Many may have already called it "game over" for Google's Chrome browser, but Google sees the great browser race as just getting started. Now, the search giant is looking at preinstalling Chrome on new PCs as it fights to topple Internet Explorer as the Web surfing platform of choice.

The revelation comes from an interview published in The Times this week with Google Vice President of Product Management Sundar Pichai. Chrome is almost ready to come out of beta, Pichai indicates -- possibly as early as January -- and "distribution deals" are likely to follow. Chrome's Mac and Linux versions are also both expected to debut during the first half of 2009, he says.

Large file attachments suck. By which I mean they suck up bandwidth, clogging both your outbox and the recipient's inbox (and heaven help the poor dial-up user who gets stuck downloading an unwanted 5MB attachment). What's more, because many mail servers balk at sending and/or receiving large files, your big batch of photos, summer-vacation video, killer PowerPoint presentation, or whatever might get stopped in its outbox tracks.

That's why I'm partial to services like YouSendIt, which let you send big files without all the hassles. To use the service, you head to the site, enter the name(s) and e-mail address(es) of your recipient(s), and then choose the file you want to send it. After it uploads, the recipients get an e-mail containing a link that downloads the file.

When it comes to game sales metrics, feelings are irrelevant and data is king. Research group EEDAR claims to have rather provocative data from a study conducted on "price protection" that reveals Wii games are landing in bargain bins at a rate, compared to Xbox 360 and PS3 titles, of nearly 2 to 1, according to Cinema Blend.

Hans Spring has told Windows not to ask for a password when he boots. But it still demands one to come out of Stand By and Hibernate modes.

There are good reasons to kept password protection on for power saving modes. If you're away from your desk, you're vulnerable. But if you feel safe in your computing environment, here's how to do it.

The Last Remnant, a timed-exclusive roleplaying game for the Xbox 360, promises lots of "stunning" and "moving" and "mind-blowing" things, but doesn't tell you about the bewildering ones. When it comes to perplexing gameplay, it's certainly efficient. You're some kid in a forest, then you're some kid on a battlefield, then you're some incredibly brave or just plain stupid kid tapping buttons haphazardly as a spasmodic steadicam pans and pivots around fuzzy-eared cat-things and lipless floppy-eared frogs wielding swords and axes and guns with spinning barrels, all dressed like runway models in a Parisian fashion show. Why would you charge suicidally onto a battlefield with thousands of alien combatants? Because you're sure you've spotted your missing sister while having your afternoon woodsy stroll, of course.

If you're planning to join the 3 a.m. line of bleary-eyed bargain-hunters on Black Friday, expect a lot of competition for those HDTV sets and gaming consoles.

A new Consumer Reports survey shows that 85 percent of Black Friday shoppers plan to purchase tech gear, up from 70 percent a year ago. The most popular items will be mobile phones, video game systems, flat-panel TVs, MP3 players, and home theater equipment.

Google isn't content being the most popular Internet search engine -- it continuously tinkers to create a more immersive user experience. Sometimes it fails as PC World outlined in this article. And Google's SearchWiki, a user-edited search results feature unveiled yesterday, in my opinion is Google's latest bad idea since, well, since Lively.

SearchWiki allows you to edit and customize your search results pages. You must be signed into your Google account for it to work. Once signed in, if you search for "fantasy football stats" religiously and think the result should appear in a different order, you can rearrange search results to your liking. You can also delete unhelpful results and even comment on the page's usefulness.

Searching for YouTube videos is fun, but the videos are usually of such a low, compressed quality that sometimes it's hard to actually see what is going on. But YouTube is trying to fix that problem. It already supplies one option: You can set your YouTube account settings to play HD video when available, or you can attach "&fmt=18" to the end of the URL to display videos in a higher 480x260 quality. But now YouTube is supporting an even higher quality 1280x720 video format (identified by "&fmt=22" at the end of a link). The results are a pretty dramatic difference.

Regular YouTube quality:

As we reported today, several Verizon employees have been using their employee access privileges to look at an old mobile phone account of President-elect Barack Obama's. Here's the statement from Verizon:

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - Verizon Wireless President and CEO Lowell McAdam made the following statement today:

Apple unveiled early Friday a 2.2 software update for the iPhone, bringing new features such as Google Street View and over-the-air podcast downloads. The 246MB download is available in iTunes, for iPhone owners and delivers features that were previously expected and a couple of small surprises.

A major update was made in the Maps applications, which was enhanced with Google Street View and with public transport and walking directions, together with timetables, fares and estimated travel time. Also, you can view the address of where a pin is dropped on the map and even share your current location via email. To invoke Google Street View from the maps app you just have drop a pin and then press little person icon

The wintry new expansion to the world's most popular MMO is now the fastest selling PC game in history. Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion to Blizzard's World of Warcraft that unlocks a third continent and raises the game's level cap from 70 to 80, sold over 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability.

Hey, parents -- take it easy on your teens. It turns out all those hours they're spending on social networks might not be so bad after all.

A study (PDF) released by the MacArthur Foundation Thursday suggests Internet use by teenagers could actually be helping their development in ways past generations don't always understand.