Google Hones Cutting Edge

Updated from 8:49 a.m. EDT

For most of its short life, Google(GOOG Quote) has been blessed with positive press. But as it grows more successful and more influential over the Internet's development, the tone has turned darker.

In recent months, news publications and blogs have chided it for everything from harming French literature to coming up short on customer service to lacking a coherent, overarching strategy.

So, in an effort to be a little better understood -- or at least a little less misunderstood -- Google marshaled these increasingly critical reporters, bloggers and industry analysts and explained what the search company (er, sorry -- the organizer of the world's information) is all about. Google CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founder Sergei Brin were a little more forthcoming than usual, even unveiling new initiatives that dazzled the crowd. ...