ten years ago after all. Last September Apple introduced new iPod models for every line except the iPod classic, so people just assumed it was going to be ditched. The iPod classic is still available, but has not been updated since September of 2009, again fueling speculation.

Well, when you want answers it is best to go straight to the source. So someone emailed Apple CEO Steve Jobs back in September after the device failed to receive an update. Steve responded, telling them that the company has “no plans” to discontinue the iPod classic. You can all rest easy now.

The number of Xbox 360 users who download games is on the rise. 55 per cent of all Xbox 360 users bought at least one downloadable game last year. That number is up from 43 per cent in 2009. Also according to data from market research firm EEDAR, 50 per cent of PlayStation 3 users and 43 per cent of Wii users are down loading games.

Those PS3 numbers are up from 42 per cent in 2009, with the Wii numbers up from 37 per cent. So yes, it looks like downloading digitally is on the rise. Should Gamestop be worried? Probably not yet, but they must be keeping a sharp eye on these figures.

Shopping for a USB stick? Might as well just go to a laundromat or a dry cleaners. There has apparently been a 400 per cent increase in the number of USB sticks being left behind in clothes to be dry cleaned. The news comes from a survey taken by more than 500 dry cleaners and laundrettes. About 17,000 USB sticks were left in 2010, that’s four times the number found in 2009.

It’s an epidemic that shows no signs of stopping. Sometimes it is in your shirt, sometimes in your pants, but it always ends up in the wash. Please do your part and save a USB stick today.

The Coca-Cola Company has announced that its bottle technology will now also be used by Heinz for its ketchup packaging. The bottle technology was launched in 2009 and uses a plastic sourced from sugarcane waste to replace 30 per cent of the plastic in bottles.

Heinz will introduce PlantBottled ketchup this summer across the US. That means that 120 million of its 20-ounce retail and foodservice bottles will now get the partly renewable packaging. These PlantBottles will even have a special label with environmental messages. Coke wants to invest more than $150 million in the PlantBottle technology. Their goal is to reach 100 per cent renewable and recyclable packaging as soon as they can.

Facebook has some smartphones, so you might think that Twitter would jump on the wagon, but no. Not gonna happen. During a keynote speech at MWC, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo dispelled any notions that the company is working on Twitter-branded cell phone. Even though he says that 40 percent of all tweets originate from cell phones.

The CEO said that Android phones currently allow users to quickly send a photo they took to their Twitter followers and he’d like to see more of the same in other platforms. He’d also like more single sign-on experiences and more apps that allow tweeting directly without going to another app. Hey, we’d all like that.

Apple’s MacBook Air is still enjoying being the slimmest notebook around, since the Dell Adamo has been axed. Soon it will have some competition though since Acer, Asus and Lenovo are all planning to launch new ultra-thin notebooks in the second quarter of 2011 and they will feature components that are more competitive than Apple’s MacBook Air.

That means that they can sell them at a lower price. Acer will release its new Timeline notebooks, Asus will has its U-series slim models and Lenovo is offering new ultra-thin models of its IdeaPad. The prices on these notebooks should be below $1,000.

You might remember that $10 FastMac U-Socket that we showed you back in December of 2009. Sadly it was the victim of a number of delays. There was an October ship date and a raised $20 price last we heard. But it never shipped in October either.

The company is now telling customers that it’s getting ready to ship the USB power socket next month. Finally. Still, it’s better late than never. My walls need some USB power.

Credit card fraud is always going on somewhere and the latest example is a UK teen who recently got caught using stolen credit cards to purchase about $750,000 worth of music. His own music that he and his band offered on Amazon and the iTunes music store between January 2008 and June 2009. By doing so, he earned himself some nice royalty fees. Not that this will help him when he is behind bars.

The group allegedly downloaded the songs 6,000 times during that period. Crime doesn’t pay kids. And if you have to buy your own music to make it sell, maybe you should get a new gig.

You’re playing it. I’m playing it. Seems like everyone is playing Black Ops. Call of Duty: Black Ops has now broken the $1 billion sales mark worldwide, in just a month since its launch. Over half of that figure was achieved during its first five days.

It also broke the previous worldwide record of $550 million which was set by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009. If you’ve played the game you know why it is doing so well. It is an awesome gaming experience. We wonder how many more sales records it will shatter.