At the Googleplex

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Google's bold-faced names and press-relations folks mingled with the media last night in Mountain View at the 'plex. I took in the scene -- and copious amounts of sushi and hors d'oeuvres -- with JupiterResearch's Gary Stein and Sapna Satagopan. Since the evening's event was to be strictly off the record, I can't go into detail about the future plans Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt revealed to me. Suffice it to say the company plans to do something along the lines of organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful. (Kidding here, of course. The cocktail-party chatter I participated in was mostly of the "how are your kids?" and "I read your blog entry" variety.)

What I can report is that the evening was classic Google. A huge whiteboard along one wall displayed computer-geek humor. A crackling fire, providing a wintry atmosphere to mild Silicon Valley, shone from a plasma screen TV. Primary-colored plastic ice cubes (complete with light bulbs inside) adorned cocktail glasses. Security guards posted around the party's perimeter prevented industrial espionage. The visual focal point was a wall-projection of Google Earth, which took viewers on a virtual tour of all sorts of places I didn't recognize. And of course, the food was amazing. Well worth the trip.