Millions of users in many countries were surprised by this confusing logo with Morse code which is being displayed today across all Google Homepages.

Some would argue that Google is brainless or doesn’t care about users because the logo is so confusing that some users thought there was something wrong with their internet connection and the logo didn’t load completely, some thought their new LCD screens are about to die. Some people also thought it was representing some block breaker game. Some Even thought it was Braille.

I would say, so far, This is the most Daring and Dashing Logo ever done for any occasion by any company on the Internet. Also biggest risk taken by any company to play with the Company Identity. I think it should be the best logo ever in the Top Official Google Logos.

What do you think?

Telegraph was quick to appreciate the Google logo for St George’s Day on the Google UK homepage.

But in the article, it says

Google regularly produces altered “doodles” of its name to mark national days, sporting events and scientific anniversaries, but did not release a St George’s Day logo on April 23 last year.

“We have done St George’s Day drawings a few times before, but part of the reason for releasing them is to surprise and delight our users so we try not to do them every year,” a Google spokesman said.

“Most of the ideas come from our own staff, but we also get hundreds of requests from campaign groups and charities, and very occasionally we do ones for them.”

So was there really no logo last year?
No. There was one.
You can check the 2008 St George’s Day logo here.

Update:
Telegraph was quick to change the news article after I posted this on Twitter replying to Telegraph.
The changed lines:

Google regularly produces altered “doodles” of its name to mark national days, sporting events and scientific anniversaries, and has previously released St George’s Day logos in 2002, 2006 and 2008.

You got that?

“Pack could grease entry into enterprises” – Phil Muncaster, IT Week

Google has launched a beta of a free collection of applications, including some from other vendors, to help users download, install and maintain software to use the internet more effectively.

The new Google Pack – available here – is primarily aimed at consumers, but experts said it could also raise the search giant’s profile within enterprises.

Google Pack was launched at the International Consumer Electronics Show and its tools include Google Earth satellite imaging software, the Google Talk instant messaging application, Google Toolbar for web browsers and Google’s desktop search software.

The pack also features Mozilla’s Firefox web browser, a version of Norton AntiVirus software from Symantec and Adobe Reader 7.

Google Updater, also included, is a new tool that will download, install and uninstall, and maintain all the software in the Google Pack, ensuring each program is up to date by alerting users when new updates become available, according to the company.

Mike Davis of analyst Butler Group said the announcement shows that Google is trying to challenge Microsoft’s dominance of the desktop, both at home and in the enterprise. “A few years ago people were taking technology home from work, but [more recently] this has reversed, with things like instant messaging starting in the home environment and then moving to the office,” Davis said. ” If X million people have a free packet of software that can be automated, updated and supported, and it is not in the corporate environment, there will be a push for change [so it can be used] at the enterprise level.”

Davis added that Google’s announcement would raise the profile of the company’s brand and alter perceptions that it is solely a provider of search functionality.
However, David Bradshaw of analyst firm Ovum said Google Pack does not offer any applications that cannot already be downloaded from the internet for free, except for the Norton software.

“Google is marking time [with this release],” Bradshaw commented. “It had to announce something in the software domain so it put together [this bundle]. Everyone expects it to launch something to challenge Microsoft but this isn’t it.”

Schmidt’s Google Super-Sizes Mini Search Box – Forbes.com

Chief Executive Eric Schmidt’s Google announced Thursday new double and triple capacities for its Mini search device, letting companies peruse their Web sites and internal networks the same way that Google’s flagship search engine scours the Internet.

Instant messaging service will be available on mobile devices.

Continuing its push into the mobile space, Google is making its Google Talk instant messaging service available to BlackBerry users, Google and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion announced Thursday.

Google Talk for BlackBerry is a version of the instant messaging application that was designed for BlackBerry devices. The application will be much like Google Talk for PCs so when users download the client software they’ll see their existing Google Talk contact list, be able to add and alter contacts, know when contacts are online, and send and receive messages. Users will be notified on the home screen of the BlackBerry when new messages arrive in Google Talk.

BlackBerry users can download the application for free but they may be charged by their mobile operator for data transmitted when using the service.

Google Talk for BlackBerry is expected to be available in the second quarter.

Firm says telephony service Google Talk uses patented VoIP technology

The Times of India
Sunday, January 1, 2006

New York — A small New York technology firm said on Sunday that it was suing search titan Google for up to $5 billion dollars for patent violation in the Internet telephony software used in Google Talk.

Jerry Weinberger, chief executive of Rates Technology Inc (RTI), said he was the inventor of software programming that allows telephone calls to be placed over the Internet.

He said 120 companies, including Lucent, Cisco, IBM, Yahoo and Microsoft, have paid RTI to use the technology for “Voice over Internet Protocol” (VoIP) calls.

RTI filed suit in a Long Island federal court against Google two months ago because the search engine was using the technology without authorisation, Weinberger said after the New York Post reported the lawsuit on Sunday.

“They told us to go to hell,” the RTI boss said. “They are the most arrogant company in the world.”

Weinberger alleged that Google has abused two patented RTI software programs in Google Talk, which enables users to talk through a computer headset or to instant message each other for free.

He said Google could be liable for damages of up to $5 billion in a trial, unless it settles the complaint out of court.

Google did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

But a spokesman for the company quoted by the New York Post dismissed the lawsuit as “without merit” and said Google “will defend against it vigorously”.

About.com blogs which pull millions of users across the internet in various topics was using Movable Type untill now and is moving all its blogs to wordpress platform. This clearly shows how well wordpress is growing and as Big guns like Yahoo & About use wordpress they build trust for people looking for a blogging platform.
Matt mentions it in his blog. Everyone is happy about it. Only google is left back among the big guns to try wordpress officially. Google already having their own platform for blogging(blogger), will be hard to convince for trying wordpress for their official blogs. Anyway, i’ll bring google and wordpress together with my google logos blog which I am working on.

The Referral system started with Google a while back. And then Google Introduced Firefox Referrals which didnt allow the feature to be used by internation users. But they finally allowed the system internationally. But the referral images were all in white color. A few days back some colour image options were introduced. Not so impressive but yes they might help some colorful blogs and sites.

But ultimately they have to make the referrals colour-free and the colour options to the users.

These are the added ones:

For Google its a tradition to have a blog for each of its products and keep its world wide users and the press updated via these blogs. Here you go:

Google Talk – googletalk.blogspot.com
Google Base – googlebase.blogspot.com
Google Reader – googlereader.blogspot.com
Google Sitemaps – sitemaps.blogspot.com
Google Video – googlevideo.blogspot.com
Google Adsense – adsense.blogspot.com
Google Adwords – adwords.blogspot.com
Adwords API – adwordsapi.blogspot.com
Google Desktop – googledesktop.blogspot.com
Blogger Buzz – buzz.blogger.com
Official Google Blog – googleblog.blogspot.com

There is one place to read all these blogs: Googleblogs’s digest
Have a Nice time everybody!

SpreadGoogleTalk, which is one of Google Talk’s many websites related to the product has been hacked and they have simply replaced the index page. Not sure how they do that but have seen it before. If you are not late, you might see the hacked page.

This just proves that nothing is safe on the net. Including the famous sites if they are not in the hands of professionals. SpreadGoogleTalk admins can simply replace the index file with the origianl index file they have but I am sure by now many from my region have seen it. Or am I the first one?

Probably it shoukld be ok when the western world wakesup.
Lets see.