Twitter, the wildly popular microblogging service with no business model, may be forced to charge companies for access to its users, founder Evan Williams told Bloomberg News. Williams, who recently replaced Jack Dorsey as CEO, said he wanted to start weaning the company off venture capital, especially as the economic climate sours. He pointed out that as the value of Web startups falls, investors are starting to ask for bigger stakes in return for funding. "The VCs have the money, but they'll just negotiate harder," said Williams. "I want to manage things so I don't have to raise money in …

Just in time for the recession, Google on Tuesday unveiled a free browser plug-in that allows Gmail users to conduct voice and video chat with other Gmail users. The plug-in requires an Intel-based computer running either Mac OS X or Windows XP or Vista, a Web cam and/or a microphone. It works with Firefox 2.0+, Internet Explorer 7.0, Safari 3.0 and Chrome. According to Google, Gmail is now the first Webmail service to include video chat. "We think this pretty significant," Rajen Sheth, senior product manager for Google's enterprise group, tells Information Week. "It's something that we see bringing …

During Barack Obama's first post-election press conference, Google CEO Eric Schmidt stood alongside the President-elect and didn't say anything. Nor did he have to, says Politico's Eamon Javers, as the mere sight of him alongside the President-to-be should be "enough to send shivers up the spine of Google's competitors." As one Democratic lobbyist said, "This terrifies Microsoft. There's a reason why people are scared to death of Google." The search giant claims that Schmidt was acting on his own, and that his politics don't reflect those of the company. Even so, Schmidt isn't the only Googler close to Obama. …