If you haven’t been invited yet, you can directly opt to try out Buzz by going to Google Buzz.

GMail has always been awesome with rolling out better and newer features and integrating them right into the inbox. First it was just email, and then came chat, video chat, and with Labs features enabled, we could do much more with our plain old GMail inbox.
GMail Buzz intends to take it to the next level with the integration of other Google services such as Reader, Picasa etc. as well as other social networking services such as Twitter, Flickr all in one place – your inbox. And it is indeed very simple to get started, as seen below I integrated my twitter account.

All this means just one thing; Google is trying to bank on its GMail services to get back into the social networking arena [after Orkut having lost the match to twitter/ facebook etc]. Sharing links, content etc is all going to be integrated in your inbox.

It is also available on your mobile phone. For more details visit this link [ Google Mobile Blog post: Introducing Buzz for Mobile ]

For more details watch the video below.

Courtesy: GMail Blog [ Google Buzz in GMail ]

But just because it is so cool to unbox your new gadgets, (blogs like Gizmodo and Engadget have done zillions of such posts), I decided to do the same when my box arrived last evening. So just enjoy the pics below.

The Box is so bigger than the actual Tablet.

*****More pics after the Jump*****

Lotsa Air Bags. Just in case it needed water landing.

There it is! My Trust Tablet TB-7300

Got a bit carried away. Damn Meerkats. So funny!

I know, lotsa booze. No one’s paying any attention now.

It is indeed widescreen.

Covered in Plastic…It’s fantastic!

Final level of unboxing.

Unboxing done.!!

Front-View -ish!

Sexy side-view!!

The digital pen..is mightier than the …whatever!!

So what does this mean to me and you? What does it mean to Microsoft/Windows XP-Vista-7 users, Apple/MacOSX users and Linux users? Is all the buzz and hoopla worth it? Let’s deal with them one by one.

a) Google Chrome OS is Chrome extended :

It has worked for the browser- which is clean, clutter free, simple, fast, instant start-up, reliable and lightweight. Going by the name, ChromeOS is aimed at replicating all of these features. From what we get from Google’s release post, it is indicated that the user interface will be kept extremely simple, and most of the user experience will take place on the web.Now that raises certain eyebrows and questions about the user experience in an offline environment. We have yet to see any demos and exact feel of how the OS is going to look like, so its a bit early to comment further on this.

Also – Chrome OS is not Android + :
Android is for mobiles. ChromeOS is for Netbooks. Chrome OS is designed to cater to people who spend a lot of their time online, and hence the obvious choice of Netbooks. However, Chrome OS will aslo be able to run on desktop systems as well.

b) So what is new with this Chrome thing?

For people who just can’t wait for PCs to boot up, browsers to open and get ready in a total of almost 2 minutes;
For people who are just way too careless to not backup their important files;
For people who do not want constant software updates or struggle with compatibility issues – there comes the Chrome to save the day. Or does it? We’ll get to know it next year. The vision is to accomplish all of the above mentioned things, and also redesign the security architecture of the OS to fight back malwares and viruses more efficiently.

c) Should Microsoft be worried?

11 million netbooks were sold last year. By 2013 this figure would reach 39 million. The PCs and Laptops market will be 400 million – which is almost 10 times the size. So, if Chrome OS is just aimed at the Netbook segment , there is just way too much room for Windows and Linux and Mac OS.
Also, if Chrome OS is aimed at Netbook users, will the UI be appealing enough? We have to accept the fact that with time, we have all kinda got accustomed to the whole taskbar with a start button, thanks to Windows. We have seen that in different shapes and sizes – Finder and Dock on the Mac, and similar stuff on the Linux flavours. One of my major concerns is how the UI going to be? If it is going to be entirely web based – in a form which is going to resemble the browser, will user adaptability be considered? And hence, I don’t see Google Chrome OS posing any form of threat to Windows or Microsoft.

d) I know its just aimed at being Anti-Microsoft, but how?

Its opensource, its free, and its aimed at the next – rising market of computer users. Windows don’t seem to be offering any free OS in recent future. Windows XP running on Netbooks, was originally designed for Pentium IIIs and above. But the Chrome OS is designed to run on even x86 and ARM chips. The way to go for Chrome OS to get this done by next year is that they are going full on with the project, releasing it to the open source developers community. The source code will be released by the end of this year.

Quoting from Techcrunch’s post [ Read: Google Drops A Nuclear Bomb On Microsoft. And It’s Made of Chrome.]

Google says the software architecture will basically be the current Chrome browser running inside “a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.” So in other words, it basically is the web as an OS. And applications developers will develop for it just as they would on the web. This is similar to the approach Palm has taken with its new webOS for the Palm Pre, but Google notes that any app developed for Google Chrome OS will work in any standards-compliant browser on any OS.What Google is doing is not recreating a new kind of OS, they’re creating the best way to not need one at all.

e) The big difference between Chrome OS and others:

This will be evident more when we get other technologies worked up alongside to truly reveal all the details. I am talking about HTML5, OpenVideo and most importantly Google Wave. All these clubbed with the Chrome OS could be something to watch out. The web-apps section is what Chrome OS will be aiming at to hit it big. So, Google Docs, Calendar, GMail, GTalk, ZOHO, Chrome, Labs, Google Wave, HTML 5 – is that what Google Chrome OS will look like?
What remains is a media player. But if we are talking of having everything online, then possibly a YouTube feature makes more sense, given that it is owned by Google as well. And not to forget Twitter, Facebook and other Social Networking apps. So, will that please us? We at Techkeyla will keep a close watch.

Also Read:

Google Chrome: Redefining The Operating System

Why Chrome OS Now? Because Microsoft Office In The Cloud Comes Monday.

Chrome OS Partners: Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments

Why Google’s Chrome OS Bomb Has Minimal Fallout On Apple

Why we need to chill about ChromeOS

The Phone that changed..

Say Hello to iPhone 3GS

Looks the same as before

Performance Comparison

3MP camera on the iPhone

Macro Shots on the iPhone Auto Focus Camera

Video is ON..on the iPhone

Video Capture Specs for iPhone

Voice Control in the iPhone

Digital Compass with Maps

And the price is..

Jun 19 for UK and US

August launch for India

And it's a wrap for WWDC 2009 Keynote! No "one more thing"s

Hope you liked the post. The comments are open for you to scribble. Cheers!

Additional features that are included with the new version are: Form Autofill, Fullscreen mode. For the full list, please visit Google Blogspot. [ Put Pedal to the Metal with a Faster Google Chrome].

The best part is, upgrading to Chrome 2.0 is as easy as it could get. Go to the Settings tab, then select -About Google Chrome. The message box window automatically checks for updates and instructs you to update the version to the latest one available. And voila, once done, all you need is to restart the browser.

For the official Google Chrome website announcement please read this post. [Speedier Google Chrome for all users]. Also check out the cool instruction video below.

MS says: New rendering engine, support for CSS 2.1, ‘smart address bar’ ( very similar to Firefox’s Awesome Bar ).
It is not available for Macs, only for WinXP and Vista 32 and 64 bit versions. MS officials have confirmed of not going for any further changes in the user-interface or the programming from now onwards until its release. So pretty much, RC1 is what you would get. So, what’s different from the beta? MS has listed the whole list out here.

But seems like, more than that, IE (or rather MS) has picked up a few tips from Chrome (Google). Firstly, the separate process for each tab which would ensure IE would not crash for failure in one of the tabs.

Secondly, the “porn mode” or the InPrivate mode which is very similar to the Incognito Window in Google Chrome.

DownloadSquad has run a few tests comparing the IE8 RC1 with Google Chrome, Firefox 3 and Opera. The results are here.

For more on the IE8 RC1, please visit the following links.

New Internet Explorer 8 accelerates browsing

Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 8 RC1: Promises Faster and Safer Browsing

Microsoft’s IE8 Release Candidate Is Live; Nearly Identical To Final Release

The contest is looking for innovators to develop mobile applications which solve or tackle problems in three major areas. They are:-

Eco-Challenge: This is a challenge for innovators to develop mobile applications which have direct or indirect connection with keeping the environment safe and working towards a greener earth. So be it from from reminding of battery charging, or energy conservation applications or recycling tips, this section of applications will be something to look forward to.

Emerging Markets: This set of applications are supposed to be aimed at the next billion mobile users. The mobile phone is never the same old black and white screened thing which used to make just calls on the go. It is a PMP, a Camera, a Personal Organizer, a Calculator and so much more. And with emerging competition (read Apple and other smartphones) what would/should the Mobile Giant’s next generation of Billion phones possess to carry on the legacy of being the world leader. This section will definitely see the peak of innovation explored and exploited.

Technology Showcase: The name says it all. The criteria here would be-How Cool you could get! That’s it.

Check out the official rules and regulations here on the Nokia Page. And Happy innovating.

Did you miss a day on Techmeme? If that day was the 28th, you might have missed a new buzzword on the blogosphere. If not, you must be by now, jammed with the keyword-Cuil. Launched as the Google killer(yeah right) by ex-Googlers, Cuil did manage to make the entire blogosphere go haywire and make them lap it all up desperately, as if the Blogosphere was desperately waiting for a debutante. And then they talked and talked about it, about how they managed to index the web, the image results and then the hype on day 1 brought the site down. The site couldn’t handle the unexpected load on day 1 and was temporarily unavailable. But then, the question is, how did Cuil manage to create such a buzz all over?

ReadWriteWeb has an interesting explanation to this. It all begins with the buzz that the guys behind this Search Engine are ex-Google employees. So there you go. Does the media (blog media) need any more reason to go frenzy? Yeah well, not only that, the founders made some claims of challenging the big GOOG. And then, certain industry pundits (as they call themselves) made some good claims about the new kid on the block. And then, the press release came out with the headline: Cuil launches Biggest Search Engine on the Web. WHaaaaaa??? Where did Google,Live and Yahoo go for the day? And well, the initial hype surrounded the claims of the pundits. The power of PR took over and then, they must not have expected the backlash.

So here’s what went wrong. Cuil did index the web quite well, in a cheap way. But did NOTHING to bring it back on the front end. The end result, is BAD RESULTS. Almost irrelevant at times. Techcrunch has this article posted -How to Lose your Cuil-Erick Schonfeld talks of how the entire thing has been more hoopla than anything else, and how the bad and irrelevant results have all summed up to a really bad name behind all the PR techniques and Page Rank that it acquired on Day one.

On the other hand, when the press release of Cuil calls itself The Biggest Search Engine on the Internet, I think they should have seen it through if their search Engine IS infact delivering what search engines should at the first place-relevant results. Google,Yahoo and Live, all three search engines show a link to my website Techkeyla-when I search the keyword Techkeyla. But Cuil rather shows a Blogswatch link to my blog and many other such links which are actually just links to my blog. My blog is almost 6 months old, and lotsa crawling has already happened. For Pete’s sake Google manages to grab my meta-data info that was updated last night. So, Mr.Cuil- think before you call yourself the Biggest. I just want to see what Google’s reply would be on this one.