This is my theory, just idle speculation:

I don't think Google is desperate. I think Google is a personal playground for Larry and Sergey to invest in whatever takes their fancy - they have the money, and they don't answer to shareholders, given Google's unusual voting structure.

Sadly, they seem to favor flashy but questionable technology demonstrations (self-driving cars, glass, ara). Which is not to deny that some of the spending has been great (street view, google translate, etc.) They're no Bell labs, though, or IBM in its heyday, which is a real shame.