Google have today announced and launched their latest social venture "+1". The new and fully integrated feature allows users to give websites a "public stamp of approval", viewable to friends who come across the result in search. Think of it as a kind of Facebook 'Like' for search results.

This is undoubtedly the big G's hardest push into social so far, and although 'the like button' is now well seeded within the internet community, Google's traffic monopoly sets them in good stead for the title of content sharing champion.

So, where do you sign up? Despite the hype, the function is only in 'experimental mode' and therefore resides under Google labs, the company's opt-in-only site where new and upcoming features are tested on consumer guinea pigs. Want to get in on the herd? Then read on...

In December, Google introduced Goggles on the Android, allowing users to search the web using the phone's built-in camera. Well today the big G rolled out the same functionality for their Google Mobile iPhone app. To search with Goggles, simply tap the camera icon and take a picture of the item you wish to look up. The app will then scan the photo using it's image recogniton software and return what it thinks are the most accurate results.

Heads up iOS fans, there's a hot new UI in the house! Infact theres two, neither of which incidentally are likely to come our way anytime soon but hey, it's fun to gawk.

Google are leaving the digital world rather confused today with the viral-isation of their latest ad for 'Search with my location', fittingly entitled 'Pizza'.

The excruciatingly irritating 10-minute long video sees the (presently unknown) character cycle through a series of random backdrops, whilst attempting to search for pizza with his voice using the Google iOS app. The baffling absurdity of already finding local results 18 seconds in, before wasting a further 10 minutes of our lives is only exacerbated by the fact he's using an iPhone 4 as opposed to one of Google's heavily pushed Android handsets.

Have you ever looked at one of Google.com's festively designed logos and wondered which lucky souls get the job of re-designing the internet's most iconic image, every single day?
Meet the Google Doodlers.

In a report published earlier today, Google are said to be on the brink of ending the epic censorship battle between themselves and chinese government in one brash maneuver, to just get out of the country's cyberspace all together.

In an artistic marketing twist, the team behind Google's second smartphone have put together a series of online webisodes, documenting the story behind creating the Nexus One. Google's key message behind the four-minute first episode: 'Concept and Design', seems to be this idea of perfectly marrying hardware to software, which ironically automatically springs the iPhone to mind.

Still, this Nexus One promo remains a nice touch. Hosted entirely on YouTube, installment one and two of five are live now, although Ep.2 'Display & 3D framework' seems to be having some streaming problems.

Smartphone security, a worry to us all at the best of times. All that desktop standard software piled in-to a tiny little device, of course some inconsistencies will surface, all good super-phones have had their fair share. Well now it's Motorolas turn!

Droid users have reported a somewhat major (yet somewhat epic!) bug in it's Android 2.0.1 OS, that allows any nosy parker full access to your passlock protected phone with just the click of a button. After receiving a call on the device just hit the dedicated 'back' button to flash forward to the Droids homescreen, giving complete access to e-mail, web history, address book and all other personal information on the device.

So the Nexus One is finally upon us! Google's best efforts with this astonishing super-phone have impressed the folks over-the-pond left right and center, but we're left wondering when are we brits getting a chunk of this Google goodness? Well ponder no more eager tech-heads!

Yahoo! News have reported an official statement from a Vodafone spokeswomen claiming they will offer the Nexus One "in Europe, starting soon in the UK, in a few short weeks". The news that Vodafone will be sporting the smartphone comes as a surprise to the UK phone market as the big G's previous phone, the G1, was launched exclusively on T-mobile, and Vodafone haven't proved to be the most popular network in recent years.

As if the G-unit haven't exited us enough lately with news of the Nexus One Google phone currently in the works and the epic Twitter rollout. It looks like Google's next insane venture has been leaked and it comes in the form of a Chrome OS Netbook!

TechCrunch have reported rumours regarding a Google-branded netbook device set for release early next year. The notebook is reckoned not to have have Intel inside, but an ARM or Nvidia processor. It's also likely to ship with a data plan as Chrome OS is oh-so reliant on 'The Cloud'.

The premise of Google releasing their own brand of netbook looks likely when compared to the similar instance earlier this week. Talk is that Google have again given a 'request for proposal' in order to cite a suitable supplier for the product

Back in October Google signed a deal with Twitter to include real-time tweets in search results to provide users with up-to-the-minute updates about their keywords. Now Google searchers have started to noticed a huge step up in Twitter-Google integration as many results offer a 'Latest Results for...' Twitter widget displaying the most current mentions of the keyword in question. For example a quick Goog' search for 'gigabyt3' returns us the scrollable tweet box above about half way down the page.

Google highlighted this new feature and more at the real-time search event on December 7, giving an insight into what is to come for search, SEO and live media in general.

Read on for full video coverage of the event...

Both the twittersphere and blogosphere alike have been on fire today with rumours of a new Google branded smartphone being out in the wild. The news came in the form of several Tweets from CNET reviewers and Google employees, claiming that 'the big G' had rolled out 'tons' of unlocked smartphones to it's staff for testing purposes. In true open-source open-thought style Google VP Product Manager Mario Queiroz was quick to fill in the details:

Video giants YouTube have begun experimentation in 3D video modes. The 3D player can be enabled by using the URL tag: 'yt3d:enable=true', which activates the ability to watch videos in 3D, cross-eyed or with your funky 3D glasses!

 The technology used in parts seems pretty basic and is no way perfect but nevertheless something fun to play with, (and a good way for good to use it's 20%). We must warn you though, if you are sensitive to eye strain or migraines, THIS REALLY HURTS!