Google Might Be Investing in Electric Cars

Tesla wants to go public. But the electric car company, loved by California celebrities and nerds alike, had to first bare all to the SEC. So now we know Tesla is funded by a mysterious front company linked to Google. More »

Was Meg Whitman's Software Pirated from Mitt Romney's Donors?

Supporters of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney tend to fancy themselves red-blooded capitalists. So it would probably upset them to learn they funded someone else's business, and get none of the profit. More »

Are Meg Whitman's Campaign Donors Funding Her Loutish Son's Salary?

EBay billionaire Meg Whitman takes care of her son. Griff Harsh's internet privacy has been zealously protected, and he had a defacto bodyguard at Princeton. Now Whitman's gubernatorial campaign has rewarded the company that gave delinquent Harsh an unlikely job. More »

Steve Jobs' Entourage Forbids Pictures of His 'Labored Old Man Shuffle'

By all accounts, Steve Jobs personally drove the rapid creation and wildly successful hyping of the just-unveiled iPad. So you'd think his handlers would be confident in his healthy image, no matter how slowly he walks in public. (Update: Video.) More »

The Nuclear iPad Price That Might Have Been

Think back an hour or so to the iPad unveil. Jobs is on stage. He reveals his tablet, and then the price, $499, to rabid applause from everyone. Everyone, that is, except people who knew better. More »
#conspiracies

A Secret Chinese Invasion of Google Apps?

Google wants everyone talking about its unique defiance of China's authoritarian rulers. But Silicon Valley gossips increasingly see that spin as a cover-up for the real story: A humiliating security breach exposed cloud computing's dangers and imperils Google's growth. More »

Google Makes Its Replicant Phone Even Creepier

It was unsettling enough that Google named its Nexus One after bio-mechanical humanoids from the dystopian future. Now it's rumored to be issuing the smartphone to secretive genetic scientists inside its office. Chalk up another cozy, kooky 23AndMe deal. More »

Shutting Down Rupert Murdoch's Social Experiments Lab

We hear News Corporation is winding down MySpace spinoff Slingshot Labs, a vestige of the media conglomerate's efforts to retain MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe. But the labs are hatching one last diabolical plot, on behalf of the Wall Street Journal. More »

AOL Lusts for the Brad Pitt of the Blogosphere (and His Company)

AOL is interested in buying the world's largest tech blog, Mashable, we hear from a source at the internet conglomerate. And in fact the two sides have been talking, people outside AOL have whispered to one another, and to us. More »
The attached picture, of a Facebook playboy's sweethearted proposal to his Googler girlfriend, did not come cheap: It was shot in a private air taxi above the Maldives, a remote haven for wealthy tourists. Dave Morin has struck again. More »

Ladies Love Google's Ivanka Trump Ex

Is Salar Kamangar the most eligible bachelor in Silicon Valley? Well, he is fabulously wealthy, sleekly handsome, and — all too rare in nerd central — a smooth operator. His downside? More »

How Google CEO's 'Ex' Girlfriend Keeps Tabs on Him

Eric Schmidt's rekindled relationship with sometime girlfriend Marcy Simon may be heading into another season: After a summer of hanging out and an autumn jet ride, they've been spotted again this winter. And Simon's keeping a close eye on Schmidt. More »

More on Meg Whitman's Fratty Princeton Son

A defacto bodyguard lived at Princeton with Griff Harsh to assuage the kidnapping fears of his mom, California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, according to a longtime Gawker commenter close to the university. And the rich kid's suspension? Probably academic. More »

What We Know (So Far) about Google's Royal Wedding

Marissa Mayer, Google's star-dappled moon queen, married fiancé Zach Bogue this weekend in San Francisco. We hear the fashion-conscious VP's three-day wedding was positively star-studded. And that was just the help. Some names: More »

Is Google's Cupcake Princess Planning to Electronically Track Her Wedding Guests?

We're still gathering details on the fairy-tale wedding Google's glamour geek Marissa Mayer is having this weekend. The latest: Guests are murmuring about some sort of tracking system that sounds as creepy as SkyNet — or Google itself. More »
#holidaze

The Year End Party Is Over for Yahoo, We're Told

We hear Yahoo is canceling its annual "Year End Party" for 2009. That's quite a change for a company that last year held three company parties and additional bashes at the departmental level, amid layoffs. More »

AOL Layoffs Tomorrow to Kick Off Depressing Holiday Season?

'Tis the season to rush up layoffs so they don't fall in the sacrosanct Thanksgiving-to-Christmas period: An AOL insider tells us the company is slated to let go around 100 people tomorrow, following 1,500 firings Electronic Arts announced today. More »

San Francisco Braces for Gen. Tom Cruise to Move In (And Perhaps Lead Scientology Offensive)

There's a rumor circulating in the San Francisco press and real estate community: Tom Cruise just bought an $18 million mansion in town. An overgrown pied-à-terre wouldn't be too terrifying — except for that local Scientology expansion drive. More »

Another Google Heir Is Born: Larry Page's Son

Larry Page is now the co-creator of something other than the most important internet site in the world: A tipster whispers the Google co-founder is the father of a baby boy, as of Thursday. More »

Did Mrs. Google's Company Curl Into the Googleplex To Die?

For a company with deep support from Google, 23andMe seems awfully beset by problems: Two layoff rounds in five months and the departure of a co-founder. So when we hear the company is "hemorrhaging cash," we're inclined to believe it. More »