Google executive Marissa Mayer, best known for her ballgowns, cupcakes, and whimsical designs, feels that the media has ignored her athletic achievements. But how does she compare to rivals like Mrs. Bill Gates?

"That's business," said Balek when Valleywag reached him by phone.

Say what you will about Times columnist Thomas Friedman*, but he at least reports his lousy columns, usually. Not today!

Eric Schmidt is an old dude who just doesn't get Twitter. That groupthink consensus emerged after the Google CEO dismissed the fast-growing messaging service at a conference. But he missed the real critique Twitter deserves.

Google's perfectionist cupcake princess is totally misunderstood! That's the claim Marissa Mayer, the VP who oversees Google search, makes to a credulous New York Times, which licks up the frosted version of her career.

Why is the Gray Lady building websites for the obscure suburbs of South Orange, Maplewood, and Milburn? Perhaps because those are the exact same towns Google executive Tim Armstrong picked for Patch, his local-news startup.

The news that Google is placing ads on Google News has sent a renewed wave of handwringing through the newspaper industry. How dare those Googlers make online news a profitable business!

Google paid $125 million to settle copyright charges over its scanning of 7 million books. Today authors were told their cut: $60 to $300 per title. Woo?

Megan Smith, a Google executive little known outside Silicon Valley, is taking a high-profile role running the search engine's in-house charity. She's part of a power couple whose louder half is AllThingsD blogger Kara Swisher.

Jonathan Rosenberg, a top executive at Google, has let loose with a 4,492-word treatise on the future quoting presidents and deriding "the faceless scribes of drivel." It is the best window yet into Google's egomania.

Who's dating Chinese-food obsessive New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee? We hear the eclectic reporter has gotten herself a Googler boyfriend.

Journalism pundits have been begging Google to put its billions behind the project of saving journalism. At last, a Google executive has come through. Here's Tim Armstrong's secret plan to save the local news business.

International trade is what powers the modern, global economy! But Google's bean-counters have taken a horrid protectionist turn by insisting on domestic beer for the search engine's Friday "TGIF" events.

NonSociety, Julia Allison's experient in making macro bucks from microcelebrity, hasn't come up with a clever way of paying the bills. So she's running cheapo Google AdSense ads! Do they ever tell a story.

Googlers, used to being coddled by the luxuries of the Googleplex, now worry they'll have to pay to ride the company shuttle bus. It's the latest sign of the giant search engine's nervous breakdown.

• Bravo is producing a reality series about New York City private school kids. Not surprisingly, it's being dubbed as "the real-life Gossip Girl." [B&C]
• Walter Anderson is stepping down as chairman and CEO of Parade. Richard Beckman has been mentioned as a possible replacement. [NYP]
• The recession has led more TV stations to accept liquor and sex ads. [LAT]
• Fox is testing out shorter commercial breaks. [NYT]
• Sirius XM is closer to a deal with satellite mogul Charles Ergen. [WSJ]
• Google is quitting the radio business. [AdWeek]
• Condé Nast has pulled the plug on a Japanese version of Glamour. [WWD]

Like Napoleon marching into an abandoned Moscow, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have led Google's advance into traditional advertising only to find nothing to loot. Now begins Google's long imperial retreat, starting with 40 layoffs.

Another closeup of Google executive Marissa Mayer's non-grotesque engagement ring!

A sharp-eyed tipster caught an addition to Google executive Marissa Mayer's wardrobe for Tuesday's Today Show appearance: an engagement ring.

Dorothy McGivney joined Google in 2003, before the company went public, when employees could make fortunes, quite possibly in the millions, for tweaking the text of search ads. And now she's writing a travel newsletter.