If you are a Google user, like most everyone in the world is, you might have seen something odd today when you went to the search engine this morning. Instead of searching Google, you searched a site called Topeka, which if you remember correctly that is a small town in Kansas.Kansas always makes me think of the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy. Why did Google choose Topeka though? Apparently, that city changed its name to Google for one month in hopes of earning a high speed fiber optic system in the city. The competition for that ended on Monday, and a city will be chosen soon. Google says their name being used today does not give them a leg up on the competition.
The man in charge of Google, CEO Eric Schmidt, had this to say about today's change: "We didn't reach this decision lightly; after all, we had a fair amount of brand equity tied up in our old name," Schmidt wrote. "But the more we surfed around (the former) Topeka's municipal Web site, the more kinship we felt with this fine city at the edge of the Great Plains."
Google pulling a big April Fool's Prank is nothing new. They do this every year! What April Fools Pranks have you pulled off today?
(gather.com)