It’s been a little while since we’ve had a nice, juicy takeover story to follow, right?  Well, Google might make a move and fill the void, as its CEO, Eric Schmidt, announced during an interview that he’s on the hunt again. 

The other day, Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave quite an inspirational speech at the University of Pennsylvania, in which he shared his interpretation of the meaning of life. He talked about technology and the importance of the organization of the world’s information – Google’s ultimate goal.

For a while, the blogs were burning with the rumors that Google was going to buy a newspaper. Eric Schmidt has laid these suspicions to rest by announcing that Google will not pursue that option.

Eric Schmidt gave a commencement address at the University of Pennsylvania yesterday. The full video is below, but I have pulled out some of the good quotes from it (there were quite a few).

He begins with congratulations and talks about how great Penn is, and how there are 250 alumni who work at Google. He says it’s the most desirable place for Google to hire interns because the "quality of graduates is the best in the world."

It’s been close to three years since Google bought YouTube, and so far, the site has cost the search giant a lot more money than it’s made.  But Google’s CEO still believes the situation will right itself, and new info from an analyst goes a little way towards bearing out his line of thought. 

Earlier this week it was reported that the Federal Trade Commission had launched an inquiry into whether the overlap of directors on the boards of Apple and Google violates antitrust laws.

If, on the technology front, our country takes a significant turn for either the better or the worse under President Obama, you might consider voicing your pleasure or dismay by using certain search engines more or less.  It turns out people from both Google and Microsoft have been appointed to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). 

It’s not a news story–doesn’t really rise to the level of newsworthiness–but people do seem to be talking more lately about the death of newspapers. Recently even Eric Schmidt of Google discussed how newspapers must find a mixture of advertising, micropayments, and regular subscriptions to fund their futures. To me, all this talk about how newspapers collect money is misplaced. Instead, I think newspapers must think about how to flourish by remaining relevant in the new digital world.

In 2008, Eric Schmidt called the Internet a cesspool and said that brands were the way to sort it out. Popular blogger Michael Gray aka Graywolf says that big brand media sites are "the real cesspool of the Internet."

Google is expecting a good year for Android, and it’s got plans for the mobile operating system. The company is planning "significant" products and partnerships.

Let’s pretend for a moment that you’re the newspaper industry. Your ranks are dwindling as even old stalwarts are dropping like flies.

The Associated Press (AP) announced this week that it’s working on a system  to "protect" its content from being "misappropriated" online. WebProNews CEO Rich Ord posted a thought-provoking piece on the subject giving some background into the situation.

A year later, a Microsoft and Yahoo assault on Google still can’t be ruled out. Steve Ballmer says he’s still interested, and even though Yahoo’s new chief won’t kiss and tell, her apparent lack of confidence in her company is telling enough.

And what does Google CEO Eric Schmidt have to say to potential MicroHoo, search, and Twitter competition?

Good luck, kids.

Investors hoping for a little extra money – and small startups hoping for a lot – are going to need to find someone or something other than Google to provide it.  The search giant’s CEO said yesterday that he intends to let his company’s checkbook collect a little dust. 

Eric Schmidt’s support of Barack Obama made a lot of people rather upset.  A new move on Schmidt’s part may placate them, though, as the CEO of Google has agreed to work closely with Britain’s Conservative Party. 

For fans of certain science fiction television shows, space has long been the final frontier.  But for a particular search giant, Google Sky covered that, and it’s instead the task of representing the ocean that has been something of a challenge.  Google may soon address the issue with the help of some fairly important people. 

Google was one of few successful companies on the stock market today; it provided a little bit of green within big lists of numbers that were otherwise mostly red.  This trend continued as the search giant released its fourth quarter financial results. 

The day I become a billionaire is the day I vanish and no one sees me again unless I invite them to my ridiculously cool house. Pretend billionaires have that luxury, but it is likely the mentality that creates billionaires is the same mentality that keeps them working no matter how rich they become.

It looks like Google isn’t going to simultaneously lose its CEO and gain a powerful friend in Washington.  Eric Schmidt has said in no uncertain terms that he won’t become America’s first CTO.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt is a busy man as you can imagine, and has probably been even busier than usual recently, now that he has been named to the transitional economic advisory board of President-Elect Barack Obama at a time when the economy needs all the help it can get.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been on the campaign trail stumping for Barack Obama, virtually formalizing his “informal campaign advisor” role, a suddenly very public endorsement that fueled speculation about a possible cabinet position, specifically Obama’s proposed tech czar.