Google just deployed a test version of their new search engine, known as Caffeine. You can play around with Caffeine in the Google sandbox, a popular test area on Google's website. Web moguls are saying this may be the end of keyword obsession in web development since the new search function is supposed to be smarter. If you have a website or blog, you might be interested in an article I did on one of my own sites about keywords and why they aren't as hot as one might think. Anyway, I worked with the new Google Caffeine and found differences between...

This week may mark the first time in U.S. History that a Presidential kegger party hit the headlines, worldwide. I'm not sure if linking Barrack Oabama, a distinguished educator, a plain old cop and a keg is actually newsworthy. But toss in Microsoft, Bill Gates, a patent application for an ultra-high tech kegerator and Bill Clinton and you're gonna sell papers. What's all the beer hoopla about? Barrack Obama hosts a kegger later today. Special guests police Sgt. James Crowley, educator Henry Louis Gates, Jr (Harvard) and a passel of press. Need the backstory? The sarge arrested...

What are the worst electronic gadgets and concepts available today? I searched the web to see what venerable gadget gurus had to say and here's a list of sites for you to visit if you're interested in avoiding the crappiest gadgets on Earth. Save money. Wired's gadget lab disses AT&T, Asus and Apple, among others. Check out their list of trashy inventions. Audio gadgets to throw down a black hole - Sgt. Pepper??? Worst science cliches - are we done with silver bullet theory - please? Can we quit with the Holy Grail nonsense? Switched thumps Sega and Gizmondo among others Twenty worthless pieces of...

Google has dominated the search engine competition for so many years that they set all the rules now, and if Google doesn't like you or you don't meet their criteria, you don't exist online. Will Microsoft's Bing search engine rip off a piece of their market share? Might smaller, less monetized webmaster's once again have a  chance of being found online? I don't find Bing a terribly impressive search engine so far - the returns seem identical to Google, in the same order. The Twitter search thing means it'll return Twitter hits on your search terms, but only if people like...

Google Docs is an online productivity suite that's FREE, uses none of your system's resources and requires no download. Google Docs is fun to explore and to play with. If you want to jump on the bandwagon and get some of the larger programs off your own hard drive, start with Google's tour of Docs . The idea is to upload your existing files and then crate new documents from scratch or from templates. You can share the stuff you write, store it online and set controls to keep it private and secure, they say. I'm not sure I trust online...

No download. This photo editor will make you feel like a pro and it's FREE and, it's EASY. Called Picnik, it has all the functionality you could want. I use it for much of my online photo work - when I put images on blogs or websites I'm managing. You can imagine I do a lot of photo editing and I find this one a piece of cake, though I own several expensive imaging programs. Here's how it works: Go to Picnik (ok, they can't spell, but they do know software), you don't have to register. ...

You need to take a few minutes today to visit an extremely cool website called 50 to Death. Designed and operated by three very recognizable Hollywood and Broadway celebrities, the site is loaded with deeply funny videos reflecting on the lives of us baby boomers. The website, itself, is one of the most original and appealing I've seen. It resembles the top of my desk (the wooden desk, not the Windows desktop). There's a bunch of worth-reading information on virtual post-it notes, little scraps of notebook paper and torn envelopes. Pictures and amusing sketches lay strewn about. You'll learn a...

In this economy, money is on everybody's mind. I dug up a couple of really interesting websites that address everything from how to invest your money to how to spend your money to managing your credit reports. Here we go. Online advice The Online Version of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine is a great source of free advice and information about a variety of money topics. The site's forums provide a way for readers to discuss issues such as paying for college with reporters who have written on those topics. Credit questions If you've got questions about credit reports, debt repayment,...

No sooner were there rumors of a new and improved iPhone/iPod “Kindle killer” than Amazon one-upped the competition with a rumor of their own. A Wednesday May 6th press conference is expected to include the release of a new and improved Kindle. Again? The needed improvement is a price point that makes the Kindle thing attractive to a wider audience. As reported by Thomas Ricker of Engadget and Peter Kafka at All Things Digital none other than the New York Times will partner with Amazon on the supposed Kindle electronic reader project. Nobody really knows anything about the potential Kindle...

Google’s web browser, Chrome, didn’t impress me much the first time I tried it. But that was a year or two ago and as I recall, Chrome was in beta. The current Chrome release  is 1.0 and I have to admit, I like it. We all use browsers everyday and it's important to have good tools for accessing the internet. Usually, the first thing I do when  setting up a new installation of Internet Explorer (IE) or Firefox is turn off as many of the menus and toolbars as I can, leaving only the bare essentials like navigation buttons – I...