We’re very excited about the progress we’re making with crowdmug.  We expect to grant private access to users soon.  Those who are just as excited about the product as we are (well maybe not just as excited but close) will be granted access first.

To get on our list please submit your email on our Launch Rock Page.

Thanks again for all the support!

Cheers.

Just an hour ago I noticed an updated “themed” Google logo that starts off gray in color and progressively obtains its original color as a user types in the search field.

In my experience these are the most interactive Google logos to date.  Typically “themed” Google Logos consist of a static illustration representing some fact.  In the past a user could hover or click on the “themed” logo and a description would be provided.  Today, this feature is not available.

So what does this all mean and why is Google hush hush about it?

Google is hosting a big search event tomorrow which may be how they plan on revealing the reasoning behind these logos.  Nonetheless my opinions of what the logos represent are as follows:

Google has been championing HTML 5 for a long time.  Todays logos represent some of  the possibilities of  HTML 5 and how Google plans on incorporating this new technology.

The latest logo that colors up as you type may represent Google’s preface to a new search feature that processes a users search as they type.  Many users have already claimed to be experiencing this feature so it sounds like Google  has already rolled this version out to selected data centers.

While this may be a “new” feature for Google we at LeapFish released this feature in early 2009 and later removed it in late 2009.  While many users liked the experience of obtaining results as they typed their query, a larger majority of our end users expressed frustration with the constant reload of results.

In addition on a reporting stand point we experienced issues with accurate representations of data such as how many searches a user might be conducting. For example if a user is to experience a new set of results as they are type, then how does the business determine how many searches a user is really conducting?  I type the word “Google Logos’ and for each letter a new set of results is rendered.  How would the application know what is my end term and what is not?  Yes, it could use time (delay in the last typed letter) however this is not a solid method of developing accurate reports for a user.

Various other problems can exist with producing such a feature that need not be discussed in this post, nonetheless I’m eager to see what Google plans on revealing regarding the new interactive logos tomorrow.

Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it that makes a difference.
– Nolan Bushnell

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.
– Ivan Turgenev

Good things come to those who wait…but only those things left behind by those who hustle.
– Unknown