Facebook’s initial public offering hasn’t generated the expected demand, so far. Analysts claim that institutional investors are concerned about the companies growth prospects.

Some investors expressed concerns after Facebook announced on May 9th that the advertising growth hasn’t held in line with the increase in the userbase. Bloomberg published a report today, quoting insiders who didn’t want to be identified with the matter.

Facebook are now telling analysts that they may not meet their projections. The company executives has another week to market the IPO, set to price May 17th. Underwriters are trying to ramp interest to get large shareholders interested. Facebook are said to be valued at $96 billion, however not everyone shares that view.

Bloomberg add “It’s overvalued at that price,” said Filippo Garbarino, who oversees $50 million at Frontwave Capital Ltd. in Chiasso, Switzerland. “Investors are becoming more selective and there are quite a few fallen angels around, like Netflix. Those who buy Facebook at these levels are more speculators than investors.”

Lackluster interest from institutional investors at this stage could compel the company to rely more on buying from retail investors, whose demand remains robust, people said. The company may still elicit enough demand to sell shares at or above the high end of a projected range, people said. Institutional investors tend to hold shares longer than retail investors, lessening a stock’s volatility.”

Facebook chief Zuckerberg is trying to raise $11.8 billion through the IPO, which is the biggest in history for an Internet company. Facebook will be offering 337.4 million shares at $28 to $35 each. They hope to sell 180 million shares. Existing owners such as Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies are offering 157.4 million shares. Zuckerberg will also offer 30.2 million of his 533.8 million shares.

There are very few laptops as appealing as the Thinkpad, and Lenovo have updated the X1 model with carbon fibre materials. We reviewed the X1 on Kitguru last September.

Lenovo have increased the screen size from 13 inch to 14 inch but the weight is down, thanks to the use of a carbon fibre rollcage. The new carbon fibre ThinkPad X1 is also the lightest 14 inch business class ultrabook available, say the company.

Lenovo are shipping the Carbon X1 with a 1600×900 resolution screen, a 720p HD camera which has face tracking capabilities and a backlit keyboard. It has built in 3G connectivity as well for business users. The machines will feature Intel third generation Ivy Bridge processors.

Lenovo claim that the new version of the X1 will feature the same ‘Rapid Charge’ feature, which means that the battery will recover from dead to 80% in only 30 minutes.

Pricing has not yet been confirmed but we expect it to be around the same price as the original, which means it should be an excellent purchase.

The new ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop from Lenovo is supposedly the lightest 14-inch Ultrabook the world has ever seen, but don’t take that to mean it’s flimsy. On the contrary, Lenovo insists its ThinkPad X1 is quite the durable beast and exceeds Ultrabooks specifications by using a premium carbon fiber rollcage to create a rough and tumble system, yet weighs less than 3 pounds.

“We crafted the ThinkPad X1 Carbon with premium carbon fiber material in order to make it incredibly thin and light, yet durable,” said Lu Yan, senior vice president, Think Product Group, Lenovo. “Our new ThinkPad laptop portfolio embodies much of the innovative thinking exemplified in the X1 Carbon, such as a backlit keyboard, super-bright high definition display, Dolby Home Theater, and rich communications features that balance business performance with personal use.”

Unfortunately, Lenovo opted not to share a whole bunch of information on the ThinkPad X1′s specs, though did say it will ship with 3rd Generation Intel Core processor options (Ivy Bridge), 3G connectivity, 720p HD camera with Face Tracking, and a 1600×900 screen resolution. It will also feature a Rapid Charge option to boost the battery to 80 percent in just half an hour.

The ThinkPad X1 will ship sometime this summer. Pricing information has not yet been announced.

Image Credit: Lenovo

Over the weekend, The Hill reported that U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee members will look into claims from Mozilla that Microsoft is weilding monopoly power by making it difficult for non-Microsoft browsers to to run efficiently on Windows devices with ARM processors. Many mobile phones use ARM processors, so the dispute is similar to the browser-related disputes that Microsoft has gotten into in the past, except updated to apply to phone platforms. If The Hill’s report is correct, Microsoft may need to change its practices immediately.

Browsers have been at the center of scrutiny from the government toward Microsoft for many years, ever since the U.S. Department of Justice pursued its antitrust case against the company. The latest claims from Mozilla surround Microsoft allegedly withholding APIs needed to make non-Microsoft browsers competitive on Windows RT. According to Mozilla’s Asa Dotzler:

"For Windows on X86, Microsoft is giving other browsers basically the same privileges it gives IE. It’s not great that you don’t get those privileges (certain API access) unless you’re the default browser and I think that’s deeply unfair (a post for later,) but at least we’re able to build a competitive browser and ship it to Windows users on x86 chips. But on ARM chips, Microsoft gives IE access special APIs absolutely necessary for building a modern browser that it won’t give to other browsers so there’s no way another browser can possibly compete with IE in terms of features or performance."

In all likelihood, if members of the Senate Judiciary Committe even begin sniffing around this issue, it will prompt action in the direction of compliance from Microsoft. The company doesn’t want to immerse itself in a replay of the browser-centric government investigations that it has endured in the past. For much more on what to expect here, see Asa Dotzler’s updated post on the matter, found here.

French researchers from the Institut Polytechnique Grenoble and the Centre Technique du Papier are in the process of developing a wallpaper that blocks a range of Wi-Fi frequencies. The smart reams of paper are to be known as Metapaper.

The triangle snowflake pattern found on Metapaper is where its smart characteristics originate from. It is covered in a conductive ink that contains particles of silver. Plus if you don’t like the pattern, you will be able to cover it up with more traditional wallpaper without affecting Metapaper’s abilities.

Affordable Wi-Fi blocking wallpaper will be sure to please those in tinfoil hats

It isn’t a fail proof solution for those in tinfoil hats however, one would have to cover doors, roofs and windows in the wallpaper as well to ensure no Wi-Fi signals leave or enter your basement – or house. Even though many Wi-Fi frequencies will be blocked, your mobile phone’s calling, texting and 3G data connectivity abilities will be unaffected.

The French researchers say that it will be rather affordable as well; costing as much as conventional wallpaper. A far cry cheaper than previous attempts that cost some £500 per square foot. Metapaper is hoped to be launched sometime next year.