Official Google Blog: A fresh take on the browser

Official Google Blog: A fresh take on the browser

At Google, we have a saying: “launch early and iterate.” While this approach is usually limited to our engineers, it apparently applies to our mailroom as well! As you may have read in the blogosphere, we hit "send" a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open source browser, Google Chrome. As we believe in access to information for everyone, we've now made the comic publicly available -- you can find it here. We will be launching the beta version of Google Chrome tomorrow in more than 100 countries.

So why are we launching Google Chrome? Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web.

Gaming - News - 'Super' Xbox 360 with HD-DVD rumoured - Digital Spy

Gaming - News - 'Super' Xbox 360 with HD-DVD rumoured - Digital Spy: "Speculation is rife that Microsoft is to release yet another version of its Xbox 360 console, this time with a built-in HD-DVD player, claims Joystiq.

The rumour, which also suggests the new machine will include a 320Gb hard drive and Wi-Fi, claims Bill Gates will reveal the new machine during his keynote speech at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which begins on January 7."

Techtree.com India > News > Software > iPhone Update 1.1.3 Details Leaked

Techtree.com India > News > Software > iPhone Update 1.1.3 Details Leaked: "Information on Apple Computer's upcoming 1.1.3 iPhone update has leaked on to the Internet.

While the date of release of the update is not known, there are some exciting features expected including: the ability to send SMS to multiple people; Google Maps cell tower triangulation feature, 'My Location'; ability of Google Maps to display the Hybrid map view; ability to rearrange and drag-and-drop icons on the home screen; ability of home screen to support pagination; and ability to add Web bookmarks to the home screen."

Windows Predominates On Virtual Machines -- Virtualization -- InformationWeek

Windows Predominates On Virtual Machines -- Virtualization -- InformationWeek: "Virtual machines need an operating system with which to run, and the operating system most frequently being used in the current wave of virtualization is Windows, according to a survey sponsored by Sage Research and published in its recent Sage/CMB market Pulse newsletter.
Sage Research is the technology practice branch of custom market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey. Sage surveyed Chadwick Martin Bailey's panel of technology service providers and panel of professional technology users and found 96% of the respondents use Windows on their virtual servers.
Many sites use more than one brand of operating system to run virtual machines. The runner-up was Linux, with 52% of the respondents using the open source operating system. Unix was third at 30% and Solaris fourth at 29%. The figures do not add up to 100% because sites in some cases are using multiple brands of operating system in their virtual machines."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Put your questions to Bill Gates

BBC NEWS Technology Put your questions to Bill Gates: "Bill Gates is to answer your questions at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The software supremo and co-founder of Microsoft is preparing to end his day to day involvement with one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world.
Mr Gates will remain as chairman and will continue to advise on key development projects.
As he gets ready to change his role, one of the most important men in technology over the last three decades has invited readers of the BBC News website to send him questions about his life and career.Bill Gates is to answer your questions at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The software supremo and co-founder of Microsoft is preparing to end his day to day involvement with one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world.
Mr Gates will remain as chairman and will continue to advise on key development projects.
As he gets ready to change his role, one of the most important men in technology over the last three decades has invited readers of the BBC News website to send him questions about his life and career."

Wikia Search Goes Online Next Week - Software - IT Channel News by CRN and VARBusiness

Wikia Search Goes Online Next Week - Software - IT Channel News by CRN and VARBusiness: "Wikia co-founder and chairman Jimmy Wales announced the public will get its first view of Wikia Search, an open source, community-driven search engine, on January 7. Wales admits his company's search engine is not an immediate challenger to Google or Yahoo, but hopes the community construction of the search engine will bring increased transparency to the method by which search results appear.
On Monday, search enthusiasts can start building Wikia Search by filtering and ranking search results using open-source software and community-based editorial influence that will result in a more transparent process that allows end-users to see how search results are obtained. Wales says he hopes to have an index of between 50 to 100 million Websites when the search engine launches. 'This is the public launch of a full-scale, high quality search engine,' he says. 'We're looking at every point in the process to see where we can push the editorial control out into the community.'"

PC World - Mobile Hard Drives Hit 500GB

PC World - Mobile Hard Drives Hit 500GB: "Notebook PC disk storage leaps into the stratosphere today, hitting the half-terabyte mark with Hitachi Global Storage Technologies' announcement of a 500GB 2.5-inch mobile hard drive.
Due out in February 2008, the $400 Travelstar 5K500 drive will dramatically expand the capacity possible in today's notebook PC designs.
Hitachi's announcement makes it the largest capacity mobile 2.5-inch hard drive. Previous high-water capacity marks for 2.5-inch drives included Fujitsu's 300GB drive and Toshiba's 320GB drive. Hitachi's jump to 500GB represents a whopping 36 percent increase in a single bound. (Hitachi also announced a 400GB version for $350.)"

Google to reinvent UK newspaper biz | The Register

Google is bringing its new-age advertising know-how to the UK newspaper business.

According to The Times, the world's largest search engine is chatting up "several" British newspaper publishers in the hopes of extending its Google Print Ads program across the Atlantic.

When we asked Google if this is true, the company told us "we won't be able to comment on if or when Print Ads will be launched in the UK." But they like being coy.

Launched stateside this summer, Print Ads is an outgrowth of the company's online advertising juggernaut, Google AdWords. With Print Ads, AdWords customers can bid for newspaper ad space much as they'd bid for keyword ads that turn up on Google's ridiculously-popular web search engine. But in this case, Brin, Page, and Co. are not running an auction. Once a bid is made, participating newspapers have free rein to accept it, make a counter offer, or reject it entirely.

Naturally, Google takes a cut of each ad dollar. And if advertisers are unwilling to design their own newspaper ads, Google will gladly take some extra dough to provide a helping hand.

New Materials For Twice as Powerful Lithium Batteries - A layered material doubles the life of a lithium-ion batteries - Softpedia

New Materials For Twice as Powerful Lithium Batteries - A layered material doubles the life of a lithium-ion batteries - Softpedia: "The biggest drawback of most portable electronic devices, such as notebooks, cellphones, PDAs and many others is the fact that they become useless after the rechargeable batteries completely discharge.

Unfortunately, the devices themselves have known huge developments, while their batteries remain a source of discontent among users. Even the most advanced laptop can only last for three hours if relying only on the most advanced lithium batteries.

Now, researchers at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have developed a new approach to increasing the capacity and stability of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

It's based on a new material that the positive electrode will be made of. The material itself has a multi-layered nano-crystalline composite structure.

The new approach of the Argonne laboratories focused on a two-component structure, an active component responsible for the charge storage that is embedded in another, inactive component that has a stabilizing role in the structure.

The first tests are promising, as the new composite materials showed exceptionally high charge-storage capacities, in excess of 250 mAh/g, which is more than twice the capacity of materials in conventional rechargeable lithium batteries.

Furthermore, the stability of the new batteries has also increased, even though few people know that conventional lithium batteries can be dangerous if mistreated and unless care is taken their lifespan may be reduced. "

Free Music Content on Yahoo's Page - Just the lyrics for now - Softpedia

Free Music Content on Yahoo's Page - Just the lyrics for now - Softpedia: "Yahoo added one more shortcut to its search engine results page, allowing users to view lyrics straight from the website. All you need to do is type 'artist lyrics' and you'll be able to see the lyrics integrated straight into the results. Yahoo recently introduced its Lyrics service that was presented as the first free and legal website that provides lyrics for numerous artists. Until Yahoo Lyrics was released, there were a lot of similar websites that provided the same content but, as the giant portal sustained, most of them were either not freeware or not legal. Now, the clients are able to use a lyrics platform for free and get licensed content offered by the giant portal Yahoo.

Today, the company debuted a new integration of Yahoo Lyrics into the search engine, displaying the lyrics straight on the SERP. The entire interoperability was done with the support of the shortcuts, a special Yahoo function that offers instant access to certain products powered by the company."

The Invisibility Tunnel - Electromagnetic "wormholes" from metamaterials - Softpedia

The Invisibility Tunnel - Electromagnetic "wormholes" from metamaterials - Softpedia: "The invisibility is descending from fiction and movies to reality. New measurements show how to build an electromagnetic 'wormhole', an invisible tube from both sides, that allows the light to pass down the unseen center.

The idea is based on the technology of the spherical invisibility cloak proposed in 2006.

An invisibility cloak should be built of metamaterial, a thicket of metal rings or other elements that manipulate light. The hollow shell of metamaterial would direct light off its inner space without slowing down, making the hole invisible to an outside watcher. 'But the invisibility cuts both ways. If light does not enter, then whatever is in the cloak cannot see outside,' said mathematician Allan Greenleaf of the University of Rochester.

That's why Greenleaf came with an opposite idea. His team wants to manipulate light employing an open tube with flared ends. A straight-on view would render visible the cylinder. "

Gmail to Work with Other Instant Messengers! - The first one is AIM - Softpedia

Gmail to Work with Other Instant Messengers! - The first one is AIM - Softpedia: "Gmail, the mail solution provided by the Mountain View company, will get some fresh updates soon that will surely improve the functionality of the product. Mp Web Wizard, a translator for the Google language, identified some new features that will be soon implemented into Gmail. First of all, it seems like the search giant plans to include support for Presently, the upcoming presentation tool that was designed to complete the Google Office suite. “Clearly Google Presently will be integrated into Gmail straight from the get-go. Google is probably prepared for this because Google Apps is meant to be Google's collaborative suite of enterprise Apps that integrate with each other,” the translator sustained. As you know, Gmail is already compatible with Docs & Spreadsheets, allowing the users to open an attached document with one of these two services.

Another interesting function is the conference capability of Gchat, the web-based messaging client included in the Gmail interface. According to the same source, the search giant plans to add multi-user conversations that will allow a user to communicate with multiple Gmail clients at the same time.

The integration of other instant messaging clients was often discussed, but the company refused to comment on them as it wants to promote its own solution, Google Talk. However, Google Talk is quite unpopular, so the users demanded some other clients to communicate on the Internet. It seems like the search giant wants to include AIM in the Gmail interface just as if it were its own service. "

Sony Debuts YouTube's Killer - Only in Japan - Softpedia

Sony Debuts YouTube's Killer - Only in Japan - Softpedia: "Today, Google's YouTube faces the first major challenge since the search giant's acquisition in October 2006 for $1.6 billion, as Sony announced the release of eyeVio, a similar online video sharing service. As I informed you yesterday, the new YouTube killer is meant to represent an updated version of the Google product that will be able to avoid the problems encountered by the Mountain View-based firm. At this time, eyeVio is available only to Japanese users but Sony plans to expand the service as soon as the project becomes the leader in its category. According to SiliconRepublic, Sony's online video sharing service will split the channels in two parts: private and public. The public area will allow any users to view the clips while the private one will restrict the access to the members placed in the friends list created by the uploader."

Motorola Patents Solar Cell Mobile Screen - Phones can recharge while left in the sun - Softpedia

Motorola Patents Solar Cell Mobile Screen - Phones can recharge while left in the sun - Softpedia: "Mobile phone manufacturer Motorola has been granted a new patent regarding the use of a mobile phone's LCD as a solar cell. The 'Display and Solar Cell Device' patent would allow mobile phones to come equipped with a solar cell screen that would power and recharge an internal battery while left in the sun.

Now, this wouldn't be the first time manufacturers aimed to solar-power cell phones, but as said before, using sunbeams as the only source for powering the device would be completely inefficient.

In order for the sunbeams to actually reach the device, the user would have to hold it out pointing to the sun. It's even more difficult in this case, as the LCD of the phone would serve as a solar cell, so basically if we're talking about a flip phone (since most of the manufacturer's products come in a clamshell form factor), it would have to be opened as well.

While innovating is always appreciated, just ask yourselves how many times your phone is actually in contact with the sun and not in a pocket or bag. "

Intel Reduces Processor Prices - Get more done in less time - Softpedia

Intel Reduces Processor Prices - Get more done in less time - Softpedia: "Just to make sure they stay on top of things, Intel has announced price cuts on a lot of its mainstream processors. Although the price change is due next week, online e-tailers have already reduced prices, so that they can just meet the demand. Intel's prices however are given for quantities of 1.000 units, so it’s harder to maintain a low price for people buying just one processor, as opposed to the entire lot, but they are still managing to do it somehow.

The prices Intel is going to set are as follows: the Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600 2.4GHz will have a price of $530, the E6700 2.66GHz - $316, E6600 2.4GHz - $224, E6420 2.13GHz - $183, E6400 2.13GHz - $183, E6320 1.86GHz - $163, E6300 1.86GHz - $163, E4400 2GHz - $133, E4300 1.8GHz - $113. All prices are for 1.000 unit quantities and we also see some new models entering the “stage”, the ones ending with Exx20. These are lost cost models that use 4MB L2 cache, instead of 2MB, which is the default size for those series and are part of Intel's attempt to “bump-up” the features of the processors so that they would sell better. In this category we also find the Intel Exx50 processors, which have a 1333MHz FSB, increased from the 1066MHz FSB, the normal value, with just a little bit of a price change to make them affordable."

Google Is The MOST POWERFUL Company in The World! - In a rank created by Millward Brown Optimor - Softpedia

Google Is The MOST POWERFUL Company in The World! - In a rank created by Millward Brown Optimor - Softpedia: "Google was placed on the first position in the 10 most-powerful global brands of 2007, managing to beat worldwide names that are currently extremely popular in the offline area. Coca-Cola, Marlboro and Toyota were all ranked in lower positions, Google receiving the first position with $66.4bn, followed by General Electric with $61.9bn and Microsoft with $55bn.

“Peter Walshe, global brands director at Millward Brown, said: 'Google is an absolutely phenomenal brand in the sense that it is very clear what it stands for and it has perceived leadership and innovation.'

“Out of the complete top-100 listings, finance is the most dominant vertical, with one in four coming from that sector. Technology is the second most prolific, with one in five brands, and retail is the third most popular sector,” ZDNet UK reported.

Although the numbers show us that Google is the most powerful company in the entire world, this fact is not quite new because the company's expansion was observed by all Internet users. As you know, the search giant is continuously improving its solutions and it is even struggling to build new projects, aiming to offer powerful alternatives to online users."

Web-Based Google Talk Now Available - The company revealed a web-based version of the chat client - Softpedia

Web-Based Google Talk Now Available - The company revealed a web-based version of the chat client - Softpedia: "Google Talk is an instant messaging client developed by the search giant that allows users to communicate on the Internet using a simple application. Google Talk is based on an XMPP protocol, similar to the Jabber servers, allowing users to connect using a different application that supports the Jabber functions. First, it was a downloadable program that was quite anonymous because it provides only the basic chat features. Then, the search giant decided to implement it into Gmail, the mail service powered by Google, resulting a web-based tool that allows users to send messages straight from the mail’s interface.

Today, Google updated the instant messaging client and made it accessible through a web interface without having to download or install any application. At this time, this version of the instant messaging client allows you to chat with your friends or with your Gmail contacts and offers videos or photo previews in chat."

LG Working on New iPhone Rival - With Prada's design, but with better features - Softpedia

LG Working on New iPhone Rival - With Prada's design, but with better features - Softpedia: "While no one can tell for sure whether the iPhone was designed after the LG Prada, if it was the other way around or the two look the same by accident, it's quite clear that the iPhone's main rival at the moment is the Prada phone. Since the Prada is mainly an iconic phone targeting the fashion-conscious user, it still has a long way to go to gain more popularity than the iPhone, which is seen as a feature-packed multimedia with an amazing interface by most users.

According to rumors, LG is giving another try at releasing a handset that is to take on the iPhone and preparing the KS20, a model that looks very much like the Prada but includes more advanced capabilities. Its feature list is said to include Windows Mobile 6 Pro, 128Mb memory, a 2.8 inch 262k color touchscreen with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution and GPRS/EDGE/HSDPA/HSUPA support. It will also offer a 2 megapixel camera with auto focus and flash, Bluetooth and WiFi for connectivity, TV-out, FM Radio and a MicroSD card slot for memory expansion. "