When Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded google on Sept. 7, 1998, they had little more than their ingenuity, four computers and an investor's $100,000 bet on their belief that an internet search engine could change the world. It sounded preposterous 10 years ago, but look now.

Ford Motor's newly created business unit to rapidly develop in-car technologies doesn't even have a name yet -- it's been using the working title "Connected Services" as other names are researched -- but there's been no lack of speed, or direction, on the new 40-person team.