I think it's pretty clear what's so interesting: google has the some of the largest datasets ever assembled, on a hugely diverse range of subjects. If you want to play with that data, you've got to work for google. Probably the only other place you get to play with that much data is at the NSA, and their goals are a bit less fun than google's.

There's also the fact that Google likely has more computing power than any other organization worldwide, which is what seems to be the attraction for Hinton, at least according to the last sentence of his post.