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Google has a tradition of perpetrating hoaxes, especially on April Fools' Day, as well as various easter eggs.

Easter Eggs[link]

Google has added many Easter eggs to its products and services.

Calculator[link]

• The Calculator accepts many humorous units of measurement, including the Beard-second (5 nm), Potrzebie (2.2633 mm), Smoot (5 ft, 7 inches), ngogn (11.5938151 ml), blintz (36.4253863 g), donkeypower (250.033167 W), the prefix hella- (10^27), etc.
• The Calculator recognizes a number of strings as numbers. They can be entered by themselves or used in expressions. They must be entered without quotation marks. When used in an expression, the phrases must be entered in lowercase. In addition to mathematical and scientific constants like pi, e and Avogadro's number the Calculator also accepts:
  • "the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything" equals 42 as does "the answer to life, the universe, and everything", a reference to Douglas Adams's novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The same reference is made when speaking to an artificial intelligence named Meliza next to "the face on Mars" in Google Earth. When the number 42 is typed, the AI produces the output "42 is the answer to the ultimate question about life, the universe, and everything."
  • "the loneliest number" equals "1", a reference to the song by Harry Nilsson.
  • "the number of horns on a unicorn" equals "1".
  • "once in a blue moon" equals "1.16699016 × 10⁻⁸ hertz".
  • "a bakers dozen" equals "13".

Search[link]

Various Google services also hide Easter eggs meant to be amusing entertainment.

• Searching for "anagram" shows "Did you mean: nag a ram".
• Searching for "do a barrel roll" or "Z or R twice" will rotate the results page a full 360 degrees. This is a reference to the Nintendo video game Star Fox 64.
• Searching for "recursion" shows "Did you mean: "recursion", which allows you to recursively run searches for recursion.
• Searching for "Jason Isaacs" shows "Hello to Jason Isaacs", a reference to Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews which greets Jason Isaacs with a 'hello' every week
• Before and during the span of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, searching for various terms which Google has statistics related to, such as "world cup", "world cup usa vs england", or "world cup brazil", causes the result index at the bottom of the page to read as "Gooooooooooal!" instead of "Goooooooooogle".^[1]
• Searching for "tilt" or "askew" using a Webkit based browser (such as Google Chrome, Safari, or Android/iOS built-in browsers) or a recent version of Firefox (7+), makes the page 'lean' to the right a bit.
• Around December 2011 and January 2012, Searching for "let it snow" simulates snowfall and frost on the search results. After a while, the search screen fogs up and the blue search button changes to Defrost, enabling the user to defrost the page clicking and rubbing it like a window. Interaction with the actual search screen is disabled until the Defrost button is pressed (even if the entire screen is manually defrosted). Search screen will cease to fog up once the Defrost button is pressed.
• Searching for "hanukkah" changes the border between the search bar and search results into a row of lights shaped like the Star of David.
• Searching for "santa claus", "christmas lights", "12 days of christmas", "father christmas", "candy cane","merry christmas" or "christmas" changes the border between the search bar and search results into a row of Christmas lights.
• Searching for "kwanzaa" changes the border between the search bar and search results into a row of Kinara
• Searching for "kerning" or "keming" changes the letter-spacing of the word "kerning" or "keming", respectively.
• Searching for "binary" changes the number of found results to read out in binary, unless personal results are found. This also works with other number systems such as "hexadecimal" and "octal".
• Searching for "qingming festival" returns a search page containing a stylized tree in the top right, water buffalo in the bottom right, and a jumping koi when the page is clicked.
• Searching for "zerg rush" returns a search page with 'O's eating the search results. Clicking each 'O' a few times kills it. This is a reference to an early attack known as a 'zergling rush' in the Blizzard game Starcraft. After all links have been destroyed, the 'O's form the letters GG in reference to the standard end of game formality and means good game.^[2]
• Searching for "ascii art" will show the ASCII art variant of Google's logo.

Google Maps/Earth[link]

• In early versions of Google Maps, searching for a route between locations separated by expanses of water (e.g. Paris and New York) provided road directions to the coast of the destination country (in this case, the west coast of France) before suggesting "Swim the Atlantic Ocean (3,500 miles)" or another ocean for a different distance.^[3] You can now achieve a similar effect by asking Google Maps for directions across the Pacific Ocean, which will return "Kayak across the Pacific Ocean (2,756 miles)." This route includes a short stretch via land across Hawaii.
• If you ask for walking directions from China to Japan at Step 38 it will state "Jet ski across the Pacific Ocean"
• The measurement tool in Google Earth allows users to measure distance in smoots, a unit of length derived from a tradition at MIT. Smoots are also recognized by Google calculator: 1 smoot in m gives the result 1 smoot = 1.7018 meters.
• On Google Earth, tapping out Ctrl+Alt+A would open a flight simulator feature. This is also available through the menu bar. This is not actually a hoax, just an app provided in Google Earth.
• Going on Google Street View, and heading to the rear of the company's Googleplex headquarters in Mountain View, California, the Google Street View's production team can be seen.
• Google Earth's search example is the Google Inc. headquarters (37 25' 19.1"N, 122 05' 06"W).
• Dragging the Google Street View "Peg man" onto Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, CA used to display him with a tie-dyed shirt. He is also given special clothing for some widely observed special occasions: for Halloween he rides a broomstick; for Valentine's Day he stands upon a heart; and during Christmas week, he becomes a snowman.^[4] When dragged into Lego Land in Carlsbad, the "Peg Man" turns into a Lego man.
• The Mars Feature of Google Earth allows you to speak to a primitive ELIZA clone on the planet, by searching for "Meliza".^[5]
• There is a photo spot on the northern point of Antarctica that is slightly larger than the others. When the man is dragged on this spot, the man turns into a penguin and you can explore the area the same as a road.^[6]
• Searching for "Niniane kicks ass" in Google Maps used to direct to the tech firm's headquarters in Mountain View, California, where an engineering manager called Niniane Wang worked until 2009.^[3]
• Another 3D buildings easter egg involves the famous bridge jump scene from The Blues Brothers, which is recreated in Google Earth at the Tacony–Palmyra Bridge linking New Jersey and Philadelphia.^[3]
• In Google Maps, when "The Shire" or "Rivendell" is entered as the start point and "Mordor" as the destination and the walking directions button is clicked, the directions return the warning: "Use caution – One does not simply walk into Mordor."^[7][8]
• On July 20, 2005, the 36th anniversary of the first human landing on the moon, Google debuted a version of Google Maps that included a small segment of the surface of the moon. It is based entirely on NASA images and includes only a very limited region. Panning causes the map to tile. The map also gives the locations of all moon landings, and the Google Moon FAQ humorously mentions a connection to the Google Copernicus hoax, which Google claimed to be developing. Supposedly, by 2069, Google Local will support all lunar businesses and addresses. Zooming to the closest level in Google Moon used to show that the moon was made of cheese.^[9]

Google.com homepage[link]

• Pressing the "I'm feeling lucky" bar without any text shows all of the variations on the "Google" logo throughout the years.
• In December 2009, Google added an easter egg on their homepage whereby clicking the "I'm Feeling Lucky" box with no text entered brings up a clock counting down the seconds until 2010. When it reached zero it displayed "Happy New Year" in fireworks.^{[citation needed]}
• In December 2009 when typing in a search term including the word "Christmas" the line separating the sponsored links from the normal search is replaced with Christmas lights. Also, when typing in a search term including the word "Hanukkah" the line separating the sponsored links is replaced with a Dreidel design.
• From May 21–23, 2010, Google replaced its usual homepage with a playable Google-style Pac-man game to celebrate its 30th anniversary. By pressing Insert Coin (which replaced the "I'm feeling lucky" button) multiple times, users could also play a 2-player Ms. Pacman version (moving in WASD). The game is still playable here [1].

Google Mail[link]

• On the Suggest a feature page for Gmail, it shows "Have Gmail do the laundry" as a suggestion.^[10]
• Above the list of emails in Gmail, there is normally an ad, except in the spam folder, where there is instead a link to a recipe containing SPAM™.

Google Translate[link]

• Go to translate.google.com/translate_buttons and drag the word English (if your computer is in English) into your bookmark bar and then click on it. It will load the page with a very old retro kind of logo.
• Go to translate.google.com and set 'translate from' to English. By pasting "pv zk bschk" at the beginning of the string to be translated, the translator will be changed to a "beatbox" mode. The tooltip which shows when the cursor is held over the speaker icon, will now show "beatbox" rather than "listen". Various combinations of consonants typed into the translator after the initial string will result in a beatbox output rather than the usual speech narrator output. Note that there are other languages besides English which may be chosen for the beatbox mode to be operable, though the choice seems random. For example, Albanian, Armenian, and Belarusian will work, but not Azerbajaini or Basque.

Other[link]

• Pressing control-shift-y in Picasa will cause a teddybear to appear on the screen.^[11]
• Pressing the keys "up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A" in Google's Feed reader will cause the screen to turn blue and a ninja to appear on the left.^[12] It also causes the phrase "Ninja!" to appear in the search box.
• Google offers services in many languages, including several uncommon ones like Swedish Chef's Bork bork bork, Pig Latin, Hacker (usually known as 1337sp34k), Elmer Fudd, Klingon and Pirate.
• Taking the term Easter egg literally (and perhaps to celebrate the Easter holiday), Google has an official Easter Eggs page.
• If one sets the iGoogle theme to the "Beach" option, then at 3:14 am every morning, the Loch Ness Monster surfaces for 1 minute, then at 3:15 dives back under. The reason for the timing of 3:14 is rumoured to be a tribute to the number pi. Additional 3:14 eggs include the "Seasonal Scape" showing off the Northern Lights, the "City Scape" with UFOs, the "Spring Scape" with a monster, the "Sweet Dreams" with the stars aligning to the shape of the symbol pi, and the "Tea House" that has spirits in the mist.
• In Chrome, Google's Web browser, entering "about:internets" into the address bar brings up a copy of the Windows Screen Saver 3D Pipes, with the title "Don't Clog the Tubes". In the event that this does not occur due to the fact that the screensaver file does not exist in the system, the browser will instead display a gray screen with the title "The Tubes are Clogged!" This has been removed as of the 2.0.169.1 release.
• The Google Gears Firefox add-on description line reads "These are the gears that power the tubes! :-)". Google Chrome's gears.dll's description also reads "These are the gears that power the tubes! :-)".
  • The above two easter eggs allude to former Senator Ted Stevens' "series of tubes" speech on the Senate floor.
• During the course of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, YouTube had a button shaped like a soccer ball in certain videos that plays a recurring vuvuzela sound throughout the video.
• In Google's iPhone and iPod touch search application, swiping downwards (past About) repeatedly in the Settings interface brings up a hidden menu item, called Bells and Whistles, allowing customization of colors, sounds and more within the app. This is now standard on the newest update.^[13]
• In YouTube, holding down the left and up arrow while pausing or watching a video will cause a game of Snake to launch. This is actually a result of two steps; pressing the up arrow while a video is loading launches the game, while pressing the left arrow forces the video to rewind and load momentarily, thus allowing the game to launch.^[14]
• In YouTube during December 2011, a button was added which, when clicked, caused animated snow to fall from the top of the video.
• In Google Voice, once a text-message being typed exceeds 320 characters ( 2 x 160-per-SMS), the countdown changes to "Really?"
• A 500 Internal server error on YouTube will cause this message to appear: 'A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation. If you see them, show them this information:' followed by a random code.
• In Google Docs, within a spreadsheet, pressing Shift+F12 brings up a message: "Dragon slain! Congratulations, you've slain the dragon!".
• In YouTube, adding &wadsworth=1 to the URL will apply Wadsworth's constant, skipping the first 30% of the video.^[15]
• Typing "清明节" into Google will use a interactive calligraphy background in the search results page.
• Going to www.google.com/heart gives a video of a jumping heart in the background.

April Fool's Hoaxes[link]

2000[link]

Google's first April Fools' Day hoax, the MentalPlex hoax, invited users to project a mental image of what they wanted to find whilst staring at an animated gif.^[16] Several humorous error messages^[17] were then displayed on the search results page,^[18] all listed below:

1. Error 001: Weak or no signal detected. Upgrade transmitter and retry.
2. Error 666: Multiple transmitters detected. Silence voices in your head and try again.
3. Error 01: Brainwaves received in analog. Please re-think in digital.
4. Error 8P: Unclear on whether your search is about money or monkeys. Please try again.
5. Error 005: Searching on this topic is prohibited under international law.
6. Error CKR8: That information is protected under the National Security Act.
7. Error 144: That information was lost with the Martian Lander. Please try again.
8. Error 006: Query is unclear. Try again after removing hat, glasses and shoes.
9. Error 008: Interference detected. Remove aluminum foil and remote control devices.
10. Error: Insufficient conviction. Please clap hands 3 times, while chanting "I believe" and try again.
11. Error: MentalPlex(tm) has determined that this is not your final answer. Please try again.

• MentalPlex

2002[link]

Google reveals the technology behind its PageRank Systems—PigeonRank. Google touts the benefits of this cost-effective and efficient means of ranking pages and reassures readers that there is no animal cruelty involved in the process. The article makes many humorous references and puns based on computer terminology and how Google PageRank really works, (for example, a chart showing the pigeons' consumption of linseed and flax, represented as "Lin/Ax Kernels," a pun on the Linux kernel).^[19]

• Pigeon Rank

2004[link]

Fictitious job opportunities for a research center on the moon. Luna/X (a pun to Linux and the Latin word for moon, as well as a reference to both the Windows XP visual style and Mac OS X) is the name of a new operating system they claimed to have created for working at the research center.

• Google Copernicus Center

[edit] 2005

Google Gulp, a fictitious drink, was announced by Google in 2005. According to the company, this beverage would optimize one's use of the Google search engine by increasing the drinker's intelligence. It was claimed this boost was achieved through real-time analysis of the user's DNA and carefully tailored adjustments to neurotransmitters in the brain (a patented technology termed Auto-Drink; as the "Google Gulp FAQ" suggests, partly through MAO inhibition). The drink was said to come in "4 great flavors": Glutamate Grape (glutamic acid), Sugar-Free Radical (free radicals), Beta Carroty (beta carotene), and Sero-Tonic Water (serotonin).^[20]

This hoax was probably intended as a parody of Google's then invite-only email service called Gmail. Although ostensibly free, the company claimed the beverage could only be obtained by returning the cap of a Google Gulp bottle to a local grocery store: a causal loop. In the Google Gulp FAQ, Google replies to the observation "I mean, isn't this whole invite-only thing kind of bogus?" by saying "Dude, it's like you've never even heard of viral marketing."

• Google Gulp
• Google Gulp FAQ

2006[link]

On April Fool's Day 2006, Google Romance was announced on the main Google search page with the introduction, "Dating is a search problem. Solve it with Google Romance." It pretends to offer a "Soulmate Search" to send users on a "Contextual Date". A parody of online dating, it had a link for "those who generally favor the 'throw enough stuff at the wall' approach to online dating" to Post multiple profiles with a bulk upload file, you sleaze in addition to Post your Google Romance profile. Clicking on either of these gave an error page, which explained that it was an April Fool's joke and included links to previous April Fool's jokes.

• Google Romance
• Google Romance FAQ
• Google Romance Tour

2007[link]

Gmail Paper[link]

At about 10:00 pm, Pacific time (where Google has its headquarters) on March 30, 2007, Google changed the login page for Gmail to announce a new service called Gmail Paper. The service offered to allow users of Google's free webmail service to add e-mails to a "Paper Archive", which Google would print (on "96% post-consumer organic soybean sputum") and mail via traditional post. The service would be free, supported by bold, red advertisements printed on the back of the printed messages. Image attachments would also be printed on high-quality glossy paper, though MP3 and WAV files would not be printed. The page detailing more information about the service features photographs of Ian Spiro and Carrie Kemper, current employees of Google. Also featured are Product Marketing Managers of Gmail Anna-Christina Douglas, and Shane Lawrence

• Gmail Paper Index
• Gmail Paper Announcement
• Gmail Paper Program Policies

Google TiSP[link]

Google TiSP (short for Toilet Internet Service Provider) was a fictitious free broadband service supposedly released by Google. This service would make use of a standard toilet and sewage lines to provide free Internet connectivity at a speed of 8 Mbit/s (2 Mbit/s upload) (or up to 32 Mbit/s with a paid plan). The user would drop a weighted end of a long, Google-supplied fiber-optic cable in their toilet and flush it. Around 60 minutes later, the end would be recovered and connected to the Internet by a "Plumbing Hardware Dispatcher (PHD)". The user would then connect their end to a Google-supplied wireless router and run the Google-supplied installation media on a Windows XP or Windows Vista computer ("Mac and Linux support coming soon"). Alternatively, a user could request a professional installation, in which Google would deploy nanobots through the plumbing to complete the process. The free service would be supported by "discreet DNA sequencing" of "personal bodily output" to display online ads that relate to culinary preferences and personal health. Google also referenced the diet coke-and-Mentos reaction in their FAQ: "If you're still experiencing problems, drop eight mints into the bowl and add a two-liter bottle of diet soda."

• Google TiSP
• Google TiSP FAQ
• Installation page
• Press Release page
• Not found page – April fools version

2008[link]

Blogger "Google Weblogs (beta)"[link]

The Blogger dashboard featured an announcement for Google Weblogs, or "GWeblogs," or "Gblogs," the next revolution in personal publishing. Features include algorithms putting your best content at the top of your blog (rather than publishing by reverse chronology), automatically populating your blog's sidebar with the most relevant content, posting directly into Google search results for maximum visibility, blog headers refreshed with images from Google's team of artists for anniversaries of a scientific achievement (similar to Google Doodle), and automatic content generation ('Unsure of what to post about? Just click "I'm Feeling Lucky" and we'll "take care" of the rest!')

The announcement was followed by a link to a video tour of the product, which actually led to Tay Zonday's cover of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."

• Blogger Buzz: The Official Buzz from Blogger at Google: Announcing Google Weblogs (beta)

Dajare[link]

Google launches Dajare in Japan (google.co.jp), with the mission of "organizing the world's laughter."^[21]

gDay[link]

Google announces gDay in Australia, a new beta search technology that will search web pages 24 hours before they are created.^[22] The name is a play on the phrase "g'day".

Gmail Custom Time[link]

Gmail's sign-in page and a banner at the top of each Gmail inbox announced a new feature, called Gmail Custom Time, that would allow its users to "pre-date" their messages and choose to have the message appear as "read" or "unread". The new feature uses the slogan "Be on time. Every time."

Around 11:00 pm EST March 31, 2008, on the newer and older version of Gmail, but not in the basic HTML version, in the upper right corner, next to Settings, a link appeared labeled, "New! Gmail Custom Time". The link led to a 404 error until April 1,^[23][24] when it led to the full Gmail Custom Time hoax page.^[25] Clicking any of the three links at the bottom of the page brought the user to a page stating that Gmail Custom time was, in fact, their April Fool's Day joke.

Google wrote that the new joke feature "utilizes an e-flux capacitor [a pun from the film Back to the Future] to resolve issues of causality." Fake testimonials were given by "beta users"; one example is, "I used to be an honest person; but now I don't have to be. It's just so much easier this way. I've gained a lot of productivity by not having to think about doing the 'right' thing."

The feature only allowed for ten pre-dated emails per year, claiming that any more "would cause people to lose faith in the accuracy of time, thus rendering the feature useless."

• Gmail Custom Time
• Policies page

Google Book Search Scratch and Sniff[link]

Google Book Search has a new section allowing users to "scratch and sniff" certain books. Users are asked to "...please place your nose near the monitor and click 'Go'", which then "loads odors". When clicking on "Help", users are redirected to a page in a book that describes the origins of April Fools' Day.^[26]

• Inside Google Book Search Blog: "Google Book Search now smells better"

Google Calendar is Feeling Lucky[link]

Google added the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button to its calendar feature. When a user tries to create a new event, the user was given the regular option of entering the correct details and hitting "Create Event", and also the new option of "I'm Feeling Lucky" which would set the user up with an evening date with, among others, Matt Damon, Eric Cartman, Tom Cruise, Jessica Alba, Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears, Anna Kournikova, Johnny Depp, George W. Bush, or Lois Griffin.

Google Dialect Translation[link]

Google announces Google 사투리 번역 (Google dialect translation) for translating regional Korean dialects to and from Standard Korean.^[27]

Google Docs[link]

A little easter egg was added, where a user can click the file menu and directly under new document is "New Airplane" which immediately opens a copy of a Google branded paper airplane. To reach the file menu, click the new menu, then "Document" then a new window opens.

Google Manpower Search[link]

Google launches Manpower Search (谷歌人肉搜索) in China (google.cn). This new feature is powered by 25 million volunteers who do the searching around the clock. When the user entered a keyword, volunteers will search any possible answers from a mass of paper documents as well as online resources. The user is expected to get the search result within 32 seconds. The "search" button now avoids the user's cursor, making it tricky to click on the button.

Google Talk[link]

Google announces plans to, on April 22, 2008 (Earth Day), shorten all conversations over Google Talk thereby reducing the energy required to transmit chats in an effort to reduce carbon output.

• Google Talk Goes Green

Google Wake Up Kit[link]

Google launched their "Wake Up Kit" as a calendar notification option.

The 'wake up' notification uses several progressively more annoying alerts to wake you up. First it will send an SMS message to your phone. If that fails, more coercive means will be used. The kit includes an industrial-sized bucket and is designed to be connected to your water main for automatic filling. In addition, a bed-flipping device is included for forceful removal from your sleeping quarters.

Virgle[link]

Google announces a joint project with the Virgin Group to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. This operation has been named Project Virgle. The announcement includes videos of Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Group) as well as Larry Page and Sergey Brin (the founders of Google) on YouTube, talking about Virgle.^[28] An "application" to join the settlement includes questions such as:

I am a world-class expert in:

1. Physics
2. First Aid
3. Engineering
4. Guitar Hero III

After the user submitted the application, the site notifies the user that the user is not fit for space, or that the user's application is fine and "all you have to do is submit your video" [as a response to their video on YouTube]. As a result, an open source Virgle group has been established, OpenVirgle. On the FAQ page, the final question is "Okay, come on – seriously. Is this Virgle thing for real?" The reply links to a page that tells the user it's an April Fool's joke, and then mentions that the user "Dragged us out of our lovely little fantasy world, to crush all our hopes and dreams."^[29]

• Virgle Application Page – Virgle: The Adventure of Many Lifetimes^{[dead link]}

Yogurt[link]

Google's Orkut displayed its name as yogurt, Google Bang, Inc.

YouTube[link]

On April 1, 2008, all featured videos on the UK and Australian homepages, and later, all international homepages, of Google-owned YouTube linked to a video of Rick Astley's song "Never Gonna Give You Up", causing all users of the website who clicked on featured videos to be Rickrolled. This was the first year YouTube participated in Google's April Fool's Day tradition.

2009[link]

Google runs on Microsoft Windows IIS/3.0[link]

google.com.au reported as if it ran on IIS/3.0^[30] and google.com on Apache/0.8.4^[31] (on Linux).

CADIE[link]

The announcement of CADIE was made on March 31, 2009 11:59 pm by the CADIE Team, not on April 1. The announcement on the Google blog was made at 4/01/2009 12:01:00 am.

The introduction page and all of the references to CADIE in Google's Products were taken down on April 2, replaced with a message stating:

We apologize for the recent disruption(s) to our service(s).

Please stand by while order is being restored.

However the technology page describing the technical capabilities of the software remained at:

Technical Description

When using Google Books or GMail, a user would come across an announcement dated March 31, 2009 at 11:59:59, declaring a new "Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity". CADIE is also mentioned on the gBall FAQ page: "Google's new CADIE technology will interpret the data obtained from each ball to provide useful tips to owners". There was also a link on Google's Homepage for CADIE, and a blog entry in Google's official blog.

CADIE technology is also used to generate "senryu" (a type of Japanese poem similar to haiku) based on search terms for certain Japanese queries.

The Google Search homepage had a link to the CADIE announcement, stating that "For several years now a small research group has been working on some challenging problems in the areas of neural networking, natural language and autonomous problem-solving. Last fall this group achieved a significant breakthrough: a powerful new technique for solving reinforcement learning problems, resulting in the first functional global-scale neuro-evolutionary learning cluster." The page links to the blog below.

On mobile devices, a link shows up to Brain Search, which uses CADIE technology to "index your brain". This^{[dead link]} is what it all looks like from a mobile device.

YouTube[link]

On April 1, 2009, YouTube gave some users a look at a new "viewing experience"^{[dead link]} when they selected a video within certain areas such as the "recommended for you" section. This new interface caused the whole layout including the video you were watching to flip upside down. Although the option was not visible for some, it could be viewed by adding &flip=1 to the end of a video URL. Adding &flip=1 to the end of a video URL no longer causes this effect, and the video loads normally. A page on "tips for viewing the new layout" suggested users hang their monitors upside down from the ceiling, although the layout did not reverse mouse-control.

Gmail[link]

When one is using the Gmail service, they will notice that it has a new option, named "Gmail Autopilot" in which the service would analyze an email. On that page it says under the FAQ section,"You can adjust tone, typo propensity, and preferred punctuation from the Autopilot tab under Settings." However, if a person logs into their Gmail account and goes under the Settings tab they will notice that there is no Autopilot tab. The program could be customised to contain certain types of grammatical or spelling errors, as well as complexity and length of the sentence. It also has a way of responding to relationship related messages, such as if someone spoke aggressively, even in a humorous way, the system would "terminate relationship."

[edit] gBall

Google Australia announced the development of a ball that will change how Australian Football is played the world over. The newest football technology—"gBall"—is a prototype ball for use in the Australian Football League with GPS.

Google Australia announces ("New! Get the newest football technology – gBall.") that they are developing a prototype ball for use in the Australian Football League with GPS. Apparently, the ball will measure the location, force, and torque of a kick, and "vibrate if player agents or talent scouts want to speak to you". Google claimed that the ball will cost $10 with a cost-per-kick set of payments in addition to the basic fee.

Google Analytics[link]

A blog post to the Google Analytics Blog investigates the analytics reports of CADIEs activities.^[32]

Google Maps[link]

Google's CADIE has a recommended places to visit using Google Maps. Viewing "CADIE's recommended places for humans" one will see each of her suggested places listed, that, when clicked, displays a photo and humorous commentary.

There is also a "CADIE's recommended places for humans." link in Google Maps, which leads to the "Panda Mapplet" and includes several marked locations with "CADIE's" commentary. Under Redmond WA a link is listed which will rick roll the viewer.

Blogger[link]

CADIE's personal blog/homepage

Google Chrome with 3D[link]

A build of Google Chrome was offered rendering web pages in Anaglyph 3D, "powered" by CADIE. A 3D effect was actually possible with this browser, but it only made the window appear to be sunken into the monitor.

• Introducing Google Chrome with 3D

Google Earth Powered by CADIE[link]

Google announced a new Google Earth powered by CADIE, which claimed to allow the user to see ocean terrain imagery from the world's most advanced submarine, explore the deep sea, soar with CADIE in real time, view CADIE's Recommended Summer Vacation, and chat with CADIE, among other options.

Google Code[link]

The Google Code Search homepage is featuring LOLCODE examples.

CADIE is set to write code for you based on specified features; however all that is returned is bad code or witty criticisms of your request and choice of programing language, recommending the use of INTERCAL.

CADIE's source code was supposedly uploaded to Google Code,^[33][34] but she changed her mind and replaced it with a "fun program"^[35] consisting of 31 lines of INTERCAL. When executed, this program prints out the message "I do not feel like sharing."

Google Book Search[link]

CADIE recommends some books at Google Book Search homepage. Also, when viewing a book, there is a Generate book report button. When clicked it says "Gotcha! It's April Fools' Day! Sorry, but you'll have to actually read the book yourself."

Google Docs on Demand[link]

Google has announced new Google Docs features enhanced by CADIE
Add subliminal messages and images to documents.
If a person makes a new presentation and looks for the subliminal message and image buttons under the insert menu they will notice it is not there.
Upgrade your Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level automatically, and many other savvy new features.

Google Mobile[link]

Google Mobile has a link to "Brain Search^{[dead link]}". The instructions are to "Put phone to forehead for brain indexing" and "Think your query". When you click "Try Now", a page loads with "Brain indexing" status. When indexing is complete, a button comes up with "search me". By clicking this button, the user is directed to fake search results. There are several possible results:

What's the name of that woman by the window? She's my boss's boss, but, oh man, is it Suzanne? Susan? Blanche?^{[dead link]}

Should I order the pizza? I don't remember if it makes me gassy.^{[dead link]}

Wow, cute guy. Should I go up to him?^{[dead link]}

Why is everyone looking at me so strangely?^{[dead link]}

When is Mom's birthday? I should send her a card.^{[dead link]}

Google Knol[link]

Knol was updated so that all of the featured articles were about Artificial Intelligence, with a message from CADIE indicating that this "improvement" was for the good of mankind.

HTTP Headers[link]

In keeping with the CADIE theme Google has altered the server HTTP header to contain the name of various AI entities, including HAL 9000, WOPR, and GLaDOS.^[36]

Other server HTTP headers found were IIS/Bob (a reference to Microsoft Bob), IIS/Clippy (a reference to Clippy), IIS/3.0, Netscape iPlanet, Chrome/3.0, Google Operating System (BETA), CERN/3.0 (a reference to CERN HTTPd), Apple (a reference to Apple II), IRIX, MCP, Apache/0.8.4, Conficker, and Skynet.

Oil Tanker Data Center[link]

During the last minutes of Google's Data Center Efficiency Summit, Urs Hoelzle presented in a "special topic": Google had bought an oil tanker, the "M/S Sergey", where Google's data center containers were being submerged in oil tanks to enable extremely high-efficiency cooling. The presentation can be seen in the video, and includes slightly customized Wikipedia images from the article Oil tanker, including a retouched photo of commercial oil tanker AbQaiq and the oil tankers side view graphic.

Even though Google did apply for a US patent to build data centers on cargo ships and oil cooling is an existing technology, summit attendee James Hamilton believed this topic to be an April Fools joke. The ship's name "M/S Sergey" is also likely to be a pun on Google's co-founder Sergey Brin.

2010[link]

[edit] Google and Topeka, Kansas, Switch Places

In early March, the city of Topeka, Kansas, temporarily changed its name to Google in an attempt to capture a spot in Google's new broadband/fiber-optics project. Then, on April 1 (April Fools' Day), Google jokingly announced that it would be changing its name to Topeka, to "honor that moving gesture" and changed its home page to say Topeka in place of the Google logo.^[37]

Google Books available in Anachrome 3D[link]

Google books introduced a feature which allows any book to be read in 3D, assuming the viewer has appropriate glasses. It was enabled by clicking the "View in 3D" button in the menu bar above the book. This feature was removed after April 1, but on June 29, 2010, Google announced its restoration.^[38] Google also released the latest form of 3D glasses, similar to the ones you would use today when seeing a film.

Store anything on Google Docs[link]

Google announced that Google Docs will have the capacity to upload anything, including physical objects like keys, remote controls, etc. The site declared that one could use this to find items like keys using CTRL-F and send objects around the globe by "uploading" and "downloading" them, at the low price of $0.10 per kg.

Search results generated in different units[link]

Google's search results page displayed the time taken to load the results in different units from seconds. Several of these are pop culture references, as with 1.21 gigawatts, while others refer to slang:

• at warp X.XX
• 0.XX centibeats
• 0.XX centons
• X.XXe-15 epochs
• 0.0X femtogalactic years
• 1.21 gigawatts
• X.XX hertz
• XX.XX jiffies
• 0.XX microfortnights
• 0.XX microweeks
• 0.XX nanocenturies
• 11.90 parsecs
• 0.XXe+43 Planck times
• 23.00 skidoo
• 2.00 shakes of a lamb's tail
• 0.XX times the velocity of an unladen female swallow
• dhaka time

YouTube ASCII video filter[link]

The logo of YouTube was overlaid with ASCII text repeating the character "1".^[39] The YouTube logo was a reference to some videos having a new quality setting, namely "TEXTp". According to a notice underneath the videos, viewing the video with this quality setting enabled allowed YouTube to save one US dollar ($1) per second on bandwidth costs. The notice also remarked on the source of this new "feature," wishing the reader a happy April Fool's Day.

However in accordance with the announcement, the video quality on many videos was indeed able to be set to 'TEXTp' and video output was rendered through an ASCII filter. This feature was removed on April 2, 2010.

Animal Translator BETA[link]

Google placed a link on the main page, advertising a new Google Animal Translator service to add to their Language Translator service. Clicking the link would take you to a page advertising an app for Android phones for the translator, with the tagline being "Bridging the gap between animals and humans".

• Google Translate for Animals

Once the app is installed on an Android phone, it provides some amusing translations depending on the animal selected.

Standard Voicemail Mode for Google voice[link]

Google placed a New! Standard Voicemail Mode link in the Google Voice main page.

Evil Bit[link]

Google added an "evil bit" to their AJAX APIs, to aid in generating an appropriate response to nefarious deeds. If an evildoer is "detected", the code returns with, among other things, "For Great Justice", a quote from the video game Zero Wing.^[40]

Wave Wave Notifications[link]

Google Wave can be set to have a human being wave at you to notify you of a change to a Google Wave. The user can also select the volume of the human notifier from a list of silent, medium, loud and vibrate. They can also select which human notifier they want, including Ashton Kutcher, Dr. Wave, Grandma, Werner Heisenberg, and Puppy. Clicking on any of the links on the new notifications page redirected the user to a Google help page, alerting them that it was an April Fools' joke, but also that email notifications are possible.

Google Annotations Gallery[link]

The Google Annotations Gallery ("GAG") is an exciting new Java open source library that provides a rich set of annotations for developers to express themselves.^[41]

Japanese Input System[link]

Google's proposed keyboard includes a single key for each Japanese character.^[42]

Disemvoweling on Google Mail[link]

The English-language home page of Google Mail, including its logo, was disemvowelled. A post on the GMail blog was created to address the issue, claiming that they had encountered a server error which firstly made the datacenters fail to render the vowel 'a' before failing to render the vowels, and were working on the problem. They also claimed to be investigating whether the letter 'y' was impacted.^[43]

Chrome Sounds (Google Chrome Extension)[link]

Google created a new extension, Chrome Sounds, after "months deep in psychoacoustic models, the Whittaker-Nyquist-Kotelnikov-Shannon sampling theorem, Franssen effects, Shepard-Risset Tones, and 11.1 surround sound research".^[44] The extension provides audio for actions performed within the Google Chrome web browser. For a few interesting sounds, try going to different countries' localized Google pages. The full list of sounds that this extension makes can be found by going to the Chrome Tools menu, choosing Extensions, turning on developer mode, and viewing the source of the extension.

Google Analytics Goes Back to Hits[link]

Google decided that hits really is the only metric for tracking web site usage.^[45]

Life size Picasa[link]

Google offered an option which allows the user to print lifesize cardboard cutouts of all of their photos.^[46]

ReaderAdvantage Program[link]

Google announced a reward program for Google Reader, known as ReaderAdvantage™, in which they would assign points to users depending on the number of items read on Google Reader. The rewards were different badges, which, on visiting the ReaderAdvantage™ page and clicking on the enroll button, shows this page.

Wingdings in Adsense[link]

Wingdings was announced as a new font option for Adsense users.^[47]

2011[link]

YouTube[link]

A button was added to the video player which, when clicked, would apply a video filter to the video and replace the audio with piano music to resemble the style of a film from 1911 in a Phrygian mode. If subtitles are enabled when watching the video, intertitles will be displayed containing the dialogue. The upload page also featured an option to "send a horse-drawn carriage to me to pick [the video] up".^[48] In addition, a few videos were made parodying several viral videos, such as the "Flugelhorn Feline".

Gmail Motion[link]

A body gesture oriented way to send and view mail through Gmail. In the "How it Works" Section it reads "Gmail Motion uses your computer's built-in webcam and Google's patented spatial tracking technology to detect your movements and translate them into meaningful characters and commands. Movements are designed to be simple and intuitive for people of all skill levels." An overview video presented by Gmail product manager Paul McDonald explains Gmail Motion's "language of movements that replaces type entirely" while a mime artist performs the full-body Gmail actions.^[49]

Upon clicking the "Try Gmail Motion" button, it tells you about the prank, and says "Gmail Motion doesn't actually exist. At least not yet..." The page also offers a preview of the features of Google Docs Motion.

• Gmail Motion
• Google Docs Motion

Google Docs Motion[link]

Using Gmail Motion's technology, Google has promoted the BETA version of Google Docs Motion which "will introduce a new way to collaborate – using your body" in their Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Drawings, and Document List tools.^[50]

Autocompleter Job[link]

A YouTube video was posted by Google showing a "Google Autocompleter" employee explaining the job. Also, a job opening was featured for an "Autocompleter."^[51] Clicking on the "Add to job cart" or "View cart" links to a google search for "google april fools day pranks".^[52]

• Autocompleter Job^{[dead link]}

Chromercise[link]

Google Chrome launched a new website called "Chromercise", which aims to increase people's hands' strength and dexterity while browsing the web faster, and also allowing their hands to fit "into sleeker, sexier gloves". On the website, they also gave away free Google Chrome finger sweatbands for a limited time.^[53]

Japan[link]

Due to the large-scale devastation from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, in lieu of a traditional April Fools hoax, Google Japan featured many never-before featured drawings from its 2009 Google Doodle competition, themed "What I Love About Japan" drawn by Japanese schoolchildren, saying "We promised that only the top prize winners would be featured on Google, but as this is the only day where lies are forgiven, we have obtained the other children's understanding." As a small concession to the usual festivities, the Google Blog mentioned, "This year's April Fools joke has been postponed until next year. Next year's April Fool's joke has been postponed until the year following that."^[54]

[edit] Google 穿越搜索

Google 穿越搜索 (Google teleport) is a service that allows user to time travel. The site is written in Simplified Chinese. It claims that it can take you on a journey through time and space. You can experience everything in first-person.^[55]

Search[link]

Searching for "helvetica", "comic sans", or "comic sans ms" temporarily changed the entire webpage's font to Comic Sans.^[56]

Comic Sans for Everyone[link]

Announcement that Comic Sans will become the default font for all Google products. Google also created a Google Chrome extension which changes the font to Comic Sans on all webpages.

• Comic Sans for Everyone

Google Cow[link]

The Google Body homepage appeared as Google Cow, where a cow's body can be examined in 3D. There was a toggle button that switched to human models.

Google Maps[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2011)

Google Maps used to display a dragon in Germany's biggest forest, the 'Pfälzer Wald'.^[57] Also a shark in Holland's lake called IJmeer, East of Amsterdam was featured. When viewed in Earth Mode or Google Earth. These can be rendered in 3D. There is also a narwhal in the Thames in London, outside Millbank Tower. The Loch Ness monster also makes an appearance in 'Loch Ness' A giant red lobster sits atop the Zakim Bridge in Boston. Also a pink elephant at "Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA".

Google Translate for Animals[link]

Google UK purportedly offered a version of Google Translate which could be used to talk with animals.^[58]

Google Voice[link]

Google Voice has a new function that makes users spell out common words like “embarrassed”, ”dizzy” or ”Czechoslovakia”, before they connect your call in order to prevent embarrassing messages.

Adwords[link]

AdWords announced a new format, Google Blimp Ads, that would be flying over major cities starting in May.^[59]

Google I/O[link]

The announced sessions for the Google I/O conference for software developers were changed to include talks featuring technologies from the late 1990s.^[60]

Contoso has gone Google[link]

On the Google Enterprise Blog, Google announced that Contoso (a fictional company used by Microsoft in Microsoft's product documentation materials) has switched from Microsoft Office and Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps. The post included references to 2007's TiSP and 2011's Gmail Motion jokes.^[61]

Meow Me Now Mobile[link]

On the Google Mobile Blog, Google announced a new mobile-based search option for Android and iOS devices which locates kittens near the user's current location.^[62]

Blogger[link]

The blogging service Blogger announced that it was being acquired by Google, even though it has been part of Google since 2003.^[63]

2012[link]

Google Maps 8-bit for NES[link]

Google partnered with Square Enix and announced a "NES version" of their Google Maps service, to be released "as soon as possible". The version would be released in NES and Famicom versions (the Famicom version will feature voice input by using the second controller's microphone). In the meantime, Google added a "Quest" layer to the Maps website, which features 8-bit tile-based graphics and sprites on landmarks, both made by Google and by Square Enix (using the Dragon Quest game series' graphics).^[64]

Improved Japanese Input System[link]

Google's proposed improved keyboard based on the experience with Japanese input system from 2010.^[65]

The YouTube Collection[link]

YouTube added a small disc on the right side of the YouTube logo, which when clicked leads to a page about a service called "The YouTube Collection". It claimed to be an at-home experience of YouTube and made everything from videos to comments physical, including a postal mail commenting service. At the bottom of the website, it had a fake shipping form which after filled said "Your order has been placed. Due to heavy demand, your anticipated delivery date is: JUNE 16, 2045" and in small grey text at the bottom said "Also, April Fools."

Google Street Roo[link]

Google announced they will deploy a ‘roo force’ of more than 1,000 big red kangaroos who will capture up to 98% of the Australian bush within the next three years.^[66]

Underwater Image Search[link]

An underwater image search experience developed by Google China.^[67]

Google Weather Control[link]

Google added weather control to its weather search.^[68]

Chrome Multitask Mode[link]

Chrome Multitask Mode makes it possible to browse the web with two or more mice at the same time. Clicking the "Try Multitask Mode" button initially creates one fake mouse that moves around the screen, and over time adds several more. Clicking the "Exit Multitask Mode" button shows an April Fools message.^[69]

Elegantizr[link]

Google introduced the Elegantizr HTML/CSS framework. To use it, one just needs to insert the following line of HTML:

<source lang="html4strict"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://www.google.com/landing/elegantizr/elegantizr.css" /> </source>

Piano & Sitar Analytics Playback[link]

Google Analytics allows the user to playback their website statistics on piano and sitar.

Google Racing[link]

Google announced a partnership with NASCAR to help create self-driving vehicles to compete in stock car racing.^[70] The "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on Google's site was also changed to "I'm Steering Lucky."^[71] Google racing is available at http://www.google.com/racing/

Gmail Tap[link]

Gmail Tap for Android and iOS doubles typing speed with a revolutionary new keyboard.^[72] The system involves a keyboard with three keys: Morse code "dash" and "dot", and a spacebar (along with backspace). Shortly before midnight, on March 31, 2012 added Gmail Tap – Android and iOS Application utilizing Morse Code instead of onscreen keyboard. Selecting Download App for Your Phone produces the message: "Oops! Gmail Tap is a bit too popular right now. We suggest you try downloading it again on April 2nd." Clicking Retry button will produce "It's still April 1st, 2012. You'll have to wait till April 2nd to download Gmail Tap." On Gmail's Facebook page,^[73] they also posted about a Morse Keyboard. Prior to the hoax a real iOS app with similar functionality was already available for sale on the Apple App Store called "morseLab". This had been on the App Store for over a month and was already in use in over 20 countries worldwide.

Really Advanced Search[link]

A link on the bottom of search results pages titled Really Advanced Search takes users to a search page where they can filter their search results by, among other things, subtext or innuendo, page font (Comic Sans or Wingdings), loanword origin, or future modification date. Clicking on the "Advanced Search" button to actually run the search query redirects users to search results for "April Fools".

Click-to-Teleport Extensions[link]

Click-to-Teleport extensions allow potential customers to instantly teleport to the business location directly from a search ad in a matter of seconds. This teleportation technology shortens the "online-to-store" conversion funnel by providing searchers with an easy way to visit any business and convert. On average, advertisers using Click-to-Teleport extensions have seen their offline sales increase by 3600%.^[74]

Google Fiber[link]

Rather than a high-speed fiber optic internet service, Google Fiber is a food bar high in dietary fiber.^[75]

Go Ro[link]

Solving the increasingly frustrating problem of accessing mobile internet on rotary phones across the US, Google is announcing GoRo. GoRo aims to fix the problem that 100% of people using rotary phones have trouble accessing a website.

Jargon-Bot for Google Apps[link]

Jargon-Bot instantly recognizes business terms and provides real-time, in-product jargon translation into plain English.^[76]

Google TV Click[link]

Innovative remote control application for phone and tablet lets users interact with shows and movies as they are playing.^[77]

Google Voice for Pets[link]

Google introduced special Voice Communication Collars that fit around your pet's neck and use a series of sensors to record audio directly from your dog or cat’s vocal cords. Using your WiFi network, audio messages are uploaded to your Google Voice account within seconds. Alternately, a tiny micro-LED emitter built into the collar can project a keyboard onto the floor, so your pet can tap their front paws to send text messages. To understand cat or dog, Google took their voicemail transcription engine and combined it with millions of adorable pet videos from the Internet, training it to translate cat meows or dog growls into English.^[78]

$1 Google Offer for Unlimited Good Parking Karma[link]

$1 Google Offer for unlimited good parking karma takes the stress and guesswork out of finding a good spot by providing the following service: 1) prime spots when you need them, 2) repels parking tickets, 3) includes 1 space buffer on each side, 4) shopping cart protection plan, 5) no parallel parking for first 6 months.

Canine Staffing Team[link]

Google revealed that dogs at Google offices go through the same detailed recruitment and hiring process by Canine Staffing Team as human Googlers do before being welcomed to the Googleplex.^[79]

Analytics Interplanetary Reports[link]

While currently you only get a partial picture of website visitor location, Google Analytics is expanding beyond Earth by announcing new Analytis Interplanetary Reports to help you understand visitor activities from neighboring stars and planets. You’ll also be able to drill down on each planet to see greater detail, e.g. which colony or outpost your visitors came from similar to the city drill down available for Earth today.^[80]

"Did you mean: Beyonce" and Kanye West in the Play Music Store[link]

Kanye West bugdroid appeared in the Play Music Store. While searching anything, "Did you mean: Beyonce" came up all the time.

AdWords Planetary Targeting[link]

With AdWords Planetary Targeting your ads appear when your customers are in or searching for locations out of this world. Planetary targeting helps you focus your advertising on the planets where you’ll find the right life forms to establish your business and to increase your ROI.^[81]

Real April Fool's Day Product launches[link]

Google has chosen April Fool's Day and the day before it to announce some of their actual products, as a form of viral marketing.

• Shortly before midnight on March 31, 2004, Google announced^[82] the launch of Gmail. However, many people believed it was a hoax, because free web-based e-mail with one gigabyte of storage was unheard of at the time.^[83]
• In 2005, Google increased Gmail storage to two gigabytes and released Google Ride Finder.
• On March 31, 2010, YouTube implemented its new video page design, which had been revealed two months earlier.^[84][85]
• On April 1, 2010, Google Street View received a new feature to toggle anaglyph 3D images. It was available by clicking on the icon depicting "pegman" wearing a pair of red/cyan glasses. The icon was present until April 8, when it was removed. The 3D view is now available by right-clicking on the image and selecting the 3D mode option or by pressing "T" or "3" on the keyboard. The images are genuine anaglyph images, with the red/cyan offset being greater for closer objects.

References[link]