How Did The Net Celebrate April Fool’s Day?

Plenty of April Fool's fun, with a big one from Google and Virgin.

April Fool’s Day, of course, is a time when practical jokes are sanctioned. That’s just as true online as in the real world, and once again the Net celebrated in high style, with Googlein particular upping the ante.   Anyone logging onto YouTube, for instance, and clicking a front page link, found himself watching a video of Rick Astley’s 1987 pop hit, “Never GonnaGive You Up.” It’s not exactly innovative, but the practice of redirecting this way has become quite common as a joke. And it surprised Astley, according to reports.

The BBC included a story – with video footage – about flying penguins, which seemed very convincing at first blush. Digg got into the act by changing the number of Diggs on a news story withmathematical symbols.

But the April Fool’s crown has to go to Google, who always pull out all the stops, anyway. This year they worked together with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgingroup to announce the creation of a “Virgle” project aimed at colonizing Mars, beginning in 2014. For those familiar with the Virgin ego and ambition along with Google’s deeppockets, it could seem plausible.

In the press release accompanying the story, Branson said, “For me, Virgle evokes the spirit of explorers such as Christopher Columbus and MarcoPolo, who set sail looking for the New World. I do hope we’ll be a bit more efficient about actually finding it, though.”