Google's blast from the past
![ed-burnette.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/08cf582e61e184f25136093f10e33d96d600a858/2014/07/22/5875e855-1175-11e4-9732-00505685119a/ed-burnette.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
![Lets do the time warp, yeah](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/2014/10/04/1f1d8de2-4b82-11e4-b6a0-d4ae52e95e57/calblueb.jpg)
I just got two tickets to Radiohead by being the 'first' to respond to a co-worker's 'first-come, first-serve' email. Someone else had already won them, but I told everyone to check their inboxes again.
Other possible uses include generating evidence for "Judge Judy", and sending un-belated birthday greetings.
In other news, Google and Virgin announced a new project called "Virgle" to build a permanent human settlement on Mars.
As April Fools jokes go, this one is a little weak. But sometimes the funniest part of these pranks is not the joke itself but reading comments from people who are a little unsure if it's real or not. From newsvine.com:
I can't get it to work, and it seems like total baloney. -- Andrew
They soooooo got me with that one. I have quite a few "test" emails in my sent folder....sigh. -- Mal
> As I'm sure you know, this is a hoax. -- Paintball Guns
No it's not. Check your inbox. -- Robbie Lawrence
The "Virgle" hoax is much more elaborate. It even features a video by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Google co-founders. Larry can't manage to keep the smile off his face, but Sergey is a bit more convincing. The name of the project is all the more amusing because of the talk recently of the "Microhoo!" Microsoft-Yahoo merger. BTW, Virgin Galactic is a real project that aims to make spaceflight affordable. Virgin founder Richard Branson is quoted in the Virgle ress release.