Google: Making Bonkers Ideas a Reality Since 1996

So I got an email a couple of days ago from the PR firm of the mighty google asking if I could do a blog post for them for a nominal fee. Why the leviathan that is google is asking an anonymous blogger like me to put the word out for them I have no idea. The cause they are promoting however looks squeaky clean with a cherry on top from where I’m standing so I’ve gladly accepted to write this sponsored post. I won’t make a habit of it and if they appear they will be clearly signposted. I’m not a fan of adverts but servers don’t pay for themselves unfortunately (Go adbusters).

(Not to scale)

Heaven knows where they got the idea from..

Edit: Have replaced a video of “the cog” with original video by Swiss artists Fischli & Weiss, thanks to Joanna for sending that in!

Speaking of google (and while they’re watching), I’d like to congratulate them once again on their outstanding April 1st revelry.  Yesterday we saw the introduction of the amazing new google motion and the groundbreaking google translate for animals, they even turned youtube sepia for a day. That’s commitment. It certainly had more people fooled than my new Olympic sport, although almost all the other information that article is 100% factual. I say almost.)

In all seriousness though none of these pranks are actually that far from reality. A research group in Brighton is currently recruiting participants for trials of a product that turns video signal in to soundwaves which the human brain reorganises and produces as a visualisation in the mind’s eye, yes really. The Kinect device is one of many 3D recorders appearing on the market this year that could fulfil the tasks joked about by google motion and has already been strapped to drones and used for 3D landscape topography. Finally, do you remember google’s old april fools day recruitment page for their space mission? Well they haven’t gone that far but they are now doing their level best to create topographic maps of the solar system and support (real) space exploration.

If you are under the age of 18 and you’ve got an idea, however bonkers it may seem you can now pitch it to google and you never know, it might just become a reality. You’d also be in for a chance to win $50,000, a trip to the Galapagos Islands and a go working at a selection of leading scientific companies. In conclusion, science is cool kids, go do it.

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