Say goodbye to Google’s attempt at making a virtual social network. Announced back in July, Google is now closing the door on its Google Labs project “Lively” at the end of this year and says it wants, quote:

“to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business.”

I guess it’s back to Second Life for me. Maybe I’ll start an online band and perform for other users of Second Life. I’ve always had an intense fear of crowds, yet find comfort and support with virtual crowds.

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An incredibly useful feature is coming to Gmail. Starting today (if all goes well), you’ll be able to send your friends and contacts text messages via the integrated Gmail chat. You’ll be able to save phone numbers to contacts and Google will give you the option of sending them a text should they go offline. It sounds very beta right now though, with Google using 406 area code numbers to push the texts out.

The first time you send a text message, it will appear on the person’s phone as coming from a number in the 406 area code. Google has made several thousands of these numbers available for Gmail users, and once a number is associated with your account, all of the text messages you send through Gmail will come from that number.

The 406 number works both ways, so your friend can reply to you via text message. Also, your friend can save that number in their phone as belonging to you, and they can even use it to initiate new chats with you.

Google never ceases to amaze.

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Remember the Phantom gaming system? The one which promised you’d be able to play games streamed over the Internet through a broadband connection for a monthly fee? Me neither. Yet after six long years of nobody giving a fuck, they’ve finally decided to release the keyboard designed for the system.

The Phantom Lapboard is nothing special. It sits on your lap and you’re able to incline the top part of the keyboard to reveal a space underneath for mousing.  At $129, we’re just astonished to see that it even has a price tag and saw the light of day, regardless of its overpricing. We’re still not going to buy it. Are you?
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