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"Google" is now "Topeka", at least for a day

All roads lead to Kansas

Washburn Review

Published: Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Updated: Friday, April 2, 2010 15:04

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On April 1, 2010, people from all over woke up to find that on Google.com, the name Google had been replaced with Topeka.

At the beginning of March, Topeka Mayor Bill Bunton announced that the city was changing its name to Google. The reason for changing its name was to aim at becoming a Google fiber optic trial community.

Bill Bunten said, "Don't be fooled. Even Google recognizes that all roads lead to Kansas, not just yellow brick ones."

Eric Schmidt, Chairman and Chief Executive officer, Google Inc. wrote that he wanted to honor Topeka, Kansas' moving gesture, and was pleased to announce that at 1 a.m. CST April 1, 2010, Google had officially changed its name to Topeka.

Google even had guidelines on proper ‘Topeka' usage, such as "I did a Topeka search on him" and "I Topeka'ed him."

Schmidt wanted to be sure and let people know that this initiative is a one shot deal that will have no bearing on which city is chosen to participate in their experimental ultra high speed broadband project.

Link to the official Google blog:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/different-kind-of-company-name.html

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Sat Apr 3 2010 15:21

Infosys irace also simillar to topeka. Nandita Gujar is a April 1

Fri Apr 2 2010 18:16

i decided to click on the "Topeka" word.. and I did undestand that aparently topeka was called ""Google"" the whole march... but them the fact that ''Google"" was now "Topeka" was really irritating.... but then as I was reading... something clicked in my head and I was like: ""%#@*&%, it's april fools""

Fri Apr 2 2010 02:39

Being from Topeka, KS, I got a real kick from this. I knew it had to be a joke.
By the way, for those who don't know, Topeka is the capitol of KS

Ernest S B Boston

Fri Apr 2 2010 02:35

I have been to Topeka once, to see Itzak Perlman in concert long ago, but I have never been to Google KS. Well, I guess I have now ....

Fri Apr 2 2010 02:25

oh!ahah whoa thats confusing!i thought they wer for real! jerks! just kidding i was fooled well jobb, man well job!:)

Fri Apr 2 2010 00:33

I actually fell for this at first, thinking "Why would they decide to change their name to Topeka on April Fool's day, aren't they supposed to change it to something related to April Fools like every other holiday?"

Surprisingly, it never actually clicked in my head that this was a prank... even when I found it odd that the domain was still Google and Topeka.com redirected to the Google domain.

I was sad for a while that Google changed it's name and was now 3 syllables long instead of 2, lol. Smart man, I am.

Fri Apr 2 2010 00:25

but the funny thing that this stared since yesterday so m confused big time since they stared this since yesterday i guess they really wanted us to believe that they really did change there name good one google

Fri Apr 2 2010 00:08

whats the joke?

Thu Apr 1 2010 23:42

Good one. I was worried they chose their experimental ultra high speed broadband project. I hope Google picks Bloomington, Indiana! :D

Thu Apr 1 2010 23:41

This is like iRace in Infosys

Thu Apr 1 2010 23:40

Thu Apr 1 2010 22:55

well done ! april fools ! carmel

Thu Apr 1 2010 22:47

wait im so confused

Thu Apr 1 2010 22:42

i also had to Topeka this to get the joke... :-) good stuff..

Thu Apr 1 2010 22:38

i did not get it till now there is such a place as topeka in the u.s.???

Thu Apr 1 2010 22:24

I had to Topeka this in order to get he joke. It's a good one.

Thu Apr 1 2010 21:41

I had to read this to get the joke.

Thu Apr 1 2010 21:33

hahaha i went to google.com and i was like... huhh? then i realized it was april fools day

Thu Apr 1 2010 21:27

so is it a joke? i am confused!!!!!

Thu Apr 1 2010 21:18

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