Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. Legacy Archives

Google gets its homepage into the Halloween spirit

Add as a preferred source on Google

Google is clearly in the Halloween spirit, if their homepage is any indication. Today’s festive Google Doodle might be the coolest thing Google they’ve ever done to celebrate a holiday, not that this is the first time they’ve ever done such a thing.

If you just head over to Google’s home page, you’ll find something different about the space right above the search dialog box in the middle of the screen. The standard Google logo is replaced with an animated witch, crooked nose with wart and all, reading from a tome entitled “Google.” When you press the Play button on the animation, an eerie chime sounds, and the witch goes from reading the tome to stirring a cauldron filled with a mysterious, bubbling green substance, complete with kooky bubbling noises and ambiance.

Recommended Videos

From here, you get to add stuff to the witch’s brew. You can toss in a bone, a skull, an apple, or what appears to be a blue potion of some sort. Depending on the combination of items you toss into the witch’s cauldron, the scene will shift again. We don’t want to spoil anything for you, but it’s pretty freaking neat.

Like we said, Google has a history of acknowledging major holidays on its homepage, but this could be one of the coolest things they’ve done to ever tip their hat to any particular day of note. So before you get ready to take your kid trick-or-treating or masquerade as a kid and go yourself, pop onto Google’s homepage and check out what they’ve done. You won’t be disappointed.

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

Konrad Krawczyk
Former Computing Editor
Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…
Google changes its Workspace privacy promise on ads, and opting out limits Personal Intelligence
Smarter AI answers, with a side order of ads.
AI mode in Google Search

There’s no such thing as a free recommendation. Google’s latest policy tweak is a clear reminder. Google has long promised that your Gmail, Drive, and Google Photos content never helps it personalize ads. 

However, since October 16, 2026, its privacy policy adds a catch. The promise lapses if you let other ad-showing Google services use that content. That means using Personal Intelligence, an opt-in tool that lets Google’s AI search read your connected apps, does exactly that (via Google).

Read more
OpenAI is locking its most advanced AI models offline after a string of security scares
OpenAI’s fake internet is a safety fix and an admission.
openai-anthropic-logo-on-screen

Part of me is relieved that an AI lab is hitting the brakes. The other part wishes it hadn’t taken real incidents to get there.

OpenAI said Friday that its most advanced models will now train without live internet access. Instead, they’ll practice on a cached, simulated copy of the web.

Read more
Your Windows touchpad is about to make scrolling long pages way less tiring
Three touchpad tricks that make long documents feel a lot shorter.
Windows new scrolling feature

Today I learned about a touchpad tip that I think every Windows laptop user should know. Microsoft shared it as its Friday Windows tip of the day, and it’s all about scrolling.

If you read long documents, browse webpages, or write code on a Windows laptop, you know the drill. You swipe, lift your fingers, and swipe again until you reach the part you need. Microsoft has three touchpad features that cut down on all that swiping.

Read more