Global News Recap, World Tech Update, Dec. 4, 2009

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In this week's show we start off with Microsoft Bing Maps Beta, which the company released on Wednesday. It uses Silverlight and lets you zoom in and out of cityscapes that appear as 3D-like images. It includes an application gallery that allows data, like tweets, to be layered on top of maps. Check out this week's show to see it in action.

Intel unveiled a 48-core research chip that it claims is 10 to 20 times more powerful than the current top-end offering in its multicore Core line of processors. Intel CTO Justin Rattner said: "It's 1.3 billion transistors, so this is not a trivial experiment in any way." When could something like this hit the market? Watch the show to find out.

World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee was in Europe this week keynoting a science and technology lecture. He advocated for privacy on the Web saying, "I want to be able to go anywhere [on the Web], but also as I choose where to go it's important that I do that with no fear of somebody looking over my shoulder. No fear that some Big Brother is looking at my packets or where I'm clicking."

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced big changes to the popular social-networking site. Facebook will eliminate regional networks and update privacy settings. The changes will occur in the coming weeks.

Volvo introduced a new iPhone application and Web site to help commuters measure and eventually reduce their carbon footprints. Called Commute Greener, the US$3.99 app, available through the iTunes App Store, calculates the amount of carbon-dioxide emissions depending on the mode of transportation. In the show, Magnus Holmqvist, managing director of Commute Greener, tells us how much carbon-dioxide emissions could be cut by using the application.

Since the launch of the Apple iPhone in China several weeks ago, sales at one online retailer have been unimpressive. China Unicom has sold just five iPhones through Taobao.com, China's biggest e-commerce Web site. In the show this week, we'll take a look at the performance of the iPhone in China versus South Korea, where it also launched recently.

World Tech Update is a global recap of the week's technology news. To learn more about the show, follow it onTwitter and Facebook.