Brin on Yahoo, Google Book Search and Chrome for Mac

Unbidden, Brin also said Yahoo was doing interesting things in search and that it was a shame the company plans to "abdicate" search to Microsoft, which agreed to power Yahoo's searches with the Bing infrastructure. That deal is under regulatory scrutiny by the Department of Justice.

"I do think Yahoo had a number of innovations and I wish they would continue to innovate in search," Brin said.

Battelle also asked about one of the rumors du jour: Will Google release a Google-branded smartphone based on the Android mobile operating system?

Brin deflected this, saying he would leave those questions to Andy Rubin, director of engineering for Android. Brin did say it is very involved in development for devices such as the T-Mobile G1, the first Android-based smartphone. "We want to work closely with a few [carriers] at any given time."

Brin also reiterated his surprise over the resistance to Google's Book Search settlement to scan millions of out-of-print books online and license them to readers. While no large company is offering to do this, many parties are opposing this bid and the DOJ requested changes.

Google, authors and publishers are revising it to present in New York District Court Nov. 9. Brin fired back at critics such as Microsoft and Amazon in an opinion piece published in the New York Times Oct. 9.

He also said he believes publications that claim Google isn't paying its fair share by indexing their content and disassociating it with their brand are confusing Google with change. He said the business models are changing and that they are making a leap that Google is causing that or stealing that from them.

Brin also admitted a rare disappointment for the Google Chrome Web browser project, noting that he wished a version of Chrome for Mac had already been in the market. Chrome is currently available for Windows, but the Linux and Mac versions have been delayed.

"I would have been much happier if we had had a beta out now and I'd have been happier if we launched them simultaneously, but certainly that this delay is something that many of us suffer through." He said people can use it in a very rough, unstable developer build.