Google loves a good April Fool’s Day joke. Sometimes the joke is even that it isn’t a joke. Take a tour of some of Google’s best April Fool’s Day jokes.
1. CADIE
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CADIE, or Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity, is part of Google’s 2009 April Fool’s Day pranks. CADIE is a newly created artificial intelligence with the personality of a teenager.By analyzing trends in social networks, for example, she created ablog and YouTube channel to proclaim her love of pandas. She determined this love and the look of her blog by analyzing user trends.
Google claimed that CADIE was now a regular Google employee and already working on a 20% project.
There’s also a special version of Chrome with 3D. Every time you press the 3D button, it gives the graphics on the page a red/blue shadow. Google also provided a PDF of 3D glasses you can print out for “viewing” the 3D effect.
2. Google’s MentalPlex
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On April 1st, 2000, Google introduced the Mentalplex. The name is a play on Google’s headquarters, known as the GooglePlex. Google’s prank suggested that Google could now find search results by reading your mind.
3. PigeonRank
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In 2002 Google prank site introduced PigeonRank. This was a play on Google’s ranking algorithm, PageRank. The site claimed that Google ranked search results based on the pecking of trained pigeons.
4. Google Copernicus Center
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Google claimed they were hiring for a job center on the moon. The Google Copernicus Center claims to be opening in “spring of 2007″ on the moon.
5. Google Gulp
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Google Gulp is a fictitious drink that claims it will increase the intelligence of the drinker. In order to obtain a Google Gulp, you need the cap of someone else’s Google Gulp. This is a parody of Gmailwhich was initially available by invitation only.Gmail itself was released on April Fool’s Day, and one gig of expanded storage space was also announced on April Fool’s Day, causing some speculation that the announcement itself was a joke.
6. Google Romance
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Google Romance was Google’s 2006 prank. It claimed to be a new Google dating service which would let users experience a free date peppered with unobtrusive contextual advertising. This parodiesGoogle AdSense, which displays contextual advertising.
7. TiSP – Toilet Interent Service Provider
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Google’s 2007 April Fool’s Day prank was to introduce the “TiSP” service. TiSP is supposed to be a free wireless Internet service that is connected through the user’s home toilet by flushing down the cables.
8. Gmail Paper
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Gmail Paper was a good-natured Google poke at people who print email messages out to read them. The fake service claimed it would print out Gmail messages with unobtrusive ads to cover the cost of postage.Learn more about Google’s real Gmail service.
9. Virgle
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Continuing on the theme of space exploration, for 2008, Google went with “Virgle,” an imaginary collaboration between Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.The program would theoretically colonize Mars within 100 years, while traveling on a ship controlled by a super computer involving “Holistic Artificial Language interface visually mediated by a glowing red light.”
Both Google and Virgin do have a non-April Fool’s interest in space. Google is the sponsor of the Google Lunar X Prize, while Virgin Galactic hopes to sell flights on sub-orbital space tours.
10. Gmail Custom Time
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Also part of the 2008 pranks, Gmail lets you send emails back in time, so they’re no longer late. The fake service is limited to only ten emails, since any more than that and people would stop trusting the time stamp on their email.Since Gmail was introduced on April Fool’s Day 2004, there’s often a separate Gmail prank – and sometimes a genuine Gmail feature, like extra storage space.