Google: Be a Little Evil
Google is now such a boon to Web users that it's tempting to daydream about a real-world version of a perfect, all-knowing search engine. Why can't we Google our drawers for the counterparts to those mateless socks, Google the parking lot to remember where we left the Volkswagen beater -- or Google the neighborhood to see who's looking for a used car?

As it turns out, Google's aspirations run in that direction: the company says its mission is to "organize the world's information."Already, it has branched out beyond Web searching to help users find information in product databases, e-mail archives, and their own hard drives. And having gathered $1.67 billion from happy investors on the first day of its public offering last August, Google can afford to take its innovative search technology a long way further.