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List of Google Easter eggs

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"TISP" redirects here. For the space program, see Teacher in Space Project.

Google has a tradition of perpetrating April Fools' Day hoaxes, which generally have an intellectual sense of humor.

April Fool's hoaxes

2000

Google announced a new "MentalPlex" search technology that supposedly read the user's mind to determine what the user wanted to search for, thus eliminating the step of actually typing in the search query. This always ended up to a page full of April Fool's results.

2002

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.

2004

Fictitious job opportunities for a research center on the moon. Luna/X (a pun to Linux 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.

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). 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).

This hoax was probably intended as a parody of Google's 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."

2006

Google Romance logo
Google Romance logo

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 amusingly 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 for nostalgia.

2007

Gmail Paper

How "Gmail Paper" works
How "Gmail Paper" works

At about 10:00 PM Pacific time (where Google has its headquarters) on 30 March 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 Kevin Systrom.

Google TiSP

Google TiSP logo
Google TiSP logo

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 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 cola-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." Also, look for delivery offered through the sewage system!

2008

Adsense for Conversations

Google releases Adsense for conversations (http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/04/introducing-adsense-for-conversations.html)

Blogger "Google Weblogs (beta)"

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."

Dajare

Google launches Dajare in Japan (google.co.jp), with the mission of "organizing the world's laughter." [1]

gDay

Google announces gDay in Australia (http://www.google.com.au/intl/en/gday/press.html), a new beta search technology that will search web pages 24 hours before they are created. [2]

Gmail Custom Time

File:Gmail Custom Time.png
Gmail Custom Time feature hoax

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 p.m. 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,[3] [4] when it led to the full Gmail Custom Time hoax page [5]. 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 movie Back to the Future) to resolve issues of causality." Fake testimonials are 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 allows 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."

Google Book Search Scratch and Sniff

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 [6].

Google Calendar is Feeling Lucky

Google added the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button to its calendar feature. When you tried to create a new event, you were 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 you 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

Google announces Google 사투리 번역 (Google dialect translation) for translating regional dialects of Korean to and from Standard Korean.[7]

Google Docs

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. The image that is embedded in the "New Airplane" document can be seen here.

Google Manpower Search

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.

Google Summer of Code Licenses

Google changed the licenses on the SoC pages to all be "WTF Public License, Version 2".

Google Talk

Google announced 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 Wake Up Kit

Google launched their "Wake Up Kit" as a calendar notification option. The option sends a series of increasingly aggressive alerts, starting with an SMS message to your cellphone, and ending with a bucket of water dumped into your bed, which would then flip over, tossing you out (all using apparently-free equipment).

Virgle

Main article: Virgle
Virgle Logo
Virgle Logo

Google announces a joint project with the Virgin Group to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars (http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html). 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.[8] An "application" to join the settlement includes questions like "I am a world-class expert in" A. Physics, B. First Aid, C. Engineering, or D. Guitar Hero II. After you submit the application, the site notifies you that you are not fit for space, or that your 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.

Yogurt

Yogurt
Yogurt

Google's Orkut displayed its name as Yogurt.

YouTube

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.

Easter eggs

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

  • Searching for "the answer to life, the universe, and everything" will make the Calculator answer 42, a reference to Douglas Adams's novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In order for this Easter egg to be successful the phrase must be entered in lowercase and without the quotation marks.
  • Searching for "number of horns on a unicorn" produces the answer "1" in the Calculator.
  • Searching for "once in a blue moon" shows the result "1.16699016 × 10-8 hertz".
  • Google offers services in many languages, including several uncommon ones like Swedish Chef's Bork bork bork, Pig Latin, Hacker (Actually leetspeak), Elmer Fudd, and Klingon.
  • When asked how to get from a location in North America to a location in Europe or Africa, Google Maps included the instruction "Swim across the Atlantic Ocean",[9] (now removed)
  • When asked for directions from North America to Australia, Google Maps includes the instruction "Kayak across the Pacific Ocean"[10]. (now removed)
  • The measurement tool in Google Earth allows users to measure distance in Smoots. This is a unit of length derived from a tradition at MIT.
  • Taking the term Easter egg literally (and perhaps to celebrate the Easter holiday), Google has an official Easter Eggs page.[11]
  • Set the iGoogle theme to the "Beach" option. At 3:14 AM every mourning, 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 UFO's, the "Spring Scape" with a monster, and the "Tea House" that has spirits in the mist.
  • On Google Earth, tapping out ctrl-alt-A will activate a hidden flight simulator.
  • Going on Google Street Views, 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.
  • In Google 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"

Non-hoaxes

Google has chosen April Fool's Day to announce some of their actual products. This marketing strategy is used to make people think that the product is a hoax and spread the word around, and then to surprise them when they realize that it is real.

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.

References

  1. ^ "Google launches Dajare in Japan". ZDnet.
  2. ^ gDay™ with MATE™
  3. ^ Sunday Contingency: Gmail Custom Time
  4. ^ Gmail Custom Time - The ABCs of Gmail
  5. ^ Gmail: Google's approach to email
  6. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=Ci9JAAAAMAAJ&dq=april+fools+day&pg=PA358
  7. ^ "Google 사투리 번역".
  8. ^ Virgle's YouTube page
  9. ^ Google Maps
  10. ^ Google Maps directions from Seattle to Sydney
  11. ^ Google Easter Eggs
  12. ^ Google Press Center: Press Release

External links

Google pages

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