Advertisement

Article

15 Funny Easter eggs from Google

Softonic Editorial Team

Softonic Editorial Team

  • Updated:

Easter eggs are secrets embedded in programs, websites, games, DVDs, among others, just for fun.

Of course, the internet giant, Google, has plenty of surprises scattered throughout its vast collection of applications. Many of them werre revealed on April Fool’s Day (April 1), but some get set aside on sites and programs until they are found by someone. We have gathered some of the best Easter eggs from Google for you. Check it.

Airplane for what?

Some humans have already done the deed of swimming across the Atlantic Ocean. Apparently that is what Google Maps expects from you. Challenge your boundaries by going from Chicago to London, completing a good stretch of the path with strokes.

The alternative is displayed when you plot the route between the two countries. There are “only” 5,571 kilometers to be beaten between Europe and America. This option has been removed from Maps, which may indicate a programming error or that it was sheer nonsense.

466453.com

Enter the address above in the address bar (or click here). The result is … But why? Well, the explanation is quite simple: When you type the word “Google” into an ordinary telephone keypad, you will use the letters where those numbers are. Look at your keyboard and see it for yourself.

Recipes with ham

Spam is a type of spicy ham whose name is an acronym derived from the words Spiced Ham. However, most people who surf the internet know spam by its most famous meaning: a mass email that was not requested. Gmail has a folder just for them, to where a very smart filter directs most of those unwanted messages.

Well, Gmail also has a top bar of ads and news, which displays the information according to the content of your emails. But, when you access the spam folder, you’ll check out real cooking recipes on this bar, many of them with the use of … Spiced ham. This function is no longer working.

Hunter in the Opera

Steve Irwin was the most famous crocodile hunter in the world. The Australian died in 2006, victim of a ray sting (the animal’s mechanism of defense present in the tail). A small tribute to the brave man is (almost) hidden in Google Earth at one of the most famous landmarks of the country of the kangaroos: the Sydney Opera House.

Access the structure through the Google program and turn it aside to find Irwin at his best: fighting a crocodile.

Did you mean …?

Google suggests some term in your search, depending on the word you type (the famous “did you mean …?”). The resource becomes a joke, due to its suggestions or just due to the creativity of Internet users.

However, if you search for “recursion”, Google will instead offer the searched word itself. That’s right, Google suggests “recursion” when you search for “recursion.” The loop has an explanation: the term means a process of repeating a similar object, called recursion, in Portuguese.

Google flight

15 Funny Easter eggs from Google flightsimulator_0

Ready to discover the planet aboard an airplane? Then board one of the flying machines in Google Earth. You can choose between an F-16, a very fast fighter aircraft, or the SR22, with high-performance propeller plane.

Press Ctrl + Alt + A to access the flight simulator of the program and go to this page to find out how to maneuver the plane. You can choose several airports as a starting point for your trip. The sky is the limit.

GoogleDaq ylnej *

Google conducts searches in 46 different languages, including Norwegian, Serbian, and Klingon. Wow, wait right there! Isn’t Klingon the language spoken in the Star Trek movies? Precisely. In addition to it, there is also the Pirate version (piratian, maybe?) and the one of Looney Tunes’ cartoon character, Elmer Fudd.

Research in the three eccentric languages works with the English search engine. Only the buttons and site structure are “translated”.

Ninja Secret

Square, Circle, R1, Triangle, Square. Anyone who has played video game knows that different combinations of buttons pressed on the control can give the player access to special powers. Google also has secret codes tucked away in the Reader’s gut, the company’s feed reader, accessed through a combination of keys.

To reveal the easter egg, simply press “up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right” arrows and the letters B and A, with the website open. A ninja on a blue background will appear in the side menu, just like one of the Gmail themes. The visual changes is a bit misaligned way, because the company redesigned Reader’s design, but “forgot” to do that with the little warrior.

Google Reader has since been discontinued

Cluttering the screen

Two of the company’s pranks recently hit the web. By typing “do a barrel roll” into Google search, the entire site rotates 360 °. The same thing happens if you type “z or r twice”. But, what do these two things have in common?

The two phrases make reference to the game Star Fox 64, a classic of Nintendo 64 in which you control the fox Fox piloting a ship. “Do a barrel roll” is a move used to dodge enemies. Already “z or r twice” are the two commands you perform to make the move.

Martian Pap

15 Funny Easter eggs from Google- meliza-chat

Some NASA robots have already placed their wheels on Mars, but found nothing of water or microscopic life. But Google has located intelligent life on the red planet. There is a Martian living there, willing to chat with anyone who discovers his secret location.

Access Google Earth and view Mars through the program. Type “Meliza” into the search box to be directed directly to the alien’s home. However, don’t expect heated debates about the meddling humans sending robots to the planet without his permission: ET’s dialogues are fueled by an artificial intelligence system called Eliza, which is meant to mimic human interaction, something at which it is not successful.

Research with the mind

Remove your hat and glasses. Fix your eyes on the circle (do not move your head). Design the mental image of what you want to find and click on the circle.

After these instructions, Google MentalPlex does the search without you typing anything. Google’s “new product” is actually one of the traditional April Fool’s day joke made by the company. This was created in the year 2000, but it is still out there. The results are “smarter and faster” because they are based on astrology, air pressure, humidity, mouse speed and brainwave activities.

That’s us on Street View!

Cameras attract the human being. All you have to do is show a TV reporter on the street and fame hunters will spring up everywhere, forcing the camera to close the frame on the journalist’s face. With Street View the same thing happens. Several pics of people who have decided to play with the service circulate through the internet.

But, the most unusual images were captured by one of the cars in front of Google’s headquarters in Mountain View. Several company employees gathered to demonstrate their love for Street View. Even Pegman, the “guide” of the app streets, appeared to give a hello.

Guru Google

15 Funny Easter eggs from Google - Deep_thought

A real nerd has read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and it seems that Google employees are big fans of Douglas Adams’s book. A proof of this is that they have decided to give the “answer” to some of the most crucial “questions” of humanity contained in the book, through company research.

When you type “answer to life, the universe and everything” in the original translation of the book, the result that appears is “42”, as the book says.

Other researches also provide ready answers, such as “number of horns on a unicorn”, and “once in a blue moon”, which informs how often the natural phenomenon of the “blue moon” happens.

Gravitational power

Gravity is a necessary evil for all humanity, otherwise we would not be “trapped” on the planet. This incredible force also came to Google’s search in yet another of the company’s Easter eggs. Google’s feature drops the site as if things were pulled down because of the gravity’s effect. Just type “Google Gravity” and then click “I’m in luck”. The joke works on all browsers.

Print your emails

15 Funny Easter eggs from Google - gmail paper

Do you want to have the feeling of receiving letters again? Your problems are over. Use Gmail Paper, a revolutionary product that uses paper made from organic soy phyto, that is not harmful to the environment.

Now you can print all your emails and receive them directly in your home. The price of that? Printed advertising behind all sheets of paper, in bold red letters. At least it is not possible to print popup windows. The service is more of a play on April fool’s day.

Softonic Editorial Team

Softonic Editorial Team

Editorial Guidelines