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At the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco a few days ago, John Battelle (author of The Search) interviewed Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt.

The interview was thought-provoking, as Schmidt hinted at Google's future, and that of the Internet.

Here are some of the points he touched on:

• Google has acquired Double-Click because advertising is one of the four "thrusts" within the company. "Advertising is both an art and a science", said Schmidt. "We can apply the science".
• Another thrust is creating the world's most powerful supercomputers and largest data centres. This will give them a massive Web 2.0 type platform, allowing them to create scalable applications and release useful APIs.
• The loss of "Net Neutrality" -- whereby telecommunications companies would begin charging tolls on web traffic -- would ultimately be bad for users and bad for society. While Google would be able to afford this tariff, many other companies would not.
• The integration of the internet and mobile devices (e.g. phones) is a space Google is watching carefully
• The internet has only just started "scaling". We ain't seen nothing yet.
• Soon you will be able to move your personal data (search history etc.) from Google to other services (like Yahoo), i.e. you will "own" your own data

Well, that's my take on it. Watch the interview for yourself:

Tags: google, web 2.0