Google Invents Most Annoying Bug of All Time

Last night Google rolled out a bug that would be comical if it weren't so astounding and grating: Open your Gmail inbox, and old school ragtime music starts playing, and can't be stopped. The solution: Use less Google. More »

Google's $4 Million Revenge on a Merchant

What happens when a small business owner gets on Google's bad side? In Ryan Abood's case, the answer is, "your business gets crushed and you spend a year and a half in internet Siberia." Do not trifle with The Google. More »

YouTube Will Ask You To Pay

YouTube, the video brand most closely associated with freak babies, freak kids and cheap pranks, is reportedly poised to charge for its high quality content. Whatever high quality content, that is, the Google video service can drum up. More »

Now You Can Call People From Gmail, For Some Reason

Have you ever been staring at your junk clogged email inbox and thought, "I wish I could talk to all these people on the phone?" No? Well, then prepare to be baffled by yet another weird Google invention. More »

German Guy Willing to Be Beat Up In Name of Google Street View

Google is letting privacy-minded Germans opt out of Google Street View. But one Street View fan, IT consultant Jens Best, has sworn to photograph every excluded house, then upload them manually to Google Maps. Meet the human embodiment of Google.

New Google Movie to Be One Big Google Ad

While the Facebook movie makes Mark Zuckerberg out to be a web 2.0 serial killer, the just-announced Google movie will offer a softer view of Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. It will be, essentially, a 90-minute Google commercial. More »

Google Will Make Your House Disappear For a Limited Time Only

In an unprecedented step, Google is letting privacy-sensitive Germans delete pictures of their homes from Google Street View. This is a limited time offer, however. Act now for maximum privacy. But only in Germany. Why? More »

Google's CEO Has Scary Ideas For Children

Eric Schmidt's apparently trying to become tech's creepiest executive. The Google CEO outlined his dystopian vision of the future, in which children change their names at adulthood to escape damning online dossiers — dossiers of the sort stored by Google. More »

Shouting Match at Google Over Stalkery Ads

Google's co-founders ended up in a shouting match in front of subordinates during internal discussions over aggressive ad targeting, according to the Wall Street Journal. The pro-targeting side prevailed, and Google is now edging toward Facebook-level privacy standards. Ack. More »

Google Reveals Its Secret Internet Regulation Deal

Google announced a much-anticipated deal with Verizon that calls on the Federal Communications Commission to enforce an open and equal internet — except when it comes to wireless networks and new types of services. Confused hand-wringing has already begun. More »

Mark Zuckerberg Is Preparing for War

There's a melodramatic "war" brewing between Facebook and Google, and Facebook's CEO is seizing the opportunity to squeeze more work from his engineers, declaring a "lockdown," keeping the office open on weekends, and putting a neon sign on his door. More »

Googler's Creepy Drone

A Googler took delivery of a near-silent mini-drone from a German company, which says it hopes to sell a fleet of the spy planes for taking Google Maps photos. Hopefully without using the optional thermal camera that sees through walls. More »

How an Army of Junkies and Kids Enriches Tech Titans

The company behind Farmville is sealing a deal with Google and has been embraced by Apple and Facebook. That such companies would associate themselves with the exploitation of children and financially depleted addicts is alarming, even in hyper-aggressive Silicon Valley. More »

Google Wave Dead After Two Months

Google just killed its Wave product, a live-collaboration system that generated as much confusion as press. Unmentioned in the official product obituary: Google's impatience. More »

Yelp's Sex Bunny Doll

A skanky mannequin has been discovered in the San Francisco headquarters of Yelp. The doll is supposed to represent a Yelp user, but she also makes the perfect mascot for the self-consciously trashy local ratings site itself. More »

Google CEO Deters Mistress Tattle Tales

Google CEO Eric Schmidt's venture capital firm describes its investment philosophy as "opportunistic." We're starting to wonder if that refers to the "opportunity" to buy people's silence, judging from how much money is flowing to friends of Schmidt's sometime mistresses. More »

Google Gears Up to Take on Facebook, Twitter

Google is preparing another attempt to crack the social networking world owned by Facebook, and to a lesser extent, Twitter. More »

Court Saves YouTube, High Culture

Google's YouTube just annihilated Viacom in federal court, winning a summary judgement dismissing Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement claim. The old media company will appeal the district ruling, of course, but for now humanity's precious freak-baby videos are safe.

Getting Cozy with Google CEO's Mistress — And His Money

Entrepreneurs courting Eric Schmidt's venture capital fund should note an emerging pattern: The Google CEO seems to have a fondness for his mistress' snug friends. More »

At Google, You're Old and Gray At 40

Google faces an imminent California Supreme Court decision on whether it engaged in age discrimination. But that hasn't kept the internet company from patting itself on the back for how it supports old "Greyglers" — that's any Googler over 40. More »