Interesting Google logo surprise when I turned on my computer today.

Is there some simple (i.e., understandable by me) explanation, or is it some sort of magic?

You might need to right-click and select "View Image" to see it clearly.

tanstaafl.

You are logged into Google (as seen by the upper left) and have given them your birthdate at some point. Looks like they now use this to give you a custom doodle on the special day.

Exactly. They've been doing this for several months now. I think I first heard about it on one of the TWiT podcasts about 5 months ago.

Doug recently joined Google Plus. I know this because Google sent me an email to that effect, since his Gmail address was in my contact list. It was at that point he must have typed in his birthday. The whole thing is simultaneously cool and creepy.

You may now commence the inevitable thread about privacy issues.

I was thinking it, but wasn't going to say anything. I swear!

The classic Google straddling line! This is what Google Now is based on


I think that was inevitable right from the start.

For the birthday stuff, I don't find it that creepy. I get birthday e-mails and postcards from all sorts of companies, and even this board displays a cake icon. It's information I provided willingly, or as a requirement for a service.

Google crosses the creepy line for me when they don't ask and just figure personal information out. I know it's possible, it's just annoying to me that they find doing it and then acting on it acceptable. And still glad the FTC/EU has smacked them hard multiple times. That mentality leads to the bad things like the Buzz leaking data incident.

Agreed. A birthday is really easy information to find these days.


Surprise: I agree! When Google messes up, I want to see them get smacked around for it, like I would with any company.

I just don't like when things get taken too far in the other direction and people get crazy for silly reasons.