Yes its that time of the year again. Its time for a new facebook layout. Will it be a welcomed update or will stir up a storm of complaints like the last update? Read on for more.

For those of you that don’t know, Facebook has undergone some controversial site redesigns that were not always welcomed with open arms by the Facebook community. The last update introduced the new homepage which brought arguments against Facebook for privacy invasion. Basically, you were able to see everything your friends were doing on Facebook, whether it’s their wall posts or their approval of someone else’s status.

Now, Facebook wants to add a few more changes, but none that will cause such a stir as the last update. (keep in mind, this is only rumored information)

A shot of what the rumored new Facebook will look like.

• A new emphasis on the search bar - could mean an enhanced searching experience
• Removal of redundant “your name” link to your profile on the top right side (the profile link serves the same purpose)
• Removal of the bottom screen, pop-up navigation bar, leaving only the chat box – personally, I never used the “navigation bar” except for chat and notifications
• Notifications have been moved to the top left of the screen right next to the facebook logo
• Sidebar has been cleaned up a bit – so you don’t need to sort through meaningless categories of news feeds anymore.

So, are you excited for this new Facebook update, or are you satisfied with the experience as it is right now? Sound off in the comments

Info and pix from Switched.com

Want to be able to view the internet right from your Wii but didn’t wanna have to pay the 500 Wii Points (about $6) to get it? Then boot up that Wii, head to the Wii Shop Channel and go download it now because Nintendo finally wised up and made this FREE for everyone, starting today.

Already bought the Internet Channel for that 500 Wii Points and feeling a little upset? Don’t worry, Nintendo is offering those of you who did a free NES game from the Virtual Console (as long as it’s 500 Wii Points). Oh, and you should also know that this has it’s perks too– Nintendo today also announced that they upgraded the browser (which is powered by Opera– meaning it’s a solid browser) to Adobe Flash 3.1, which means things like watching YouTube should be perfectly ok from your Wii.

I put this today on my own Wii (I didn’t want to spend the money on it, but hey, if it’s free why not), and I gotta say– this is really awesome. It works just like your Firefox/Safari/Chrome/Opera/Internet Explorer/whatever you use to browse the web on your computer, loading sites like ESPN and TeenTechBlog (I heard it’s an awesome site so I had to check it out), and it loaded both those sites perfectly (though I couldn’t play any ESPN Video).

More info on the Wii’s Internet Channel can be found at Nintendo’s site here.

All in all, watch’a waiting for– turn on that Wii and let us know what you think of Nintendo’s Internet Channel. Did I mention it’s FREE?

Yup, you read that headline right. The often rumored Google operating system is coming. Announced earlier this morning by Google, Chrome OS is an operating system designed to  run on netbooks (those laptops that are realitivly low powered and cheap– usually between 10-11 , and with cost usually under $500. A lot of companies like ASUS, HP, Dell, Acer all make netbooks) and is designed to be simple and fast.

Google has yet to release, well, pretty much any info on this new OS, but it definitely sounds interesting– after all, Google makes some pretty interesting software, and an OS that could in a simple and quick way (hopefully built around the great Chrome browser interface that is found in the browser that is out now for Macs and Windows) combine the existing Google suite of services, and you have one really nice product. Seriously, Google already has all the parts: Gmail for email, Google Docs for word processing and as an office suite, Chrome for web browsing, Calender for, well a calender.. you get the idea.

As for the other half of software (i.e. developers)? Well, Google will be using a web-based application system (think early iPhone stuff, pre-2.0 update, when apps were only online and couldn’t be saved to the phone), and this will for sure be interesting to see if it’ll work or if they too will switch to an “App Store” type model like Apple has now, where you can download apps to run on the device without the need to be online. No word yet on how Google’s mobile Android OS will play into this (which is really gonna be interesting to see because netbooks running Android are said to be coming later this year).

While it’s WAY to early to say how Chrome OS will turn out (it’s said to be coming second half of 2010– or a year or so from now), Google has managed to get my (and pretty much the rest of the internet’s) attention on this very cool and promising product. As always, we’ll post more updates as soon as we get ‘em.

So, you like using Firefox 3 as your browser of choice over other options such as Safari 4, Opera 9, Google Chrome or Internet Explorer 8? Hey, that’s not a bad thing at all and Firefox 3 is my proud browser of choice (I like it a WHOLE lot better than IE8, Safari 4 and Chrome– and I never really got into Opera). I really love its simplicity and speed, and today Mozilla, the guys behind Firefox, today have officially released the next version of Firefox 3– nicely named Firefox 3.5.

For all the info on what’s new in 3.5 and for a little first take, hit the more link.

Ok, so what’s new in Firefox 3.5? Well, honestly, not a whole lot in the amazing new features department, more refinements on the existing Firefox 3 software. For example, it is said to be 2x the speed of Firefox 3– already considered by many as one of the fastest, if not THE fastest, browsers out there. Not only does Mozilla say it’s faster, but they say it uses less of your computers resources like memory– which you may not immediately notice depending on the specs of your computer–  this is definitely a nice update in my opinion. There also is the “Private Browsing” feature similar to those found in the on the other browsers, which I find ideal for use on public computers as it saves none of the things you did– such as what sites you went to, or the things you entered on sites like your username and password for sites like your email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

That’s just a very brief rundown of some of the bigger things in the update. For a video preview of the new things in Firefox 3.5, see this video here.

I’m actually writing this post using Firefox 3.5, so lemme give you a little first take on it as well.

The download and install took maybe 3 minutes total, probably less (I didn’t time it), and this was on a not “blazing fast” internet connection (the file itself is a tiny 7.7 MB so it should download pretty fast anywhere you have an ok connection). I do notice a slight improvement in speed when viewing multiple sites like ESPN, Facebook and of course TeenTechBlog, as well as other sites at the same time (ESPN is a site that used to actually give me some problems as it is one of the more intense sites design wise because of all the videos and moving objects on the page– the fact that it loads well now in 3.5, especially with other tabs open, is a very good sign to me). The “Private Browsing” feature is a nice add in, and works like regular Firefox. I do though wish they implemented a feature of “Top Sites”, or a tabbed list of your most frequented sites, when opening new tabs like in Chrome and Safari.

Overall though, a nice update and you should definitely try it for yourself. You can download Firefox 3.5 for Windows XP, Vista (which I tested it on), Linux and Mac OS X for free at Mozilla’s site here.

About a week ago, in the midst of the Apple announcements at WWDC (which we covered here), something that may have slipped in through the cracks between all the hype around new MacBook Pro’s, Snow Leopard, and a little something called the iPhone 3G S,  was the release of the final version of Safari 4. I had been using the beta version of Safari 4 for a while, and now spent the last few weeks using the final build.

So, should this be your go to browser on both Windows and Mac? Read on for the answer.

Ok, so first off, it’s fast. It opens pretty quickly, sites load fast, but lets face it – today, between all the browsers, speed differences are measured in such small margins that it’s almost irrelevant which one you use. So, what then merits Safari 4 to be my web browser of choice? A few things:

1. Top Sites – similar to Google Chrome, Apple has added in a Top Sites index (pictured above) to Safari in new windows. Of course, Apple did it a bit more stylishly the Chrome does, as added the nifty feature of letting you see which sites have been updated or not, which is useful for seeing when say, new posts have been added to a blog.

2. History Search – History in Safari is now fully searchable – so if you’re looking for that cool site you saw a month ago, or that source you used on your last assignment, its all easy to find. Also, a Cover Flow view of all your old pages are shown, making it easy to see if the page you have is the right one.

3. It’s Apple – alright, so that reason kinda sucks, but its true. I’m a Mac user, and I happen to like keeping it all in the family – an Apple browser on an Apple machine. Things just work – the widget integration, all the menu and interface stuff being familiar.. but that’s just personal preference.

Other minor cosmetic changes were made, in the moving of the refresh button to the right edge of the address bar, and the removal of the blue loading bar, instead having a small loading indicator appear in the address bar.

Overall, I like Safari 4. It works, it’s simple, the new Top Sites and History features are cool and useful. Are the new features enough to get someone to switch from say Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer or Opera? Probably not; but for those already using Safari, it’s a nice update. Interested? It’s free and you can download it for yourself here (again, it’s available in for both Windows and Mac).

Also, feel free to share in the comments what type of browser you use for surfing the web, and if there is a reason behind it, why you use it over the others.

Auditorium is the latest game I’ve found online, and frankly, it is incredible.

The basic premise of the game is that there is a river of “audio-visual particles” that flows across the screen. You must use the various tools the game gives you (a vortex creator, directional changes, and others that have yet to appear in the demo) to manipulate the river and get it to reach any of the various boxes. When the boxes are hit, they fill up with a steady stream of particles, when the flow is diverted, the boxes recede. As the various boxes around the board fill, each plays a part of a soaring orchestral harmony that sets off the game.

Also in the mix are color areas, which change the color, and then allow you to fill different colored boxes. The game only gives you a certain amount of tools per level, though, actually making it difficult.

All in all, the game is excellent – the particle effects are spectacular, the music wonderful, and the gameplay and puzzles unique and challenging enough to be fun. My only complaint – its only in demo stages right now, which of course means that its not finished yet.

Play Auditorium here.

Once again, Google’s added another nice update to the technically still-in-beta Gmail.

While this won’t be doing a whole lot functionally, Google has added themes to Gmail, allowing you to customize your entire interface in one of about 30 themes. They look nice, and add a little coolness to the normally bland Gmail interface, similar to iGoogle themes. Also, it seems that, like with iGoogle, they’ll be adding more themes over time.

Useful? Not really. Fun and Cool? Yes. To apply, just go to your settings, and click on the new theme tab. Even if you dont customize btw, Google has updated the entire Gmail interface slightly. That’s all folks.

Yup you read that right- YouTube is now playing full length movies online for FREE! This is big news, and a real blow to Hulu, which until now, was the only LEGAL (yeah we know YouTube always had movies online for free ) way to watch TV shows and movies. Like Hulu, advertisements will be inserted by the video, you know to keep this all free.

Don’t get too excited though: these movies are right now only from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (aka MGM), and the movies aren’t among the most recent — like the old American Gladiators (not the TV show that was on NBC a few years back).

But hey, the big thing here is that movies are starting to come to YouTube, and hopefully soon we’ll have some more modern movies, possibly from even some other companies (though don’t count on FOX or NBC/Universal coming soon- the two companies created Hulu).

Anyways, what you think- you gonna watch more movies from the internet now, which site would you rather use for movies- Hulu or YouTube? Sound off in the comments.

Info from MSNBC.com

Released a couple of weeks ago, Google Chrome, Google’s new web browser has received a lot of attention. We promised you a review of the browser– and if it is better than your current Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera or Firefox — and after playing with it for a bit, we have our opinion. Hit the more link for all the details.

Features:

• Sleek “Chrome” Design –  The little touches of blue-tinted chrome coloring surrounding the entire design of the browser provides the interface a clean, sleek look (and explain why Google Chrome is called Google Chrome).
• New Search-Enabled Address Bar — Try this: instead of going to a separate box if you want to search Google, you type your query directly into the address bar, and voila, Chrome takes you right to the Google page of your search term (you can use other search engines by the way like Windows Live, AOL or Yahoo!). Adding icing on the cake, a drop-down menu appears when using the address bar, offering you to direct your search to our beloved Wikipedia, or a more specific Google search term based on your words (ex. typing cookie displays cookie jar, lyrics, and cookie recipe).
• Tabs- First thing you’ll really notice in Chrome. Unlike the other browsers, the tabs are at the top above the address bar (the tabs are “mini windows” in one browser, and is the place you enter in the site you wanna go to, i.e. facebook.com or teentechblog.com ). It takes a little adjustment but it works nicely. Furthermore, when opening a new tab, you’ll be instantly “greeted” to an extremely helpful page including 6 “Most Visited” mini-windows, a Browsing History search bar, a recent bookmarks column, and a recently closed tabs column as well — in other words, just about any place you probably intend on visiting, only now a click away.
  

  Google Chrome Interface and Tabs

• Open Source code — For all the programmers out there this is good news to you (especially those who did that Instinct developers contest). What this does is enable users to add to the browser or embed the browser within another program. And back to Instinct developers- how about getting you guys a “real browser”, maybe this one modeled after Chrome (which happens to be based on Apple’s Safari- you know the browser on the iPhone…. Looks like there could be some real nice competition here ).
• Possible Browser in Android — While we’re still unsure exactly how this is going to happen (hey- we don’t even know that much about Android in general!), Chrome will be integrated into Google’s Android OS used on cell phones and non-computer devices. We predict this may be Google’s attempt to replicate the full web on a phone, a feature Apple’s iPhone-Safari relationship is known for.
• Tab-Separating “Task Manager” — Correcting a long-standing issue with tabs, Task Manager treats each tab as an individual window on your computer. So if one of your tabs happens to freeze, the other tabs will still function, instead of the whole browser crashing and taking all of the tabs down with it, losing all of your information. My browser has yet to crash so I can’t really tell you how much this feature sticks to its word, but people have been giving it mixed reviews.

Drawbacks:

• Slower than Firefox 3- This may be mostly insignificant to some, but there were times in my use where Chrome was much slower than Firefox 3- which by the way, is arguably the fastest of the browsers out there.
• No Mac support- This should be coming soon, but for Google to really make a dent in the browser market they need to get this out sooner rather than later.
• Still in Beta (testing) version — Not as clean as the others, and a lot of the kinks in the browser need to be worked out, but then again this has only been out for a couple of weeks.
• Privacy Policy Issues- In short, Google has to clean this up or else a lot of people will be very angry (See here for much greater detail).

Final Verdict:

Chrome has many pluses, but its defects right now are pretty substantial, though much of those drawbacks should be cleaned up over the next few months. While I don’t suggest replacing you Firefox 3 just yet, Chrome has a lot of potential, and once the final edition rolls out- it may very well be better than Firefox, and be the best browser out there.

What do you think– is this going to take over your day-to-day web browsing? Has it already? Let us know in the comments.

For those who want to download Google Chrome, you can do so here.

A few weeks ago I logged onto my Facebook to see a little message on top advising me to try the “new” Facebook. So I did. About 15 seconds later, my little experiment was done. I really hated it. Nothing was where it should be, there was too much empty space everywhere, they had completely changed the main profile pages– allowing only about 5 profile boxes for your front page, and hiding all the other profile stuff- like info and pictures, on tabs. It was awful, but thankfully I could just click on the “switch back to old Facebook” button and it was fine.

So much to my annoyance, a couple of days ago, plastered across my home page, a message from Facebook read: “New Facebook will soon be the only Facebook”. And dont think I’m the only one filled with fury while already bemoaning its loss. Hundreds of thousands have joined various ad hoc Facebook groups which protest this forced switch vehemently, the most popular single group found here (I highly encourage joining). All I’m saying is keep the status quo: the progressives among us can enjoy they’re new, glossier version, while I and my fellow “old-fashioners” can opt to cling to the Old Layout.

Like/Dislike the new Facebook? Sound off in the comments (and join a few Facebook groups while your at it ).