Google Doodle Pays Tribute to Pac Man on 30th Anniversary
We all know Google as the search engine we turn to when we have our questions, but it was back in the early days of the internet that a young Sergey Brin and Larry Page came up with an idea that would revolutionize the way people find information on the internet. Today marks the 30th anniversary of Pecman, officially named Google after Brin and Page discovered their first funding from an unknown user named Pecman. In honor of this anniversary, here’s everything you need to know about Pecman and Google!
What is a doodle?
A doodle is an informal term for a drawing or design that’s made quickly, often during the course of a meeting. The word doodle comes from the Dutch word meaning to draw. Google Doodles are usually made by their team of illustrators, animators, and graphic designers. They often have some connection to the day being celebrated but sometimes they’re just for fun!
Google started using doodles in 1999 when they celebrated Charles Minuteman’s 315th birthday with a simple drawing of him. Now, there are more than 2,000 Google Doodles appearing every year. In 2005, they included a regularly-updated Google homepage logo: an area of their site that would be updated daily to celebrate certain dates or seasonal events.
In 2011, they expanded these drawings into a feature called Google Doodles – but although these doodles are now created by illustrators and animators in-house, instead of being outsourced to freelance artists as was previously done by them. When you click on a google Doodle it takes you to information about why that day is special.
The first doodle
Pecman, the first doodle, was created in 1998 by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to announce their new search engine. On October 13, 2018, Google commemorated the 30th anniversary of this historic event with a special illustration featuring a number of iconic Google products.
The first drawing (left) is an homage to the announcement that started it all – the world’s very first doodle. The second one (right) pays tribute to the company’s humble beginnings in a Silicon Valley garage. It features an early incarnation of Alphabet Inc., which succeeded Google after its founding in 2015.
What does a doodle look like?
A doodle is a piece of art that is usually done by a person who does not have any formal training in the art. Doodles are typically done with pen and paper, markers, or paint. The doodle has no predetermined form, so it can be anything from a scribbled shape to an elaborate drawing. A doodle can also be used as decoration or as an embellishment in artwork such as paintings, tattoos, and textiles.
A doodle can be an original design or made up of something that already exists such as letters, shapes, and numbers. It can also include figures from culture and history for decoration purposes.
Read Also: Google is Always Watching: How to Protect Your Browsing Data
A quick introduction to machine learning
Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI) and is an area of computer science that studies how machines learn. Machine learning algorithms are typically divided into two groups, supervised learning, and unsupervised learning. When a machine is trained using supervised learning, the algorithm receives input-output pairs in the form of input data and desired output data.
Unsupervised machine learning involves analyzing data without being told what the desired output should be. Machine-learning algorithms are usually implemented as libraries for use in larger projects and compiled or interpreted languages such as C++, Java, Python, or MATLAB. In recent years, open-source implementations have become more popular.
How does machine learning work?
Doodles are typically done by hand, but Google has been able to harness machine-learning software to create them. The company began with a few doodles created by machines in 2015 and 2016 before launching a dedicated team this year.
This team of five artists has created over 600 doodles so far, with themes that include everything from folk heroes like Yuri Gagarin and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, who were honored for their contributions to women’s rights. Doodles can be made in under an hour because they are only ever intended as temporary features of the search engine results page.
How can machine learning be used for doodles?
Machine learning is a technology that allows computers to learn from data. In the case of Google Doodles, machine learning is used for doodles in order to make them more personalized. For example, if someone searches for their favorite celebrity, the search results will include a recent news story about that person.
Machine learning is also used in an SEO (search engine optimization) company called Semantico, which uses machine learning to determine how people are searching for certain products and then creates an ad accordingly.
