Google Sphere

Twitter is not happy about Google's new integration of Google+ into search.

Over the last year, Apple and Google have secretly begun working on projects that will become wearable computers. Their main goal: to sell more smartphones. (In Google’s case, more smartphones sold means more advertising viewed.) In Google’s secret Google X labs, researchers are working on peripherals that — when attached to your clothing or body — would communicate information back to an Android smartphone. People familiar with the work in the lab say Google has hired electronic engineers from Nokia Labs, Apple and engineering universities who specialize in tiny wearable computers.

One billion is a pretty big number by any measurement. However, when it’s describing the speed at which something is growing, it’s simply amazing. This past weekend, thanks to Android users around the world, Android Market exceeded 10 billion app downloads—with a growth rate of one billion app downloads per month. We can’t wait to see where this accelerating growth takes us in 2012.

Google is proving adept at building a social media platform plank by plank, Phil Simon writes. Where Apple and Amazon tend to add basic, standalone social features to their products, Google has created a rich, vertically integrated social ecosystem to which features can be added incrementally.

The popular Google Earth app is now updated to version 6.2. You can easily take a spin around the world without even standing up. So, what’s new, you ask?

Google has added public alerts to Google Maps to keep the public informed during emergencies.

Google+ is changing the web, even if you don't want it to. That's right. Now, more than ever, it's critical for your business to create and build its presence on the new social network.