# What's up with Google's home page today (Sept. 7th)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 7, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911 "2010-09-07T12:45:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/1 "2010-09-07T12:45:46Z")
Mousing over, which usually IDs theme pages, doesn’t seem to be working. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/2 "2010-09-07T12:57:20Z")
Doesn’t seem to be available in IE(7). Which makes me think it’s a showcase of HTML 5 (?). Looks like Flash, but it’s HTML. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/3 "2010-09-07T13:05:26Z")
What theme page? All I see is the regular Google page. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/4 "2010-09-07T13:09:54Z")
It’s a bunch of circles that bounce around then resolve to the Google logo – but when you mouse near the circles, they scatter. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/5 "2010-09-07T13:12:37Z")
Ah, [apparently it’s their birthday](http://www.google-logos.com/googles-8th-birthday-7th-september-2006.html). (Explanation, and the original heads-up on the page, should be credited to Stephen Fry, via Twitter.) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/6 "2010-09-07T13:17:25Z")
According to [Searchengineland](http://searchengineland.com/google-balls-logo-not-googles-birthday-49965), it’s not related to the company anniversary. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/7 "2010-09-07T13:17:47Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > What theme page? All I see is the regular Google page. Ah. Apparently it’s [http://google.co.uk](http://google.co.uk) ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/8 "2010-09-07T13:20:40Z")
You have to click on one bubble of each color to get the explanation. It’s totally worth the effort though – awesome. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/9 "2010-09-07T13:25:11Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > What theme page? All I see is the regular Google page. > > Ah. Apparently it’s [http://google.co.uk](http://google.co.uk) I was originally sent to the UK one, but I checked the US one before I posted, and it seems to be there for me as well. (Firefox, if that makes a difference, which _jjimm_ seems to think it does.) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/10 "2010-09-07T13:36:44Z")
How the heck are you supposed to click on them? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/11 "2010-09-07T13:48:40Z")
if you leave your cursor where the dot will be, you can click on it when it settles. Not that anything happened when I’d done it, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/12 "2010-09-07T13:51:35Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > How the heck are you supposed to click on them? It takes time, but it can be done. I clicked every color (and each shade of every color, to be sure) and nothing happened. If anybody needs me, I’ll be stalking Hal Briston for a while, after which I will have my revenge. ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/13 "2010-09-07T13:58:02Z")
> [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](#): > > It takes time, but it can be done. I clicked every color (and each shade of every color, to be sure) and nothing happened. > > If anybody needs me, I’ll be stalking Hal Briston for a while, after which I will have my revenge. Thank you! Someone needs to do it and I’m all busy having an acid flashback ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/14 "2010-09-07T14:47:10Z")
Huh. It is a mystery. > [@](#): > > The search giant’s logo is made up of dozens of colored dots that move around when the user arrives on the page or moves the mouse or browser window — kind of like a particle simulator in primary colors. But nobody seems to know exactly why. > > The best guess is that it has something to do with a press event about search that Google has scheduled for Wednesday. Google told the Search Engine Land blog that the logo is simply “fast, fun and interactive, just the way we think search should be.” From [here](http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/09/07/todays-google-logo-whats-up-with-the-dots/). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/15 "2010-09-07T14:48:07Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > You have to click on one bubble of each color to get the explanation. It’s totally worth the effort though – awesome. I hate you. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/16 "2010-09-07T14:52:38Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > You have to click on one bubble of each color to get the explanation. It’s totally worth the effort though – awesome. > [@jjimm](#): > > I hate you. He’s finally taking revenge on us for…you know. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/17 "2010-09-08T01:56:15Z")
I’d seriously considered putting something in the edit box that would give it away, but I decided to side with evil on this one. Totally worth it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/18 "2010-09-08T02:13:04Z")
[http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/386/cliph.jpg](http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/386/cliph.jpg) Huh? What bubbles? ---
**Author:** ![RhapsodyInBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RhapsodyInBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RhapsodyInBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/19 "2010-09-08T03:35:04Z")
> [@GHO57](#): > > [ImageShack - Best place for all of your image hosting and image sharing needs](http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/386/cliph.jpg) > > Huh? What bubbles? [These bubbles](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuNNcdD6G9A&feature=player_embedded#%21). ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911/20 "2010-09-08T03:51:18Z")
For those that aren’t seeing it, you need to have IE8, Firefox, Chrome or another browser that supports HTML 5. IE7 and earlier and other non-supported browsers will see only the regular Google logo. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-googles-home-page-today-sept-7th/552911.md?page=2)