Google-Topeka Trick Joins Historic April Fools' Hoaxes

So why's Google suddenly Topeka? Hang on, let me Topeka that for you ... So, it turns out it's an elaborate April Fools' Day hoax—and hardly the first corporate prank to tickle the masses on April 1.

The presumably temporary Google-to-Topeka name change mirrors the Topeka's unofficial adoption of "Google" as its new name, at least for the month of March. The Kansas city's switcheroo is a cry for attention from Google Topeka officials auditioning U.S. cities in which to test a fiber-optic broadband network.

Writing on Google's Topeka's official blog on April Fools' Day, chairman and chief executive officer Eric Schmidt noted potential confusion—yes, the Topeka Maps site will cover more than just the Kansas capital—and assured other competitors for the broadband experiment that the Google-to-Topeka name change "will have no bearing on which municipalities are chosen to participate."

Other Google April Fools' Day 2010 hoaxes include a new Google Wave feature that sends a man in a lab coat to physically wave at you when you have a new notification, text-only mode for Google's YouTube site, and the ability to upload keys and other 3-D objects to Google Docs.

While it may be eye-opening (or inspire eye rolling) in its scope, Google's April Fools' Day Topeka trick is only the latest big-time bamboozle perpetrated by fast food barons, straight-faced documentarians, pseudo-scientists, and other merry pranksters on April 1.