I know this may seem a little tardy, but I thought it would be nice to collect a few of the most interesting musings on Google, in case you have somehow missed the biggest non-Apple news of 2010. This has already been a big year for Google, between the announcement that it was leaving China, the launch of the Nexus One, Google Buzz, and their energy and broadband initiatives. Without further ado...

John Battelle discusses the history of Google's involvement in China, and what it meant for them to enter the Chinese market at all, as well as what it signifies that they are planning to leave. The fact that the largest country in the world is affected by the departure of a single company is a huge statement.
http://battellemedia.com/archives/005092.php

Select quote:
"The company is forcing China's hand. While it's a stretch to say the two things are directly connected, the seeming fact that China's government was behind the intrusions has led Google to decide to stop censoring its results in China. This is politics at its finest, and it's a very clear statement to China: We're done playing the game your way."
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Jeff Jarvis considers the fact that people are talking about Google as a quasi-state. It's useful to read this article while thinking about the growing importance of non-state actors in shaping public policy.
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2010/01/13/the-rise-of-the-interest-state

Select quote:
"What this says, of course, is that the internet is the New World and Google is its biggest colonizer: the sun never sets on Google. It also says that on the internet, new states form across interests, ignoring borders. Those interests can be business — and we’ve seen what look like business-states before — but also causes, principles, and dangers (e.g., Al Qaeda). Interest-states will gain more power and that power will come from nations."
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The latest development is that Google will cooperate with the American National Security Agency to uncover information about the Chinese attacks that took place last month. The Washington Post reports that this partnership will "better defend Google -- and its users -- from future attack."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020304057.html?hpid=topnews

Select quote:
"On Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair called the Google attacks, which the company acknowledged in January, a "wake-up call." Cyberspace cannot be protected, he said, without a "collaborative effort that incorporates both the U.S. private sector and our international partners.""
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As much as I like this article just for its title, it is also interesting to think about Google Buzz as a transitional step towards Google Wave.
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/09/if-google-wave-is-the-future-google-buzz-is-the-present/

Select Quote:
"Buzz also wants to differentiate itself another way: social curation. As Mike wrote about the other night, the social web right now is largely a mess. There’s simply too much going on, and no one is really working to sort it all out. Google is trying to do that with Buzz by allowing you to import items from services like Twitter, but only show you the best ones. For example, Google says it will hide quick messages like “brb.” The plan is to also auto-collapse items that don’t have a lot of comment activity."
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And finally, a report outlining the speed with which Google managed to recover from a privacy almost-disaster.
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-went-into-code-red-and-saved-google-buzz-2010-2

Select Quote:
"A week after our first complaints, Google has corrected all the privacy flaws that ever concerned us. Back in 2007, it took Facebook a month to figure its way out of the Beacon privacy mess. Color us impressed."