Happy New Year says Google Doodle

Google's last Doodle of the year 2011 carries Happy New Year wishes for search giant's millions of users across the globe. The colourful Doodle has the letters in the word "Google" seemingly attending a New Year party, wearing decorative caps and blowing trumpets. The second 'G' of the letter 'Google' wears the year 2012's goggles. A click on the logo takes users to a page which has all the Happy New Year-related links.

Google's Doodle last week featured a colourful neon design with images of a snowflake, Santa Claus, bell, snowman, candle and a gift box on a black background, wishing its users "Happy Holidays". A click on the Doodle took users to holiday-related links like tips for holiday, holiday greetings and budget tours.

Google recently revamped its Doodle site allowing users to purchase items featuring Google Doodles. The update brings the page into line with Google's other socially-enhanced sites and enables users to share their favorite logos on social networking websites.

The new site features over 1,000 doodles, some of which include a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process and links to the interactive versions.

Google Doodles are the decorative changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists and scientists. The first Google Doodle was created by Larry Page and Sergy Brin Google in the year 1998 to mark the celebrations of the Burning Man Festival. Google currently has over 1000 Doodles.

'Mayor of Silicon Valley' Robert Noyce gets Google doodle

Robert Norton Noyce, or Bob as he was known, has been honoured with a Google doodle on what would've been his 84th birthday. And it seems very fitting, considering his tech achievements. Noyce co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957, and then Intel in 1968.

His partner in founding Intel was Gordon Moore, and Noyce initially wanted to call the company Moore Noyce, but decided otherwise because he thought it'd sound like "more noise".

Noyce was the engineer credited (along with Jack Kilby) as inventing the integrated chip, which paved the way for the microchips that power today's computers and devices.

He's responsible for kickstarting the computer revolution, giving Silicon Valley its name, as well as being the original tech entrepreneur. He and Moore cultivated a relaxed working culture at Intel, shunning luxuries -- an example followed by Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Born in 1927 in Burlington, Iowa, he was inventing from a young age, making a radio from what he found lying around at home, as well as adding motors to his sledge.
Noyce attended the Mecca of technology, MIT, and a few years after graduating founded Fairchild Semiconductor. He filed a patent for a 'Semiconductor Device and Lead Structure' in 1959.

He was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1987 by Ronald Reagan, and two years later George Bush inducted him to the Business Hall of Fame.
In 1990, shortly before his death, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award during the bicentennial celebration of the Patent Act.

Other accolades include the IEEE Medal of Honor, the National Medal of Science, and being elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. And now this Google doodle, of course.

This year's tech-related doodles have included Robert Bunsen, steam pioneer Richard Trevithick and sci-fi genius Stanislaw Lem. Bing recently got in on the act with its own animated home page.