Google has just announced the name for their rumored new service. It's part of Gmail and called Google Buzz. Features include:

Buzz reminds us of an RSS combined with all of your social networking—all within the existing Gmail infrastructure. Buzz's five key features include:

• Automatic friends lists (friends are added automatically who you have emailed them on Gmail)
• "Rich fast sharing" combines sources like Picasa and Twitter into a single feed, and it includes full-sized photo browsing
• Public and private sharing (swap between family and friends)
• Inbox integration (instead of emailing you with updates, like Facebook might, Buzz features emails that update dynamically with all Buzz thread content, like the photo viewer we mentioned above)
• "Recommended Buzz" puts friend-of-friend content into your stream, even if you're not acquainted. Recommendations learn over time with your feedback.

Of course, Buzz also works on mobiles. Google is slowly introducing those features now.

Read more updates in our Google Buzz liveblog, going on now.

I'm not sure how I feel about these tower skin concepts, which can turn ugly buildings into modern icons. A lot of the post-war buildings aren't the nicest-looking, but as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Architectural company LAVA believes ugly buildings should have a shot at happiness, with these tower skins acting like a "transparent cocoon" made from mesh textile, capable of being lit up in the evening for maximum attention. They'd supposedly generate energy with the addition of photovoltaic cells, collect rain water and improve ventilation for the buildings.

I'm sure the tower skins will stay firmly in "concept land," but the designs are on display in Sydney until the 28th of March for anyone wanting a gander. [LAVA Design Boom]

We're covering Google's mysterious, bizarrely secret product unveiling(s) live right here—and things are kicking off right now. Is Google just going all Twittery, or are they going to surprise us?

1:15: Google's Bradley Horowitz is on stage, and he's talking in broad terms about "sharing", and things like that! Sounds like Twitter, in the context of rumors. WIthout the rumors, it sounds a little like nothing.

1:19: Ah! There it is. "Google Buzz." It's built into Gmail, and Google's Todd Jackson is jumping on stage to talk about it.

1:21: Ok, this is what the WSJ was talking about: It's a system of "social updates" that leverages your Google contacts. It can auto-follow, sort of like how Gmail automatically adds contacts. You can publish private or public updates.

1:25: Here's what it looks like: It's a bit like Twitter, but there doesn't seem to be any kind of character limit. And you can share anything, like photos and video.

1:28: The Buzz timeline has all kinds of media support, including a cool automatic photo album thing. Using this looks a lot like using Twitter through an advanced client—you know how Tweetie or Tweetdeck lets you preview stuff without changing windows? The experience is a lot like that.

1:30: Haha, people have figured out the demo computer's email address, and they're spamming the inbox. Awesome.

1:33: Inbox integration is exactly what it sounds like—by @ing a comment on a Buzz link to one of your contacts, it will show up in their Gmail inbox. Google says obliquely that "the @ response has become very popular on the internet", without mentioning Twitter at all. This is funny, see, because Buzz is a flaming cannonball aimed directly at Twitter's heart.

1:35: Gmail's "Just the Good Stuff" feature highlights popular content, so you can discover new Buzz folks to follow, I guess. Trending topics, anyone?

1:36: And yes, there are going to be mobile apps. But first, a speech.

The military currently trains its soldiers using PCs, but they were interested in switching to the Xbox 360 for a number of reasons. Unfortunately, Microsoft was not too interested in helping them out.

According to Danger Room, Microsoft refused to sell consoles to Roger Smith, chief technology officer for PEO STRI, the Army command responsible for purchasing training equipment. Why wouldn't Microsoft sell them consoles? Well, according to Smith, three reasons:

* Microsoft was afraid that the military would buy up lots of Xbox 360s, but would buy only one game for each of them, so MS wouldn't make much money off of the games.
* that a big military purchase would create a shortage of Xbox 360s.
* that if the Xbox became an Army training device, it would taint its reputation. Microsoft was concerned that "do we want the Xbox 360 to be seen as having the flavor of a weapon? Do we want Mom and Dad knowing that their kid is buying the same game console as the military trains the SEALs and Rangers on?" Smith told me during an interview for Training & Simulation Journal.

When asked about this, a Microsoft rep claimed to have no knowledge of that conversation and suggested the Army uses the XNA Game Studio development tools. Sure, Microsoft. But they didn't say they were opposed to working with the Army.

But at this point, Smith doesn't seem so interested anymore, saying he'd "be happy to reopen these discussions if Microsoft is interested in selling these products to our community."

A weird situation all around. The soldiers just want Xboxes! Come on guys, let's work this out. [Danger Room]

Netgear and Ericsson have been tinkering away on a joint project, the fruits of which have weaned today—the MBRN3300E 3G mobile broadband router.

It's essentially a router which uses 3G WAN in addition to 802.11n wireless and four ethernet LAN ports for 270Mbps connectivity, so there's plenty o' choice for internet users whether they're in their houses or on the road (with 3G connection).

It's available now, although Netgear hasn't confirmed for just how much. [Netgear]

While this is really just a Honda ad, I had to share its charms with you. Because not only is the alleged Alec probably the most promising mind of his generation; he's likely husky and rejected by his peers. [Jalopnik]

CGChannel uncovered this fantastic '80s vintage documentary that details the three-month process behind HBO's iconic pre-movie intro. Grit your teeth past the corny "Illusion!" song. It's worth it to see how special FX were made "with computers" before CG. [CGChannel]

A shocking revelation from Warner Bros. earnings call this morning: Since they bumped prices on a bunch of iTunes music, growth has slowed down! Digital track growth dropped from 10 percent in the fall quarter to just 5 percent for this past quarter, which means less money—digital revenue grew less than half as much, 8 percent, versus 20 percent a year ago. Warner Music's CEO apparently conceded that raising prices during the recession, maybe not his finest idea.

The prudent point in this for book publishers, as Peter Kafka notes, is that raising prices like they wish to might slow sales down more than they think. The price difference between a $10 book and a $15 book is a gaping maw, so I wouldn't be surprised to see people react that much more vehemently. But we'll see—maybe people will pay more for fancy ebooks. [MediaMemo]

After the rumored iMac 27 global shipment halt, reader Adam Pattee has sent us confirmation that his unit—purchased on January 29—is now shipping. Apple says his iMac will arrive on February 16.

Did you get a notification too? Write to submissions@gizmodo.com.

Most of the gamers I knew stuck with XP during the Vista's time because it drained precious CPU cycles, but that's not the case here: Steam's released their latest stats on Windows usage, Windows 7 has already blown past Vista.

The stats break down this away: 42.78 percent on XP, 28.53 percent on Windows 7, and 27.91 percent on Vista. Consider that Vista's been out 3 years, and Windows 7's been out for 3 months. Also worth pointing out is that Windows 7 installs are 64-bit by a 2-to-1 margin, which as Ars notes, is now the most popular flavor of Windows on Steam short of XP 32-bit.

The gaming population on Steam isn't necessarily representative of Moms and Dads buying computers, but the fact that the deeply suspicious PC gaming community has picked up Windows 7 in droves does say something. [Ars, Neowin]