Take a Peek at Google’s Future Digs

The plex is getting bigger.
google_campus

Yahoogle Redux? Why “Project Porcupine” Means Someone Is Definitely Going to Lose an Eye This Time.

How do you hug a porcupine? Very carefully.

Eric Schmidt Plays Oprah With Tina Fey (Video)

Now that Eric Schmidt isn’t running Google anymore, he has time for this kind of stuff: An hour-long interview with Tina Fey, conducted last week at the Googleplex.

Video: Steven Levy Talks About Google Book "In the Plex"

Earlier this week, BoomTown interviewed longtime author and tech journalist Steven Levy about his new book, “In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives.” I met Levy at the Plex in question–the Googleplex–to chitchat about what he learned after being embedded at the Borg, um, search giant for years.

Viral Video: Gaga Meets the Little Monsters of Google

Google hosted singing sensation Lady Gaga today at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA. What more can BoomTown say, except that it is interesting to see the sublime meet the ridonkulous.

Nerd Alert: Here Come Two More Google Books!

Although there have already been several big-deal books on Google already–including Ken Auletta’s “Googled,” which was bought by Hollywood for a movie–a new pair is about to debut in coming months. One is penned by prominent Silicon Valley journalist Steven Levy, who had a lot of access to the Google and its denizens, and the other is what appears to be an insiderish tell-all by a former employee.

Yet Another Googler to AOL: Sales Exec John Burke

You’d think that nearly two years after Tim Armstrong jumped from Google to AOL, he’d be done bringing former coworkers to his new gig. But you’d be wrong!

Google's Bing Attack Has Larry Page Written All Over It

While he won’t officially take over as CEO of Google until April, the recent full-frontal slapfest on Microsoft’s Bing search engine for shoplifting results from the search giant was so Larry Page in tone and temperament that it brought back memories from many years ago when I covered Google more closely. I would wager that we’re about to see a lot more of this pugnacious, in-your-face tone from Google under Page’s leadership, which could have far-reaching implications for the company.

Google Shows Off Honeycomb Features, Android Web Market

Today’s event in Mountain View provided new details on the tablet-friendly version of Android and a new way to acquire apps. Mobilized was there liveblogging.

News Byte

Make the Googleplex 25 Percent Bigger! Google Adding More Than 6,000 Hires This Year

Google plans its “biggest hiring year in company history” in 2011, the company announced today. That means something north of 6,000 new hires, which was the company’s previous record, set in 2007. And that will push Google’s total head count above 30,000 by the end of the year. Last year Google added more than 4,500 bodies. Bear in mind that many of those came via acquisitions, like the AdMob deal.

How to Pay Google Without Buying an Ad