Google doodles into its teenage years

Some kiss a girl or a boy for the first time. Some turn to an illicit beverage, weed or powder. But Google has decided to enter its teenage years with a doodle.

Yes, Google is 13 and how lucky it is.

Like any newly formed teenager, Google attracts suspicion, derision, and not a little commentary with incision. And yet it chooses to remind itself that it is a mere pup, still ready to make the mistakes that pups make, though hopefully not when it comes to social networking.

The doodle itself is a modest affair. Just a cake, some balloons, some candles, and a few party hats. You can't animate it. You can't make it play a jingle.

And to think this company was originally called BackRub. Where would we all be today if we spent half our days back-rubbing? In jail, I shouldn't wonder.

Happy birthday, Google! You have changed our lives! Occasionally, in good ways!

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Google Street View's naked lady

It is well accepted that, if there were commercial gain involved, Google might not be averse to peering inside the most intimate parts of your life.

However, sometimes the company manages to cast its gaze without even realizing just how close to you it is.

I am sure some will be grateful to the always generous Smoking Gun for leading them (in a SFW way) to a street in Miami, where a woman is standing outside her front door naked.

Oh, of course it's on Google Street View. Where else would you find truly unguarded moments, like a 10-year-old playing dead or, indeed, a naked man in an open car trunk?

Oh, you didn't really think I'd post the "before" version, did you?

(Credit: Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

In the Miami case, it appears the lady may have spotted Google's marauding recording vehicle, for in a subsequent shot on the site she attempts to cover up.

The nude pose was still up in all its glory last night. However, this morning it's blurred. What remains is merely a shot of her house and the blurry image of a naked ghost.

There will be those who will wonder what the naked lady might have been doing outside her house in a clothing-optional state. The obvious answer would be that Miami is very hot. In this case, the naked lady appeared to be washing. Though this might have merely been a scene from yet another M. Night Shyamalan movie.

Still, one can only wonder what other gems might still exist on a service that, with its real-time captures of a microcosm of the world, tells us how people really spend their days.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20104288-71/google-street-views-naked-lady/#ixzz1XZNbQTRE

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