The San Francisco Citizen

Check it - if you’re an employee at Google who wants a little employer-provided daycare in the Silicon Valley, you’ll soon be paying $2390 per infant per month according to the leak on Valleywag. So, if you make it to work about 20 days per month, then you’re burning $120 each time you drop off your precious bundle in the morning.

What’s that? You don’t trust the ’Wag? Well, how about the Grey Lady? Joe Nocera is calling this daycare issue a “rare fumble” for Google on the New York Times today.  

“Sergey Brin said he had no sympathy for the parents, and that he was tired of ‘Googlers’ who felt entitled to perks like ‘bottled water and M&Ms.’”

Did he really say that? The World Wonders. Were the Googlers really crying at work?

But hey, some perqs will remain free of charge at Google. Like the contents of this on-site convenience store, with all the Red Bulls, Rockstars (the drink created by the son of Savage Nation shock-jock Michael Savage!) and, yes, water you can drink. Sadly, Dennis Nedry’s preferred Jolt Cola is not on the menu, but rest assured, the aforementioned free M&Ms are camera left:

That Reggio Emilia (named after the place where Ferraris roam free in Northern Italy) approach must cost a fortune. If you want, check out this Ning - see all that stuff? 

Oh well, some feel it’s still a good place to work.

Let’s give three cheers for Valleywag for posting the leaks it gets. Or, put another way:

“Wow! This actually seems like journalism. On Valleywag! And the comments are interesting, too.”

Please Google, next time, less $$$ and “more whimsey.”

Of course, employees at the California offices of Google don’t necessarily have to have to press all 14 buttons during each visit to the loo, but then they wouldn’t be getting the full benefit of this fancy toilet, made by Toto (no, not the Toto that stole a song from the Beatle(s) until Jake Shimabukuro stole it back, this Toto, from Japan).

It’s the Jasmin Washlet E200. Awesome! It has a 52-page instruction manual, so read all about it. Or just buy one of your own.

Now if you’re at work, think twice before checking out Toto’s out-of-this-world, infomercial-laden Clean is Happy website, because the partial nudity makes it marginally NSFW. (But actually, I was bold enough forward the link to my grandmother). Keep clicking, as it gets better and better. 

If you’re a Googler, you should demand an immediate upgrade to the latest model, the S400. If you’re not a Googler, then click on to see all the command module buttons up close. That way, you’ll be prepared during your visit, if you ever get so lucky. See you after the jump.   (more…)

Google Maps just added real estate listings as an optional search.  This comes on the heels of the very useful Google Transit. It seems our Friends at the Googleplex seem to think we want more everything:

Google Maps is evolving from a driving directions and business search tool, to a comprehensive representation of all the world’s information, on a map.” That’s why Google Maps started to integrate different layers of information when you search for an address and it added a new “More” button to enable layers for photos and Wikipedia articles.

Don’t count on this new service to show you a complete picture of the Bay Area real estate scene (there’s no listing shown for Red Rock Island for example), but it’s a great start. You can even refine your search by number of bathroooms, etc. Get started by simply clicking on “Show search options.”

Pretty soon, we won’t need real estate agents or brokers for anything, right?

Welcome to the future!

People, people, people. You read something on the Drudge Report about an area rice shortage and then you make it come true by buying 200 pounds at a time.

Until the government issues you ration cards, you can’t call it “rationing,” so don’t go there, girlfriends. If you want to talk about salmon, well then go ahead, as you might very well have a case about recent losses in salmon.

But, there is no rice shortage. Don’t stock up. Don’t buy stuff for your neighbors. 

This will sort itself out, and then we’ll all look back and laugh.

A local Costco back during a happier time when there was so much rice stacked up that even the pigeons could get their fair share. Yes that is John Grisham looking down on us from above - his visage adorns the gaylord of books on the left. Larger photo in all its glory here on SFist.com.

This dog also has a driver and a personal assistant: