Techmeme: A Round Up of ALL of Google's April Fools Jokes. Fair play, they really make an effort... (Zee/The Next Web)

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April 1, 2012, 4:30 PM

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Zee / The Next Web:

A Round Up of ALL of Google's April Fools Jokes. Fair play, they really make an effort... If there's one thing Google clearly does better than its competing tech giants, it's April Fools. We were honestly having difficulty writing up pieces on each of Google's announcements as they flew …

More: GeekWire, Gmail Blog, The Official Google Blog, StevenLevy.com, Android Phone Fans, TechCrunch, CNET, The Next Web, Pulse2 Technology …, Google Analytics Blog, 9to5Google, Google+ and Gotta Be Mobile

TechCrunch:

April Fools 2012: We Ruin Every (Tech-Related) Joke On The Internets — Happy April 1st, Everybody! It's that very special time of year — the day when tech companies break out their clown shoes to make their annual attempt at being funny. As a public service, we've rounded …

More: PC Magazine, msnbc.com, PC World, Engadget, Smashwords, CNET, Lifehacker and bub.blicio.us

Tom Cook / Quora:

What are some of the best 2012 April Fools Day jokes? — Tom Cook's answer: * Virgin and Richard Branson announced a expedition to the center of the earth: Virgin Volcanic. http://virginvolcanic.com/ — * Google Maps announced a new 8-bit version for the NES/Famicom, usable in a beta form at http://maps.google.com under “Quest”

More: The Windows Blog and Pocket-lint. Tweets: @antoniogm

Conan O'Brien / Mashable!:

Conan O'Brien Buys Mashable, Ousts Pete Cashmore as CEO — Hello, fellow Mashables. It's Conan O'Brien, and I've got big news. Two hours ago, I purchased Mashable.com. I've taken it over. Why did I take it over? Very simple reason. — I'm sick and tired of scanning the Internet looking …

More: Mashable!, WebProNews, Techi.com and iPhone Hacks

Tweets: @penenberg, @lanceulanoff and @mashable

Jeff Grubb / VentureBeat:

OMGPOP CEO responds to criticisim of his tweets about former employee — Early this morning, GamesBeat reported that Dan Porter, chief executive officer of OMGPOP (developer of the Pictrionary-clone Draw Something), publicly called out the only employee not to join Zynga after the $210 million buyout.

More: Kotaku. Tweets: @tfadp and @thekevindent

VentureBeat:

OMGPOP CEO tweets that only employee not to transition to Zynga was the “weakest” one — As reported last week, Shay Pierce was the only OMGPOP employee to decline a position with Zynga after it bought the Draw Something developer for $180 million. Pierce wrote an editorial for Gamasutra …

More: Pulse2 Technology …, Boing Boing and Epeus' epigone

Tweets: @tfadp, @tfadp, @dickc, @mat, @notch, @tomcoates, @helloandy, @tziegmann and @tapbot_paul

Scott Austin / Digits:

‘Girls Around Me’ Developer Defends App After Foursquare Dismissal — The developer of a controversial mobile app that used data from Facebook and Foursquare to reveal the location of nearby women defended its intentions Saturday after drawing a firestorm of criticism over privacy concerns.

More: Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life, CNET, AllThingsD, iPhone Hacks, TechNewsDaily.com, Digits, Charlie's Diary, MacNN, PC World, textually.org, Pulse2 Technology … and Cult of Mac. Tweets: @pkafka

John Brownlee / Cult of Mac:

Creepy Girl-Stalking App Girls Around Me Has Been Yanked From The App Store [Update]

More: Business Insider, Appolicious Advisor, TechCrunch, Online Dating Insider, Interactioned, Pulp Tech Blog, Cult of Mac, The Next Web and The Verge. Thanks:@cultofmac

Zack Whittaker / London Calling Blog:

UK ‘to announce’ real-time phone, email, Web traffic monitoring — Editors note: Despite this being April 1, or ‘April Fools Day’, this story is not a fabrication nor a joke. For background to this story, head this way. — Under new UK legislation, Internet service and broadband providers …

More: BBC, The Verge, Pulse2 Technology …, The Independent, ZDNet and WebProNews. Thanks:@zackwhittaker

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:

Police Are Using Phone Tracking as a Routine Tool — WASHINGTON — Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small …

More: ACLU and Pulse2 Technology …. Tweets: @jeffjarvis

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

Apple activates increase in share of iAd revenue to developers from 60% to 70% — Apple has sent out a notice to participants in its iAd program that it will now be giving 70% of the revenue earned from an ad displayed in an app to the developer. This is an increase from the previous 60%.

More: AppleInsider, Pulse2 Technology …, App Advice and 9to5Mac. Thanks:@abracarioca

William Moss / Rectified.name:

Facebook's China Playbook — As you have undoubtedly heard by now, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend* were spotted in Shanghai on Wednesday. This has lead to a completely predictable round of speculation as to whether this signals some new development in Facebook + China.

More: Tech in Asia and Network World

David Kravets / Wired:

Megaupload User Demands Return of Seized Content — An Ohio man is asking a federal judge to preserve data of the 66.6 million users of Megaupload, the file-sharing service that was shuttered in January following federal criminal copyright-infringement indictments that targeted its operators.

More: The Verge, Ars Technica and Electronic Frontier Foundation

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