Tech monster Google Inc., which is becoming more ubiquitous as each day passes, is said to be close to inking a deal to set up its local shop in Oakland's Co-Lab, the plush office and lab space at the edge of Carnegie Mellon University's campus that also houses Apple and Intel.

Insiders expect Google to be about a month away from launching its local engineering-intensive operation and hiring between 100 and 200 staffers. The lab, insiders say, will have to prove itself -- developing Google products that sell, and in turn demonstrate a need for more man (and woman) power. The office is expected to be filled with computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians and maybe even a few sales and marketing people. Google, not surprisingly, is not ready to comment.

Some of Pittsburgh's home-grown specialties are expected to be big winners in venture capital this year, according to Boston-based venture capitalists who were on hand this week at a telecast hosted by networking group, MIT Enterprise Forum.

The broadcast, viewed by a group of techies at Seagate's Strip District-based offices, was designed to help entrepreneurs figure out what is on the horizon for capital markets this year.

Featured in the telecast was Claire Wadlington, a partner and chief financial officer at Boston-based FA Technology Ventures, who said she thinks tech areas such as robotics, fuel cells, software and medical devices will be hot this year among investors. Referencing recently released statistics from the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Financial, Ms. Wadlington said venture capitalists invested more money in start-ups in 2005 than they had since the tech bubble burst.

On the local front, 2004 was a low point, according to statistics compiled by Innovation Works and Thomson Venture Economics, but the region turned a corner last year when five tech start-ups landed their first infusion of cash from venture capital firms, up from three firms in 2004 and only two during the tech downturn in 2003. Overall, 10 local companies raised a total of $70 million in venture capital in 2005 and local investment watchers say they expect 2006 to yield more.

General Dynamics Robotic Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sterling Heights, Mich.-based General Dynamics Land Systems, has opened an Autonomous Perception Research facility in Oakland near Carnegie Mellon University. The facility, which employs more than a dozen local engineers and scientists, will focus on developing software that will drive robots and allow them to use human-like senses, such as sight, sound and touch, to navigate potentially dangerous terrains.

General Dynamics Land Systems is a subsidiary of Norfolk, Va.-based General Dynamics, which has operations on the South Side, the software firm formerly known as Maya Viz, and now known as "Viz."

The Allegheny Conference on Community Development is losing three more staffers this month. Spokeswoman and former reporter Sonya Toler has taken a position in Harrisburg as the executive director of the Governor's Commission on African American Affairs.

Longtime staffer Cindy Franc, executive assistant to conference chief F. Michael Langley, is departing for an administrative role at Innovation Works, the Hazelwood-based tech engine confirmed. For several years, Ms. Franc served as the assistant to Rick Stafford, before his departure in 2003.

Beth Niedringhaus, who worked at the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance on work force services, also has departed.

In 2004, the conference staff began to shrink with the departures of about eight staffers. There were as many as 16 resignations in 2005, including that of longtime behind-the-scenes policy mastermind Harold Miller. At the end of last year, the conference reported employing 69 people, down from 82 in 2003.

"We don't comment on internal staff matters," said spokeswoman Pamela Golden said.

A slew of electronics firms have joined forces with about 60 faculty members at Carnegie Mellon University's Data Storage Systems Center this week to collaborate on a variety of projects designed to help the data storage industry create nanometer-scale technology that ultimately will lead to fast, low-cost and compact information storage devices. The participating companies include Tokyo-based Fujitsu and Alps Electric Co. Ltd., and Lake Forest, Calif.-based Western Digital and San Jose, Calif-based Quantum Corp.

And speaking of CMU, technology cultivated there is expected to generate a record 16 start-ups this year, university sources said yesterday. CMU already has spun off eight companies this year.

This week in Vivisimo news -- Tuesday, the federal government's General Services Administration unveiled its flagship FirstGov.gov search engine, a total makeover designed, built and powered by Vivisimo and hosted by Clusty.com. Thursday, Raul Valdes-Perez received the CEO Communicator of the Year award from the local chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, which makes sense since Mr. Valdes-Perez and his staff are so media-friendly. Also Thursday, chief scientist Jerome Pesenti lectured at the Microsoft US Public Sector CIO Summit in Redmond, Calif.