Posted 03/12/10 at 09:19:10 AM by Gina Trapani

Remember that old maxim that says we use only about 10 percent of our brain’s capacity? It’s been proven as hokum by modern neuroscience, but we think we can safely apply the same basic analogy to Google: The vast, vast, vast majority of computer users—even those practiced in hardcore nerdery—are almost certainly using a pitiful fraction of all the applications and features intrinsic to Google’s ever-expanding matrix of software code.

Sure, a Maximum PC reader may be well-versed in Google’s advanced search operators (Google allintext: “advanced search operators” if you missed that chapter), but we’re willing to wager that even the most curious among you haven’t taken the time to play with more than a few Google applications, let alone explore all their advanced features. Indeed, Google HQ is a fan-friggin’-amazing hotbed of R&D, but its developers are relatively quiet about the tools they’ve released. And that’s a shame, because Google’s constant innovation should get more press.

To address your inevitable Google knowledge deficit, we commissioned Gina Trapani to share her favorite tips. Gina launched Lifehacker.com, writes about Google for a bazillion media outlets, co-hosts the “This Week In Google” netcast, and pretty much makes it her job to know as much as possible about Google’s sundry apps and features.

Continue reading after the jump.

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Posted 03/11/10 at 10:04:11 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Firefox 3.6 has recorded over 100 million downloads during the past 50 days, according to a new post  by Melissa Shapiro on Mozilla's official blog. Now, Mozilla wants Firefox loyalists still holding onto older versions of the browser to make the leap to the latest version. To this end, people running older versions will begin seeing a pop-up message to inform them about the latest version and urge them to update.

They will have to pick either one of the three options available to them: Ask Later, No Thanks, or Get the New Version. Mozilla also tried to address a widespread apprehension that already installed Firefox add-ons and Firefox 3.6 may prove to be incongruous. “It’s fast, stable, compatible with over 90% of the thousands of Firefox Add-ons, and contains new features such as lightweight themes and plugin version checking,” Shapiro wrote in a clear bid to allay such fears.

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Posted 03/11/10 at 08:26:45 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Paris-based Darkworks is wandering the floor at GDC making some pretty big promises. They say their upcoming TriOvis for Games SDK will allow developers to build in 3D support to 2D games. The real benefit would be that it would not require the purchase of a 3D capable display.

Darkworks is saying that all the 3D-ification happens in the software and the special 3D glasses. Apparently, this means those not wearing glasses would see a regular 2D image without the blurring of a 3D image. The technology will be available for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

If this proves to be a feasible option, we may see DLC for existing games that enable 3D with the TriOvis system. Darkworks has said that the process of adding TriOvis to an existing game is very simple, taking anywhere from a few days to a week. We are really floored by the possibilities here. Let’s hope this is for real.

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Posted 03/11/10 at 07:41:51 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Get ready to kiss your privacy goodbye. Those horrifying billboards from Minority Report that know everything about you are one step closer to reality. Japan’s NEC has created the Next Generation Digital Signage Solution, a system that tailors ads based on who is looking at it.
 
This new system isn’t going so far as scanning your iris to look you up in a huge advertising database like in the movie, but it is guessing what you might like based on age and gender. The billboards will be able to determine gender and age to within 10 years by snapping a photo. Some are already crying foul, claiming the signs would be an invasion of privacy. NEC claims the ads would be anonymous and the digital imaging system would delete the images of people used to build the ads.

Do you think this is an acceptable system? It could mean you’d see ads that are more relevant to you, but does anyone really care about that? If this scares you, then start putting together a disguise now. NEC says several companies are interested in the signs, and they might make it stateside in late 2010.

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Posted 03/11/10 at 07:04:25 PM by Pulkit Chandna

While cloud-enabled gaming has the potential to deliver games like Crysis to smartphone screens in all their glory, owners of Palm webOS phones can do with far less for the time being. Palm is tying up with Epic Games in a bid to bolster the entertainment value of its webOS platform.

Epic has successfully ported its insanely popular Unreal Engine 3 to Palm's webOS just like it managed with the iPhone. It today demoed the game engine on a Palm Pre Plus at the ongoing Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

This means that developers will be able to leverage Epic's popular game engine in combination with Palm's new Plug-in Development Kit (PDK) to develop more powerful games for webOS phones.  Unlike on the iPhone, games running on a webOS phone can be pushed to the background as the user engages with other apps.

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Posted 03/11/10 at 06:53:20 PM by Ryan Whitwam

The JooJoo has gone through some changes since it ceased to be the CrunchPad when the partnership of Arrington and Fusion Garage broke down. Among those changes is a new home screen UI and improved virtual keyboard. There’s also expanded codec support for playing local media.

The old home screen was sort of a disaster. The background was a solid color and the icons were black tiles with various website logos in them. Then there was the confusing pinch to go back gesture. The new set up is much improved with high resolution user customizable backgrounds and much more attractive icons. The pinch gesture has been replaced with a more intuitive swipe.

The new keyboard can be used in a smaller one-handed mode that can be moved around the screen, or in full screen mode. It also fully supports multitouch complete with chording (registering multiple simultaneous presses). We’re also hearing you can plug in mass storage and play almost any video format under the sun including AVI, DivX/XviD, MKV, MPEG-4, and MOV. The JooJoo is set to ship later this month. At $499 it’s priced the same as the low end iPad. Is anyone planning to pick one up?

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Posted 03/11/10 at 06:09:28 PM by David Gerrold

At the 2010 CES, Sony and Panasonic and other manufacturers demonstrated 3D  television products that will ship later this year.  Actually, any television with a refresh rate of 120hz or greater is ‘3D ready.’  You’ll still need synced shutter glasses and a 3D source, but the screen will be able to display both eye-images at a fast enough rate to avoid jitter.

At the 2011 and probably 2012 Consumer Electronics Shows, we’ll start seeing second-generation and third-generation 3D products, by which time the technology will have matured, the prices will have dropped, and we will have settled into a standard for 3D HDTV.  

But some industry pundits have already weighed in, suggesting that 3D is a fad, isn’t something that consumers really want, and doesn’t lend itself to home viewing—particularly because the ‘goofy glasses’ are a hindrance.  Plus the 3D sets are expensive, most consumers haven’t finished paying for their current HDTV sets, so why would they want to replace them this year?

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Posted 03/11/10 at 04:54:33 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The filthy rich have a new poster boy. According to the latest Forbes World's Billionaires list, Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim Helu is the richest man alive, with his $53.5 billion fortune proving just about enough to win him the top spot ahead of Bill Gates. Gates may have spent a substantial part of his life atop the list but this year he missed the top spot by a whisker with an estimated worth of $53 billion. He lost nip and tuck despite adding $13 billion to his fortune over the past year. This is the first time in the last 16 years that a non-American has topped the list. Larry Ellison, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Steve Ballmer, Paul Allen and Michael Dell are some of the other tech honchos on the list.

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Posted 03/11/10 at 04:43:20 PM by Bart Salisbury

Microsoft might well be right--the Internet does go “bing”! comScore’s reporting that Microsoft’s Bing search engine saw a jump in use in February. More a lower-case “b” jump than a capital “B” jump, but a jump nonetheless.

comScore’s Core Search Report for February shows Goggle by far in the lead of search providers with 65.5 percent of all search queries, edging up slightly from its January total of 65.4 percent. Yahoo! was in second place with 16.8 percent of all search queries, down from 17.0 percent. Number three Bing was still number three with 11.5 percent of all searches, which was 0.2 points higher than in January.

The big deal here, if there is one, is Bing’s progress since its introduction last summer. It has constantly increased its share of the search query pie. The pace has been slow, but it has also been steady. And, at this rate of growth, it will only take 99 more months before Bing brings search giant Google to its knees.

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Posted 03/11/10 at 04:04:51 PM by Bart Salisbury

Connecting people to what they want (or alternately helping people more easily spend their money), just got a bit easier with Google’s new “in stock” notifications.

The process is simple. If you do a search for a product that is sold by participating retailers, and one of those retailers is nearby, and has that item in stock, the search results will be displayed with a blue dot. With “My Location” enabled, you’ll even know how far you have to drive to acquire your coveted item. Google’s partners in this venture include Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma, and Pottery Barn.

According to Google’s Mobile Blog: “If you have an iPhone, Palm WebOS phone, or any Android-powered device, and you're in the US, just go to Google.com in your mobile browser, tap on the "more" link, and then select "Shopping." Or look for the "Shopping results" section in Universal Search results when you search on Google.com.”

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