Google honors Topeka, Kansas by becoming... Topeka.

[macrael]

I wonder what their april fools plan was before all of this Topeka nonsense. This seems hastily thrown together compared to their past efforts.

Actually, I am guessing that it would have been their "Translate for Animals" that ended up on their UK site.

[Groxx]

Incomplete thus far, but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_hoaxes#2010

[mapleoin]

it's split up into many individual efforts it seems. I found about 4 links to Google jokes only on HN today.

[oscardelben]

by now I think everyone knows in advance it's all fake.

[JacobAldridge]

Doesn't seem to make sense - the new url isn't working for me - http://www.topeka.com/ ??

[BrandonM]

Yep, and neither does topeka.google.com, and they don't have that Topeka logo anywhere else. This seems to be one of Google's weaker April Fool's Day efforts.

[Groxx]

haha, topeka.com was just loading a blank page for me.

Now there's a link that just says "google" xD They didn't get Slashdotted, they got Googled, probably a few orders of magnitude worse.

[aliston]

"Before our date I topeka'd him with AltaVista"... haha, that's pretty good.

[nhebb]

I laughed at that too, but it was the only thing I thought was funny. Most of the jokes are obvious or forced. I think April's Fools is a good day to stay off the internet.

[crowsfan85]

Another great move by Google.. great PR for honoring Topeka, great April Fools joke, great way to bring attention to Google broadband, great way to continue being the "good guys", etc.

[mcantor]

I prefer April Fool's jokes that are just plausible enough to fool me for a few seconds.

[snorkel]

Didn't go far enough. They should've changed the branding on all inside pages too.

[euroclydon]

Anyone follow the "brand equity" link?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/8/11026499_17a91590c0.jpg

Is this a dig on China?

[nealmcb]

Seems like it could be an Arabic script to me, which could be used in a language in the Middle East or various other places in Asia, Africa, China etc:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_alphabet#Languages_writt...

Perhaps fooling around at transcribing the text using a web-based virtual Arabic terminal (note the right-to-left characters) would help: http://www.gawaher.com/index.php?showtopic=3767.html&;

Then paste that into google translate, and choose "detect language" in the "translate from" box :)

But Arabic is tricky with how characters change appearance depending on their context. And I can't find that V-like character with a stroke at the top, second in from the right in the lower word that appears on either side of the door.

[nealmcb]

Aha - this is from Cairo, it seems: http://72.233.92.162/showthread.php?p=381909

[jcl]

The non-English text is not Chinese. Something from the Middle East, perhaps?

[garply]

I don't understand. Is that a picture of Xinjiang?

[Griever]

Google is always on their A-game when it comes to April Fools :)

[extofer]

There's no Tokeka Voice or Tmail... but it makes for a good April fools joke on the more gullible web users

[extofer]

I meant Topeka

[huherto]

It was good publicity for Topeka. I didn't even know that city existed.

[wtdominey]

Lame.

[socratees]

Nice try Google!!!

[kunqiana]

omg this is obviously april fools

[quizbiz]

Doesn't this have any legal consequences? Clearly it's an April Fools but there are no disclaimers.