I swear some of the features Google adds to Gmail just border on bizarre. As I composed an email this afternoon, I noticed an emoticon option on the formatting bar. Curious, I clicked it to see what it offered in the way of anthropomorphic smiley faces. The usual suspects were there, of course, but the last one in particular — highlighted in the image below — caught my attention.

That swirly brown stuff? It’s poo. Seriously. You know how I know? It’s animated.

Oh, yes. They went there.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin on Proposition 8, an initiative in California that seeks to overturn a ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in the state:

… [It] is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 — we should not eliminate anyone’s fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.

As a gay geek, this warms the cockles of my heart. Way to not be evil!

(via JMG)

Grapefeed Archive: Google Shows its Pride (June 18, 2008)

Google, the search engine we all know and love, turns 10 today. Don’t be evil.

Search for just about any LGBT-related term in Google, and you’ll see a set of rainbow stripes (link via gooster) dividing the regular search results from the paid ones. Note that your browser window has to be wide enough for them to show up; in this case, the window pictured above is 935 pixels wide when viewed at full resolution.

And if you think the image above is doctored, why don’t you go see for yourself?

Here are two from the “Oh no they di’n't” files.

First up: Google.

Now, I love the fact that they recognize days of note, from mainstream holidays to more obscure events, via their homepage Doodles. The overly pinkified Google Docs homepage is a bit much, though. To quote a particular movie, it “looks like it’s been hosed down with Pepto-Bismol.”

There’s way too much attention to detail there. Unstarred documents have little broken hearts next to them. It’s an eye roll inducing spectacle of a page.

After the jump: a facebook ad that made me do a Danny Thomas spit take.

CNet offers up a photo gallery of Google’s new digs in D.C.

• We’re prejudiced, now what?: Scientists now tell us bias toward others may be innate. But that doesn’t mean we have to behave like Bill O’Reilly. [more at Salon]
• Alanis Morissette tunes in to “Radio”: Alanis Morissette has joined the cast of sci-fi novelist Philip K. Dick’s semiautobiographical feature adaptation “Radio Free Albemuth.” [more at Reuters]
• Rosie ambushed by O’Reilly’s crew at signing: Rosie O’Donnell is certainly no stranger to controversy, but who knew she’d find her fair share during a quiet Saturday afternoon book signing? [more at MSNBC]
• Robert Goulet, 73; star of ‘Camelot’ matched idol looks with rich baritone: Robert Goulet, the strikingly handsome singer with the rich baritone who soared to stardom on the Broadway stage in 1960 playing Lancelot in the original production of “Camelot,” died yesterday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. A native of Lawrence, Mass., he was 73. [more at Boston Globe]
• Google pitches Gphones to Verizon: Google is pitching its vaunted Gphone to Verizon Wireless, but the odds are still against the search giant striking a major deal with the second largest phone company in the U.S. [more at CNET]

As I did a Google image search for “mac daddy” (in reference to the “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” episode of the same name), I came across this image:

Go to the full size, and you might see why he’s the mac daddy.

Yesterday, a co-worker told me about a new Google Maps feature: Street View. Apparently, it’s only available for a few select cities San Francisco and parts of New York City. (Please, correct me if I’m wrong.)

Out of curiosity, I decided to check it out. Much to my surprise, some major streets in the Bronx — my hometown — were included. What really freaked me out, though, was seeing the apartment building I grew up in; my mother still lives there.

It’s a nifty feature to use, and I’m curious to see what other features Google will develop for it’s map application. This one was rather unexpected for me, though.

I’ve seen a bit of reaction to Google’s annual April Fools’ Day prank, but did anyone catch Google Paper, the Gmail prank? Did this just totally fly over peoples’ heads or what?