Roundup of Google’s April Fool’s Day Jokes

Google is one of those companies that just loves to celebrate April Fool’s Day. And 2013 was no exception. This year, Google seemed to devote more resources than ever to the infamous day. Here are the jokes that Google tried to pull on the internet on April 1, 2013:

Google Maps Treasure Mode

This one is my favorite, just because of the hilarious video. Google Maps Treasure Mode came about after a Maps exploration team discovered a chest filled with treasure maps way back in 2012. The treasure maps were hidden by Captain Kidd and specified the locations of hidden treasure all over the world. To help celebrate the discovery, Google added a Treasure Mode to Google Maps. Treasure Mode was available all day on April 1, but it’s since been taken off of Google Maps. When it was up, Treasure Mode pointed the way to several ‘X’s all over the world. But seriously, just watch this video. It’s worth it. There’s something magical about a group of middle aged men crowded around a bar trying to find hidden treasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_qFFHC0eIUc

YouTube will no longer accept uploads and will finally choose a ‘winner’

In another video, Google said that YouTube was no longer accepting submissions. YouTube claimed to be overwhelmed by the reactions to its 8 year-long contest to find the best video in the world, and it was finally ready to choose a winner. Google claimed that YouTube would be back online in 2023, at which point the winner would be announced. Over the next 10 years, a team of tens of thousands of judges will pore over each and every video on YouTube trying to find the best one. Yeah, okay. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=H542nLTTbu0

Google Nose lets users smell their search results

Google is a powerful search engine. But it’s lacking in some ways. And unfortunately, as you may already know, Google Search does not show users the smell of what they’re searching for. The video for this one is pretty funny too, if for nothing else than the Google engineers spouting random technological terminology. There are also plenty of people leaning awkwardly towards their monitors and inhaling deeply: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9-P6jEMtixY Well, with Google Nose, adult content would certainly be a lot more interesting to search for on Google.

Blue Gmail

Google says it took six years to develop Blue Gmail, which is a revolutionary change that makes everything blue. After experimenting with brown (“brown was a disaster”), Google finally settled on the blue color scheme. “How do we completely redesign and recreate something while keeping it exactly the same? The answer is Gmail Blue”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Zr4JwPb99qU As you can see, Google went all out this year for April Fool’s Day. I don’t know where the company gets the time to create high-production value jokes like this, but the internet certainly appreciates it. I can’t wait to see what they do next year.