gor[b] Paul Gorbould: Words and Pictures

Google box

Caption, courtesy of my boss:
"Mr. Gorbould, your search results have arrived."

----------------

I work in one of those few environments where Google can be a physical thing, not just something is cyberspace (or, to my dismay, a generic verb.)

CBC.ca licenses its search engine technology from Google, and that deal includes hardware, such as servers and um, Systems, and Googlinators.

OK, I'm out of my depth, but my point is that the cardboard box shown here contained something real, with mass and volume and upon which you could rest a coffee cup. (For those of you wondering how Google actually makes money from its "free" service, it isn't just advertising, and it's free to you, not us.) Stuff that comes in boxes, just like research results used to, once upon a time.

I remember dropping by Comdex a few years ago (or one of those "internet shows" that used to grace the convention centre but don't any more) and wondering how they filled a whole trade floor with The Internet. I mean, there was really nothing to see or smell or touch, but the place was packed with its trappings. A zillion computer screens, showing computer stuff that was supposed to be superior to the computer stuff one booth over. Lots of paper detailing same, and some cutesy giveaways like little beanbag Intel guys in radiation suits.

But no... product. Nothing I could buy and then explain to my wife where the money went. As a web guy, I understood this stuff, but it still felt like an assload of money tied up in magic beans and clothes for the emperor.

Which brings me back to the Google box, which presumably housed the Google Box the Ops guys beside me talk about once in a while. Just cardboard, but the writing on the outside made it cool cardboard.

Still, I can beat that. Here's a similar box (which once housed my cable modem) which my daughters customized for me last week. If you don't read Kindergarten, it very clearly states that the box is in fact a spaceship. Now that's a cool box.

Not just cool - most likely it's worth a fortune to somebody, and I'll be releasing a public stock offering shortly. See, I learned a thing or two from Google after all.

(But I'll need the Googlinator to map my trip from Google Earth to Google Moon...)