The last vestiges of telecommunications company Nortel were sold off in an auction this week, encompassing some 6,000 patents and patent applications for various technologies. Several big name tech companies were involved in the marathon 4-day bidding process, but Google turned some heads with its unusual bidding strategy.

They began with an initial $900 million “stalking horse” bid, which they upped to $1,902,160,540 and then to $2,614,972,128 and finally $3.14159 billion. Normally, bidders opt for rounder numbers, but the mathematically inclined quickly identified a pattern in Google’s bids. Their opening shot was Brun’s constant, followed by Meissel-Mertens constant, and finally pi. Reuters quotes a source commenting on Google’s bidding, saying “either they were supremely confident or they were bored.”

Sadly, their whimsically mathematical bids weren’t enough to carry the day. The final price for the patent materials was $4.5 billion, purchased by a coalition of companies comprised of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM, and Sony.

(Reuters via Techmeme, image via Jorel Pi)

The U.S. government has initiated a lawsuit against a former NASA astronaut to recover property used on the Apollo 14 moon mission. In question is a camera used during the 1971 mission that was brought to the attention of NASA after it was placed up for sale in a New York auction. Edgar Mitchell was the lunar module pilot for Apollo 14 and is the sixth man to have walked on the moon. He claims the camera is rightfully his, and is part of his personal collection of memorabilia.

The lawsuit was filed in Miami federal court and accuses Mitchell of illegally possessing the camera and attempting to sell it for profit. NASA reportedly learned the camera was in Mitchell’s possession after the British auction house Bonhams announced plans to sell the camera at a Space History Sale billed as one of the two cameras from Apollo 14′s lunar module Antares. The camera was expected to fetch between $60,000 and $80,000.

Julian Assange is worth $1,735. While that isn’t his net worth, it is what he’s going for these days. Time spent with the founder of the now infamous WikiLeaks is going for $1,735 on Ebay. Embattled in legal struggles related to a Swedish rape case in addition to defending the actions of his controversial company has drained both the company and Assange of funds. So, he is selling himself on the auction website.

More specifically, Assange is selling spots at a luncheon with himself, followed by a seat at a Frontline Club conversation with himself and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek where the two will discuss the impact of WikiLeaks on the world and in the future. Currently the seventh of eight spots at the event is going for $1,735 on Ebay in Britain. According to Ebay, 100% of the proceeds from the sale of time with Assange will go to WikiLeaks.

It’s been reported that since progressive radio network Air America filed for bankruptcy on January 25th, 2010, everything has been for sale in the companywide liquidation that’s followed. The auction began today at 11:00 EDT.

While there may be something poignant about that for fans of the network, there’s one thing on the auction block that’s likely to bother them more than the broadcast equipment and cubicles: Their e-mail mailing list, which auctioneers are billing at “intellectual property.”

This in spite of the fact that Air America’s privacy agreement said that newsletter e-mail addresses “[would] not be divulged to any third party” as recently as January 17th of this year.

The world’s oldest flying car — or at least the oldest one that we know about — is being auctioned off by an Atlanta, GA antiques outlet, Red Baron’s Antiques. It doesn’t actually fly, but you can still drive it:

Hot on the heels of an issue of Action Comics #1 (the first appearance of Superman) selling at auction for $1 million, an issue of Detective Comics #27 (the first appearance of Batman) has sold for more than $1 million. $75,500 more, to be exact.

To which this Batman fan says: MUWAHAHAHA! According to Bleeding Cool, the comic was expected to sell for “around $300,00 [sic] but in the light of a copy of Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman, selling for a straight $1,000,000 this week, clearly a Batman Vs Superman grudge match was in the offing. And we know how that always goes.”

Indeed we do: