What Google is up to with all its recent acquisitions

Take a look at a list of Google's 144 latest acquisitions and you'll notice most seem to have little in common. The seemingly random pattern of buyouts has a number of technology experts wondering just what the company is up to. This week Google bought SlickLogin, an Israeli startup that uses high-frequency sound waves as the basis of a smart-ID login system. A few weeks ago Google bought Nest, a company that develops thermostats and smoke alarms that are connected to the internet. In December its target was a slew of robotics companies, leading many to jovially question whether or not the company plans to develop an army of robots.