Concrete is the world's most widely used building material, but there haven't been any fundamental changes in the material, and because of that it is prone to cracks - which means that most structures be substantially reinforced with steel.

This is all about to hopefully change with experimental concrete that self heals - yes, self, heals. The experimental concrete contains limestone-producing bacteria, which are activated by corrosive rainwater working its way into the structure. The new concrete is about to enter outdoor testing, and if successful, we could see new structures made with the concrete that could provide better service life with the concrete, and huge cost savings, too.

The work is being done at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands and is the brainchild of microbiologist Henk Jonkers and concrete technologist Eric Schlangen. If the testing is positive, Dr Jonkers says that they could start the process of commercializing it as soon as 2-3 years from now.

It looks like Linus Torvalds and I have something in common, we both want to see higher resolution notebook displays. Torvalds has used his Google+ account to post about the subject, asking "can we please just make that [the 2560x1600-pixel] the new standard laptop resolution? Even at 11"? Please."

The problem is, as he says, is that we're seeing so many 1366x768 displays in this Full HD world of displays, and it really is just crap. He does state that "soon even the cellphones will start laughing at the ridiculously bad laptop displays".

I fully, 100% agree with Torvalds, and I think every sector needs a reality check. TVs should have jumped from 1080p ages ago, and so should PC screens. I had 1920x1200 displays when the first Dell FP2405W came out and that cost me $1500+, I upgraded to the HP LP3065 monitor as soon as it came out because I wanted the 2560x1600 res it offered. Now we're going backward with 90% or more of displays only offering 1920x1080.

We all know Samsung doesn't just twiddle their thumbs after their release a flagship smartphone, where earlier this year we saw the release of the phenomenally popular Galaxy S III, and now we're seeing the rollout of the 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II. These two smartphones represent just a sliver of what Samsung actually sell, and now we're hearing more talk on the Galaxy S III's successor, the Galaxy S IV.

Sources are claiming that Samsung recently produced a test version of their 28nm High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) processor which goes by the codename "Adonis", that will eventually be baked into their next-gen flagship smartphone. Adonis is a quad-core design, which will most likely end up with the name Exynos 5400, and uses ARM's Cortex A15 architecture. The new chip should ship with better GPU abilities, that reportedly use very little power. Samsung currently use the Cortex A15 architecture in their Exynos 5250, but that is built on the older, and less efficient 32nm process.

HKMG ushers in low power-consuming chips thanks to ultra-miniaturization being possible without current leakage. This is currently a big problem when shrinking processes on the traditional SiON silicon-based process. Exynos 5400 should begin mass production by the end of the year, and if it misses that date, then we're looking at mass production in early 2013. If Samsung can keep on track, they would be the first to have a mobile applications processor (AP) on the market sporting the 28nm HMKG manufacturing process.

Some bad news for Australians regarding the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 3G devices, big Australian telcos Telstra and Vodafone won't be stocking them. Telstra have weighed in, saying they won't be stocking either of the Nexus devices:

At this stage we don't plan to offer the Nexus 4 smartphone or the Nexus 7 3G tablet. Our customers are increasingly demanding a high speed mobile internet experience on their devices so we are focused on bringing 4G LTE compatible models to market.

Telstra are expanding their LTE network, but their 3G side of things has far more customers and is a way bigger piece of the network pie. Myself and 99% of everyone I know is on 3G, with the only people I know on 4G are one, with Telstra, and two, have an iPhone 5. It was only on the first day that I saw people bragging about 4G speeds, and now it has died off - the honeymoon period for 4G disappears quite quickly, it seems.

Who thought this time last year that SSD maker OCZ would be in this much trouble? The company have announced their reducing a large number of its staff, with as much as 28% of their non-production staff being out of a job, while workers at the company's Taiwan production facility getting cut down by 32%. The company has said:

We are undergoing a transition phase in the Company's evolution in which we are refocusing our efforts on products and strategies that will benefit both OCZ and our stakeholders over the long term. We have already taken aggressive steps to address some short-term tactical challenges and have begun streamlining the organization to help ensure that OCZ will be in the best position moving forward to address the fast growing consumer and enterprise SSD markets.

They aren't just stopping there, either. OCZ plans to discontinue around 150 product variations, too. OCZ adds:

Users of Android on the Verizon network will now have the ability to bill their Verizon Wireless account, instead of using a credit card or other form of payment. This change should help users purchase more apps easily, and is especially important for those users who do not have another form of payment, such as a credit card.

Users will be able to charge up to $25 of apps and other Google Play "merchandise" to their wireless bill every month and then they only have to pay through one channel. This latest addition brings the feature to Verizon, a feature that Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T have had for a while now. Just be sure to keep track of how much you're spending.

If you'd like, it appears to be something you can disable by going to Verizon's site and enabling "Block Web Purchases."

Microsoft is on the receiving end of a patent troll's lawsuit over its just launched Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. The patent troll in question is SurfCast and they appear to believe that Microsoft's Windows Live Tiles infringe upon a patent filed in 2000 and granted back in 2004.

The patent that SurfCast is using as the basis of their lawsuit is No. 6,724,403. SurfCast describes Tiles as follows:

Tiles can be thought of as dynamically updating icons. A Tile is different from an icon because it can be both selectable and live -- containing refreshed content that provides a real-time or near-real-time view of the underlying information.

Windows 8 users rejoice! For those of you who feel that little bit missing from the Windows 8 desktop, by which I mean the start button, you now have some choices to replace it with. Win8 StartButton is a free program which replaces the old start menu in the bottom left-hand corner of the Windows 8 desktop view.

Not only does it bring back a familiar interface, it allows for loads more customization. For instance, you can choose many different styles of start menu, such as the classic version, Windows XP version, or Windows 7 version. The application will also allow you to bypass the normal Windows 8 start screen and boot straight to desktop.

Furthermore, you can choose to disable Windows 8's hot corners and many other features. There are also a couple of other programs available that replicate start menu function, though none look quite like the official Microsoft implementation. Pokki for Windows 8, StartMenu7, ViStart, and ClassicShell are all options.

The Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) have approved a more flexible wireless power specification that will usher in a new way consumers can wirelessly charge their phones on a variety of compatible surfaces. President of the A4WP, Dr. Kamil A. Grajski, says:

The Alliance for Wireless Power and its members have been focused on creating a more flexible wireless power specification that sets the stage for formal standardization in the future. Approval of the A4WP wireless power specification establishes a true path forward for the commercialization of wireless charging that will satisfy the needs of most consumers. A4WP and its members will now set their sights on building compliant wireless applications that can be integrated by key industries including automotive, furniture and retail.

The new standard is based on a concept of spatial freedom, which extends wireless power applications past the accessory, or add-on market to fully integrated solutions in the device, as well as surfaces such as tables, and cars. The new A4WP specification will bring forth numerous benefits to the wireless charging ecosystem.

Finally, Rockstar have announced the release windows for Grand Theft Auto V - spring 2013 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. GTA V is set in a "re-imagined, present-day Southern California in the largest and most thriving game-world we have ever created set in the sprawling city of Los Santos and for miles beyond - from the tops of the mountains and the depths of the ocean".

Pre-orders will open up on November 5, with the developer to tease even more details of the game in the following weeks. One very negative thing about this is that Rockstar didn't talk about the PC platform in their announcement.

I did see on their site that they posted about the PC version in the comments section stating that "we're currently focused on the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game and don't have any details to share about a PC version at this time". It seems that a lot of people, myself included, are disappointed that the ageing consoles are getting their release, but our powerhouse PCs are left out, once again.