If you’re an individual who has experienced a laptop that’s decided to bit the dust, a phone that decided it wanted to go for a swim, or another device that just seemed to see better days, Google Drive could change that for you. And your friends.

But is Google Drive right for you? Let’s find out.

Google drive is similar to other major companies’ storage programs, but it is different in one way, it allows you to share and edit content with friends using Google Docs.

Google Drive comes along with a number of benefits including the ability to create a document and then share it with others who can edit in and give you their feedback.

You’ll no longer need to attach a document when sending an email through Gmail because all you’ll have to do is attach a link from Google Drive and the list of people you send it to will have the same version.

Within Google Drive you’ll have unprecedented searching options which will make going through the content quicker and effective.

And even more exciting, Google Drive is available for more than one kind of phone or tablet. You’ll be able to use Google Drive on your PC or Mac and if you’re a smartphone user (iPhone and Android only) you’ll also be able to use Google Drive. Apple iPad users will also soon enjoy the features of Google Drive.

All in all, Google Drive looks pretty impressive, but will you use it?

What if you were not only able to touch a screen to instantly place information at your fingertips, but could also “bend” a flexible screen to ZOOM IN AND OUT?

A few manufacturers are already there!

Nokia recently introduced the Nokia Kinetic Device that uses the “power of bending,”–and Toshiba is quickly following in their footsteps.

How Does Bend-to-Zoom Technology Work?

The Bend-to-Zoom Technology uses a “bend sensor” and specially developed software that takes an image, and responds to a “bending action” to zoom in and out.

Currently the flexible screen must be attached to a larger device which sends it the imagery. This obviously won’t work for smartphones—but hardware manufacturers are getting closer to developing a freestanding independent flexible device all the time.

Taking it your Handheld devices

Samsung’s Vice President recently stated they will come out with both a smartphone and tablet with flexible bend technology sometime in 2012.

This technology may be more “cool” than really cost-effective though—and is certain to send the price of certain smartphones containing this innovative technology, soaring.

(At least until it’s replaced by technology even more sensational—like a phone that can scan your body for illness, or measure your mood through heat technology.)

Still, it’s fun to imagine—a phone you can pan, rotate and tilt with your thumbs—and also bend to zoom!

(Wonder if it’s “toddler” proof?)

Watch out for bend-to-zoom technology later this year.

With the increase in Internet usage over the years, the browser has also changed. Internet Explorer and Safari used to be the browsers of choice. Now there are two more contenders in Firefox and Google Chrome. So how can you know which one is best?

The truth is, there is no “best” browser. It depends on your preference. To make it easier to decide, we are going to relate each browser to cars. You while you won’t be driving your browser around, you may have the same preferences when choosing a browser as you do when buying a car.

Google Chrome: Porsche 911

Very lightweight and fast, Google Chrome has become one of the top used browsers available. Like the Porsche, Chrome is reliable, but is limited. The Porsche sacrifices convenience, like four doors and a back seat, for speed and performance. Chrome is also very fast, but you might find it has a harder time with certain sites.

Chrome utilizes an app system much like what you have on your smart phone. The apps make it easier to get to your favorite sites, and some apps are specifically designed for Chrome. For example, you can play Angry Birds straight from the browser.

Firefox: Cadillac Escalade

Firefox is the most widely used browser because of its ability to essentially do it all. Like the Escalade, Firefox comes with many toys and accessories that are called extensions. You need your browser to behave a specific way? There’s probably an extension for that.

The downside with Firefox is that, like an Escalade, it has a higher likelihood to crash. Firefox crashes more often if you have an older computer and/or you download numerous extensions. Also, though Firefox has the potential to run fast, it’s not as simple or light as Chrome, so it generally takes longer to start up and get running.

Safari: Mercedes Benz

Safari is common among mac users because it comes standard with all mac computers. It’s slower than Chrome and not as customized as Firefox, but people still use it because of its design. Like a Mercedes Benz, the Safari browser is typically used as a fashion statement. It’s sleek and relatively simple to use and mac users enjoy it because it works seamlessly with their computers.

The true upsides to Safari are that is it solidly built and will rarely crash. It may not be as fast as Chrome or as complex as Firefox, but it get’s the job done.

Internet Explorer: Honda Civic

You know how Civics have a reputation of lasting forever? Internet Explorer has that same reputation. Despite falling from the number one browser to one of the least popular, Internet Explorer is still hanging around.

There really isn’t anything special about Internet Explorer. It’s similar to Safari in that it’s not exceptionally fast or personalized, but it’s been hanging around because of its history. In the 90s, Internet Explorer and Safari were essentially the only options and those that don’t keep up with technology still assume that.

Opera: Peugeot

Unless you are a car guru or have lived in Europe, you may not know what a Peugeot. It’s a French make of cars that you may have seen once or twice but when you do you say, “What kind of car is that?” Opera is very simple, not complex and not exceptionally fast, which is why it isn’t very common in America. However, it’s a popular browser in Europe.

Essentially, Opera is a very plain browser and we can’t find any advantage to using it unless you just like being different.

Which is Right for You

Now that we have laid out the basics to each browser, you should be better able to decide which one is right for you. If you want speed, go chrome; if you want to customize, use Firefox; if you like a sleek design, try Safari; if you’re all about the old fashion look, stick to Internet Explorer; and if you want something different, test out Opera.

There is no right or wrong browser. In fact, many people use multiple browsers depending on what they want done. Experiment with different browsers and you’ll eventually find which one works best for you.

The purpose of this article is to raise awareness of what the ramifications would be if SOPA and/or PIPA were passed into law. First, we’ll explain the basics.

What is SOPA

SOPA was introduced to the U.S. House of Reps a few months ago as a way to protect copyrighted information from being illegally distributed. The concept isn’t the issue because online piracy is definitely an issue. In fact, some research suggests that 22% of all global internet band-width is used for online piracy.

Think about it, when you listen to a movie on YouTube and a song is playing in the background or watch a highlight video of your favorite college football team do you realize that that video may be breaking copyright laws. The songwriter, football team, or TV station have rights to that content that is being shared with the world. Internet piracy is an issue.

The Problem with SOPA

Since we’re established that online piracy is an issue that needs to be dealt with, why is there a problem with SOPA? The problem is that SOPA punishes the wrong people.

With the current laws, any user can post content to a user-generated site, like YouTube, Facebook, and Wikipedia. If the contend is considered illegal, that user is then reported and punished by the site and the content is removed. This system allows for users to post freely unless they get caught and the sites don’t get punished if action is taken ASAP.

SOPA would change the system by punishing user-generated sites for “facilitating copyright infringement.” In extreme cases, the government can shut down the site. Other punishments include taking the site off search engines and preventing other site from linking to it. Essentially, the bill would be punishing the wrong people.

To make it simple, let’s compare this situation to a library. If an illegally written book is placed in a library, according to SOPA laws removing the book and banning the supplier isn’t enough. The government can actually take extreme action and essentially burn down the library if they decided the library was facilitating copyright infringement. All the beneficial information would be destroyed because of one book.

Take Action

If you are opposed to limiting free speech on the internet, take action now and join the protest. There are numerous petitions you can sign and links to contact your local representative. Search around and make a stand today.

Dash mounts have proven to be the most popular as of late because similar to a GPS system, they allow you to display your device in a visible location and glancing at it to follow your GPS, change the song, or answer a call through your blue tooth doesn’t distract from driving as it would if the device was in your lap or on the seat next to you.

We’ve browsed through a few of the most popular ipad dash mounts and settled on one of the cheapest ones we’ve found so far. The device does such a simple task, we feel it’s not worth the money to spend big, especially if you’ve been looking at devices that fit your device exactly (what do you do when you get a new phone or a new shaped tablet comes out?).

InVentClips

InVentClips have proven to be the most practical ipad (device) dash mounts we’ve found and are actually quite a quality product despite the low price. You can purchase one, two, or a pack of three so you can mount any device or multiple devices at the same time.

How do they Work?

InVentClips are simple, you simply attach the clip to your vent (the makers guarantee the product doesn’t tamper with the vent, wiggle, or become disconnected as you drive over bumps or take sharp turns), then the clip attaches to your device via heavy-duty black velcro. The clips are relatively small so they don’t affect the air flow of your vehicle too much and they don’t appear bulky or austentatious while in use.

In fact, you can’t even see the clips at all when you have your device mounted!

Get Yours Now

InVentClips can be used with any phone, tablet, GPS, etc and their clean, flush design makes them both practical and aesthetically pleasing. Not only that, but InVentClips make great gifts too! If you’re looking for a cost effective ipad dash mount or mount for any of your devices, then InVentClips are definitely going to be your best option.

But WAIT! InVentClips come with a 100% money back guarantee and are shipped for FREE so you can try them today at absolutely no risk! Click here to get yours now!

The most interesting and important feature to Google Plus is the circle.

What are Circles?

Circles are similar to “lists” with Twitter or Facebook, except much, much better. When you add a friend or simply want to follow someone interesting on Google Plus, you automatically add them to a circle.

With circles it is easy to filter what goes in and what comes out. Say you have a “best friends” circle, but you are following concourses of people. All you need to do to see your friends’ updates is click on the “best friends” tab on the left and voila, your feed is filtered.

If you only want your friends to know you broke up with that ex-special-someone, you can change your outgoing status to “best friends” rather than public.

Adding Companies into Circles

With Google’s new page feature, you can also follow companies. Just find a company or product you like and add it to a circle. I have a brands and a pages circle. “Brands” are for companies like Evernote and Google, while “pages” are for other things like religious pages or hobbies.

Be creative and open minded when you look for pages. Even if you are not a huge fan of McDonald’s, you may want to add them to your circles anyway. You never know when the next time you’ll be craving a Big Mac and having McDonald’s in your circle could mean instant and otherwise hidden deals.

Share Your Circles

Finally, you can publish your circles with the rest of the world. You may not want to publish your family or personal friends circle, but say you are a huge fan of college football, like me. You would probably have a circle that consists of interesting college football fanatics. Why not share your compilation of interesting college fanatics with the rest of the world?

You can also find already published circles by searching in the Google Plus search bar. Keep the searches broad. I have found the most popular public circles are for photography which has been a joy to have in my feed.

Be Creative

Unlike Facebook, you can follow anybody and they don’t have to accept. Use that to your advantage. Look for photographers, comedians, politicians, celebrities, anything that you think you’d be interested in you can find someone to add to your circles. Don’t limit yourself to just friends and family.

For all you science fiction nerds (I’m talking particularly to the Trekkies and wannabee Jedi Knights) the iPhone 4 is a must have. With the new Siri feature, the phone responds to your voice and does what you ask it to do. If you say “Are there any good hamburger joints nearby?” Siri will reply “I’ve found a number of hamburger restaurants close by.”

And if you change your mind and say “I’m actually in the mood for Italian,” Siri will remember you are talking about food and look for the closest pasta and pizzeria. Quoting from Apple’s website “And then it hits you. You’re actually having a conversation with your iPhone.” The only difference between Siri and the starship Enterprise is that you apparently don’t have to start your conversation with “Computer…”

Siri is much more than just a voice activated search engine. Let’s say that you’re driving but want to send a text. Just tell Siri “could you text my wife and tell her I’m running a little late?” What if you remember that you’re brother’s birthday is next week, but you always forget it. “Siri, could you remind me that Joe’s birthday is on Tuesday?” Siri will put a reminder in your calendar. The possible uses for Siri really are limited to what you can think of.

While the iPhone’s Siri feature is definitely it’s most sexy, Apple has added much more. It touts a dual core A-5 chip, which means it runs up to seven times faster than its predecessor. It has an eight megapixel camera, which means it has better resolution than my fully dedicated handheld digital camera.

It takes 1080p HD video, sports an even easier operating system, and has a retina display in which the human eye cannot distinguish individual pixels. Impressed yet? The iPhone 4 isn’t done yet. Why talk to your mom on the phone when you can have an instant video chat? Just tell Siri “FaceTime with mom” and you’ll be instantly connected with video picture to her (so long as she has an iPhone, iPad 2, iPod Touch, or Mac). Have you preordered your iPhone 4 yet? You probably should.

“The Web holds about a trillion pages. The human brain holds about 100 billion neurons,” Kelly writes in his 2010 book “What Technology Wants.”

With a $1 million grant from Google, a group called the World Wide Web Foundation — appropriately founded by Tim Berners-Lee, who pretty much created the Internet — is on a quest to figure out, with some degree certainty, how big the Internet really is.

The WWWF (not to be confused with the WWF) said of their project:

“The Web Index will be the world’s first multi-dimensional measure of the Web and its impact on people and nations. It will cover a large number of developed and developing countries, allowing for comparisons of trends over time and benchmarking performance across countries.”

The implications are huge. In addition to determining the size of the internet, they are going to look at social implications and overall impact.

Google+, currently in invite-only beta, is clean. It’s smart. It has widgety Circles that you can waste hours creating and deleting again. And it will, in the coming months, attach itself like a limpet to every other Google service you use (including Picasa Web Albums and Google Search).

Google+ may just be good enough to make you go hunting for the Delete section of your Facebook or Twitter account – if, repeat if, the search giant continues to tweak the beta, and opens the toy soon to more users.

CIRCLES

The Google+ feature that’s causing the biggest stir – you can create groups using a downright gorgeous dashboard, where dragging contacts from the top of the screen to cute blue Circles at the bottom becomes an addictive way to waste an hour or two in itself.

You can create as many Google+ Circles as you like, and call them anything you wish. Oh, and your contacts cannot see which Circles they’re in (so don’t worry about creating ‘Morons I’d rather never meet again’), and each contact can be in multiple circles. And when you delete a Circle, it conjures a cute vanishing animation that’ll have you deleting for the sake of it.

When you post something (photo, video, text, link), you can choose which of your Circles can see it, or whether it should be visible on the web.

Circles alone may be the party trick that finally allows Google to eat at Facebook’s immense foundations (video chat or not video chat); the idea’s clever, useful and beautifully realised. Assuming, of course, that the feature’s mind-frying flexibility doesn’t end up tying users up in knots.

STREAMS

Google+’s very own Facebook Newsfeed – the stuff being shared by the people in your circles, be it words, pictures, videos or links. In truth, the Google+ Streams are not as easy to scan-read as Newsfeed – although the Stream page itself is a clean enough design, the accent on comments can make it confusing to chew through at a single sitting.

One party trick we discovered during testing was that you can use the universal Google keyboard shortcuts for navigation: tapping ‘j’ and ‘k’ moves you on and back through Stream posts. And as you’d expect, you can link to or mute a post from within the Stream, or just block someone outright.

You can also filter Streams by Circles (Friends, Acquaintances, Morons I’d Rather I Never Met etc), although there’s no other way to search or sort anything.

SPARKS

The Google+ newsfeed channel, which you fill either by choosing one of the pre-sets (cycling, fashion, films, football), or by running a search (and it auto-suggests categories as you type). It all works, too, although the end result is a rather sterile (albeit clean and usable) experience.

For now, it’s easier to share a story from within Google+ than it is from the web – grabbing a story within Sparks to is as easy as hitting ‘Share’ (while sharing a story from the outside web means copying and pasting links into the Share box on Google’s new universal tool bar).

If Google continues tweaking Sparks and Streams, it may have just invented the killer personalised news service. You can certainly imagine that Google Reader’s days are numbered (or, as with Picasa, it gets absorbed into Plus).

HANGOUTS

The feature we really haven’t had the chance to test. The idea’s a cracker, however: it’s live video conferencing meets Circles – invite people into the session, and away you go (assuming you have the Google Talk browser plug-in installed first).

PROFILES

Let’s face it: this is all about you. It always is. And whether you choose to admit it or not, you will spend hours preening your new Google+ profile. But before you throw the kitchen sink at your shiny new property, take a few moments to consider the consequences: that fine control of permissions within Google+ demands that you think quite hard about which Circles (or the world at large) can see what.

Google knows that this is an issue, so has built in a ‘View profile as…’ search field – you can then check that Amanda in accounts can’t see your worst indiscretions, posted in a moment of thoughtlessness.

The About section of the profile goes as deep as you’d want to go unless extremely drunk, right down to listing every place you’ve ever lived complete with a map.

The Photos tab includes a killer upload tool (just drag into your browser from your desktop), and the Google+ Photos section will soon be merged with Picasa Web Albums (we brought our 8GB photo archive over from Picasa during the period of the test – it took minutes, and carried over our permissions… although a bug that we hope is soon fixed meant that we couldn’t change who could see the photos once imported into Google+).

The Videos tab shows no sign of merging with your YouTube account, although someone at Google HQ must be scratching their chin over the issue.

There’s also a +1 tab, Google’s own go at creating a Delicious bookmarking service.

Click the ‘+1′ button next to any Google search return, and the link appears on your profile’s +1 tab. And in case you were wondering, your +1s aren’t visible to the world at large, and you can delete them. However, as of today, there’s no way to quickly search or categorise your bookmarks, limiting the +1 feature’s usefulness beyond reminding yourself of a recent search session.

MOBILE

As of the time of writing, we hadn’t tested the Google+ Android App, although screenshots suggest that it’s simple and easy to use. There’s also an iOS App on the way (rumour is that it was submitted to the App Store some days ago, so may even be released by the time you read this).

There’s also a web app, accessible simply by pointing your browser at a mobile Google+ address. It worked extremely well on our iPhone 4, although the lack of integration with such delights as the iPhone’s camera limited its usefulness. And the pages themselves flickered during transitions; we can’t be sure if this is a bug in Google+, or something awry with our iPhone 4.

THE VERDICT

Google+ is good. Actually, it’s more than good – there are aspects that are plain brilliant (Circles being the shiniest of its baubles…).

But social networking’s a game of numbers, connections and ease of input. Google will know if Plus can float in the next few weeks; it needs to open the beta sooner rather than later (right now, the window to send invites to others only appears late at night for a few hours), and make sharing what’s in your head much easier (think of the number of ways you can now post to Twitter).

For this week I’ll start with one of the coolest things I’ve seen in the last couple months in the form of a video.