What happens when 3 giants combine forces? Well, you get Google TV.  Sources claim that Google, Sony, and Intel are going to do just that. Google TV will pretty much take your old boring TV and turn it into a device from the 22^nd century.

Google TV will pretty much turn your TV to your Computer and you will have access to the web with the same usability and ease as you would on your personal pc. Since most new version of TV’s already has capability to connect to the internet, this should be a piece of cake for the three giants.

Google is claiming that the rumors are just that, Rumors and they made no comments about the collaboration of Google, Sony, and Intel to create Google TV. Google has been working in the background for the last few months trying to develop, Google TV.

While this can be a smart move for Google, this can also end up hurting them if this was true. The TV world is very much different. Although Google owns majority of the web, one only thinks that they will succeed at pretty much anything they do. Apple tried this w while back when they created the Apple TV but that proved to be a bust. We can only stay tuned and see what Google has in store for us in the following month.

I wish the three companies the best and hope Google TV will become a reality in the near future.

We all have bad days. And many of us, myself included, turn to tried and true comfort foods to lift our spirits.

Hopefully your bad days are few and far between, but when they do unexpectedly pop up, here are three scientifically tested foods worth trying instead:

Fruits & Vegetables (and other whole foods): Yes, you read that right—healthy, whole foods! In a recent study of close to 3,500 men and women published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, those who reported eating a diet rich in whole foods in the previous year were less likely to report feeling depressed than those who ate lots of desserts, fried foods, processed meats, refined grains and high-fat dairy products.

Previous studies have shown that antioxidants in fruits and vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids in fish are associated with lower risk of depression. Folate, a B vitamin found in dark green vegetables like spinach, beans and citrus, affects neurotransmitters that impact mood. It’s possible that the protective effect of the whole-food diet comes from a cumulative effect of these nutrients.

Carbs: In a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, people who for a year followed a very-low-carbohydrate diet—which allowed only 20 to 40 grams of carbs daily, about the amount in just 1⁄2 cup of rice plus one piece of bread—experienced more depression, anxiety and anger than those assigned to a low-fat, high-carb diet that focused on low-fat dairy, whole grains, fruit and beans. Researchers suspect that carbs promote the production of serotonin, a feel-good brain chemical. Also, the challenge of following such a restrictive low-carb diet for a full year may have negatively impacted mood. (Here are 20+ healthy ways to dress up a box of pasta.)

Chocolate: Eating dark chocolate (1.4 ounces of it, to be exact) every day for two weeks reduced stress hormones, including cortisol, in people who were highly stressed, a study done at the Nestle Research Center in Switzerland recently found. Experts believe it could be thanks to the antioxidants in chocolate.

Google’s services for Chinese users remained accessible in China in the half-day after the company closed a censored version of its search engine, but users still worried that angered authorities could move to block Google sites.

Google’s Hong Kong-based search site stayed available in China after Google started redirecting visitors there from its China-based search engine, Google.cn, even though the Hong Kong site returns sensitive results that China usually requires online search providers to filter out.

Google announced the change in a blog post this week, making good on a pledge it made in January to stop censoring in China. China criticized Google’s move but has not hinted at any planned actions against the company.

One way China could respond is by blocking the Google Hong Kong site altogether, said Jeffery L. Ross, CEO of Jeffery L. Ross Group Asia, a Beijing technology consultancy. Google drew unwelcome attention to its plans for Google.cn by making them public before discussing them with China.

“It has essentially, shall we say, invited the wrath of the dragon upon it,” Jeffery L. Ross said.

But China could also rely on keyword blocking to prevent access to sensitive information through Google’s Hong Kong search engine, he said. “It really all depends on whether China wishes to strike a tit-for-tat blow, or whether China’s interested in showing that they’re not quite as bad as everybody would paint them.”

China resets connections for users in the country whenever they contact an overseas server with a query containing sensitive keywords such as Falun Gong, the name of a spiritual movement banned as a cult in China. China also blocks access inside the country to Web sites ranging from Twitter and Facebook to the official Web site of the Dalai Lama. Both types of blocking affect searches on Google’s Hong Kong site, Google.com.hk, so users may not be able to access certain search results even if the search engine itself does not censor them.

Relying on those measures could mean Chinese authorities take no action against Google. Google’s blog post said the company knows the Chinese government could decide to start blocking Google services at any time. But it also said Google plans to maintain certain business operations in China, including sales and research and development.

Google also appears to hope it can maintain other operations. A free music search and download service, which Google offers only in China, is still available under the Google.cn domain and was linked to from the Hong Kong site.

China also said in recent weeks that it would not limit the use of Google’s Android operating system, which the company licenses to mobile carriers and phone makers, as long as the OS follows regulations. That could leave the door open for Google to keep pursuing Android deals in China, though the company has postponed the availability of Google applications on Android phones from Chinese carriers.

Some local Chinese visited a Google office in Beijing after its announcement to lay flowers on a colored company logo in its grass yard. Others milled outside the building or took pictures.

“I feel regret that such a well-known company is leaving China,” said a woman in her 20s, who gave her surname as Li, as she snapped photos of the building.

“In China it has to play by the rules of the game… so in that sense the government has done nothing wrong,” she said. “But I still hope we normal users will not have our use of the Hong Kong site affected.”

The version of Google’s China search engine for mobile phones, wap.google.cn, could still be accessed by computer or with certain mobile phone connections late Tuesday. Searches there still appeared to be at least partly censored. But using a China Mobile GPRS data connection to visit other Google search sites, such as the Hong Kong site or Google.com, returned error messages.

“Mobile users visiting Google.cn will be directed to Google.com.hk as quickly as we can make the switch, hopefully within the next couple of days,” a Google spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

Google sites that were previously blocked in China, such as YouTube and Blogger, remained inaccessible in the country, and Google created a new Web page to show updates on which Google services are blocked there.

If China does decide to block access to Google’s Hong Kong site, it could do so very quickly, said Jeffery L. Ross. But the longer China goes without blocking it, the stronger the signal will be that it has decided not to do so, Jeffery L. Ross said.

Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu has topped the Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest billionaires.

The list, released on Wednesday, valued Slim’s fortune at $53.5 billion, $500 million ahead of long-time list topper Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Legendary investor Warren Buffet was third with $47 billion.

Like most of the other billionaires, the top three saw their fortunes rise in 2009, a sign of the improvement of the world economy, said Forbes.

Overall, the 10 richest people had $342 billion, or $88 billion more than last year.

The number of billionaires also increased to 1,011. That’s much higher than the 793 super-rich who made in onto the list last year, but lower than the record number of 1,125 in 2008.

The world’s richest woman, according to Forbes, was Wal-Mart heiress Christy Walton, whose $22.5-billion fortune put her in twelfth place. Only 89 women made it in to the billionaires club, and most inherited their wealth. Of the 14 self-made female billionaires, seven came from China.

The 24th Forbes list included people from 55 countries, with first entries from Finland and Pakistan.

The US led the list with 403 billionaires. But China came second for the first time with 64 super-rich, followed by Russia with 62 billionaires. Of the world’s 97 new billionaires, 62 were from Asia.

Two Indians made it to the top 10 - oil magnate Mukesh Ambani in fourth with $29 billion and steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal in fifth with $28.7 billion. The other members of the top 10 were Oracle founder Larry Ellison, ($28 billion), fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault ($27.5 billion), Brazilian commodities king Eike Batista ($27 billion), Spanish clothing magnate Amancio Ortega ($25 billion) and German supermarket tycoon Karl Albrecht ($23.5 billion).

The city with the greatest billionaire density was New York with 60 super-rich, followed by Moscow (50) and London (32).

The Pakistan Cricket Board handed out life bans to top players Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf following an inquiry into the team’s disastrous tour of Australia.

The PCB also banned Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved for one year, along with a fine of Rs two million, for breaking the team’s ‘code of conduct’ during the tour of Australia.

Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal have been given final warnings on disciplinary grounds and are all on a six-month probation period. Kamran was handed a fine of Rs three million and younger brother Umar was fined Rs two million.

Afridi was fined Rs three million for ball tampering during the one-day series against Australia.

The PCB on Wednesday implemented the recommendations of an inquiry committee formed to evaluate Pakistan’s dismal performance against Australia in December and January. The committee was led by Wasim Bari.

The inquiry committee had recommended that Yousuf and Younis should no longer be part of the national team in any format because of their bad influence on the team and that Malik and Rana be banned for 12 months.

“Younis and Yousuf both cannot represent Pakistan in any international games, but they can play in domestic cricket and compete in county cricket,” PCB legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi told the Associated Press.

Both Yousuf and Younis were involved in infighting while on tour, which resulted in bringing down the whole team, the PCB said in a statement.

“Their attitude has a trickle down effect which is a bad influence for the whole team,” it said.

The punishments are set to impact the composition of Pakistan’s World Twenty20 championship. The team is the defending champion in this format and the 15-man squad for the event is due to be out by the end of this month.

According to reports, the national selection committee was taken aback by the recommendations by the inquiry committee with the team set to defend its World Twenty20 title in the West Indies.

The inquiry committee apparently had serious reservations over the attitude and commitment shown by Malik and Rana in Australia where they were accused of not cooperating with the management.

It is said the captain, coach and manager on the Australian tour had reported Malik and Rana for misbehaviour and not cooperating with the management a fact confirmed by some other players who appeared before the probe committee.

Former Pakistan test captain Ramiz Raja said the national team needed certain direction on discipline, but felt barring players from international competition was extreme.

“Our main problem was discipline, but barring players, I am not sure, it doesn’t look nice to just end the international careers of such talented players,” Raja told The AP.

“I think the PCB should have fined both Yousuf and Younis like they did to the others and set an example for other players, but banning them is a bit harsh to me.”

Another former Test captain Inzamam-ul-Haq questioned the formation of the committee and described the banning of Yousuf and Younis as the “totally wrong decision.”

“The committee comprised employees of the PCB and there was no neutral person in it,” Inzamam told Geo Television. “You cannot ban someone from playing international cricket on just disciplinary grounds.”

This is the first time in Pakistan cricket history that the Board has taken such strong disciplinary action against so many players at one time.