Google

The first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone will soon be available in its country of origin on Wednesday. OK, technically the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is made in Asia, but the latest Google phone carrying the anticipated Android upgrade traces its software roots to California. Fans there and in the rest of the United States have eagerly been awaiting its arrival while watching the device's global rollout pass them by. Read More

Anyone who has a attended a LAN party - where people connect their computers on one network in one location to play multiplayer games together - can tell you that they can be both very fun but also kind of a hassle. Playing games with your friends all in the same room: fun. Having to organize all your friends to each haul their usually-oversized gaming rigs to one person's house, ensuring they all have the same software, and inevitably dealing with one or more people having trouble connecting: not fun. With that in mind, it makes sense that one Google employee decided to bypass all that inconvenience and just build a house specifically for LAN parties, complete with multiple networked computers and TVs connected to game consoles. Read More

Google Chrome has pulled into second place in the browser war according to website analytics company StatCounter. Chrome now has 25.69 percent of the market while Firefox has 25.23 percent. Both browsers are trailing the Internet Explorer which still owns 40.63-percent of the market. Read More

Google Maps is a great tool on-the-go, although it isn't very useful inside buildings ... well, at least it wasn't until now. Google has launched Google Maps 6.0 for Android devices which includes indoor plans of venues such as malls, retails stores, or airports. The user's current position inside a building is indicated in the same way as on the outside and it's also possible to switch between floors. Read More

We've been keeping one eye on aspirational social network Diaspora since its inception, and now that it's rolling out the invitations ahead of its forthcoming Beta, and having apparently addressed the security issues of the past, we took the Alpha for a spin. The first thing that strikes you is just how much the user interface resembles that of Google+, from its three-column layout, down to the specific content of those columns and more besides. But given the gradual rollout of the Diaspora Alpha it may not be immediately clear to new users just who is mimicking whom. Read More

As a green energy source, geothermal heat is tough to beat, but until recently, it was believed to be economically feasible only in areas with shallow tectonic (volcanic) activity. Now, with a generous grant from Google.org, the search engine giant's philanthropic arm, two scientists from Southern Methodist University (SMU) have pooled together the results from more than 35,000 data sites to paint a very different, almost rosy, energy picture for the United States and, indeed, the world. Read More

Google and Samsung have announced the world's first smartphone running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) - the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, a.k.a. Nexus Prime. Featuring a lineup of Google software upgrades such as Face Unlock and NFC-based Android Beam, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a slightly curved 4.65-inch Super AMOLED screen working in 720p (1280x720) resolution, a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM and LTE support (depending on the region). Read More

Those not content with a getting a 2D top-down or 360-degree street level view of a planned route using Google Maps can now enjoy a virtual flight over the route thanks to Google adding a new Helicopter View. The new feature, which currently only works in a full browser and requires the Google Earth plugin, lets users see 3D view, should come in particularly handy for walkers or bike riders looking for a more intuitive view of potentially tiring hills. Read More

Smartphones are in the process of replacing cameras, phonebooks, land lines and maps ... and wallets are next. First announced in May but just launched today, the Google Wallet free app allows its users to store electronic versions of their credit cards on their smartphone, and pay for items simply by tapping their phone on a near field communication (NFC) reader at a store’s front counter. Read More