Google announces Treasure Hunt, Nose, and more for April Fool’s [Updated]
Google’s most famous April Fool’s day introduction was Gmail in 2004, so it’s always amusing to see if the company has thrown out any more real things among their April 1 pranks. It doesn’t look like they’ve done anything this year for real, but the pranks are pretty splendid nonetheless.
Google Maps Treasure Hunt
Google Maps Treasure HuntGoogle Maps added a neat little addition today called Treasure Mode. The new mode gives a hand-drawn-appearing map along with a spyglass mode, to view where some treasure may have been located.
The video for Treasure Mode is perhaps the best thing about the whole experience, so make sure to watch it.
As a note, if your browser claims it’s in OpenGL mode in the bottom left, you’re not going to see the Treasure Mode options. You’ll need to switch out of that mode in order to see the top/right Treasure map options.
Google Nose
Google Nose aims at bringing the sense of smell to searches. If you’re wondering, perhaps, what a daisy might smell like, a simple search, scratch, and sniff will get you what you want.
From the video: “Ever wonder what the inside of an Egyptian Tomb smells like? Google Nose.”
It appears that Treasure Hunt is only available via desktop web browser, although Nose “works” fine via mobile.
Google Play doesn’t appear to contain any hidden gems, but if you spot one drop a line and let us know.
[AndroidSPIN]Update: There’s also Gmail Blue, YouTube going offline for 10 years, the Google Wallet ATM, Photos+Emotions, Google Fiber to the Pole, and the Google Levity Algorithm.
