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Well, that was interesting. Especially when Sergey Brin made a special guest appearance towards the end and then got mobbed by journos eager to touch his hem.
More of that later. First let's get down to the basics of Google's new operating system. Officially the Chrome OS is not aimed at Microsoft, says Google. No, I don't believe it either.
 The big picture here is clear - Google is introducing a simpler way for PC owners to consume the internet - through the web and not through the complicated bit of software that has been installed on their machine.
The Chrome OS is designed to be a lightweight, hassle-free, simple way for the vast majority of people to do the vast majority of their computing tasks. That means Chrome OS will let you browse, send email, watch movies, update Facebook - because all those applications exist on the web. The best was to think about it is as browser software with some extra bits that help it interact with your computer.
Google execs kept mentioning that they wanted a PC to work just like a TV - all you do is switch it on and it just works. They want your PC to boot up almost instantly, to go straight to the browser, to work every time without you having to tend it, install updates and security ware. So far, so good. Even, I would say, so compelling.
You will be able to get your hands on the first machines loaded with Chrome OS sometime late in 2010. It is being aimed at netbooks only for the moment although Google said that in time they want it to run on laptops and desktop machines.
In effect, what you will be getting from the likes of ASUS or Acer, or Dell perhaps, is a web browsing machine, streamlined and very fast. Google's Chrome browser will be the only browser that will work with the Chrome OS and it will be supercharged for speed.
Google is working to get your devices to work with the OS, so that when you plug in your camera or Flip, it will all work seamlessly. Printers will work, too, the execs said, without explaining how.
What does the OS look like? Very much like Chrome, unsurprisingly. The UI is sparse with just a set of tabs - which work like applications - at the top left. "Panels" can be launched from the bottom as well but gone are the ideas of a dock or some such for programs - all the programs are in the cloud.
You can pop up the "panels" for chat or playing music or watching videos and these panels sit on top of the tabs.
Overall it looked good. But it is early days and as operating systems go, it is limited.
So for instance, if you wanted to do photo-editing, you couldn't. Chrome OS does not have the equivalent of iPhoto. There are not enterprise word-processing applications with it - you would have to go hunting on the web.
As Sundar Pichai, vice-president of product management for Google's Chrome OS, said, if you are a lawyer pinging documents back and forth all day long, this is not the OS for you. He even went as far to say that this is really designed to be your secondary computer in the house, albeit one you might spend a lot of time using.
You can save media to play offline - books and movies for instance - but generally this is a system that will work only when you have a connection to the internet. It will be designed to make the best of wi-fi connectivity.
Google made the source code for the Chrome OS available to outside
developers, allowing them to tinker with the software
and potentially design new applications to run alongside it. You can imagine that, just as Android has a growing apps market, so Chrome OS might build up a similar head of steam.
Although Google is not going to actually make the laptops itself, it is effectively launching itself into the hardware business by saying that Chrome OS at least initially will not be able to run
on just any PC. Google is going to specify every last component to make sure users get an optimum experience, execs said.
When the specially-designed
netbooks are launched in time for Christmas 2010, you can expect them to have some heavy Google branding, I would guess.
Is this a big deal? Actually it could be. It is more than just the launch of a new bunch of easy to use mini-laptops. This is Google's play to make the cloud king of the consumer computing experience - a swing away from the paid-for software (Microsoft) model of old.
Which is why Sergey strolled in towards the end, to put his seal of approval on the whole project. He told the journos crowding round him at the end that the Chrome OS was a "very important project", answered lots of questions including one about his funky designer-ey trainers and disappeared. Google has put up a lot of stuff about Chrome OS and the Chromium OS project for developers and you can find it all here, if you want to look further into it.
I really don't know what to make of this.
A company calling itself Prayer Works Interactive has got a website on which it is advertising a Wii-inspired virtual church mass.
The extraordinary promotional video above promises all the fun of a real church visit, including bell-ringing, incense-swinging and more, especially if you invest in the virtual prayer mat.
The company claims that pre-orders start tomorrow. We'll be tuning in to see what happens.
We announced the plans some time ago on Times Online, but today Channel 4 finally went live on YouTube, with around 4,000 hours of programming freely available to view via any suitable device, including mobile phones and iPod touches.
Highlights include the complete series of Father Ted and Drop the Dead Donkey, the latter of which is worth checking out for the mobile phones alone.
We're fairly sure that the service will not work outside the UK, but if it does, be sure to tell us.
Einstein or Frank-Einstein?
Is it me, or is there something more than a little bit unsettling about this video, which features a robotic Einstein head grafted on to what looks like Honda's Asimo?
If you think the beginning's freaky, by the way, hang on till the end when he starts to talk.
What are the top ten most important Internet events of the last 10 years? The birth of Wikipedia, the death of Napster, the iPhone, Facebook, and Twitter are among them, according to a list compiled by the New York-based International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences which bestows the annual Webby Awards.
"The Internet is the story of the decade because it was the
catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but
in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop
culture," said David-Michel Davies, the executive director of the Webby
Awards.
"The recurring theme among all of the milestones on
our list is the Internet's capacity to circumvent old systems and put
more power into the hands of ordinary people," he said. The Webby Awards list of the 10 most most influential Internet moments of the decade: - Craigslist online classified site expands outside San Francisco (2000) - the launch of Google AdWords (2000) - the launch of online encyclopedia Wikipedia (2001)
- the shutdown of file-sharing site Napster (2001) - Google's initial public offering (2004) - the online video revolution led by YouTube (2006) - Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter launches (2006) - Apple's iPhone debuts (2007)
- the use of the Internet in the US presidential campaign (2008)
- the use of Twitter during the Iranian election protests (2009) I am not sure that the use of Twitter during the Iranian election
protests will stand the test of history as a hugely significant event,
given that it appears to have barely altered the outcome. As for the rest of the list, there is no room for the cloud computing revolution, iTunes or the launch of the Kindle. What would you remove or add in?
Belgium. The land of waffles, chocolate and chocolate waffles. And now home to the world’s biggest iPhone heist.
The Apple 2.0 blog reports:
Over the weekend, someone used a fire ladder to climb to the roof of a huge warehouse in Willebroek, a Dutch-speaking municipality in the Belgian province of Antwerp, cut a hole in the roof, and made off with 3,000 to 4,000 brand new Apple iPhones, according to reports in the Belgian press.
The crime, believed to be the largest iPhone heist to date, was discovered Monday morning and had the earmarks of an inside job. The hole in the roof was cut directly above the location where the iPhones had been stored. Police have launched an inquiry
A rooftop heist. Sounds very Mission Impossible. But "earmarks"? Sounds more mission nonsensical. Anyway, Belgian newspapers suggest that 3,000 to 4,000 iPhones were taken in the robbery, with a total market value of 2 million Euros (£1.8m). The warehouse is owned by Ceva Logistics, a U.S.-owned transport company with headquarters in the Netherlands. Company officials would not comment, but are said to be "seriously annoyed". I bet.
Google are having another interesting day. I imagine their team was hoping the blogosphere would be concentrating on their cool new “Image Swirl” search option (more on that later). But Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch has something that is a tad more exciting to report today.
The Google Phone Is Very Real. And It’s Coming Soon
This doesn’t mean another “T-Mobile G1”, or another raft of phones powered by Android, Google’s operating system for mobiles.
Mr Arrington’s sources tell him:
Google is building their own branded phone that they’ll sell directly and through retailers. They were long planning to have the phone be available by the holidays, but it has now slipped to early 2010. The phone will be produced by a major phone manufacturer but will only have Google branding.
Senior Google execs have told me in private that, though they were not thinking about getting into hardware, Google being Google, they never ruled anything out. So I guess it is plausible.
But any Googlephone, would have to be good. That seems obvious, but if Google really lend their brand to a piece of kit, then it simply has to excel – and be a market leader. And in a smartphone world of iPhones, Motorola Droids and Palm Pres, that actually isn’t as easy as it seems.
 In the meantime, Google have yet another cool product to plug. This time it’s Image Swirl, a new picture-searching interface. Once you search for an image, clusters of similar pictures appear next to it, which swirl to give you other associated images. Have a go yourself here.
So just another day at Google then.
Cor! Did someone say Mac Mini on rollerskates?
Over the years, there haven't been many Dell products sleek enough to make me want to press my nose against a shop window and dribble. In fact, I can't think of one. Until now.
Take a look at this little fella, the new Zino HD, announced today. Yes, it looks remarkably like a Mac Mini, or even an Acer Revo, but it could prove to be the best multi-media PC of them all.
In basic form for £299, you get a standard DVD drive, HDMI output for connection to large screen TVs, four USB ports, and all the usual stuff. Not a bad price, but no great shakes.
BUT if you splash the cash on all the optional extras, you can include a Blu-ray drive (read only), 1TB of storage and 8GB of RAM. We did this very quickly on the Dell site, and our ultimate configuration (including £20 for a colour cover) came to £779.01. Love the 1p, chaps. Suggest you drop the compulsory keyboard and mouse to save us a few of those pennies.
Anyway, it comes with Windows 7 on board, so it'll shift like a greased pig.
And it's tiny, around 200mm square and 90mm tall.
I HAVE to get one of these in to test. Watch this space.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, a new survey of UK workers has revealed that office workers are the least fit and active members of the population.
Even among such desk jockeys, IT workers take the biscuit for missing government recommendations for a healthy lifestyle. And then come back for more biscuits.
The survey was conducted among 1,700 adults by (stand by for another surprise here) the Fat Free Fitness Weightloss Agency, whose interest in getting more of us to eat like troglodytes and exercise like Olympians is fairly transparent.
The survey results below show the percentage of members of a given profession who are adhering to government guidelines for diet and exercise. That's five fruit and/or veg a day, and half an hour of strenuous exercise five times a week.
1. I.T. workers – 19%
2. Receptionists – 26%
3. Salespeople – 28%
4. Checkout operators– 31%
5. Marketing – 33%
6. Customer services – 37%
7. Administrative workers – 38%
8. Taxi drivers – 41%
9. Retail workers – 45%
10. Shop attendants – 47%
The progenitors of the survey, Fat Free Fitness call on employers to do more to help, presumably by employing the services of Fat Free Fitness.
Normally, we take these things with a pinch of salt. But not here.
That would be bad for our blood pressure.
Better late than never.
I have been reminded by the increasingly hirsute upper lips of several male colleagues that this is the month of Movember, when men all over the UK are growing a sponsored moustache in order to raise cash and awareness for men's health issues, specifically prostate cancer.
I know it's already late in the day, but when playing back the recording of our recent interview with Dan Houser, I realised I'd completely forgotten to give Rockstar games' own efforts for Movember the mention they deserve.
The challenge is this: grow a good full-on western outlaw moustache, keep a visual diary of it till the end of the month, then submit it for approval. If the Rockstar boys like it, they will immortalise you and your temporary whiskers in the game Red Dead Redemption, due out next Easter. Yes, I've left it late, but if you're fast on the draw with the facial fuzz, you've still got time.
Full details are available on the Rockstar games website.
In case you missed the news, today was the first day that we in the UK got to play with Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, which finally went out of Beta last night.
In the interests of unscientific inquiry, we at Tech Central set our Online colleagues a test: in return for biscuits, they were required to give up Googling for a day and try their hand at a bit of Binging. Below and - largely - unedited, are their responses. The biscuits are in the post.
“Just used it, will use it all day.”
“Well for kick off a search for 'BA merger' which is the main headline on Times Online we don't feature, nor do we feature under 'news about ba merger'.”
“Just how many Microsoft shares do you own?!”
Continue reading "Bing, day 1: the Times Online verdict" »
Nintendo Wii users in the UK have long been able to enjoy the last seven days of BBC TV on the iPlayer via the built-in Opera browser, but from November 18, Mario and his mates will give us our own dedicated iPlayer channel, right there in the Wii menu.
Although Nintendo was the first to give us a taste of the BBC's catch-up service, its complicated current offering was overtaken last month by Sony's latest update for its PlayStation 3 console, which gives UK users an iPlayer channel, and a rather dandy TV logo.
"We've got so many Wii consoles in lounges across the country that it made perfect sense," a Nintendo spokesman told us this afternoon. "We got a lot of feedback from our users about the existing iPlayer experience, which a lot of them found too fiddly, and we've taken that on board. Our iPlayer channel now has a distinct touch of the Wii about it, and all the iPlayer content that's available on PCs and Macs will be there."
This leaves only Microsoft's Xbox 360 with no built in wifi, browser or iPlayer, although internet-connected Xbox Live members here can now access Sky TV directly through their console.
You pays your money, you takes your choice.
Congratulations to 19-year-old Rodney Bradford, who has just been saved from 25 years in chokey by Facebook. Oh yes.
Bradford, aged 19, was held in prison for 12 days on suspicion of robbing two people in Brooklyn, and it wasn't looking good.
The prosecution's case fell apart, however, when it was shown that Bradford had used his father's computer to send a message to his girlfriend via Facebook just one minute before the attack took place.
His stepmum, Ernestine, told the New York Post, "Facebook saved my son. Normally, we yell at our kids, 'Oh, you're on the computer!" It's completely different. If it wasn't for Facebook, my son wouldn't be here."
Twelve years ago we laughed when Pierce Brosnan's James Bond controlled his BMW 750 with a mobile phone in Tomorrow Never Dies.
Today, we can all do it. Sort of. With an iPhone.
In this video, a group of clever people with too much time on their hands have spent months fixing up a car so it can be controlled wirelessly. What happened to the car doors, we can only guess.
Anyway, it seems to work. Now, can anyone who doesn't work for the British Secret Service and isn't trapped in a German car park surrounded by gun-toting villains tell us what possible use it might be in the real world?
It has come to our attention that some video game or other has been released in the last 24 hours.
Now, we hear, it has broken all previous sales records, held for the last 18 months by Grand Theft Auto IV.
Modern Warfare 2 has now sold 1.23 million units in the UK, bringing in around £47 million. In the same period, fact fans, GTA IV sold a measly 631,000 units, worth £27.3 million.
All of which rather raises the barrier for GTA V, don't you think?
Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Video Game Offers Engine Repair, Awaiting Orders
Thanks to our friends at Pocket-lint for drawing our attention to the latest spoof video from The Onion.
As Modern Warfare 2 continues to have cash tills singing a symphony of anti-recessionist contentment, The Onion brings a touch of Generation Kill hyper-realism to the whole desert warfare shebang.
As with all good satire, there's a serious point lurking in there, but for now we'll just say thanks for the laughs.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is finally out! If this leaves you scratching your head, it's probably safe to assume you are not avid fan of video games.
The original Modern Warfare is still the most popular online console title. Its enduring popularity stems from the thrill of going online and shooting random strangers whilst shouting at people on the other side of the world through a microphone. This may not appeal to you, but for millions of gamers around the world, this is gaming nirvana.
Nintendo have spent millions on selling the Wii as a social pastime allowing you to play video games whilst also spending quality time with your friends. This all sounds spiffy, but what happens when your friends can't come round and play?
I have friends all over the world that I only get to see once every few years if at all, but with online gaming, I can actually socialise with them. A phone call is great, but ringing a friend for no reason is just not something the average man does. I would treat a call telling me of the purchase of new shoes from a male friend with great suspicion.
When I switch on my Xbox though, it tells me if any of my friends are online and playing games. If I choose to, I can invite them to have a chat and play a game together. This all sounds like something I should have grown out of at the same point I stopped wearing shorts but for me and millions of others, it's an important part of staying in touch.
Continue reading "Online killing keeps us close in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" »
Social networks in particular, and the internet in general, are a terrible scourge, wrecking communities and turning our youth into incommunicative zombies, according to some.The likes of Facebook and LinkedIn are turning us into isolated internet junkies, stuck in front of computer screens furiously updating our status and barely able to communicate face to face.
That, at least, is the cliche of how the internet has driven people and communities apart in the last decade. Certainly there are some who can become addicted to online gaming, texting and the World of Warcraft.
But a new report has found that technology does not contribute
to social
isolation.
Those who use the internet for activities such email, blogging and Facebook and mobile phones have
larger and more diverse social networks, according to the study for the respected Pew Internet and American Life Project. Keith Hampton, lead author
of the report, said: "People's social worlds are enhanced by new communication
technologies."
 The
study found that six per cent of Americans can be described as socially isolated -
lacking anyone to discuss important matters with or who they consider
to be "especially significant" in their life. That figure has hardly
changed since 1985, it said.
In August Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, leader of Roman
Catholics in England and Wales, damned social network sites, accusing them of undermining community life and leading teenagers to suicide. He said sites like MySpace and Facebook led young people to seek "transient" friendships, with quantity becoming more important than quality.
Mr Hampton, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania, said: "There is a tendency by critics to blame technology first when social change occurs. This is the first research that actually explores the connection between technology use and social isolation and we find the opposite. People use the technology to stay in touch and share information in ways that keep them socially active and connected to their communities."
The phone survey of 2,512 adults did find that people's core networks - the group of people you count on being able to confide in — has become smaller in the past two decades. It is down, on average, to two people instead of three.
They have also become less diverse because they contain fewer friends and more family members.
But the study found that the use of technology was not linked to this decline. The diversity of people's core networks tended to be 25 per cent larger for mobile
phone users, 15 per cent larger for basic internet users, and even
larger for frequent internet users, those who used instant messaging and those who shared digital photos online.
Social media appeared to help people expand their social horizons. Internet users were "much more likely to confide in someone who is of another race".
Users who share
photos online were more likely to discuss political topics with someone
of a different party, the study found.
It found that on average, the size of people's discussion networks - the people with they discussed important matters - is 12 per cent larger among mobile phone users, nine per cent larger for those who share photos online, and nine per cent bigger for those who use instant messaging.
Web users in general were just as likely to communicate with neighbors in person than those who did not surf the internet. According to the study, internet users were "45
per cent more likely to visit a cafe, 52 per cent more likely to visit a library, 34 per cent more likely to visit a fast-food restaurant, 69 per cent more likely to visit other restaurants, and 42 per cent more likely to visit a public park."
Those who used social networks were more isolated from their immediate
neighbours, the study found. But the report said, users of Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn obtained: "traditional forms of neighborhood support from a social circle that
extends outside of their neighborhood".
The study found that on average in a typical year, face-to-face contact was still the primary way people keep in touch. The average person sees each member in their close group of confidants 210 days out of the year. If they have a cell phone, they call each person in that group on 195 days, much more now than landline phone
contact of 125 days.
They have text-messaging contact on the mobile phone 125 days, email contact on 72 days, instant messaging contact on 55 days, contact via social networking websites on 39 days and contact via letters or cards on only eight days.
Global internet pipes
Blaming the internet and social networks (which have only been around for five years or so) is shortsighted and simplistic.
Yes, society is changing, the old idea of neighbourhood and neighbourliness may be on the way out. Gossiping over the back fence is more likely to be done electronically now. Certainly landlines and letters are dying out in the most technologically advanced nations.
But we can be connected in many more different ways, over a much wider geographic spread, to our friends and those who share in our interests.
In most instances technology increases communication and sharing.
The problem may be more that we have to find ways to cut through the cacophony of contact we can now have with others. But that is a good problem to have.
Robbie Williams, Stoke on Trent's bad boy of pop, is back with a new album, and - in an industry first - it's only available to listen to on Spotify for the next three days.
Reality Killed the Video Star is the title of the album, and it'd be foolish, given the way Robbie's fortunes have vacillated in recent years, not to draw some sort of parallel with our boy's own tribulations. Given his obsessive interest in UFOs, we're slightly disappointed to note that the album sleeve features him on the back of a motorbike, rather than a Therulean spaceship.
Anyway, Robbie has also kindly put together a list of his favourite tracks as a Spotify playlist, reproduced above. Astonishingly, it consists entirely of songs performed by one Robert Peter Williams.
Click to read the full Times review of the new Robbie Williams album.
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Top cop shares online banking secrets
Here's a quick plug for a sister blog: Crime Central, also hosted by Times Online.
Here, amid squalid tales of crime both organised and disorganised, you will find the odd encounter with those who flex the long arm of the law.
One cracking example of the latter is today's mini-interview with Detective Superintendent Charlie McMurdie, head of Scotland Yard's cybercrime unit, where Crime Central asks the question everyone wants to know.
Does she do online banking?
Want to know the answer? You know where to go.
Posted by Nigel Kendall on November 18, 2009 at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)