US mobile operator Verizon has announced a new software update for the Motorola Droid Razr HD and Droid Razr Maxx HD. Bearing the "9.16.6.XT926.Verizon.en.US" moniker, it introduces a number of bug fixes and enhancements for the two Verizon-branded handsets.

According to the big red, the "9.16.6.XT926.Verizon.en.US" update comes in at 96MB and sports Google Security Patches for increased security, a data roaming fix, improved Wi-Fi connectivity as well as the detection for connection/disconnection with USB. When users select home screen icons, wallpaper options are also displayed.

Fourth in a series. Before I go any further I am anticipating the obvious question here -- how can you replace a Windows Media Center HTPC with a box that has no DVR functionality? For many of you this may be impossible, but for me it is simple. We have DirecTV and the HR21 HD DVR for TV -- I cannot live without my NFL Sunday Ticket. The HTPC is simply used for DVD rips, music and pictures, so we never used it to its full capability. That makes the move to the Vizio Co-Star an easy one.

And, after last week's disastrous start to the home theater portion of this endeavor, anything had to be a step up. With the Micca box safely returned to Amazon, it was time to make Google TV the one box to rule them all, replacing both HTPC and Netgear NeoTV 550.

Before you go abroad, or meet someone from another country who speaks a different language, it can be useful to come up with some handy phrases to use. Even if it’s just "how are you?" and "nice to meet you".

You can probably memorize the basics quite quickly, but for more involved phrases you may require a bit of help to recall them, which is where Phrasebook for Google Translate comes in.

The new addition lets you save the most useful phrases for easy reference later on, hopefully also helping you commit them to memory. To use it, just translate something, then click the star icon under the translated text to add it to your phrasebook.

Apparently there is some new Samsung phone being announced later today, but for the past 24 hours Google owned the news cycle for all of the wrong reasons. Yesterday the company tried to quietly announce its latest round of spring cleaning, but an app included in that list, Reader, got a bit more attention than the company likely wanted.

Now companies are stepping all over one another in a rush to fill a void that is apparently much larger than Google would have you believe. Feedly, perhaps the biggest competitor, already posted detailed instructions on how to get rid of Reader and move to its service. The company claims this move was "something we have been expecting for some time: We have been working on a project called Normandy which is a feedly clone of the Google Reader API – running on Google App Engine. When Google Reader shuts down, feedly will seamlessly transition to the Normandy back end. So if you are a Google Reader user and using feedly, you are covered: the transition will be seamless".

I sometimes wonder if Larry Page is a neatness freak. After all, throwing out stuff defines his nearly two years back as chief executive. He has chucked more Google products than junk I discard from our apartment -- there's no hording around here. Nor at Google. But the last 24 hours is simply unprecedented for changes that broadly affect customers and partners. This Spring cleaning is something to behold.

Let's start with today. Jeff Huber is out as head of Google Mapping and Commerce. He explains: "Finishing up my first decade at Google, and excited to return to my startup roots and begin the next one at Google X! Let me know what you'd like to see Google X do next". The Wall Street Journal says there's more: Google Maps will split from Commerce and become part of Search and the other folds into Advertising.

Expressing his disappointment towards Google killing Reader from July 1, my colleague Alan Buckingham said in our newsroom, "I swear I am switching to Firefox, Bing and Outlook.com in protest!". Other users, however, have resorted to less extreme measures and instead chosen to show their non-acceptance through petitions.

Less than 24 hours since Google gave us the sad news, there are at least three petitions on change.org with more than 37,000 signatures combined demanding the search giant "Keep Google Reader Running" and "Do not remove Google Reader on July 1, 2013". One petitioner tried to appeal to Google's good side with "Please do not shut down Google Reader". The number of signatures may not appear to be high enough at the moment to reach the goal, but that will undoubtedly change in a matter of days, if not hours.

I can live with iGoogle going away -- I never use the service anymore. But this one really hurts, though perhaps more to those of us who write about technology than those who read about it. However, statistics show that many of you also use the RSS feed to easily track your favorite sites. That is why today's execution notice from Google hits below the belt.

Reader, along with several others, have been rounded up, tried and found guilty of not being productive enough to warrant continued life. Reader will die July 1. Other Google services have varying dates -- some sooner, while others get a stay.

This afternoon, in a rather shocking and unexpected move, father of Android Andy Rubin stepped down -- or was forced to -- in a leadership change sure to shift the direction of Google platform development. Sundar Pichai, senior vice president for Chrome and Apps, assumes responsibilities for Android.

Larry Page broke the news, offering praise alongside Google cofounder Sergey Brin for Rubin's enormous contribution. The follow memo follows.

"Holy crap!" That was my response to colleague Alan Buckingham, when he informed me that Andy Rubin would no longer lead Android development. He's the father of Android! But green robot parent no more. The news is simply shocking and hints of some back-room drama and possible disagreement about future Google platform development. I say that because Sundar Pichai, the man behind Chrome OS, adds Android to his responsibilities.

For some time, Android and Chrome OS users -- me among them -- have posed quandary: "Why support two operating systems?" Google should bring together Android and Chrome OS. I wouldn't be surprised if that is the go-forward edict from Google on High, perhaps something Rubin wouldn't support. Yes, I speculate, but the man is passionate about his child, which Google acquired in 2005.

François Beaufort, the developer who recently made headlines by outing Chromebook Pixel, is stirring up things again. He uncovered code that all but assures Google Now will soon come to Chrome and Chrome OS. I can't overstate how enormously game-changing the service will be. Google Now is the purest evolution of sync and the killer app for the contextual cloud computing era.

We are on the cusp of Star Trek computing, where information is available at the command of your voice and the machine is a personal assistant that anticipates you. Google Now delivers a hint of this future on Android devices. Bringing it to PCs puts the search and information giant ahead of everyone because, with the exception of a possible future Microsoft-Facebook partnership, no other company has the resources to provide so much personalized information to so many people in so many places in so many ways.

We all know software vendors have vested interests that sway some of the decisions they make. When I heard that Microsoft was the real driving force behind a sly K-12 school privacy bill making the rounds in Massachusetts, I immediately smelled something rotten. While the public purpose behind the bill aims squarely at protecting student privacy, it's not hard to connect the dots back to Redmond, Wash.

Even though it's easy to see why Microsoft would prop up such a bill (to ease Google Apps' rise in the K-12 educational market), I question the long-term business sense of such dirty grandstanding. Microsoft's Office 365 for Education is already free for students and staff of any qualifying school district (just like Google Apps), and the suite is pretty darn good competition for Google on technical and functional merit alone. So what's the sense in playing dirty just to sign on a few more seats here or there based on misinformation?

If you're the sort of person deeply rooted in Google services, at first glance migrating to Windows Phone 8 from either Android or iOS can be a total drag. The information giant has released a single app so far, which can be used to search the web, but nothing else. Luckily, there are plenty of third-party alternatives to choose from that offer decent and sometimes superior experience for Google users.

But finding the right replacements can be tricky, as the Windows Phone store features more than 130,000 apps and a simple search query returns many results of variable quality -- some great, some not so great. To make your job easier, I've prepared a list of Windows Phone 8 alternatives to traditional Google apps, ranging from Google+ to Google Maps, Google Reader and even YouTube.

Art, Copy & Code has partnered with artist Zach Lieberman, Google, and interactive collective YesYesNo to create what it calls a smart talking sneaker with personality.

The Talking Shoe, which Google has been showing at the South by Southwest (SXSW) tech conference in Austin, Texas, includes an accelerometer, gyroscope, Bluetooth and other everyday technologies, that combine to “translate the wearer’s movements into funny, motivating and timely commentary”. In the video that shows off the sneakers, example phrases include “This is super boring” (when you’re just sitting around), “I love the feeling of wind in my laces”, “Are you a statue? Let’s do this already” and “Call 911 because you’re on fire”.

Three days ago, I told you "Suddenly, Facebook looks more like Google+, only better", based on the product launch demos. But seeing is really believing. Photographer Thomas Hawk, whom I've followed online for a long time, has the new FB News Feed. His side-by-side shot of the two social networks is a real shocker. You're not seeing double.

I suppose there are few obvious ways to present big, bold images in the feed and supporting links around them. But this copycatting is something. "Content in the new news feed feels a lot like Google+", Hawk explains. "I’m not saying Facebook copied Google+ here, and imitation is, of course, the sincerest form of flattery and all that, but check out the two content envelopes side by side in the photo...They are pretty darn close".

Although there are many free system cleaners available for Windows and Mac OS X, CCleaner is one of the most popular, and for good reason. It’s thorough, trustworthy and very easy to use. It’s among the first programs I always install on a new system.

The good news for Android owners is developer Piriform is working on a new version of its cleanup tool specifically for the mobile platform that will offer one-click cleaning to “help keep your Android devices running like new”.