Search giant Google has sent the internet (and perhaps the universe) into overdrive over the weekend when is posted a mysterious message in code that read: “1.12.12 25.15.21.18 15 1.18.5 2.5.12.15.14.7 20.15 21.19?.
According to the smart people at TechCrunch, the code is a simple pattern ( A=1, B=2, C=3 and so forth), which means the message can be translated to read “All your o are belong to us”.
The blog says this a reference to a humorous internet saying from the early 2000s: “All your base are belong to us,” taken from a Japanese video game.
Most internet commentators decided that the “O” referred to the Google logo over the weekend (see below) which showed a spaceship beaming up the second “O” in Google. This logo then linked to the results page for the phrase “unexplained phenomenon”.
So what does it all mean? There’s plenty of debate out there. One theory suggested it was to commemorate the launch of the Voyager space probe, which it has also been suggested it was to commemorate the launch of the aforementioned video game.
TechCrunch also reckons it might be a reference to the O Campaign, which it says is a “non-profit campaign forging alliances between the public, academia, corporations, and institutions in effort to efficiently channel resources for high-paced development of cutting-edge research in cancer prevention”.
Could Google have donated to such a worthy cause? The mystery continues.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
