Google Renames Itself "Topeka"

techmuse was one of several readers to note Google's official response to recent news that a town in Kansas would rename itself Google. The search engine company has announced a name change of its own, although I'm not sure saying "Let me Topeka that" has quite the same ring to it.

OMFG!

[somersault]

No Google, plz don't do this!!111!1eleventeh ;__;

Re:OMFG!

[An ominous Cow art]

Mod parent Offtopeka.

This is why I love Google

[XPeter]

Because of the way they interact with the community that surrounds them.

You can't find me ONE other Fortune 500 company that does the same. Go ahead, try.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[thijsh]

Hey I'm working on Vista right now you insensitive clod.
But... if Vista is not real... am I real? Are my thoughts real? And what in the hell would a sensitive clod look like?

Re:

[Runaway1956]

No sensitivity here.

http://static.vi.be/pictures/style/4617/csstheme_mast_CowPie-JeffVanuga.JPG [static.vi.be]

Re:

[rajafarian]

Are my thoughts real?

No, but you probably think they are.

Re:

[FuckingNickName]

Dancing around like a monkey, signing "Need a new one?" [youtube.com] on a MacBook, gift matching [microsoft.com] charity donations and other over-$1M relief effort payments [microsoft.com], a history of [youtube.com] amusing self-deprecating [youtube.com] videos by executives [youtube.com]... oh yeah, and that little $33.5 billion Foundation [gatesfoundation.org] which is essentially Gates' MS money ploughed into a vaccination on every desktop.

Yup, corporations comprise humourless bastards - except Google!

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Because of the way they interact with the community that surrounds them. You can't find me ONE other Fortune 500 company that does the same. Go ahead, try.

#267 Southwest Airlines

On my last flight they paged Norman Bates and asked him to call his mother. Years back I was on a flight and when they came by at landing to check seat belts they offered people coffee while we were descending. Someone finally said yes and the stewardess spilled confetti all over them. Most of the plane was watching. We all

I Googled it

[oodaloop]

I Googled it on Yahoo. Apparently they don't want you to Topeka on Alta Vista.

Re:

[tepples]

I Googled it on Yahoo. Apparently they don't want you to Topeka on Alta Vista.

AltaVista is Yahoo.

Re:

[atisss]

No, You did a Topeka search on Yahoo

Re:

[JustinKSU]

Apparently a lot of people have never heard of the capital of my state and need to do a search to find out. Google Trends: What does Topeka mean? [google.com]

Re:

[NU11B]

Yo, Justin, ima let you finish. But KU is one of the best schools of all time(pay no attention to our recent shaming). OF ALL TIME! PS. cant be ur state if its mine!

What a great idea

[su8lime]

only Google could come up with such a great idea

BING-o

[mcgrew]

Bing's [bing.com] April Fools page is... oh, that's their normal search page?

Never mind.

There is nothing

[fermion]

some people won't do for free money.

Re:

[tenaciousj]

Ah yes, and those are my favorite kind of girls

Proper Way To Use Topeka As A Verb

[WrongSizeGlass]

From Google's 'Topeka' page:
* (good) Before our blind date I did a Topeka search on him.
* (acceptable) Before our blind date I Topeka'd him.
* (improper) Before our blind date I topeka'ed him.
* (just plain wrong) Before our blind date I topeka'ed him with Alta Vista.

In other news

[Dachannien]

In other news, after hearing that the name "Google" is now unused, Steve Ballmer announced that Microsoft would be changing his name to Google.

"We think this is a really good way to grow our brand," Ballmer said. "People just weren't latching on to the Bing name, but now that it's Google Bing, people will be sure to show up."

Re:

[FredFredrickson]

LOL, so true. If microsoft took the name it'd be Google.net Bing by Microsoft.

Re:

[dunezone]

GoogleJeevesBing

Re:

[L4t3r4lu5]

BinGooJeeVistagleves

Re:

[popeyethesailor]

More like MicroGoogle(TM) Content Search Services 8th series 5th Edition...

Re:

[spxero]

MicroGoogle(TM) Content Search Services 8th series 5th Edition SP1

Re:

[TClevenger]

MicroGoogle(TM) Content Search Services Home Premium 8th series 5th Edition R2 with SP1

Re:

[JonahsDad]

Also would be better if Topeka'ing "Topeka" and pressing the "I Feel Lucky" button brought you to the main Topeka page.

Re Topeka

[freddieb]

This should tell you something about Google's innovation. As one of the most successful companies in the world they still have a sense of humor and are not afraid to show it ie put down the corporate guard. If I were anyone competing with Google, I would watch your back! They have no fear!

um? u do know what today is right?

[mcfatboy93]

Its April Fools day dumb ass. /. is just doing what it usually does every year. im just glad that didn't turn the page pink... again

Re:um? Slashdot could do better

[kubitus]

e.g. M$ opens source code of Windows 7

Re:

[Opportunist]

Oh c'mon, don't be a party pooper. Of course it's AF day and of course the messages today will be nonsensical... at least most of them. Ignore the obviously impossible news and play the game I'm playing:

It's actually funny to guess whether the ludicrous, impossible and completely out-of-this-world news concerning copyright/patent litigation and domestic spying are true or AF.

Sometimes, though, it's also pretty scary when you find out something was an AF story and it sounded far too possible...

Re:

[mcgrew]

WOOSH!

Gotta love it

[xgr3gx]

I love all the IT/Geek April fools joke. Go Google. I mean Topeka. Does that mean the stock ticker is now tpk?

Crap!

[kungfugleek]

I keep forgetting to ignore Slashdot today.

Re:

[sorak]

I keep forgetting to ignore Slashdot today.

I keep trying to ignore it most days.

Re:

[sorak]

And considering only your post history, here you are almost every day anyway. Must such having no life, eh?

No, after a while you get used to it.

Re:

[cmiller173]

But the project virgle is true right? http://www.google.com/virgle/ [google.com]

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[AaxelB]

The editors didn't make this up (nor the YouTube text mode thing). This is an actual prank by Google. If you're arguing that it's not funny and shouldn't be reported, sure, that's a fine complaint to make, but this isn't the Slashdot editors thinking, "You know, it'd be funny if Google changed its name to Topeka..."

On a different note:

If something is untrue it is not funny, it is called a lie.

Wow. If it's not true it's not funny? I think you should read this [wikipedia.org], it may help clear some things up for you.

Re:

[VGPowerlord]

If something is untrue it is not funny, it is called a lie.

Either that or its called "fiction." Or a joke. Or cake*.

* Ha, this joke works again because Portal 2 is due out later this year!

Re:

[stoshu]

... But that would require work, so it won't happen...

I bet it will happen! Please refer to America's Finest News Source [theonion.com]

Re:

[russotto]

On that note, did you know that the Onion's April Fools joke is that all their stories are absolutely real today? No foolin!

Googol

[Culture20]

Peri Fleisher made them do it after six grueling years of legal battles. They are saving face and saying "We wanted to change our name"

Obvious April Fool's Joke is Obvious

[Ltap]

Come on, /., be at least a little bit more subtle. A good joke actually has people fall for it.

Re:

[PRMan]

Have you gone to www.google.com today?

Anonymous Coward

[Anonymous Coward]

At the very least, if topeka.com is a registered domain, we've brought it to a screeching halt. My money says they didn't see this coming . . . sort of like LL Cool J dissing Sarah Palin . . . .

Re:

[VGPowerlord]

I work for Google, and I've already received four phone calls about this slander before 7:30am. I know several groups have scheduled meetings to address how to handle this. Hopefully this won't be repeated on TV, a newspaper, or a real news site. If that happens the morons running this site are going to be in a world of shit.

If this is Slander, why is there a big Topeka logo [google.com] on google.com [google.com] where the Google logo used to be? :)

Re:

[mcgrew]

It was on the local news this morning.

Gotta love the caveat tacked on at the end

[shopster.com]

Ahhh Topeka! How I love thee, especially when your CEO adds in a caveat stating that just b/c Google has changed their name for the day, it doesn't mean that city formally known as Topeka will have a leg up on the competition to take part in the Fiber for Communities project. Great CMA move.

Over IPv6 I still saw "Google"

[Bombcar]

Heh. IPv6 is immune to the fools?

Anyone else noticed....

[comm2k]

The time units displayed when searching for something on Google. Planck times, nanocenturies, warp 9.62 etc. :)

I'd stay away from Topeka if I were you...

[Eric Smith]

unless you don't mind having a "heart attack" or "farming accident".

A "town in kansas" -- you mean the state capital?

[razathorn]

While our state capital isn't the baddest of the bunch, it certainly is more than 'a town in kansas'. Article summary makes it sound like some random tiny 200 person town with one gas station and more banjos than computers, a dur.

The irony is ...

[GrantRobertson]

We stopped calling Topeka "Google" yesterday.

No, we never actually changed the name of the city. The mayor just signed a proclamation [cjonline.com] that we would "call" ourselves "Google" for the month of March.

Yep, I currently live in Topeka, KS, the capital city that seems to be the most famous for silly and embarrassing things. I am not one of those who believe all our problems will be solved by a Google branded fiber optic internet service, but I do still applaud what I believe Google i

April fools day

[gsmraxe]

April 1 I always look forward to /. and other sites that post funny stories for the day. Even funnier are the idiots that take it seriously.

Thanks for making my day!

To heck with the haters

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the first April Fool's joke to make me laugh so hard in years. Bravo, Google, bravo!