Are you kidding? April Fools' Day on the Internet

50 min.

Suzanne Choney

Google again took the lead Sunday for impressive April Fools Day pranks, with its introduction of a self-driving car to compete in stock car racing, and announcing a?change to Gmail that gets rid of the pesky keyboard by "taking??26 keys to just two."

Saturday, the Web giant got a jump on the hoax-y holiday by bringing out?8-bit Google Maps for the 1980s Nintendo crowd.
Sunday, the company rolled out Google Racing, "a groundbreaking partnership with?NASCAR?to help self-driving vehicles compete in the world of stock car racing," wrote Google co-founder Sergey Brin on the company's blog. (Google does indeed have a real self-driving car.)

"We think the most important thing computers can do in the next decade is to drive cars ? and that the most important thing Google Racing can do in the next decade is drive them, if possible, more quickly than anyone else. Or anything else."

And there is?more.

Google's David Brook gives you a lesson on "Gmail Tap" -- "Every letter of the alphabet is represented by a simple pattern of dots and dashes, and once you know them you can type without even looking at your screen. This makes it ideal for situations where you need to discreetly send emails, such as when you're on a date or in a meeting with your boss."

The icing on the cake? "We're?also introducing a new mode, multi-email. Double your productivity by typing multiple emails at once."

Meanwhile,?Chrome "Multitask Mode"?lets you Web surf with multiple cursors at the same time, "so you can get more done, faster. Welcome to the ambinavigation revolution."

The search giant also Sunday brings you "really advanced search," which lets you search with "rhyming slang" and "subtext or innuendo for ...."

Meanwhile, Sony lives up to its slogan -- "Make. Believe." -- with its April Fools' Day introduction of the VAIO Q ?quarter-sized laptop?"with a gorgeous .75-inch by 1.25-inch high-definition display":

(It comes with an "extra Lithium battery coin," but the "LiveView accessory" (a loupe) and a "docking station" are "sold separately.

Try to order it on Sony's website, and you'll be told: "April Fools!"

ThinkGeek, the everyday wacky site for all weird tech, has an April Fools' Day special edition out., as well.?

Among its product offerings: "Electronic Hungry Hungry Hippos for iPad" -- "The original Hunger Game returns" -- and a "Keurig K-Cup 5-Star Meals" that lets you "brew delicious meals in your Keurig machine."

If the ideas sound out of this world, you have only to turn to British billionaire Richard Branson, whose company, Virgin Galactic, is set to start private passenger service to the edge of outer space in 2013.

Branson "announced" Virgin Volcanic -- to take passengers to the center of the Earth.

"Using patented carbon-carbon materials pioneered for deep space exploration, Virgin is proud to announce a revolutionary new vehicle, VVS1, which will be capable of plunging three people into the molten lava core of an active volcano," Virgin said on its website.

Branson will "go on the first expedition along with Tom Hanks, Academy Award-winning actor and star of 'Joe Versus the Volcano.' "?
The billionaire's fascination with volcanoes started when he was a lad, having read Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth," he says.

"I decided that one day I would go there too. Alongside our adventures with Virgin Galactic and Virgin Oceanic, volcanoes are the next great unexplored terrain. What can I say, I lava challenge!"

Of course, everything will not be fun or funny on the Internet this April Fools' Day, including wild rumors spread via Facebook or Twitter or elsewhere on the interwebz.

Bookmark this page for updates, and keep checking back.

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

insync the duchess the duchess spice katy perry mike starr ufc 141 fight card