The really interesting thing here is that if Foobar is indeed a tool to recruit programmers into the Google fold, as it appears to be, Google is targeting those who are searching for Python-related terms. It also shows that the company has no problem making it abundantly clear that it can and will keep a close eye on your search history for its own purposes.
Update (11/12/14): Well, a Google spokesperson did eventually respond to our request for comment, and their response yields more questions than answers, at least to us. Check it out:
When youre Googleand you have a near-endless amount of resources and creativitya simple Were Hiring! sign simply doesnt cut it. So what does such a company like do when it needs to find new talent with a knowledge of the Python programming language? You wait until they visit your search engine and then entice them with a mysterious secret test, of course!
Bourdain was in France for an upcoming episode of Parts Unknown.
Want a job at Google? Then youre going to want to start at your search bar.
H/THacker NewsScreengrab viaJon Fife/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)
Another programmer confirms Googles current hiring push for Python coders. I got asked to interview for Google due to Python code on Github, others I know have had similar invitations to interview as a result of Python experience, the commenter notes, adding They seem to be on a hiring push right now.
Foobar is a hidden Internet puzzle Google is using as a hiring test
Mike Wehner is a former tech editor for the Daily Dot who now writes for BGR. His work has appeared everywhere from Yahoo to CNN, and theres a good chance his Apple Watch is dead right now.
Googles barges could have been floating bombs
Yes, thats a bit of Python code. Executing it results in a simple 4-letter abbreviation, glhf. For anyone not familiar with Internet slang, glhf is short for good luck, have fun, suggesting that Google isnt ready to reveal all of Foobars secrets just yetor perhaps just not to us.
The introduction of political themes somehow makes this film even more stupid.
Foobar is a hidden Internet puzzle Google is using as a hiring test
m=.join([z[6],z[11],z[7],z[5]])
Chris Pratt is hopelessly obnoxious in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Over the past few days, programmers searching for Python-related queries via Google have found that their searches have not gone unnoticed. I was Googling some Python topic when my search results page suddenly split in the middle with some text saying something to the effect of You speak our language, would you like to take a test?a Hacker News post reads. I followed it and was led to a pseudo-shell, where I then found some coding problems. I can return to the page to continue working on them.
Google pulled its barges because they were a huge, floating fire hazard
Anthony Bourdain, chef and storyteller, dead at 61
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If you or I were to visit the strange andseemingly brand new Google Foobar page, wed reach a dead end. Try to log in and youll be told that you can only log in if youve already been logged in. If that sounds a tad bit cryptic and strange, its doing its job perfectly. You see, Foobar is a Google page that only a select few are invited to enter, and doing so could potentially land them a jobthat is, if the most popular theory of its existence proves true.
Heres what happens when you visit Foobar (without being invited):
Nobody weve spoken to at Google has any knowledge of what Foobar is all aboutor theyre just really good at denying itbut weve sent a request and will report whatever we hear when and if we get a response.