More brilliance from Google.

Forget that they've taken over the world technically.

Now they're grabbing a slice of the hip art / fashion / culture world too. Google is becoming a branded brand which as Naomi Klein warns is always a zero-sum game to see who controls the memetic territory. Google as cuter Abzorbaloff swallowing whatever artistic talent it touches?

Especially shrewd is that some artists are contributing widgets (clocks, calendars) just as if they were adding their signature to a designer Swatch. Google know what they're doing here. Maybe branded widgets are the next ring-tones? (Especially once they're on Orkut or anywhere else OpenSocial.)

Make no mistake, this is a shot across Apple's bows. Google want to be cool. They have the smarts, and therefore the money. Now they're gonna try to take the sex.

(Aside - not a million miles away from my "skin hotmail" suggestion for Microsoft, is it?)

Update : themes are pretty sophisticated actually.