It could be here sooner than you think…

The Financial Times is reporting that Google is in talks with major Hollywood studios to bring streaming movie rentals from their catalogs to YouTube by the end of the year. Citing multiple sources with knowledge of the plans, the FT claims that the YouTube on-demand video service will probably launch first in the US, and will offer movies, simultaneous with the DVD release, for about $5.

The movies won’t be downloadable, so you’ll need a live Internet connection to watch them. But the lack of a download capability isn’t as big of a deal as you might think at first. The recently launched Google TV platform, which brings YouTube directly to Internet-connected televisions, presumes a constant Internet connection, so the rumored streaming rental model is a perfect fit for it.

Source: Ars Technica

Now you can make your Google homepage (not your iGoogle page) feel more like home! Thanks to an upgrade from Google, you can choose an image from your Picassa album, your computer or a Google public image.

I visited google.com and was so surprised by what I saw, that I forgot what I was googling. What do you guys think of the change? I kind of miss the standard colorful Google logo and white background….

Read more about how to change your page here

Who isn’t excited about the 2010 World Cup kicking off in 3 days?!? Even search engine giant Google is. If you search “World Cup” scroll all the way down and you’ll see the following.

Pretty cool, Google.

Today, on PAC-MAN’s 30th birthday, you can rediscover some of your 8-bit memories—or meet PAC-MAN for the first time—through our first-ever playable Google doodle. To play the game, go to google.com during the next 48 hours (because it’s too cool to keep for just one day) and either press the “Insert Coin” button or just wait for a few seconds.

Google doodlers made sure to include PAC-MAN’s original game logic, graphics and sounds, bring back ghosts’ individual personalities, and even recreate original bugs from this 1980’s masterpiece. We also added a little easter egg: if you throw in another coin, Ms. PAC-MAN joins the party and you can play together with someone else (PAC-MAN is controlled with arrow keys or by clicking on the maze, Ms. PAC-MAN using the WASD keys).

PAC-MAN seems like a natural fit for the Google homepage. They’re both deceptively straightforward, carefully hiding their complexity under the hood. There’s a light-hearted, human touch to both of them. And we can only hope you find using Google at least a quarter as enjoyable as eating dots and chasing ghosts. You know, without actually needing any quarters.

SO COOL (and perhaps a waste of about 5 minutes of your day, but shhhhh)

Source: GoogleBlog

For the month of March Kansas has a new capital; Google. Under a formal proclamation issued by Mayor Bill Bunten on Monday, March 1, the capital of the Sunflower State will be known as Google, Kan. — “the capital city of fiber optics.”

It’s perhaps the most brazen and offbeat publicity stunt among several U.S. cities with big broadband dreams that are vying for a spot in Google’s new “Fiber for Communities” program. Announced in February, the Web search giant plans to pick one or more cities for its pilot project, offering an ultra-high speed network at a “competitive price.” The experiment has citizens salivating at the thought of Internet that’s100 times faster than what’s available in average American households. Cities have until March 26 to express their interest in Google’s fiber-optic broadband test, and Bunten believes his proclamation speaks for itself.

Source & more details at: govtech.com

Google announced our third annual Doodle 4 Google contest in the U.S. Google doodles today. Since 2008, Doodle 4 Google has given K-12 kids the opportunity to create their own logo and have it displayed on the Google homepage for hundreds of millions of users to enjoy for a day.

In addition to the winner’s art appearing on Google.com on May 27, 2010, they’ll also receive a $15,000 college scholarship, a laptop computer and a $25,000 technology grant for their school.

This year’s theme is “If Could Do Anything, I Would…” and it’s all about pushing the limits, dreaming big, and seeing what you can accomplish in life. When coming up with inspiration for this year’s contest, we turned to some of our very own Googlers, including Ed Lu, a former astronaut.

Read more and enter here

Google’s official blog has posted the most watched videos and most searched terms of 2009. To give you a small taste, below are the most watched videos, globally:

Most Watched YouTube videos (Global):
1. Susan Boyle - Britain’s Got Talent (120+ million views)
2. David After Dentist (37+ million views)
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+ million views)
4. New Moon Movie Trailer (31+ million views)
5. Evian Roller Babies (27+ million views)

Did you watch any or all of these videos? If not - better do it before the new year!

To read more, visit: Googleblog.blogspot.com

Google goggles have arrived, and no, not the kind you wear (look for those in 2021)…..

The brand-new addition to Google Labs is an experimental application for Android devices that supports visual search.

How does it work? Just open the app, snap a photo and voilà: Google will process the image and return search results. The photo search functionality eliminates the need to type or say anything on your mobile device, and it adds context to your real-world surroundings.

While the technology is pretty remarkable, Google admits that it is still in its infancy. So while some image searches work brilliantly — think photos of books, business cards, artwork, places, logos and landmarks — don’t be too disappointed if your image searches for food, animals, plants and cars are less than stellar.

Still, the application should prove useful, and we hope to see versions of it made available for other smartphone users as well. For now, though, iPhone users can turn to a number of different augmented reality applications for camera-enabled search functionality.

Source: Mashable

Gone are the days of sending REAL holidays cards through the regular mail… wait…. no they’re not! Bring them back with Google. The internet search engine giant will send one REAL holiday card to a recipient of your choice when you fill out the card. Click here to send yours now

There aren’t too many things you, your parents, and your grandparents have in common, but Sesame Street just may be one of them. Celebrating it’s 40 year anniversary, the show has been entertaining and educating youngsters for four decades. Starting last Wednesday, Google has been joining in on the fun by portraying favorite characters in it’s homepage “Google doodle”. My personal favorite… definitely Bert and Ernie appearing last Friday. Sesames Street’s true anniversary is tomorrow, November 10th, so we’ll have to wait an see what will most likely be the final show theme’s Google doodle.

Source: Associated Content