GeekSugar

Daily Tech: Which Pocket Camcorder Is the Best?

GeekSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:50:38 -0800

Gizmodo compares and reviews the most popular pocket camcorders on the market - Gizmodo
You can now spruce up your Google Sites with a new template - Google Blog
Canadians can finally get an Amazon Kindle - The Boy Genius Report
For people looking to buy a gaming console this holiday season, here's your shopping manual - CrunchGear
The Shift Chair by Simone Micheli consists of a bunch of computer keys - Gizmodiva
Seesmic plans to launch a native desktop client for Windows - TechCrunch

Google Increases Online Storage Limit, Drops the Prices

GeekSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:43:13 -0800

A couple of years ago, Google announced its new online storage plans, which allowed users to upload more photos, save more emails and more. And I have to tell you, when I paid the $20 way back then to get 6 GB more of storage, I thought life couldn't get any better.

Well now, Google has just announced some pretty amazing storage plans that make it even easier to back up all of your photos, documents. . . and you don't have to worry about cleaning out your inbox (although I do encourage you to do so anyways!). So now with my $20 a year, I can get 80 GB worth of storage - magical I tell ya.

To see a chart with all of the new (and old!) storage prices, just read more.

YEAR	STORAGE AMOUNT	PRICE
2007	6 GB	$20 / year
	25 GB	$75 / year
	100 GB	$250 / year
	250 GB	$500 / year
2009	20 GB	$5 / year
	80 GB	$20 / year
	400 GB	$100 / year
	1 TB	$256 / year
	80 GB	$20 / year
	80 GB	$20 / year

Go here if you'd like to purchase a new storage plan!

Daily Tech: Use Google Maps to Find H1N1 Vaccine Locations

GeekSugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:40:58 -0800

Google already has data for locations of H1N1 flu vaccine programs from 20 states and counting - Gizmodo
Apple beefs up their HD movie selection in the iTunes store - TechCrunch
Cute! UK designer Kyle Bean has created this Russian Babushka doll style cell phone set - Popgadget
Staples shows off its extensive Black Friday ad - CrunchGear
Google has developed a new feature called SafeSearch, so you can easily filter out sexually explicit sites from your search results - The Google Blog
Blockbuster plans to start renting movies on SD cards - Gadgetell

Google Makes Holiday Travel More Tolerable With Free WiFi

GeekSugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:43:08 -0800

Here's one holiday stress relieved: Google recently announced they'd be sponsoring free WiFi in airports across the country this holiday season, from now through January 15. Google VP, search and user experience, Marissa Mayer says, "We're very happy to extend our Holiday WiFi gift to the millions of people who will spend time in airports over the next few months."

Which I translate to, "Happy Holidays, here is something to keep you sane when your flight is delayed for the third time. Love, Google."

Plus, they're spreading the cheer. Once you log in using the free wireless, you're given the option to donate to one of three non-profit organizations. At the end of the promotion, Google will match all donations up to $250,000. A full list of airports with free WiFi is available at freeholidaywifi.com.

What will you do with free airport WiFi?

Google's Marissa Mayer Is One of Glamour's Women of the Year

GeekSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:47:25 -0800

At just 34-years-old, as Google's vice president, search and user experience, Marissa Mayer, will soon be celebrating her 10-year Google anniversary. Being the very first female engineer to be hired by the search engine company way back in 1999, Mayer climbed her way to the top and is now a very prominent figure at Google, which now employs over 19,000 people worldwide.

This month, Glamour Magazine is honoring Mayer with a Woman of the Year award. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and 2002 Woman of the Year explains why Mayer was selected for this award:

"She has been a powerhouse of creativity and business acumen for one of the world’s most innovative companies. Marissa Mayer is leading the way in keeping America number one."

A very deserving recipient indeed - smart, geeky, and not to mention, incredibly stylish!

Source

Kristen Stewart Is an Avid Self-Googler

GeekSugar — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:15:31 -0800

Unlike John Mayer who denies Googling himself, most of you have admitted to taking to the popular search engine site to see what the web has to say about you.

In November's issue of Allure magazine, New Moon star Kristen Stewart talks about her Googling habits. Like when she gets lost in her car and the paparazzi follow her every move, she says:

"After I come back from this interview, I'll look up and see what an idiot I looked like getting lost. You can just Google 'Kristen Stewart, lost, directions.' Or put the date in. I can't believe I'm giving away how to Google me."

It's OK Kristen, I'm sure there are many people who would like to perfect their Kristen Stewart Googling skills!

Google Search Now Displays Audio Tracks For Song Queries

GeekSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:44:06 -0700

Ever since my first Google search, life as I knew it changed forever. Google is really revving up their search engine thanks to small but helpful enhancements like being able to find your friends on social networking sites or by refining your search results by date and time.

And now that Google has teamed up with companies like imeem, Pandora, Lala, Sony Music, EMI, and WB, they are now able to deliver a new music search feature that makes it easy to discover music and listen to the track from one of these partner companies.

Even if you don't know the artist or the song name, you can type in some lyrics, and Google web search will do its best to search songs that have those particular words. If you try your own Google music search and the audio tracks don't appear, be patient because Google is slowly rolling out the feature across the US over the next day. Although if you do want to take it for a test drive, you can do so here.

To see a video demo of Google Music, just read more.

Stuff Your Friends Love - Now in Google Search Results

GeekSugar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:15:23 -0700

Twitter updates will soon appear within search results, Google Labs has launched Google Social Search - an application that displays public search results found via your friends' social media profiles - Flickr streams, Twitter feeds, FriendFeed updates, and more. Google defines your social circle as:

On the heels of the big announcements from both Bing and Google that

People you're connected to through social services that you've listed in your Google profile . . . such as Twitter and FriendFeed.
People in your Gmail (or Gchat) chat list.
People in your Friends, Family, and Co-workers contact groups for Google.

Social Search only works if you're signed into your Google account. To test this feature, visit google.com/experimental. If you opt in, access Social Search results by using the left-hand links on a search results page. It also shows which friends and acquaintances social content comes from. Check out the Google blog for a great, informative video explaining how Social Search works and how Google determines who's in your social network.

Do you think you'll use this feature? Or will this be yet another way to search in Google that you don't think you'll use?

Sergey Brin Talks About Chrome For Macs and Google Books

GeekSugar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:44:49 -0700

Way back when, most of you said that you were planning on downloading Google Chrome when it came out. PC users - did you download it? And what do you think? Since I'm currently a Mac owner, I haven't had the opportunity to dive into Chrome's goodness, although I have been admiring the pretty Chrome themes in the meantime. Google's co-founder, Sergey Brin, recently spoke about Google Chrome and Mac availability at the Web 2.0 Summit. He said that the Chrome web browser can be downloaded from an unofficial location, but that it's still really buggy (crash alert!), as it's not even in beta yet. Brin also mentioned that he wishes the Mac version would have been available at the same time as the PC launch, which makes me think Chrome for Macs will be here sooner than we think.

And when asked about Google Books Search, Brin discussed some of the controversy surrounding the search tool and said that his ultimate goal is to give people access to millions of books, which he believes will be a successful venture.

And speaking of Google and some of its services and tools, here's a fun video that re-tells the entire Google story, which starts at the very beginning - from when Sergey met Larry. To watch it, just read more.

Bing and Google to Include Twitter Updates in Search Results

GeekSugar — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:33:02 -0700

Another day, another huge Twitter announcement. And this time, it involves two of the biggest Internet companies around. Both Microsoft and Google announced today that both companies would start including Twitter posts in search results.

The feature is already live on Microsoft's Bing; Twitter posts appear based on key terms and tweets about hot topics. Click the "see more" link and you're redirected to a page containing recent tweets (that refresh automatically!) and a list of top links about the topic currently being shared on Twitter.

I think this news is exciting. While your reactions are split over getting news via Twitter, it's become a prime destination for finding up-to-the-minute content. We'll have to wait and see how Bing and Google plan to fully integrate Twitter feeds into search results pages, but if the past is any indicator, the incorporation of Twitter will be a huge win.