This past July Google announced that they are developing an operating system called Google Chrome OS. Originally it was expected to launch in the second half of 2010 but a source with TechCrunch suspects that it will be launched in the next week.

With the buzz around the Android operating system and Windows 7 afloat, an early launch of Google’s operating system would not surprise me. Supposedly Google has developers working around the clock to build drivers for the operating system. Google is working with a large number of companies to add their operating systems to PCs sometime in the near future such as Acer, HP, ASUS, Lenovo and Toshiba.

If you had the option to choose between a computer powered by Snow Leopard, Windows 7, or Google Chrome OS what would you choose? Leave a comment with your thoughts.

At 11:49AM on Saturday October 17, Rodney Bradford updated his Facebook status from his father’s apartment in Harlem, New York. He wrote “where’s my pancakes” which is probably an inside joke that Bradford and some of his friends would understand. While Bradford was updating his Facebook status, a robbery was taking place near-by.

Bradford was arrested as being a suspect and it turns out that his Facebook status is what proved that he was innocent. Bradford’s attorney Robert Reuland told the Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Gerdes about the status update on Facebook. Gerdes sent a subpoena to Facebook about the status update and the social networking company in California replied that the status update was in fact written from his father’s home at 71 West 118th Street in Harlem, New York.

Bradford was thrilled that Facebook had proven that he was innocent. One of his latest Facebook status updates was “CALL ME FACEBOOK KID…” This is another way that social media has benefited the lives of people. For those of you who think updating Twitter or Facebook is a waste of time, I’d highly recommend reconsidering.

Earlier this week, Rupert Murdoch did a 37 minute interview with Sky News about why he thinks Google and Microsoft have been “stealing” content from The Wall Street Journal through their news websites. He said he has a problems with companies that simply “pick up everything and run with it [2:13-2:15 in the embedded clip]” and “steal our stories.”

Because of this Murdoch said he wants to cut off Google News from linking to The Wall Street Journal articles. His logic is that he would rather have less visitors that actually pay than have millions of visitors that do not pay.

I read an article by TechDirt that points out all of Rupert Murdoch’s companies that simply “pick up content and run with it.” The Wall Street Journal is an excellent example. Below is a screenshot of one of the sections of The Wall Street Journal website:

It is not just The Wall Street Journal that links to tons of content that other people produce. FOX News does it with their Politics Buzztracker. AllThingsD regularly links to other stories in a section called Voices. News Corporation also owns IGN which has many websites that “steal” content from other websites such as RottenTomatoes. And I am sure that there are many other examples.

The fact of the matter is that there is original content writers out there. Sometimes people get lucky by being the first to publish breaking news and the rest of the time they are stuck with reporting content that other people produced. But as long as you keep producing the news and making sure that you have solid profit margins, then your publication business will prosper.

TMZ has learned that Richard Heene the father of “balloon boy” Falcon Heene will be pleading guilty tomorrow for attempting to influence a public servant. As you may recall, Richard falsely reported that his son Falcon was trapped in a giant floating balloon. He did this in order to promote a science fiction reality show. Richard will most likely be charged with a felony and probably won’t do any jail time. His wife Mayumi will be charged with a misdemeanor for false reporting to authorities.

Microsoft has banned somewhere between 600,000-1,000,000 Xbox LIVE users for having a modded Xbox 360 recently. When a console you have suddenly stops working online, what do you do with it? Sell it on the cheap. You may have noticed that tons of these blacklisted Xbox 360 consoles have been added to Craigslist and eBay.

The consoles aren’t completely bricked. Modded Xbox 360 consoles can still play with pirated games but they cannot be played online. According to PC World, over 200 postings in New York City has been added since November 5 on Craigslist with a modded Xbox 360 for sale. Chicago had over 195 listings added during the same period.

What does this mean for people wanting to buy an Xbox soon? Be wary when shopping on eBay or Craigslist for them.

You may remember the creepy girl that Palm used as the face of the Pre. She probably haunted all of our nightmares to the point that video editors decided to have a ball by making parodies of the commercial. Below is a list of some of the parodies used for the Palm Pre girl:
- Palm Pre: Traumatizing Edition
- Palm Pre girl gets high
- Palm Pre naked juggler

The campaign for the Pixi will be much less creepy judging by the above video. There’s nothing creepy about a bunch of yuppies sharing a phone and smiling while an Alvin and the Chipmunks techno song plays in the background.

Apple iTunes is one of the biggest source of music sales today. Accessing the content on Apple iTunes was officially exclusive to the software that is required for download. But now the walled garden company quietly rolled iTunes music, movies, music videos, and TV episode descriptions to the web in a new feature called iTunes Charts.

iTunes Charts is not exactly the same content that is showed on the desktop software but rankings are being shown for the various categories. On the web you can browse the top 100 in each category.

The problem with iTunes Charts on the web is that you cannot preview audio clips or buy the track on the spot. You still need the desktop software for that.

Dell Inc. is releasing a new line of PCs that will rival the Apple Mac Mini. The Dell Zino HD will be available in green, blue, black, purple, orange, red, and pink. The boxes are 8″ x 8″ and run on AMD Athlon Dual-Core processors with a choice of Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Ubuntu Linux. The “HD” in Zino HD has to do with the HDMI port that comes with the PC. They can also come with a 1TB hard drive and 8GB of RAM. The black Zino HD with minimum features will run for about $230. The highest priced Zino HD will cost about $808 according to Wired.