May 6 - 4:20pm EDT   (Update with official info) T-Mobile will officially put Google's Android 1.5 on G1 smartphones early next week, the company said today. In spite of having already pushed the update early to some users, T-Mobile USA hopes to have the update begin in earnest before the end of next week. The rollout will take place in phases to manage the load and will let every phone get the update by the end of May. [full story]

May 5 - 11:25am EDT   Eye-Fi on Tuesday announced users of its Eye-Fi Share Video and Eye-Fi Explore Video cards can now upload photos or videos to Picasa Web Albums, Photobucket and SmugMug in addition to the previously supported YouTube and Flickr. The addition lets any appropriately enabled still or video camera publish videos to the sites over a Wi-Fi connection created directly from the memory card itself, bypassing computers entirely as with the earlier version. [full story]

April 24 - 10:45am EDT   Digital Cowboy today provided an all-in-one alternative for media hubs in the Media Cowboy DC-MC35ULI. The set-top box takes any 3.5-inch SATA hard drive and will play common audio and video formats up to 720p but also has its own top-mounted Dock Connector to play music and video directly from any click wheel iPod; a remote supports controlling both the Media Cowboy's internally stored content as well as that on Apple players. [full story]

April 6 - 10:55am EDT   FON on Thursday held a small, informal demonstration of its Fonera 2.0/La Fonera+ router in Paris, announcing in will be made available in Europe on April 21st, with other markets that include the USA, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan being added in May. Compared to the original La Fonera, the new Wi-Fi router adds an extra LAN port that allows users to connect a wired device. The new device also can share 3G data network access as a Wi-Fi connection and users can set how much of their own bandwidth they want to share with other FON members. [full story]

January 8 - 1:10pm EST   Sony on mid-Thursday crowned its Cyber-shot news at CES with the DSC-G3. The camera is both one of Sony's few Wi-Fi equipped cameras but is the only one to include its own web browser. The addition not only allows for basic web use on the 3.5-inch touchscreen but also streamlines photo and video uploading; users can post images to Flickr, movies to YouTube, and other similar actions without having to return home to a computer. A streamlined landing page improves the experience in particular for sites like Picasa. [full story]

December 16 - 11:10am EST   VUDU today staked out a potential edge in networked media hubs on Tuesday by launching a new platform specifically tailored to normally web-oriented services. The RIA (Rich Internet Application) standard lets developers write and users download add-ons that convert web games, photo and video services into a native program for the VUDU Box rather than have to use a special web browser or make special arrangements for app development. The implementation will make it relatively straightforward to integrate web content while still having a "lean-back" interface with remote control, the company explains. [full story]

December 4 - 11:45am EST   Boxee has released an updated alpha version of its media player software adding support for the Watch Instantly video streaming feature from Netflix as well as MTV music videos, the WB network and photos from the Boston Globe. The move comes two weeks after the startup secured its first round of venture capital funding, hoping to license the XBMC-based software for use in set-top boxes and other devices. [full story]

October 24 - 9:25am EDT   Google has released v1.5 of its Data APIs Objective-C Client Library, a framework for Mac OS X developers which allows the use of Google data in third-party programs. Included is a variety of APIs, including ones for Google services such as Calendar, Picasa, YouTube and more. The new library includes the Book Search API, which allows people to browse and search for the contents of books online, and the Finance API, which lets people track portfolio information. [full story]

May 20 - 12:35pm EDT   First announced in January, Panasonic's PZ850-series Viera plasmas have at last been given final details, prices and release dates. The sets are luxury models sized in 46, 50, 58 and 65-inch formats, and feature built-in Internet access, allowing users to view YouTube clips or Picasa photos without a separate player or interface. Support for more websites should be added automatically as Panasonic announces them. [full story]

December 27 - 4:00pm EST   Google is making even deeper in-roads into the Japanese cellular market, reports say. Citing anonymous sources, Reuters claims that Google has signed a new deal with NTT DoCoMo, the country's largest wireless carrier, permitting a variety of applications to appear on DoCoMo's i-Mode network. These may include the likes of Gmail, Picasa and Calendar, according to Reuters. If confirmed, the move may give DoCoMo a temporary edge in its home market. While both DoCoMo and number-two carrier KDDI are a part of Google's Open Handset Alliance, KDDI has not announced any Google features for existing phones. National business paper The Nikkei notes that DoCoMo is trying to ... [full story]

December 12 - 3:25pm EST   Google today continued its Web service optimizations for Apple's iPhone with the release of a new iPhone interface for Picasa, the company's photo-sharing site. According to the company's blog, one Google developed decided to revamp the site for the popular device when found that it had "some very cool AJAXy features," which unfortunately were designed with a "desktop web-browsing experience in mind." On the heels of its homepage revamp for the iPhone, the new Picasa interface offers easy access to albums, displays pictures with comments, and includes an easy search feature. The iPhone-friendly interface offers slideshow options as well as both landscape and portrait ... [full story]

December 3 - 9:50am EST   TiVo today revealed that its digital video recorders will all support streaming photos directly from online image sites such as Photobucket and Picasa, allowing subscribers to its service to view and distribute images to TVs without buying a second media hub. The feature supports viewing one's own collection and viewing others, but also allows users to view customized feeds regardless of the owner. A subscriber can view photos from either service by keyword tags that automatically update as new images are posted online. [full story]