If you want the latest news about updates and improvements to Google services, you won’t find a much better source than Vic Gundotra. As Senior VP of Engineering for Google, he’s privy to pretty much everything that happens at the company. And he likes to share.

So, when he touts a new update for Google+, we listen. In fact, that’s just what he did this morning. According to his post, the update introduces a new navigation drawer that is “more consistent with other Google apps.” In addition, notifications will now sync across devices so you no longer have to see the same notifications from device to device if you’ve already dismissed them.

You also get a new notifications tray with a bell icon that lets you know if there’s something for you to see as well as unread and read trays. So, some nice improvements. This update should start being availbe today for Android and the web with iOS update to follow.

Here’s what the changelog says about the update:

Are you a Gmail user? If you’re like most people, you probably are. In fact, you probably have multiple accounts that you check on a daily, hourly or even a minute by minute basis. Heck, we get it, you don’t want to miss anything important and Gmail is a great service.

Well, good news because it seems Google understands. Or, at least they’re trying to by continuously updating and refining the Gmail experience both on the desktop and via their mobile apps to make it even better.

Continuing the trend this week, Google has announced they are updating Gmail yet again for Android, iOS and the desktop. This time, the update will include features designed to help users unclutter their inboxes and deal with email in a more efficient way.

The redesign changes the layout of Gmail and separates messages into tabs. You can have up to five with each designed to group messages into categories that make it easier to process email. In addition to the main tab, which continues to be sorted by priority, the new tabs include social (messages from social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.), promotions (for Groupon, LivingSocial, etc.), updates (for confirmations, receipts, bills, etc.) and forums (messages from discussion boards, mailing lists, etc.).

Another day, another video from Google about Google Glass. Hey, dont’ blame us, if this really is the “next big thing” we don’t want to be accused of not bringing you all the details about it so you can be ready.

With that in mind, Google did release a new video today highlighting more of the features of Google Glass. This time around the video shows how users can navigate through the Glas menu simply by swiping and taping on the side of the headset to find and select icons.

Seeing how users can interact and control glass in this manner helps put to rest our fears of hoards of people shouting commands to their headsets in public. We still find it odd when people seem to be talking to themselves but then actually have some sort of earpiece in and are really on a mobile phone.

Fortunately, if this video is any indication, verbal commands are not the only way to get Glass to work. Nice to see we still have to use our hands for something.

Check out the full ideo after the break. Google Glass arrives for the rest of us sometime next year.

Google is a major player in the tech world. So much so that they have their very own convention, called Google I/O. At this convention, which takes place in San Francisco from May 15-17, developers and other Google-enthusiasts gather to discuss, learn and get a glimpse of what Google has in store for Android and its other ventures.

As of late yesterday, the company has posted the full list and schedule of sessions avilable at Google I/O. With ove 120 choices ranging from Android and Chrome to developing for Google Glass and Google Wallet.

In short, if you’re a developer (or a Google-enthusiast) you won’t have any trouble finding something interesting and informative to see and do.

Sadly, if you don’t already have a ticket to Google I/O, you’re out of luck. They’re sold out. However, you can be sure most of the major sessions and keynotes will be available live via streaming or later online at Google’s Developers Live.

Even though we’re big Apple fans, we’re very interested to see what Google unveils at this event. They do create some pretty cool stuff.

Could be pretty exciting indeed.

Just when you thought there we weren’t going to get any tech news today (except for the PS4, of course) along comes Google. That’s right, the company just announced two new laptops which continue their idea that all your data should be on the “cloud.”

The new hotness, dubbed the Chromebook Pixel, sport a 12.85″ Gorilla Glass touch display with 239ppi (2560 x 1700), the highest pixel density of any laptop screen on the market. The Pixel also features an Intel i5 processor, 4G LTE (from Verizon), a backlit keyboard, two USB 2.0 ports, a mini-display port, 2-in-1 card reader, 4GB RAM, 32 or 64GB solid state drive, a headphone jack, microphone, and battery life of up to 5 hours with active use.

The Chromebook Pixel is already available at the company’s Play Store. Prices start at $1299 for the WiFi-only version and $1449 for the 4G LTE one.

Check out a video with more details after the break.

As a Mac OS X user, I’ve moved away from Apple’s Safari web browser and have been using Google’s Chrome for pretty much all of my daily browsing. It works very well, for the most part. But until today, one thing has been missing in the seamless Chrome experience: the Chrome browser on the iPhone and iPad.

Fortunately, Google has remedied that issue and announced Chrome for the iPhone and iPad during day two of its I/O conference in San Francisco. Chrome for iPhone and iPad, which needs iOS version 4.3 or higher, will be available later today.

Another new thing Google announced today which I’m particularly excited for is the Google Drive app for iOS. With the Drive app on iOS, you can open PDFs, photos, videos, documents and anything else stored in your Drive while you’re on the go. You can also search all your files, share them with collaborators, and make files available offline.

That last bit is really cool. Offline files is an awesome development which makes this service even better. No internet connection? Don’t worry, just make changes to your document and the next time you have a connection, it will sync. Awesome.

More from Google’s I/O event as it comes to us. In the meantime, I’m hitting refresh on the iTunes Store until Chrome is available for download.

For those of you loving Google’s Chrome Browser on your desktop or laptop computers and who also have an Android-powered phone, this is a great day. Why? Well, as you can probably guess from the headline above, Google has announced the first beta release of the Chrome Web browser for Android-powered smartphones and tablets.

“Like the desktop version, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices,” Sundar Pichai, Google’s SVP of Chrome and Apps, wrote on the company’s blog.

Chrome for Android is available immediately as a free download in the Android Market. It is compatible with smartphones and tablets running Android 4.0 or later. As I user of Chrome on Mac OS X I can only hope they release a version of Chrome for the iPhone. Although, knowing Apple’s reluctance to share, I won’t hold my breath.

If you want to see the Chrome browser for Android in action before your decide to try it yourself, check out the video from Google after the break.

With Apple’s recent announcement of the new Apple TV, the competition for your living room is heating up once again with Google set to soon jump fully into the fray. Announced in May, Google TV has officially been given a launch date here in the US.

According to the report, Google will launch its TV service in the United States this autumn and worldwide next year. CEO Eric Schmidt said the service, which will allow users to browse the Internets via their televisions, would be free, and Google will work with a diverse group of content providers and electronics manufacturers to bring it to consumers.

Companies such as Sony and Samsung are already looking at including the service in their devices. More are sure to follow suit, if only to try and secure a better deal for themselves then Apple has traditionally provided.

The real question is do people want to use the Internet on their TV’s? I suppose they do considering I do it every day by watching something like Hulu or Instant Netflix on my TV via the XBox 360 or PS3.

Although, I wouldn’t exactly call me a “typical consumer” so what I do with technology might be more than most people are willing, or able, to do. That said, if Google TV does end up having those features, I might be more interested.

Want to know more about Google TV? If so, check out the official video explaining it after the jump.

The tablet “wars” are getting even more interesting as, according to our friends at Download Squad, Google is apparently set to launch a new Chrome OS powered tablet device with Verizon as early as November of this year. According to a source close to the device, the tablet is indeed real, is built by HTC and will be powered by Google’s other operating system, Chrome.

In addition, the table will be offered by Verizon and will, as they do with other Netbook devices, have it available for a substantially reduced price with a data contract. In fact, the price may be so reduced that the table may actually end up being completely free.

The new tablet will reportedly launch on November 26th (aka ‘Black Friday” in the U.S.) to capitalize on the holiday shopping frenzy that usually commences at that time. And, of course, to compete with Apple’s very popular iPad.

Speculation has also been made about the tablets internal specs. According to DLS, it will most likely be powered by NVidia’s Tegra 2 platform and sport a 1280×720 multitouch display, 2GB of RAM, minimum 32GB SSD, WiFi/Bluetooth/3G connectivity, GPS, webcam, and possibly expandable storage via a multi-card reader.

Although this tablet does sound cool (especially the free part) I have to wonder why Google didn’t just go with Android to power this device? After all, that OS is doing pretty well for itself and has already found its way into at least one tablet already on the market: the Dell Streak. So, I wonder at Google’s motivation in going with Chrome.

I guess they must know what they’re doing. Looking forward to checking these out when they arrive. How about you guys?