Technology & Innovation — September 6, 2011

What’s on Google’s Shopping List?

Hulu, OpenTable, Rovio, Travelzoo, AOL’s ad network, Rovi, Twitter, NVIDIA, Sprint, and Salesforce. They are companies Business Insider tips Google might want to acquire next.

bigthinkeditor

What’s the Latest Development?

Subtracting the cost of the Motorola deal, Google still has more than than $25 billion in cash and marketable securities on hand. It generated $2.6 billion in free cash flow just last quarter. Hulu, OpenTable, Rovio, Travelzoo, AOL’s ad network, Rovi, Twitter, NVIDIA, Sprint, and Salesforce. They are companies Business Insider tips Google might acquire next.

What’s the Big Idea?

Google’s $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola will be its biggest acquisition ever–more than four times the size of DoubleClick, the previous leader. But over the last decade, Google has been one of the biggest–and most successful –acquirers in the tech industry, and owes a lot of its success to these smart buys. Its core search advertising platform and most of its biggest new businesses, including Android, YouTube, and display advertising, all come from other companies.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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