Google Docs’ summer interns this summer were tasked with working on improvements and additions to the service geared toward students.

The results of their work, now available to try out, include new features such as an equation editor, superscripts and subscripts, document translation, improvements to surveys, and more outlining options.

iPods in Europe are about to get a lot more quiet. Regulators have released a new set of standards governing how loud portable music players can go, and that means the default max volume is going take a big dip from where it currently sits.

The European Commission’s new policy will require iPods and other MP3 players to have a default maximum volume of 80 decibels. That’s considered a “very loud” level by most sound rankings; anything above that mark can be potentially dangerous. Presently, most MP3 players go as loud as 115 to 125 decibels.

For some fun comparisons, we turn to the U.S. National Institute On Deafness And Other Communications Disorders (apparently, every shorter agency name was already taken). According to the, er, USNIODAOCD:

• 80 decibels is equivalent to the level of noise you’d hear on a busy city street;

• 90 decibels is lawnmower-like loudness;

• 110 is as ear-shattering as a loud rock concert;

• 120 to 130 matches the level of an airliner taking off — or, in less technical terms, “GET USED TO PEOPLE ALWAYS HAVING TO SHOUT AT YOU!”

If you can’t wait to get your hands on Microsoft’s upcoming free antivirus app, and you missed the limited public beta period, you won’t have to wait any longer. Microsoft has confirmed that its Security Essentials antivirus software will be publicly available tomorrow, September 29.

The download is available and you can get it from Microsoft’s Security Essentials site here. It is avaliable for users of Windows XP, Vista, and 7.