Warren Buffett's high-tech friendships include Sergey Brin

For a guy so frequently portrayed as a tech-averse dinosaur, Warren Buffett sure runs with some movers and shakers in the world of technology.

Buffett and his wife had dinner in Omaha, Neb., with Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Brin's wife on the night Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy last fall, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the excellent book "Too Big to Fail."

Lehman had reached out to Buffett several times for an investment, but Buffett declined. He joked with the Brins that night that he "might have bought something" on that tumultuous weekend if not for the planned dinner, Sorkin recounts.

Buffett's friendship with Brin is just the latest example of his relationship with captains of technology. Among his best friends, of course, is Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and former Yahoo president Sue Decker is on the Berkshire Hathaway board.

Buffett appears to be captivated by technology despite his famous unwillingness to invest in it because of the fast-paced changes in the industry. Buffett prefers slow-changing industries in which competitive advantages, or moats, don't break down as quickly.

According to interviews Gates has given, Buffett is quite knowledgeable about the technology business. When the two men first met, according to numerous published accounts, Buffett peppered Gates with well-informed questions about the tech business that helped spawn a long conversation and enduring friendship.

Finally, his reputation notwithstanding, Buffett reportedly uses technology quite a bit himself. Gates hooked him on computers by showing him how to play bridge online, and now Buffett says he frequently surfs the Internet and uses e-mail.