It seems Google has fired the first April Fools Day shot early by introducing their latest product: Google Maps in 8-Bit for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). For those who want a "sneak peak" at the game before it hits stores, you can click the "Quest" box in the top right corner of Google Maps for a trial. Watch an intro video below, and check out some screen shots above. more ›

Besides knowing that you're slightly more apt to purchase Uggs after your sixth use of the phrase "amazeballs" in under an hour, The Sunday Times of London reports [paywall] that Facebook, along with a slew of other cell phone apps, may be prying into your text messages, contacts, and other private data, even when your phone isn't in use. The paper discovered the gaps in privacy as it tested its own messaging app. ZDNet quotes a Facebook spokesperson as saying the Times' article is "completely wrong." They add that there is "no reading of user text messages," but acknowledge that their Android app requires that capability. But don't worry! They use it "just for our own testing." more ›

A lot of people were delighted last month to learn that one can command Google to perform the internet equivalent of stupid pet tricks. And it seems that Google has added a new easter egg for the holiday season: "let it snow." more ›

2011 is almost over and that means it is again time for Google to release its annual Zeitgeist report on what people searched for this year. The top ten list of "fastest-rising global queries" are mostly understandable (Rebecca Black, Casey Anthony, Steve Jobs, Fukushima) with a few that are a little more surprising (the late Jackass Ryan Dunn, Google +, Battlefield 3). But it is when drill down into the searches that things get interesting. more ›

Awww, today's Google Doodle for Thanksgiving is not only cute—it has easter eggs, too. Nothing live action today, but that's cool! Not only can you change the Google turkey's hairstyle, shoes, and feathers (or click the wing to randomize the whole thing) but if you happen upon one of the pre-approved outfits the turkey goes *poof* and gets a few more accouterments. So far we've found a pirate and a magician. Anybody get any other combos to work? more ›

For agoraphobics, there's nothing better than Google Maps bringing a city park directly to your laptop. Currently you can enjoy the High Line via their street view option, which is almost like being in the open air park. Or at least, it's the closest you're going to get if you don't want to leave your cozy, enclosed apartment. Now the Google team has taken to Central Park, hopping on a special tricycle on Monday to capture the entire park via 360-degree street views. more ›

Last year when Google donated $1 million to the High Line, we knew it was only a matter of time before the elevated park got the Street View treatment, and now it's all happening people! You don't even have to leave your apartment now to enjoy this, and other parks of the world. Go ahead, take a stroll through and see if they caught some ghosts or anyone doing anything scandalous. Speaking of which, can we get a High Line After Dark street view? more ›

Reddit is all about Google easter eggs today: User "Tacked" was amazed to learn that one can command Google to perform the internet equivalent of stupid pet tricks. Because who wouldn't want to make their computer screen "do a barrel roll"? more ›

Did you see today's live-action Halloween Google Doodle? It involves massive pumpkins, time-lapse photography, and people who get paid more money to have more fun than you at their jobs, and outside in nicer weather. Here's video of the finished product, which we must admit looks marvelous once night falls: more ›

C is for...cock? The Sesame Street YouTube channel was taken down yesterday (and remains down) after horny hackers went wild and replaced videos of everyones favorite furry friends with hardcore porno clips. And not even the plushie kind! more ›

Some people like their sex anonymous, and it seems the same is true for folks who like to look at photographs of sexy folk on the street. In addition to all those surreptitious photos sites of hot guys that have been popping up, we now present you with the creepiness that is Dudes From Views, a beefcake gallery culled entirely from Google Maps street views (though it plans to incorporate other map sites in the future). more ›

Today's Google Doodle features the classic stop-animation clay figures Gumby, his pals Pokey, Goo and Prickle as well as those dastardly Blockheads, because today would be Gumby creator Art Clokey's 90th birthday. more ›

Is the Park Slope Food Co-op struggling to retain its long-standing members? Has it been forced to expand into more upwardly-mobile business ventures? Mike Epstein noticed something strange when he was googling the Co-op today: "Was the @foodcoop website hacked? Googling it shows an ad for Viagra in the search snippet." And as you can see here, that still seems to be the case. We doubt that the Co-op is that hard-on for new advertisers, but as long as the Viagra isn't made in Israel, we guess anything is possible. more ›

Today, Amazon joins the likes of recent contenders RIM and HP to see if it can break into the tablet computer market which Apple has thoroughly dominated since it released the iPad nearly two years ago. At a very-Apple press event this morning the online retailer announced the Amazon Kindle Fire, a 7" color tablet running a heavily customized version of Google's Android OS (seriously, it looks almost nothing like the Android interface you know). The most interesting thing about this WiFi-enabled tablet? It is expected to cost $199, a steal compared to Apple's pricier pad. And the Fire wasn't the only thing that Amazon had up its sleeve today. more ›

In honor of Jim Henson's 75th birthday, Google is giving you a chance to be a virtual puppeteer! more ›

It seems that Google, whose $500 million bid was once famously spurned by Yelp, went and bought the original model: As of today Tim and Nina Zagat have sold their 30-year-old baby, Zagat Survey, to the Googleplex. No word on how much the company, which went on and then off the market during the height of the recession and has been called doomed by many, sold for, but the company's large database of high-end user preferences will certainly be a boon for the the advertising giant's algorithms. And we're sure the Burgundy bible's omnipresent window stickering campaigners can teach Google Places a thing or two. more ›

Google produced an extensive animated Google doodle (the longest was for Charlie Chaplin) with an exuberant one-minute thirty-eight-second piece for Freddie Mercury. The Queen frontman would have been 65 today. more ›

In case you're a bit confused about today's Google Doodle old fashioned TV, today would have been legendary comedian Lucille Ball's 100th birthday! Starring in a series of shows for CBS from 1951 to 1974, Ball is best known and loved for her first television series, I Love Lucy, which some say has been seen by more people more often than any other program in history. more ›

If you visited Google today, you might have noticed a chaotic illustrated scene with a dog police officer, kitty cat on a tricycle (where is the tricycle lane?!?!), a lion doctor, and firefighting pigs helping out a cat—and that's because today is the 92nd birthday of children's book author and illustrator Richard Scarry. And if you look at search pages, you'll notice the "L" in Google is Lowly Worm! more ›