Google. Oprah. The two should really sit down for a cup of coffee sometime and talk billions. They actually have a lot in common, believe it or not. Oprah is more accustomed to giving out things like books and cars, but today, Google one upped the queen of daytime TV and gave out free Android-based G2 phones (aka HTC Magic). The recipients? Attendees of Google’s I/O developer conference. Rumor has it that the phone even comes with a SIM card with 30 days of talk and 3G access. Hey, it pays to be a fan of Google sometimes.

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Dell is diving even deeper into the netbook market. In this video, a Dell engineer shows off the new 10v laptop running Ubuntu and the “Cupcake” version of Google’s Android OS. He calls it “snappy” and makes sure to note that Dell is not offering this as an option on any of its computers. However, it’s very possible to port it over to your 10v, so if Google’s mobile OS tickles your fancy, you better start coding.

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While I don’t see Wolfram Alpha becoming a total Google-killer, I can see it gaining a lot of ground in the coming weeks. The “computational search engine” launches tonight at 7pm PDT and will finally be available to the public after a brief webcast. Wolfram Alpha looks badass though, as you could totally use it to solve complex mathematical problems in one click. Who says you need to study for that Calculus I test? Just plug it all into Wolfram and go!

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Google posted an article on their blog which sounds like a story straight from their April Fool’s Day archive. But no, they are not kidding, and the proof is shown above, photographically. Google has rented a herd of goats (not goatse) to clean the landscape of their Mountain View, California headquarters.

Google has hired California Grazing, a company which specializes in goat herding for the purpose of cleaning weeds from your land, rather than using less environmentally-friendly methods. The above photo was taken by Flickr user dmountain.com as he was passing the Google HQ. The proof is in the pudding, folks.

Update: Video after the jump!

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This is a neat deal that Google dreamed up. For a limited time, 10,000 people, myself included, can get 25 free business cards from Google and iPrint.com. The cards have your name inside a search bar and your profile information on the back. Even if you don’t want or need them, you know these will be worth money 50 years from now. Get on it!

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Rumors of an upcoming Samsung phone running Google’s Android OS were abound throughout the first quarter of this year. Now Samsung has laid those to rest and announced the I7500, an Android-powered phone that will drop in Europe this June and has already landed in Korea. What can it do? Aside from all your basic media playback bullshit (MP3, videos, etc.), it comes with a 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen, GPS, WiFi and 8GB of internal memory. The camera is 5-megapixels, but that doesn’t mean shit unless it has a decent lens and CMOS sensor.

HSDPA-capable and equipped with Bluetooth 2.0, the I7500 is going to be the first Google device that people will actually want. For now, we’ll have to wait around and see if AT&T gets it sometime this year.

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Looking to get your hands on a netbook with some official Android goodness? While the US manufacturers haven’t caught on yet, China’s Skytone certainly has and would love to offer you the Alpha-680 netbook for about $100. It comes in white, black, yellow, pink and red. 3G, Ethernet, Wifi and USB ports are all included to get you connected and an SD card reader will provide you with more storage. You’re going to need it too since it only sports 1GB of solid state memory.

Essentially, it’s the G1 on steroids. Import if you dare but you might want to wait until something a little nicer pops up on the radar.

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I was searching on Google Images today and noticed a new feature that must have been rolled out recently. Before, you could filter by image size and content. Now there’s an option to filter images by color. That’s right. Let’s say you’re searching for an image of some jewelry but you only want to display blue items. A few clicks and voila. It works really well, too. I’m assuming Google created a way to analyze images on the fly and determine the basic colors that comprise the picture.

Give it a try and see what you can come up with. I searched for “awesome”, clicked green and this is what I wound up with.

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Sometimes our lives become controlled by what we do online. This rings true for many of you I’m sure and especially myself. You have Facebook with its constant addiction, Twitter, Tumblr, Wikipedia and Google. Thousands of services keep us connected, but have you ever wondered how they’re all interconnected? This Web Trend map from The Information Architects resembles a subway map showcasing how each service is relevant to one another.
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It was bound to happen. Google loves a big player on the Internet (Youtube, Blogger, etc.) and has plenty of cash in its war chest to spend. Word is that Google and Twitter are currently in the beginning stages of talks about a buyout from Google. The expected value hasn’t been revealed but you can bet it’ll be somewhere between $250-$500 million.

Why does Google want Twitter? Easy: real-time search. Combined with Google’s advertising platform, Twitter could easily become one of the more profitable businesses on the web.

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