Google’s new logo is a barcode which, as far as we can tell, says “Google.” Today is the 57th anniversary of the first patent on the bar code. Inventors Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver filed the patent on October 1949, and it was granted, No. 2,612,994 (pdf), on October 7, 1952. The original patent was for a system that would encode data in circles (a bulls eye pattern), so that it could be scanned in any direction.
The barcode on the Google homepage is Code 128 encoded, which is a standard way of encoding ASCII character strings (ie. A-Z, a-z, 0-9, etc.) into a barcode. It would be safe to assume that Google used their own open source barcode project, ZXing, to generate the barcode. The same library is used in Android for barcode recognition.
The barcode is a technical innovation that has become an often unnoticed, yet essential, part of modern day life. The format is a global standard, where a scanner from any manufacturer can interpret almost any conforming barcode from anywhere (assuming it can interpret the encoding format – which is UPC in the case of products, and Code128 or something else for other applications, depending). The barcode is a great example of why uniform protocols and standards serve a greater good for everybody, and the same lesson certainly applies to the web.
We had to double check that the barcode in this instance was correct (some of the geeks here insist the barcode isn’t 100% correct), since Google has previously messed things up when they try and talk geek dirty.
Google regularly changes its logo for holidays and other special events. Here’s their 10th birthday logo from last year, for example. More recently they celebrated Gandhi’s birthday. Google hosts some of their holiday logos here, and fan created logos here.
Congrats. You managed to write a techcrunch entry that doesn’t mention the iphone. I was sure you’d manage it even in an article totally devoid of text.
Easy! If you don’t like it, unsubscribe to TechCrunch’s RSS/Twitter.
I’m just thinking…If we could do away with one Google post and one Twitter post in a week, we would be reviewing 104 extra startups in a year..
Those many people would feel happy! :-S
How about reviewing 52 extra setups and writing 52 more articles about India per year?
You have to admit, a post about Google’s daily image is about as lame a topic as it gets…
I would like to unsubscibe all cesar torres comments, they’re too pussified.
I think you mean that didn’t mention iPhone OR twitter.
Sorry, forgot about twitter.
Techcrunch is great but I’d love it even more if they toned down the iphone and twitter talk and stopped putting down their competition. I guess it is just a blog after all and not impartial.
But still your best tech source out there
it’s not a tech source, it is VC info source, they almost always get the tech wrong. They are definately hacks when it comes to tech.
kbool = today’s biggest wigger… full of complaints and gripes… go back to ellis island and go back to poland.
google changed their logo? stop the presses! they never change their logo!!!
we need an article everytime they move a button or change their logo
We get an article every time they move a button or change their logo. Wake up.
Kbcool is absolutely right. Constantly going on and on and on about iPhone and Twitter can get pretty annoying at times. And as readers, we have the right to voice our opinion, rather than be expected to ‘unsubscribe’ if we’re finding faults. Nothing wrong with pointing things out and suggesting improvements.
Gandhi was a great politician. Nothing more, nothing less. Just like business is for money, politics is for power.
As a guy who read some his books and journals, all I can say is: your ignorance is flabbergasting. Think about this for the future: if you think you can sum up an individual’s life and achievement in one sentence, then that’s probably as much as you truly know about that person.
Unbelievable.
techcrunch t-shirt to the first person who has this barcode tattooed somewhere on their body
http://imgur.com/3w1Wf.jpg
Ah you got there before me
PS wouldn’t load *continues list of excuses*
Did it
http://tinypic.com/r/2a82hog/4
Hmm, it kinda matches up, right?
http://www.goog...s/barcode09.gif
*It’s not Biro I tell you!*
http://bathory....ape-barcode.jpg
yeah, the check digit would be correct if it was Code128A, not B. And the existence of lower case sides with the start digits. Still great logo…
Coincidentally, a barcode reading app (RedLaser, by TechStars alums Occipital) HAS been one of the hottest items on the iPhone’s AppStore in recent weeks…
I just saw this myself, and sent a screen shot to all my buddies.
The positive for me is that Google still manages to bring personality into their branding despite their massive growth.
ahahaah I love google.
yup, an iPhone scanner app should decode it
That’s really a good one…
I wonder if you scan it at the supermarket, what would come up
http://www.trad...spx?symbol=goog
nothing, because most supermarket scanners speak UPC while this is C128.
They should put ‘G O O G L E’ at the bottom of the barcode like the UPC number just to avoid confusion.
I just hope the search results don’t appear as barcodes.
+1
Hilarious
Michael, “Gandhi” is spelled wrong.
It’s Gandhi, not Ghandi.
Not only that, the founder of the barcode was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2009.
yep barcode is correct, I just scanned it with a scanner, it came up as google
Indeed it does come up as google, but incorrectly: gOOGLE
Try it!
That is NOT a cool barcode logo….THIS is a cool barcode logo! http://twitpic.com/kkm3d
actually this particular Google doodle logo is completely different from all the doodle’s i have seen before, dosenot look like google at all.
Usually doodle logos are edited forms of Google’s original logos…
The relevance of Google’s home page is only gonna decline with time . The reason is not hard to guess: browsers with integrated search boxes.
If you scan it with a G1 it comes up with the result “Found Plain Text Google”. So I guess they got it right this time.
Pair this with the new Google.com test feature MG wrote about earlier and this is what my google.com looks like!
http://twitpic.com/kkjy6
Totally freaked me out!
Does this looks good???
I don’t like it a lot.. Usually, Google uses creative ideas for doodles that are decorated Google Logos. I guess that they use this one for Android phone users and not because of lack of creativity. But after all, it’s Google!
I’m going to follow suit and generate a barcode of my name for all my email signatures today! I found a website:
http://www.idau...earservlet.html
@ImNikos
Love that barcode generator! Thx for the link.
Thanks for the find
See this logo today, awesome. Google maybe the first and the only company now change their logo regularly. It doesn’t harm their brand and even make them more famous.
Is this barcode logo temporary only just for the celebration? If not. they must update all the google products as well. That would be a total mess. I should teach my kids to learn how to read barcodes.
love Google
great day to celebrate the barcode,im celebrating my birthday,october 7,1952 have a great day barcode.
On a related note, in Japan QR codes, a more sophisticated version of barcodes are widely spread and all phones (not only smartphones) are equipped with QR code readers.
They can be used for anything like URLs, music, images, email addresses etc. Quite amazing.
http://en.wikip...rg/wiki/QR_Code
thanks u Mr.Michael Arrington. it’s great..
I shocked when open google.
Thanks for information
The barcode is a great example of why uniform protocols and standards serve a greater good for everybody, and the same lesson certainly applies to the web.
can somebody tell me, how we can read this logo (google bar code logo)
kailash just put your mouse on logo so you can read about them
http://www.stellarinfo.co.in/
Google always amaze’s me ………….what other company can afford, (NOT COST) to change their logo every now and then to celebrate various events…?
Normanly the corporate RULEBOOK 101 says always always always stay and force your brand ID EVERY CHANCE you get.
Once again Google proves maybe Rulebook 102 should now be written lol.
And SHARFAH
(Message Num – October 7th, 2009 at 12:14 am)
Thanks for the link I will enjoy.
You are sooo F****ing right!!! It goes agains everything that was instilled in our brains when it comes to branding!!!! LOVE YOUR COMMENT! THOMAS J. i was shocked when i opened google too. I just love that they’re able to get away with this and piss ppl off confuse ppl and still be acceptable!!!
lol thank you STEPH
does that bar code really decrypt to Google?
How can you tell the barcode says Google? Still, nice to see them mixing it up.
Looks to me like “google messed again”
here is an online barcode generator and even to my normal human eyes it seems WRONG.
http://www.moro...code-generator/
It says “Google” not “Barcode.”
It’s a generator, replace “barcode” with “google” and press submit. a new barcode pic will comeup.
here is a static image for you
http://i34.tiny...com/14dg4qt.png
“see this interesting article for more history”
You didn’t insert any hyperlink
I like the bars i get tried of looking and the word google I hope that it stays for a long time .
I agree with KBcool on that comment. Also, the UPC digital bar code has lately picked up popularity with musicians who are looking to sell digital music albums. This could also work really well with eCommerce in general. I like the idea
Looks really cool !
Pretty sweet. Google finds time to celebrate the barcode’s birthday but not recognize those heros on 9-11 or Veterans day…
Use http://zxing.org/w/decode.jspx to decode Google’s barcode.
I didn’t read all the comments, so I don’t know if someone already said this. If you print out the bar code that is Google’s logo today and then scan it with a Cuecat (declawed of course), it does indeed translate to Google — or gOOGLE, more precisely. At least, when I scanned it while my cursor was blinking on the Google search box, that’s what appeared in the box. The search results that came up were not quite identical to the ones you’d see if you just clicked on the logo.
Pretty awesome. My company has been experimenting with QR codes, which I think many national brands are starting to experiment with as well. If Japan is any indication of things to come, QR codes will breathe new life into print. The possibilities for QR code uses are wide and varied. It seems the technology and infrastructure is finally in place in the US to support QR code technology. I hope this gets a lot of people downloading the free readers that are out there.
The barcode reads:
Google
http://tinypic.com/r/2lk4a4y/4
thanks for the links,
from the other links I posted, I generated an image with text “Google” and now it compares well.
http://i33.tiny....com/9qbwie.png
sorry this is reply to HG above http://www.tech...comment-3023642
I printed it and opened notepad on a PC with a barcode scanner. It certainly says Google. I think folks who came up with gOOGLE have a configuration difference–likely flipping a bit.
Popular scanner setups appear to the PC as keyboard input. When we are scanning in form identification to pull up a record, the cursor happens to be in the field where this input belongs.
If I open notepad and scan, the PC thinks I simply typed it. Older models of our scanners actually plugged into the keyboard port, and you then plugged the keyboard into a pigtail on the scanner.
Anyway, fun stuff. And I think the idea was to promote celebration of the invention of the bar code; not begrudge this site for talking about Google’s home page. Lighten up folks.
seriously…..free marketing for google’s home page does only damage to any perception of this being an objective news source
A facebook group for logo collectors:
http://www.face...gid=17314709661
Hey, Nik Cubrilovic,
Are you serious? dude thats not funny, What if it really was the Mark of the Beast, (It’s not, But what if it was) Do you not know that you would be held Accountable for getting anyone that tattooed that thing on their body?
Just one More Person that has not thought of Any Consequences to their Actions.
(You-Nik Cubrilovic)
Don’t think that the Mark of the Beast will not happen, It’s Coming, Look at the Economy.
Don’t be so Eager to accept the whole Bar code thing.
Yes, I know that a lot of People might be Laughing right now at my Message, but those are more likely to get the Mark of the Beast, and not even Know it. If you accept the Mark of the beast, You are Doomed to Hell, Right along side of Satan Himself.
Shouldn’t it be “fan-created logos”?
When scanned with Barcode Scanner on a MyTouch 3G, the result was “Google”.
Android all the way!