The Google.com/elections page allows for browsing by candidate or issue, as well a “Trends” browsers that shows how frequently the candidates are the subject of Google searches, Google News mentions, and YouTube views. The page also includes an “On the Ground” map feature that links to recent political news events around the state.

“There’s no question that the Internet is set to deliver more political information, opinion and news than any other medium throughout the 2012 U.S. elections,” Hysen wrote.

Clover Trail is a follow-on to Medfield–due in the second quarter–which is aimed primarily at smartphones. While the Medfield chip will undoubtedly be used in some tablets, it is a single-core design, while Clover Trail will also be offered in dual-core versions, making it more attractive for tablet makers, according to sources.

And Intel is expected to show off–either publicly or privately–Clover Trail-based prototype tablets running on Windows 8 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) later this month.

This follows comments last month by Intel’s Mark Miller, who told CNET that Clover Trail is “a vehicle for Windows 8 tablets and hybrids.”

A report from Taipei-based DigiTimes said today that Acer and Lenovo are expected to bring out Clover Trail tablets running Windows 8 in the third quarter of this year.

Last year, Samsung surprised attendees at the Windows Build Conference by handing out a Windows 8 tablet packing an Intel processor–not one from ARM as had been expected. ARM is the silicon of choice for Android tablets.

Generally, ARM processors are more power efficient than Intel processors, thus their wide use in tablets and smartphones. But Intel is working to close the power efficiency gap with Medfield, Clover Trail and later with Silvermont, a completely redesigned Atom chip due in 2013.

And Haswell–a mainstream Intel chip targeted at ultrabooks, hybrids, and tablets–is due in 2013 also.

The Ivy Bridge processor, also expected to make an appearance at CES, is targeted primarily at ultrabooks and mainstream laptops, though it may also appear in hybrids. It is due to ship this spring.

Windows 8, a much more tablet-friendly OS than Windows 7, will run on both Intel/AMD chips and ARM. A first for a mainstream Microsoft operating system.

I am not suggesting that this was the view of Jacob Jock, a Web designer and juror in Sarasota, Fla. But, at first glance, why else would he have have sent one lady defendant a Facebook friend request?

The fascinating tale told by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune offers that Jock was removed from the jury after sending that friend request.
(Credit: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

It seems, though, that Jock might not have found jury duty exciting. He had reportedly already been posting to his Facebook page that it was actually a little on the tedious side. Even more touchingly, his friends were reportedly offering him advice on that very same Facebook page on how to get himself removed from the jury.

Still, what appears to be fact is that Jock tried to friend Victoria Milerman, a defendant in a personal injury civil case.

Jock explained that this had nothing to do with her pulchritudinous nature. Instead, he told the Herald-Tribune: “I accidentally friend requested her. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I didn’t think I would get picked for the jury.”

Accidents do happen. This was, after all, a personal injury case after a traffic accident. However, is it really all that easy to accidentally Facebook friend someone? At least when one is (presumably) sober?

There is reportedly evidence that Jock sent the request 20 minutes after the whole jury pool was told by the judge not to contact anyone.

Still, Jock was removed and then–who could be surprised?–reportedly took to Facebook again.

“Score…I got dismissed!! apparently they frown upon sending a friend request to the defendant…haha,” he reportedly offered to his Facebook friends. (One assumes that Milerman hadn’t actually accepted his friend request, so she might have been unaware of his glee.)

This isn’t the first virtual contact between a juror and a defendant. Last June in the U.K., a lady juror was found to be in contempt of court after she had a Facebook chat with one of the defendants.

August in Texas also saw a juror given community service for trying to Facebook friend a defendant.

Some might well be wondering, though, whether Jock had deliberately tried to friend Milerman in order to be excused from his civic duties. Some might be moved to such musing by the number of middle-finger upright poses that Jock offers on his Facebook page.

Might some, on hearing this story, be tempted to friend defendants in order to get out of jury duty? Might the courts become wise to this very quickly?