The new U.S. News law-school rankings are now official.

Not an April Fool’s joke: Scientists Predict Major SoCal Quake Within Five Months.

Here’s hoping this turns out to be wrong — not only to avert tragedy and disaster, but because the scientists are from UCLA. :)

Is there something symbolic about the fact that the NIT championship is played on April Fool’s Day? Well, Michigan won it, regardless.

Speaking of April Fool’s Day, the post below is a joke, in case anyone didn’t realize that. Happy April 1!

Sen. John McCain will be Sen. John Kerry’s vice-presidential runningmate, CNN has learned.

Visit CNN.com for the latest.

Forbes reports: “Google’s free e-mail service called Gmail, which will offer significantly more storage than Yahoo or MSN, ‘is not a hoax,’ said Jonathan Rosenberg, Google’s vice president of products.”

Rosenberg admitted that, in the spirit of April Fool’s Day, “We were having fun with” the press release. But “we are very serious about Gmail.”

Sounds like it’s actually real!

Here’s another, detailed article from CNN/Money, and here’s an analysis.

UPDATE: Yup, it’s real, and this guy is a beta tester — and he’s posted a screenshot! See for yourself!

(Of course, this “beta tester” could really be a Google agent, further trying to fool us… how is it that his screenshot shows message from yesterday evening? Why would he have junk mail from Wednesday if he just signed up for the account 30 minutes ago? Hmmm…)

The BBC, meanwhile, doesn’t get it. “Timing makes Google an April Fool,” the Beeb’s headline declares. Subhed: “The first rule of public relations: check the calendar before your big product launch.”

The article begins, “Google, one of the savviest firms on the internet, has learnt this lesson the hard way after announcing it was taking a leap into the e-mail market. Thanks to the date on its press release - 1 April - most of its target market was convinced the launch was a hoax.”

Google didn’t “learn” anything “the hard way.” This is obviously exactly what they intended — to generate “buzz” and excitement and interest by making people wonder if this is really real or not. As Dane and Harry2 said, it’s a brilliant strategy, and it has worked like a charm. The “fool” in ths discussion is the BBC, for not grasping that.

STOP THE PRESSES! Now, wait just a minute. I e-mailed Mr. Screenshot and asked, “I don’t understand… how is it that your GMail has junk mail from yesterday evening, if you just signed up for the account this afternoon?” He replied:

Brendan:

E.

Now what the hell does THAT mean???

I am once again officially back on the fence regarding whether I think Gmail is real.

But hey, how about that John McCain? :)

ANOTHER UPDATE: Count me back in the “unbelievers” camp. This screenshot guy is the perfect cover for Google to keep the joke going. As I just e-mailed Glenn Reynolds, “His ‘criticism’ of Gmail, combined with his statement that ‘Although I saw nothing in the TOS against it, I might get kicked out of the beta program for posting this,’ seems to lend him credibility… but really, he’s a rat!!” His statement that “Until about 30 minutes ago, I though that Gmail was one of the best April’s fool ever” also makes him seem like an outsider, a person who isn’t in on the joke, just like you and me. But he’s in bed with Google. They put him up to this! IT’S A HOAX!!!

Okay, it’s not like I’m sure it’s a hoax, but I’m back to being very skeptical. Screenshot Guy Eric’s alternative explanation — “Maybe I just forwarded some mail for testing” — doesn’t make sense to me, because forwarded e-mail would show the date and time that it was forwarded, not the date and time that it was originally sent. Unless of course Gmail can import POP mail from other sources… but that’s not what Eric said, he said “forwarded.” And I don’t see how that explanation adds up.

By the way, in case you’re wondering, the database at work is busily, slowly refreshing a whole bunch of documents as I type this… that’s why I have the free time to continue writing about Google. :)

Whether or not Google’s Gmail turns out to be an April Fool’s joke, there are plenty of definite jokes going around. For instance, from the BBC: Earth to be renamed ‘Gandalf’:

Astronomers have decided to rename the planets of the Solar System after characters from Lord of the Rings.

“The committee reviews the names of the planets every 50 years and we thought it was time for a change.”

Heh. Alas for Pluto, which will be called “Sauron.”

And the Moon, it seems, will be named “Gollum.” Which makes me wonder: will the “dark side of the Moon” be called “Smeagol”?

Speaking of The Lord of the Rings generally, and Gollum/Smeagol specifically, an anonymous BrendanLoy.com source sends along this proposed TV pilot for “CSI: Middle-Earth” — a Hollywood April Fool. :) View the extended entry to read it…

(more…)

Is this an April Fool’s joke?

InstaPundit thinks so, and so do a lot of people on Slashdot and Fark. But if so, the mainstream media is buying it hook, line and sinker!! (AP, CNN, N.Y. Times, etc.)

I.T. Vibe reports: “There is a growing amount of confusion surrounding Google’s announcement that it is going to introduce a new service called gmail. Its seemingly outlandish claims of providing 1GB of storage space for each user for free, as well as the fact that it has introduced this service on April 1st, have split journalists who are struggling to decide if it’s one of the biggest hoaxes in the history of April Fool’s Day, or simply that Google picked a terrible date to announce a radical new departure from its current business.”

Then there’s this: “There has been some speculation that the news is an April Fools hoax due to the light-hearted and humorous tone of the press release, but the company’s spokesperson has assured Netimperative that it is a genuine news story.”

Well, okay, but the company’s spokesperson would say that, wouldn’t he, if they were actually trying to fool people!

Stay tuned. (Here is the GMail site.)

UPDATE: I think it’s possible that it’s not a joke, but that Google deliberately chose April Fool’s Day as the release date, and deliberately issued an odd press release, in order to stoke confusion and discussion — and thus, attention. Google and GMail are going to be a very popular topic of water-cooler discussion all day today and tomorrow (overshadowing even Amy Adams’s surprise exit from American Idol last night) as people try to figure out what the hell is going on. You can’t buy publicity like this (well, unless you make a movie about Jesus).

In other April 1 news: Heh. And heh. (Hat tip: Dane.)

ANOTHER UPDATE: “Google has previously used April 1st to announce features and tools that are bigger than life, and with tongue firmly planted in cheek,” asserts WebProNews.

Alabama’s NBC 13 adds: “Google has long exhibited a quirky sense of humor about itself and its technology. One example of this is Pigeon Rank, a page on Google which claims its search results are compiled using large numbers of trained pigeons. Then there is the recent job listing for the Google Copernicus Center, which claims the company is hiring staff for a new lunar hosting and research center, to be opened in 2007.

“Skeptics also note that the press release announcing the service on Business Wire is dated March 31 at 7:05 p.m., which is also just past midnight GMT.”

Either way, “Harry2″ from the blog “Search Engine Positioning and Web Marketing News” agrees with Dane: it’s marketing dynamite. “If it is a hoax, then it is definitely one of the best ever, since it reached so many 1st pages in media like CNN. On the other hand, if it isn’t a hoax, then the hoax speculation has definitely helped in creating an ‘idea virus’ and has marketed the Gmail concept even before it is launched. One way or another Google wins this one.”

Markus Allen of marketing-ideas.org is tracking Gmail news in real time.

FINAL UPDATE TO THIS POST: Looks like it may actually be real.

Now online: my photos of the NCAA Phoenix Regional and the Cubs vs. A’s spring-training game.


A wide view of the America West Arena court.

I listen to the tail end of the Kansas-Georgia Tech game while watching the baseball action.

In The Living Room Times’s women’s basketball pool, Scott Loomer leads Conor Sullivan by two points, with Sullivan’s only hope to win coming in the form of a potential three-way tie for the championship.

But Sullivan is ahead of Loomer — and everyone else — in the Pick 65 standings, which use a different scoring method that puts a stronger emphasis on games later in the tournament.

Sullivan, who went 21-for-32 in the first round, 12-for-16 in the second round, 6-for-8 in the third round and 3-for-4 in the fourth round, is doing better than anyone else on the entire Pick 65 website. He has 75 points out of a possible 104; Loomer, Danny Pilz, and a contestant from another pool named Steven Motley are tied for second with 74 points.

Eight of the top ten contestants in Pick 65 are from the LRT pool.

The LRT pool is scored on a 5-7-10-15-20-25 basis, and in that pool, Sullivan has 294 points out of a possible 412; Loomer has 296.

Pick 65, on the other hand, scores on a 1-2-3-4-5-10 basis.