Science / Technology News

Google is making it easier to socialize on its e-mail service. It's unveiling a new "Google Buzz" feature that sets up a face-off with Facebook.

As I wrote earlier, Google has decided to make Gmail more social. On Tuesday, they announced the new Gmail feature, and it's bound to get a lot of industry buzz. In fact, it's call Google Buzz, though many are linking it with Gmail only and calling it Gmail Buzz.

Microsoft and the U.K.'s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre have teamed to create what they call a child-friendly version of Internet Explorer 8. The Click Clever, Click Safe browser is really just a toolbar button you can add into your pre-existing IE8 installation.

Apple Aperture 3 Apple released on Tuesday the next generation of its professional photography workflow software, Aperture 3, along with a series of tutorial videos. The latest version costs $199 for the pro-level program, while the update is $99 for existing Aperture users... click to read more.

One of the touted features of iPhone OS 3.0 was the ability to interface with external hardware, and one company has used that to fill a gap in the iPhone's feature set. The company, zoomMediaPlus, has announced zoomIt, an adapter that allows iPhones to read SD cards (and with adapters, mini and micro SD cards).

Following a Federal Communications Commission's investigation, Google has cut a fee charged to users who want to cancel using their Nexus One smartphone before four months from $350 to $150. On Jan.26... Click to read more.

Google, which learned the hard way that web-based support may be fine for non-premium web services, but not for unlocked cell phones purchased for over $500, is now offering phone support for the Nexus One.

The new Itanium 9300 processor originally was slated to be released early in 2009 but that timetable slipped twice last year.

The biggest jumbojet Boeing has ever made lifted off Monday on its first test flight at Paine Field at Everett, Washington.

Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans.

The iPhone repair site iResQ has purported received fourth-generation iPhone parts. Not too much information can be gleaned from the parts, assuming they are the real deal, except that the iPhone is now 1/4 in longer.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google is set to release a new module for Gmail that will allow the popular webmail service to display a stream of status updates from your friends. Sound familiar? Yes, it sounds very similar to Facebook and Twitter, and to a similar feature added to Yahoo! Mail last year.

In a research note to clients, Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope notes that Apple has plans to cut the price of the iPad if sales disappoint. The information was gleaned from a discussion with Apple executives. They were CFO Peter Oppenheimer, VP Eddy Cue, and SVP Ron Johnson.

As expected, Google aired a Super Bowl ad on Sunday. That was one huge expense, but at least they didn't specifically pay for the ad itself to be produced. It had been sitting on YouTube for three months.

IBM is beginning a long-awaited upgrade to a range of servers and other hardware to make them more energy-efficient and competitive than rival products by Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems Inc.

Researchers say a new NASA satellite could help predict powerful solar storms that cause havoc on Earth.

Police in central China have shut down a hacker training operation that openly recruited thousands of members online and provided them with cyberattack lessons and malicious software, state media said Monday.

A Utah company plans to dig a series of underground caverns that it hopes to one day fill with compressed air, releasing it to generate electricity by turning a turbine and solving one of the most vexing problems facing the clean-energy industry - how to store power.

Retrevo, a website that calls itself the "ultimate electronics marketplace," has done surveys on iPad interest both before and after the nascent device's announcement. It seems less people were interested in buying one after the announcement than before, to the tune of double, in fact.

Space fans waited hours to see Shuttle Endavour launch, but some said they will return for NASA's next attempt.