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Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently said, "We have been talking to Yahoo and we are very excited to be working with them." The goal? Tie the two companies into an advertising powerhouse, which I have decided to call GooHoo.

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In case you hadn't heard, mobile employees are a threat to your business. A lost smartphone, or a laptop that connects to a rogue network rather than a legitimate one, can open your company to all sorts of risks. To help match some of the threats and one-up VPNs, Google used its Postini acquisition to create Web Security for Enterprise.

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Google may be denying that there's a brain drain going on, as the BBC reports, but that doesn't mean it's not happening.

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With its $500 million investment in the $12 billion Sprint-Clearwire partnership, Google buys itself a hedge against the possibility that the open access rules it fought to link to the C Block of the 700-MHz spectrum might be flouted.

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Since it tossed $500 million into Clearwire, a new mobile WiMax company, Google decided it was due a few words. In a post on the Official Google Blog, you'll see such words as: "choice", "freedom", "open", "excited", "embrace", and -- my favorite -- "competitively-neutral network management". Uh. Say what?

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One of my favorite features of Gmail is how easy it is to search through your e-mails to find what you want/need. Sometimes, though, you need to be really specific. Google has some search tips that let you quickly narrow your search down to just a handful of results.

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Google has doubts that Verizon Wireless will honor the open access provisions that come with the freshly-won spectrum it nabbed in the FCC 700-MHz auction. In fact, it went so far as to file a petition with the FCC forcing Verizon to officially pledge that it will honor the conditions. Google, are you in third grade?

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Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang sent out an e-mail to the staff at Yahoo. In it, he says, "Now is the time for us to shine and show what we're made of." Yahoo has to do that, and a whole lot more.

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If you're a total control freak and want things to look exactly so, the newest feature in Google Docs is for you. You can now edit your own custom styles within Google Docs and dress your Docs up however you wish. Even if you have no sense of style.

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Like the drummer from Green Day, this is Tre(s) Cool. If you use Google Maps to get driving directions from Point A to Point B, you'll now be able to add Street Views to the directions to see a clearer picture of exactly where you're going.

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In a candid TV interview, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said, "I don't think we've quite figured out the perfect solution of how to make money [with YouTube], and we're working on that. That's our highest priority this year." You don't say...

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Since early March, Sen. John McCain has had the GOP nomination tucked safely in his back pocket, while the stalemate between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has left the Democratic party at an impasse. Like the Republican pundit, Google is benefiting from the current standoff between Yahoo and Microsoft.

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Having won the text search war, Google may soon take the lead in image searching. In a paper published last week, Google researchers describe how they were able to use image recognition technology to reduce the number of irrelevant images returned through a Google Image search by 83%.

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So you performed an image search for "Corvette," and instead of finding the spy shot of the C7 you had in mind, you end up with irrelevant pictures of some guy's 1977 show 'Vette. That's about to change. Google's scientists recently unveiled a new way to perform image searches, called VisualRank, that will help you find exactly what you're looking for.

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Google's online PowerPoint application, called Presentations, just met with some great new -- and much needed -- features. First is the addition of speaker notes, which is something I sorely missed about two weeks ago when I was putting together a presentation. Google also added the ability to embed YouTube videos into Presentations, and its Gears roll-out now expands to Presentations as well.

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Does Google's design language do anything for you? Do you find the cleanliness of its sites pleasing to the eye? Or do the white spaces and primary colors drive you nuts? Even though it looks like some Google sites were designed by a kid with crayons, there's a method to the madness.

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Is Google getting into the burrito business? Why else would the company register bayareaburritos.com and thesecretofburritos.com?

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Google has decided that cell phones and the mobile Web are ready to display ads with images embedded in them. It announced the new program yesterday, whereby at least one ad per mobile page will have a graphic image. About time, or will it clutter mobile Web pages?

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Google last Thursday erased doubts raised by Internet metrics firm ComScore about its paid click growth. It reported that paid clicks on its sites and partners' sites grew about 20% globally from the first quarter of 2007 and about 4% from the fourth quarter of 2007.

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Google first offered up the ability to sync your Gmail and Outlook calendars in early March. Since then, it's received a bunch of feedback on the usability of the product and has decided to make some changes. The changes are welcome, indeed.

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Google has released yet more tools for developers. This time, it is offering what it calls a sandbox in which developers can play with and build widgets for Google's iGoogle user home page. That includes support for social network applications using the OpenSocial API. Is iGoogle going to be the next Facebook?

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Google made a new add-on available to Firefox users in the U.S. today. After it is installed, it allows you to highlight any text in your browser and send it as a text message to your mobile phone. This would be very useful if it didn't break Firefox.

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If Google Apps wants to play in the big leagues with its desktop software service, it needs to grow up. Vague details about a blip in service for Gmail isn't going to cut it in the corporate world, even if Gmail was acting up for less than an hour on Wednesday.

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YouTube has modified the way in which it will go after those who post copyrighted material or objectionable videos. Of course, the new rules stirred some outrage among certain users who feel targeted by the "YouTube Police".

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For that matter, how long are all of Google's services going to remain as beta -- and not v1.0 -- releases? Gmail has been around for years, and has yet to graduate to a full version of software. Is there a hold up? And does it really matter?

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It happened all at once today (and maybe that's why Gmail is still in "beta" after all these years). Both the Web interface and my various e-mail clients (Outlook, my smartphone) that were accessing my enterprise Gmail account seized up on me completely. Standalone Gmail account holders were affected, too (according to a blogsearch on the matter). The cause? An AWOL IMAP interface caused the mail clients to clam up and most of Gmail's Ajax-like functionality vanished at the same time, causing serious browser indigestion. What are the implications?

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In light of the new partnership announced between Google and Salesforce, CRM provider Zoho decided to retaliate with some facts that cloud up some of Salesforce's claims. Chief among them? Salesforce isn't "affordable." Wait, isn't that Benioff's line about Siebel?

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The debut of Salesforce for Google Apps on Monday wasn't particularly surprising, given that the two companies announced a partnership last June. But the tightening embrace between the two shows that Google isn't going to leave Microsoft's competitive moves unanswered.

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Developer Robert Love spoke recently about the open source Android mobile phone operating system and SDK. He firmly believes the platform will deliver innovations in mobility. I don't disagree, but will the industry truly adopt the "open" model?

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Google has taken its commitment to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children another step by offering tools to help search for lost or missing children who might be the victims of abusive criminals.

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As Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo all wrestle with Microsoft's attempt to buy Yahoo, Google decided it needed some outside counsel. Google CEO Eric Schmidt chose none other than Frank Quattrone, who was cleared of obstruction of justice charges last year, to whisper sweet hostile take-over nothings into his ear.

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Nobody has really seen the browser that will ship with phones running Google's Android platform, but Opera Software already wants to replace it with its own. It has made Opera Mini for Android available to developers. Part of me is surprised that Apple hasn't already attempted to embed Safari into Android somewhere...

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As an everyday user of Google Docs, I was excited when Gears finally became available so that I could write while offline. I downloaded and installed Gears on both my computers, but in the end it was a waste of time. Right now Gears only supports Reader for me; I haven't been granted access to Docs in an offline mode yet. And this brings me to my big complaint: Google, why announce new features when not everyone can use them?

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Either Google read my harangue from a couple of weeks ago or this was already long in the works. You can now save Google Presentations as PowerPoint files. That's one more reason to give cloud computing a shot.

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Google this week began a limited beta test of its new Google App Engine, a platform for developing and running Web applications. Its arrival into the infrastructure-as-a-service space will surely not go unnoticed by Amazon.com, which appears to be building a significant business selling computing power by the drink through Amazon Web services.

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In the e-mail world, where possible, I used to urge organizations to stick with the Internet-standard Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) instead of using the addictive proprietary alternatives from Microsoft and IBM Lotus (found in Outlook/Exchange and Lotus Notes). Now, thanks to Google's GMail service, I realize I may have been mistaken.

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A recently published security report from European data protection commissioners blasted Google for holding onto user data for 18 months. Google defended the policy, saying it is necessary to improve the results dished up by its search engine. How long is long enough? And is your IP address personal property?

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Android is perhaps proving to be more difficult an undertaking than Google might have initially conceived. More than five months after Android was first announced, many important aspects about
Android's code base still must be resolved. The delay is vexing Open Handset Alliance partners, who voiced concerns at last week's CTIA conference.

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It is disappointing that Google failed to participate in the wireless industry's largest trade show. Google likes to do things behind the scenes, but playing a more active -- and visible -- role in an industry that it is helping to shape would be nice.

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The FCC gag rule preventing Auction 73 bidders from talking about their mobile plans expired today, and boy is the news starting to flow. Google freely admits that it bid in the auction with the intent of driving up the price to reach the open access provisions.

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Google employs plenty of impressive people. But Douglas Merrill, Google's CIO, is the only Googler I've met that I've mentioned to my kids as an example of accomplishment in the face of adversity.

Merrill is leaving Google to join EMI.

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So I was perusing my Google Calendar the other day and noticed that the "See What's New" link was bright red. That means there are new features to the product. I click on the link and what do I find? Google is now offering an alarm clock service called Google Wake Up Kit, and will integrate it into your Google Calendar. Google promises to annoy you until you get out of bed.

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At Startup Camp in London, I met Nick Halstead, the erstwhile founder behind fav.or.it, a new blog aggregation site that's been widely discussed in the, um, blogosphere (there's a dog chasing its tail somewhere in that statement).

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In an effort to demonstrate its commitment to privacy, Google on Friday announced a revamp of its online Privacy Center, a repository for information about Google's privacy policies and practices.

On Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Google's enterprise search hardware is finding its way into U.S. intelligence agencies, which also have turned to Google to power Intellipedia, a Wikipedia of sorts for spies.

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Google, as always, has been busy. Here's a roundup of some recent developments. Video ads are now being served in search results (although I couldn't find any); Google says it is really, really concerned about your privacy; and the company outlines steps for people to protect themselves.

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This is some short and sweet news. This afternoon I fired up Google Docs to write a post about Picasa Web Albums, and noticed that my favorite button is back. Thanks, Google!

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I use Picasa to share pictures with my friends and family. It has some great features, and even offers plug-ins for Apple's iPhoto software so you can upload directly to Picasa albums from iPhoto. Today, Google introduced a new API for Picasa that should make it easier to transfer pictures around -- once developers get around to actually using it to create Picasa buttons.

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Let's say you're in love with Microsoft Outlook. You think it's the niftiest e-mail program ever. But the thought of licensing an Exchange server sort of makes you sick to your stomach. Acting like virtual Tums to quell your gastric butterflies, Cemaphore Systems is set to offer a subscription-based service that will deliver your e-mail via Google's Gmail system to your Outlook inbox -- no Exchange necessary.

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Google's OpenSocial effort has two new members, none other than MySpace and rival Yahoo. The three companies said they'll put any differences aside and work together to create the OpenSocial Foundation. The foundation will be focused on sustaining a "neutral, community-governed forum" for developing applications.

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Haven't we been here before? Now that Google has lost the spectrum auction, it's petitioned the FCC to open up white spaces spectrum so it can provide Wi-Fi to smartphones (like, it's own, Android smartphone). What's wrong with existing Wi-Fi networks, and how is Google going to do it better?

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