Google.org, a For-Profit Charity

Google has set up a subsidiary, Google.org, a for-profit philanthropy with initial capital of a billion dollars. Not being organized on a tax-free basis carries both advantages and drawbacks. From the article: "Unlike most charities, this one will be for-profit, allowing it to fund start-up companies, form partnerships with venture capitalists and even lobby Congress. It will also pay taxes." One of Google.org's first projects is the development of a plug-in hybrid vehicle that achieves a mileage rating equivalent to 100 MPG.

Re:Can't wait

[ozmanjusri]

I can't wait to see how Google finds a way to profit from a battered women's shelter.

Well, this IS Slashdot. News for Nerds. Things that batter.

/Me going to hell. What a downer.

Hybrid Vehicles?

[atomicstrawberry]

First we'll have the gCar, and it will cost far more than it's actually worth, but investors will cough up the money anyway. Apple will follow suit with their iCar, which will be made out of translucent white plastic, but will only run certain fuels. After making a suitable amount of money selling their iCar, they will begin to market successively smaller iCars, and charge more to get them in black.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Redmond, Steve Ballmer will be plotting to 'fucking kill' them both. Unfortunately by this stage he'll have put his back out throwing chairs, so he'll instead switch to 'fucking kill'ing them with a motorised chair with wheels, which Microsoft will market it as the Zume.

Re:Well it has to suceed

[zobier]

The new director of Google.org is Larry Brilliant!

That's Dr. Brilliant.
I'm just waiting for Capt. Obvious to join the conversation.

Hindu guru

[Psychotria]

From the article: (Brilliant)... has studied under a Hindu guru in a monastery at the foothills of the Himalayas

Anybody who can study with a guru sitting on them has my respect

Re:Hybrid Vehicles?

[atomicstrawberry]

It's his greatest invention: a chair that throws itself

MPG?

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought DivX was the norm these days

Same way they profit from everything else:

[mcc]

Targeted advertising.

My car will get negative 100Mpg

[goombah99]

I'm developing a car that will get negative 100MPG to cancel this out.

Actually I'm trying to cancel out this goofy definition of MPG when there's electricity involved. Does a pure electric car get Infinity Miles per gallon?

This sort of reminds me of a prank a friend pulled in college. One guy was always entering the room to announce he had managed to drive is economy car so skillfully that got outrageous gas milage. Tiring of this, my friend started adding a gallon of gas to the braggarts tank every night so that his milage and brags got bigger and bigger. Then the next week he started siphoning out a gallon out of the tank. The brags "mysteriously" ceased without explanation.

So my car is going to use photovoltaics, and have an onboard device that inhales smog, and uses the electricity to produce gasoline. Then I'm going to drive up to gas stations, connect the hose and pump gas back into the filling station tanks. That will mess with their arithmetic! and I'll have my negative 100MPG vehicle.

Google! Fuck Yeah!

[DaMouse404]

Coming again to save the motherfucking day yeah! -DaMouse

Re:Well it has to suceed

[grammar fascist]

Well, we haven't had to wait long for Mr. Pithy Rejoinder, have we?

Re:My car will get negative 100Mpg

[14CharUsername]

Wouldn't it be easier to get -100MPG by driving around in reverse?

Re:Can't wait

[Ingolfke]

That's easy. Turn them hos out... I mean... find employment opportunities for them in the local community and take a small percentage of their income to cover healthcare, security, and client management.