Google's 'mystery doodle'

Google Doodle

  1. Google logo made of dots
  2. Dots scattered by pointer
  3. No doodle for Aussies

FOR a dozen years, Google 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.

In May, it ran a working version of Pac-Man to celebrate the iconic dot-muncher's birthday, and just four days ago, celebrated the discovery of buckyballs by making one of the Os in "Google" an interactive spinning sphere.

But Google has so far left yesterday's doodle a mystery.

It appeared in the US, UK and parts of Europe only, prompting users to speculate about the meaning of this mass of blue, red, yellow and green bouncing balls that skitter across as if allergic to the mouse pointer before settling into the familiar logo pattern.

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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..."

So what's happening this week?

Online, some folks speculate that the doodle marks a celebration of Google's September birthday, but it comes a couple of days too late for that.

Others believe it's a way to show off emerging web coding technology that, among other things, will speed up animations like this one.

Those who do say it marks the arrival of HTML5, the technology at the centre of much-publicised stoush in which Apple refuses to support Adobe's Flash technology on its new devices.

One website reverse-engineered the coding on the animation, however, and claims it was created using new style sheet language CSS3.

Yet more curious searchers note that yesterday marked the day a television pioneer transmitted an image electronically for the first time.

Google is also holding a search-themed media event tonight at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art.

Australian users won't get to see the mystery doodle - at least, not at, but can play with it at for a little while longer.

That in itself is a tiny clue as to what it means. If Google rolls out a doodle in one area, then the doodle is specific to that area only.

Regardless of how the Google doodle caper shakes out, one thing is clear: in the US, at least, the Tuesday after a long weekend is the perfect time for a bouncy distraction.