Presiding over a company with a market value of $143 billion apparently gives Silicon Valley’s most famous billionaires a good sense of humor - and a case of corporate potty mouth. Senior executives at Google Inc. launched their annual April Fools’ Day prank yesterday, posting a link on the company’s home page to a site offering consumers free high-speed wireless Internet through their home plumbing systems.
Code-named “Dark Porcelain,” Google said its “Toilet Internet Service Provider” (TiSP) works with Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Vista operating system. But sorry - septic tanks are incompatible with the system’s requirements. The gag included a mock press release quoting Google co-founder and President Larry Page, a very detailed installation manual and a scatological selection of frequently asked questions. On some Google sites, the company’s official logo substituted a commode for the second “g.”
Via The Sacramento Bee