Google announced its latest innovation on April 1, Google Nose, which will allow users to search for smells. It also announced that it will be shutting down its incredibly popular site, YouTube.
Wait a minute...something smells fishy!
Since 2000, Google has been a top-notch April Fools’ prankster. Here some of its pranks, past and present:
2013: Google Nose
2013: Gmail Blue
2012: Google Fiber
2011: Hiring Google Auto-completers
2011: Google Motion
2010: Google Translate for Animals
Google has also pulled some Gmail pranks on April Fools’ Days past. In 2011, it rolled out both Gmail Paper, a service that mails users print copies of their emails, and Gmail Custom Time, which allows users to change the time stamps on their emails. It used the slogan, “Be on time. Every time,” to promote this feature.
But, let’s not forget Google’s best April Fools’ Day announcement of all time: Gmail. Google launched Gmail on April 1, 2004, with all the prankster undertones of an April Fools’ hoax: free email with more free storage than anyone could imagine at the time. As it turned out, the joke was on us. Gmail was real. Maybe Google Nose will turn out to be the real deal too.
