Google's Eric Schmidt is a very busy man.

But he still found the time to interview fellow political philosopher Stephen Colbert, when the latter appeared at Google this week. … Read more

Google has brought on futurist and artificial intelligence expert Ray Kurzweil as director of engineering, and there could be some real returns on the company's high-profile hire.

In a statement, Kurzweil confirmed that he'd be joining Google. He noted that his interest in reading technology, artificial intelligence, driving cars and those other things from the Jetsons lines up nicely with Google's efforts.

He said:

Google has demonstrated self-driving cars, and people are indeed asking questions of their Android phones. It's easy to shrug our collective shoulders as if these technologies have always been around, but we'… Read more

Ray Kurzweil, the famed inventor and futurist, said today that he would join Google, starting Monday, to work on "some of the hardest problems in computer science."

Kurzweil's title will be director of engineering. In a long statement on his Web site, he said he would focus on machine learning and language processing:

"I've been interested in technology, and machine learning in particular, for a long time: when I was 14, I designed software that wrote original music, and later went on to invent the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, among other inventions. … Read more

Google said today that it is closing down a handful of products, including several that make it easier to synchronize data between devices.

Google Sync, Google Calendar Sync, Google Sync for Nokia S60, and SyncML will all go away. In the case of Google Sync -- which allows access to Gmail, Calendar, and contacts via Microsoft Exchange's ActiveSync protocol -- customers won't be able to create new accounts after January 30, but existing connections will continue to function.

Google said the recently developed CardDAV protocol would make sync possible after its own sync product goes away.

The announcements … Read more

Some slight search changes are coming to Chrome, as Google updates the developer's version of the browser today to make getting to your search results more quickly.

Initially released to a small subset of people using Chrome dev for Windows (download) and the developer's version of Chrome OS (read CNET review) that also have Google set as their default search provider, the changes affect both the new tab page and any searches you type into your location bar.

Google software engineer David Holloway wrote in his blog post announcing the search improvements that they're a response to … Read more

Google+ Vice President of Engineering Dave Besbris has unleashed a new slate of features for the social network's mobile users.

Android users got extra attention this time around, with the addition of improved notices when friends share updates, as well as the ability to edit profiles from phones. In addition, Google is now letting its Android users access Google+ Communities, a feature it unveiled earlier this month that allows people to create either public or private groups around interests.

However, Besbris spent the majority of his time focusing on photos. Android users will now be able to upload photos … Read more

Sharp has unveiled a 60-inch Ultra HD television that will cost you a boatload of cash when it launches early next year.

Dubbed the ICC Purios, the television comes with a 3,840x2,160 resolution, allowing it to display over 8 million pixels. The LCD is also THX-certified. /p>

Sharp's television is one of a growing number of Ultra HD sets. And the ICC Purios, like other UHD sets, is by no means affordable for the average consumer. According to the company, it will be selling the television for 2.625 million yen (about $31,000) starting on … Read more

Windows XP users can now take advantage of Microsoft's Bing Desktop app to run searches without leaving their desktop.

Released yesterday, Bing Desktop version 1.1 supports all versions of Windows starting with XP. The latest flavor also lets you set your desktop wallpaper to match the image displayed by the Bing home page. You can cycle through the past nine days worth of images, according to Microsoft. And as the Bing home page image changes each day, so will your desktop wallpaper.

The Bing Desktop sports a search bar at the top so that you can enter a … Read more

After Yahoo announced that Max Levchin was appointed to its board, the PayPal co-founder and Silicon Valley all-star took to his blog to explain his reasoning for accepting the position.

According to Levchin, his decision centered on three areas -- personal, business, and sentimental. On the personal side, he said that he has for a long time "respected Marissa [Mayer's] talent and tenacity," adding that her decision to take over Yahoo "was a very ballsy move, and when she asked for my help, I was excited about working with her."

On the business side, Levchin … Read more