Google has come up with a cool gadget – Google Project Glass that will revolutionize the way we explore and share the world.

There is no official announcement yet but a POV video has been released to show you what to expect when these Android powered “Google Goggles” are launched.

I am sure the Project Glass will make sharing info and navigation real convenient. You get Google Maps integration as well as taking snapshots on the go and sharing them on a social network. Possibly making video calls too.

Google glasses could become a fashion statement like smartphones with all kinds of fancy glasses coming up. Just don’t be surprised when people start talking to themselves on the street.

[Phone Arena]

The mania over Harry Potter books and movies has been phenomenal. Fans just love this magical adventure, as proven by the blockbuster success of the latest and last episode of Harry Potter movie.

Google has made a shrewd venture by teaming up with J.K Rowling latest project, Pottermore – an online reading platform that allows you to read Harry Potter books with interactive features and interesting tidbits about the author.

Harry Potter books are now available through Google eBooks too. From around October, all 7 Harry Potter books will make their way to Google eBooks for more than 80 eReaders.

The books will also be available on Google Books and Google’s iOS and Android applications. Google also announced its exclusive rights to be the payment platform for purchases made on Pottermore. That is one up over Paypal.

I have a good collection of Harry Potter books but still getting the digital versions. Da*n, the Harry Potter magic is addictive..

The like button on Facebook is so very useful…anything we see to our fancy, including advertisement at the sidebar of Facebook, can be liked and recommended to our friends.

Now Google is implementing a similar feature with +1. Instead of “liking” a post, you can +1 on search results to share and improve the search engine rankings.

Your contacts and friends will soon see a a plus to search result or webpage and if they’re looking for something similar, they will be given that recommendation.

“Our goal at Google is to get you the most relevant results as quickly as possible. But relevance is about relationships as well as words on webpages. That’s why we recently started to include more information from people you know—stuff they’ve shared on Twitter, Flickr and other sites—in Google search results.” — Google.

The service will be available soon but you first create a public Google profile for it to work. If you’re shy about revealing all your +1 info, just keep it private or restrict to your friends.

[Pocket-lint, Google]

Google’s self-driving cars are not just for old people who prefer safe, slow and boring travel. If this video shot at TED 2011 is anything to go by, you can expect some cool action from a Google’s self-driving car.

It can tackle a parking lot skills course at impressive speed. Check out the video taken from the inside the car.

I wonder how this self driving car would fare in a NASCAR race. If this technology continues to improve, it may just outsmart a human car racer in monitoring fuel, tire pressure, and adjusting to road conditions.

Android is on a blast and 2011 looks set to be its year of dominance.

Google crossed another milestone with 32.9 million handsets sold globally last quarter and ousted longtime champion Nokia to become the most popular smartphone OS maker in the world.

At the rate Android is gaining smart phone market share, it is shaping up to be a three-horse fight between Google, RIM, and Apple.

Android gained ground significantly faster than iPhone in 2010 and it is possible that they will consolidate their leading position. Another good news for Google is that Android is reaching into feature-rich smartphones market occupied by Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

RIM is hanging on due to its international business clout but Nokia is almost yesterday’s story as its latest projects show little promise.

[Reuters]

Technology is such a joy and.. burden at times.

Google just made the lives of secretaries a tad more stressful with its new Gmail delegation function. Now bosses can “invite” you or other employees who are Gmail account holders to access his email and review, organize and reply to whatever junk inside.

But I am not complaining as I like the convenience. For example if you have a shared family email, you can toggle between your primary gmail and family account instead of signing out every so often to check and reply to incoming mails. It saves time and increases productivity.

You can also restore contacts which were previously deleted within a 30 day period. Yes, we all have hasty moments like severing ties with a friend after nasty quarrels. Well, you can give your relationships a second chance by letting friends back in your contact list after you cool down.

[Gmail Blog]

Google is now researching on a self-driving car – yes, an artificially intelligent car that drives itself.

The search engine giant has been secretly working on self driving cars and are now finally giving them a road test in the open.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, there are many technical hurdles to clear before self-driving cars become reality. Even Google team say it’s at least eight years away from reaching consumers.

But the new technology is promising. Self driving cars can double road capacity as robots can drive at closer distances from one another. Robots can theoretically react faster than humans and with the right sensors, can see the road from a 360-degree perspective.

No worries about checking blind spots. Forget about costly driving lessons too. You can also get drunk to your delight, message or chat with your loved ones in the car without the police bothering you.

Self-driving car will be my fantasy come true…

[NY Times]

Speculation is rife that Google intends to dethrone Facebook with its new social network, tentatively called Google Me.

The rumor gained credibility when Digg founder Kevin Rose reportedly tweeted, “Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch facebook competitor very soon “Google Me,” very credible source” on June 28.

InsideFacebook also quoted former Facebook executive Adam D’Angelo, who says Google’s project is “not a rumor” and that there is “a large number of people working on it.” It seems that Google is modeling the project off of Facebook.

Though Google has not confirmed its new high-priority project, but to take on Facebook is ambitious. Failing in this endeavor with all the resources pumped in will be a huge embarrassment to Google.

Google already has many social services like Buzz, Friend Connect, Orkut, Gmail, GTalk, Wave, Reader, Docs, YouTube, SideWiki, etc. In that sense, Google is already a huge social network.

Setting up another social network modelled on Facebook may render its earlier products useless and there is no guarantee of success (why should people switch over if it is exactly the same as Facebook).

I think Google should just leverage on its existing services by improving on its profiles and connectivity of its products. Given that each Google account has a profile which is central to all Google activities, making them available for sharing will make it similar to Facebook Wall.

Can Google overtake Facebook as the king of social network? Probably not. I am sure Google will definitely announce a much better product than Buzz or Wave but I can’t imagine people leaving Facebook, after seeing how privacy issues fail to dent its popularity.

By the way, Facebook is also trying to move onto Google’s turf by using “likes” as relevance indicators in it’s search results. In addition, Matthew Papakipos, an engineer who “started and managed the Chrome OS project” is now with Facebook.

Improvement is always a good thing but Facebook has a long way to go before grabbing Google’s search market share.

With both giants moving aggressively into each other’s territory, it will be interesting to watch who ends up as the victor. The result will have significant impact on the businesses’ competitive moats. Stay tuned..

[Independent]

Google just announced a new Android OS 2.2 platform “Froyo” at its I/O event and declared its ambition of ending the “draconian future where one company, one device, controls the future.” I guess you guys know which company Google is referring to.

Weeks before the hugely anticipated release of the Android 2.2 update, the internet was already buzzing with speculation. So far, the Android 2.2 has been pretty impressive and Android users will not be disappointed. Aside from Flash support being included, there are several new features too.

Google has proven that Flash on a mobile device isn’t all bad. Froyo’s full flash support provides crisp pictures and videos but it is unclear how long the battery life of Android devices will last.

Froyo also has better web based client and automatic app updates, which means Google’s Android Marketplace may finally give Apple App Store a run for their money.

As for speed, Google already has an edge with its quick Chrome browser, and now, with V8 for the Android, they claim to have the world’s fastest mobile browser too. With a 2-3 times improvement for javascript performance, FroYo offers faster page loading.

There was also a demonstration of voice commands with Google search, but where voice recognition technology is concerned, it is guilty until proven innocent.

[Mashable]

Google announced that it has moved its automatic speech-recognition and closed-captioning technology out of beta and have now made it available to the YouTube community at large.

Most, if not all, YouTube videos now include a “CC” button that, if pressed, will automatically generate the closed-captioning technology.

The technology processes the audio feed, using the speech-recognition technology used in the core voice search feature that has also built into the Android voice search feature, the GOOG-411 phone search, and other products.

Twenty hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute; Google could not provide a timetable on when all of the videos would be captioned, but it will be “very soon,” executives said.

Source: PC Mag