It's no secret Google has a big announcement scheduled for 10:30 Pacific time today, and we already nearly certain that they would announce two major launches: Chrome OS and the Chrome Web Store. If there was any doubt left in your mind, the Google OS blog has snagged a handful of additional evidence. The official Google Chrome YouTube channel has been busy in the wee hours, uploading two new ... Read more »

Google Maps for Android got an update announcement yesterday that went somewhat under the radar with the Android 2.3 Gingerbread - Nexus S announcement. Previewed at D: Drive Into Mobile yesterday by Andy Rubin, Google's moved from the traditional downloadable map tiles to vector graphics for its mapping environment. What this means is that maps are smaller in file size resulting in quicker ... Read more »

Seesmic for Android has received an update today which bumps the app to version 1.5. The social networking client has added beta support for Salesforce's Chatter service, which you can now use from Seesmic alongside Twitter and Google Buzz. The Salesforce Chatter integration lets you read your Chatter feed, comment, view groups, profiles (and you can call, email or see a person's address with one ... Read more »

Back in October, when Apple officially announced the Mac App Store, the only thing we've heard about an actual release date was "in 90 days". But today a source has told Appletell that the official opening of the Mac App Store will take place on December 13, exactly one week from now and much sooner than Apple has led everyone to believe. Apparently, Steve Jobs is personally pushing for a release ... Read more »

Loopt, one of the earliest entries in the location-based social networking game, has recently been overshadowed by players like Gowalla and Foursquare. But Loopt is back with Loopt 4.0, which offers a complete redesign, integration with Facebook Places, and a real-time location tracker reminiscent of Google Latitude. Although it lacks the buzz of its location-based brethren, Loopt still has 4 ... Read more »

It's no secret that Download Squad likes TechSmith's Snagit. Erez loved the Windows version and Sam raved about the recently-launched Mac version. In fact, the only real problem that both of them discovered is that Snagit, at almost $50, is quite expensive. With excellent, free tools like Skitch and Screenpresso, it's hard to justify such an expense. Which is why you should enter our giveaway! ... Read more »

You can still opt-in to the old, Flash-powered Grooveshark if you like, but I'm rather enjoying the new HTMLified version. There is, however, one piece of the puzzle missing by default: the ability to control Grooveshark without tabbing back to the Web player. Sharkzapper for Chrome, however, is up to the task. Install the extension, and you've got drop-down control to skip forward or back, ... Read more »

There are a few things that would make every day that much more awesome. For some, it might be a Peter Griffin-style soundtrack following you around... or perhaps a personal sidekick who could chime in with memorable catchphrases like Burt Ward used to do on the classic Batman series. Yes, Robin was quite the wordsmith, slinging gems like "Holy atomic pile, Batman!" If you've got an Android ... Read more »

Google, just moments ago, launched the next iteration of the Android and Nexus product lines: Gingerbread and the Nexus S. The Nexus S, with a 4" Contour Display, two cameras, 16GB of memory and Near Field Communication, is jaw-dropping. But let's not get distracted by shiny things; as software nerds, it is Android 2.3, Gingerbread, that really interests us. If you're feeling brave, dive right ... Read more »

Ah, Windows Dancer, how fondly I remember thee. How you would bump, jive and gyrate across my screen! Mr Clippy was mere nothingness when compared to you. And Aquarium! A three-dimensional fish tank... on my screen! I still remember the first time I showed my mother. She actually reached out to touch the fish; I had to slap her hand to remind her that it was only an illusion. With Windows ... Read more »

Gentlemen, start your e-readers! Google, as promised, has launched its e-book store. More than 3 million titles are available to read right now, and you can read the books on the Web, or a wide range of devices. [At the time of publishing, the iOS app isn't yet available.] With Android, iOS, Nook and Sony e-reader compatibility, Google surely knows that it could have a Kindle killer on its ... Read more »

Scott's Gmail Alert (SGA) has been a great desktop notifier for a long time. In the just-released version 5, however, SGA has added a handful of new features which make it even better than its predecessors. SGA 5 can also notify you of upcoming events from a Google Calendar (even password-protected ones), changes in your local weather forecast, and new messages sent to you via Google Talk. As ... Read more »

Tomorrow, December 7, Google is expected to launch its new netbook-and-tablet cloud-based operating system, Chrome OS. It's also entirely possible that Google will simply show off the much-hyped Chrome Web Store. The event was only announced December 3, and it's extremely unlikely that Google would rush the launch of something huge and consumer-facing. Even if Chrome OS is shown off tomorrow, ... Read more »

Dropbox, with a bunch of minor bug fixes, has now been bumped from version 0.8 to 1.0 and garnered the exciting 'RC' tag. This means the developers think that Dropbox is ready for prime time -- though given its massive publicity drive, and a huge numbers of users, I think this is more of an 'exhibition release' than anything else. Due to a bug in the upgrade process, Linux and Mac OS X users ... Read more »

Speaking frankly and quite technically, Pavel Studený of the Opera Mobile team has posted some info about its Android development experience. The post itself is pretty thin on details, except for two gems: both Flash and HTML5 video are coming to Opera Mobile. The interesting thing is, Pavel doesn't say that Flash and HTML5 support are only coming to Android; in fact, he says "if you ... Read more »