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Google CEO Larry Page has rapidly positioned Google to become an indispensable U.S. military contractor. Google recently purchased Boston Dynamics, a robotics pioneer that produces amazing humanoid robots for the U.S. Defense Department. This development invites attention to Google’s broader military contracting ambitions — especially since Boston Dynamics is the eighth robotics company that Google has bought in the last six months. ... In 2012, Google hired Regina Dugan, the head of DOD’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), DOD’s in-house “moon-shot” idea factory. At the time a Google spokesperson said: “Regina is a technical pioneer who brought the future...

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt called reports of the U.S. government spying on the company's data centers "outrageous" and if proven true, potentially illegal. "It's really outrageous that the National Security Agency (NSA) was looking between the Google data centers, if that's true," Schmidt told The Wall Street Journal. "The steps that the organization was willing to do without good judgment to pursue its mission and potentially violate people's privacy, it's not OK." According to Schmidt, Google has registered complaints against President Obama, the NSA and members of Congress.

If a recently leaked document is any indication, the US National Security Agency -- or its UK counterpart -- appears to have put on a Google suit to gather intelligence. CNET got a "no comment" from the NSA in response to our request for more information.

Google has unveiled its ambitious project named “Loon” to eliminate Internet-blind spots around the world. The project is about using hot-air balloons carrying communications equipments as giant wireless Internet routers. People in areas over which Google’s hot-air balloons are passing can use free Wi-Fi service. Google announced Saturday on its official blog that the global IT giant began test near Lake Tekapo in New Zealand, by shooting 30 hot-air balloons carrying 3G communications equipment into 20 kilometers above the ground. The plastic balloons with diameter of 15 meters will provide Internet service while maintaining a set distance between them in...