The car glided down the street, slowed gradually, then braked at the stop sign. A group of school children holding hands crossed at the intersection. The only thing unusual about the situation -- the car was driving itself.

Google's self-driving car, a modified Toyota Prius, hit the streets of Washington, DC today. The purpose of its visit to the nation's capitol: to show advocacy groups like AARP, AAA, and American Council for the Blind how an autonomous car can build a safer driver. Google representatives say this product will be able to help "everyone in America," including those with vision impairment and the elderly. Unlike humans, they say, a driverless car will never get distracted, drunk, or sleepy, and therefore is capable of preventing many deadly crashes.

The self-driving car, dubbed "Oscar," is equipped with five sensors and two cameras. Sensors communicate with a computer inside the car that decides whether to brake, or to accelerate. Google is also installing software to better understand pedestrian and driver behavior; some techniques this software employs deal with distance, velocity, and the angle of steering wheels to determine how cars are moving. If something goes wrong, a driver can choose at any time to retain control of the car, and a touch of the wheel will switch the system to manual mode. (read more)

Catering to the growing trend of mixing social media with politics, President Obama on Monday will participate in a video chat room known as a "Hangout" as part of Google's social networking site Google Plus.

The presidential first -- a chat room to answer questions about State of the Union address he delivered last week -- brings Obama virtually closer to the people -- but only those people hand-selected after submitting questions before Saturday's midnight deadline.

"I'll walk into the Roosevelt Room across the hall from the Oval Office, take a seat, and kick-off the first-ever completely virtual town hall from the White House," the president wrote in an email to whitehouse.gov subscribers

The president will answer the most popular questions submitted by the YouTube community and selected by Google. He will also chat live with a group of questioners during the 45-minute open forum, giving the participants an opportunity to interact directly with Obama.

The post-State of the Union interview takes place Monday at 5:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on Google Plus, the White House YouTube channel and on the whitehouse.gov website. (read more)

As South Carolinians head to the polls, a look at what they are searching for online shows Newt Gingrich's extramarital affairs have voters in the Palmetto State scouring the Internet for answers.

According to Google, the top four searches associated with Gingrich over the past week have related to his wives in some fashion. The most popular search word in South Carolina was his current wife's name: "Callista." Her name was followed by his second wife "Marianne" -- she is the woman who gave the controversial interview to ABC News earlier this week. The third and fourth most popular searches this week were for the words "Newt scandal" and "Newt wives."

As for Mitt Romney, the top four searches involving him are more substantive. Most South Carolinians searched for Mitt Romney's "bio." That term was followed by "Mitt South Carolina," 2012," and "Mitt platform."

Now the big question is, how will what people found in these searches factor into their vote today?

Leaders at the issue-packed G8 Summit, set to begin Wednesday in Deauville, France, will wedge in the topic of the global effects of the Internet. Who better to weigh in on the issue than some of the industry's leading voices?

The New Zealand Herald reports that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, and Tony Wang, Twitter's general manager in Europe, all will address the G8 leaders...by remote, naturally.

This will mark the first time the issue will be on the G8 agenda. (read more)