
Search engine giant Google finally unveiled the first "Chromebook" notebooks at the Google I/O conference on Wednesday, laptop computers from manufacturing giants Samsung and Acer that use Google's Chrome operating system and will go on sale in June.The new Web-centric PCs are a clear incursion into territory dominated for decades by computers powered by the Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh operating systems.
Given the premium price Microsoft is paying for Skype, it's striking that the Internet phone company has spent so much of its short life being passed around like a cheap bottle of holiday wine. Also striking is the eye-popping level of debt Skype has accumulated over its life: $686 million.Between the many investments in, offers for, and outright sales of Skype, the company stands among the most slatternly of big technology companies.