Google Wallet Assimilates Google Checkout. Resistance Is Futile

Google Wallet Assimilates Google Checkout

When Google Wallet was announced, and the interest in wireless payments cooled, there was an obvious question. Where did all of this leave Google Checkout? Now, we know exactly where – in the stomach of Google Wallet, which has now swallowed its sibling service whole. According to information released by Google, the Checkout service will be merged into Wallet, and no longer exist as an independent entity.
Don’t worry. This doesn’t mean that all of the online checkout features have been given the axe. It only means that those features will now be referred to under the Google Wallet name.  Going to the old site will re-direct you to the new version but the functionality remains the same.

Top Google PR Blunders!

Google celebrated its 13th birthday today, and in that time, it has had a number of product hits and misses. As with any big company, it has also had to contend with a number of PR snafus, from unauthorized data collection to antitrust investigations.

Most recently, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt was on Capitol Hill defending his company’s search tactics. Google does not favor its own products in search results or “cook” its results to give it the upper hand, Schmidt told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

You Need to Know About the New Facebook

It's been a big week for Facebook. After revamping some of the site's core features, the company hosted its developer conference in San Francisco yesterday and dropped some more bombshells. The whole experience on the site is about to change.

Facebook's new features mark a change in strategy. Last year Facebook set out to expand its reach by making some of its most popular features—mainly the Like button and commenting—ubiquitous on the Web. By spreading its Likes and comments to thousands of sites, Facebook further intertwined itself with the rest of our online existence, and its membership ballooned to a monolithic 800 million users.

Browser Wars

When it comes to choosing a Web browser today, you're spoiled for choice. Major new releases Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 4 have brought these two big name browsers to near parity with upstart Google Chrome and longtime innovator Opera. The current crop of surfing software all include plenty of speed, minimized interfaces for a better look at that site you're browsing, and support for the emerging HTML5 standard markup language. (Top Gadgets Review)

How to Turn Web Apps into Desktop Apps

Web apps are more than just interesting little online tools you can play with and forget.    Serious work now takes place exclusively in rich Internet-based applications that mimic, and maybe even replace, the Desktop Computer apps we've been using for decades.
Web apps are beholden to your Web browser: In other words, if the browser crashes, say good bye to your session of work and perhaps some important data. One of the ways around that, besides picking a relatively crash-proof browser (we recommend Google Chrome), is to use a "site-specific browser" to give your Web app some Desktop permanence. You will still need that all-important Internet connection, but running a Web app as if it were a discrete desktop app means more stability and accessibility.