Tech Gift Guide

Tis the season for Android

Phones running on Google operating system were scarce at the start of 2009, yet today, and for the foreseeable future, we see lots of little green bots

Scottish charity worker Susan Boyle appears on Britain's Got Talent during the BGT auditions in Glasgow, Scotland, on April 17. AFP/Getty Images

YouTube's top 2009 videos feature eclectic cast

But Susan Boyle was year's clear winner with more views than the next three most-watched videos combined

Fun and Funky

Joby Gorillapod

This tripod has flexible legs that wrap around pretty much anything

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Controller Freak

PixelJunk Shooter is right on target

One of the final downloadable games released in 2009 is also one of the year’s best

Image shows multiwavelength composite of Messier 81, a nearby galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major, one of the first images from the Spitzer Telescope released by NASA on December 18, 2003. Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, which takes pictures of the universe from high in Earth orbit, Spitzer makes its observations as it trails behind Earth as our planet circles the sun.
WonderQuest

Where does the universe end?

Is space infinite? Is it defined by how far light has travelled since the big bang? And if I am not at the centre of the universe, what is?

Customers peruse handsets and mobile plans at Wind Mobile's new store in Toronto during the company's launch event on Dec. 16, 2009.

Wind Mobile launches new cellphone services

New wireless provider shuns contracts, activation in bid to attract customers

Intel hit by lawsuit from FTC

Says the company has shut rivals out of the marketplace

EU drops Microsoft browser charges

Company agrees to give Windows users a choice of up to 12 other Web browsers

Microsoft suspends Juku

Takes temporary step as it investigates a complaint of plagiarism from Canadian startup Plurk

Efforts under way to make Web more accessible

‘It's like sidewalks. You build a wheelchair ramp and not only is it a better sidewalk for those users, but for strollers, luggage, delivery people'

Google takes new tack with own phone

Search engine's foray into hardware could prove stiff competition for phone makers whose devices use Google's operating system

'Citizen journalists' score Games media centre

W2 Culture and Media House will offer computers and Internet access to media lacking official Olympics press accreditation

Australian government to introduce Internet filter

System to block obscene and crime-linked websites despite concerns it will curtail freedoms and won't completely work

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Text appeal
GR8 news: We're entering a new era of literacy

Text-fluent teens are typically the best spellers (LOL)

Celine Huberdeau, right, with friends Cassidy Peleuses and Danelle Nyzai, left, who text message each other a lot.
Pocket Cams
Review: Feature-rich Kodak Zi8 zeroes in on Flip

Pocket-sized point-and-shoot video cameras are all the rage and Kodak delivers with a loaded camcorder that costs less than the market leader

Margaret Wente
Magic box … Pandora's box

Google's mission may be thrilling, but it has already demolished entire industries

Margaret Wente
Woods video a hit with viewers, a fail with experts

Does a computer-generated video depicting events around Tiger Woods' crash – marital spat and swinging golf clubs included – represent the next wave of journalism?

News reports in Taiwan have been accompanied by computer generated videos depicting possible events around the Tiger Woods saga. Here, a pregnant Elin Nordegren waits at home while Tiger hangs out with another woman.
Gaming
The Saboteur is a blast

3 Stars

Gorgeous art design, period perfect soundtrack make this console/PC title a highly stylized bit of game noir

Sociable
Facebook mobilizes masses - but what for?

Never have so many people been gathered together to do so little

jason logan
Video-game sex scandal
Video game's gay love scene stirs controversy

A same-sex love scene in a popular new game has some fans cheering – and others jeering, revealing what some experts call the homophobic underbelly of the gaming community

Smart phones give disabled help on the go

Devices come with software applications designed to make life easier for disabled people – and everyone else too

T.V. Raman, Google research scientist, walks to lunch with his seeing-eye dog Hubbell, at company headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.
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