April Fools' Day @ Google
Google is known for its April Fools' Day pranks and this year was no exception. On Sunday, the Internet firm put a link on its home page offering consumers free, high-speed Internet service through their residential plumbing systems. The "Toilet Internet Service Provider" (TiSP) project is a "last hundred smelly yards" solution that takes advantage of preexisting sewage systems and their related hydraulic data-transmission capabilities, according to a fake press release.
TiSP in-home wireless broadband is fast, highly reliable, easy to install, and vacuum-sealed to prevent water damage, Google said. The gag was particularly timely since the company has been a prominent supporter of "network neutrality" rules that would prevent broadband companies from potentially acting as content gatekeepers.
"I couldn't be more excited about, and am only slightly grossed out by, this remarkable new product," said Google Vice President Marissa Mayer said in a spoofed statement. She said she firmly believed that TiSP will be a "breakthrough product," particularly for those users who, like Google co-founder Larry Page himself, "do much of their best thinking in the bathroom."
The search giant's first April Fools' Day joke in 2000 was the roll-out of its MentalPlex search technology that supposedly read the user's mind to determine search criteria, thus eliminating the step of actually typing in the search query. Read more about Google's hoaxes here.
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