Entelligence: A Google Phone could be the death of Android

Without a doubt, the big buzz since the weekend has been over the "Google Phone," an HTC-built device called the Nexus One handed out to Google employees last week in what Google describes as a "mobile lab." Confirmed to be running Android 2.1, the Nexus One has once again raised the idea of Google selling unlocked devices directly to consumers. (Google has been selling unlocked HTC Android phones for some time, but only to developers.)

It would be a strange turnabout if Mountain View made this move, directly going in the face of previous assurances that Google had no plans to compete directly with Android hardware manufacturers. What's more, there are a lot of unanswered questions here.

How to Install Chrome OS From A USB Drive

Image via CrunchBase

Have you already tried Chrome OS using a virtual machine, and were less than impressed? Well now you can get a feel for how Google's Web-centric operating system will run natively on your machine. The folks over at Engadget were able to boot Chromium OS -- the open source version of what will become Chrome OS -- off of a USB stick on a Dell Vostro A90 netbook. The USB bootable disc is based on the Chromium OS build of Twitter user Hexxeh, who set up a Web site where you can view all the instructions you need for getting your bootable USB up and running.
If you're ready to get your hands dirty and try out the new OS, here's what you need to know:

Get the Torrent

Before you do anything, you're going to need to download the Hexxeh's Chromium OS build. You can find a torrent link on Hexxeh's Website or you can use the mirror links found here and here courtesy of Engadget.

Set Up Your USB Stick

Hexxeh has some easy instructions for writing your Chromium OS image onto a USB stick. The instructions for Windows and Linux look pretty straightforward, but Mac users are going to have a slightly more complicated time.

Pick Your Machine

A major problem with Chromium OS right now is that its device drivers are in the very early stages of development. That means some parts of your computer may not respond when using Chromium OS. One of the most common problems being reported is the lack of Wi-Fi functionality. So you may have to use an Ethernet connection instead. You should also know there's no guarantee the OS will boot up at all.
If you're in the market for a netbook or laptop, and you plan on experimenting with Chromium, check out Google's list of devices that are known to work with the latest version of Chromium OS. The list is primarily for developers who want to work with the new OS, but there's no reason you can't use it as a buying guide. The device index features a sortable checklist that lets you know if the Wi-Fi and trackpad functions are working, as well as general comments and warnings specific to each device.
For example, you might want to stay away from the Asus Eee PC 900 if you plan to run Chrome right now. The netbook's Wi-Fi is supposed to work, but the device's fans may not run, which could cause your system to overheat. Other Wi-Fi-ready devices, according to Google's list, are the Toshiba mini NB205, and the Asus Eee PC 1008HA. The Lenovo ThinkPad T400 may also work after upgrading the Wi-Fi firmware. But before you go out and spend money on a new computer, read over Google's hardware list to make sure you are fully aware of the functionality and problems for the device you have in mind.

Booting From the USB

Once you've got your computer, and have gone through the steps of writing your bootable disc, you may find you can't get Chromium OS to boot on your Windows-based machine. If this happens, you may have to change the settings for how your machine boots up.
You can learn how to change the settings by checking out PC World's guide to installing Windows 7 on a netbook using a USB drive. The instructions are not Chromium-specific, but you should be able to figure out how to adapt this method for your purposes.
A word of warning: Changing the boot order means messing with your system's command prompt and BIOS. If that sounds scary, you might be better off picking up an official Chrome OS machine later next year. For the rest of you, let us know in the comments how Chromium is running on your netbook.
From PCW: http://www.pcworld.com/article/183136/how_to_install_chrome_os_from_a_usb_drive.html

Google Chrome OS Launching Next Week?

Google's much-anticipated operating system, Chrome OS, will be available for download next week, or so goes the latest buzz on the Internet. The latest talk about Google's operating system is courtesy of TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, who says this information comes from a "reliable source." This is the second rumor saying an early release of Chrome OS was imminent.

Last month, various sources in China were claiming devices running preview builds of the OS would be available for purchase as early as November. It also follows a string of premature reports of sightings of the OS in the wild that all turned out to be incorrect reports.

While Arrington's rumor may sound exciting, it's actually not that surprising considering Google's past statements. But if you're hoping to have Chrome OS running on your laptop before Thanksgiving you might be disappointed.

The Rumor

An early version of Google Chrome OS will be publicly available next week, according to Arrington. He also says this rumor falls in line with previous plans to release an early version of Chrome OS this fall.

Arrington also believes the early build of Chrome OS will lack support for hardware drivers, which have yet to be built. From the sounds of it, Arrington is talking about driver support for basic hardware components like network and graphics cards as opposed to peripheral equipment like printers and scanners. "A robust set of functioning drivers is extremely important to Chrome OS's success," Arrington said. "People will want to download this to whatever computer they use and have it just work."

Without driver support the OS will be essentially useless. So Arrington's best guess is that Chrome OS will only be ready to work on a small number of computers at launch, such as the Asus Eee PC and possibly some of Google's Chrome OS partners like Acer, Toshiba, and Hewlett-Packard.

Will We Really Get a Glimpse of Chrome OS Next Week?

When Google announced its new OS last fall the company said they would open source the code for Chrome OS "later this year." That would fall in line with Arrington's rumor, but Google also said that netbooks running Chrome OS wouldn't be available for consumers until the second half of 2010.

So what's likely to happen next week is that Google will make good on its promise and release the Chrome OS source code to developers. But that doesn't necessarily mean the average person will be able to download these files and get the OS up and running. Source code is just a collection of text files meant for software developers to tinker with.

As I understand it, to get the source code to work as a computer program, you need a compiler that brings all the source code together and turns it into something your computer can actually boot up.

So if Google is only releasing source code and not actual builds of the Chrome OS, getting it to work will probably be out of reach for most users. To give you an idea of how technical building from source code can be, check out Google's page detailing how to build your own version of Chrome for Mac. Good thing Google has already released a developer build that you can just download and install the easy way.

But who knows? Maybe Google will release a Chrome OS build that anyone can download and test. I sure hope so, but somehow I doubt it.

Google Music Search Officially Launched

We already knew it was coming, but today Google is officially launching built-in music playback results on regular Google search queries.

Much has been made of this new feature, and it certainly will make it easier for users to get straight to a song they're looking for, but it's not something we're getting all that excited about. We'll admit that finding and playing back a song when all you've done is search for lyrics is kind of cool. Still, Google already puts video results from YouTube in the search results page, and more often than not they're what you're looking for, anyway.

Right now we're not seeing the updates in our results, but chances are you'll start seeing them in the next day or so if you aren't already.

So what do you think? Excited about the new music-in-Google features, or kind of lukewarm like us? Let's hear your thoughts in the comments.

Get It Wrong Before You Google to Learn It Better

We live in an era where the answer to almost any fact-based question is no further than a Google search away, but Scientific American highlights a study suggesting subjects forced to get something wrong before being told the answer learn it better.
In many ways the results don't seem terribly surprising—everyone's had that one fact they remember better than all the rest because it was the one they kept getting wrong. But it also flies in the face of the way many schools teach their students and the way the internet has spoiled us.

People remember things better, longer, if they are given very challenging tests on the material, tests at which they are bound to fail. In a series of experiments, they showed that if students make an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve information before receiving an answer, they remember the information better than in a control condition in which they simply study the information. Trying and failing to retrieve the answer is actually helpful to learning.

It's easy to understand the idea, whether or not the study's findings surprise you, but keep them in mind next time you're about to google something and consider getting it wrong on your own before you go looking for the quick answer elsewhere. (Adam Pash - Lifehacker.com)