Rich Miner, a Google executive sometimes described as the company's vice president of wireless, cofounded a super-stealthy start-up called Android Inc. with Andy Rubin, which developed software for mobile phones in Silicon Valley and Boston. (Rubin had earlier helped start Danger Inc., the company that makes T-Mobile's Sidekick cellphone.)

Oh, yeah!

Indica was fixated on my friend Ari. I asked her what kind of phone she had.

“A Sidekick,” she said.

“Wow,” I said. “That’s the same kind Brianna has.”

“Strippers’ phone of choice,” she said.

Introducing the Google Phone