You have to love a company that not only treats its employees well but can have fun and laugh at itself. (Hint, hint, Microsoft.) Today, Google changed their name to Topeka (see link for proper uses of Topeka in context), and removed all the vowels from the Gmail log-in page.

Google also created a new application called Translate for Animals. "Have you ever felt stressed or lonely, and the only conversation you’ve had has been a one sided one with your cat or dog? Well now it could be possible for your pet to communicate back, with an app developed by Google that’s called "Translate for Animals." According to an article at product-reviews.net - sourced from Google – the application makes it possible for you to talk to your animals, whether it is a cat, dog or any other pet. The search engine hopes that the app will help you find out exactly what your animal is thinking." A step-by-step guide is listed here, along with caveats that "it is not Google's responsibility if you are offended or disappointed by what your chosen animal may say. Also please note, we do not guarantee stimulating conversation," and "As a general rule the higher up in the food chain an animal is, the better a communicator it will be. So if you are after quick witted banter it's best to select cats and dogs rather than rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs. (Herbivores and omnivores are not known for their linguistic ability. Although it has been discovered that tortoises have expansive general knowledge.)"

The search engine giant also finally got around to creating a language translator tied to Google I mean Topeka Maps, in case you're ever Down Under. "Language and translation is a major focus of our work at Google because it’s so intimately connected to our mission of making the world's information accessible to all. Australia, with its highly idiomatic local language, was found to be a perfect test bed for the next generation of language translation technology developed locally in the Sydney office."

By synthesising millions of aggregated search inputs from Australians as well as scanning 23 seasons of Home and Away scripts, we are able to Optimise for Colloquial Cultural Articulation (OCCA) - which means our products can now be tailored specifically for the typical Strayan user. To give you an example, we already know that if someone searches for ‘cricket’ in Australia they’re more likely interested in the sport than the insect. With our new OCCA framework, we can now go further and tell that if an Aussie searches on "automatic wiki," they’re probably referring to the automatic wicket keeper common in backyard cricket and not an automatically updated bulletin board or "wiki."

OCCA greatly reduces the latency between a user's thought and ability to pinpoint information; a boon for local users who’d have Buckleys makin’ sense of American English.

If you need internet service but aren't anywhere near cabling, thanks to Google TiSP (Toilet internet Service Provider) you can use sewer lines to connect. "Want WiFi around? Just flush it down!"

For the musician at heart, Google Japan developed drum-set keyboards to let you rock out on the clock.

I'm sure there are more fun tricks afoot today; these are just a few that made me giggle at Google. Happy April Fools' Day!