Google Australia has announced today the launch of gDay, a new search engine that allows users to search a day in advance of real time:

Google spiders crawl publicly available web information and our index of historic, cached web content. Using a mashup of numerous factors such as recurrence plots, fuzzy measure analysis, online betting odds and the weather forecast from the iGoogle weather gadget, we can create a sophisticated model of what the internet will look like 24 hours from now.

We can use this technique to predict almost anything on the web – tomorrow’s share price movements, sports results or news events. Plus, using language regression analysis, Google can even predict the actual wording of blogs and newspaper columns, 24 hours before they’re written!

To rank these future pages in order of relevance, gDay™ uses a statistical extrapolation of a page’s future PageRank, called SageRank.

The core technology that powers gDay™ is MATE™ (Machine Automated Temporal Extrapolation).

The Pentagon announced Thursday that a Navy warship has been tasked with shooting down a failing United States spy satellite that, if left alone, was expected to hit Earth within weeks.

In a joint news conference, NASA administrator Michael Griffin and Gen. James Cartwright, the No. 2 officer at the Defense Department, announced that an SM-3 missile, designed to hit inbound ballistic missiles, will be fired from a Navy cruiser or destroyer as early as this Thursday to obliterate the inbound spacecraft. The idea is to break apart the satellite to rid it of toxic fuel onboard by smashing its tank, which is the largest intact piece left. If successful, it would be the first direct U.S. test against a satellite since 1985, when an F-15 climbed to 80,000 ft. to fire a three-stage missile at a defunct solar-monitoring platform in low-Earth orbit. More…

The odds were in favor of the satellite crashing in the ocean after losing much of its sensitive equipment during reentry. Perhaps the chance to use our ballistic defenses against a real-life target was just too good to pass up.

This is a particularly interesting self-portrait, in part because it was taken by an astronaut of himself in space, but even more so because of the reflection in the glass of his helmet. Visible in the image, working in from the outer borders, are the edges of the reflecting helmet of a space suit, modules of the International Space Station (ISS), the Earth, the arms of Expedition 15 astronaut Clay Anderson, and the digital camera used to snap the image. This picture was taken during the shuttle orbiter Endeavour’s mission to expand the space station last August.

Another comical skit from The Vacationeers…

The Auto Assault 12 Combat Shotgun is the first built from the ground up specifically for the military. “There’s no way that anybody within 200 yards can face this weapon and survive it. It’s just destroying everything in it’s path. …”

I’ve been watching HD DVD’s plummeting popularity since Warner’s decision to jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon, especially evident following CES. But Toshiba’s apparently not going down without a fight. In Bryan Gardiner’s article for Wired, he explains what may be their “Hail Mary” effort to stem the tide.

You’ve got to hand to Toshiba. Even now, when faced with overwhelming evidence that Sony’s Blu-ray has won the high def format war, the mortally wounded HD DVD backer just keeps on prolonging the inevitable.

First, Toshiba decides to dramatically cut prices on its HD DVD players in the U.S. following Warner Bros. Blu-ray defection earlier this month. Now, for reasons that also escape us, the company has decided to buy a 30-second Super Bowl spot for $2.7 million to advertise its desperation those marked down HD DVD players.

Of course, none of this is really convincing consumers. As Ars Technica recently noted, in the week following the Warner Bros. defection, weekly HD DVD player sales tanked big time, falling from 14,558 the week previous to a measly 1,758.

Meanwhile, Blu-ray saw a reverse trend, climbing from 15,257 to 21,770. In fact, the format ended up capturing approximately 93 percent of the market that week, according to NDP. …

We’ve watched the format war rage for nearly two years. The world’s apparently made its choice. Maybe it’s time for Toshiba to throw in the towel on this one.

Here’s some good news for AT&T broadband subscribers: Free Wi-Fi at AT&T’s 10,000 or so Hot-Spots! I haven’t read all the particulars yet but it appears that Premier and Basic service levels benefit. Key for me will be learning what “additional” locations are included since I don’t spend a lot of time at Barnes & Noble or McDonald’s. But hey, anything that adds to the puny number of free HotSpots in my area is a bonus!

Just a few instances where having the “World’s Thinnest Notebook” could save the day…

For those of you lamenting that Apple didn’t include voice recognition in its latest iPhone software release, your prayers may have been answered. Makayama is offering a free trial of its VoiceDial application with a $5 discount ($28) if you buy before February. Sounds good, especially for iPhone users facing California’s “hands free” cell phone law taking effect July 1. According to Makayama’s web site:

“Record voice samples for any contact in the address book. Just speak to dial the number. Open any application with your voice. So you can check your emails or start Google Maps by just saying it. And you can even surf to your favourite websites by assigning voice tags to your Safari bookmarks.The software uses a modern speech recognition algorithm which gives excellent results in real life situations.

The software works with all languages. It does not depend on a dictionary or vocabulary, but it stores your speech samples and links them to contacts, applications or bookmarks. When you’re on the go, VoiceDial lets you keep in touch even when your hands are full. It’s as easy as saying, “John Smith” or “Mail”. And you’ll be automatically notified of free updates via Installer.”

I hope Apple will address this issue before July. But if for some reason they don’t, we may be taking this route with Dawn’s iPhone (as long as we don’t have to schlep that big honkin’ microphone around…) However, we’ll wait for Apple to release the announced SDKs so that the folks at Makarama can port the app to run on factory iPhones. We’re not ready to hack ours… yet.

When getting things done involves making phone calls, you want to spend the least amount of time and money on the horn as possible — and several tricks and services can help you do just that. For example:

I’m usually tuned into Google’s innovative new services but I guess I missed this one. It’s a free 411 service! Instead of calling regular telco or cellular 411 services for information (and an extra charge on your bill), use Google’s new 411 service by calling 1-800-GOOG-411 to get a street address or phone number, even a map of the area via text message. It’s free, fast and easy to use. We’re adding the number to our cellphone, home and office speed-dials! Watch the video, then give it a try!

Lifehacker has compiled a list of Top 10 telephone tricks to help you skip through or cut off long-winded automated voice systems and humans, access web services by voice, and smartly screen incoming calls. I haven’t tried the other 9 but probably will in the near future. Let me know how they work for you!

Regular contributer Michael D is in the market for a flat screen TV and has been doing the requisite due diligence. In the process, he came across an article in c/net about Sony’s OLED technology, shown earlier this month in Las Vegas at CES, and graciously passed it on for IM readers’ perusal.

OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) promises better picture quality, smaller size (the XEL-1 measures just 3mm thick!) and more efficient operation. Sony claims a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, indicating amazingly deep black levels. Since OLED can turn the light emitted from the diodes on and off quickly, Sony also claims rapid response times for “smooth, natural reproduction of fast-moving content.”

The XEL-1 is supposedly 40 percent more efficient than traditional LCD panels in terms of power consumption, and unlike other LCDs, its manufacturing process doesn’t require the use of harmful mercury.

It’s the same concept utilized in Apple’s new MacBook Air introduced earlier this week at San Francisco’s Macworld which uses LEDs to backlight the notebook computer’s screen, provide “instant on” when the lid is opened, and uses no mercury in its manufacture. Clearly a sign of greener things to come.

Although Sony already introduced its 11-inch OLED HDTV in Japan, the company’s big splash announcement at the 2008 CES is that the model, dubbed XEL-1, is now available in the U.S. for the cool price of $2,500. While the relatively tiny, exorbitantly expensive HDTV itself won’t attract many buyers, it represents an important milestone by shepherding in the latest flat-panel TV technology, which may eventually replace plasma and traditional LCD.

At the nexus of MacWorld and the Detoit Auto Show is the iPhone dock for the Land Rover LRX concept car. When docked, the iPhone would upload your music, seat settings, steering wheel settings, and all the information for the car’s “transfigurable displays,” even provide a secure “start” button. The dock (iPhone or otherwise) could be offered as a “premium pack” in near-term cars…

Via engadget

In a word…

Dubbed “The World’s Thinnest Notebook,” the MacBook Air fills a gap between the existing MacBook and MacBook Pro, but introduces a new way of looking at how a laptop fits your mobile lifestyle.

First, the thing is thin: .76 to .16 inches thick, back to front, with a magnetic latch. It sports a full size backlit keyboard, a full size 13.3” LED backlit widescreen, built in iSight camera, a large trackpad that recognizes several new multi-touch gestures (owing to the iPhone’s touchscreen technology), 1.8” hard drives, (80 GB standard, 64 GB SSD optional), 2 gig of memory, 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors (but in a 60% smaller package!) - a complete Mac on a board the size of a pencil, an amazing feat of engineering.

On one side, Apple’s magsafe power connector. On the other side, a door for one USB port, a micro DVI and a headphone jack. 802.11n networking, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. Weighs 3 pounds with claimed battery life of 5 hours!

Built to be a wireless machine, the Air has no internal optical drive (a $99 accessory optical Superdrive is offered for those who feel they need one.) Instead, a new feature — “remote disc” - shows you Macs or PCs in your vicinity, allowing you to choose one of those machines and “borrow” it’s optical drive. It appears on your desktop just like a local optical drive and works the same way.

Ships in two weeks @ $1799. Watch the new ad and take a guided tour to check out how it looks and works.

There were, of course, more announcements in Steve’s keynote address. I’ll try to touch on them over the lunch hour or this afternoon.

The tech world has been speculating, and prognosticators have been prognosticating, about what new wizardry Steve Jobs will announce in his keynote address tomorrow morning at the 24th annual Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

Most expect a new ultra-light sub-notebook with some innovative bells and whistles that will likely spread to the rest of the MacBook and line which is due for an update. Many have speculated that a new devise along the lines of the old Newton tablet but sized more like a slightly enlarged iPhone would be introduced, but that seems premature given the current state of Apple’s touchscreen technology. Maybe next year.

Of course, it’s almost a forgone conclusion that Jobs will announce Apple’s new iTunes movie rental program and formally adopt the Blu-ray hi-def video standard which may drive the final nail into Toshiba’s HD-DVD format. Sorry Microsoft. Some predict something new to add sizzle to the iTV. And the new chipsets for the Mac Pro were announced last week at CES…

But the real buzz is emanating from the banners draping the halls on Mosconi Center that say, quite simply, “There’s something in the Air.” WiMax Mobile? Predictors are guessing wildly about what Jobs has behind the curtain but, if the past is any indication, he won’t let the cat out of the bag until tomorrow.

You may already be aware that the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been running in Las Vegas this week (ending today). It’s a gigantic annual event for companies that want to introduce their latest consumer gadgetry and for consumers who love to drool over it. I keep saying I’m going to go one year, but the thing is so big, I know I’d have to fight huge crowds for four long days and that just isn’t in my genes.

But I’ve been following the “goings on” at technology sites like engadget, Gizmodo, TechCrunch and Wired (more on their respective sites), enough so that I thought I’d link, in no particular order, to a few of the things I thought looked and sounded pretty cool. See what you think:

• Optimus Maximus Keyboard - The oh-so captivating, completely configurable keyboard everyone’s been talking about. Watch the video hands-on…

• Panasonic’s 150-Inch Plasma TV - Movie theaters should start to worry! (Crap, I’m going to need a bigger house!)

• Panasonic’s 1-inch Thin Plasmas - Check out the photos! Thin is in!

• SHOGO - the World’s First WiFi-enabled, Touchscreen Digital Photo Frame.

• FlyTunes - Brings Internet Radio to Your iPhone.

• Avis’ Upgraded Where2 GPS - A customized Garmin Nuvi 780 that will replace the StreetPilot-based units currently in Avis’ arsenal…

• Pioneer Kuro Concept Plasma - Video Shows How Thin This Thing Really Is!

• Canon’s Flash Camcorders - New Vixia line of nine-ounce HD flash-based camcorders.

• Alienware’s Monster Wraparound Monitor - Humungous wraparound DLP rear-projection monitors aimed at gamers.

• New Apple Mac Pro - Eight Cores and support for eight 30-inch Cinema Displays. Not sure why they announced this a week or so before Macworld; I assume it’s because Intel announced the new chips…

• Control4 Home Automation - Centralized command over your media, home theater, lights, security system and temperature…

• New Apple Xserve - Most Powerful Ever…

• LG.Philips 52-inch multi-touch display - Watch the video and view the images. Very cool!

• Heineken/Krups BeerTender - This looks cool! Built to hold a 5-liter Heineken keg and keep it tasting fresh and cold for about 30 days. The LCD indicates temperature and lets you know when beer is running low…

• Panasonic/T-Mobile Wireless Lumix Camera - Integrated access to T-Mobile HotSpot and will give owners the ability to beam images directly to Picasa Web Albums…

• Linksys Wireless-G Internet Home Monitoring Camera - Pretty straightforward home monitoring camera system…

• iRobot Looj - A robot that treats gutters like an olympic event. Watch the video…

• iRobi Helper Robot - Another domestic robot designed to help around the house…

CES, as you’ve probably surmised, includes thousands of products. I grabbed just a handful that caught my fancy while perusing the technology sites that had reps attending the four-day show and reporting what they saw. It’s an amazing event, at least for those of us who really love gadgets.