One common argument in the world of computing is that high temperatures make hard drives more likely to fail, and the same is said for high usage levels. However, when conducting internal research, search giant Google suggests that this is only true for hard drives in their first months of operation or once they are over five years old. According to Google, there are so many other variables that the biggest factor in the lifetime of hard drives is actually the model itself rather than the conditions. In fact, Google saw a trend suggesting that drives are more likely to fail at lower temperatures or extremely high temperatures, and generally speaking, hard drives failed less as temperature increased (until these extremes were reached). As for high usage, the research showed that hard drives only seem to be affected by high usage in the first months or after it is five years old, and other than that the rate of failure was the same as drives in low-usage environments.

Until recently, if you wanted a Gmail (GoogleMail for us here in the UK) account, then you would either need to request a message sent to your mobile, or if your country wasn't on the list for that service you would need to receive an invite from a current Gmail user. That's all changed now - anyone anywhere in the world can now sign up for over 2GB of storage with Google for free in the same way that you might open a Hotmail or Yahoo email account. Although it may take a few hours, the service should go live immediately. Gmail remains a beta version, but it could soon be finished and become another powerful weapon in Google's arsenal of free software and services. You should be able to sign up for the service by visting Gmail and clicking on "Sign up for Gmail" in the bottom right corner.

Google already has Docs and Spreadsheets - free web based software which lets you create word processed documents and spreadsheets - but now it is planning to add presentation software to this mini office-suite. The information, which was discovered by accident, suggests Google is set to add Presently to it's web-based line up sometime in the future, which should be able to create online slide shows. This will essentially complete the basic applications in Google's office equivalent, and should be free to anyone who has an account with Google.

Google has announced that it plans to build a new $600m datacenter in North Carolina, which will employ about 200 network and server specialists. The new facility will hold server farms that Google will be using as it continues to develop it's search engine, in particular the new "Similarity Engine" which should improve results. Google has already been offered $4.8m as an incentive to set-up in North Carolina, which could potentially rise to $100m.

A new flaw has been exposed in Google's Gmail service which could allow hackers to get hold of your contacts. When you log into your Gmail (Googlemail in some countries) account, Google will put your details into a JavaScript file. Because of this, if you browse other websites whilst logged into your account, any of them could potentially declare the function "google" and be able to get hold of all of your contacts. The only two ways to ensure your privacy is safe are to disable JavaScript in all websites except those you trust or to not browse other sites whilst logged into any Google service. Admittedly Gmail is still only a beta, but a fault like this could be quite serious.

Update: Disabling JavaScript did not solve this problem, however it appears that Google has now fixed this issue and your contacts list should be safe.

Jimmy Sales, the founder of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, is planning a search engine called Wikiasari to compete with search giant Google. It will use a similar theme to Wikipedia by relying on volunteers to fine tune search results so they suit everyone better. Users will have the ability to re-rank search results and change the order in which they appear in. By collecting how the majority of users change results, Wikiasari will then decide the order in which results are shown to everyone else. Google controlled 49.5% of searches in December this year, so the competition from them will be fierce, but Wikipedia was a huge success.

Google, the world's leading search engine, has signed a deal with NASA which will allow it to share some information captured by NASA via its website. The plans currently include 3D maps of the moon and Mars, weather satellite images and real-time tracking of the International Space Station. Other areas in which the two will be working together include Google Earth and making it easier to search for scientific data. Although a spokesperson for NASA said this would be available to every "American", it will probably be globally available.

Google Inc. has released a customized version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) browser in which Google, not Windows Live Search, is the default search engine. In addition to using Google as the default search engine, Google's customized version of IE 7 also provides users with the Google Toolbar and a Google homepage they can personalize. Google's customized version of IE 7 can be downloaded from here.

Any creative readers who believe they possibly just thought up the best idea ever can now search over 7 million US patents in the same way they search the web. Featuring scanned versions of the original patents, Google now lets users take a look and find if their idea already has a patent. This service can already be obtained via the US Patent and Trademark Office, however users may enjoy the more familiar face of Google. Admittedly this list of patents is not complete, so further research will be needed, but at least it will let you know if your idea definitely has been taken. Give it a try here

In a move that shows some care for the environment, Google and a few other companies are planning to turn their car parks and buildings in solar power sources. By putting solar panels on their Mountain View building in California, along with building mounted panels over some of the car parks, Google hopes to cut back on the power it draws from the national grid by providing almost a third of the power it will use. 9,000 solar panels will be used to provide 1.6 megawatts of power, and fitting them will prove quite a challenge on Google's angled roofs.