Apologies for the sporadic posting. More posts are definitely coming soon, hopefully with some kind of regularity.
Everyone is falling back in love with the big G, with good reason.
Attribute it to the sweet "circles" UI in Google+, the new (hidden-for-now) Gmail design, the massive design change rollouts, or any number of specific visual/UX tweaks they've been pushing out at an unprecedented rate. More than anything else, I think it's evidence of a welcome return of joy and whimsy back to Google products. With Larry Page's CEO promotion earlier this year, Google is returning to its fun nerd roots -- a change best seen through four small apps they've launched recently:
A Google a Day -- a scavenger hunt acted out through Google search.
I love this, and I think it's where the extreme popularity and worldwide love of Google's brand comes from. They have always been, and also only hire, interesting geeks that make cool stuff to change the world. That's who Larry and Sergey are, and now that Larry's more formally in charge, these moves and experiments make sense.
None of these apps have been widely promoted, but they're a return to form. And in a time of heavy competition from Facebook and Apple, these innocuous, quirky traits will be how Google keeps its cultural approach and succeeds.