5 clever April Fools' gags from Google

Google has a long-standing tradition of having fun with its users on April Fools' day, and this year they've come through in fine style. Not only did Google-owned YouTube launch a decidedly old-fashioned version of itself for the pseudo-holiday, but the search powerhouse has produced several other gags as well.

1. Autocompletion Jobs First on the list is Google's job posting for "Autocompleters," which appears as a link at the bottom of the autocomplete search results box. Clicking the link brings you to a Google blog page putting out the call for experienced individuals to produce autocompleted search results. Google even included a video interview with one of its current autocompletion employees who "started off as a Spell Checker," before working his way up in the ranks.



2. Gmail Motion Gmail also gets the April Fools' treatment with a new feature called Gmail Motion. Take a jab at the motion-controlled tech boom, Gmail Motion "allows" users to simply wave their hands in various ways to compose, send, and manage their email. For example, licking an imaginary stamp and placing in your desk is the command for "Send." An instructional video is also provided, which you can check out below.



3. Chromercise Google is also taking this opportunity to draw some attention to its up and coming Chrome web browser. In fact, they've gone so far as to claim you may need a bit of finger exercise to deal with Chrome's blazingly fast browsing. To that end, they've produced a "Chromercise" finger exercise routine, and are offering free Chrome finger sweatbands to boot.

A form to request your set of sweatbands appears on the official Chromercise site, and it notes that supplies are limited and available in the United States only. At this point, there's nothing to indicate that Google won't actually be sending these out, so if you'd like to give your fingers a very '80s feel, sign up as soon as possible! 

Update: That was fast! Google's finger sweatband giveaway is over, and the colorful "exercise" accessories are sold out! 



4. Google Voice-alyzer The team at Google Voice is having some fun with the first of April by "rolling out" a new feature called "Voice-alyzer." In a blog post by Google's Anti-Embarrassment Enforcement Officer, the Voice-alyzer is said to keep inebriated texts and calls from ruining your social life by prompting you to flawlessly type complicated words before allowing access to your device's communication lines. It's a feature that, while undoubtedly fake, might not be such a bad idea after all. 


5. Comic Sans search font Lastly, in a subtle nod to everyone's (least) favorite font, typing "Comic Sans" into the Google search bar will change the entire site's font to Comic Sans. Typing "Helvetica" works too, and there may be other font names that trigger the change, but none that we've come across, so feel free to experiment!

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