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Google recently made a deal, it’s largest acquisition ever in fact, to purchase Motorola Mobility for 12.5 billion dollars. Google believes this will help them make gains in the mobile marketplace. Also, Google potentially wanted to make this deal to gain access to the 17,000 patents (and 7000 patents pending) that Motorola has assembled over the years.

Remember when a mouse pad with a personalized picture was good enough? Not any more!

This looks like one of those gifts you get your parents for Christmas when you’ve run out of ideas. Interested in purchasing? (we won’t judge) Visit the site here.

It was recently announced that plans are in place by the FCC to update the technology that communicates with the 911 emergency response system.

The plan will allow 911 to accept transmission of text messages, voice calls, videos and photos. Also, automatic location information will be able to be obtained from calls.

According to the FCC press release, the official project name is Next Generation 911 (NG911) and this is the five step plan:

1. Develop location accuracy mechanisms for NG911

5. Develop an NG911 funding model

What do you think about the new developments to the 911 emergency response system?

• A month after launch, Google + has some believing that it has real staying power (Wired)

• New technology that can’t end well – a CarZor Razor that fits in your wallet (Geekologie)

• As the beginning of the school year rapidly approaches, here is a great video to help you save money on back to school computing (CNN Tech)

• For the geeks out there – here are the Top 10 Favorite Geek Movie Quotes – enjoy! (Huffington Post)

If you are like most people and just can’t seem to get moving in the mornings, check out these tech gadgets that might just change your mind…

1. Dumbbell Alarm Clock – in order to shut this clock off, you’ll need to do a predetermined number of reps. Get your exercise out of the way and then snooze an extra couple of minutes.

2. Pillow Tie – look good and catch some comfortable zzz’s at your desk!

Check out the full list from MSNBC Gadget Box here.

Facebook recently announced that they will offer an option in the “Friends and Family” section (under Edit Profile) that allows users to choose “Expected: Child”, along with listing a due date and name, if already decided.

It’s been speculated that the option was introduced to cut back on the amount of parents-to-be who create separate pages for their impending bundles of joy. It is technically against Facebook rules and regulations to have a page if you are under the age of 13.

Be careful not to change your status to “Expected: Child” if you have friends who will be offended to find out this way or if you are friends with your co-workers and haven’t let your boss know your maternity plans yet.

Just another reason why Yahoo! Answers gets a bad rap -

(Source: Geeks Are Sexy)

If you answer yes to the question above, you’re not alone, according to a study in the journal of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. These checking habits consist of repetitive checking of email and other social networking applications, “lasting less than 30 seconds and occurring within 10 minutes of each other.”

On average, people check their phones 34 times a day, not because they need to but because it has simply become a habit.

Here’s a few questions you can ask yourself to find out if you are a habitual checker:

1. Do you check your email even when there is no notification of a new email being received?
2. Are you starting to annoy the people around you?
3. Does not checking your email or having your phone around makes you start to shake and sweat?

If you’d like to break the habit, schedule times when you will be without your phone – perhaps when you have plans with friends or during family events. As with anything else, the first step in acknowledging you have a problem is admitting it…

July 26, 1989 – Robert Tappan Morris is the first person to be indicted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

“Morris was prosecuted for creating and releasing the Morris worm, generally recognized as the first computer worm to infect the internet. He released the worm from computers at MIT in order to keep the light of suspicion away from Cornell.

Morris said later that his intentions were purely intellectual, that he created the worm in an attempt to measure the size of the internet. A design flaw in the worm’s delivery system, however, caused some infected computers to keep replicating the worm until they became unusable. A number of systems were disabled by the Morris worm.

Damage estimates from the worm’s impact vary greatly, as do the actual number of systems and individual computers that were affected. But the numbers applied to Morris are concrete: After some plea bargaining, he was sentenced in December 1990 to three years’ probation and fined $10,000 (about $17,000 in today’s money).

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act has been amended several times (and folded into the Patriot Act) since its inception, and Morris’ activities might bring down a much harsher sentence today.”

(Source: Wired Magazine Online)

• Google displaying warnings for users with Malware infections (CNN Money)

• You may not need any of these tech tools but isn’t it good to know they exist? (CNN Tech)

• Fake Apple store pops up in China (Geeks are Sexy)

• Here is a list that may come in handy for me in particular! A tech checklist for new baby (Today – Digital Life)