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Google Logo Mystery

rynner2

rynner2

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Twitter and Facebook flooded with alien theories about Google UFO logo
Twitter, Facebook and the worldwide blogosphere have been flooded with alien conspiracy theories about the new Google UFO logo.
Published: 1:08PM BST 05 Sep 2009

The logo, showing a classic saucer-shaped spacecraft shining a light down on the search-engine's regular logo, has been the subject of much speculation.

The world's internet voices want to now whether the all-powerful web giant is trying to tell us something.

Google regularly changes its logo to mark important event such as the recent 40th anniversary of the moon landings.

But nobody can work out why Google has chosen this date to put a UFO logo on the world's most visited web page.

"Does anybody know what's going on?" asks one.

"Aliens landed on Earth this day last year," offers another blogger by way of explanation.

Some think Google's global dominance may extend beyond this planet. 8)

"If Google says the aliens are coming, I'm getting out of here," says one US blogger.

One of the things bothering the online community is that early on Saturday morning the new logo could be seen in some places, but not others.

"Am I the one that is going crazy?" asks a blogger in Arizona who can't see the logo.

If you click on the alien logo you are given the results for "unexplained phenomena".

In Google's top ten most searched terms "unexplained phenomena" merits two entries.

It is unclear whether Google is responding to popular demand or dictating what the public should be interested in. :?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/g ... -logo.html

I've used Google today, but not seen it. But then my bookmark is for Google Advanced Search - click on http://www.google.co.uk/ and there is the Flying Saucer! :D
 
The Daily Mail seems to have the answer.......

Mystery solved! Find out why Google used a doodle of a UFO on its search engine
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:46 PM on 05th September 2009

Comments (5) Add to My Stories
Google bamboozled its users today by displaying the symbol of a UFO on its search engine page.
The website featured the classic image of a flying saucer shining a beam of light onto the middle of the classic logo.
It usually displays images that mark anniversaries or key events on its home page but its selection this time seemed a total mystery.
Clicking on the link only led to the results for 'unexplained phenomena', adding to the confusion which soon spread around the world.

The choice sparked a flood of speculation on the internet with social networking sites Twitter and Facebook abuzz with questions.
Doodle mystery: Google used the image of a UFO on its logo, sparking mass internet speculation and rumours on Twitter and Facebook
Posts on micro-blog site Twitter were streaming in every single minute as yet more people started wondering what it meant.

One Twitterer said: 'Umm, got to www.google.com. What's up with the UFO thingy?'
Another added: 'Puzzled by the Google logo. The depiction of so called "abduction" and the search page it leads to (spontaneous human combustion, etc.).'
Someone else joked: 'I'm not sure, but I think I saw UFO on the Google Doogle today.... I didn't get a good look at it, but I think it Abuducted the Letter "O".'
However, those up on their Google history and internet technology were able to work out the cryptic message.
According to Tech Crunch website, Google sent its first ever message on Twitter in code when it joined the site earlier this year.
And today it sent out another message in a numerical code which was: 1.12.12 25.15.21.18 15 1.18.5 2.5.12.15.14.7 20.15 21.19.
To the uninitiated this means nothing, but apparently it is a simple internet meme - the name used for a phrase or concept that spreads like wildfire on the web.

Tech Crunch - and some other internet buffs - deciphered the message by using the pattern that 1 is A, 2 is B and so on.
Enlarge Clue: Google sent a message on Twitter with the numerical code which referred to a famous internet phenomenon back in 2000
Once you have been through the entire message, this makes it read: 'All you o are belong to us.'
So far, most of us will be none the wiser.

However, this is a reminder of a famous meme used in the early 2000s which declared: 'All your base are belong to us' and became a phenomenon.

It is a phrase - poorly translated - taken from the opening scene of a 1991 version of the Japanese video game Zero Wing.
Some users immediately realised this was the case once Google put up a Twitpic of its logo today and the meme.
'Ha Ha. Good one!,' wrote one. Others added: 'Beam me up!' and 'All your base are belong to us.'
It is still unclear quite why Google chose to put up the spaceship and the meme today, with speculation it might be linked to new alien film District 9.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z0QGj2EpJJ
Click to expand...
 
An answer?

Today's Doodle, an Unexplained Phenomenon

I don't usually post about Google's doodles, but this one is special. Google's homepage has an interesting doodle that shows a UFO and links to the search results for [unexplained phenomenon].

The doodle is self-referential because many people will think that the doodle itself is an unexplained phenomenon. Ow, now my head hurts!

To make things more interesting, Google posted an encrypted message on its Twitter account:

1.12.12 25.15.21.18 15 1.18.5 2.5.12.15.14.7 20.15 21.19

decrypted as "All your O are belong to us", a reference to the popular Internet meme "All your base are belong to us".

The doodle's URL is http://www.google.com/logos/go_gle.gif, which suggests that there's a missing "O".

Some people suggest that the doodle could be connected to the Exeter UFO Festival. "The Exeter incident was a highly-publicized UFO sighting that occurred in September 1965, approximately 5 miles from Exeter, New Hampshire, in the neighboring community of Kensington."

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... menon.html
 
It's just a teaser for a SciFi movie. There was something about it on the Grauniad site earlier but I can't trace it now. :)
 
I was wondering about this myself. I like how it has become all "Google is about to reveal/has long known about the existence of aliens" in certain people's minds, though.
 
"Series of transmissions recorded over a period of eight years, in the nineteen-seventies."

he quoted, not entirely seriously...
 
JamesWhitehead said:
It's just a teaser for a SciFi movie. There was something about it on the Grauniad site earlier but I can't trace it now. :)
Click to expand...
District 9. The Garudian piece is here.
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this and thought it was odd.
I noticed that the doodle was missing its usual explanatory text (when you hold the mouse pointer over the piccy, a little message usually pops up).
 
Is odd. The Graidnaun reports that "in a month's time our cinemas will be populated with alien spacecraft as another as another sci-fi action film reaches our screens." This was written yesterday according to the web site. Yet I was under the impression it's released already, in fact I hope it is as I'm ging to see it on Wednesday.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this and thought it was odd.
I noticed that the doodle was missing its usual explanatory text (when you hold the mouse pointer over the piccy, a little message usually pops up).
Click to expand...
When I tried it yesterday, it gave search results for "Unexplained phenomenon" - as explained in my second post.

But it's not there today! :(
 
Google unexplained phenomenon doodle: mystery solved
The meaning behind a Google doodle, which featured a UFO and linked to the search term 'unexplained phenomenon', has been revealed – it was in honour of Zero Wing, a 1980s Japanese video game.
By Chris Irvine
Published: 11:37AM BST 06 Sep 2009

The latest doodle, an adapted version of its logo that appears on its home page, prompted widespread confusion and speculation among the internet community.

Doodles are usually used to mark holidays, famous scientists or thinkers, or anniversaries, but the latest one, was a picture of a UFO sucking up one of Google's Os with a tractor beam.

Google did nothing to end the speculation with a statement saying: "We consider the second 'o' critical to user recognition of our brand and pronunciation of our name. We are actively looking into the mysterious tweet that has appeared on the Google twitter stream and the disappearance of the 'o' on the Google home page. We hope to have an update in the coming weeks."

As there appeared to be no obvious event however, some thought it was a sign the Earth had made contact with aliens. Others suggested it was merely a publicity stunt for new sci-fi film District 9, and another said it was the anniversary of the Voyager I spacecraft.

The truth, however, was that it was marking the 20th anniversary of Japanese video game Zero Wing.

Google had later provided a clue on its Twitter page, posting: “1.12.12 25.15.21.18 15 1.18.5 2.5.12.15.14.7 20.15 21.19?.

When the numbers are replaced by the corresponding letters of the alphabet, it read "All your O are belong to us", a reference to Zero Wing's notoriously poor Japanese to English translation.

In the opening cut scene of the video game, a character says "All your base are belong to us".

The phrase was made popular by the Something Awful website, spreading through a flash animation with the slogan in it.

It became a viral internet hit between 2000 and 2002 and Google resurrected the classic example of "gamer humour" for Zero Wing's birthday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/g ... olved.html

So perhaps this thread should be in Fortean Culture instead!
 
But surely Zero Wing was released on the 21st of September?
 
Looks like something exciting (well prob only if you like computers) is going to happen on the 21st September. HG Wells, born 21st September. Zero wing released 21st september. Also the fact that's a Monday, the usual day for announcing some company related business
 
If you click on the logo it shows a Telegraph link with a piece about how Google posted a set of coordinates on Twitter, which led to..........Woking. One theory is that these google logos are leading up to the 143rd Birthday of HG Wells. Bit of a poor anniversary to celebrate.
 
linesmachine said:
If you click on the logo it shows a Telegraph link with a piece about how Google posted a set of coordinates on Twitter, which led to..........Woking. One theory is that these google logos are leading up to the 143rd Birthday of HG Wells. Bit of a poor anniversary to celebrate.
Click to expand...
I put the co-ords in Google Maps, and got Woking that way!
But HG Wells was born in Bromley, Kent.

However, there is a statue of a Martian Tripod in Woking....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_of_Tripod.JPG
But War of the Worlds was published in 1898, so it's not even an anniversary of that. However...
In 1895, Wells was an established writer and he married his second wife, Catherine Robbins, moving with her to the town of Woking in Surrey. Here he spent his mornings walking or cycling in the surrounding countryside, and his afternoons writing. The original idea for The War of the Worlds came from his brother, during one of these walks, pondering on what it might be like if alien beings were to suddenly descend on the scene and start attacking its inhabitants.[8]

Much of the The War of the Worlds takes place around Woking and nearby suburbs. The initial landing site of the Martian invasion force, Horsell Common, was an open area close to Wells' home. In the preface to the Atlantic edition of the novel, he wrote of his pleasure in riding a bicycle around the area, and imagining the destruction of cottages and houses he saw, by the Martian heat-ray or the red weed.[1] While writing the novel, Wells enjoyed shocking his friends by revealing details of the story, and how it was bringing total destruction to parts of the South London landscape that were familiar to them. The characters of the artilleryman, the curate and the medical student were also based on acquaintances in Woking and Surrey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds [9]
Click to expand...
 
Mystery solved:
Upon revealing the answer to its clues Google said : "We're finally acknowledging the reason for the doodles with an official nod to Herbert George, who would be 143 years old today.

"Inspiration for innovation in technology and design can come from lots of places; we wanted to celebrate HG Wells as an author who encouraged fantastical thinking about what it possible, on this planet and beyond."

When Google released a Twitter message which read "51.327629, -0.5616088", web sleuths found that the string of numbers was the latitude and longitude for Woodham Road in Woking, Surrey.

Diabolik posted one theory on Twitter: "The War of the Worlds (1898), by HG Wells, based in Horsell Common north of Woking, was an early science fiction novel which describes an invasion of England by aliens from Mars. It is one of the earliest and best-known depictions of an alien invasion."

Another, Joshgjohnson, tweeted: "HG Wells birthday is Sept 21. This is a 'lead-up' as was Sept 5th logo."

In response, Google said: "Some of you figured out what we were doing, but we weren't ready to reveal it all just yet."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/g ... ibute.html
Click to expand...
 
The 'special' UFO logo for today did not appear on the main .com domain, only in certain countries, UK, Germany, Japan, Russia, Finland etc. But strangely not in France, Ireland, Czech republic etc. Bit odd if they were so excited about HG wells' birthday, you'd think it would have at least been on the .com domain. I reckon they were about to announce something else and they balked.
 
azuredoor said:
The 'special' UFO logo for today did not appear on the main .com domain, only in certain countries, UK, Germany, Japan, Russia, Finland etc. But strangely not in France, Ireland, Czech republic etc. Bit odd if they were so excited about HG wells' birthday, you'd think it would have at least been on the .com domain. I reckon they were about to announce something else and they balked.
Click to expand...

The French would prefer Jules Verne, so they're probably going to do that intead, and in the Czech Republic they'll be be waiting for Karel Capek's 120th in January next year...
 
...and my birthday is 19th May so many countries will see that on Google next year. 8)
 
I was confused about this yesterday too. The logical part of my brain said it must be something Wells-related, but the paranoid side was wondering what Google knew and wasn't telling us. :lol:
 
Wonder why they didn't have a special logo for world peace day, seems that they were more concerned with wars, wars of worlds, bit paranoid eh? :lol:
 
Another kind of puzzle:

Google 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button leads to mystery countdown clock
Google has sparked mystery by launching an unexplained countdown that only appears when users press the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on the search engine's homepage.
By Matthew Moore
Published: 7:32PM GMT 14 Dec 2009

The feature, which usually takes users directly to the top result for their query, has been programmed to display a ticker when no words are entered into the search box.

As of 7.15pm GMT on Monday, the clock had reached 1,484,258.

It appears that the blue numbers are only visible to people using the search giant's English language portals such as Google.com, Google.co.uk, Google.ie and Google.com.au. Attempting the same trick on Google's French and German websites presents an error box instead.

Google has released no statement explaining the hidden clock, but initial speculation that the search giant had advance warning of the end of the world appears wide of the mark.

Simple calculations indicate that the number will fall to zero in 17 days – around the turn of the New Year.

If confirmed, this would be the latest in a long line of pranks and hidden treats dropped into Google products by the US firm's engineers.

Past "easter eggs", as they are known, include:

• Type "recursion" into the search box and it suggests "recursion" as an alternative, sending you on a loop of clicks that all generate identical results.

• Using the arrow keys, type "up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A" while using the firm's RSS feed reader, and a little ninja appears on the left of the screen, which turns partially blue.

• The Mars feature of Google Earth 5 allows users to explore the surface of the Red Planet – and chat to the locals. Typing "Meliza" into the search box takes you to an area of the planet where you can strike up a conversation with a Martian.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/g ... clock.html
 
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