Google hoaxes and easter egges

Easter eggs[edit]

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

Calculator[edit]

• 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); and the prefixes hella- (10^27), furshlugginer- (10^6), 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[edit]

• Searching for "atari breakout" in Google Images will bring up the standard results of images relating to that term. The images then automatically shrink and colorize to resemble the squares in the Atari video game Breakout. A 'paddle' and bouncing ball appear and one can then play the game on the screen.
• Searching for "anagram" shows "Did you mean: nag a ram" in the English version, "Essayez avec cette orthographe : gare maman" in the French version and "Menade du: "magarna" in the Swedish version, "Meinten Sie: Mama Rang" in the German version, "Forse cercavi: arma magna" in the Italian version, "Возможно, вы имели в виду: мама ранг а" in the Russian version, "האם התכוונת ל: גן מראה" in the Hebrew version ("אנגרמה"), in the Dutch version "Bedoelde u: ma graan".
• Searching for "define anagram" shows "Did you mean: nerd fame again".
• 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 for the Nintendo 64 console.
• Searching for "recursion" shows "Did you mean: "recursion", which allows you to recursively run searches for recursion.
• Searching for "Jason Isaacs" with Google UK 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", caused the result index at the bottom of the page to read as "Gooooooooooal!" instead of "Goooooooooogle".^[1]
• Searching for "tilt" or "askew" using a browser with support for css3 transform, makes the page 'lean' to the right a bit. Searching for anything else puts it right back.
• 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.
• Also around December 2011 and January 2012, searching for "xmas" or "christmas" or any phrase with "xmas" or "christmas" in, puts a string of colorful lights under the search bar.
• Searching for "festivus" displays an unadorned aluminum pole running down the side of the list of the search results in recognition of the secular holiday Festivus. And before the number of search result it displays "A festivus miracle!" . Launched December 10, 2012.^[2]
• 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 "zerg rush" returns a search page with 'O's eating the search results. Clicking each 'O' three times kills it. This is a reference to an early attack known as a 'zergling rush' in theBlizzard game Starcraft. After the inevitable destruction of all links, the 'O's form the letters GG in reference to the standard end of game formality and means "good game".^[3]
• Searching for "conway's game of life" returns a search page with Conway's Game of Life running behind the results along with a set of controls to play, pause, maximize/restore, and step. Given enough time, the squares will start to form the word "Google" on the right side.
• Searching "Bacon Number *name*" Displays the bacon number of a famous actor. Searching "Bacon number Kevin Bacon" gives a result of 0.
• Searching for horror or halloween related terms returns the result along with three bats on the upper right corner of the page which fly away as soon as the mouse cursor hovers over them. This easter egg was launched on October 31 2012.
• Searching for "yes yes" used to play the clip from the popular meme.
• Searching for how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood (Note:this only works when searching by voice) takes you to the search results, but the voice used in Google Translate will say: a woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood. Many other things will be read out if you search by voice. Most the time though, it will simply be the Wikipedia description.

Google Maps/Earth[edit]

• In early test 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.^[4] Users can now achieve a similar effect by asking Google Maps for directions across the Pacific Ocean, which will return "Sail across the Pacific Ocean (2,756 miles)." This route includes a short stretch via land across Hawaii.^[5]
• If the user asks for walking directions from China to Japan at Step 298 (or 31 by car) 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.
• 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. Similarly, by looking up Google's office in Wrocław, Poland on Street View, one can see Google employees from that office and similarly for Dublin, Ireland here.
• When the Business Photos feature was introduced (utilising the Street View API) Google's Lenoir, North Carolina datacentre published a full walkthrough. When navigating around the datacentre and its offices the viewer can see various employees dressed in costume, acting peculiarly, pulling faces and many other visual gags and easter eggs.
• Google Earth's search example is the Google 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. Also, while in street view on Telegraph Avenue, one can enter and have a look around some of the shops. 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.^[6] When dragged into LegoLand in Carlsbad, the "Peg Man" turns into a LEGO man. When dragged into Street View in Sun Valley, Idaho, he becomes a skier. When dragged onto the vicinity of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, "Peg Man" becomes a tennis player holding a racket.
• The Mars Feature of Google Earth allows users to speak to a primitive ELIZA clone on the planet, by searching for "Meliza".^[7]
• There is a place on the southern point of Half Moon Island, Antarctica that has blue "roads". When the man is dragged on this spot, the man turns into a penguin and users can explore the area the same as a road.^[8]
• 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.^[4]
• 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.^[4]
• 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."^[9][10]
• 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.^[11]
• When NSA is entered into the destination, Google Maps will automatically change it to say "Never Say Anything".
• If the co-ordinates 63° 2' N, 29° 55' W are input into Google Maps, it would return a photo of the city of Rapture from BioShock (the photo has been deleted, although it still reads "The City of Rapture").
• When searching for "Sweden" in Google Maps, instead of the geographical center (as for other countries and states), zooming in reveals that the map is centered some 200km away atHerräng, Sweden, and more specifically the Folkets Hus, which is the focal point of Herräng Dance Camp.
• If the co-ordinates for Point Nemo are inputed into Google Maps, a shadowed imprint shows up with a compass and the word "NEMO" in the ocean.

Google.com homepage[edit]

• 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. The easter egg here was that by pressing Insert Coin (which replaced the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button) a second time, users could play a 2-player version of PAC-MAN, starring both Pacman and Ms. Pacman (moving in WASD) in the same game. This was a first in the history of PAC-MAN.^[12] Google's game is still playable^[13]
• On November 30, 2012 when clicking the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button with no text, it changed into an "I'm Feeling Stellar" button. When the Stellar button was pressed it brought the user to aGoogle Earth, Hubble Telescope image of light moving outwards from a stellar outburst. On December 19, 2012, hovering the mouse over the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button made it spin to a random selection that included not just "I'm Feeling Stellar" but also "I'm Feeling Hungry" (bringing up a search for restaurants), "I'm Feeling Artistic" (googleartproject.com), "I'm Feeling Puzzled" (agoogleaday.com), "I'm Feeling Wonderful" (World Wonders Project), "I'm Feeling Playful" (Google Doodles), and "I'm Feeling Trendy" (Google Trends).

Gmail[edit]

• On the Suggest a feature page for Gmail, it shows "Have Gmail do the laundry" as a suggestion.^[14]
• 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®. Also, if one visits trash, they get tips for recycling.

Google Translate[edit]

• The English translate button uses a different font than the other buttons.
• 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.
• If "Optimus Prime" is translated from Latin to English, Google Translate translates the query as Transformers the Game
• If "君達の基地は、全てCATSがいただいた。" is translated from Japanese to English, the translated phrase in English might often result as "All your Base are Belong to Us". Same for "何者かによって、爆発物が仕掛けられたようです。", which translates to "Somebody set up us the bomb", "メインスクリーンにビジョンが来ます。" which translates as "Main screen turn on", "せいぜい残り少ない命を、大切にしたまえ・・・・。" which translates into "You have no chance to survive make your time", "たのむぞ。ZIG！！" which would be translated into "Move 'ZIG'!" and "我々の未来に希望を・・・" which Google Translate would translate as "For Great Justice...". All of the foregoing are reference to the 1991 Japanese sidescrolling spaceship shooter Zero Wing, which led to the All your Base internet meme.
• If "がまんして" is translated from Japanese to English, it returns with "BE PATIENT" in all caps.
• If "מוישלה" (US /mɒɪʃɑːlɛ/, Hebrew name) is translated from Hebrew to English, Google Translate translates the query as "Alarm Clock".
• If the kanji symbols 火影 ('hokage' in romanji, meaning 'fire shadow') are translated from Japanese to English, the translation reads 'Naruto'. This is a reference to the popular Japanese manga/anime 'Naruto' in which the main character wishes to attain the title of Hokage.

Android[edit]

Since the Gingerbread (2.3) version of Google's Android operating system an easter egg containing a funny animation has been hidden. The easter egg can be accessed through the Settings application, in the About phone section, by repeatedly tapping the Android version section. The animation is different in every version of the OS.

• In 2.3 (Gingerbread) an image of an Android Robot in a crowd of zombies is displayed. The image is entitled Zombie Art by Jack Larson.
• In 3.x (Honeycomb) an image of an Android Bee is displayed.
• In 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Google has made a parody of Nyan Cat. Instead of a cat 8-bit versions of Android Robots enveloped in an ice cream sandwich biscuit fly over the screen.
• In 4.1 (Jellybean) A bunch of jellybeans are spread over the screen. The user can then fling the jellybeans around. Doing the same thing in 4.2 unlocks the jellybean flinger as a Daydream.
• In 4.2 (Jellybean) When enabling Developer Tools by tapping the Build Number five times in the About screen, a note will appear at the bottom of the screen telling the user how many taps of the Build Number that are left before he/she becomes a developer. Once tapping it five times, the note congratulates the user saying that "You are now a developer!"

YouTube[edit]

• Holding down the left and up arrow while pausing or watching a video will cause a game of Snake to launch. This can also be done by pressing the right arrow instead of the left one. 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.This does not work for everyone, though. It has been said that it only works in videos with the category "Games".^[15]
• During December 2011, a button was added which, when clicked, caused animated snow to fall from the top of the video.
• A 500 Internal server error will cause this message to appear: "Sorry, something went wrong. A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation. Please report this incident to customer service. Also, please include the following information in your report:" followed by a random code.
• Adding "&wadsworth=1" to a video URL will apply Wadsworth's constant, skipping the first 30% of the video.^[16]
• If a user attempts to click their own "Subscribe" button, a mouseover will appear stating "No need to subscribe to yourself!".
• At one point, the scroll bar for the Nyan Cat video was replaced by Nyan cat.
• As of December 2012, the view count on Gangnam Style features a sprite version of Psy dancing to commemorate reaching 1 billion views.
• Putting in the search box "do the harlem shake" will cause the page to do the Harlem Shake. It can be muted and paused.
• On April 15th, 2013, in ocasion of the VHS 57th anniversary, YouTube added a tape mode button in the video player. While clicking the button, the video will take a degraded videotape look. Tape mode is still available, adding "&vhs=1" at the end of the video URL.

Other[edit]

• Typing in the Nyan Cat emoticon (~=[,,_,,]:3) on Google+ chat makes the text turn into an animated Nyan Cat.
• Pressing control-shift-y in Picasa will cause a teddybear to appear on the screen.^[17]
• Pressing the keys "up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A," otherwise known as the Konami Code, in Google's Feed reader will cause the screen to turn blue and a ninja to appear on the left.^[18] It also causes the phrase "Ninja!" to appear in the search box.
  • At some point the effect of pressing those keys was changed to display 30 "unread items" in each recently read feed, a reference to the Konami Code giving the player 30 lives in the gameContra, as opposed to the normal 3.
  • If the Konami Code is used and enter is pressed afterwards in Google Docs, the page will rotate 180 degrees on a vertical axis, and the scroll bar will follow. It is still possible to edit the document, but the mouse cannot place the cursor, and the cursor movement by the arrow keys is not changed (press left and the cursor goes to your left, despite the rotation of the page). To undo, enter the Konami Code again and press enter.
• 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.
• 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.^[19]
• In Google Voice, once a text-message being typed exceeds 320 characters ( 2 x 160-per-SMS), the countdown changes to "Really?"
• In Google Docs, within a spreadsheet, pressing Shift+F12 brings up a message: "Dragon slain! Congratulations, you've slain the dragon!".
• Going to http://www.google.com/heart gives a Java applet with an interactive jumping heart under the Google logo of the search page. The applet was made in 2000 by Ken Perlin.^[20]
• In Google I/O 2013 page, can click letter I or O to input password, for example, when input OIIIIIII then press enter will enter a page with ASCII code.^[21]
• In Google Glass, tap Settings -> Device info -> View licenses, then tap Google Glass's touchpad 9 times, will show Tap Meet Team option, then tap last time, will show Google Glass's develop team's photo.^[22]

April Fools' hoaxes[edit]

2001[edit]

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.^[23] Several humorous error messages^[24] were then displayed on the search results page,^[25] 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[edit]

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).^[26]

• Pigeon Rank

2004[edit]

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 - Dead Link

2005 [edit]

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'sintelligence. 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 termedAuto-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).^[27]

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[edit]

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[edit]

Gmail Paper[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

Blogger "Google Weblogs (beta)"[edit]

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[edit]

Google launches Dajare in Japan (google.co.jp), with the mission of "organizing the world's laughter."^[28]

gDay[edit]

Google announces gDay in Australia, a new beta search technology that will search web pages 24 hours before they are created.^[29] The name is a play on the phrase "g'day".

http://www.google.com.au/intl/en/gday/index.html

Gmail Custom Time[edit]

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,^[30][31] when it led to the full Gmail Custom Time hoax page.^[32] 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 Book Search Scratch and Sniff[edit]

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.^[33]

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

Google Calendar is Feeling Lucky[edit]

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 Docs[edit]

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. Entering the Konami Code in a document then pressing enter will make the document flip left to right. Doing so again will make it flip back.

Google Manpower Search[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

Main article: Virgle

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.^[34] 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."^[35]

• Virgle Application Page – Virgle: The Adventure of Many Lifetimes

Yogurt[edit]

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

YouTube[edit]

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[edit]

Google runs on Microsoft Windows IIS/3.0[edit]

google.com.au reported as if it ran on IIS/3.0^[36] and google.com on Apache/0.8.4^[37] (on Linux).

The announcement of CADIE was made on 31 March 2009 11:59 pm by the CADIE Team, not on April 1. The announcement on the Google blog was made at 2009/04/01 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[edit]

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[edit]

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."

gBall[edit]

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[edit]

A blog post to the Google Analytics Blog investigates the analytics reports of CADIEs activities.^[38]

Google Maps[edit]

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. UnderRedmond WA a link is listed which will rick roll the viewer.

Blogger[edit]

CADIE's personal blog/homepage

Google Chrome with 3D[edit]

A home of Google Mail 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[edit]

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[edit]

The Google Code Search homepage^{[dead link]} is featuring LOLCODE examples.

CADIE is set to write code for you^{[dead link]} 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,^[39][40] but she changed her mind and replaced it with a "fun program"^[41] consisting of 31 lines of INTERCAL. When executed, this program prints out the message "I do not shake

Google Book Search[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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.^[42]

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[edit]

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.^{[citation needed]} The ship's name "M/S Sergey" is also likely to be a pun on Google's co-founder Sergey Brin.

2010[edit]

Google and Topeka, Kansas, Switch Places [edit]

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.^[43]

Google Books available in Anachrome 3D[edit]

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.^[44] Google also released the latest form of 3D glasses, similar to the pairs one would use today when seeing a film.

Store anything on Google Docs[edit]

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[edit]

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
• 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[edit]

The logo of YouTube was overlaid with ASCII text repeating the character "1".^[45] 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[edit]

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[edit]

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

Evil Bit[edit]

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 quotation from the video game Zero Wing.^[46]