Google Squared has officially entered the picture and is now available to test out. The premise of the search is that it offers a neat and tidy table of results for your search term. The results include a variety of facts and attributes pulled from the web. Essentially, it’s an attempt to weed through the gigantic aggregate of information on the web and provide you with all the information that you need on the search term–kind of like when you find the perfect website that contains exhaustive information about your topic, only without having to visit 20 individual websites on your own.
Continue Reading
Despite seeing the left-field surge of social networking years ago, usage is rising more rapidly than ever. The time people spent on social network sites in the US has risen by 83% from last April to this April. No surprise, Facebook has decisively sped past MySpace as the most popular networking site–users spent 1.7 billion minutes on the site last April and 13.9 billion this April, while MySpace use declined by 31 percent during the same period. Twitter, which has recently gained popularity at a frantic place is still #5 overall, but usage has risen over 3000% in the one-year span. Even the crap copy-cat sites that you may never have heard of, like MyYearbook and Tagged.com, have shown growth.
What’s all this tell you? That you (and us!) need to get the hell off the computer once in a while and have some interaction with friends, family members and coworkers you can actually reach out and touch. [via Channel Web]
After dropping two bills on that sleek, shiny plasma television, your first instinct probably isn’t to see what kind of mindless drivel you’ve missed out on all afternoon on YouTube. However, once you tire of summer repeats, “celebrity” reality shows and four and half hour baseball games tied at one run, you may be looking for a reprieve. And thanks to an upgrade from Google, you’ll be able to watch a version of YouTube that was specifically designed for your television. YouTubeXL is a reconfigured version of the explosive video site that will seamlessly transport YouTube into your living room on your TV or gaming console. The new format has taken away some familiar features, such as user comments, to offer a more appealing, organized interface and has made all the controls larger so that they’re easier to operate with a flick of the remote. [via Channel Web]
Bing Search Engine by Microsoft – Ahead of schedule appears to be the theme of this beautiful, bright 1st of June. Microsoft’s anticipated new search engine Bing was originally scheduled to launch on Wednesday, but is already available today. Though it will take more than a couple of hours to decipher just how much of a “Google killer” it is, it does offer some new features that set it apart. When searching travel destinations, for instance, you’ll be provided with real time pricing and availability to make booking fast and seamless. Similarly, online shoppers and those looking for health-related and local information are provided with more customized tools.
Continue Reading
If you’ve ever discovered a meme-worthy video on YouTube, only to feel the soul-crushing agony of having no one around to immediately share it with, the new RealTime toolbar might be the answer. RealTime lets you discover other like-minded users and find out what your friends are watching through a set of buttons on the bottom of each page. Users can suggest videos, look at their friends’ status and find other people that are viewing the same thing as you. Likewise, friends can see what you’re watching while the toolbar is turned on, and other people can find you through your viewing habits. TechCrunch got some hands-on time and has a few gripes, such as the lack of a chat feature and the way the toolbar disappears and reappears with each new page, but overall they were pleased. It’s invite-only now, so be patient and maybe the meme will come to you. [via TechCrunch]
We all know how YouTube has taken over video-based entertainment as we know it, but this is a bit ridiculous. If you want to ruin your television set with a kitschy little play on the pop culture icon, here’s a “clever” new YouTube ADDICT sticker that you can post on the lower right corner of your Panasonic. Granted some of the crap that passes for television these days is just a hair more thought provoking than a dog howling or baby giggling, but if you need to go so far as pretending it’s a YouTube video, perhaps it’s time to shut off the TV and get your pasty white body outside for an hour or two. [DVICE]
MIDs are undeniably convenient connectivity solutions that are irreplaceable for those who use them. However, the tiny screen can be a real annoyance, particularly if you want to view or read something of any size. Sit back and worry no longer; as part of its “Carry Small, Live Large” initiative, Intel is working on new technology that will allow several MIDs to link together to create one large screen. So if you and your buddies need to view a big map of where you’re going or some video footage of where you were, you’ll be able to do it without squinting. Why anybody thought that an ‘N Sync reunion was a good way of covering this exciting new technology is something we’ll be trying to figure out for a while. That’s one instance where you might prefer the small picture–or none at all. [Intel via Engadget]
OEM hardware manufacturer OCZ just launched the Neutrino, a new Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz netbook. The netbook features a 10-inch backlit LCD display with 1024 x 600 resolution, 2 Gigs of memory and a 250 GB hard drive standard. A 250 GB SSD hard drive is available for an additional cost. Of course, this is a netbook so you get WiFi, ethernet, 1.3 MP web cam and 4-in-1 card reader. Operation will be handled by buyer’s choice of Windows XP or Linux. Pricing and availablity not yet announced. [Geeky Gadgets]
Tax dollars are at work to ensure that you can make sure your tax dollars are at work. At least that’s the point of the White House’s Recovery.gov, a push by the Obama administration to bring some transparency to the recently-signed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Web site is in the early stages now, but you can already see a breakdown of how much money is going to what purpose and state-by-state estimates of how many jobs will be created or saved because of the plan. There’s even a feedback form for personal stories about the stimulus’ success or failure. But as Ars Technica points out, the best feature, as promised in the site’s FAQ, is the future ability to import data into XML files. This will allow other Web sites to create their own statistics, thus avoiding the political spin that’s bound to seep in to the official site. I also like the message you get when clicking on the externally-linked full bill text: “We hope your visit was informative and enjoyable.” Thanks, Mr. President! [Recovery.gov]
