“Google60” is an art project to explore distances and heroism in user interfaces.
All scripts and images © 2012 N. Landsteiner, mass:werk – media environments, www.masswerk.at.
New: Type and download your personal punch card at “The Virtual Keypunch”!
Ingredients
• Google REST API – <www.google.com>
• “LP1 Regular” font (specially crafted for this project, based on “M+ M Type-1”) – <www.masswerk.at>
• “M+ M Type-1 Regular” font by the M+ Fonts Project – <mplus-fonts.sourceforge.jp>
• The splash-screen utilizes a photo by AMC (press material) – <www.amctv.com>
• JavaScript, html5, CSS, hand-crafted bytes & pixels
Please mind that the Google Search API has been shut down in 2016. Cached results are provided as a backup for the live search results.
Disclaimer
Neither this page nor the author of this page is in any affiliation with Google Inc. The page accesses search and news services by Google™ in order to provide realistic results in an artistic layout. The last item of any search results always provides a direct link to the corresponding Google™-search as provided by <www.google.com>. This service connects directly to google.com, no search data is transmitted to or from masswerk.at.
The content of this page is not related in any form to the original series by AMC Networks Inc., the allusion to the title “Mad Men” is used as a connotational era-marker only.
The acronym used for the animated program is a pun on “Google” and not authorized by Google Inc.
Usage
Please mind that you may print any results in the appearance of a line-printer's output. — Be sure to enable background-images in the printing dialog for best results.
This page supports a sepecial screen-saver mode, exhibiting the animation of a tape drive unit:
>> www.masswerk.at/google60?tapeunit
For a real data-center-feel (including sound) use "?tapeunit+sound" or url-params: >> ?mode=tapeunit&sound=true
The news search always returns the latest top news, regardless of the search term entered.
Some search terms (like "games" or "space") may show some additional options.
Animations, like the keypunch, are only semi-realistic in order to provide a suitable user interface.
The page fades from the splash-screen some seconds after loading. You may speed up this process by clicking the splash-screen or by hitting a key. To return to the splash-screen, click the logo at the very top.
For further notes on the project, enter "about", or click the white options-button, when inside.
URL-parameters:
• q=<search-term>
• mode=<mode> where <mode> is any of (text|web|images|news)
E.g., call this page as a news-reader: www.masswerk.at/google60?mode=news,
or show an automated search for "mass:werk": www.masswerk.at/google60?q=mass:werk&mode=web
• By popular request: Print a lace card with: www.masswerk.at/google60/?q=*lace
(Mind the leading asterisk! Synonyms: *whoopee, *doily. If you don't know what a lace card is, use the search to learn all about it.)
Notes
The jingle on the title-screen is a paraphrase of the title of an iconic IBM brochure from 1976: “It was to have been the Nuclear Age. It became … The Computer Age. — The evolution of IBM computers“
There was never a IBM system 362 (but of course a system 360). To my knowledge “362” was never used by IBM. (The number was chosen to not make any claims on the authenticity of the controls.)
The animated tape unit loosely resembles the then popular Control Data 607 tape drive.
The sounds used are those of a IBM 129 keypunch, a Teletype Model ASR 33 (which also provided the model for the printing action, while it did not provide bidirectional printing as shown in the animation), and the ambient sounds of a tape unit in an anonymous data center. All visuals are handmade using Photoshop.
Related
• The edition of “Spacewar!” related to this project –
<www.masswerk.at/spacewar> (see page for additional credits)
• Download your personal punch card for free at “The Virtual Keypunch” –
<www.masswerk.at/keypunch>
• “Google BBS Terminal – What Google would have looked like in the 80s” –
<www.masswerk.at/googleBBS>
• “Google-Asteroids – Arcade Style Search” –
<www.masswerk.at/googleAsteroids>
• Contemplate the work of Eliot Noyes, who turned computers into products.
Gossip
One of the most remarkable comments so far was also one of the scarcest.
In fact it was a mere “RT”:
«@timberners_lee
RT @sandhawke: Now this is no hoax. This is exactly what Google used to be like, in the good old days: http://www.masswerk.at/google60/»
So, it's now a documentary … somehow … anyway …
Thanks for all comments, keep on.
2012-12-15: My sympathy and condolences to Newtown/Connecticut.
2013-04-09: “Google60” has been selected as an Official Honoree of the 17th Webby Awards 2013 in the NetArt category.
Donate
Donate (via PayPal) to buy me a Selectric I typewriter (see Eliot Noyes) for my private museum:
Legal
Copyright 2012 Norbert Landsteiner, mass:werk – media environments.
All rights reserved. No copying, no unauthorized providing or hosting.