Google’s April Fool’s gag is Nose

Anyone that remembers when 1st April rolls around will be expecting it. The slew of news sites, offering up somewhat believable – and usually attention grabbing – stories, that ultimately turn out to be a ruse – “Hi the 1930s called and they want their words, clothes and…” Google has its own version today, with the debuting of Google Nose, a feature that is designed to let you smell your way around the world.

“Google Nose^BETA leverages new and existing technologies to offer the sharpest olfactory experience available,” reads the new page setup to discuss the technology. There's also a video that explains it far better than I ever could, bringing up everything from the technology behind it- olfactory algorithms – to the inspiration for it in the first place. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-P6jEMtixY']

The fictional idea behind it is that you'll be able to find out what anything in the world smells like, just like we can already find what things look or sound like through images and video. Clicking the big headline banner that has a woman sniffing away at her phone, takes you straight to a Google search for diapers – or nappies to us limeys.

KitGuru Says: I'm cool with April Fools that we can all get in on, but I hate the elaborate believable ones. I like having a laugh with my fellow techies, but I don't want to be outright lied to by a news site, whatever day it is. 

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