TechBytes: Verizon Unveils The Droid

Oct. 29, 2009— -- Verizon Wireless has unveiled its answer to the iPhone. The Droid is made by Motorola and is the first Verizon phone to run on Google's software. It has a touchscreen, as well as a physical keyboard, and can run several applications at once, something the iPhone can't do. Other features include a five megapixel camera with a flash and voice activated search. The device also integrates social networking sites so users can do things like sync Facebook friends in their contacts. The Droid goes on sale next Friday for $200 dollars.

Google has released a GPS program for phones that run on its software. The mapping application offers turn by turn directions, live traffic updates, the ability to recognize voice commands, and satellite and street views.Perhaps best of all, it's free, which is bad news for standalone GPS makers.The navigation system currently works only on the Droid, but it will be expanding to more phones soon, possibly even the iPhone.

Google has also rolled out a new music search feature that puts users one click away from listening to full length songs. Users can search by the name of a song, artists, album, or even part of a song's lyrics and be linked to an audio preview of the song. The results also provide links to sites that help you discover new music based on your interests.

Today is the Internet's birthday. Forty years ago today a team of researchers at UCLA transmitted the first message over a network from one computer to another.The Internet did not become popular until about the early 1990s when the World Wide Web and e-commerce were introduced. So what was the first message ever sent over the Internet? The letters L O. The researchers were trying to type "log in" but one of the computers crashed.