Google engineers wear shorts
to work

Google is expanding its staff by one-third, part of an effort to expand research and development efforts in Europe.

The move is being made with a gentle marketing touch. Ultimately, the company hopes to lessen its image as "an aggressive American multinational," according to the Financial Times.

Put diplomatically, the continent of Europe has not exactly taken a liking to the search and advertising goliath. Germany is heavily investing in its own home-cooked Google, called Theseus. Google also lost a trademark battle there over ownership of the word "Gmail."

And in Belgium, Google was under fire earlier this year for the use of news snippets.

Only 500 of an estimated 7,000 Google engineers are currently situated in Europe. The company plans to hire several thousand more within the 12 European countries into which it (aggressively?) expanded this past three years.