Google Blackout

Oct 22, 2007 by Dan Taylor    No Comments    Posted under: News

BigBlueBottle sent this one over to me with the heading…it’s a puzzle, hint…Javascript. So, doing what any self respecting geek would do, I turned off Java and hit refresh, only to find something even more perplexing: 37* 25? 38?, -122* 5? 57?

The 37* 25? 38?, -122* 5? 57? didn’t take me long to figure out, Longitude and Latitude coordinates. Find a reverse geocoder and plunk them in, and go figure….the coords are an exact match of Google’s headquarters, 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043. OK, so now for the number countdown. This one took me a bit longer. Obviously it’s quite a large number, and running in reverse. So a quick trip to el calculator, divide by 60 to get minutes, again my 60 to get hours, next by 24 to get days, then a quick Google search of “How many days are left in this year“, and low and behold…the numbers match.

So in essence, what we’ve got here is…a dual function expression, one an expression of time, the other an expression of location. But what does it all mean?

Given the recent Lights out SF, and Google’s commitment to it, perhaps they are going to stage another? Perhaps this has something to do with Google’s phone? Perhaps this has nothing to do with Google at all, and the private registrant is having a great laugh watching blog posts and site visits shoot through the roof?