Google News — Google says ‘#$%*’ to Microsoft, ‘Eheeeehhee’ to Yahoo! — Schmidt leaves Apple’s BoD — G buys On2 — Close Chrome with UI Designer’s Face
RARE GOOGLE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN
On the cusp of the big Micro-hoo!/Yah-soft partnership announcement, Google launched a a series of billboards which promote Google Apps and makes sure everyone knows that Microsoft Office sucks. The billboards will be erected in Boston, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco with a new Tweet-esque message every day this month from a fictitious IT manager who seems a hair short of going postal or pedo in the web ads above.
THE SINISTER GOOGLE LAUGH
Google knows they are so hot that they don’t even have to try to write cohesive copy for the ads they place on Yahoo! Search (above). It’s like the mocking shriek of the Wicked Witch of the West on the World Wide Web.
GOOGLE KNOWS VIDEO
The Big G announced today that they have acquired On2 Technologies, who create compression codecs for companies such as Adobe, Sony, Sun Microsystems. I smell a YouTube upgrade.
NO HARD FEELINGS OVER APPLE’S GOOGLE VOICE REJECTION LAST WEEK
Yah right. Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently resigned from Apple’s Board of Directors after three years of power meetings and man-hugs. As explained in a statement (below) from Apple CEO Steve Jobs, conflict of interest has created a rift.
Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful. Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.
DAMN THIS ANONYMITY!
Being a User Experience / Interface Designer is a thankless job. I know, because I am one. Glen Murphy, one of Google Chrome’s UI Designers/Front End Engineers, probably privy to the alienation of anonymity, possibly a bit jealous or inspired by the New Yahoo! UE team interview vids plastered prominently on their Front Page, or was just feeling punchy and bored, decided to place his face in the space where the close “x” icon is usually found in last night’s Linux build. This build is for devs only, so don’t expect it in the new Chrome beta version released today. Last year, the Chrome team made a minimalist comicbook for their launch promo, which featured a caricature of Murphy.
I think it’s an awesome trend to infuse some humanity and humor into these high-level projects (i.e.: a UE Designer increased the pagination to 11 on the Yahoo! SRP as a Spinal Tap reference), and give credit where credit is due. Even though this version is ephemeral, I give it a yay in a big way.
