Google Inc.

This month's Atlantic cover story by Nicholas Carr which asks the pressing question "Is Google Making Us Stoopid?"

After examining several ways in which our brains have been rewired by our dependence on the web, Mr. Carr notes:

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed...  read more »

As part of its 15th anniversary celebration, Wired has posted a few videos and articles in which its founders look back at what they got right and wrong in the early days of the magazine.  read more »

Silicon Alley meets marketing meets journalism meets Hollywood: New York is the new capital of content, from Hudson Square to West Chelsea, SoHo to Midtown. Click on the photo for a tour ...

Attenion C-SPAN's BookTV addicts, (we know you're out there)! Brooklyn lit blogger Maud Newton alerts us to Authors@Google. Well-known writers and novelists speak at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. and their talks are posted on YouTube and Google Video. Michael Bloomberg appeared on it in June.

Guests have included Junot Diaz (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao), The New Yorker's Lawrence Wright (The Looming Tower) and Alex Ross (The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century), George Saunders (The Braindead Megaphone), Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything), and Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love).

There's also Candidates@Google (Ron Paul, John McCain, John Edwards) and Women@Google (Hillary Clinton, Arianna Huffington)!

Search engine also takes 49,000 feet across the street.  read more »

Elinor Mills of CNet conducted a Q and A session with Stacy Savides Sullivan, the Chief Culture Officer at Google.

Why?

"There's no question that Google is a trendsetter," Ms. Mills writes by way of introduction. Also there's: "With its lava lamps, simple doodle design, pampered employees and millionaires in its rank and file..."

Lava lamps, doodles, pampered employees and slumming millionaires!  read more »

Mathieu Eugene's opponents have come up with a new legal argument to try to prevent him from running again for that City Council seat in Brooklyn's 40th District that he won, but then was unable to occupy because of his inability to prove that he was a resident. Heartbeat News, a Brooklyn-based paper, quotes an advisor to another candidate in the race, Wellington Sharpe, arguing that it might be illegal for Eugene to run to fill a vacancy that, technically, he himself created.

According to the paper, Burke said, "Eugene's declination of the office and his refusal to execute his oath of office conclusively brought about a vacancy in that office," and, "This circumstance appears to renders[sic] ineligible as a candidate to contest the Special Election that is called to fill the said vacancy he created. I submit that he is ineligible."

Another election lawyer I spoke with today said that statute usually refers to election scenarios different than the one in Brooklyn's 40th district, where Eugene declined to prove to the Council that he met residency requirements to hold office after the City's Board of Elections declared him the winner of a special election in February.

The final list of candidates will be determined on April 11 when the city's Board of Elections verifying who submitted enough valid signatures on their petitions.

Messages left this morning for a lawyer and spokesman for Eugene's campaign were not immediately returned. (I know. It's the holidays.)

Also worth keeping in mind...All this arguing is over a term that ends on December 31. More on that here.

-- Azi Paybarah

The peerless Liz Benjamin is coming to New York City to join the Daily News.

For those of you who don't know her -- but really, who doesn't? -- Liz is an authoritative and fantastically prolific blogger and reporter. She also has the distinction of having performed two of the toughest roles in the last year's LCA's annual roast of lawmakers, appearing as Jeanine Pirro and Ada Smith.

She has a long good-bye post on the Times Union blog here.

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

-- Azi Paybarah

Former state Attorney General and current City Councilman Oliver Koppell, for one, doesn't think there was anything wrong with the widespread police surveillance conducted in the run-up to the Republican National Convention. The police surveillance reports, news of which has provoked a strong reaction on liberal blogs, included the names of three people who served in the City Council: Charles Barron, Bill Perkins and Larry Seabrook.

"Vigorous advocacy can turn into violent acts," Koppell explained.

-- Azi Paybarah

As if the City Council race in Brooklyn wasn't interesting enough.

As a reader points out to me, there's a newcomer to the race for the City Council seat in Brooklyn's 40th District, which remains vacant after an initial special election because the winner, Mathieu Eugene, was unable to prove that he met residency requirements to take office.

The new candidate, Marie Gina Faustin, just filed paperwork with the city's Campaign Finance Board showing the campaign's contact info in...Cambria Heights, Queens. There's no phone number and messages left at the City's Board of Elections (where addresses for voters and candidates are listed) were not immediately returned.

More information should come out tomorrow when candidates file petitions to qualify for the ballot.

Aslo, there's this:

According to CFB's database, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes made a personal contribution -- his first ever -- to a candidate in that earlier race: Mathieu Eugene.

-- Azi Paybarah

A reader emails to say that the Daily Show is filming a segment right now with City Councilman Leroy Comrie about his resolution against the N-word.

The segment is expected to air tomorrow.

-- Azi Paybarah

Inspired by the state comptroller succession controversy, Assemblyman George Latimer has pre-emptively come out with a new proposal on how to fill the lieutenant governor's position in case of emergency. With one interesting catch. It has to be approved by the state Senate.

A Democratic Assemblyman wants a constitutional amendment to give the governor the power to pick a new lieutenant governor should that office become vacant during his or her term. Right now, the state constitution is unclear how that vacancy would be filled, according to Assemblyman George Latimer of Westchester.

"I don't see the senate confirmation process as being devious," Latimer told me just now in a telephone interview.

When asked if this provision could be used to block the governor from selecting his preferred candidate for that position, Latimer said, "I think it's consistent with what you've seen before. And anything can happen. Unless you get to a position at some future time that the well is so badly poisoned that it's impossible for any of us to work together at all, but I don't envision that happening at all. Not for lieutenant governor where everyone will grant that the governor should have his partner."

-- Azi Paybarah

Until I saw her on the stump these past few days, I’d never have believed that Hillary Clinton  read more »

Tom Shanahan, the newest high-profile addition to Team Spitzer, called yesterday to confirm that he'll be working for the governor as a deputy commissioner in the Division on Human Rights.

He said his new job would focus on "coordinating public outreach" for the commissioner.  read more »

So how did the well-known lawyer and gay rights advocate, get his new gig? According to Shanahan, he simply applied through the transition website, like (almost) everybody else.

Since attending the first officially sanctioned Barack Obama grassroots event in NYC, I've been wondering what other groups will pop up for him in Hillary's home state.

On Long Island, get ready for Pakistani Americans for Barack Obama. They're set to meet on March 11 in West Hempstead. On May 5, another group plans to raise money for their favorite senator with an Obamathon - a five mile walk along the Hudson River Park.

-- Azi Paybarah

Susan Seligson wants you to know that she has big breasts. Really big breasts.  read more »

On Saturday, Feb.  read more »

Rep. Anthony Weiner will take the gavel from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tomorow when the House debates the anti-war resolution.

Its a nice perk for the congressman who backed Pelosi's preferred, but losing, candidate in the race for House Majority Leader.

It's also a happening at a convenient time for Weiner to get himself in front of the cameras -- just as likely 2009 candidates Adolfo Carrion and Christine Quinn are making high-profile speeches of their own.

Not that we're keeping track or anything.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here are a couple of City Council candidate Wellington Sharpe's mailers, which someone familiar with the campaign told me are going out to about 10,000 households.

Beating up on the Brooklyn Democratic Party was certainly effective when the organization was led by the scandal-plagued Clarence Norman. Exactly how much traction that message gets in the Vito Lopez era is unclear, although it never seems to hurt anyone's appeal to voters when they rail against the machine.

Meanwhile, criticizing Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and the botched bus program, as things currently stand, is a no-brainer.

UPDATE: Citizens Union just announced a "joint endorsement" of two candidates in Brooklyn's special election: Zenobia McNally and Wellington Sharpe.

-- Azi Paybarah

My grandmother’s whereabouts remain largely unknown.  read more »

Inna Barmash and Lev (Ljova) Zhurbin   Met: March 1, 2004 Engaged: Jan. 14, 2005  read more »

After more than 100 years of existence, the New York Public Library is closing down.  read more »

Inna Barmash and Lev (Ljova) Zhurbin   Met: March 1, 2004 Engaged: Jan. 14, 2005  read more »

Former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi will be sentenced tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. for defrauding the government in connection with the chauffeur issue that forced him from office, according to a spokesman for the Albany County District Attorney's office.

Hevesi won't serve any jail time, which was a crucial part of the plea deal he made with the DA.

DA spokesman Richard Arthur said the sentencing tomorrow will deal with the length of Hevesi's probation and other aspects of the plea.

-- Azi Paybarah

In today's Q poll of voters in Florida, Rudy Giuliani beats Hillary Clinton, who beats John McCain, who beats Barack Obama.

47 to 44 percent, Giuliani over Hillary Clinton; 47 to 43 percent, Hillary over John McCain; 42 to 40 percent McCain over Barack Obama 52 to 34 percent, Hillary over Mitt Romney 43 to 42 percent, McCain over John Edwards

-- Azi Paybarah

Sheldon Silver met earlier today with Eliot Spitzer in the capitol to discuss the comptroller situation, according to Silver's spokesman, Skip Carrier.

The result: Spitzer still wants anybody but a legislator elected to the position. Silver still wants a legislator.

According to Carrier, the meeting was "cordial" but "nothing has changed."

-- Azi Paybarah

Is Joe Biden a brilliant tactician?

Time wonders is Barack Obama is black enough.

Hillary Clinton likes bloggers so much, she granted an interview to one.

Eliot Spitzer is spending his own money to promote the budget he proposed.

Rudy Giuliani's alleged ex-girlfriend is throwing him a fund-raiser.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom admitted to having an affair with his former campaign manager's wife.

Empire Zone explains why David Paterson should not teach.

Moe Razvi is getting a lot of money from the city Campaign Finance Board.

The preview of the video that'll be shown at Craig Johnson's event tonight is here.

Chuck Bennett says hello to the city's new taxi and limousine commissioner. The Working Families Party is asking people not to attend a fundraiser hosted by the party's disputed Suffolk County chairman.

Al Franken is running for office.

R.I.P. Molly Ivins.

And pictured above is Joe Bruno shortly after another press conference in Albany.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here is Councilman Leroy Comrie at a press conference on the City Hall steps today about his symbolic-but-sincerely motivated push to have a moratorium on the N-word.

When I asked him about the possibility of banning on the F-word, which has recently been put to artful use among legislators in Albany, Comrie demurred.

"One word at a time," he said.

-- Azi Paybarah

Former City Council staffer Brittany Mariotti sends word that her current employer, the Council on Foreign Relations, has a new interactive site about North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The Korea Crisis Guide includes a map whic explains where North Korea is (admit you need it); shows the military strength of neighboring countries, and gives economic and historical info.

Or, you can think of it this way: it's a place to learn about a real international, diplomatic, nuclear crisis. Which should help put another crisis in perspective.

-- Azi Paybarah

Hillary Clinton said that compromise should be "a goal -- not a dirty word."

And she hired another spokesperson.

John Edwards got hawkish on Iran.

If you enjoyed the Biden stories today, check out the YouTube clips Errol Louis has.

"N.Y. Gov. Spitzer stands by 'steamroller' boast" is the headline in Reuters.

The temporary commission which employees George Pataki's former top aide, is getting shut down, says Coop. The All-Star Game is coming to Yankee Stadium.

Nominations for city transportation commissioner can be sent to Aaron Naparstek, who is already gathering names.

Chuck Bennett has an email about the Toussaint Tax.

Matt Schuerman explains why the city parks commissioner thinks the city council may want to shoot him one day.

Someone in California has a Virginia Fields-esque problem with photoshop.

Larry Littlefield previewed Eliot Spitzer's budget, saying, "If it is possible to see in a single large table how much is being spent on what for whom, and who is paying for under what assumptions, that itself will be a reform."

In the ongoing feud category, EnWhySeaWonk and Rock Hackshaw almost met last night. (Says Rock: "I am no Neanderthal.")

And above is a t-shirt inspired by Eliot Spitzer and unearthed by Liz Benjamin.

-- Azi Paybarah

So, what to expect from Eliot Spitzer's first budget, which he'll present tomorrow?

Soaring rhetoric, a few jabs at his predecessor and the current legislative leaders and some reiteration, presumably, of that promise to hold the line on taxes. And don't forget the record amounts of money Spitzer is planning to send to public schools.

How is all this spending and saving possible?

One Spitzer person I spoke to said a bulk of the money will come form savings on health care costs. Is this similar to what Spitzer's opponent, Tom Suozzi, proposed?

-- Azi Paybarah

Even before the independent comptroller panel deilvered its in-you-face-Sheldon-Silver list of three, Sheldon Silver's members were rallying around his claim that the legislature can indeed pick whichever comptroller candidate they want and ignore the panel's recommendations.

In a conversation yesterday that should serve as a preview for the kind of talk we'll be hearing today, Bronx Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. told me that the duty to fill the comptroller vacancy belongs to the legislature in the same way that the responsibility for a U.S. Senate seat belongs to the governor.

"We want to work with the governor. Lets see if that's the case should Ms. Clinton be president. Will he call together a panel from both houses to interview and fill that vacancy? So, we totally welcome his suggestions."

He also made a point of reminding me that the legislature had (at least techically) agreed to work with the panel voluntarily. "We came to the table on this with Spitzer, and you people in the media never give us credit for that. Only Spitzer."

I wonder, now that the panel has come up with a list that includes exactly zero legislators, how many members think that credit was worth it.

-- Azi Paybarah

The New York County Republican Organization last night elected Jennifer Saul Yaffa, a GOP national committee member, as county chair, a Manhattan Republican insider confirmed.

Yaffa succeeds James Ortenzio, who helped organize the Republican National Convention. They're both considered close to Pataki, which seems to be a quality in rare abundance these days.

-- Azi Paybarah

Craig Johnson is to Eliot Spitzer what Robin is to Batman.

Newsday has 123 pages of people chatting about "the gap between the train and the platform" at LIRR stations.

Already, there's some fluctuation in the list of comptroller candidates.

Notes on the infighting at some Brooklyn political clubs are here.

At a real estate dinner last night, Joe Bruno shared a crowded stage with Bill Thompson, Melinda Katz, Leroy Comrie, James Oddo and others.

SurveyUSA has head-to-head numbers on Barack Obama against Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Former Congressman Bob Ney is going to jail.

Hotline has highlights from Terry McAuliffe's new book.

Andrew Sullivan and Charles Krauthammer have the same strategy for Iraq.

How much is ImpeachBush.com worth to you?

And pictured above is Eliot Spitzer, who was clearly relishing his photo exhibit at Grand Central Terminal. -- Azi Paybarah

That didn't take long. The trolling through public records of some the comptroller candidates is well underway.

One reader emailed to remind that Bill Mulrow is part of Excelsior, along with Richard Fields, a group that is bidding on the state's horse-racing franchise. State-run gambling, as you can imagine, is an area the next comptroller will have to keep an eye on.

When asked if Mulrow's candidacy may affect the group's bid, Excelsior spokesperson Katie Burke emailed to say:

"No-if selected as Comptroller, Bill will resign entirely from the RFP process. And as far as Excelsior goes, his decision and announcement have no bearing on the future of the franchise. Excelsior was recommended by the Ad-Hoc Committee to take over, and Excelsior has full confidence that the Governor and the legislature will give the Committee's recommendation the full weight it deserves."

Expect more Google-based research on the lucky 19 18 for the next few days.

-- Azi Paybarah

Among the numerous unofficial "draft" Barack Obama websites that have been popping up lately, one struck me as particularly professional looking: Obama4America.com.

The company that created the website, it turns out, is registered to Joel Berman, whose email address is for a California-based company called Catapult Strategies. That's the company co-founded by Howard Dean's former campaign manager Joe Trippi, who now works there "on a project-by-project basis," according to his bio.

I called Berman to ask whether the website was part of some potentially more involved relationship with Obama, but after I introduced myself, he hurried me off the phone. (He said he was going into a meeting and would call me back.)

On a related note, Ben reported earlier today that Obama has been reaching out to his inner circle indicating he was indeed going to run for president, and Obama blog ads are up and running.

UPDATE: Jude Barry, the company's CEO just called and said the site is a personal venture of his, and that Trippi is not involved. He also said no one else at the company is working in any capacity with another 2008 contender.

And when asked about why he put up the site, he said, "We're trying to convince Obama to run and help him out."

Fair enough.

He is the same Jude Barry, for the record, who was Howard Dean's California state director and who worked on Dick Gephardt and Gary Hart's presidential campaigns in the 1980s.

-- Azi Paybarah

The day Steve Jobs announces the release of yet another breakthrough mobile wireless gadget that everyone is going to own within a year, it seems reasonable to look at New York City's wireless internet structure -- or lack of it.

The new iPhone lets callers surf the net, access iTunes, and do other fun Internet stuff. In political terms, it may also be the gadget the pushes the issue of city- or region-wide access to wifi technology.

If my understanding is correct, the Apple iPhone will work wherever there's cell phone reception, but it really designed to get up to full revs when it's in wifi range.

The Economic Development Corporation is still conducting a feasibility study about whether or not to build a wifi system for the city, something that is already in place in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Albany.

New York City is currently moving to create a wifi system, but it would for use only by the fire and police department.

As internet activist Andrew Raisej likes to say, "We're leading in Broadway, but not with broadband."

In other net news, Hillary Clinton released a statement reaffirming her dedication to Net Neutrality.

In an aptly timed statement, she said, "It is clear that we must continue to build on the innovations brought forth by the Internet. This means ensuring more affordable broadband access and ensuring that there continues to be open, unimpaired and unencumbered Internet access for both its users and content providers."

-- Azi Paybarah

As George Pataki attempts to hammer out his final deals with the state legislature, here's a helpful reminder of the state of their relations in the closing days.

From Assemblyman Dick Gottfried the other day at a Drum Major Institute panel about prescription drug costs:

"Pataki's TV ads for Child Health Plus is like Japan taking credit for peace in the Pacific... He fought us tooth and nail."

More highlights from the DMI event are here.

-- Azi Paybarah

John Edwards, one of the 2008 candidates who has been totally eclipsed by the Barack Obama publicity juggernaut, will be in Manhattan this Thursday to "discuss his vision for America and its future."

The informational get-together at the Essex House carries no cover charge, according to the invitation a reader sent us.

The event is being organized by Alex Forger of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy LLP and Michael Miller.

This seems to be a pattern of 2008 contenders rushing to New York to make a public impression before the new year, at which point someone (okay, a couple of people) might make it a little hard for anyone else to get any attention around here.

-- Azi Paybarah

This hasn't been a great stretch for George Pataki hopes of going national, what with the departure of key staff in Iowa and a swift boot on the way out the door from Eliot Spitzer.

But a reader familiar with how Albany works notes that the special legislative session scheduled for December 13th gives Pataki a chance to breathe life into his presidential hopes.

Lifting the cap on charter schools and passing a civil confinement bill for sex offenders are the kind of bread and butter accomplishments Iowa and New Hampshire voters are sure to like.

Then again, the law creating charter schools in New York only passed when Pataki agreed to a pay raise for legislators, which is one more knock against his qualifications as a fiscal conservative.

So maybe the guy just can't win.

-- Azi Paybarah

So does this press release from Councilman Hiram Monserrate ("Monserrate, Latino Elected Officials to Visit Shooting Victims") represent the politicization of the shooting death of Sean Bell?

Or has that happened already?

-- Azi Paybarah

How about that Internet? First, digital marketing giant Digitas lands more than 200,000 square feet on Park Avenue South in March. Then Google finally moves into its 300,000-square-foot Chelsea palace in October.

Now, here comes Avenue A-Razorfish. The Web design and marketing company, with revenues near $200 million last year, has moved into three floors that Google used to call home at 1440 Broadway. The company will consolidate three downtown offices -- 11 Beach Street, 162 Fifth Avenue, 107 Grand Street -- into an 80,000-square-foot spot in Times Square.

Avenue A-Razorfish did the redesign of The New York Times Web site and its client list also includes Conde Nast, JP Morgan, Maybelline and Polo Ralph Lauren.

David Falk of Newmark Knight Frank repped the deal. Avenue A-Razorfish would not comment on the asking rent for the lease, but averages for Times Square office space run into the mid-$40s a foot.

- John Koblin

Governor Pataki's executive order to fully investigate Comptroller Alan Hevesi is over here.  read more »

What's interesting is the precedent this sets for the incoming governor who spent the last couple of years as prosecutor and once joked during a press conference that as governor, he'll have subpoena power.

-- Azi Paybarah

AIM IM with [NICK DENTON] 7:35 PM [THEMEDIAMOB] May I briefly interview you about something? [NICK DENTON] sure [NICK DENTON] well, depending [THEMEDIAMOB] Did you do the Valleywag post about the NYT submitting questions to Google via e-mail? [NICK DENTON] yep [NICK DENTON] well, it came via a tip [NICK DENTON] but I wrote it up, yes [THEMEDIAMOB] But you're not that crazy about the face-to-face interview yourself, right? [NICK DENTON] well, I don't mind IM -- which is how we're speaking now -- and I don't remember asking you to submit your questions! [THEMEDIAMOB] Isn't IM just sort of a hight-speed way of getting questions pre-submitted? Or is it the routing of the questions through a flack that makes the difference? 7:40 PM [NICK DENTON] Unfortunately, I don't have the power that Google has. [NICK DENTON] So I couldn't pre-vet questions, even I wanted! [NICK DENTON] Anyway, a publisher, moonlighting as a gossip hound, writing about the press relations between two giant companies that also have a complex business relationship -- the conflicts boggle the mind. [THEMEDIAMOB] And the New York Times press office itself routinely asks for questions in writing. 7:45 PM [NICK DENTON] and I need to do my last post of the day, and a screengrab of this IM chat seems like an easy win [NICK DENTON] how meta is that! [THEMEDIAMOB] Still, I note that you were able to get away with not quite answering my question about the difference between IM and e-mail questions. [THEMEDIAMOB] I was going to put it on the blog myself. [NICK DENTON] okay, race you! [THEMEDIAMOB] You have the technological advantage.

UPDATE: Low-graphics wins! Valleywag posts at 8:03 p.m., 9 minutes after the Media Mob.

When Eliot Spitzer meets with good government groups today around 3:30 today in Albany, they'll discuss redistricting, campaign finance reform and ethics reform. And Alan Hevesi.

Spitzer, of course, has expressed a preference for putting off a firm decision on what to do about the Hevesi controversy until January.

But one of the good government group advocates meeting with Spitzer later today, Rachel Leon of Common Cause, said Hevesi will likely be a point of today's discussion.

The report on Hevesi by an independent investigator "pointed out the failing of our current system," Leon told me. "They couldn't enforce what they found." One of the advocates' goals is to have an independent ethics agency which can "not just make decisions and refer to someone else," but enforce what they find.

The impasse over what to do with Hevesi "is the motivation we need to change what we have," she said.

-- Azi Paybarah

Westchester's Nick Spano isn't the only Republican state Senator whose re-election prospects depend on few votes.

Serph Maltese of Queens, the Republican County leader, narrowly edged out Democrat Albert Baldeo by 783 votes.

A Baldeo aide called to say there are 648 validated absentee ballots which haven't been counted yet, along with an undetermined amount of affidavit and emergency ballots. The re-canvassing of machines which will start next week.

-- Azi Paybarah

No matter the outcome today, there is some good news for upstate Rep. John Sweeney, whose re-election has been in jeopardy since a story surfaced about a domestic abuse 911 call by his wife.

"The good news today is, it ends, the smearing ends," Sweeney told reporters.

-- Azi Paybarah

Sincerest apologies for the absence of posts over the last couple of hours. We've been having some tech issues that are, for the moment, resolved.

And now, as we were saying...

If there was any doubt how Ned Lamont might try to revitalize his campaign, this ad should answer your question.

Here's what it s