See our live notes from today's Google Buzz event here.


Google has a problem. Despite having their hands in just about everything online, they've never been able to tackle what is a key part of the fabric of the web: social. Yes, they have Orkut and OpenSocial, but no one actually uses them. Okay, some people use them, but not in the meaningful social ways that people use Facebook or even Twitter. Today, Google may have just solved their social problem.

Google Buzz is easily the company's boldest attempt yet to build a social network. Imagine taking elements of Twitter, Yammer, Foursquare, Yelp, and other social services, and shoving them together into one package. Now imagine covering that package in a layer that looks a lot like FriendFeed. Now imagine shoving that package inside of Gmail. That's Buzz. If Google Wave is the future, Google Buzz is the present.

As location-based social networks gain serious traction, its inevitable that that these applications will become full-fledged platforms. Like Twitter, these networks can become ecosystems. Plus, they have a better chance of continuing to survive when  Facebook enters the location ring. Foursquare released its API in November. And now Gowalla will be releasing its API today, we've heard. We will update with more details when the announcement is made.

We originally reported on the impending release here, with Gowalla working on adjusting privacy setting for users as as third-party services start getting access to their data. Gowalla's Josh Williams said that  privacy controls are becoming more granular so that users can pick certain things to share while holding back others.

Google's Street View has gone to many strange places, even off-road.  But in preparation for the Winter Olympics it equipped a snowmobile with 360-degree cameras and took it to the top of Whistler, the Canadian ski resort where the Games will take place. 

The slope-side views can be seen in the map on Google's new Winter Olympics information page.  Google should do this for all major ski mountains.  It's a great way to see if you really want to go up to the top of that double black diamond chair lift.