Is Google going a bit overboard for Larry Page's birthday this year? The search company is reportedly in the market for balloons--big ones, and lots of them.

Google is currently in talks with Space Data Corp., looking to use the Arizona company's hydrogen-filled balloons as a way of providing wireless coverage to the country's more rural areas. According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Microsoft is experimenting with a similar scheme. Bill Gates has reportedly been talking to a company called Extend American with a similar concept in mind.

The Internet sky race has begun, and it's full of hot air.