Google has money in the bank and intends to use it to buy up smaller companies that have developed products that are on the projected corporate development path of the search giant.

Although the rumors have been flying for quite some time, a Google executive insists that it will not be getting into the hardware business to manufacturing handsets for Android phones.

Google has, for almost the whole of October, been experimenting with a new minimalist homepage, which gets rid of everything but the Google logo and the search box. Not everyone will have yet seen the test site though many have. The level of minimalism and wording on display seems to have varied considerably. But what, ultimately, is the point? Is this a pointless exercise that is confusing users?

Google learned a valuable lesson today about always making sure your PDF documents are always properly formatted, otherwise you may reveal more about your operations than you intended.

Google has officially launched a new music component to its search engine which should make it possible for you to find just about any song you want, even if you only know a few of the lyrics.

The next version of Google’s mobile operating system, Android 2.0, can turn your mobile device into a complete navigational GPS using Google Maps.

The City of Los Angeles has decided that its 30,000 employees will “Go Google,” as the city has selected Gmail as its new email system. This decision might spell a troubling trend for Microsoft in the Enterprise Software market.

For something like half a year, Google has been both dropping hints and hurling hype about its new Wave product, which is now in beta and may still be as nebulous as it ever has been.

Virgin America and Google are teaming up to offer free wireless Internet to passengers between Nov. 10 and Jan. 25. The service normally costs between $5.96 and $12.95 depending on the length of the flight.

Google’s efforts to get us all to switch to Google Apps is expanding outwards from its initial campaign in several U.S. cities to cover the rest of the world. The Gone Google marketing campaign uses the millions of businesses, organizations, and schools as the main draw for others to follow suit. The question now is whether Microsoft will respond to persuade people to stick with Office.

Six individuals will be facing charges by Federal prosecutors for insider-trading. The insider-trading scheme involves some of the biggest tech companies in the world such as Intel, Google and IBM. Some of the individuals involved in the scheme are also well known throughout the tech industry.

Google has been busy mapping the entire world at street level for the past few years. But its Street View cars aren’t able to photograph everywhere purely because they need roads to access places of interest. Which means that a great many hard-to-reach places such as landmarks and sports venues have been left out. Until now. Enter the Google Street View trike.

During Google’s third quarter earnings call, executives repeatedly touted increases in mobile searches as a new market opportunity for the company. And with 12 Android phones coming to 32 carriers in 26 countries, that market is about to explode.

Google has announced that in 2010 it will be launching its own ebook store.

Google may still be fighting a court battle in the digital books market, but it’s ready for business. The firm has announced its first steps to begin charging for electronic titles.

In the continuing saga between Google and AT&T, the FCC has now stepped in and is asking the search giant some serious questions. AT&T alleges that Google is violating net neutrality rules with its voice service. The allegations made by AT&T have caused the FCC to set in motion a probe into Google’s voice service.

There’s a rumor afoot that Twitter is talking to both Microsoft and Google about licensing the full Twitter feed for real-time search. If so, it could mean that the company starts making money without having to sacrifice the user experience.