Over the years we've seen no limit of specialized hardware, software or other gadgetry promising to defeat the laws of physics and speed up your Internet connection above and beyond its basic capabilities. From the "Juice Boosted" scam to Earthlink's latest absurd acceleration ploy, by and large these are all snake oil. Even well-intentioned ideas to deploy new, faster protocols 99.4% of the time wind up being little more than blistering hype. With that in mind, Google today issued a post over at the Chrome blog claiming they were working on a new protocol they insist could double the speed of everyday browsing:Of course "simulated home network connections" and "lab conditions" are no substitute for the real world, which is why Google is reaching out to the broader community to help test the new protocol, which integrates concepts such as multiplexed streams, request prioritization and HTTP header compression. Those interested can take a closer look at the protocol's white paper for some added technical specifics.

If you needed any further evidence as to why AT&T and Verizon are so worried about Google Voice, Lifehacker highlights how users have been using Google Voice to make unlimited wireless calls, something many of our users have been doing for a while now. You of course know that most carriers have plans that allow you to call certain favorite numbers without eroding your minutes (Friends & Family, MyFaves, A-List).

If you've paid attention, you know the modern "network neutrality" debate took off in 2005, when then AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre proudly, though dumbly, proclaimed that Google got a "free ride" on his network. According to Ed, this unfairness could only be rectified by charging companies who already pay for bandwidth money to ensure their traffic reaches AT&T consumers quickly.

On Tuesday it was revealed that Apple had banned Google Voice from the iPhone app store. The new service has the potential to be a game changer, allowing users, among other things, to send free SMS messages and make international calls at reduced rates.

After acquiring VoIP outfit Grand Central back in 2007, the search giant remained rather quiet, leaving many people in our forums wondering what was going on. Last March we got an answer, the Google Blog noting that the service had been repackaged as Google Voice. Google Voice aims to make Google your hub for all things phone and voicemail, something that obviously worries existing telecom companies -- who've already been working hard to smear the company for Google's positions on things like net neutrality and white space broadband. Google this morning took to the Today show, where NBC's Matt Laurer accidentally announced the service would be available to everyone, everywhere. That's not really the case: according to the Google Voice Twitter account, only invitations to those on the service's reservation list are going out today.

There's not a broadband provider out there who wouldn't instantly begin billing you by the byte if they thought you (the consumer) would sign off on it. Unfortunately for them, Time Warner Cable's recent PR disaster illustrated that consumers aren't sold on low caps and high overages when broadband delivery costs continue to drop.

Some of you might have noticed that Google today suffered through some outages impacting not only GMail, but Google news. While some might credit this to the coming bandwidth apocalypse, Google posted a brief explanation to their blog stating that the outage only impacted about 14% of users, while redefining vague with their explanation. "An error in one of our systems caused us to direct some of our web traffic through Asia, which created a traffic jam," says Google SVP of Operations, Urs Hoelzle. "We've been working hard to make our services ultrafast and "always on," so it's especially embarrassing when a glitch like this one happens," Hoelzle says.

Google, in cooperation with academic researchers, the New America Foundation and the PlanetLab Consortium, have launched Measurement Lab (M-Lab). Measurement Lab is a suite of tools dedicated to helping broadband customers determine what kind of throttling or protocol discrimination their ISP is employing, presumably letting them make an intelligent decision when shopping between ISPs -- assuming they have a choice.

Google co-founder Larry Page recently dubbed white space broadband technology "Wi-Fi on steroids," and declared that he was "100 percent confident" that white space broadband is inevitable. That prediction grew one step closer yesterday with the FCC's unanimous vote (pdf) to allow the use of white space spectrum for wireless broadband (despite the best efforts of NAB and Dolly Parton).

Microsoft, Dell, Google and the Wireless Innovation Alliance declared yesterday "White Spaces" Day, to pitch the idea of using spectrum partially freed from the migration to digital TV to offer a new form of inexpensive wireless broadband. The lobbying fight on this front has been heavy, with the National Association of Broadcasters and incumbents, wary of new competition, using PR campaigns to suggest the new devices will cause wireless armageddon.

• Comcast: No complaints with Web traffic system [columbiatribune.com]
• GE To Merge TV/Internet In One Unit [imdb.com]
• AOL UK - Credit Crunch Causing Mass Broadband Migrations [ispreview.co.uk]
• Broadband fiber subscribers up to 3.76 million in U.S. [eetimes.com]
• Juniper Courts WiMax [lightreading.com]
• Cricket leaps in the wireless broadband market in San Antonio [bizjournals.com]
• Comcast Offers Credits To Customers Struck By Hurricane Ike [multichannel.com]
• Google phone is nice, but not a game-changer [marketwatch.com]

The T-Mobile HTC G1 (aka Dream) unveiling this morning disclosed the few details that hadn't been leaked already -- namely the phone price-tag and these rumored new T-Mobile data plans. While presenting on rollerskates, the Google/T-Mobile union unveiled that the G1 will be sold at a price point of $179, assuming you're willing to sign up for a two year contract and accept a serious bit of fine print.

T-Mobile is about to launch the HTC Dream, the first handset to operate on Google’s Android platform. Early predictions from HTC for sales of the HTC Dream expect that somewhere between 600,000 and 700,000 units will be sold before the end of this year.

• Future of Fixed Mobile Convergence High on Agenda at the Broadband Forum’s First Meeting [gomonews.com]
• HughesNet Leasing Option Lowers Broadband Cost [i4u.com]
• Meraki does not have 80% of San Francisco covered with free Wi-Fi [muniwireless.com]
• Google To Create OffShore Data Centers? [webpronews.com]
• WiMAX Lab puts mobile broadband to the test [networkworld.com]
• ip.access Picks Femto Test Lab [unstrung.com]
• AOL Broadband handing out PS3's at no extra cost thanks to customer complaints [techwatch.co.uk]
• Touchscreen BlackBerry details leaked [theregister.co.uk]

The Inquirer is reporting that search giant Google will soon be purchasing video game developer Valve, which you might consider a strange purchase unless you're familiar with Valve's broadband game distribution platform, Steam. While Steam started off with a few hiccups and bandwidth struggles we highlighted at the time, Valve has since built the platform into a formidable distribution system and social gaming engine. When getting off the ground, Valve approached several major players (like Yahoo and Microsoft) for help, but nobody was interested. The latest Steam statistics show that frequently, 1.2 million of Steam's fifteen million plus registered gamers are using the system at any one time.

Update: Valve is claiming that the report is a "complete fabrication."

• iPhone 3G is named gadget of the year [yahoo.com]
• McCain invented the Blackberry [theinquirer.net]
• No pr0n surfing for Qantas A380 passengers; 'cached internet content' only [theregister.co.uk]
• We're saying bye to landlines [floridatoday.com]
• Verizon Wireless - Contract-free starting Sept. 21? [cellphones.ca]
• Bright House Flicks On Switched Video [multichannel.com]
• Google to buy Valve [theinquirer.net]
• Vodafone cleared for “Unlimited” claim [techwatch.co.uk]

The first Google Android phone, the HTC Dream smartphone carried by T-mobile, was approved by the FCC less than a month ago. At that time, it was said that the phone would be out no later than November 10th but there were rumors that had it being released as early as this month. Those rumors are going strong with the latest reports indicating that the first sign of the phone will be with a New York release on September 23rd. Google’s mobile platform director says that the team is working hard on making sure that this phone is impressive when released because the company knows that “a dud” will cause people to rapidly lose faith in the much-hyped mobile platform.

• Next generation broadband to skip a generation? [samknows.com]
• Cricket Offering Prepaid Wireless Broadband [yahoo.com]
• magicJack has F rating [pittsburghlive.com]
• Apple iPhone 3G: Bye-Bye Bugs, Hello iTunes? [redherring.com]
• Report calls for mandatory transparency of traffic management [thinkbroadband.com]
• German court bans VoiP on iPhone - 'Unfair business practices' [theregister.co.uk]
• BSkyB still awaiting green light for 'Picnic' bundle [hollywoodreporter.com]
• Google's privacy reform is a hoax [theinquirer.net]

• Broadband Providers Suck. Can Google Help? [wired.com]
• U.S. Bounds Ahead on Broadband Proliferation, but it still has a long way to go [internetnews.com]
• Air Canada to offer Wi-Fi [mydesert.com]
• If Apple really wanted to revolutionize the iPod, it would embed wireless broadband [zdnet.com]
• FAU set for $173 million windfall as it leases unused broadband spectrum to Clearwire [palmbeachpost.com]
• Comcast says wireless deal could close this year [yahoo.com]
• Senator examining rising text messaging rates [620ktar.com]
• Olympics Coverage Breaks Web Records [wi-fiplanet.com]

• Lawmakers tell FCC Chief to worry about DTV transition first instead of battling cable television industry [multichannel.com]
• Google bid to beam broadband to Africa [telegraph.co.uk]
• AT&T Eases Out Whole-Home DVR [multichannel.com]
• Telstra tears Terria a new one over NBN monopoly revelation [itwire.com]
• Google responds to mounting EU pressure on privacy by promising to anonymize users' IP addresses after 9 months [techradar.com]
• Sprint’s retail swat team aims to give you such good service that you’ll forget its previous transgressions [zdnet.com]
• Zune update includes Wi-Fi downloads and streaming [mercurynews.com]
• RIAA defendant accuses Media Sentry of felonies [theinquirer.net]