After Google (GOOG) announced it was working on an operating system based on its Chrome Web browser this week, many wondered: Didn’t Google already build an operating system? And isn’t it called Android?

Not so fast. At a joint T-Mobile and Google media event Friday morning, Google’s director of mobile platforms, Andy Rubin, said Chrome OS isn’t a substitute for mobile operating systems like Android, which have to solve many problems unique to mobile phones, such as managing battery life and ensuring calls don’t drop as a user is moving between cell towers.

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Microsoft is in some of kind of spending mood. First they offered up $45 billion for Yahoo (not enough for some!). And then there was that Danger acquisition. But how much did they spend on the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company started by Android leader Andy Rubin? No one at Microsoft is talking, nor are the guys at Danger. So I spent most of my day yesterday dialing-for-information, and have come up with the price from a fairly solid source. Microsoft spent a cool half-billion dollars ($500 million) on Danger, making it a nice payday for investors of the SideKick maker.

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