Google Starts Off Holiday Doodle Series

Google has been using logo 'doodles' for years now to mark special occasions and celebrations and lately it looks like it's stepping up the process. So, it's not much of a surprise that Google is sporting a holiday related logo already and, in fact, it's the first from a series of images which the search engine will apparently roll out during this period.

To start things off, Google is now displaying an image of a post card over the regular logo, though not the usual snow, Christmas trees or reindeers but rather sand and palm trees. It's not completely out of theme though, as the palm tree is decked out with Christmas lights. Moving the mouse over the doodle reveals a note from the company wishing “Happy Holidays from Google!”

Clicking on the doodle doesn't lead to the usual search results page but rather to a page listing the Google logos for the 2009 holidays. Seeing as this is the first, it's the only one listed at the moment, but the page does indicate that others are coming. The next one could be coming as early as tomorrow and we'll have to wait and see how long the series goes. What's more, Google may have a few more surprises ready as it gets closer to Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Google's homepage has another interesting trick up its sleeve, introduced a short while back. Clicking on the “I'm feeling lucky” button without filling out anything in the search box will reveal a huge counter just below the central elements. It's counting down, second by second, and the number is now below 1,000,000. It's not much of a mystery though, a few simple calculations reveal that it's the number of seconds left until 2010. Completely useless, but certainly geeky enough to make most people at Google proud.