Google

Google has become by default the gatekeeper of global information for this generation, and the company frequently takes great pains to demonstrate how seriously it takes this responsibility. In the latest of a series of moves to catalogue and present the vast amount of human knowledge and achievement it doesn't already index, Google has harnessed some wonderful technology to present some of Europe's greatest artworks in 14 thousand-megapixel resolution. Using Google Earth, you can now browse through some of the finest works in Madrid's Prado museum in detail so fine that you can see every crack in the paint and almost smell the canvas. Read More

Good news if you're frustrated by iPhoto's limitations - Google Labs has just released a 'beta' version of its Picasa photo management system for the Apple OSX platform. Picasa will import a copy of the contents of the iPhoto library and offer an alternative management tool that includes the ability to manage and synchronise selected photos, with their comments and tags, with an online Picasa Web Albums photo gallery. The original iPhoto data is left alone, so you can try out the Picasa beta without fear of losing or modifying their original image files. Read More

T-Mobile has announced that the first Android powered mobile phone handset - the T-Mobile G1 - is now available in retail stores across the US. The G1 features full touch-screen functionality plus a QWERTY keyboard, 3MP camera, built-in Google applications and access to the open platform Android market. Read More

While the current Wall Street financial crisis has many on edge in regard to the short term future of the economy, Google has displayed some far-sighted corporate leadership in releasing its plan for how to reduce fossil fuel use by 2030. "Clean Energy 2030" is designed to stimulate debate on a range of energy consumption issues and includes proposals to slash vehicle oil consumption and CO2 emissions by 38% and reduce US reliance on fossil fuel-based electricity generation by 88% through a significant boost to solar, wind and geothermal output. Importantly, the report also focusses on the "win-win" potential for this aggressive attack on climate change, citing a figure of $1.0 trillion net savings over the 22-year life of the plan. Read More

Consumers will soon get a taste of the much anticipated Android operating system with the launch of the T-Mobile G1 handset. Developed in partnership with Google and designed by HTC, the handset features full touch-screen functionality, a sliding QWERTY keyboard and one-handed trackball navigation options and is loaded with a host of familiar web applications from Google as well as providing access to the open platform Android Market. Read More

September 2, 2008 Google-philes will be delighted to find out that the company has officially confirmed it's working on a completely new Web browser to compete with Internet Explorer and Firefox. Because Google Chrome is a completely new product, and not an incremental update of an existing piece of software, it is able to completely re-conceive the web browsing experience - and as a result, we can expect some very cool new features out of it. Oh, and Chrome will be completely open-source. Read More

April 9, 2008 A staggering 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to clean drinking water, with an estimated 5,000 children per day dying from water-related diseases. In response to this global crisis, a group of inventors from the US developed the innovative and highly commendable Aquaduct Mobile Filtration Vehicle - a tricycle which uses pedal power to both transport and filter clean drinking water. Read More

March 5, 2008 In September 2007 the X PRIZE Foundation announced a $30million prize purse for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the moon. Now the Foundation has released details of the first ten teams to register for this amazing space race. Read More

December 12, 2007 Odyssey Moon has become the first team to complete registration for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, unveiling its plans for a history making private robotic mission to reach the surface of the Moon with a small robotic lander designed to deliver scientific, exploration and commercial payloads. Read More