Android 2.0 First Look: Fresh Face, Sick Speed [Android]

While Android 1.6 is still writhing around in amniotic fluid, BGR had the nerve to publish shots of version 2.0 'Eclair,' which doesn't even have a formal due date yet. They look great. Sorry, 1.6: I'm already over you.
You're best off trudging through the entire gallery here, since not all the changes are all that visual, and BGR has annotated each shot with description. That said, here are some of the highlights (keep in mind that some of these could be subtle features of Donut, or handset manufacturer add-ons:
• The whole system feels much faster, especially the browser. Apparently it renders about as fast as the 3GS's, though part of that could be down to the hardware (What is it, BG?).
• The browser also gets double-tap-to-zoom (some ROMs already come with this)
• Facebook friends are integrated right into the contacts system
• Voice control has been scattered through the whole system, and even gets its own dedicated dashboard
• There's an upgraded version of Google Maps, with layer support
• Native MS Exchange support
• There's now a unified email inbox
• A YouTube homescreen widget, which enables two-click uploads
• A 'Car Home' app offers larger shortcuts for functions you might need while driving, as well as easy access to voice control
In any case, the earliest we can expect to see this on a phone is when Motorola's barely-not-mythical Sholes decides to materialize in store, which could be as soon as Christmas. More shots at [Gizmodo via BGR]

TechTracker Scans Your Computer for Outdated Software [Downloads]

Windows: There's no reason to rely on individual applications to tell you when they need an update, when you've got a handy tool like TechTracker.
You'll need to create a free account or use Facebook connect to login to CNet and download the TechTracker application. Once downloaded and installed finding the out of date applications on your system is as simple as running the application. TechTracker compares the software versions of your applications to the vast database of applications at Download.com and shows you a list of which applications need to be updated and a link to Download.com or the publisher's site where you can download the update.
You can also tell TechTracker to email you when a new version of an application you have comes out, so you'll get an email update before the next scan even takes place. TechTracker is freeware and works wherever Windows does.

TechTracker [LifeHacker via Digital Inspiration]

Google Chrome 3.0

You shouldn't read too much into Google Chrome's version numbers. Just because you can now install Google Chrome 3.0, it doesn't mean that Google wants to appear more mature than it already is. For Chrome, version numbers are just a way to highlight major milestones.

Three months after the first developer preview, Google Chrome 3.0 is out of beta and ready to replace the current stable version. Since Google updates the browser automatically, you might not even notice that you use a version that brings new features.

Even if it's one of the fastest browsers available today, Google Chrome continues to improve its performance. 'We've improved by more than 150% in Javascript performance since our very first beta, and by more than 25% since the most recent stable release,' mentions Google.

The new release supports themes so you can customize the browser with one of the 28 new themes. Not all of them are good-looking, but they're easy to install and you don't have to restart your browser after changing the theme.


Google Chrome 3.0 has an updated new tab page that lets you customize the pages reordering them using drag and drop, by pinning the pages you use frequently and removing the pages you no longer visit. Google simplified the page by removing the list of search boxes and the recent bookmarks.


A feature you won't probably use too often, at least for now, is the support for the HTML5 video and audio tags. Like Firefox 3.5, Chrome includes video codecs that allow you to embed videos without using slow and unreliable plug-ins like Adobe Flash. You can test this feature in TinyVid.com, an experimental Ogg video uploading site, or in YouTube's HTML5 demo page, which uses an H.264 video."