There have been rumors circulating for years that Google was working on their own operating system. It's now no longer a rumor. The Chrome OS is underway. It's planned as an alternative to Windows XP for netbooks. Consumer netbooks running Chrome OS should hit store shelves next year.

The particularly interesting part of this announcement is that the Chrome OS is a separate project from Android. Android will run on netbooks, and companies like ASUSTek have already said they were exploring the option.

So are we going to see netbooks for sale with two different Google operating systems?

Google has tended toward a non-traditional use of the term "beta" when describing their tools. Software is traditionally in beta when it isn't quite ready to be released to the public. Google has thought of it more as a label for items when they weren't quite sure if they were done tweaking the interface. Some Google tools have been stuck in beta for years.

As it turns out, companies balk at the idea of using "beta" software to run their important business. Who knew? So Google is losing the beta label for Google Apps related tools, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk.

Do you think this is a smart move that will convince businesses to switch to Google or a pointless gesture in a Microsoft-dominated marketplace?

It wasn't really a surprising announcement, but the Department of Justice is officially investigating the settlement agreement Google struck with the Author's Guild and the Association of American Publishers over Google Books.

What's the big deal? The settlement is an agreement designed to let publishers, authors, and Google profit from works in Google Books. So far, so good. The sticking point is what happens with "orphan works." These are books that are no longer in print but still have a copyright. Under this agreement, Google assumes those books should be available in full unless rights holders say otherwise.

They've set up a group to try and find the rights holders and pay them their share of any future revenues, but there are probably plenty of orphan works that will remain ownerless, and opponents argue that this gives Google an unfair advantage when it comes to publishing rights.

Google argues that their agreement is non-exclusive, so other publishers are free to enter into agreements of their own. That wasn't an argument that held water when they tried it with the Yahoo! AdSense deal, so I'm not sure how well it will work in this case.

This won't do anything for the people who are still waiting for a Google Voice invite, but those who already have one will really appreciate it. Back when Google announced that they were going to start inviting more users "soon," they also announced a nifty new feature. You can pick your number by searching for text and number phrases.

I'm sure I wasn't the only person who suddenly eyed this new feature with envy. Back when I got my account, you had to go through a long list of numbers and hope you could find something memorable.

You are no longer stuck with your original number. Go into Settings: Phones, and you'll see an option to change numbers. It costs $10 to change, but your old number will still be forwarded for 90 days. You pay the fee through Google Checkout, and you're not obligated to pay unless you find a number you actually like. I found one that spells my name. How awesome is that?

A lot of people criticize Gmail for using labels instead of folders. Google's justification for labels is that you can give an email more than one label, but you can't put it in more than one folder. Many of us were just annoyed that labeling items wasn't as easy as putting them in a folder.

Well that problem is solved. Now you can drag labels onto messages or drag messages onto labels. You can also hide labels you don't frequently use by dragging them below the "more" cutoff on the bottom of the list.

• 10 Things You Didn't Know Gmail Did

Google launched a new channel on YouTube aimed at encouraging average users upload content about current events. This new channel for "citizen reporters" is called the Reporter's Center and shows videos from well-known journalists offering tips and tricks for better news reporting.

Katie Couric talks about what makes a good interview, Dean Wright from Reuters talks about online journalism ethics, and others give advice aimed at average YouTube users who happen to be catching news events on their cell phone.

• How to Embed a YouTube Video on Your Blog
• How to Link to a Specific Time in a YouTube Video

Google isn't opening the service up completely, but they are starting to send invites out to their waiting list. What's more, they've introduce a cool new feature to help you find the perfect permanent number.

Back in the ancient days of two years ago when I got my GrandCentral account, the only way to pick a number was to browse through a long list of numbers and hope to find one that was easy to remember. Now you can search for words or letter-number combination. It almost makes me wish I could get a do-over.

If you haven't done so already, you can sign up for the Google Voice waiting list at www.google.com/voiceinvite.

This shouldn't surprise anyone. Google made their fortune from ad-sponsored Web content, and now they're attempting to move the same concept onto mobile devices. AdSense for Mobile Applications lets developers create iPhone and Android apps with contextual advertising.

Will this model work for phones? Contextual advertising could potentially be very useful for consumers. For instance, you're walking around trying to find a place to eat, and your dining app not only finds a place nearby but sends you a coupon. However, that sort of personalization might also be seen as intrusive.

Would you prefer free apps with ads or paying for apps with no ads?

• What Is Android?
• Review of Express News for Android

It's official. The new Android phone from T-Mobile is the myTouch 3G. This phone does not have a slide-out keyboard like the G1. Instead, it relies on the touch screen and Android track ball. This means the phone is smaller and thinner than the G1.

Like the G1, the myTouch has a 3.2 megapixel, video-capable camera and can use 3G networks or WiFi for data. It comes with a 4 gig microSD memory card pre-installed. The available colors are listed as white, black, and "merlot."

T-Mobile is marketing this phone as a highly personalized experience. In addition to the standard Android applications and access to the Android Market, the myTouch comes with Sherpa. Sherpa is listed as a "learning engine" that customizes itself to your preferences. "Through behavior and user feedback, the application learns a person’s likes and dislikes, prioritizing recommended retailers, restaurants and attractions." (Sherpa image courtesy T-Mobile)

The new phone will be available for pre-order for existing T-Mobile customers starting around July 8 for $199. That's the subsidized price. I'm waiting to hear back from T-Mobile on whether or not existing G1 customers are eligible for the subsidized price. If we went by existing rules, most G1 users would not be eligible for an upgrade. However, the iPhone may have changed the game in terms of consumer expectations.

There's a lot of rumors that Google Voice is about to launch. Well, some rumors may not be based on that much substance.

The latest round is based on a report that Google has reserved one million phone numbers from Level 3, a company that has been supplying the phone numbers for Google Voice. This may indicate Google is ready to open up their service to more users soon.

Google Voice is a VoIP service that allows you to give everyone a single phone number and have calls forwarded to multiple phones. The service also takes voice messages and attempts to create a text transcript of voice messages. Google purchased GrandCentral and relaunched the service as Google Voice in March. Google Voice is still in a closed preview, but you can sign up to be notified when new numbers become available. Most Google Voice users, including me, were previously GrandCentral users.

There are probably massive technical hurdles to conquer on many fronts, but the biggest usability hurdle I've faced is for phone numbers with extensions. At this point there's no way to forward your call to a number with an extension, which leaves out the daytime numbers for countless office workers. The feature has been listed on their feature request forms since at least 2007.

• Review of GrandCentral
• Google Voice First Thoughts