Verizon’s new Father’s Day commercial that popped up over the weekend is a fine reminder that Google Voice Search is there to help you in times of need. When your child adopts a dangerous pet, baseballs are thrown through windows, a kid puts the wrong dish soap in the dishwasher, superglue is used to help someone palm a basketball, or when your daughter gets her little heart crushed by a boy, you can search for help.

I can’t tell you how many times recently that I’ve pulled out Google Voice Search to find things. If my friends and I can’t remember anything from an actor’s name to movies they were in to how many different NBA teams Dr. J played for, Google Search can get you there quicker than any other method. I forget to use it every so often, but lately it has become a part of my everyday life.

Oh, the ad was also to show off the current “Free” deal that VZW is running for the RAZR M in blue, should you be interested.

Are you using Voice Search regularly or do you forget about it?

Since the majority of us are probably using Chrome, at least according to this poll, we feel it quite justified to talk about the world’s most popular web browser. Today, Google enabled “rich notifications” for Chrome. Think of these as little info cards that pop up in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. They are clean and elegant, heavily resembling that of Google Now’s UI. 

In what could be labeled as this year’s biggest non shocker, Apple is claiming that Samsung is violating Siri patents with Mountain View’s Google Now software. U.S. patents 8,086,604 and 6,846,959 cover technology related to Siri, a “universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.” 

Google Search received an update moments ago during the Google I/O keynote, and it includes a number of new cards for Google Now. You’ll now be able to set reminders, see upcoming releases for your favorite media types (books, music albums, movies, tv shows, and video games), and view real time public transit updates. 

Been looking for an easy way to bring those Google Now backgrounds to your homescreen? An app called Google Now Wallpaper lists them out as little cards and then you simply tap and apply which one you want. A feature that makes it exceptionally neat is that depending on the time of day, it will automatically switch to the evening and then night time versions as well. 

Our inbox indicates that many of you are aware that Google released Google Now to iOS this morning. This comes as no surprise, nor does it interest us one bit. Good for iOS users. Welcome to the fun that is Google Now! Well, sort of. The Google Now for iOS will never be as powerful as the version on Android because Apple won’t allow it to be.

For now though, you can open up the iOS Google Search app and find some cards for flights or restaurants or routes home from work and even track packages and flight info from Gmail. But from what we can tell, it may not be able to update in the background at full capacity like the Android version does, which means no ongoing notifications for card updates. You’ll have to consciously open up the app to get Now goodies rather than have it dictate your life for you. You also can’t access Google Now through a shortcut like swiping up or long-pressing navigation buttons. You’ll have to open the Search app and then swipe up the Now cards to view them.

It’s really just an add-on to Google Search, not really the semi-stand-alone, ultra-powerful service that it is on Android. Well, until Google makes it that way – take the iOS Gmail app for example.

But again, enjoy, iOS users.

The internet is buzzing today thanks to some digging through test code from Google that revealed multiple references to Google Now. It seems as if Google is ready to take Now to the primetime by featuring it on their home page. As it is the code is pointing towards allowing you to set your Work and Home location so it can give you information on travel times, food places and traffic problems around you. 

Before I get started, I want to point out that I have been a major fan and supporter of Sliding Messaging since early January. It was a major step in the right direction for text messaging on Android, bringing a great mix of looks and functionality to a somewhat bland stock experience Google gives us. Last night, Sliding Messaging received a major update, bringing a completely “re-imagined” look for the entire app.