Les Paul

If your company wants to come down on you for wasting valuable work time playing on the computer, Google might have had a little something to do with that, at least for a few days earlier this month. More specifically, Google Doodles was the culprit, as the site’s home page celebrated Les Paul’s 96th birthday, with a playable doodle.

Today, Google is paying tribute to the late guitar pioneer Les Paul with a guitar-themed doodle that allows users to play it and record songs of their own. The doodle, which was designed by engineers Kristopher Hom and Joey Hurst and doodle team lead Ryan Germick, will be up for 24 hours, and was released to celebrate what would have been Paul's 96th birthday. (Paul, a leader in the development of