google

YouTube thinks that maybe all those cutepuppies99 and origamiboys1981 might be ready to grow up. Google's online video platform is now giving users the option to start using their real names on its service, along with hooking up their Google Plus profile up with their YouTube channel.

"One Google-wide identity was something that proved popular with new YouTube users when we began offering it in March, so we are now extending it to existing users," YouTube software engineer John Fisher wrote in a recent blog post.

Here's more on how Fisher describes how it works:

Marissa Mayer is in her second week of running Yahoo, going about the business of learning more about the place she was brought in to run -- for a hefty sum -- as she seeks to reinvigorate and refocus a company long described as "beleaguered" and "troubled."

Everyone seems to have advice about how Mayer ought to go about her business at Yahoo, not to mention conduct her personal life. Mayer will face pressure of a different magnitude from anything that she faced during her 13-year stint at Google.

Mayer, who joined Google as a 24-year-old … Read more

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Google held the final round of its second annual international science fair on Monday morning, hosting 15 contestants from around the world between the ages of 13 and 18.

The science fair this year has grown considerably as not only did Google receive thousands of entries from more than 100 countries, but the program now also accepts entries in not just English but also 14 different languages.

Most of the projects derive from the United States, but there were also contestants present from India, Canada, Spain, the Ukraine, Swaziland, and Malta. Entrants are also judged in … Read more

I've been working the device torture beat here for a while, but this video of an iPad and Google Nexus 7 going head-to-head in drop and submersion tests almost gave me a full-blown case of DTSD (device trauma stress disorder).

Once again, the device warranty folks at SquareTrade subjected two devices to some low-level maiming to see which survives with the least damage and the iPad suffered the most battle scars, at least from the drops. … Read more

I confess that waking up today, I didn't wonder why I'd forgotten to send Landsat a birthday card.

However, it seems that the Earth-observing satellite has been floating and watching for 40 years now.

Though it doesn't seem to have quite deserved a doodle, this birthday has deserved something just as visually rich: the release of live imagery of the Earth's surface by Google, as well as some fascinating time-lapse video.

I am grateful to 9to5Google, which discovered these mind-enveloping images.

Personally, I was enchanted by one video that showed the changes in Vegas over the years. … Read more

It's time to tap into the juiciest tech conversations for Monday:

Microsoft has not given a straight answer about whether its Skype service can facilitate law enforcement wiretapping of conversations. Previously, the online chat service was so heavily encrypted that the company went on the record about not being able to participate with wiretapping.

But Skype just made a change to its technology, and some say the changes make it possible to intercept a call. But when asked, Microsoft didn't admit if wiretapping was possible. It told Slate that Skype "co-operates with law enforcement agencies as much … Read more

Wouldn't it be handy if when someone was speaking a foreign language, subtitles appeared just below their face? CNET reader Will Powell thought so, so he built some glasses that make you feel like you're in an arthouse movie.

Using some 3D specs, a couple of mics, a smartphone, a few cables, and two Raspberry Pi mini-computers, Powell hacked together a working automatic translation system -- and he's made a video showing it working.

Powell, a programmer with a background is in Adobe Flex and AS3, was inspired by Google's high-concept Glass project. … Read more

Google has released a Nexus 7 commercial to keep its tablet's momentum going.

Dubbed "Camping," the one-minute commercial shows a father and his young son camping and exploring the woods. Throughout the commercial, the boy and his dad are seen using the Nexus 7 for a host of activities, including finding their way through the woods, searching locations in Google Maps, and playing games in their tent.

Google's Nexus 7 promotion comes at a time when the company's tablet is selling like gangbusters. The 16GB version of the 7-inch tablet is out of stock in the Google Play store. … Read more

It's probably an understatement to say that Microsoft is in a hurry to release Windows 8 and the Surface tablets that run on top of it.

Enough of a hurry that Redmond, on Wednesday, needed to make sure you knew that Windows 8 will arrive by October 26.

I'm guessing the Surface products won't be too far behind.

With Google Nexus 7 on the rise, Microsoft wants to (let's call it a hunch) get in the game before consumers begin focusing too much attention on Android.

Android, you know, the OS that seemed to be stuck … Read more