Google building Facebook rival

Web world is abuzz with rumours that Google's Facebook rival is in works. The rumour mill began churning after Digg founder Kevin Rose posted a tweet last weekend (saturday to be precise), saying, "Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch facebook competitor very soon 'Google Me,' very credible source."

Wondering how Google Me will really work? Experts believe that Google already has almost 30 different social properties that it has acquired or built including YouTube, Picassa, Google Profiles, Google Docs, Google Friends Connect and Google Latitude. So, the company largely has almost every component that it requires to built a Facebook killer. All it needs to do is a bit of organisation and create a common platform for all these networks.

However, so far Google is still to get a hit in the social networking space. Orkut, one of the pioneers in social network, today has little following except in Brazil and India. More recently, the company made another foray into social networking arena with Google Buzz, which aims to upgrade Gmail into a social networking hub from just an e-mail service. However, the service has been relegating to more of a Web 2.0 sharing tool than a social networking hub.

Several analysts also wonder if Google would really risk waging a full-scale war against Facebook, which has seen its fortunes soar in the past year.

Writes eWeek's Clint Boulton, "Google challenging Facebook in social is like Facebook challenging Google in search," he writes. "People are comfortable socializing on Facebook, which is where their friends (and their friends of friends are) and they are comfortable searching on Google, which is where all of the data about businesses, places and other facts live. Unless and until there are technological improvements on both sides, paired with practical user behavior shifts from consumers, never the twain shall meet."

While analysts may continue to debate the issue, the rumour has been further fanned by Adam D’Angelo, former Facebook CTO and now founder of Q&A service Quora (on Quora only).

Here's what Angelo wrote on Quora.

* This is not a rumor. This is a real project. There are a large number of people working on it. I am completely confident about this.

* They realized that Buzz wasn't enough and that they need to build out a full, first-class social network. They are modeling it off of Facebook.

* Unlike previous attempts (before Buzz at least), this is a high-priority project within Google.

* They had assumed that Facebook's growth would slow as it grew, and that Facebook wouldn't be able to have too much leverage over them, but then it just didn't stop, and now they are really scared.

Google Voice Opens Up, No More Invites Required

Google has announced that its Google Voice service would now be available for all U.S. citizens - without the need of an invite.

In a blog post announcing the decision, Google Voice product manager Craig Alker quipped, "We're proud of the progress we've made with Google Voice over the last few years, and we're still just scratching the surface of what's possible when you combine your regular phone service with the latest web technology."

Since the service was launched in U.S., Google Voice has managed to garner a decent userbase of about 1 million users. If you are one of those people who are wondering what Google Voice is all about, let us explain briefly. Google Voice basically gives you a single phone number that can be used to reach you if you have multiple numbers. Google Voice also offers its own voicemail message transcription service.

Google Voice was in the news not long ago when Apple blocked the Google Voice application from entering its App Store saying that it duplicated native iPhone capabilities. This led to the once good friends turn into foes.

iPhone Gets Windows Live Messenger

It's not like you cannot login to Windows Live Messenger on the iPhone already (using chat clients like Nimbuzz). But then, an official Windows Live Messenger app for the icon is always newsworthy, right?

That's exactly why we are talking about it too. Microsoft already had the Bing app out there for download at the Apple App Store. And now, it is the turn of Windows Live Messenger to make it there. That's right. Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger app has made an official entry into the Apple App Store and from what we see, it looks quite slick and replicates its PC version.

The client is now available in U.S., Canada, the UK and France and is a free download. The app is capable of updating your status message and see your friends' updates. Users will also soon be able to access other services like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn (coming soon), and more through the new Windows Live Messenger for iPhone.

While the messenger has gone social in its approach, the core functionality of instant messaging is still in there. Starting an IM with friends is easy. You just tap a person's name on the Friends tab, or tap their picture from anywhere in the app. So, if you're scanning through the highlights on the Social tab and you see some new pictures that a friend just uploaded, you can instantly send her compliments on her new photos. Microsoft is also working to add Facebook chat support in the app later this year.

The app can also notify you about new e-mails in your Hotmail account. All you need to do is to tap the Hotmail icon inside the Social tab. This takes you to the mobile web version of Hotmail right inside the app.

Update your drivers with DriverAccess

Can't able to find the right driver for your new hardware? Or is your old hardware not working properly on your new computer? Tired of searching many sites for the right driver? If so, Chill out then! You have come to the right place.

This site DriverAccess.com is an all in one site that boasts of a large collection of drivers for a variety of devices. It not only allows you to download drivers but also allows driver update.  You can find all your computer drivers including windows drivers and also sound drivers for many different PC configurations in one place.

All you have to do is download the DriverAccess software, install it and then allow it to scan your system. It automatically detects all devices and updates them with the latest drivers available. So why waiting? Just log on to DriverAccess and start updating your devices in no time!