Google would-be hardware products are all over the place right now – after the Nexus One, the true Google phone, here comes word of the true Google netbook based on the new Chrome OS.

The guys from Mountain View are taking the popularizing of both their mobile and desktop OSes into their own hands… by selling devices themselves.

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There’s been some bickering between Google Chrome and Apple Safari, both claiming to be the “world’s fastest web browser”. Firefox got an updated JavaScript engine in v3.5 and is running for first place too.

With all this commotion, the developers at Opera were working in a secret facility… or, um, at their workplace or whatever, and they are almost ready to give Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine a run for its money.
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Boy, bit.ly sure isn’t standing still. Soon after they introduced bit.ly Pro, here they are showing off their new toy – bitly.tv

In related news, goo.gl, Google’s URL shortner that used to be reserved for Google Toolbar and Feedburner users, can now be used as a generic URL shortener, though not officially.
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Short URLs are becoming more and more a part of the daily life on the Internet – especially with microblogs such as Twitter where every character counts. Google, trying to be all things on the Internet as always, launched their own. And so did Facebook.

Bit.ly on the other hand are expanding their services with bit.ly Pro. It’s getting quite crowded in the short URL business…
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Everyone likes Christmas lights, but have you ever wondered how they were invented? Well, someone at Gizmodo sure did. They have an extensive post detailing how the world went from the first electric light bulb to the first Christmas lights setup.

In the olden days, people used candles but that was before Thomas Edison came along. As one of the pioneers of electricity and light bulbs (plus a bit of talent for showmanship) he was the perfect guy to kickstart the whole Christmas light decoration thing.

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If you’re suffering from Apple MacBook Air or Dell Adamo XPS cravings this just might be your lucky day. Meet the Dell Vostro V13 – it’s a 16.5mm thick 13-incher that brings very much the same specs as the Dell Adamo XPS, but at a netbook-scale price.

Okay, I’ll admit that the XPS 9.9mm thickness for a laptop sounds (and looks) amazing – it can even put most smartphones to shame. But the price is just too hard to swallow. The Dell Vostro V13 on the other hand is actually reasonably priced… though it’s only available in Singapore right now. Which isn’t a big deal, considering it’s not quite official yet (though it’s up on the Dell Sinagpore website, specs and all).

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Netbooks are about to make a big step in their evolution by getting their very own AppStore. It is developed by no other than Intel, which is behind the most popular CPU used in netbooks, the Atom (you can almost say it’s the netbook CPU).

The new AppStore will be targeting both Windows and Moblin (Intel’s own Linux-based OS designed specifically for netbooks) with more platforms on the way (Adobe’s AIR and Microsoft’s Silverlight for example). Intel has ensured themselves support from the major netbook manufacturers who will preinstall the AppStore client on every device they sell.

But make no mistake, this here AppStore is no imaginary thing, it’s already opened for app submission.

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Some of the most important things in a blog writer’s toolbox are a good dictionary and a thesaurus. A good English to English helps me make sure a word means what I think it means or I’m off to the thesaurus to avoid nasty repetitions.

  I always thought “drake” meant dragon

Personally, I’ve been using dictionary.com and thesaurus.com (editorial: www.onelook.com is a good suggestion, as well), but now Google launched their own dictionary and I think I might jump ship.

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Google Maps was probably the first free map service that allowed you to zoom in to street level and view aerial photos, not just an abstract map, for pretty much the entire world. Sure, maximum zoom level varied but for the all the major cities, you can get close enough to see cars and people.

Google then went on to add many other cool features, like Street View, but now Microsoft is catching up. Bing Maps now matches most of the functionality of Google Maps but has one more ace up its sleeve – the Bird’s eye mode, which is pretty amazing.
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Nokia Conversations recently had a poll asking readers for their favorite Nokia X6 feature. The winning feature by far was the 3.2” capacitive touchscreen – Nokia’s first. One in three voted “capacitive” but how the rest of the votes are spread out is pretty interesting too.

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All the talk about which manufacturer is dropping Symbian has turned out mostly false. But the separation between Symbian and Maemo is a problem for Nokia. Which is why they released an update for their Qt framework to bridge the gap. Now, using the same codebase, the developers can target both Symbian and Maemo.

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All the waiting has paid off, we have it our hands. The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 or as its friends call it, Rachael, is in our office. It only just arrived, but we already have quite a bit to show you. Or more like tease you. We’re working on a preview but we just started so chew slowly.

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Ah, a scorned fan. We’ve all been there, but this one decided to keep a cool head and sat down to write a report on the problem at hand. Instead of, you know, venting in an Internet forum and calling people (and companies) names. And what a report it is.
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If you read tech blogs you’ve probably seen a demo of ProFORMA, which uses just a single, ordinary webcam to generate a 3D model of something… in real time. And although it’s still a work in progress, the creators say that in a few months there will be a demo up for download, which works on Linux, with the Windows version following soon after. This means we only have a few months to figure out what to do with it. Let’s see…

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I’ve seen screenshots of a facelift version of Windows Mobile 6.5 before, which itself is a facelift version of an aging OS. Now, the Internet rumor mill strikes again and delivers screenshots of a newer version WinMo version – v6.5.3.

They actually show a UI that seem better suited for thumb operation, not just larger versions of the old controls.

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