Google are now making it as simple as they perceive it is possible to make a phone call to anyone in the world: from Gmail.

Whilst in Gmail, users in the US can now call people by clicking “Call Phone” in their contact list and either selecting the person’s name that they want to call (if their number is held by Google, of course) or by dialling the number into the on-screen keypad.

Want to call someone outside the US or Canada? That’s entirely possible, but you will end up paying a fairly cheap rate to do so, something that people may compare to Skype’s “Skypeout” rates, and US/Canada calls are free until the end of the year.

Non-US people will not be able to use the service until Google decides that it’s worthwhile for everyone. Like they have done for Google Voice… no, wait…

Google have decided to up the possible resolution of YouTube to 4K video (That’s 4096 x 2304 pixels, or 8 times larger than my desktop) to support future high resolution cameras and higher bandwidth internet connections that we will have in the year 2525…

If you were to go to any of the videos on this playlist, you will be able to select “Original”, which is what Google got as the original resolution of the video. Of course, you can use it for lower resolutions than 4K which happen to be higher than 1080p, but no-one really cares about that.

You will have issues playing the video if you are on a slow connection (except if you can stand the buffering, in which case I suggest you get cable or DSL) and you will not be able to view the glorious full resolution version without a stupidly high end display setup (I dread to think the multi-screen layout some people will try to watch this) and your computer may balk at the idea of doing this much work, but if you feel brave (or at least want to see if your processor starts to die), then feel free to check out the playlist.

[YouTube Blog]

Today being the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man, Google has put up the first ever interactive Google logo. Simply click INSERT COIN (which replaces the I’m Feeling Lucky button) and you can use the arrow keys to play Pac-Man right on the front page of Google.

Here’s some tips from Google about the game and how to get 2 players:

Google doodler Ryan Germick and I made sure to include PAC-MAN’s original game logic, graphics and sounds, bring back ghosts’ individual personalities, and even recreate original bugs from this 1980’s masterpiece. We also added a little easter egg: if you throw in another coin, Ms. PAC-MAN joins the party and you can play together with someone else (PAC-MAN is controlled with arrow keys or by clicking on the maze, Ms. PAC-MAN using the WASD keys).

It’s been a while, but now Google can loudly proclaim “Me Too!” when it comes to the Android Phone Party. One of the main bodies behind the Android movement, it’s been strange that Google hasn’t created it’s own phone, instead leaving it to others such as HTC to do all the hard work, but now Google has unleashed the Nexus One.

The Nexus One (still marked as HTC, but more under Google direction than anything) has a 3.7″ screen running at 480x800, 5 megapixel camera, noise suppression, trackball and personalized laser engraving (I suggest “It’s not an iPhone, honest!”)
It’ll also run pretty much anything from the Android Market, do voice recognition, allow you to read your voicemail and many other random tasks most normal people won’t actually do. Power users will have a field day with this.

Google are selling the phone for $529 unlocked through their own store, which is an interesting move, considering most people will first hear of the cost of phones in conjunction with a contract, which the order page already suggests at $179 and locked in for 2 years.

I do have to wonder if people will flock to this, or if the iPhone has nothing to worry about…

Press Release and Gallery after the jump.

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Despite there being a whole month left in 2009, Google has decided to release a list of the top searched words, phrases and randomness in the UK from this and previous years…

Year by Year in the “Noughties” (except for 2000, because that doesn’t count for Google for some weird reason):
2001: notradamus
2002: spiderman
2003: prince charles
2004: big brother
2005: james blunt
2006: steve irwin
2007: iphone
2008: iplayer
2009: stephen gately

Nostradamus to Stephen Gately in 9 years. I doubt he saw that coming…

You can find out about other search patterns at google.com/insights/search, and other search lists from Google UK’s press department are available after the jump.
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The Mountain View Chocolate Factory called Google has added to Labs “Social Search”.

Effectively, the search giant has made a way to allow my friends to influence my search results. Blog posts and other related content by my social circle get put into the results, which as an idea isn’t too shabby. Just in case I don’t read my friend’s blogs at all. Last time I checked, I wasn’t that unsociable…

Feel free to add it through the Google Labs.

[via the Official Google Blog]

Today Google has expanded its popular Street View on Google Maps service to include imagery from eleven cities across Canada, including Vancouver and Whistler. With the 2010 Winter Games coming in February, Street View on Google Maps will enable people within Canada and worldwide to explore the host city and Olympic venues, from B.C. Place Stadium to Whistler Village, and other regions and landmarks across Canada.

Using Street View on Google Maps, a free feature, people can virtually explore and navigate neighbourhoods through panoramic street-level images. The tool first launched in May 2007 and is hugely popular worldwide; in 2009 alone, Canadians have viewed more than 150 million Street View images of other countries. Imagery is now available for 13 countries in addition to Canada: Australia, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UK and the U.S. It is also available on Google Maps for Mobile.

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