If there's one person at CeBIT you don't want to not recognize, it's German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, we can only assume that Vodafone booth workers were left with their tails stuck between their legs after said figure gave its recently announced picture-based search engine a go. Upon Otella returning nothing after a picture was presumably snapped of Merkel, she quickly asserted: "I am not in the database." Better still, she continued by proclaiming: "That's a major gap." Heck, maybe she should be happy -- after all, Vodafone's set to trial the service with Europe's "best selling tabloid," and not being in there would most certainly be a good thing.

We've certainly seen some clever methods of searching from one's mobile, but Vodafone's latest idea is quite the stroke of genius. Showcased at CeBIT, the Otello search engine simply uses images as input; in other words, handset owners just snap a picture of anything -- a landmark, DVD case, unidentified flying object, etc. -- and Otello then "returns information relevant to the picture to the mobile phone." Reportedly, Vodafone is expected to conduct a trial with German paper Bild in which readers can "find out more about specially-marked articles by photographing them with their mobile's camera and sending the image to [the aforementioned paper]." Unfortunately, the carrier is being tight-lipped with its plans for Otello beyond the trial, but if this stuff functions as advertised, we can't see it remaining a secret for long.

[Via Pocket-lint]

Don't look now, but it seems Google is teaming up with wireless broadband provider Clearwire in order to bless its customers with the Google Apps communication suite. Though no definitive date was provided, Clearwire will "soon" begin migrating its users to Gmail / Google Calendar sometime during the first half of this year, and furthermore, these same folks will also have access to Google Talk. Beyond all that, however, is quite a bit of lovin' coming from both sides, and Clearwire's chief strategy officer Scott Richardson even went so far as to say that he "looked forward to expanding its working relationship with Google." Quite the interesting tag team, wouldn't you say?

While it'd be easy for Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's deferment to be an end-all solution to the recent Google vs. Microsoft spat, we're inclined to believe that Google hasn't had its last word just yet. As it stands, the judge in charge has reportedly said that "she will likely defer to an agreement on desktop search forged between Microsoft and the plaintiffs in the US government's antitrust lawsuit against the software vendor instead of responding to a complaint from rival Google," and further explained that she didn't consider Google to "be a party in this case." Unfortunately, that's about all we've heard at the moment-- but stay tuned, this one's bound to go a few more rounds before the dust settles.

Just when you thought the bickering over Vista's search capabilities were finished, along comes Google to fuel the nearly extinguished flame. Apparently, Microsoft's actual filing that spelled out its intentions to alter the search functionality within Vista wasn't as clear cut as previously understood, and now Google is out for even more blood. Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, called the remedies "a step in the right direction," but also declared that the changes "should be improved further to give consumers greater access to alternate desktop-search providers." Essentially, it seems like Google will be barking up Redmond's proverbial tree until Microsoft allows users to disable Vista's built-in search (or better yet, choose Google) entirely. Oh, the drama.

[Via Slashdot]

Seems that all it takes to get things done these days is whine and be named Google. A mere nine days after the aforementioned search giant kvetched about the rigidity of Vista's built-in search functionality, the higher-ups in Redmond have apparently caved. According to a blurb at CNET, "Microsoft plans to use the first service pack for Vista to make the changes to desktop search," and it was also suggested that the firm would detail these very changes "in a federal court filing being jointly made with the Justice Department." Man, talk about responsive.

C'mon Google, you can't seriously be upset that you can't get your search engine integrated into every piece of software known to man, right? Actually, it appears that the search giant can indeed bust out the whiner card on occasion, and it has apparently done just that in regard to the Vista Search that's built into Microsoft's latest OS. Reportedly, Google accused Microsoft of "designing Vista to discourage users from running its indexing and search software," and a company spokesman even went so far as to claim that Redmond's current approach "violates its agreement with the government and hurts consumers." Google's gripes start to grow legs when you consider just how difficult it is to actually disable or modify Vista's ingrained search tactics, and while Microsoft has supposedly stated that it is "committed to going the extra mile to resolve this issue," there doesn't look to be any timetables set for giving users the ability to choose just yet.

[Thanks, Dinraj P.]

Back in the 90's OEM PC manufacturers used to make some easy money by charging ISPs like AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe to have dial-up software preloaded on their machines, and now the new millenium is finding the white box makers once again offering premium desktop and browser real estate to the highest bidder -- but this time around it's search giants Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft that are jockeying for space on your new machine. With the two largest manufacturers having already been spoken for -- Google famously partnered with Dell and Yahoo got in bed with both HP and Acer -- Microsoft's Live tools were running a very distant third until Redmond decided to look overseas and court Chinese powerhouse Lenovo. Well in a presumably nine- and possibly even ten-figure deal announced today, Lenovo will indeed be shipping all of its machines (including the ThinkPad and ThinkCentre lines) with the Windows Live toolbar and browsers pointed at Live Search, starting with rigs that roll off the line later this month. As you'd expect, the company is spinning this partnership as a big win for consumers, arguing that it "allows our customers to better communicate with us, in addition to giving them additional services." Well said, executive director of strategic alliances Peter Gaucher. In reality Lenovo just gets a big payday and Microsoft will likely see some boost in Live usage from newbs who don't know one search engine from the others; meanwhile, the rest of us will just have to take a few extra seconds to delete all the crapware and change our homepages.

[Via laptoping]

These collaborative robots remind us a lot of NASA's SuperBot, only with a clear mission to search and rescue (and minus the crazy acrobatics). These modular bots, currently being developed in Germany, work both independently and as a group and are designed for use in applications such as military reconnaissance, surveillance, and even space exploration. When detached the individual bots can work separately to cover large areas over a shorter period of time. The units come together and join by way of a novel conical docking mechanism, allowing them to form a single, more complex robot. Each module is outfitted with a pair of rugged treads, various onboard sensors, a touch sensor, GPS module, and gyroscope to help then navigate and identify their surroundings. At this stage, the robots are pre-programmed, but a future goal is to make them autonomous and to increase the number of collaborative units working as one. The bots have yet to be used in real-world scenarios, however we'd hope that if one fell into a crevice, another one would come to its rescue. Or whatever.

It's one thing to offload (illegally) a dozen or so GPS units from a storage facility and beg the police to nab you by leaving them turned on, but for the boys in blue to slide a tracking device into your ride to keep dibs on your doings, well that's another matter entirely. Earlier this month, the Seventh Circuit of the US Court of Appeals "ruled against a defendant who claimed that the surreptitious placement of a GPS tracking device amounted to an unconstitutional search," essentially giving the coppers the green light to add a GPS module to a suspicious ride sans a warrant. While we're sure the privacy advocates out there are screaming bloody murder, the district judge found that they had had a "reasonable suspicion that the defendant was engaged in criminal activity," and it seems that a well-placed hunch is all they need for lawful placement. Interestingly, the government argues that no warrant was needed since "there was no search or seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment," but did add that "wholesale surveillance of the entire population" was to be viewed differently. So while this may come as a shock to some folks out there, it's not like your vehicles have been entirely devoid of data capturing devices up until now anyway, so here's fair warning to be on your best behavior when rolling about.

Upstart Dash Navigation announced today that it's signed up Yahoo! as a partner for its forthcoming Dash Express GPS unit/service, with the company set to provide its Yahoo! Local service for some location-sensitive car-based searching. For those not up to speed, Dash is aiming to bolster the humble GPS navigation unit by pooling the collective awareness of all Dash users on the road, wirelessly transmitting traffic information back and forth in real time to provide up-to-date road conditions (for a more detailed Dash primer, you may want to take a gander at our own Ross Rubin's two recent columns on the company's plans). The addition of Yahoo! Local looks to further round out the company's offerings, letting drivers search for nearby business or products, as well as get restaurant ratings and other information, along with the ability to redirect their route to any given destination at the push of a button. Dash itself is apparently still on track for a launch in California this spring, with a nationwide roll-out to follow later in the fall.

Contrary to previous beliefs, it looks like neither Orange nor HTC will have a part in producing the first "Googlephone," and instead it seems that Samsung is slipping in the back door to steal the limelight. When the Ultra Edition 13.8 (formerly known as the Z720) got official a few days back, we noticed the relatively unexpected suite of Google apps swarming the mobile's innards, and aside from the handset not exactly abiding by the Opera agreement that is supposedly falling into place, it seems a good fit for the first Google-infused mobile. Of course, the programs that come loaded are all available as free downloads on supported handsets, but it seems the European-bound 13.8 will be numero uno in what's likely to be quite a lengthy list of Googled mobiles.

Sure, we've heard the heartwarming stories of SMS savings a boy's life and TiVo preventing a man from heading to prison, but this round of "Gadgets Saving Lives" features none other than the token iPod as the center of attention. While Griffin has long since had the idea of using the iPod to power a flashlight-type device, a mushroom hunter (yes, they do exactly as the title describes) resorted to the backlit LCD in his Apple in order to lead rescuers to his location. While enjoying a presumably thrilling evening of picking 'shrooms from the wild brush in Vancouver, Washington with his mother, Pini Nou somehow found himself off the beaten path and lost under a cover of darkness (and wild grass, too). By phoning in authorities and faintly describing his surroundings, troops were able to get close enough to view the white glow emitted from his PMP, and 20 minutes later he was safe and sound, albeit "cold, tired, and aching." So, there you have it kids, the ultimate excuse to get an iPod for the holidays -- safety.

[Thanks, Napo M.]

You know what they always say: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Apparently Yahoo is applying this mantra quite liberally, as just a fortnight after signing a deal with Acer to make Yahoo the default search engine on all of its future notebooks, the distantly-second place search giant is teaming up with HP. Yahoo has been on a tirade of sorts in its attempt to partner with as many other firms as possible, but landing a deal with the world's second largest PC maker just might provide the usage boost its been after. North American HP PCs will sport an Internet Explorer 7 toolbar that automatically channels any search requests to Yahoo's servers, while European PCs will be greeted with a Yahoo home page each time they launch their browser (until they change the default setting, that is). Also noteworthy is the newfound partnership between HP and Vonage, which will toss in advertising brochures and an offer for "unlimited premium residential broadband telephone service," thoroughly showering your fresh HP box with "pre-selected offerings." Whether or not this turns out to be a two-fer-one (or are we up to three now?) deal for Yahoo, considering HP just acquired VoodooPC and all, remains to be seen -- but we can't imagine Voodoo customers warming up to an advertisement-laden OS anytime soon.

Read - Yahoo teams with HP
Read - Vonage connects with HP

Since Google went ahead and did the deed with Dell, Yahoo has struck a deal of its own by landing a "multi-year" agreement with Acer (the world's third largest laptop supplier) to become the default search engine on all future notebooks. Yahoo already has ties with names like TiVo, Meedio, and DialPad, but hopes the "loading zone" -- which appears when an Acer user launches their web browser -- will connect another huge chunk of consumers to all facets of Yahoo content, including local weather, sports, and Yahoo Music; plans are already in place to ensure that Yahoo (not one of those other competitors) is the integrated search engine for the forthcoming Internet Explorer 7. While deals such as these certainly aren't surprising, those interested in Acer's hot new Ferraris might be a little alarmed when they arrive pre-modified, though returning them to stock shouldn't require too much "shop time" at all.