Internet search leader

A judge has given Google Inc. more time to revise a legal settlement that has drawn government scrutiny because it would give the Internet search leader the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books.

Under a change approved Monday, Google and groups representing U.S. authors and publishers now have until Friday to change an agreement reached more than a year ago. It marked the latest twist in a copyright lawsuit that the authors and publishers filed against Google's digital book project four years ago.

Some of technology's best-known companies are betting there's pent-up demand for on-demand books.

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's top seller of personal computers and printers, is teaming up with online retailer Amazon.com Inc. to challenge Internet search leader Google Inc. in the quirky new market of re-creating digital books as paperbacks.

The concept represents a different type of book recycling, as digital copies created from print get a second life as paperbacks.

Yahoo Inc. believes a lot of its good work has been overlooked by investors and the media so it's spending more than $100 million to get the word out to consumers directly.

The money is going toward the Internet company's most expensive marketing campaign since Stanford University graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo started Yahoo's Web site 15 years ago. Yahoo provided a peek at the 15-month blitz Tuesday in New York.

Google Inc. is giving 2 million books in its digital library a chance to be reincarnated as paperbacks.

As part of a deal announced Thursday, Google is opening up part of its index to the maker of a high-speed publishing machine that can manufacture a paperback-bound book of about 300 pages in under five minutes. The new service is an acknowledgment by the Internet search leader that not everyone wants their books served up on a computer or an electronic reader like those made by Amazon.com Inc. and Sony Inc.

Google Inc. loves 23andMe Inc., a biotechnology startup conceived by co-founder Sergey Brin's wife.

In its latest showing of financial affinity, Google disclosed Thursday that it has invested another $2.6 million in a company that analyzes people's DNA to detect potential health problems before they occur.

Anne Wojcicki, who married Brin two years ago, started 23andMe while the couple was still dating.

Yahoo Inc. has hired a cost-cutting specialist as its new chief financial officer, signaling the Internet company's determination to weed out the bureaucracy that has been dragging down its profits for the past three years.

The Sunnyvale-based company said Thursday that it had lured Tim Morse away from Altera Corp., a computer chip maker based in nearby San Jose. He became Altera's CFO in 2007 after a 15-year career at General Electric Co., where he held various jobs.

Google Inc. is hatching a new species of e-mail and instant messaging, but the Internet search leader first wants the hybrid service to evolve even more with the help of independent computer programmers.

The free tool, called "Google Wave," runs in a Web browser and combines elements of e-mail, instant messaging, wikis and photo sharing in an effort to make online communication more dynamic. Google hopes Wave simplifies the way people collaborate on projects or exchange opinions about specific topics.

Caroline Vanderlip believes the escalating debate over Google Inc.'s plans for a vast Internet library of copyright-protected literature will yield enough compelling material to fill a book.

That's one reason why SharedBook Inc., a 5-year-old company run by Vanderlip, has set up a Web site so the supporters and opponents of Google's digital book project can more easily post their opinions about a legal settlement that will help fulfill or possibly derail the Internet search leader's ambitions.

The site, http://www.gbs.sharedbook.com, is set to debut Thursday.

Google Inc. has been getting more frugal with its employees and other expenses as the recession crimps its growth, but the Internet search leader isn't skimping on political lobbying, according to a recent disclosure form.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company spent $880,000 on lobbying during the first quarter, a 42 percent increase from $620,000 at the same time last year. Google spent a total of $2.8 million on lobbying last year.