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Tag: Google April Fools

  • Google Maps Adds Pokemon Challenge Mini-Game

    The Google Maps division over at Google today announced a new Pokemon-branded mini-game that has come to the Google Maps app. The game challenges Google Maps users to explore the world and “catch” 150 different Pokemon scattered throughout the surface of the Earth.

    In a post on the Google Maps blog, Google characterized master Pokemon trainers as having the same types of skills and dedication that it looks for in potential employees. The company is calling the new initiative the “Pokemon Challenge” and treating it as a recruiting tool for the Google Maps team. From the blog post:

    We value employees who are risk-taking and detail-oriented, have deep technical knowledge, and can navigate through tall grass to capture wild creatures. It turns out that these skills have a lot in common with another profession—that of the Pokémon Master. With that in mind, we’ve worked with Pokémon and Nintendo to develop a new training tool to help people hone their Pokémon-capturing abilities using Google Maps.

    To participate in the Pokemon Challenge players only need access to the Google Maps app for either iOS or Android. Once inside the app, tapping on the search bar and then on “start” will populate the app with Pokemon and begin the collecting game.

    Google has also released a video explaining the new software and dramatizing some real-life Pokemon encounters throughout the world. It also indicates that players who collect all 150 Pokemon will be invited to Google headquarters to “participate in a final round of hiring.” The winner of that round will apparently become a Google employee in September with the title of Pokemon Master.

    Given the timing of the Pokemon Challenge announcement, it seems clear that the program is one of Google’s elaborate yearly April Fools’ Day jokes. Even so, the software is real, allowing Google Maps users to browse around and collect Pokemon. It also wouldn’t be beyond reason that Google is serious about pitting dedicated players against each other for a chance at an honorary title at Google.

  • Google Fiber Poles Is One April Fools’ Joke That Should Become Reality

    Google loves to announce fake products and services on April Fools’ Day, and I’m fine with some products remaining pranks. Its latest joke product, however, would actually be pretty cool if it were real.

    Google Fiber Poles is the first prank product to come out of Google Fiber, and it’s actually a pretty neat idea:

    Google Fiber Poles actually presents a lot of problems that make this project impossible, but it would be great if Google made Fiber more ubiquitous around Kansas City. Installing more wireless access points would be the most obvious solution, but something similar to Google Fiber Poles that encourages people to work together in groups would be most welcome.

  • Gmail Tap: LL Cool J Tells You Everywhere You Can Tap It

    “You can tap it in the morning, you can tap it in the kitchen, you can tap it at night, you can tap it in the bathroom, you can tap it, you know, on a seesaw.”

    Those are some of the advantages to Gmail Tap, Google’s revolutionary new service that simplifies the keyboard. Are your fingers too fat for all the keys that are packed into a normal qwerty keyboard? Google’s solution is to whittle that down to only two buttons. A dot, and a dash.

    Yesterday, Google continued their tradition of unveiling oftentimes fake products or making fake announcements on April Fool’s Day by introducing Gmail Tap, telling us to “tap into the future of writing emails on the go.” In short, it’s morse code. If you missed yesterday’s video, you can check it out below:

    The current version of Gmail Tap features only a dot and a dash, as well as a space bar “to increase typing speeds.” It also includes multi-email mode, allowing users to split the screen and type two separate messages at the same time. According to the team, we can look forward to table tap, which will allow for microphones enabled offscreen tapping as well as double black diamond mode, which “adds a third, fourth and more keyboards for writing up to 8 messages at once.”

    Now, Google has released some more behind-the-scenes footage from the Gmail Tap team. Check out what the Product Lead, Todd Smith, has to say about the project:

    One YouTuber made a point that many people find themselves making about lots of Google April Fool’s jokes: “Why can’t this be real.” I can definitely see people jumping on the Morse code train, can’t you? UPDATE: You can actually install the Morse Keyboard, available for Android at Google Play.