California-based Google Inc has plans to sell its own cellphone straight to consumers from next year, in a move that will put it into direct competition with Apple and RIM.

Google Inc said its employees were testing a device that uses its Android operating system. It further added that the hardware of the phone was manufactured by a partner.

Chrome Extensions site was introduced by Google some weeks back, right after various hints that pooped up about a complete push for extension support in the browser. That bit, however, was only meant to serve extension developers who were also allowed to upload their developments to Google.

In an addition to its $11 million Series B funding round in May, the DNA-decoding startup 23andMe has now secured another $2.6 million from Google! With the recent contribution from Google, the company has raised $13.6 million, out of the total $24.26 million it intends raising in this round.

With Google trying all its might to push forward its Book Search initiative, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in an interview with Steven Levy at the Wired Business Conference,

alled for the Google book digitization venture to be sent back to regulators. Clearly, in case the endeavors of the Mountain View, California-based Google bring about the

Though Google has released the test versions of its Chrome browser for Mac OS X and Linux, the company has alongside also cautioned that the builds are basically developers-specific and not stable enough for use on a daily basis.

The most recent sign of Google's ongoing endeavors to expand beyond online advertising - and gain a foothold in e-commerce - is the company's Monday confirmation of its plans about building a "digital book ecosystem," which would enable publishers to sell digital editions of their books straight to consumers.

Fully encompassing the potent idea of third-party add-ons, Fennec - Mozilla's mobile edition of its Firefox browser - has marked its arrival on the Windows Mobile 6 platform! The browser has been through alpha and beta modes on two Maemo-run, Linux-based Nokia Internet Tablets.

With the aim of providing more pertinent search-results, Google Tuesday announced a string of new search products - including Google Search Options, Google Squared, and Rich Snippets, along with an astrology-related Android app.

Despite the fact that its chief revenue source - online advertising spending - has seen a plunge in the face of the economic downturn, Google has still managed to report an increase in its 2009 first quarter revenue and profit.

By enhancing the functionality of its two features - the mobile Gmail service and Google Calendar - using hard line caching and new browser technologies, like HTML5 and Gears, Google Tuesday boosted up the Apple iPhone and Android browsers.