Evidence points strongly to a modern structure being built by Google on a barge in San Francisco Bay. What exactly the tech company is creating by stacking boxes of shipping cargo together has spawned several different theories, according to CBS's tech website CNET.
Google hasn't commented publicly on the construction.
At first speculators pictured the cargo building to be a floating data center, which Google reportedly patented in 2007, according to CNET. Then, reporters uncovered evidence which suggested a floating Google Glass Store. That idea was supported by a tip to CNET from an individual with knowledge of the situation who said the idea for floating glass stores surfaced at Google headquarters.
According to the tipster, the barge in San Francisco would make a good candidate because of its layout, possessing few windows and sectioned off spaces, would unfurl in a manner opposite that of a typical Apple store (with its open spaces and natural lighting), CNET reported. Google specifically wanted to avoid copying Apple, the tipster said.
But further reports contradicted the anonymous tip simply based on the layout. Joel Egan, the principal at Cargotecture, said a store wouldn't work without something resembling an open space. Lack of fire exits would also be an issue.
"I would say no, it doesn't [look appropriate for a store]," Egan said. "It would be a lame store. That doesn't sound right."
Whatever the final outcome, Google has too many connections to the barge to not be involved, even if the company won't admit it yet, CNET reported. In addition to the patent filed in 2007 and the anonymous tip, an engineer hired to work on a similar project from Google a few years ago (the project was later cancelled) thought Google was certainly behind the barge construction and that it would most likely be a data center.
"They'd have all their data from the region backed up at this center," he said. "This could easily tow it with a tug out of the area, and be able to easily bring it back in and get it up and running while facilities would be down in the area. And...the master plan at the time was to build upwards of a dozen of these things. About four in the States, and then have them worldwide, over in Asia, Europe, South America. They were planning on putting in a lot of these things worldwide."
As if Google was deliberately trying to build its own mysterious connection, CEO Larry Page's yacht was photographed docked directly next to the project, according to CNET.