Google likes to joke around. Since 2007, Google pulls a April Fool’s day prank every year. In this article we look at some examples.
Gmail Motion
In 2011 everybody was all over the newest Google invention: Gmail Motion. This program makes it possible for users to control the mouse and keyboard without touching it. You can work with Gmail by moving your body. The webcam picks up your motions and voila, an email is sent. What an amazing program! It was really convincing, but as it turned out, an April fool’s day joke.
Google Translate for Animals
In 2010 Google came up with the Animal Translator App. With this app for Android, you can record the sound your animal makes and it gets translated to human language. The introduction video was so convincing that a lot of people wanted this app on their phone. It didn’t take long until they realised that this was all a joke.
Gmail Back in time
It was on April 1st 2008 that Google came up with the service to send emails back in time so they would never be too late. But remember, there is a limit to how far back you can send your emails. It is only possible to send emails back till the 1st of April 2004, when Gmail was launched. As Google says: “If we were to let you send an email from Gmail before Gmail existed, well, that would be like hanging out with your parents before you were born — crazy talk.”
You can check out Gmail Back in Time Here
Go to Mars with Google
Virgle is the imaginary collaboration between Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google Founders Larry Page and Serger Brin. The program was made to colonize Mars within 100 years, starting in 2014. They would achieve that by traveling on a ship controlled by a super computer involving “Holistic Artificial Language interface visually mediated by a glowing red light.”
Check out Go to Mars with Google Here
The Google April Fool’s day jokes are genius. We can only wonder how awesome the 1st of April would have been at the Google Office.