In the annals of weird things captured by Google Street View, some random Japanese woman's underwear drying on a line would not rank high. But she's suing Google after she was shocked to discover her unmentionables were on the Internet.

Not content to know our location and remember everything we've ever searched for, Google is now taking a look into our bodies. As this demo of their new "Body Browser" program shows, Google's interest is getting anatomical.

Google has just introduced a new option that allows you to filter search results by "reading level." Who knows what black magick is behind this, but we thought it would be fun to compare some popular websites.

Google today released Latitude for the iPhone, which allows other people to track your exact location in real time. If you're into sharing your every last move.

What did the world care about in 2010? According to Google, which just released its annual Zeitgeist video—highlighting the year's top search terms—we were interested in money, politics, tragedy, war, the dearly departed, and... Antoine Dodson. Watch inside.

Google launched its e-bookstore today. The 300,000 titles — about half as many as available for the Amazon Kindle, but probably way more than Apple's iBookstore — will work on iPads, iPhones, Android phones and Google's web-based reader.

Even as Wikileaks battles for its digital existence and Interpol closes in on Julian Assange, the cables keep flowing. This week brought details about Berlusconi and Putin's bromance and China's Googling habits, plus tantalizing hints of extraterrestrials. Diplomatic gossip roundup!

Last weekend we marveled at the story of the trollish business owner who claimed that being awful to his customers helped his Google results by getting them to bash him in customer reviews. Google says you can't do this anymore.

Too lazy to beatbox yourself? Let Google Translate do it for you.

Google is reportedly buying online discounter Groupon for $2.5 billion. It's about time; the two companies have been flirting on Twitter for months. Get a room, already!

The giant diplomatic cable dump released by Wikileaks today represents the world's largest leak of geopolitical gossip: Diplomats tittering about world leaders' sexxxy affairs, their financial skeeziness and weird quirks. Let's dive into a U.S. Embassy gossip roundup!

German reactionaries have a bizarre new icon: Google. Vandals in the Bergerhausen area of western Germany have egged several houses for opting out of Google Street View, leaving behind notes reading, "Google's cool." Get the message, privacy-hoarding squares?

The saga of Randy Wigginton is long and lively. He was employee number six at Apple. A distinguished engineer at PayPal and eBay. And now word out of Google is that he's been fired there for leaking a raise.

National unemployment remains stuck at nearly 10 percent and economic growth is tepid. But there are still golden tickets for workers if they're inside the tech bubble, especially if they're Google engineers courted by Facebook. And especially if they're women.

One in four web pages viewed by Americans last week was on Facebook, helping the social network steal the largest share of internet visits from archrival Google, according to stats firm Hitwise. Karl Lagerfeld's "white gold Facebook" remains exclusive, however.

Google receives "tens of thousands" of requests each year from the government to turn over user data, and it complies with any it deems legitimate. But the information comes at a cost: 25 bucks per head.

Google Street View launched today in 20 German cities, but only after privacy-minded Germans forced Google to blur 240,000 houses from their maps. This scene managed to make it through—should really comfort creeped out Germans. [via Reddit]

Remember how Nicaraguan troops totally accidentally violated the territorial integrity of Costa Rica because Google Maps got the borders wrong? Turns out it was just a run of the mill military incursion, and Nicaragua is refusing to back down.

The Google elite may be cosseted at work, but employees have to endure the real world upon returning home each night. No more: Googletown, a forthcoming mini-metropolis, will include not just offices but sports facilities, child care—and housing.

The Facebook-Google showdown isn't limited to your personal data. Facebook has been poaching talent from Google, and Google is fighting back with big bonuses for sticking around. One senior engineer was offered $3.5 million in stock not to jump ship.