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GDrive, Google (NSDQ: GOOG)'s long-rumored online storage service, remains unannounced and unacknowledged by the company. Yet sightings of the service, which seems destined to become the foundation of the company's Chrome OS, not to mention Google Docs and Google App Engine, continue. Originally called "Platypus," GDrive has become the tech industry's Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, a rare bird whose existence is suspected but not unassailably proven.
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Investments rose 15 percent in the second quarter of 2009, with IT earning the most VC dollars. But funding remains significantly low compared to previous years. Venture investments in technology went up 15 percent in the second quarter of 2009 compared to the first quarter, rising to $3.7 billion from $3.2 billion. IT garnered the most investment, with a total of $1.7 billion. Software led within the IT category, taking just over $644 million. IT services was a distant second at $295.1 million. Life sciences attracted $1.5 billion in investments, with biotech and medical equipment the leading sectors in the category.
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If you want to splash around in Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) More about Google Wave right now -- the search giant's new real-time communication/collaboration tool that received plenty of tech press hype during a May unveiling -- then you have to be a developer with access to the API (application programming interface). However, that will change on Sept. 30, when Google will let 100,000 curious users take Wave for a test swim. Just don't call it a beta, said Google spokesperson Sara Jew-Lim. "We announced earlier this week that we will be extending this preview to a small group of consumers, but I wouldn't characterize this as a 'beta' release," Jew-Lim told TechNewsWorld. "The product will still be a bit rough at that point, and the team will still be working to ready Wave for a true consumer launch."
