Photos: Google's April Fools' Day Pranks
By IBTimes Staff Reporter | Apr 01, 2011 12:29 PM EDT
Google is known for its wide variety of useful web applications and services. Among them are the main Google search engine, applications like Gmail, Google Maps and Google Docs.
On some April Fools' Days since 2000, however, Google lauches some niche "products" which are mostly whimisical and satirical ideas trading on the company's stronger products.
The company has launched such "products" on and off over the years. What follows is a selection.
2000 - GOOGLE MENTALPLEX - Google’s Mental Plex promises a smarter, faster search by letting user stare into a swirling circle and project a mental image of what they wanted to find. The next step is to click on the image and see the result. Multiple error messages may make the user think they are using the service incorrectly.
Source: Google / Handout
2002 - GOOGLE PIGEONRANK - Google’s PigeonRank is at the heart of Google’s search technology, giving the website very fast query results. Pigeons have the ability to select relevant websites from among thousands of similar pages, giving Google speeds superior to traditional search engines. Queries are routed to a data coop where pigeons assigned to computers select the most relevant results.
Source: Google / Handout
2004 - GOOGLE COPERNICUS CENTER - The Google Copernicus Center is hiring for engineering positions at its lunar hosting and research center. Individuals must be willing to relocated for an extended period of time. The center aims to leapfrog current terrestrial-based technologies. Google’s new goal with the center in place is to “organize all the useful information in the universe and serve it to you on a lightly salted cracker.”
Source: Google / Handout
2005 - GOOGLE GULP - Google Gulp is a line of “smart drinks” designed to maximize your surfing efficiency by making you more intelligent, and less thirsty. A DNA scanner at the tip of the bottle reads your genetic code in a franction of a second and patented Auto-Drink technology pumps smart-drug stimulants into the drinker to maximize mental ability. Plus it’s low in carbs!
Source: Google / Handout
2006 - GOOGLE ROMANCE - Google Romance treats love as just another search problem. By posting all types of romantic information and using Soulmate Search, results could theoretically include the love of your life. Users are sent on a Contextual Date, where Google can deliver relevant ads that will likely help produce the dating results you’re looking for.
Source: Google / Handout
2007 - GOOGLE GMAIL PAPER - Gmail Paper is included in the Gmail service where you can request a physical copy of any message with the click of a button, and we’ll send it to you in the mail. The messages are printed and delivered in within 2 to 4 business days.
Source: Google / Handout
2008 - GOOGLE WEBLOGS - Google Weblogs (beta) is the next revolution in personal publishing. By not limiting yourself to ‘reverse chronological’ publishin, Google’s algorithm puts your best content at the top of your blog, even if your later work goes downhill. No search optimization is needed because you can post directly into Google search results for maximum visibility. Google can also help your readers by extracting the most relevant sentence from your post and placing it on the index page. It also puts some words in bold.
Source: Google / Handout
Researchers from ICT MxR Lab at the University of Southern California turned Google's Gmail Motion joke into a real service with a Microsoft Kinect.
Source: Google / Handout
