Google's New Bing, I Mean Bling

Tweet

Google has a new feature today. You can't miss it, although it's about as "so what" a new feature as you can imagine.

See for yourself. The Google home page is no longer its signature austere white with a logo and a search box in the middle. It now has a a pretty picture in the background. Yup, just like Bing.

(Oh yes, it is! It has a pretty picture in the background just like you-know-who.)

Oh Lord! And, here is where the commentary begins. File this under "petty reactions to petty new features". There are lots and lots of people in the tech world who just can't resist overanalyzing such nonsense (and I can't resist making fun of them today!).

Here's a roundup of my faves on today's un-news of the day.

"Google made the move following an announcement on Google's blog that it would start allowing users to add custom backgrounds (you get what you are given on Bing!)."

- Rene Millman, from "Google In No Way Is Ripping Off Bing With Background Images"

Always there to help you through a crisis; Lifehacker has a posting on "how-to" turn off the pretty pictures (if you don't like pretty pictures).

Today's Chicken Little award goes to ZDNet's article entitled, "Will Bing-envy Be The Death of Google?" (Oh my!)

And here with a penetrating look into the obvious:

From Business Insider, "Hey Look, Google is Doing It's Bing Impersonation!"

By the way, this a new feature that Google is only playing with today. It's goes back to austere white tomorrow.

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987. @oricchio