Google Gets Into the Spirit

Big Ben going digital? Switzerland harvesting spaghetti?

(NEWSER) - As you prepare whatever April Fools' Day prank you have in mind for your loved ones, take a look back at 12 classic jokes, courtesy of the Daily Beast :

• Swiss spaghetti harvest: In 1957, the BBC aired a serious-sounding report on Switzerland’s bumper crop of pasta; hundreds fell for it and wanted to grow their own.
• Sidd Finch: In 1985, George Plimpton dreamed up a “part yogi” pitcher who could throw a 168mph fastball, then featured him in Sports Illustrated.
• Alabama changes Pi: A 1998 article claimed the state legislature changed the value from 3.14 to 3, because its “traditional Biblical value” is 3.
• The Whopper for lefties: Burger King announced in 1998 it was releasing left-handed Whoppers—the same sandwich, with the condiments rotated 180 degrees.
• MentalPlex: Google’s first annual hoax, in 2000, claimed to let users telepathically project searches instead of typing them in.

'Now you can control Gmail with your body,' says April 1 announcement

(NEWSER) - Google proudly unveiled Gmail Motion today—today, of course, being April 1. The new application "uses your computer's built-in webcam and Google's patented spatial tracking technology to detect your movements and translate them into meaningful characters and commands," Google claims, offering a helpful guide to the necessary gestures. To open an email, for instance, act as if you are opening an envelope. To send an email? Just lick an imaginary stamp and place it down. (Watch the video for a demo of the "ergonomic" movements.) More»

(NEWSER) - Not even massive layoffs in its own house can stop Google from having a little fun on April Fools' Day, the Business Insider reports. The search giant announced it had turned on CADIE, the "world’s first 'artificial intelligence' tasked-array system." The neural network quickly went rogue and revealed a deep passion for pandas on its blog. CNET runs down other features powered by CADIE: More»

New set of standards could make email more trustworthy

(NEWSER) - A new anti-phishing effort, backed by the big email service providers as well as banks, PayPal, social networks, and other companies, could dramatically reduce the number of scam emails you get in your inbox. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL are backing the new plan; 15 companies in total have come together to create DMARC.org, which officially launches today and will promote standard technologies to authenticate email. The hoped-for end result? If you get an email that claims to be from paypal.com, you could trust that it is actually from paypal.com. If it works, companies would be able to communicate with customers in new ways, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

This time it loads, but still lacks some key functions

(NEWSER) - Google is trying again with its Gmail app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch after its first attempt two weeks proved to be a quick failure . The new app is out today, and Business Insider reports progress: It loads this time without errors, and Google fixed the problem related to notifications. It's still pretty basic, though, notes ReadWriteWeb , meaning users can't do things like check multiple accounts. "For now, little has changed about the app that many panned as insufficient for a native Gmail app," writes Jon Mitchell. Google promises upgrades soon in a blog post . More»