[HN Gopher] Batman easter egg (click the bat signal)
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       Batman easter egg (click the bat signal)
        
       Author : simonpure
       Score  : 131 points
       Date   : 2022-07-23 20:26 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.google.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.google.com)
        
       | whereisanykey wrote:
       | ... but i always thought Robin laid an egg?
        
       | ribs wrote:
       | Looks sharp on iOS Safari
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | O__________O wrote:
       | Batman, please save Google's search quality!
        
       | loloquwowndueo wrote:
       | It'd be great if Google would fix all their broken crap instead
       | of wasting their resources and my bandwidth with these useless
       | stunts.
        
         | sillyquiet wrote:
         | Whatcha mean useless? There's some serious SEM money behind
         | that from AT&T/Warner/whatever. I am sure Google is enjoying
         | the sales revenue.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | golergka wrote:
       | This makes me miss the 00s, where these easter eggs and Google
       | doodles still felt as something authentic and representing the
       | true Google spirit.
       | 
       | Now I just see it as something that has been vetted in three
       | different meetings by a dozen product owners who are only
       | concerned by climbing a corporate ladder.
        
         | overgard wrote:
         | I don't know, maybe it's less authentic, but it's fun that at
         | least it's still in the DNA of the place. Credit where it's
         | due, even if it's not the same as in the past
        
         | ffhhj wrote:
         | Reading the comments on this easter egg not working for some
         | makes me wonder if it's been A/B tested as every other feature
         | nowadays. We are really approaching a Schrodinger's digital
         | age.
        
       | highwind wrote:
       | Nothing happens on Firefox Mobile on Android.
        
         | VoidWhisperer wrote:
         | Seconding this - does it just not show up on firefox mobile
         | or..?
        
           | DoktorDelta wrote:
           | It works with the "Google Search Fixer" extension for mobile
           | FF
        
         | nabakin wrote:
         | Works for me. I'm using the nightly version though. Maybe that
         | makes a difference? Icon appears at the top right below the
         | search bar.
        
         | teekert wrote:
         | Does work on FF on iOS but of course that is not really FF.
        
         | mysterydip wrote:
         | Works on safari on iOS, for what it's worth.
        
       | jvdvegt wrote:
       | I don't see anything special with Firefox on Android, not logged
       | in to Google :(
        
         | anakaine wrote:
         | Works on Brave. Takes a couple of seconds to start.
        
         | chao- wrote:
         | Same. Firefox on Android. It just takes me to the image preview
         | page.
        
           | someweirdperson wrote:
           | enable "desktop site"; the signal appears in the box on the
           | right.
        
           | lstamour wrote:
           | What you're supposed to click on is an animated bat signal
           | light that rotates and lights up yellow. It's in the upper-
           | right corner of the image carousel in the search results. If
           | you click an image, it'll take you to the image preview, but
           | that's not the Easter egg.
        
             | Maursault wrote:
             | I don't see any preview when I click the bat signal.
             | Instead, page turns a reverse shade scheme, then a
             | silhouette of The Batman ropes and swings across the page
             | over the content. That's pretty much an Easter Egg.
        
               | Arnavion wrote:
               | lstamour is suspecting that chao- clicked on an image
               | preview link above the infocard because they didn't /
               | couldn't see the bat signal image.
        
             | bryanrasmussen wrote:
             | on my FF developer on mac it is in the bottom right corner
             | of the image carousel.
        
         | ldjb wrote:
         | It works on Firefox Android if you install the Google Search
         | Fixer add-on.
         | 
         | https://addons.mozilla.org/android/addon/google-search-fixer
        
           | internetter wrote:
           | Noah get the boat...
        
           | BbzzbB wrote:
           | Oh jeez, the only reason I had to keep Chrome on my phone
           | (besides not being given a choice by Google) was to look up
           | stocks as Firefox didn't display them with the full
           | card/chart (even tho it was obviously a predatory measure by
           | Google rather than a limitation of Firefox Mobile).
           | 
           | What a blessed day. I missed the general cards and synopsises
           | Google made for some searches but couldn't be bothered to
           | change browser (and watch ads) for them (aside from stock
           | charts).
        
           | mFixman wrote:
           | "This add-on is not available on your platform".
           | 
           | Am I missing some way to install more add-ons on Firefox for
           | Android?
        
             | ldjb wrote:
             | If you open the kebab (three vertical dots) menu, select
             | Add-ons then Add-ons Manager, you should see a list of add-
             | ons you can install.
             | 
             | Edit: I've updated my previous comment with a better link.
        
       | closewith wrote:
       | These kind of Easter eggs were way more endearing when Google
       | wasn't the incumbent monopoly powering the surveillance economy.
        
         | thombat wrote:
         | And you could kid yourself that it might just be a labour of
         | love from a single engineer, rather than the product of a
         | marketing team responding to quarterly strategic product
         | directives triggered by engagement metrics.
        
         | echelon wrote:
         | I feel like Google could be "easily" defeated (for a tech
         | titan).
         | 
         | Step 1: get antitrust regulators to break up the
         | search+advertising business from Chrome+Android products. Don't
         | let Google favor Google products.
         | 
         | Step 2: build a better search engine. Can't be hard with all
         | the crap results that Google returns now. If Chrome and Android
         | no longer default to Google, a new engine could grow and
         | thrive.
         | 
         | Even the EU taking action could begin to chip away at this
         | monopoly.
        
           | bryanrasmussen wrote:
           | Ok, but this is currently on the front page of HN
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32205535 "Why Writing
           | Your Own Search Engine Is Hard (2004)"
        
             | ImJasonH wrote:
             | OTOH, 2004 was a long time ago, and a lot has changed.
             | 
             | That article could be a college freshman in the fall.
        
               | bryanrasmussen wrote:
               | >OTOH, 2004 was a long time ago, and a lot has changed.
               | 
               | evidently from discussion of the article not for the
               | better.
               | 
               | >That article could be a college freshman in the fall.
               | 
               | evidently not
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Patterson - also do
               | college freshmen get articles in the ACM?
               | 
               | on edit: misunderstood witticism regarding age of the
               | article to mean that it could have been written by a
               | college freshman - didn't understand why 'in the fall'
               | but now I get it.
        
               | oliveshell wrote:
               | No one said anything about the article's author. The
               | parent commenter was remarking on the age of the article
               | itself, which was published in 2004 and therefore turns
               | 18 this year.
        
               | bryanrasmussen wrote:
               | ok thanks.
               | 
               | on edit: have edited my comment to take this into
               | account.
        
           | mongol wrote:
           | Step 2 is ripe for the right competitor. When Google entered
           | the search engine market, it blew people away by providing
           | incredibly relevant results, compared to the competition. You
           | would be hard pressed to say the same today. However, the
           | same quality of results can still be achieved, I am quite
           | sure. It is "just" a matter of figuring out how, and
           | executing on it. Given how Google found success, I think it
           | is actually just a matter of time until a new challenger
           | makes their entrance.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | mongol wrote:
         | Agreed. I don't know what to make of this. Is it marketing, the
         | result of developer creativity or the outcome of an A/B-test,
         | and why do Google search result quality go downhill so quickly?
        
       | nabakin wrote:
       | If anyone is interested in more of these kinds of easter eggs, I
       | run a subreddit for them at https://reddit.com/r/eastereggs
        
       | overgard wrote:
       | Oh man, that's fantastic. I love it when companies can keep their
       | sense of humor
        
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       (page generated 2022-07-23 23:01 UTC)