Reports are lighting up the web that Google has a new favicon. I just reloaded my iGoogle homepage, and sure enough, there it is. Gone is the boring silver and blue “g,” now we get a more colorful “g.”

It was only this past June that Google last changed its favicon after not doing so for eight and half years previous to that. At the time, Google’s senior vice president of search product and user experience, Marissa Mayer, wrote a post on the Google Blog explaining the change and the difficult selection process:

We tried in total more than 300 permutations. It was much harder than we thought at first. We wanted something distinctive and noticeable, so we aimed toward transparency or semi-transparency, so the image would have a more distinctive noticeable shape than just a block. We wanted something that embraced the colorfulness of the logo, yet wouldn’t date itself.

She went on to note that, “By no means is the one you’re seeing our favicon final; it was a first step to a more unified set of icons.” It looks like they finally got the “colorfulness” they were looking for.

The new favicon appears to be slowly moving throughout all of Google sites right now, including Gmail.

No word yet on if this means Google’s iPhone application will be getting a new icon as well (it’s currently a boring blue and white lowercase “g” logo), but consider it on death watch.

Google used its booth at Macworld this year to show off some of the things it was working on with Apple, particularly for the iPhone. But the coolest thing at their booth didn’t have much to do with Apple at all: A hacked Nintendo Wii Balance Board (from the game Wii Fit) used to control Google Earth.

Using the Google Earth application programming interface (API), a Google engineer was able to get the Balance Board to talk to the program after decoding the Bluetooth packets being sent from the board (that’s how the device wirelessly interacts with a machine like the Nintendo Wii). The result (which you can see in the video below) allows users to move forward by leaning forward, move backwards by leaning back, etc.

The developer says he made this neat little demo to inspire others to code their own programs using these open source methods. Hopefully, someone comes up with a hack to make it so I can use my Wiimote to control my Apple TV, so I can stop using that damn directional pad.

“Release early, release often,” that’s apparently the creed the Google Chrome team lives by, as it describes today on its blog. To that end, Google is taking a bit of a different approach when it comes to launching new features for its Chrome web browser: It’s splitting features up into three different channels, depending on what kind of user you are.

Specifically, Chrome will have a “Stable channel” for everyday users, a “Beta channel” for those users who want to try out new but incomplete features and the “Developer preview channel” for those who want to try out really new ideas, some of which may not be fleshed out much at all. If you want to go beyond the Stable channel, which all Chrome users are on by default, you have to run a program called Google Chrome Channel Changer, which can be found on this page.

A lot of other web browsers do feature previews, for example, many Safari users (Apple’s web browser) download the Webkit nightly builds, which are essentially test versions of the browser. And Firefox routinely has beta versions of its browser. But the idea of channels seems like the most user-friendly way to test beta features yet. It kind of reminds me of the way Google tests new Gmail features with Gmail Labs.

The Chrome Developer preview channel is actually showing off some Chrome 2.0 features already.

I can’t wait to try some Chrome beta features when Google launches Chrome for the Mac sometime later this year. Go team go!

[photo: flickr/iwantaimac]

While reactions to Palm’s new Pre device are still trickling in, it’s already pretty clear that one group liked what Palm offered up at CES today: Its investors.

Palm’s stock is currently up over 30 percent on the day. While it opened the day at $3.36 a share, it currently stands at $4.30 a share. The stock immediately shot up following the Pre’s unveiling, before dropping back down to the $3.60 a share-range, but with the keynote address now over, the stock is heading north again.

The Pre is Palm’s next generation device slated to be released in the first half of this year to compete with the new powers in smart phones: Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android phones and BlackBerry.

General reactions to the device (and its new operating system) also seem to be very good early on, though some, like GigaOM’s Om Malik are “totally disappointed” by the Pre.

One thing is for certain: Private equity firm Elevation Partners’ $100 million investment in Palm in late December looks very smart right about now.

For a company whose chief executive laughed off the iPhone when it was first announced, Microsoft is sure making a lot of iPhone applications. The company unveiled another app, Tag Reader [iTunes], at CES today, marking the second time it’s released an app to Apple’s App Store in the past month.

Just like Seadragon Mobile, its first iPhone app, Tag Reader is more of a demonstration app than anything useful — for now. You see, the point of the app is to be able to read Microsoft Tags, a new barcode-like technology developed by Microsoft Research. If you know what QR Codes are, square barcodes that a mobile phone can scan to get coupons or other promotions, this is similar except that Microsoft is calling its tag technology High Capacity Color Barcodes (HCCBs).

But there are some differences between HHCBs and QR Codes. HHCBs are smaller, they’re in color and they don’t actually store any information except for an ID to grab information from Microsoft’s servers when you scan one, as the Microsoft blog istartedsomething points out.

The idea is to connect you with information that resides somewhere else without having you type in a long URL. Microsoft hopes these will take off in traditional marketing media — print advertising, billboards, packaging and merchandising, as it notes on the app’s page in the App Store. Because these codes link to information stored elsewhere, publishers will be able to gather analytical data about how the codes are being used.

But individuals can also make their own tags to create links to their own information on the web. This could be useful for putting on a business card.

It’s a neat concept, but just as with QR Codes, Microsoft Tags will have to take off for them to be useful. I have the iPhone app installed right now but I can’t do anything with it because I have yet to come across one of these codes. Google has been working with QR Codes for a while, but while they are popular in places like Japan, they haven’t yet taken off in the U.S.

Microsoft Tags aren’t confined to working on the iPhone, the company has readers for Windows Mobile, J2ME, BlackBerry and Symbian S60 phones, as TechCrunch points out. Tag Reader is available for free in the App Store.

Here’s the latest action:

One Laptop Per Child cuts 50 percent of staff — The group says it is refocusing its efforts and that the remaining 32 team members are facing salary cuts.

Investment group eyes Yahoo takeover — Silicon Valley executives and investment bankers are putting together a takeover deal that would be largely financed by debt from Microsoft, according to TechCrunch.

Google’s Eric Schmidt wishes he could save newspapers — But he says there’s no clear solution yet, and it doesn’t make sense for Google to buy the papers up.

Yelp user sued over negative review — At issue is Christopher Norberg’s critique suggesting that a chiropractor with whom he’d had a billing dispute  was dishonest.

Wal-Mart, Netflix sued for monopoly — The logic behind the suit seems a little shaky since you can’t have an online video monopoly when major competitors exist.

The outlook for video startups in 2009 — A lot of companies will struggle, but the silver lining is that more and more people are watching online video, says NewTeeVee’s Liz Gannes.

Online TV network Revision3 hires TV producer Ryan Vance — Vance, who has worked at cable network G4 and the Sci Fi Network, is now Revision3’s vice president of programming and production.

Facebook and Power.com have almost resolved their issues — The details of the settlement are still being worked out. Facebook sued social network connector Power.com in December for improperly accessing Facebook data.

Macworld selects best of show — The list includes some obvious choices, like the new version of iPhoto, but also some cool hardware and software that I hadn’t heard about.

Three former Broadbus execs try to launch venture firm — Broadbus was a television on-demand company bought by Motorola in 2006 for $189 million. Now three guys who worked there together are raising funds for a new early stage venture capital firm called Genovation Capital.

Rumors circulated late last year that Google was planning to make significant cuts to its temporary workers to cut costs. That definitely did happen, but details remain murky, even after a new regulatory filing showed up this week. Interestingly, Google seems to be going to some lengths to keep some of this information under wraps.

The filing in question was sent by Google to the Securities and Exchange Commission in December, and has been obtained by The Associated Press. In it are details such as the fact that Google currently has 24,400 employees, including 4,300 interns, temporary workers and contractors. That last part is key because the stated number of temporary workers was closer to 10,000 when Google co-founder Sergey Brin did an interview with The San Jose Mercury News back in October of last year.

But while you might think that means that Google laid-off nearly 6,000 of those workers, the 4,300 is just a subset of the 10,000, a Google spokeswoman told the AP today.

So what else is in the document about the layoffs? It’s hard to know because a key section is being kept confidential since Google claims it contains trade secrets, the AP notes. Also of note is that while normally such a filing would have turned up quickly, it took almost a month in this case because Google decided to file it on paper, rather than electronically.

Interesting — I wonder if they used Microsoft Word to type it up as well?

So what do we know from the filing? Well, that Google is in danger of being regulated as a mutual fund if its investments creep much higher. Organizations are classified as mutual funds when their investments exceed 40 percent of its assests. Google’s investments currently stand at 28 percent, but it thinks it will exceed the 40 percent mark soon, so it’s seeking an exemption from that rule — something which has been granted to both Microsoft and Yahoo in the past.

In the filing, Google also states that it plans to still spend billions of its dollars on research and development and acquisitions over the next couple years.

[photo: flickr/my hobo soul]

In yesterday’s keynote address at Macworld, Apple unveiled a series of software product upgrade that will potentially encroach on the territory of a handful of startups and larger companies. Should you be worried?

What iPhoto might maim

For starters, one of the big announcements revolved around changes to iPhoto, which, sometime this month, will add people- and geo-tagging functionality. The people tagging works via Apple’s automatic and adaptive facial recognition software, which you’ll find is pretty spiffy — unless you happen to be running the startup iLovePhotos, which has been doing pretty much the same exact thing, specifically for Mac users, for free.

But one doesn’t have to dig so deep into Apple’s new product architecture to see more of the obvious potential losers, like Google’s photo organization tool Picasa, which launched its software for the Mac a day prior to the Macworld keynote address — or Animoto, which helps you create photo slideshows on your computer or iPhone. Yep, iPhoto ‘09 covers this all.

But wait, there’s more. The shiny new iPhoto books, which now let you easily include related maps, might creep into the domain of photo-enthusiast-friendly, self-publishing startup Blurb (which has a relationship with Flickr). As a piece of the overall iPhoto pie, Apple’s new photo books are currently being marketed more to soccer moms than aspiring professional photographers. We’ll just have to wait and see if the product itself is compelling enough to seep through these audience boundaries, potentially via iPhoto’s new integration with Flickr.

(Re-)making the band

Another neat nugget revealed yesterday was the new “Learn to Play” feature of Garage Band ‘09, which lets you take interactive music lessons, like educational software companies including SmartMusic and Adventus do. Naturally, Apple also added a little pixie dust for its fanboys by offering a suite of lessons from celebrities in the music industry, ranging from Sting to OneRepublic.

Cornering Google’s and Microsoft’s workaholic market?

But it’s not just the fluffy, personal-use product merchandisers that might be getting nervous with today’s announcements. With the unveiling of iwork.com, a new online component to its iWork suite of office products, Apple seems to be entering the territory of services like Google Docs and Zoho.

The products aren’t painfully similar — and there’s some confusion revolving around whether you can actually use iwork.com to edit your documents in a browser and why you need to download the documents before editing them. Still, it’s a step into the realm of online document collaboration, which apparently Microsoft was also looking to penetrate — for its Mac users, no less (its Mac Business Unit is said to be planning a new companion application for Mac Office 2008 that allows folks to share documents through the company’s SharePoint and Office Live Workspace collaboration services.)

But what the mobile-dependent workaholics with a penchant for giving presentations will find far more exciting is the new Keynote Remote, which lets you control the new Keynote ‘09 straight from your iPhone or iPod Touch. This new feature might just convince those who still use Microsoft’s PowerPoint to switch. Let’s see how fast MS comes up with its own version of a mobile app. Who knows? It might even be free (Keynote Remote will be selling for $0.99 in the Apple App Store).

[Photo: Flickr/Theta75, Flickr/marcopako]

The internet is serious business. Just ask Canadian ex-model Liskula Cohen, who’s suing Google to unmask the individual or individuals behind the blog Skanks in New York, a site hosted by Google’s Blogger publishing service. The blog didn’t release Cohen’s social security number, credit card info or home address — it just crowned her its “#1 skanky superstar,” among other glowing accolades, according to the New York Daily News.

Cohen, who graced the covers of Australian Vogue and Elle in the early ’90s and has modeled for Armani and Dior, among other designers, wants to force Google to reveal the identity of the anonymous individual behind the blog. Good luck, lady — why don’t you try viewing the writer’s full profile on Blogger, seeing what other blogs he or she has created and tracking them down that way?

The blog only has five entries (a lightweight compared to the highly-trafficked, frequently-updated Hot Chicks with Douchebags), and all three posts ridiculing personal photographs of Cohen are dated August 21, 2008. Nonetheless, Cohen has filed a defamation suit with Manhattan Supreme Court, so she can find out exactly who called her “fortysomething” and “haggard” when she’s only 36.

“It’s petty, it’s stupid and it’s pathetic,” Cohen told the Daily News. (You’re telling us!) “And when I do find out who did this, at least I’ll know who my enemies are.” Better yet, they’ll actually know who she is, too; “Liskula Cohen” and “Skanks in NYC” recently topped Google Trends, according to CNET.

But seriously. If every celebrity (or pseudo-celebrity — PLEASE DON’T SUE US, LISKULA!) decided to sue for libel and defamation of character over every tabloid, gossip blog and other news medium that posted untrue or defamatory information, the courts would never have time to deal with real issues. Issues like scalding hot McDonald’s coffee and whether or not Britney Spears should have her license suspended.

Case in point: Oh No They Didn’t!, a popular Livejournal community with the motto “The celebrities are disposable. The content is priceless,” posts hundreds of gossip items and rumors a day, many of which are refuted by publicists hours later. Since the community leaving most of the catty comments comprises over 1000 members, can we really open them up to litigation? Just think of all the individuals who’d be sued for responding to the post about Cohen’s Blogger-induced tantrum — half of them probably can’t even vote yet, let alone afford a lawyer.

Celebrity news blogs thrive on cattiness, fueled by commenters who can hide behind the anonymity of the internet. Perez Hilton, the self-proclaimed queen of the gossip blog kingdom, often scrawls crude genitalia and simplistic doodles on top of celebrity photos (using what looks like MS Paint) before unleashing his uncensored opinion in a manner that often makes Skanks of NYC seem kind.

Hilton’s blog, instead of attracting infinite lawsuits (unless you count a disgruntled reader), actually spurred celebrities to tip him off to their whereabouts and appearances, even offering interviews in the desire for free publicity. These celebrities know better than to care too much about what an “anonymous source close to the [insert star's name here]” thinks or says.

Moral of the story: If you are remotely famous or even a little insecure, don’t Google yourself, unless you’re looking for new insults to fling at your friends. Or take it offline and make a good old-fashioned burn book instead. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a supermodel — if you’re not totally clueless about how to use the internet.

Pop culture fiend Magali Ferare contributed to the reporting of this article.

Here’s the latest action:

Meg Whitman, governor of California? — That’s the rumor following Whitman’s resignation from the boards of eBay, Procter & Gamble and Dreamworks SKG. Current Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (yes, the Governator) will leave office in 2010, and term limits prevent him from seeking re-election. Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay, and, like Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has hinted that she may run in the past. One potential primary rival could be Steve Poizner, the current State Insurance Commissioner and former founder of the Silicon Valley-based SnapTrack — which sold to Qualcomm in 2000 for a billion dollars. CNET has more.

Sling Player Mobile for the iPhone unveiled — Another Macworld announcement has Sling Media, makers of the popular Slingbox, entering the App Store with a application to stream television content to the device. But unlike Joost, which also does this, Sling streams it from your DVR and allows you to manage your box remotely using the iPhone software, as CNET points out. The app will launch sometimes in Q1 2009. The company also plans to use Macworld to show off Slingbox HD streaming to Mac computers.

Google launches Picasa for Mac – Macworld technically started today (though the keynote address is tomorrow and we’ll be covering it live), and Google took the opportunity to finally unveil a Mac-compatible version of its Picasa software. The software manages your photos and easily syncs them with Google’s online portion of the service, Picasa Web Albums. The big question is: Will this get Mac users to switch from iPhoto? Probably not, if you use Picasa Web Albums this is nice, but it’s kind of ugly (reminds me of Firefox on the Mac — not the prettiest software), and will require that you move all your photos over. The Google Blog has more – or watch the video below.

Is Gmz the Twitter hacker? — TechCrunch thinks so after finding some posts on a hacker site called Digital Gangster. Their source says that Gmz obtained the account information for the various celebrities that had their Twitter accounts hacked and posted the information on the site.

Listen to 2008’s hot music for free with Music Blog Zeitgeist — A collection of the top songs, artists and albums from last year are all streaming for free on the new site from the MP3 blog aggregator Hype Machine. It’s a nice layout and has some great music — all for free thanks to streaming provided by Imeem. ReadWriteWeb has all the details.

FileMaker Pro gets a new interface — The popular database software for the Mac (which also works with Windows) has launched version 10. The company says it’s the first new interface in 10 years.

Toshiba is moving into the solar-energy business — I guess consumer electronics aren’t hot enough, Toshiba is now chasing the sun! The plan is to build utility-scale solar power plants rather than cells for home use, according to CNET.

AT&T iPhone tethering also launching at Macworld? — We know it’s coming, but TUAW hears from a “trusted source” that it could come as soon as this week. It would cost an extra $30 a month to let you use your iPhone as the Internet access point for a computer. There would be a 5GB limit on data usage — which is the same cap that you get with AT&T’s stand-alone high speed Internet cards for $60 a month.