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Google Inc. selected Wise Construction Corp. to build out its new regional headquarters location in Cambridge, Mass.

The Boston Business Journal first reported in August that Google (NYSE: GOOG) had agreed to lease as much as 200,000 square feet at Three and Five Cambridge Center in Kendall Square. Wise Construction of Winchester, Mass. was hired to complete the interior renovation of 59,000 square feet on three floors at Five Cambridge Center. The renovation is expected to be finished by February. Wise Construction will work with the Boston-based architecture and interior design firm, Visnick and Caulfield Associates Inc.

Google is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. and currently has a small, 18,000-square-foot office at One Broadway in Cambridge. Google's Cambridge employees work on the Google Books program and video projects related to YouTube. The local office could initially employ about 300 people, according to the BBJ's previous report.

"Google is the world's most recognized and successful Internet search and online advertising firm," said John Wise, president of Wise Construction, in a statement. "We're very excited to have been chosen by Google for the construction of their regional headquarters in Cambridge and look forward to the development of a highly collaborative work environment that complements the company's innovative strategy."

As Harvard Square counts down the days until its free Wi-Fi goes live, it has become increasingly digital.

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Already, some of the 8 million or so visitors to the Square can take an anticipatory virtual tour of its streets and shops online, through a link on the Harvard Square Business Association website. And Harvard students and staff can now log on to the Internet to track university shuttle buses - no more worried waits at night or cold waits as the weather turns to winter.

Come Nov. 1, all of that online tracking and exploring can happen at places like Winthrop Park or the Pit outside the T stop. Free wireless service will be offered outdoors from the Inn at Harvard to the Charles Hotel to the Cambridge Common, according to Denise Jillson, executive director of the business association.

"After working with the city and Harvard, we hired a private contractor to deploy a mesh network," she said. "The technology has advanced so much in just the last six months."

A group of environmentally oriented entrepreneurs has landed in an unlikely spot: the coal business.

Their company, GreatPoint Energy, is commercializing a technology to convert coal to natural gas--turning one of the dirtiest fuels into one of the cleanest.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based start-up is in the process of raising a large round of funding to finance its expansion, which will include construction of a demonstration plant next year, company executives told CNET News.com.

It has already raised two rounds of funding totaling $37 million from venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Khosla Ventures, Advanced Technology Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Like many recently formed clean tech companies, GreatPoint Energy is resurrecting a technology--in this case so-called catalytic gasification--that was never fully commercialized. Because of today's higher energy costs and concern over global warming, executives say that process is again worth pursuing.

The company recently completed a trial in a plant in Des Plaines, Ill. It now projects that it can create natural gas cheaper than current market prices--while minimizing the environmental impact of coal.

A passerby would be forgiven for not noticing the MIT Museum. The nondescript metal-sided building squats on an awkward corner of Massachusetts Avenue between a Korean market and a brick warehouse. Visitors must enter through a side door and climb a steel staircase, a humble porthole for a place that aims to be the institutional memory of one of the nation's top scientific institutions.

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But all that will change next month when the museum completes a $3 million expansion, knocking out the ground-floor walls and replacing them with plate glass that will literally shine light on the latest research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology brain trust.

The new gallery will eschew historical exhibits to focus on cutting-edge projects including a stackable electric car, new-generation robots that explore the ocean floor, and tropical fish that are helping scientists in the search for a cancer cure. It is the brainchild of museum director John Durant, who arrived two years ago from a British science museum with frenetic energy and what he calls a bullish outlook about the ability to engage the average Joe or Jane in learning about science.

128 has largely died as a haven for startups, just some VCs left behind there now. But meanwhile Cambridge seems like it has hit a tipping point. Now Google Boston is here, Ideo moved in from Lexington to Central Square, and there are even rumors some of the VC crew out in Waltham may be eyeing the area.

It seems that the combination of Harvard & MIT, the relatively (for this
close to the city) inexpensive rent, and efforts like Cambridge
Innovation Center (CIC) have really helped spur this growth. And I don't want to underestimate the help CIC has given to this effort. CIC started out as a doomed incubator concept and was reborn after the dot-bomb as a mixture of flexspace & entreprenuer support network.  They now take up something like six floors of a fourteen floor building and host 100+ companies.

Ambient was born in CIC in those dark of 2001, and they are still here now. Who else is here? I pinged Tim and got a quick list of a couple of the guys I could run into in the kitchen:
- iSkoot (CRV-backed VOIP over your cell phone, including Skype)
- Great Point Energy (raised a $30m A round from Kleiner and others to gassify coal)
- Visible Measures (General Catalyst-backed metrics for online video)
- Sconex (MySpace for the high school set)

Hell, there's even an NPR show (currently being recorded in Second Life) that's on the third floor. Walk out of the building and you can hit Tabblo, Vanu, Harmonix, Brightcove, E-Ink and many others in less then a mile radius.

And oh, by the way, Endeca's so-called "enterprise search" software makes Google's (Charts) ballyhooed link-popularity algorithms look downright quaint by comparison. (The name "Endeca" comes form the German word "entdecken," meaning "to discover.")

But tech giants like Google and Microsoft (Charts) will not play catch-up forever - Steve Ballmer is now investing heavily in search technology - and Endeca also competes fiercely with firms like Autonomy and Oslo-based Fast Search & Transfer.

Thus, Endeca has endeavored to position itself as more than just a provider of souped-up search engines. Papa, now CEO, believes that Endeca cannot only find information, but help companies act on it as well. In other words, the search, once completed, is only the beginning.

Conduit Labs is a stealth mode, venture backed gaming start-up in the heart of Cambridge, MA. Conduit was founded by a combination of web entrepreneurs and MMO gaming pioneers; leaders in the development of Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Lord of the Rings Online, Asheron's Call and Ambient Devices. We are seeking sharp, visionary people in all circles, so even if you don't see a position that fits you, tell us your story. If you enjoy an ambitious, independent, innovative environment focused on a new generation of online social gaming, we'd love to hear from you.

open positions.

texture artist Conduit Labs needs a texture artist to put their skills to characters and environments in our cool new stealth project. If you have experience with 3D Max, laying out UV's and creating texture pages, you should apply for this job. We're trying some things you haven't seen before, so we're looking for folks with talent and ambition. Knowledge of Adobe Illustrator or Flash is a plus, but not a requirement.

online marketer Conduit Labs is looking for a passionate innovator in online marketing. Should have experience in SEM and SEO marketing, a keen eye for numbers analysis, but most importantly a desire to try new ways to get the world involved in a new product. We're building a very cool web property at the cutting edge of social entertainment, drop a line on how you would get the word out.

illustrator We need a top notch illustrator to create vector art for a new stealth project that will be on the cutting edge of Flash. You should know Flash 9, but most importantly have a great eye. Knowledge of 3D Max a plus, but not required. If this sounds intriguing, you should apply for this job now! Talent and passion is required along with a CD /DVD or Web portfolio.

flash designer Conduit Labs needs a flash designer to create user interface elements and interaction design that will be on the cutting edge of Flash. You should be familiar with Flash 9, and the ideal candidate will be a mix of designer and developer. Experience in non-corporate work (ie cool stuff for bands, ad agencies, video games, side projects, etc) is a plus. If this sounds intriguing, you should apply for this job now! Talent and passion is required along with a CD /DVD or Web portfolio.

also,

vp business development

senior engineer

Curious? Just email us or drop your email and a note below.

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We're located in downtown Cambridge, between MIT and Harvard. You can even catch students rowing on the Charles River outside our conference room windows. We offer full benefits, including great health care coverage, relocation package, and free snacks & beverages. We don’t want to grow too big too fast, so apply now and get yourself cherry-picked.

With an Xbox that projects onto the wall, beer in the fridge, and a caffeinated techno soundtrack playing in the background as burgers sizzle on the grill outside, a dozen entrepreneurs are hard at work building Boston’s next Web start-ups in a Central Square loft dubbed Betahouse.

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The regional tech community is often bemoaned as the pale cousin of the West Coast’s vibrant entrepreneurial environment — where Google, YouTube, and Cambridge expatriate Facebook thrive. These and other innovative consumer-oriented firms are attracting most of the excitement and entrepreneurial vigor in the new generation of Internet businesses, not the data storage and systems infrastructure companies, which primarily service other businesses, that Boston is famous for.

But over the past year, the local entrepreneurs who tended to toil alone in coffee shops and at home have begun to meet, mix, and engage in marathon sessions of coding. This coming together of like-minded Web junkies is an effort to create the kind of successful interaction that is commonplace in Silicon Valley.