logo

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Microsoft squares off with new logo.

- Scientists discover that music memories are stored in a different part of the brain than the rest.

- Buzzfeed interviews a Google employee whose job required vetting thousands of terrible images a day.

Bathroom break video: Ghostbusters theme on eight floppy drives.

Video voice mail: Matt from Colorado Springs deserves a trucker hat.

Microsoft has a brand-new logo to go with all the brand-spankin' new products it's got coming this fall.

The new design uses the long-standing Windows logo as its starting point, but gone are the wavy edges of that older look. The graphic element of the new logo is one squared-away image: the colors remain the same, and in the same order, but now they're enclosed in a square box. Equilateral sides, 90-degree angles, ta-da!

Overall, the updated logo is both the colorful graphic at the left and the newly refonted "Microsoft" to the right.

The change … Read more

The dating Web site eHarmony got hit by the same group that released a list of LinkedIn member passwords yesterday, so be sure to change your passwords for both if you have accounts.

Buzzfeed also parsed through the list of leaked passwords to reveal some pretty depressing sentiments from employees. While many accounts used overly simplistic passwords like "LinkedIn" or "password1," some of the more disturbing pass phrases include things like "suicide," "solonely," "iwishiwasdead," and "divorce." They're still not very strong in terms of security, so be sure to add a special character or a number during the bleak changeover.… Read more

Twitter has decided to simplify its branding, choosing to only associate itself with the silhouette of its little blue bird. A new, happier-looking blue bird, to boot.

The company announced on its blog today that it's dropping the text, bubbled typefaces and lower case "t" icon from its branding. (See defunct Twitter logos below.)

"Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter," the blog post said.

The bird is created from three sets of overlapping circles (see video below), which Twitter likens to "how your networks, interests and ideas connect and intersect with peers … Read more

Individual privacy is a hot topic in the social-networking world right now. But have people thought about privacy of the companies, such as protection of their brand, logo, and trademarks?

This is something Facebook is looking into. In the recent revisions (PDF) of its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, the social-networking site is now saying that account holders "will not use" the word "Book."

That's right, Facebook is trying to trademark the word "Book."

If these revisions are approved, when users sign onto Facebook they will be agreeing not to use that word … Read more

Microsoft unveiled a new logo for the upcoming Windows 8, featuring a clean one-color design that leans heavily on its new Metro user interface.

The new logo looks a bit like the inverse of the flag of Finland. It's a blue background with a thin white cross in the middle, making the logo look like a window. The window is angled slightly. That was done in order to give a sense of motion "aligning with the fast and fluid style you'll find throughout Windows 8," Sam Moreau, principal director of user experience for Windows, noted in a blog post … Read more

Barbie is a digital camera, Angry Birds flock to Facebook, and iPad 3 rumors hint at 4G connection speeds.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

If you are on Twitter, you most likely read about the death of Steve Jobs in the numerous tweets that seemed to take over the service for hours. You may have also noticed, or have even taken part in, sending a tweet with nothing more than an Apple logo icon, as a miniature tribute to the greatest visionary of our time.

Read on to find out how to get the Apple logo icon on your iOS device, as well as some other special characters that iOS and Emoji don't provide. … Read more

In preparation for Chevrolet's centennial celebration, set for November 3, 2011, GM Korea gathered 1,143 of its customers in Pyeongchang, Gangwon, to create the largest Chevrolet bow tie and set a new Guinness World Record.

The motorcar mosaic was made up of Spark, Aveo, Cruze, Orlando and Captiva models and measured 688 feet (209.9 meters) in length and 221 feet (67.6 meters). The design was recognized as the Largest Car Logo.

The Chevy brand launched in Korea on March 1, 2011, with a nationwide brand unveiling event in Seoul. Since then, GM Korea has introduced several … Read more