Google co-founder Sergey Brin says that as many as 80 percent of Google’s employees are no longer using Windows computers. The comments came from an interview with All Things Digital, and suggests that the majority of Google employees are working with the company’s own Chrome OS rather than other platforms. And why not? If you work for Google, you might as well use Google’s OS.

“I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with Windows,” Brin said. “It has a lot of great security features. But I think the complexity of managing your computer is really torturing users.” He claims that Chrome OS does not “put the burden of managing the computer” on users. By next year he hopes that even more employees are using the company’s OS.

It looks like tomorrow is finally the day that the HTC Merge gets real on Verizon’s network. We’ve all been waiting for this device. It was rumored to be getting an LTE radio and other upgrades, but so far it has been acting like it’s scared of store shelves.

Well, tomorrow is looking very likely though it hasn’t been upgraded, but it does have global capabilities and a good looking keyboard. Most anyone who wanted it has probably moved on by now. What do you think?

Rumor is that Panasonic will be launching the Lumix DMC-G3 tomorrow, which is the update to its Micro Four Thirds G2. This new camera is said to be 25 percent smaller than its predecessor with a 15.8 megapixel sensor and a 3-inch articulating LCD. Hopefully it will fit your hand perfectly.

Looks like the camera is very similar to the G2 in form, but with no left dial since it has touch controls. All indications are that it will launch tomorrow and that is indeed good news for Lumix fans.

Xperia blog has some new images of what it claims is a new Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot cellphone. Not surprisingly, the photos are pretty blurry, but they show both the Sony Ericsson brand name and the Cyber-shot logo. There also appears to be three buttons common to Android OS phones.

This is by no means official, but we have no reason not to believe it so far and Cyber-shot fans have been waiting for a new Android-based version of the cellphone with high quality imaging and resolution. Sony executives have so far refused to comment. Interesting.

Most of us have GPS on our phones, but if you still need a navigation device by itself, you may want to check out the Magellan RoadMate 9055-LM GPS navigation system, designed for Minivans, SUVs, RVs and trucks. It features a large 7-inch high-definition WVGA screen that displays maps, directions, and traffic to guide you on your way.

Other features include Bluetooth to pair up with mobile devices and built-in AAA TourBook guides for US and Canada, which will give you ratings and descriptions on AAA-approved places to stay, dine, and more. The RoadMate 9055-LM is $299.99.

NEC is launching a new Windows 7 tablet in Japan. The tablet is powered by a fast 1.5GHz Oak Trail Atom Z670 processor and it is called the NEC VersaPro VK15V/TM-C. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 32Bit is running the show.

Other features include 2GB of DDR2 RAM, 64GB Solid State Drive (SSD), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, HDMI, an SDHC card slot and a 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) display. The NEC VersaPro VK15V/TM-C Windows 7 tablet will be available starting next month. No info on pricing yet though.

You’d have to be living under a rock to not know that social networking is all the rage. It’s everywhere and on every device. And now electronic cigarettes are getting into the action.

Electronic cigarette maker Blu, you know those smokes that emit vapor instead of smoke, have a new way to join social networking and smoking. Now, Blu has a way for Blu cigarette smokers to gather with other Blu cigarette smokers.

Itching to get Android 3.1 on your WiFi Xoom? Well, we have some good news. Google said yesterday that the new limited edition Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be getting updated to Android 3.1 in the next couple of weeks, and it looks like it will be the same with the WiFi-only Xoom.

Motorola has announced that it will get the update “within the next several weeks.” That’s good news right? They also said that the Verizon 3G Xoom is rolling out over the air this week as well. This is definitely good to hear.

Motion Computing’s CL900 tablet is finally available for order, pricing starts at $899. The 2.1-pound Windows 7 tablet packs in a 1.5GHz Intel Oak Trail Atom Z670 processor and a 10.1-inch, 1366×768 multi-touch display with Gorilla Glass.

Other features include a 1.3-megapixel front camera, with a 3.0-megapixel sensor in back. The tablet is just 15.5mm thick, with up to 2GB of RAM (as well as a 30GB or 62GB SSD). Battery life is up to eight hours and it sports a USB port, SD card slot and Bluetooth 3.0 module. The CL900 is only available at select retailers right now.

Check out this lens cap for the Olympus XZ-1. It not only keeps your lens safe, but it also looks cool, like your camera was made for a James Bond villain. This is a great design. Most manual lens caps will just dangle and get in the way, but this retractable lens cap splits apart and slides back into place when not in use.

If you want one, it will cost you about $90 including shipping from Japan. Seems like money well spent to us.

As if Facebook doesn’t have enough vulnerabilities, Symantec researchers are now saying that an old Facebook bug may have provided access to millions of user’s photos, profiles and other personal data. Researchers estimate that this flaw has affected hundreds of thousands of applications, exposed user access tokens to advertisers and others.

So what is the fix? It’s as simple as changing your password. So you might want to do that right away just to be safe.

I think that we can all agree that the Microsoft Surface concept is pretty awesome, but when can you and I get one? Pioneer’s engineers are working on it with this ultimate 52” Multitouch interactive discussion table, the WWS-DT101.

The WWS-DT101 is based on a Full HD 52” TV with multitouch technology and will let you manipulate documents with the touch of a finger and share data with anyone either wirelessly thanks to TransferJet technology or to any network connected devices like PCs, iPhones and iPads.

Sharp is not new to 3D, the Japanese manufacturer already has the Sharp Lynx 3D after all. Now the company has introduced the Sharp Aquos SH-12C Android-powered smartphone with 3D capture capability.

The Aquos features a 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor, a 4.2-inch qHD (540 x 960) glasses-free 3D screen, eight-megapixel camera for 2D and 3D video and picture capturing, 512MB of RAM, 2GB ROM, WiFi, HSDPA 14Mpbs, Bluetooth and GPS.

During an earnings conference call last year, Steve Jobs hinted that Apple had tested several designs for the iPad during its development process. One of these possible designs may have surfaced in a patent application recently approved by the USPTO and now we get to see what might have been.

This patent shows off a Wi-Fi+3G iPad with an extra USB slot for landscape connectivity. The auxiliary USB slot would let you place the iPad in a dedicated landscape dock and dock it in portrait mode while syncing using both slots. Apple holds a patent for the design, but we will likely never see this in an upcoming iPad model. Still, it always nice to see how things might have been.

Google has taken its first steps into cloud media today with Music Beta, which allows users upload up to 20,000 songs that they can then stream from either a web browser or an Android device. Listeners can even “pin” music to a mobile device to have a permanent copy of those songs to play while “offline”. I wonder what Apple thinks about all of this.

There’s also a new playlist feature called Instant Mix, where Music Beta ‘listens’ to the music and uses the sound of the music to automatically generate a playlist. A Music Manager desktop app for Macs and Windows PCs will allow users to automatically grab and upload their iTunes or Windows Media Player collections to the cloud as well.