The Google 'Les Paul' doodle story was the most-read story of the year 2011
We look back on 2011 and guide you through the ten most read stories on Silicon Republic.
1. Google honours Les Paul with playable guitar home page
Google went all gone all musical on its current home page with an interactive doodle in the shape of an electric guitar that allows you to play and record your own riffs. The addictive doodle cost the world 5.3m hours of lost productivity.
2. ‘We’re not attacking Westboro Baptist Church’ – Anonymous
Anonymous claimed the Westboro Baptist Church, the extremist group known for picketing funerals, posted an open letter against their church under Anonymous’ banner as a publicity stunt.
3. NASA edges closer to finding a new Earth for humans
Feeling weary of hearing terms like ‘budget’, ‘downgradings’ and ‘bond markets’? Well, maybe Kepler-22b, a new planet NASA has discovered, will offer some hope. Apparently, this planet offers the best scope yet for a new human abode, other than planet Earth.
4. Apple plans ambitious new ‘spaceship’ campus
The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs submitted plans to build a new 150-acre campus in Cupertino, California, saying it could create “the best office building in the world.”
5. Freddie Mercury Doodle by Google celebrates rock star’s life
Google created a new, interactive, animated Doodle that celebrates the life of one of rock’s greatest performers, Queen’s Freddie Mercury. The Doodle features a large play button that kicks off Don’t Stop Me Now as the animation cycles through iconic photos and moments of Mercury’s career.
6. PlayStation Network will be back online within a week
Sony suffered a massive security breach during the summer with the personal details of 77m users, including credit card details, falling into the hands of a hacker.
7. US plans ‘internet kill switch’ amid Middle East turmoil
In what had to be the ultimate irony or simply bad timing, the United States was in the midst of revisiting the creation of an internet kill switch to defend against cyber warfare just as Egypt moved to block internet access to stem free speech amid the turmoil in that country at the beginning of 2011.
8. Google’s ‘Let it Snow’ Easter egg causes a blizzard of searches
The words ‘Easter egg’ and ‘festive’ don’t often belong together, but Google’s way of turning search festive via a software surprise has led to a virtual blizzard of searches for ‘Let it Snow’.
9. Digital Christmas: Review – Samsung Galaxy Ace
Affordable Android smartphones will be in demand this Christmas, so we took a look at the budget Samsung Galaxy Ace
10. HP Touchpad fire sale beginning in Ireland
The fire sale of HP’s abandoned Touchpad spread to Irealnd; a Harvey Norman store representative said that it dropped the price of the 16GB model to €99 and sold their entire stock of the tablet across all of its stores.
