Google barges onto the Bay
Google barges onto the Bay
3:23

Google barges onto the Bay

Culture
KARYNE: Hey, I�m Karyne Levy. Welcome to Rumor Has It! The show that rounds up the week's biggest tech rumors. You can vote on what you think about the rumors, in the interactive player if you're watching on CNET. This week, BlackBerry is still trying to find a home for itself, and there's something fishy floating in the San Francisco Bay. Let's get started. STORY 1: First up, BlackBerry time. In order to get itself out of a jam after years in the red, BlackBerry officially put itself up for sale last month, so rumors are swirling as to who could buy up the smartphone maker. The latest rumor comes from a report in the Wall Street Journal, which says that BlackBerry sat down last week with Facebook to solicit a buyout bid. If Facebook were to go for it, it likely would be because of BlackBerry Messenger as opposed to going into the phone- making business. Mobile messaging is super important to Facebook. Earlier this week, it upgraded the Messenger app. And BlackBerry recently released a version of BBM for iOS and Android to give its messaging app, which was once the gold standard in mobile messaging, more universal appeal. So who knows what Zuckerberg has up his sleeve. And who knows if this deal will ever come to fruition at all. Do you think it will? Let me know in the comments. STORY 2: And finally, there's something weird going on in the San Francisco Bay. CNET had an exclusive report last week that a company, very likely Google, has set up shop on Treasure Island, which is between San Francisco and Oakland, and has been building a large structure made from cargo containers on a barge. Some evidence suggests it might be a floating data center, including the fact that Google itself has a patent for such a concept. So that's fine, and kind of boring, but then a new report from the Bay Area's CBS affiliate news station suggests that the floating barge is actually a Google Glass store, and that the plan might be to tow it into San Francisco's Fort Mason for some indeterminate time. Um. What? The barge even has its own Twitter feed, with a description that says "You might think you know what I am but you're wrong." And there's a SECOND barge that's been spotted, in Portland, Maine. And both the Maine barge and the San Francisco barge are owned by the same company. Spooookkkyyy. An anonymous tipster called CNET to let us know that he had heard from multiple sources at Google that the company plans to float the Glass stores from city to city by rivers, and that the idea for the project came straight from either Larry Page or Sergey Brin, Google's founders. Double what? Floating Google Glass stores? Be sure to take your Dramamine when you head out to buy your Google Glass, so you don't barf all over the displays. But in all seriousness, or as serious as you can get when talking about a top-secret barge, I really doubt it's a Google Glass store. For one thing, it looks like a giant floating box, not a place where consumers would want to go try on their nerdy glasses. And another thing? There aren't any windows. I'm placing my money on it being a data center. What do you guys think? What could possibly be floating in the Bay? Would you visit a Google Glass store that floats? Don't forget to vote in our poll, and leave a comment. That�s our show everyone, share your rumors at rumorhasit@cnet.com or call us at 1-800-750-CNET. And tweet us! And tune in next week for more tech rumors.

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