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April 1, 2007

Google Really Takes April 1 Seriously

Michael Arrington

73 comments »

Google takes a lot of time with its April Fools jokes, and they generally center around new products. Last year we saw the launch of Google Romance. This year, they have two solid fake product launches: Google TiSP (free broadband service) and Google Paper (Prints out Gmail on paper and sends it to you).

In addition to TiSP and Paper, see Google Writer, a product invented by the Google Operating System blog that will handle most of the creative parts of writing for users.

Google TiSP

Google TiSP is a free, self installed free home wireless broadband service. This goes without saying, of course, but it operates via via fiber-optic cable strung through local municipal sewage lines.

Among the requirements are a “round-front or elongated toilet providing at least 1.0 gallons per flush,” although luckily “the fiber optic cable that enables TiSP will not interfere with your toilet’s regular operations.” The service is free and ad supported:

We use information gathered by discreet DNA sequencing of your personal bodily output to display online ads that are contextually relevant to your culinary preferences, current health status and likelihood of developing particular medical conditions going forward.

Scatological references are always good for an easy laugh, at least in the U.S.


Google Paper

Google Paper is a new feature being promoted on the Gmail home page. You can request a physical copy of any email with the click of a button, and Google will deliver paper printouts to you in 2-4 days via the mail.

Like TiSP, Google Paper is also free and advertising supported. In this case, the “relevant, targeted, unobtrusive advertisements” will appear on the back of printed emails “in red, bold, 36 pt Helvetica.” Nice.

Google also promised that Google Paper is good for the environment. “Gmail Paper is made out of 96% post-consumer organic soybean sputum, and thus, actually helps the environment. For every Gmail Paper we produce, the environment gets incrementally healthier.”

This is an excellent addition to Gmail in their race with Yahoo for the best webmail product. Gmail itself was actually launched on April 1, by the way.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 1st, 2007 at 3:53 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. Rajesh Kumar

    April 1st, 2007 at 4:03 am

    The paper campaign was very well worded, right upto justification of being environment friendly!

  2. YT

    April 1st, 2007 at 4:07 am

    April Fools

  3. steve

    April 1st, 2007 at 4:07 am

    I can remember about ten years ago - when a Sun (I think it was Sun) employee did an April Fools joke on their homepage - and was fired over the incident - and now companies seem to be spending a lot of time and effort on these jokes - how times have changed :)

  4. KidBlogger

    April 1st, 2007 at 4:19 am

    LOL! actually I was fooled! when I checked my mail this morning I actually believed it… heheheheh, evil Google! :)

  5. Mark Lifshitz

    April 1st, 2007 at 4:40 am

    I think that the big news today is that Vonage has bought iotum
    http://flatplanetphone.com/wordpress/?p=111

  6. Balakumar Muthu

    April 1st, 2007 at 4:43 am

    April Foogle !! :)

  7. Anshul

    April 1st, 2007 at 4:54 am

    Google always comes out with quality April Fools jokes. Am sure the 20% of time that Google employees get to think creatively is spent mostly on April 1.

  8. Josh

    April 1st, 2007 at 5:06 am

    There is even a longer list of Google’s April Fools jokes on the Google Cheat Sheet under “fun with google’

    Link: http://www.adelaider.com/google/

  9. Michael Ossareh

    April 1st, 2007 at 5:20 am

    Hehe,

    I saw the TiSP thing, was completely confused and was about to post here asking if google had been hacked!

    Completely neglected the April 1 link!

    The TiSP stuff was very very funny - “Professional Installer Service”… hehe

    Mike

  10. Mark Lifshitz

    April 1st, 2007 at 5:35 am

    Correction - sorry it is Google that bought iotum http://flatplanetphone.com/wordpress/?p=111

  11. jc

    April 1st, 2007 at 5:45 am

    ok, now they are getting predictable…

  12. Google Commode

    April 1st, 2007 at 6:08 am

    I am hearing a major problem with TiSP is that you lose internet connectivity every time your neighbors flush their toilets.

    But I am sure there is a work around for that by having your neighbors build an “outhouse”or “Porta Poddy”. No problem. ;)

  13. Search Engine WEB

    April 1st, 2007 at 7:37 am

    http://www.freezepage.com/1175400618AABFTMMGRB

    DON’T FORGET ABOUT THEIR SPAM ENGINEER’S APRIL FOOLS PRANK

    . :-p :P hope this does not screw up his Blog rankings by confusing the Google’s spam sniffing algos (wouldn’t that be ironic)

  14. sf

    April 1st, 2007 at 7:51 am

    I’m going to sue Google

  15. Jay Sears

    April 1st, 2007 at 7:59 am

    Yes but on the contextually relevant ads for the Google TISP, will Google finally disclose the revenue share amount to its publishers….

    Maybe you saw today’s bulletin from the Sloof Lirpa Center regarding code vulnerability in Google Adsense: http://www.slooflirpacenter.com

  16. Scoe

    April 1st, 2007 at 8:36 am

    http://www.pandia.com/sew/406-googgles.html
    Ran across this today: Google to launch 3D interactive Internet visor (even the links have imitation flash presentations). Be sure to read the last paragraph in the article.

  17. Michael Markman

    April 1st, 2007 at 8:43 am

    Please stop spoiling April Fool’s gags. Write about them tomorrow.

    longer rant

  18. Justin

    April 1st, 2007 at 8:44 am

    Google Paper actually sounds pretty cool. I’d consider using it for certain emails :)

  19. Jordan

    April 1st, 2007 at 9:32 am

    Whomever thought of the TiSP idea must have really been to the tubgirl page far too many times, as well as read one too many scat articles.

  20. trevo

    April 1st, 2007 at 10:16 am

    TiSP will be remembered as Google’s “Jumping The Shark” moment.

  21. Ben Lucier

    April 1st, 2007 at 10:21 am

    Kind of funny to wake up to on a Sunday morning. I made sure to call my Mom right away and tell her she can’t have it. She can’t wait to find an alternative to her existing broadband provider. :)

  22. HPK

    April 1st, 2007 at 10:34 am

    HPK said: google paper huh..it may look interesting !!!

  23. Richard Muscat

    April 1st, 2007 at 10:47 am

    i can’t believe i fell for the google paper idea … i was just on the verge of calling a mate up to discuss this latest “cool” thing from google… the ’saving the enviroment’ bit would have been cool. one other thing to thank TechCrunch for i guess ;-)

  24. Laura

    April 1st, 2007 at 11:06 am

    c’mon, let the them belive till tomorrow :)

  25. Diana

    April 1st, 2007 at 11:32 am

    Our local newspaper in Flagstaff, AZ always runs a front page story that is far from true on April Fool’s Day…. this year’s was particularly bizarre, and almost believable until you get to the part about turning the downtown streets into canals. http://www.azdailysun.com/arti.....age_18.txt

  26. Joanna Stern

    April 1st, 2007 at 11:33 am

    I would have continued to beleive it if it weren’t for this blog posting…

  27. Bill W.

    April 1st, 2007 at 11:41 am

    Look’s like Apple’s getting into the April Fool’s spirit as well. Bye bye Safari (yeah, right):

    Webkit shutting down:
    http://webkit.org/blog/100/webkit-shutting-down/

  28. bdeseattle

    April 1st, 2007 at 12:00 pm

    Yo Mike - you seemed to have sparked quite a debate over at the ‘wag. Scoble and Winer are in a frenzy on Twitter and the whole blogosphere and Interweb is being gamed by aprilFools2.0. Holy crap. I wonder how much $$ it took google to whip up their 3 april fools gags. It’s amazing to see the power of the interweb and techniques for spreading news the web2.0 way - when sites like TC can serve up a couple softballs in a blogpost, then watch the fanboys hit it out of the park over at digg, reddit, del.icio.us, technorati, techmeme, and the other 2.0 buzz sites. Funny how in the end it actually helps drive traffic back to your site. Genius. And in the meantime, you’ve got Nick in a frenzy over at the ‘wag. I tend to agree with him though. aprilFools2.0 is played out and should go into the deadpool - TC / FC whateva. Have a great day Mike.

  29. pr0xy k1ll3r

    April 1st, 2007 at 12:09 pm

    In other news..
    TechCrunch takes April 1 even more seriously: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007.....ompanycom/

  30. Simon North

    April 1st, 2007 at 12:28 pm

    Great April Fools, great to see that big companies have so much fun instead of been boring and normal. Blogged (click my name to see my post).

  31. Frank Wyatt

    April 1st, 2007 at 12:35 pm

    Google coulnt of come up with something better then this? Something that is more believable?

  32. Tranix.net

    April 1st, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    I’ve pulled a prank on my gf’s best friends and they freaked out LMAO

  33. gleuch

    April 1st, 2007 at 1:08 pm

    facebook’s added some april fools humor by adding subtle “news” events into your news feed, such as “Bracket Buster: Ohio State and Florida have mutually agreed on a tie and will not play the championship game.” and “Harry and Voldemort have set their relationship status to ‘Mortal Enemies.’”, to name a few

  34. Siddharth Thakkar

    April 1st, 2007 at 1:23 pm

    Whoa!

    I certainly did not expect this one from Google! But now everyone’s using the April 1 to market themselves in a different way.

    Sounds like a great strategy to me.

    Cheers!

  35. Matt

    April 1st, 2007 at 1:23 pm

    It’s Gmail Paper, not Google Paper. :P

  36. Mojo

    April 1st, 2007 at 1:32 pm

    And one must read the ‘press release’ announcing ‘TISP’.

  37. BREAKING NEWS!!!

    April 1st, 2007 at 1:58 pm

    Old media conglomerate, Via(gra)com, has just announced that it will withdraw its $1 billion lawsuit against Google and become the first content provider of Google TiSP — the free, self-installed, wireless broadband service.

    From Via(gra)com’s press release:

    “We are very excited about this partnership with Google. The innovative content delivery method allows us to pipe our programming, such as MTV shows, directly from where they are produced, namely, the very underground, and very free-flowing, sewage system…”

  38. Dheeraj

    April 1st, 2007 at 2:09 pm

    If anyone here has seen the Blue Man Group act in Vegas - the whole Google TiSP thing was lifted from there - applause on the implentation/artwork though!

  39. Brian Juris

    April 1st, 2007 at 2:35 pm

    The irony of the Tisp deal is that it most likely will come true for Google in the near future. However, I doubt there will be any toilet bowl winners here. Anyone that knows the proxy statements as well as I do, and the unparalleled dreams of Eric Schmidt (and his team of over 2000 engineers), Google will create the most scalable platform of the internet we have ever known. With all the dark fiber and wireless transmitters Google owns, what else could it be? Will Google ever become the most powerful company in the world?

  40. Chris24

    April 1st, 2007 at 2:51 pm

    haha! Nice one Goooooogle!

  41. craig n

    April 1st, 2007 at 3:03 pm

    Anyboy seen (or care) what’s goin’ on with the SimpleBits rip-off as documented here

  42. Danny

    April 1st, 2007 at 3:54 pm

    Oh well, what the “Sh*t” will they think of next! - :)

  43. Vineet

    April 1st, 2007 at 4:19 pm

    Now with one extra day

    Also on the Google calendar website - screenshot:
    http://people.csail.mit.edu/vi.....GooDay.png

  44. Google Commode

    April 1st, 2007 at 4:27 pm

    I am also thinking of building a custom PC stand - designed to fit around the shape of a toilet - to empower me with extreme mobile commuting.

    Forget the reading room or den; I personally do some of my best reading while taking a dump so this just might be perfect for me. TiSP, TiSP.

    I call it the Google Ka-Stool-ble. ;)

  45. george

    April 1st, 2007 at 6:18 pm

    i love that they have such good humor!

  46. OhCash

    April 1st, 2007 at 6:25 pm

    Man, those are really funny. It has the perfect blend of seriousness to fool enough people to make this everything even funnier. Think what percentage of people would believe this if it was not on a April Fool’s day, no matter how foolish it sounds.
    Business Tips

  47. Anif™

    April 1st, 2007 at 7:05 pm

    I actually fell for the GMail paper thing when I logged in to Gmail this morning, I still did….until I just read this article this evening. Now that I look back, I realise one of the news in the Facebook new feeds was an April Fools joke as well. I read “Send a live poke now: Have a real person poke your friend” (something like that….). Totally forgot today was April 1.

  48. Jauhari

    April 1st, 2007 at 7:33 pm

    Google Always step a head in web technology….

  49. MajorNetworkNews

    April 1st, 2007 at 8:02 pm

    I’m actually a little tired of Google’s april fools things, mainly because it is not unexpected. Like clockwork, they have some elaborate wacky april fools thing. The 1st time was really neat, it was not expected.

    They should sit next year out. Then everyone can talk about that, and speculate why, etc…then come out the following year with something again.

  50. swordofsearch

    April 1st, 2007 at 8:27 pm

    Google really always make suprise…

  51. brettbum

    April 1st, 2007 at 9:16 pm

    So TechCrunch was purchased by PayPerPost ???

    http://blog.payperpost.com/200.....runch.html

  52. NITHYA

    April 1st, 2007 at 9:51 pm

    erg

  53. Vipin

    April 2nd, 2007 at 12:36 am

    Another one from Google, http://www.google.com/googlegulp/

  54. kaushik

    April 2nd, 2007 at 2:50 am

    google’s prank is just amazing.. i was taken for a ride.. haha. but wat ever, enjoyed it.. way to go google… hats off to you!!
    keep going..
    thank you for your splendid service!!

  55. Runa

    April 2nd, 2007 at 7:03 am

    Google TisP is my favourite one! It was great!

  56. Rodney Rumford

    April 2nd, 2007 at 8:13 am

    I actually thought the google paper was an interesting concept as a way for google to get even more data from/to me. They would then have my physical mail location and could target junk mail that was relevant to me.

    If they can target adwords based upon my email content, they could easily send me relevant “junk mail” that is better than my current junk mail. I would not laugh at this one too much as this is something that we might very well see in the next 2-3 years. I could see direct marketers salivating.

    With google’s push into traditional print advertising buys, this makes total sense…

    This part also makes some sense “Photo attachments are printed on high-quality, glossy photo paper”. Hey, why wouldn’t an advertiser have their logo printed on the photo: This picture print courtesy of Product X”? Not too terribly far fetched…

    When I saw this on sunday, i knew it was a joke when i saw this “For every Gmail Paper we produce, the environment gets incrementally healthier.”… I was cracking up and could just see the tree huggers flipping out.

    Any way you look at it; it was great for a laugh.

  57. Armando Alves

    April 2nd, 2007 at 5:38 pm

    Am i the only one to have noticed this April fool’s joke on the secrets of page rank?

    I find it hilarious that they’re trying to explain a complex algorithm with pigeons.

  58. angrys0ul

    April 2nd, 2007 at 10:10 pm

    the Google piegeon rank is too old to be mentioned now
    Google TiSP and GMail Paper are the latest and list of old Google pranks is also a good laugh

  59. JayJay

    April 3rd, 2007 at 4:18 am

    I much prefer SKY++ (SKY DoublePlus). Whereas Sky+ for an extra £10pm allows you to pause and rewind real-time video, Sky ++ (for an additional £10 pm again) allows you to pause, rewind and fast-forward real-time video. I’ve signed up…

  60. panglima_khalid

    April 10th, 2007 at 12:37 pm

    weih…april fool ka…lawak btol..xsangka pakat-2 kena tipu ramai-2..

    huah-huah-huah..

  61. Windows VPS Hosting

    April 23rd, 2007 at 2:47 am

    That was just an April Fool’s joke for all of us.

    Who is gonna grab the cable once it’s flushed down the toilet?

    Other April Fools pages:
    http://www.google.com/romance/
    http://www.google.com/googlegulp/
    http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html
    http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html
    http://www.google.com/mentalplex/

  62. Jackson

    April 30th, 2007 at 9:58 pm

    google going wireless!
    this is surely great news to everyone.

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