tech e blog

A programmer created a nifty application that reads/decodes YouTube videos and displays them in ASCII text. See it in action after the break.

I used the lynx text based browser to search for a video on youtube, then I dug through the source found the keys required to build a request to download the desired video. Once downloaded I invoked the shell from lynx to launch mplayer to play the downloaded video

[via HackedGadgets]

You've seen Google's London and US offices, now check out the Googleplex in China. View more pictures after the break. (Thanks, Jefferson)

Brian Lam gives us a short video tour of YouTube Mobile, running on both Helio Ocean and Palm Treo 755. Continue reading to watch.

The interface is HTML, and fairly rich, with links to other videos and detailed info on each. No way to vote for videos, though. Video res is downscaled compared to the main site, but impressive. Buffering takes about 10 seconds or so. These files aren't small, and downloading them and playing them is likely to destroy your battery life. Such is the price for chuckles on the go

[via Gizmodo]

Stan from Mashables provides us with five strange Google StreetView sightings, which includes a man with half a face?

This is one CAPTCHA aka "word verification" you don't want to see. On the other hand, it might be trying to tell you something. (Thanks, David P)

If you use the new Google Maps Street View function to check out these coordinates, you'll see what appears to be a laser beam and E.T.?

Or maybe it isn't a laser beam or E.T. at all and I've just drank myself stupid, but it's pretty convincing

[via Gizmodo]

Will Google soon be able to locate exactly where items are located in your house? According to the picture below (after the break), it will be a standard service. Continue reading for the uncensored (language) version. [via Flickr]

Oprah recently aired a segment that shows why Google is the best place to work in America -- "probably the next best thing to not working at all". Continue reading to watch.

I suppose if you had to work at a job, you can do a lot worse than working at Google. According to Fortune magazine, you can’t find a better place to work in America than at Google

[via JohnChow]

Many Firefox users know/have used Greasemonkey, but check out these five tricks/extension you probably didn't know about.

If you're looking to do more with Google -- and its properties, check out these five nifty tricks. View them all after the break.