Google’s Cryptid
For those of you who still use iGoogle: if you set your background theme to “Beach” and wait until 3:14 am, you can watch the Loch Ness Monster rear its head out of the water. It only lasts for a minute, though, so keep an eye out. (Cryptids not your cup of tea? The 3:14 easter eggs for the “Seasonal Scape” and “City Scape” themes are Aurora Borealis and UFOs, respectively.)
Google Like a Swedish Chef
One of the more recent updates to Google’s homepage user interface did away with the “language tools” link beside the search bar, which used to make it easy to switch the end user’s Language to just about any language on Earth — from Chinese to Italian to Swedish (Chef).
The fastest way to access these end-user language changes now is to simply search for “google [language]” and select “I feel lucky.” Some of the best language-based easter eggs are Swedish Chef, Klingon, and 1337 sp34k.
Google Flight Simulator
Having grown up playing hundreds of hours of Microsoft Flight Simulator, one of my all-time favorite easter eggs is the flight simulator in Google Earth. Just press CTRL + Alt + A ( or command + Option + A if you’re on a Mac), and you can take flight from any number of airports all over the world. The program lets you choose between flying an F-16 or an SR-22 (with downloadable cockpit add-ons), and is even compatible with a joystick, if you’ve got one!
Google Calculator Knows
Whether it’s the number of horns on a unicorn, or the answer to the ultimate question of life, the Universe, and everything, Google’s native calculator app has got you covered. (Google remains tight-lipped, however, on what the “ultimate question” actually is).
Smoots
Google Earth’s measurement tool will actually allow you to quantify distances in “Smoots.” Don’t know what (or rather who) a Smoot is? Educate yourself.
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The Moon is Made of Cheese
When Google launched its Google Moon feature back in 2005, hi-res images of the lunar surface were lacking. For many years, zooming in as far as possible would return not the typical error response (“No imagery available at this zoom level. Try zooming out…), but a hole-ridden image of Swiss cheese. Google has since gotten rid of this easter egg, but there’s still lots of stuff to do on the Moon!
Google Counts in Binary
Searching for binary, hexadecimal or octal will cause Google to display the number of search results in the respective numeral system. (Make sure your search is set up to hide personal results.)
Google Advises you on Your Trip to Mordor
Visit Google Maps and select “get directions.” Enter “The Shire” or “Rivendell” as your start point, input “Mordor” as your destination, and make sure you request walking directions. I think you know where this is going…
Converse with a Martian
The Google Earth App is loaded with all kinds of great easter eggs, but one of the best is actually located off-planet. While in Google Earth, choose Mars from the drop down list of explorable planets and search for “MELIZA.” The camera will zoom in on a little robot avatar situated beside the infamous “Face on Mars”. Clicking the avatar will cause it to initiate a (somewhat unconvincing) conversation with you. (Long before there was Cleverbot, there was ELIZA, a computer program developed in the 60s to engage in conversation with human users by means of pattern matching techniques. “MELIZA” is simply a portmanteau of Mars and ELIZA.)
Mentalplex
This one started life as an April Fool’s joke, but is still around at google.com/mentalplex. Baffle your less Internet-savvy family and friends!
Pacman
The Google doodle that launched a thousand lost hours of productivity will live forever at google.com/pacman.
Ninja!
Here’s where Google easter eggs start to get a little more complex. Go to Google Reader, then use your cursor keys thus: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A. A ninja then pops onto your screen and into your search box. Thankfully, this still works in the new version of Google Reader.
Nessie
Set your iGoogle homepage to the beach theme. Wait until 3:14am (or if you can’t, just move your clock forward). What monster this way comes? Could we be on the shores of Loch Ness?
Chuck Norris
Search for the Walker Texas Ranger star, hit I’m Feeling Lucky, and Google will school you in Norrisology.
ASCII
Searching for ASCII art — the kind built out of characters — is about the nerdiest thing you can do. Google salutes you with a special logo.
Recursion
Here’s one for word nerds and philosophy majors. Search for “recursion” and Google asks “did you mean recursion?”
Askew
Simply search for the word “askew.” We dare you not to tilt your head.
Let It Snow
Google are at it again and have got another Easter Egg for us. This time it’s one to fit the festive season and the weather hitting us in the northern hemisphere.
Just go to the Google home page and search “Let it snow”, before you know it, you’ll see snow flakes come down your screen. If you leave it for long enough you can use your mouse to etch your name into the virtual frost.
Do a barrel roll
Type "do a barrel roll" in the search bar and click I'm feeling lucky or hit the "Enter" key. Watch your screen flip around completely.
Gravity
Type "Google gravity" in the search bar and click the
MrDoob website link. Everything will fall from your screen like gravity.
Tilt
Type "tilt" in the search bar and click I'm feeling lucky or hit the "Enter" key. Watch your screen tilt slightly to the right.
Askew
Type "askew" in the search bar and click I'm feeling lucky or hit the "Enter" key. The screen will appear slightly askew.
Epic
Type "epic google" in the search bar and click I'm feeling lucky or hit the "Enter" key. Font size will appear "epicly" big.
Weenie
Type "weenie google" in the search bar and click I'm feeling lucky or hit the "Enter" key. Font size will appear super small.
Spam
In the Gmail spam folder, a recipe for Spam.
Hacker
Type "google hacker" in the search bar and click I'm feeling lucky or hit the "Enter" key to see how Google would look if it were hacked.
Reader Ninja
In Google Reader type on your keyboard: 'up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A' and a ninja will appear on the left side of the screen.
Pirate
Search 'Google Pirate' or go
here and the Google homepage is written in pirate-speak.
