The Google phone is all over the Internet, thanks to a fresh wave of new leaks and speculations. It looks like the Google phone is ‘very real’ and it is being developed by Google as you read this. This news, brought to us by the good folks at TechCrunch, has created quite a sensation everywhere. So lets take a stock of what’s going on and see where the rumors stand.
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The Plot Thickens Around The Google Phone
- Author: Jack Wallen
- Published: Nov 20th, 2009
- Comments: 2
Google Chrome OS: First looks, first impressions
The very early stages of the REAL Google Chrome operating system has been released (and done so fully open sourced). It’s not an operating system you can (and should) be putting on a stand alone machine. Actually what has been released are VirtualBox and VMware images that can be booted in their respective virtual machines.
Martin has posted his concerns about Chrome OS in his insightful “Google Chrome OS: My concerns“. I am in full accord with Martins’ take on cloud computing. But instead of discussing my feelings on the cloud or why we need another OS, I thought it would be beneficial to take a look at a running instance of the Google Chrome OS. I will preface this by saying the OS is in the very early stages of development. But even with the early stages it is quite obvious where this fledgling operating system is heading.
Install Multiple Applications With AllMyApps
AllMyApps offers a similar functionality as Ninite which we have reviewed last month. Both applications allow a computer user to install multiple programs without further user interaction. But that’s where the similarities end. Ninite creates a custom installer based on the selection of applications that the user makes on the homepage. AllMyApps on the other hand consists of a software program that needs to be installed on the computer system and an online part which consists of the selection of applications and the sending of these information to the installed software.
Another difference that becomes obvious right away is the support for both Windows and Linux operating systems whereas Ninite only supports Windows. AllMyApps on the other hand makes it more difficulty to finish the process, especially at first run. The user needs to download the application and install it on the computer system. An account at the website needs to be registered afterwards. Once that is done it comes down to selecting the applications that should be installed on the user system.
Google Rolls Out New Search Interface
A recent post over at Search Engine Land suggests that Google will be rolling out a new search interface – or more precisely search result page design – to selected users later today. The effort seems to have originated in the analysis of the current search results layout which is everything but coherent and has been a major point of criticism lately.
The new search results layout will use a cleaner design with an additional left sidebar. The left sidebar will always be visible and seems to have originated from the advanced search options which currently have to be expanded to make them visible. The sidebar will make use of colorful icons for permanent listings at the top and a dynamic lower part that display contents depending on the choices the user made. A selection of video for instance will display filters for playtime, date of publication or quality while the selection of images will display image related filters.
Youtube Videos Get Automatic Captions. 1080p Videos Roll-Out
Seems that the Youtube developers are finally starting to implement new features at the popular video hosting portal. After the announcement of 1080p video support which began rolling out in the last 24 hours. There does not seem to be an option just yet to search for those 1080p videos on Youtube. Youtube videos that are already available in 1080p quality will offer a menu that becomes visible when pressing the HD button. This button will give the user the option to watch the video either in 720p or 1080p. See the example below for a video that can be viewed in 1080p on Youtube.
Video To MKV Converter
VideoToMKV is a comfortable software program to convert various video formats into the Matroska container format (mkv). The program utilizes the ffmpeg library for the conversions. New videos can be easily added to the application by drag and drop or a file browser. The videos that have been added are then displayed in the main interface. The only other controls available in the interface are located in the header menu at the top.
Here it is possible to change the output directory and video bitrate before the queued videos are processed. Advanced users can edit batch files with advanced settings that are located in the program’s installation directory. These batch files contain the default configuration for the video to mkv conversion. The standard settings produce great results but advanced users might want to tweak the settings further to improve the quality of the output further.
Desktop Torrents Search Engine Torrent Fetcher
Users looking for torrents usually go to a website like Mininova or The Piratebay that index torrents. An alternative to this is a desktop torrents search engine like Torrent Fetcher is available for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Torrent Fetcher comes with a comfortable interface to perform the search for Bittorrent files from the local computer system without firing up a web browser first. This method has several advantages including the ability to search multiple torrent indexers at once, the display of all discovered torrents on the same page in the same interface and a comfortable option to download torrents without having to switch pages.
