Even billionaires have disputes with their contractors. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the low-key co-founders of Google Inc., set tongues wagging last year when they bought1 a used Boeing 767 widebody as an unusually large private jet. The 767-200 typically carries 180 passengers and is three times as heavy as a conventional executive plane. Mr. Page said last year that he and Mr. Brin would use it for personal travel, including taking "large numbers of people to places such as Africa." He said it would hold about 50 passengers when refurbished, but declined to comment on other details of the plane, which has been kept ultra secret.

Now the Delaware holding company that technically owns the 767, Blue City Holdings LLC, is embroiled in multiple lawsuits with an aviation designer hired to plan and oversee the massive plane's interior renovation. Blue City in early 2005 hired Leslie Jennings, a high-end aviation designer whose work includes planes for Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen and assorted royalty and heads of state, to transform the plane, which aviation records indicate previously flew for over a decade in Qantas Airways' fleet. Under the plans Mr. Jennings worked up for the executives, and repeatedly modified according to their specifications, the widebody airliner was to include a lounge near the front primarily for Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt's use, with two adjoining staterooms for the co-founders farther aft, Mr. Jennings says. People familiar with the matter said last year that the plans also called for a large sitting-and-dining area and space near the rear for staff and passengers.

*****

Mr. Jennings says Messrs. Brin and Page "had some strange requests," including hammocks hung from the ceiling of the plane. At one point he witnessed a dispute between them over whether Mr. Brin should have a "California king" size bed, he says. Mr. Jennings says Mr. Schmidt stepped in to resolve that by saying, "Sergey, you can have whatever bed you want in your room; Larry, you can have whatever kind of bed you want in your bedroom. Let's move on." Mr. Jennings says Mr. Schmidt at another point told him, "It's a party airplane."

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Google, Microsoft And the Spreadsheet

Google and Microsoft announced that they have teamed up to make entering spreadsheets a web-based application.

Google Inc. is going back to the future by reinventing the spreadsheet as a Web-based application, seeking a simpler on-ramp for consumers to input data into databases, the company said on Monday.

The Web search leader will begin a limited trial on Tuesday of the classic software application defined by its grid of rows and columns and simple calculating capabilities that allow users to enter and organize information in structured form.

*****

Google Spreadsheet relies on technology the company acquired from a small Wall Street software developer it bought last year called 2Web Technologies, which in 2004 introduced tools to convert Microsoft Excel spreadsheets into Web services. "What is missing is the ability to share data more easily," Rochelle said. Users can sort data and take advantage of 200 functions and common spreadsheet formulas for doing basic calculations of numerical data. Google is working on improving printing, charts, filtering and "drag and drop" features, he said.

Rochelle said his company would be studying how much demand there is for Google Spreadsheet to work with Google Base, an online database service that allows Google users to post various types of information online. "Databases in themselves are really hard to program," said Charlene Li, an Internet analyst with Forrester Research. "What people use spreadsheets for is low-end databases," she said. Google Base is viewed by analysts as a stepping stone into the classified advertising or e-commerce markets, by helping users feature relevant information on Google's main search index, the Froogle shopping site and Google Local search.

It's so easy. You just enter all your personal medical, tax and financial information into an Excel spreadsheet and upload it to the Web. What could possibly go wrong?

Posted on June 5, 2006
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Google, Subpoenas and Silly Putty

When they're not fighting off burdensome, privacy-invading, intrusive government subpeonas, the folks at Google spend their time investigating the myriad of uses for 250 lbs of Silly Putty.

Not long ago, I walked by the desk of software engineer JJ Furman, and saw that he had made an interesting addition to his desk: a large blob of Silly Putty, about the size of a grapefruit. Intrigued, I asked how he'd gotten so much of the stuff. The answer? A bulk order directly from the manufacturer! Of course.

I knew then that I wanted some, and it dawned on me that I probably wasn't the only one. So I set out to place a really, really big bulk order. An email went out to cohorts. Their orders came in. Three weeks later, I had an eighth of a ton of Silly Putty delivered to my desk.

Naturally, we were all curious to see what 250 pounds of Silly Putty would look like, so before distributing the stuff, we put it all in a single pile to see. Huge mistake. The problem was that once together, Silly Putty doesn't like to come apart, and none of us had any idea of how to deal with this effect. We tried everything: very strong people (didn't work), scissors (stabbing worked, slicing didn't), 28-gauge steel wire (broke), 22-gauge steel wire (broke), 16-gauge steel wire (too thick), and twisting and breaking (worked well for "smaller" pieces -- under five pounds, that is.)

Two hours later, with the help of more than a dozen enthusiastic Googlers, everyone was finally able to walk away with a giant piece of Silly Putty. And then what? Some people are giving it for holiday gifts. Others are using it to exercise their arms, play basketball (rebounds are tough), and of course, imprint entire newspaper pages. Any regrets? Absolutely not.

We say: respond to the subpoena by mailing the government one ton of Silly Putty.

Posted on January 24, 2006
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Microsoft Sues Google Over Theft of Chinese Scientist

Now that's what we call a valuable employee. Microsoft is suing Google for enticing away their top Chinese scientist, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, to work at their top-secret new R&D center in China. The lab is so secret that Google will not even disclose its location. So who is this mysterious Dr. Lee that Microsoft will do anything to have back? And what in the world is so top-secret that the lab must be in an undisclosed location?

"By establishing an R&D center in China," the company said in a statement, "Google is making a strong commitment to attracting and developing Chinese talent, as well as partnering with local universities and institutes."

Lee, widely known for his speech recognition and artificial intelligence work, joined Microsoft in 1998 as its managing director of research in China, founding its Beijing research lab. More recently, he was corporate vice president of Microsoft's Natural Interactive Services Division, where he oversaw efforts to develop technologies to make user interfaces simpler and more natural.

Google hired Lee directly from Microsoft, boasting about the appointment in its news release. Microsoft responded by filing a lawsuit Tuesday against Lee and Google in King County Superior Court in Washington, charging that Lee breached Microsoft's "confidentiality and non-compete agreement" and that Google enticed him to do so.

Ok, but what exactly will Dr. Lee be doing in China for Google? Why is he so valuable? What does he know?

"As a senior executive, Dr. Lee has direct knowledge of Microsoft's trade secrets concerning search technologies and China business strategies," the company said in a statement. "He has accepted a position focused on the same set of technologies and strategies for a direct competitor in egregious violation of his explicit contractual obligations."

In the suit, Microsoft called Lee "one of the main architects of Microsoft's business strategies in China" and said he led efforts to develop "certain proprietary search technologies...that compete with substantially similar services offered by Google."

It's all very mysterious, but we're sure those wild rumors about Google building a secret robot army are completely untrue.

Posted on July 20, 2005
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Find Celebrity Birthdays on Google

Google Hacks offers the following tip:

Typing a famous person's name [into the Google search engine] followed by tall or height or age should return a page of results with the top entry being an answer to the query; either the person's height or the person's birthday.

Here are a few we tried:

Christina Aguilera: Height: 5' 2½"; Date of Birth: 18 December 1980
Tom Cruise: Height: 5' 7"; Date of Birth: 3 July 1962
Lindsay Lohan: Height: 5' 5"; Date of Birth: 2 July 1986
Paris Hilton: Height: 5' 8"; Date of Birth: 17 February 1981
Michael Jackson: Height: 5' 10"; Date of Birth: 29 August 1958

We're sure there's no truth to the rumor that Google will soon be adding everyone's weight and measurements to its database.

Posted on June 28, 2005
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