Google Fool's Day
Written by Sue Gee   
Tuesday, 01 April 2014

Google's tradition of taking April Fool's Day seriously is so well known that wait wait expectantly to see what it will come up with each year. In particular what is there for developers?

 

The best April Fool's are the ones that make you say "That's a really cool idea!" and so my top Google Fool this year is the one contributed by its new acquisition Nest - you know the company that makes a smart thermostat. Why stop at controlling the environment in you home or office. Why not extend the idea to airplanes? After all there is nothing worse that being stuck in the same spot for hours on end at a temperature that is either to hot or too cold. What you need is something that delivers the conditions that are just right for each individual.

In this video Next's Tony Fadell and Sir Richard Banson of Virgin America introduce Total Temperature Control, the newest product from Nest:

 

 

 

Chromecast is one of Google's latest innovations - and it isn't a joke. It enables multi-screen experiences and lets a user send and control content like video from a small computing device like a phone, tablet, or laptop to a large display device like a television - and we can vouch for the fact that it works really well. But some Google devs have looked into how well it works for squirrels:

 

 

The Chrome team joined in the fun with Google Translate support for Emoji. The new feature comes in the latest version of Chrome for Mobile available for Android and iOS allowing you to read web content using efficient and emotive illustrations, instead of cumbersome text. Some web developers have even started scripting with it!

 

Google Japan has come up with a hardware innovation - a hand that will swipe your smartphone for you and comes in both right handed and left handed versions. The video is in Japanese but there are English subtitles:

 

 

Personally I liked the Data-less decision making with Google Analytics, a video course that will give you an overview for making uninformed decisions. It seems entirely plausible! Well some April Fools Jokes do misfire.

 

 

If you are looking for even more Google pranks and jokes, the unofficial Google Operating System blog has a larger selection.

 

More Information

Google April Fools' Day 2014

Chrome for Mobile


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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 April 2014 )