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Take a look behind Google's corporate curtain with a former employee's critical comics
Yeah, we're definitely saving a few of these for Android Police headers
Recently a Googler who went on to better (if not bigger) things shared a massive collection of comics and doodles that he'd created during his time at the Googleplex. His art has the feel of political cartoons, even if they're only ever on one broad topic. Taking a look at them can give us some humorous insight into the culture that's brewing just under Google's corporate surface. Manu Cornet worked for Google for over a decade as a software engineer on Search and Gmail. He quit earlier this year, telling The Information that Google's continuing slide into moral ambiguity left him feeling disillusioned with the company famous for its early "do no evil" years. During his tenure at Google, Cornet's frequent cartoons lampooning the company's culture and decisions became a notable part of his fellow employee's work lives, a sort of private in-joke in an employee population of more than 100,000.
Several of Cornet's comics made their way out into the internet at large, including his most famous doodle comparing the corporate structures of Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, and Facebook. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella even credited Cornet's cartoon on the first page of his book, crediting him with shifting up the CEO's thinking into a phenomenally successful restructure.
Cornet self-published a series of his comics as a book in 2018 as Goomics, with a second volume going out last month. You can buy both volumes on Amazon, or look at all of them for free on his site Goomics.net. They're an interesting look at the inside of one of the world's most powerful tech companies, albeit limited to a single critical perspective.Cornet accepted a job at Twitter. He's now starting up a new round of internal company comics, "Twittoons."
It's not a stretch to say that Chromecast support was the single most requested feature in the Adult Swim app. For years many people, including myself, have been lamenting the lack of Google's streaming integration in the service. And now, finally, it's here. As of today's update, you can stream Adult Swim content from the app to your Chromecast, and they've even added a Twitch-style live chat system for specific content. This is the best news so far this year.
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- Boomerang has released the Android app in an early access form in the Play Store. Subscribers can get a 7-day free trial if they sign up for the $4.99/month plan or 30 free days if they sign up for the $39.99 annual membership. If you're itching for some classic cartoons, then download the app and get started.
If were lucky enough to have cable TV back in the 90s (and you were around the right age and/or state of mind) you probably remember countless hours of Cartoon Network. The fledgling channel was nothing less than a classical education in the golden age of Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera shows. Eventually Cartoon Network filled up with its own original programming, but the classic shorts and Saturday morning cartoons moved over to a sister channel, Boomerang, which is still showing off the good stuff. Cord cutters don't get access to Boomerang, but that's about to change.
Fans of animated things on the Fox network and in-app purchases have reason to celebrate today. After a geo-limited test period, Animation Throwdown is live in the Play Store for everyone. It's a collectible card game with all the animated characters and in-app purchases Fox can legally cram into a single product.