...others question just how innovative Google truly is. It famously allows its engineers to set aside 20 percent of their time to work on whatever they want, and popular services with practical applications such as Gmail and Google News have supposedly sprung from that time. But some innovation watchers wonder whether innovation has “jumped the shark” at Google, pointing to the demise of Google Wave as a possible sign. And at least one Google executive has stated the company has grown so large that, at least outside its “core DNA,” it is innovating by acquisition.

Maybe. But they do have a lot of cool stuff. If you want to check out the company's most mad-scientisty projects, take a look at Google Labs.