7 Fun Google Easter Egg Tricks and Hacks
In the spirit of Easter, let’s take a look the some of the favourite tricks and hacks found in Google products in the past few years. Google loves to drop cultural references and humourous anecdotes for users to find amongst search results, here are some of the most entertaining things Google have implemented in their projects.
1. Search for “the loneliest number“
A text search for “the loneliest number” pulls up Google’s calculator with the number 1, in reference to the song by Harry Nilsson and made famous by Three Dog Night
2. Searching for “anagram” and “define anagram“
A text search for “anagram” and “define anagram” will prompt Google to correct your search query with an anagram of “anagram” and “define anagram” itself.
3. Search “z or r twice”
This search will make your search results perform a barrel roll, in reference to the Nintendo 64 game, Star Fox 64.
4. The Bacon Number
This functionality in the search results will enable any user to search for a famous celebrity and calculate how many degrees of separation they are to actor Kevin Bacon. Why Kevin Bacon? The actor had once famously been quoted as saying that he has worked with everyone in Hollywood, or at least worked with other people that worked with them. All you need to do is type in the celebrity’s name, followed by the term “bacon number”. You can read more about the Bacon Number on Matthew Forzan’s earlier post.
5. 2012 April Fool’s Day Announcement
It was announced on April Fool’s Day that Google would be releasing over 1000 red kangaroos to capture the Australian outback over a period of three years. You can still read the announcement over on the Official Google Australia Blog.
6. “Do the Harlem Shake“
Searching for this query in YouTube will make your search results actually perform the Harlem Shake. Try it out!
7. Use your Spreadsheet to Slay Dragons
Using the shift+F12 command within Google Docs spreadsheet reveals a celebratory message:
Do you have any favourites that I haven’t mentioned yet?
