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Topeka Google April Fools Joke – If in doubt, Topeka it.

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Image by David Berkowitz via Flickr

Image by David Berkowitz via Flickr

In this year’s prank, web search giant Google has changed its name to Topeka. For today, Google employees will be known as “Topekans” and all users of the search engine will have to get their information through “Topeka News,” ” Topeka Search,” and “Topeka Maps.”

Google’s proclamation to change its name this April Fools Day is an acknowledgment to the month-long name change of the city of Topeka, Kansas, who is enthusiastically vying to be chosen as a site for Google’s proposed broadband network. For the month of March, Topeka will be known as “Google, Kansas — the capital city of fiber optics.”

Topeka’s name change does not make it a top contender for Google broadband; there are currently more than 1,100 communities competing to become the site of the experiment. Results for the target communities will be announced by the end of the year.

In an effort to set itself apart from other cities all across the nation competing for attention, Topeka, or Google, has certainly succeeded, but we have yet to see if they have persuaded Google to set up an ultra-fast network there.

If you are curious about other April Fools pranks pulled over the years, take a look at yesterday’s story on the Entertainer. Apparently Goolge has pulled some great pranks in the past, including making announcements that they would begin searching people’s brainwaves and also that they’d be posting job openings on the moon. A more detailed history of their wacky ways can be found here.

The Entertainer would like to know how you’ve been pranked this year (or how you plan to prank someone else). Comment below, or send us a tweet or Facebook message and let us know your mischevous ways.

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