Sigh. Remember Google TV? Yeah, we barely do. Anyway, the Bay Area's most well publicized employer is working on their first real foray into the world of entertainment hardware, with the intent of releasing something that's only being referred to as an "entertainment device" sometime this year. The Wall Street Journal reports today that the thing is a music device for the home, probably Bluetooth-enabled, and we're guessing unattractive. more ›

The chilling Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), drafted by Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, would have catastrophic affects on how you use the web and who (namely the U.S. government) controls it. Think China, Malaysia, or Iran. SOPA also represents another reality-estranged attempt attempt from "Hollywood, the Recording Industry Association of America, and their allies to counter what they claim to be rampant piracy online, especially from offshore sites such as ThePirateBay.org," notes CNET. The act would essentially let the Justice Department make any "allegedly piratical Web sites virtually vanish from the Internet." more ›

On its site today, Google announced that they purchased dining and entertainment guide Zagat for an undisclosed amount. Thrilled with the company's recent purchase, Google VP Marissa Mayer noted, "Moving forward, Zagat will be a cornerstone of our local offering—delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights, while enabling people everywhere to find extraordinary (and ordinary) experiences around the corner and around the world." more ›

Working yet again with the Naval Research Lab, Google unveiled their first real-time weather layer to go with Google Maps. The weather feature will show current temperatures and conditions around the world. This makes the 11th layer one can implement while using maps, with traffic and transit being the most popular. Give it a try, won't you? more ›

Today in things that Google computers are better at than you, simple human: Driving. An incident involving a Google driverless Prius was originally reported by Jalopnik this morning as the first traffic accident for Google's fleet of robot cars. Which could have been terrible PR for the Google autonomous vehicle program that's been quietly logging hundreds of thousands of miles on the streets of California and Nevada. As it turns out, the incident in which a gPrius rear-ended another Prius near the company's headquarters in Mountain View occurred while the vehicle was in manual mode. So, the robot car wasn't trying to mate with another hybrid vehicle, then? more ›

Tired of blocking followers who post relentless political campaign-related gibberish or blatant Gilt-esque advertising? We don't know about you, but we sure are. (Side note: if you're a campaign director who's hired a "social media consultant" [ick] to advise you that spamming your followers with aimless updates about your candidate is a good thing -- which counterproductively results in you and your updates getting blocked -- you should, one, fire that scam artist on the payroll and, two, stop it this very second.) Which is why (at least for now) Google Plus is a radical shot of fresh air. Like a VIP club or comfy booth inside the noisy, arena-like nightclub that is Facebook, the best part of Google+ is for sharing and discussing with a close circle of friends. more ›

We're suckers for both father-daughter drama and the occasional "It Gets Better" shlock. We're also suckers for Google Chrome. It should come as little surprise, then, that these new ads for Google Chrome -- one of which debuted on last night's Glee and features Dan Savage -- plucked our icy heartstrings. Yes, we know, we're essentially giving the Mountain View-based company a free plug. No, we don't care. They're that good. Though they rarely advertise, it's refreshing to see Google put forth cleverness and emotional whimsy in an ad, minus the dopiness that befalls those terrible Bing spots. Enjoy. more ›

Tina Fey visited the Googleplex in Silicon Valley last week where she sat down for an interview with noted vaudevillian Eric Schmidt. Hilarity, of course, ensued. The 30 Rock creator/star discussed everything form raising her daughter, mobiel communications devices, differences between male and female writers, and her favorite laugh-inducing bit. Gawker boiled down the funnest parts here. Or, for diehard Fey fans, you can watch the entire hour-long interview below. Enjoy. We certainly did. more ›

In a surprising move, Google's first quarter saw lower-than-expected earnings. This morning, shares were down $39.51 to $539. "But heavy spending on new hires and other investments crimped the bottom line, reports Wall Street Journal. Although Google projected $8.11 a share, they reported an adjusted profit of $8.08 on Thursday. "Google added more than 1,900 employees to its headcount during the quarter, which made for the highest rate of new hires since the first quarter of 2008. Operating expenses rose to 33% of revenue for the quarter compared to 27% of revenues for the same period last year." more ›

​Lady Gaga, archenemy of thirtysomethings and elderly gay brethren across the land, was in town for her show at Oracle Arena tonight. Also, she made a pitstop at Google today to chat with Marissa Mayer and hawk Google Moderator, "a tool that allows distributed communities to submit and vote on questions for talks, presentations and events." more ›

You know what really gets our goat? Cook's Illustrated blocks most of their recipes online unless you buy an entrance fee or purchase a stupid magazine subscription. (Isn't having to sit through a half hour of Christopher Kimball's banter, Adam Ried's Equipment Corner, and Jack Bishop's patronizing Tasting Lab payment enough?) That is, until now. Starting today, you can find some of Cook's Illustrated's test-tested meals - or any number of other recipes using searches ranging from ingredients to calorie count - using Google's new recipe finder and search engine. more ›

Rumors are swirling - swirling! - about Google and Facebook conducting clandestine meetings about about buying Twitter. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Executives at both Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., among other companies, have held low-level talks with those at Twitter Inc. in recent months to explore the prospect of an acquisition of the messaging service, according to people familiar with the matter." more ›

Wael Ghoneim, the Google marketing manager/opposition leader who has been "missing" in Egypt since late January, has been freed. "Google Inc. said Monday that its marketing manager has been released in Egypt after being detained during anti-government protests two weeks ago," reports the Associated Press. "Google released a statement Monday confirming the release of Wael Ghoneim. The statement said officials felt a 'huge relief' when hearing of Ghoneim’s release and that they wished him and his family well." [via CBS 5] more ›

Google’s head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, Wael Ghonim, who has been missing in Egypt since the uprisings began, has been named the symbolic spokesperson for the opposition youth movement in Egypt. more ›

While searching for an appropriate Sergey Brin link to use in today's "Google's Eric Schmidt Nets $100 Million" article, we came across one of Brin's old world wide web sites, a personal one he created while at Stanford. While we're sure loads of tech geeks and their countless hanger-ons have already chortled over this bit of antique web design (cira 1998-ish), we just found it. more ›

Although Google CEO Eric Schmidt is on his way out of the prized gig - company co-founder Larry Page, 37 (!), will replace Schmidt in April - he will be awarded $100 million worth of shares once he steps down. Which is nice. That's the dollar amount at which we start buying lottery tickets. So, you know, kudos all around, we guess. more ›

An "unexpected shakeup" went down at Google today. Larry Page, company co-founder, will take over as CEO effective April 4. "Page, 37, is reclaiming the top job from Eric Schmidt, who had been brought in as CEO a decade ago because Google's investors believed the company needed a more mature leader," reports KTVU. "Schmidt, 55, will remain an adviser to Page and Google's other co-founder, Sergey Brin, as Google's executive chairman." more ›

Very Small Array put together this curious map of the states as named by Google's autocomplete on Friday. When looking up California, they ended up with Prop 19, the state's marijuana initiative. (On Saturday afternoon, while logged in and out of Google, we got "California DMV" as our top result. Go figure.) more ›

Apparently not content to test a computer's ability to drive one of those autonomous Priuses, a Google engineer was spotted testing California's hands-free cell phone law by chatting from the driver's seat (but you know, not actually driving) while cruising around near Google HQ in Mountain View. Is it still hand-free if you have to hold the phone, but not the steering wheel? [Jalopnik] more ›

Groupon, the collective discount peddler that is a dream come true for bargain-addicted Marina girls and can mean a slow death by coupon for some small businesses, is in talks to sell itself to Google for a reported $6 billion. Yes, SIX BILLION DOLLARS. The deal would be the largest acquisition offer Google has made to date, after the 2008 purchase of DoubleClick for $3.2 billion. This is twice the estimated $3 billion valuation that someone punched up on their calculator a few weeks ago, and sounds insane to us, but anyway. Just yesterday, Groupon quickly announced the acquisition of three Asian startups as well as San Mateo marketing firm Ludic Labs, which will automatically cause Groupon's Silicon Valley office to grow from 25 to over 100 employees. Groupon's board is meeting to discuss the Google offer today, and is likely already busting out the champagne. more ›

One employee who won't benefit from the pay raise is the one who leaked this story. According to CNN (via SFist commenter porkbun), "Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced the salary hike in a memo late Tuesday, a copy of which was obtained by Fortune. The memo was also leaked to Business Insider, which broke the news. Within hours, Google notified its staff that it had terminated the leaker." Oops. more ›

by Andrew Dalton more ›

Say what you will about the Better Business Bureau's pay-to-play accreditation model (and whether or not BBB ratings actually mean anything at this point), but they're still tasked with slogging through complaints from a lot of uppity, old-fashioned consumers and holding businesses accountable for addressing those complaints... more ›

For those of you who use Google, you might recall yesterday's bubbly Google logo that swept balls to and fro. (For those of you who use Yahoo, we look forward to seeing you come Thanksgiving, Mom and Dad!) It was all in anticipation for Google's new search feature, Google Instant, that, for better or for worse, displays the results as soon as you begin typing. It's fast. And very jumpy. Or, as Valleywag so eloquently put it, Google is now on crack. Give it a try. See for yourself. "Feelings of euphoria and weightlessness are normal. Do not be alarmed," Google soothes after you test out the new searchability. more ›

Yesterday, the Oakland Police Department released video footage of a man and woman "believed to be involved in the fatal shooting of a 45-year-old Virginia man on Sunday night." The suspects are accused of killing Virginia resident Jinghong Kang at about 11:30 p.m. in the 1900 block of Webster Street. more ›

Move over Google Maps. Beginning next month, a team of scientists is set to map 1,200 miles of California coastline using lasers, computer software and airplanes. It will be the most detailed map ever assembled of the California coastline. The map will be detailed enough to spot telephone poles! Managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the captured data will be used to track sea levels, beach erosion and flood risks. more ›

Well, if it's anything like Buzz, it's sure to be a smashing success. Oh, come now, we kid. You know we love you, Google. Deeply. No, really, deeply. Which is why we're excited about Google TV, another web + TV thingamajig that will revolutionize the way you experience at-home entertainment. Or not. more ›

Brian Reid, 60, claims that he was laid off from Google in 2004, at the age of 54, because he was too old. He was told at the time of the layoff that he was not a "cultural fit" for the company. “‘Not a cultural fit’ is a code word for being too old," said Reid's lawyer in a hearing before the California State Supreme Court this morning. Google claims it had nothing to do with age, and that Reid just didn't fit in with the "work-intensive, do it the hard way" culture of the company. Also, we're guessing, he couldn't operate a smart phone and said things like "surfing the webs." [Examiner] more ›

Though always spectacular, Google's logo art isn't particularly newsworthy. Until today. In honor of Pac Man's 30th birthday, the Mountain View-based company created a Pac Man logo that you can actually play. more ›