Google just updated the iPhone version of their web site so it displays search results more clearly. I also noticed tonight (though it may not be new) that the site tries to suggest search terms as you are typing. Each Google application has a new icon and can be accessed directly from the home screen. Users of Google Apps for domains will be happy to know (this is not a new trick) that you can also access this new version by going to www.google.com/m/a/your-domain.com, where “your-domain.com” is replaced with your actual domain name. I use Google Apps for Domains exclusively for my company and having the Gmail application on my desktop is great for searching older emails (which I cannot do via the iPhone email client).

Official Google Mobile Blog

The New York Times this morning is reporting that Google co-founder Sergey Brin has made a $5 million investment in a company that will send two citizens to space in 2011. There will be a news conference today in New York to announce the investment. According to the Times this investment serves as an advance deposit on a future space flight. From the article in today’s New York Times:

…the passengers will have greater control over their flight and not simply be “piggybacking” on a government-sponsored flight. They could, for example, have more freedom to carry experiments of their own aboard the Soyuz, which has little cargo capacity, nearly all of it reserved for station business.

Link: Google Co-Founder Books a Flight on Russian Soyuz Space Shot

Q.: Judie,

Hope this note finds you well. I need some gadget advice, if you have the time.  I have a birthday coming up in two weeks, and my wife wants a suggestion from me for a present. I am thinking about a new phone.  I have a Samsung Blackjack for work which runs Mobile 5.0 and I like it a lot.  Works very well with our Outlook Exchange server.  I also have a Motorola RAZR2 for weekends, which I also like, but I’d like a weekend phone that has a little more functionality.

I have looked at the N95, but if I am going to put that kind of dent in my wallet, I wanted to see if you have a favorite fun phone that you like and would recommend for a GSM system (I am AT&T).  Anything that really makes you smile?

Thanks for your time!!

Bill

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An interesting feature has been added to Google Maps that allows for predicting traffic flow at a future date and time. While this is marginally useful for high density areas like Los Angeles and Washington DC, where traffic always seems bad, I could see benefits if Google provided point to point routing based on expected traffic flow during your estimated departure day and time.

Via: Google Operating System
Link: Google Maps

Nandini Maheshwari is the managing Editor and Publisher of a truly entertaining blog, BornRich. Launched on October 5th, 2005, it has quickly become a place where visitors can come and be amazed at what more than a few dollars will buy.

Whether it be the Multi-Media Bed with RUF Cinema, the Chrome Robot TV Stand, the Solarjo Solar Power Purse, or the Sharp Refrigerator with Thawing Mechanism, Nandini scours the web to find interesting and generally quite pricey items that we all might enjoy using if they were more easily obtainable; and always, Nandini will spike her posts with a bit of humor and wit.

Born Rich was Nandini’s idea and her first blog; since then she has co-founded the Instablogs Network with her husband Ankit who lends a hand with the needed programming. Nandini runs the 100+ blogs that make up the Instablogs Network, which has just celebrated its first birthday. She also personally works on another gadget blog called CoolBuzz, which covers the “coolest gadgets and other consumer items.”

A confessed “shopaholic”, Nandini says she is inspired by the “exotic thinking” of producers and designers of things that only the rich and super-rich can afford. She claims to get a “perverse enjoyment” in covering luxury lifestyle.

I thought it would be fun to talk to Nandini about Instablogs Network, Born Rich, CoolBuzz, and some of the other goings-on in the Instablogs Network…

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