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Until today, Google's Chrome OS has been little more than a wordy concept. Now, finally, we truly know what it is, what it looks like, and how it works. Here's the breakdown.

Look for images of "Washington" online, and Google's search engine may turn up a random sea of pictures showing the Washington monument, the White House, George Washington, and actor Denzel Washington. Now Google's new "Image Swirl" feature could eliminate that hit-or-miss frustration by organizing images in neat, expandable thumbnail stacks for users to explore.

Google has scarcely stopped for a breather since launching its cloud-based Chrome OS as an alternative to PC and Mac operating systems. Now its Chromium group has announced an effort to replace the traditional HTTP web browser language with a new protocol that supposedly boosts Internet browsing by up to 55 percent.

The end-of-the-year holidays are a time of tradition and ritual. The waiting on line at the airport. The flight getting delayed due to snow. And of course, the annual Thanksgiving vacation lost luggage.

To help alleviate that holiday travel-related stress, Google is giving a holiday present to every traveler who passes through 47 specially designated airports: free Wi-Fi.

Google's Android does a lot more these days than just smart phones and nifty mobile gadgets. An Internet pioneer is using the platform to launch a interplanetary Internet protocol on Earth that could harden wireless networks against delays in data transmission.

Hot on the heels of the Android 2.0 mobile OS release, Google's sweetening the deal: the Eclair-flavored refresh to their mapping app turns handsets into feature-rich GPS devices -- for free.

When we saw the Motorola Cliq and the way it married all your contacts simply in one place (a la the Palm Pre), we finally saw the light at the end of the Android tunnel. This morning, that light got even brighter with Android 2.0--the next iteration of Google's mobile software.

So you want all the bells and whistles that come along with Google Voice: call recording, call screening, text messages via email, etc. However, after years of broadcasting your familiar digits via business cards, email footers, and crumpled cocktail napkins, you just can't bear to switch from your old cell number to a new "Google number," the requisite for taking advantage of the service. At least, it was requisite; Google is now offering a lite version of Google Voice that lets users retain their phone numbers while taking advantage of some features of Google Voice.

Google's Android operating system for cell phones could allow soldiers to track fellow squad members and even unmanned drones in real time on a map -- as long as the humans and robots are on their buddy list.