"FYI, Google is about to layoff all of their temp/contract recruiters to do some cost cutting," whispers a tipster. We knew it had to happen sometime, but didn't Google exec Marissa Mayer just say laying off surplus employees would indicate Google has become "too dry, too corporate, too much about making money."? Oh, wait. That was her defense for keeping around the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button which costs the company $110 million a year, by some estimates. Mayer's no efficiency expert, so let's not rely on her opinions. Laying off recruiters, people who get paid for adding bodies willy-nilly, is a sensible first step to curing Google's hiring bloat. Next, how about some executives?

We heard a rumor that Google executive Marissa Mayer, scheduled to appear at a Churchill Club event tonight in Palo Alto, may be demonstrating a cell phone running Google's Android operating system — that is, the fabled Googlephone. We'll believe it when we see it — so by all means, if you're going, snap a photo and send it in.

Another puff piece about Google executive Marissa Mayer, this time in the November issue of C Magazine, a Santa Barbara-based lifestyle rag. The frighteningly robotic Mayer feigns humanity by naming her favorite products and services: LaBelle Day Spa in the Stanford Shopping Mall; Cafe 150, which just so happens to be a Google cafeteria; and her pastry partnership I Dream of Cake, which made her 32nd birthday cake, pictured above. Oh, and she's a fan of Facebook, calling the rival social networking site "a great way to find people." C editors apparently didn't bother to look up the definition of "random play".

Google cofounder Sergey Brin told public radio's Marketplace that around one percent of all Google searches go through the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Because the button takes users directly to the top search result, Google doesn't get to show search ads on one percent of all its searches. That costs the company around $110 million in annual revenue, according to Rapt's Tom Chavez. So why does Google keep such a costly button around?

CNBC hosted Google's Marissa Mayer last night to discuss the online game show she'll be helping to judge, "You Be the VC." It's American Idol meets Silicon Valley, our host tells us. Which is ridiculous, since the winning startup gets exiled to Cambridge, Mass. But hey, the winner gets a bit of funding and possibly an aquisition offer from Google, Mayer confirms. It's great news for all contestants! Just ask Dodgeball founders Alex Rainert and Dennis Crowley, if they still exist.

• Valleywag Quiz: Googler or Muppet? Part one.
  

Want to know why Orkut never caught on? Google's motto is "don't be evil," not "don't be socially awkward." The programmatic list of "turn ons" it asks users to check off include "sarcasm," "tattoos," "erotica," "skinny dipping," and "long hair." A more perfect glimpse at the Google id won't be found anywhere. Here's the whole thing.

A tipster reminds us of the story with which Valleywag made its debut: That Google cofounder Larry Page and executive Marissa Mayer used to date. Here, in a photo snapped by Omid Kordestani — yes, the Google sales guy rumored to be splitting from his wife — at the wedding of Googler Sheryl Sandberg and Internet entrepreneur Dave Goldberg, are Mari and Larry smiling for the camera. One hopes Page will find a spiffier tux when he weds fiancée Lucy Southworth — reportedly next month on Necker Island. (Photo by omid)

Google's Marissa Mayer told the Web 2.0 Summit audience in San Francisco that the company's Google Health initiative will launch in early 2008. She said she's been in daily 90-minute meetings with developers on the project since she took over for the now-departed (and rumored to be Facebook-bound) Adam Bosworth in August. Mayer said parts of the Health system will be free, but expect subscription-based services and applications, too. We remain skeptical. Google hasn't bothered to hire a full-time replacement for Bosworth, whose assignment to healthcare was likely a hint to head for the door in the first place. Mayer's smart to only spend 90 minutes a day on the project, since a full-time health gig is deadly for anyone in tech. (Photo by AP)

"At Google, the word 'petabytes' gets us really excited." — Google executive Marissa Mayer, sharing a bit too much information at the Web 2.0 Summit about herself and her colleagues. But at least she managed to show up!

THE PALACE HOTEL — Web 2.0 Summit program chair John Battelle was racing about the site of the Web 2.0 Summit this morning, we hear. The cause of the last-minute scramble? "We still haven't heard from Marissa Mayer," an informant heard him say to a colleague. Could Google's eccentric queen of search be skipping out on the exclusive conference, where she's scheduled to speak? Battelle's tone suggested Mayer might not be the only star on the program missing in action. We'll report on who actually shows up — and any last-minute substitutions.

Alas, poor Marissa Mayer, the Google executive who used to date company cofounder Larry Page. Her long workdays, documented in endless magazine profiles, have taken a toll on her love life. She broke up with former boyfriend Dave Jeske, another Googler, more than a year ago. No dating on the horizon, though: Her Facebook profile lists her as "single" and interested only in "friendship" and "random play." The latter, according to a quick poll of our friends, is Facebook code for one-night stands or makeout sessions. Maybe she'll get some of that at this weekend's Stanford reunion, which her profile says she's planning to attend. All of this, of course, is way more information than is listed in her profile on Orkut, Google's also-ran social network. And, perhaps, more information than anyone wanted to know.

We're getting live reports on who's making it past the velvet rope at Google's New York party. The bash, held in Google's West Chelsea offices at 76 Ninth Avenue, has already kicked up a fuss. Google's controlling-but-not-that-bright PR people have tried to limit the guest list to consumer and fashion reporters, figuring they'd be more likely to critique the buffet and less likely to ask pesky questions about the search engine's business practices. So far, they've had mixed results. Here's who we've heard has showed up so far — and who's been barred at the door.

Just as we predicted, the Google Health project has killed off one top exec. And in record time, too! Head of the project Adam Bosworth has decided to move on from the company once he gets back from vacation. Now in charge? One Marissa Mayer, long the object of Valleywag's fascination. While the powers that be will try to spin this as a promotion, we think that Marissa might want to dust off the old resume. Becoming the head of health is the tech equivalent of being named the drummer for Spinal Tap. After the jump, the email explaining the management change sent to all Google Health beta testers.

Success has a thousand fathers, and failure is an orphan — unless you can somehow spin an adoption tale into the mix. That seems to be what Marissa Mayer is trying to do. In a recent interview, Marissa Mayer tries to take credit for both Google's Gmail email service, as well as AdSense, the immensely profitable system which places Google-sold ads on blogs and other independent websites based on their content. Her claim over AdSense? She didn't kill the product outright, despite her fears that it would be "creepy." But she also reveals that Paul Buchheit, the Googler who burdened the company with "don't be evil" as an unsheddable corporate motto, is the true inventer of a system that matched ads to a Web page's content — whether that content is a blog post, an email message, or anything else.

"For me, search ands ads are almost the same." — Google executive Marissa Mayer, 2007. "We expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers." — Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, 1998 [News.com]

Let's get this straight: IBM, surveying ordinary consumers like the folks pictured here, says that people are shifting from watching TV to using the Internet. Google executive Marissa Mayer, meanwhile, claims that people are shifting from surfing the Web to using cell phones. Please, someone come out with a study saying that people are tiring of their cell phones and switching on the boob tube, just to make this consumer-behavior merry-go-round come full circle.

Society site SF Luxe is reporting that Google vice president Marissa Mayer bid $60,000, to win a lunch with legendary designer Oscar de la Renta at a benefit auction for the League to Save Lake Tahoe. This marks yet another rung climbed by the creepy-laughed Google exec on the San Francisco society scene. Previous ascensions included the SFMOMA charity ball and a luncheon she hosted for her "I Dream of Cake" partnership. Photo by Drew Altizer

NICK DOUGLAS — Just figured out where Google's most famous VP got her blood-curdling laugh. It must be a nervous tic developed while dealing with her bosses. She recently told a story about her plans for hiring product managers, taking inspiration from how the Google boys handled her and other employees when she was 24: "The way Larry and Sergey trained us is they just gave us way too much responsibility and yelled at us until we became the people they needed us to become. And so I'm going to try to execute that program - with less yelling." (Photo: Lane Hartwell.)