"Google spokesman Michael Mayzel said this week that the company will begin a public test of Google Audio Ads by the end of the year. Advertisers will be able to go online and sign up for targeted radio ads using the same AdWords system they use to buy Web search ads."

Link to the article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061107/tc_nm/media_google_radio_dc

What I would like to know is what happened to Sergey's comments from three weeks ago about Google going back to a focus on search.

He said that at that time that he was even getting confused.

Quick Comment: We realize that no project happens overnight especially at a fast growing comany like Google. However, it seems that the AP and LA Times reports about company execs telling engineers fewer products was just stories. Since then the new tools or new companies keep flowing.
+ YouTube
+ Google Custom Search
+ A New Push Towards Radio

From the article:
“We don’t want people to have to learn about 20 different products that work in 20 different ways,” [Sergey] Brin said. “I was even getting lost.”.

Via LA Times “Google admitted this year that its internal audits discovered that the company had been spending too much time on new services to the detriment of its core search engine.”

Marissa Mayer’s words in a BusinessWeek we think also says a lot. Try it all just keep releasing and see what lasts. However, does some of it have to do with search? In June, she told BusinessWeek:

Mayer, estimated that up to 60% to 80% of Google’s products may eventually crash and burn.

Btw, it's also worth noting that the largest owner of radio stations in the U.S. Clear Channel might be on the market. Is GooRadio next?

Well, "Custom Search" is search, and YouTube is an acquisition, which shouldn't bother anyone outside of the business/acquisition team(s). As for radio, well, you surely can't expect Google to slow down revenue growth, right? ;) And it's also not web-related, so it won't waste search-related talent/time, either.

Basically, I don't think that Sergey's point was that Google would stop or slow down with new things, period. It was to focus web developer, programmer, engineer, etc. time on search and integrating products. Of course, even that new focus won't stop Googlers from working on their own projects during 20% time or other periods (luckily for Google followers), but it will devote more of the rest of that 80% time towards improving Google's core service, search. It's just that that sort of work will probably be less visible than, say, integrating Google Talk into Orkut, but still remain the focus, in the background.

Mmm, "focus in the background"... Did I make any sense? :D