For a dozen years, Google Inc. has been occasionally swapping its everyday logo for a “doodle,” a sketch celebrating holidays, inventions, artists and sporting events, and showcasing designs from contest-winning students.
Usually, Google makes it clear what’s being celebrated, using the doodle as a lure to teach Web surfers more about the topic — artist Nam June Paik on his birthday, for example, or the history of China’s lantern festival, to pick just two of more than 300 past designs.
But Google had left Tuesday’s doodle a mystery, prompting people to speculate about the meaning of this mass of blue, red, yellow and green bouncing balls that skitter across Google.com as if allergic to the mouse pointer before settling into the familiar logo pattern.
Google’s official statement says merely that “today’s doodle is fast, fun and interactive, just the way we think search should be.”
Adding to the intrigue, the company also tweeted on Twitter, “Boisterous doodle today. Maybe it’s excited about the week ahead.”
Football fans flock to video games
Thursday marked the kickoff of the 2010 NFL season, and along with it, a renewed interest in fantasy leagues and video games that let Monday-morning quarterbacks feel as if they’re part of the action.
The perennial champ of the genre, Electronic Arts Inc.’s “Madden,” has already made its debut this year as a free Facebook application.
An underdog contender, Quick Hit Inc., has joined the fray with “Quick Hit NFL Football.” It lets players pick an NFL team and coach it through the season.
Quick Hit’s game came out in beta test form last October, but without the official NFL teams, logos, uniforms and other touches. By January it had racked up 1 million users; the company will only say players now number “in the millions.”
Both “Quick Hit NFL Football,” a standalone game played in a Web browser, and “Madden NFL Superstars,” the Facebook game from EA, are part of a growing trend of online games that are free to play but sell extra, optional items for small amounts of money.
Quick Hit’s updated game brings color commentary from former longtime Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher, plus the ability to pay a few bucks extra to snag famous players or playbook additions. There are only five current NFL players available to add to rosters, the most Quick Hit could include based on its licensing agreements. People can choose among more than 100 past “legends” to round out their teams.
Is there room for 2 top dogs Oracle?
As co-president at Oracle Corp., ousted Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd will have to adapt to a new role playing second fiddle to one of Silicon Valley’s most domineering bosses — Larry Ellison.
Although the two men have been pals for several years, working together may test their friendship given that they have both been accustomed to being the top dog. Ellison, in particular, has never left any doubt who’s calling the shots at the business software juggernaut that he co-founded 33 years ago.
“Larry is well-known for his strong personality, and there is always a possibility of a personality clash with Hurd,” said Kaushik Roy, an analyst with Wedbush Securities.
Associated Press
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