Aside from the annual April Fool’s Day pranks and hoaxes, Google is known for hiding virtual easter eggs on their products. The latest Google easter egg is themed after one of the most popular computer strategy games ever – Starcraft and can be found by doing a search for the keywords “zerg rush” on Google Search.

If you’ve played the game of Starcraft then you know what I’m talking about. For the sake of those who don’t, “zerg rush” is a term used for a certain type of attack using the Zerg race (insect-like creatures) in which sheer numbers, not brute force is used to defeat the opponent.

Below is a sample of an actual zerg rush on Starcraft:

Here is the zerg rush easter egg on Google Search:

The zerg rush Google easter egg is not just an ordinary easter egg but is also a mini game. It even records the user’s APM or Actions Per Minute. Once the user types in the keywords, the zerglings represented by letter O’s start attacking the search results and the user can fend off and destroy these attackers by hovering the mouse over the O’s and clicking on them. If the user fails to protect the search results, the O’s gather to the top of the page and form into “GG” which in gaming jargon means “Good Game“. Users who are logged in to their Google account can share their scores on Google+.

If you have some time to spare, go try it out and type in the keywords “zerg rush” on Google Search.

[image sourch: Funny Corner]

Google has officially announced the release of the long-awaited and long-rumored online file sharing service Google Drive earlier today. Users have been eagerly expecting the arrival of Google Drive after evidence of a Mac app and interface screenshot were published last week.

Like other online file sharing services, Google Drive allows users to conveniently upload, access and share all their files (photos, videos, documents, PDFs, etc.). It also allows users to edit files in real-time making it easy collaborate and work with other people.

Here are some of the things that you can do with Google Drive:

• Create and collaborate – because Google Docs is built into Google Drive, several users can work on documents, spreadsheets and presentations in real-time.
• Store everything safely and access it anywhere (especially while on the go) – All your files are stored in the cloud so you can access it anytime, anywhere you want. Google Drive can be installed on a Mac or PC computer, iOS or Android device.
• Search everything – Users can search for specific files using filters like keywords and file types. Google Drive can also recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. It allows users to open 30 different file types directly from the browser.

Google Drive provides users with 5GB of FREE storage space. If that isn’t enough to store all your documents, photos, videos and other files, you can purchase additional storage – 25GB @ $2.49/month, 100GB @ $4.99/month, 1TB @ $49.99/month up to 16TB @ $799.99/month. The pricing is quite cheap if you compare it to Dropbox who offers 100GB @ $19.99/month. As a bonus, users who purchase additional storage automatically gets a Gmail storage upgrade of 25GB from the regular 10GB limit.

Google Drive is an open platform so Google is working with third-party developers to create apps that will enable users to do more stuff like signing documents, designing flowcharts, managing projects and tasks, etc. Third-party Google Drive apps can be downloaded from the Chrome Web Store.

Right now, Google Drive can be installed on any Mac or Windows-powered computer, laptops with Google Chrome OS or Android-powered devices. The iOS version is still in the works and will be available within the next few weeks. I’m excited to try out and use Google Drive. My account isn’t ready yet so I might have to wait a few more days or weeks before I can take it for a spin.

What do you think of Google Drive? Anyone already have it enabled in their Google account? What other features would you like to see added to Google Drive? Please share your thoughts via comments.

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It’s no surprise to see Facebook at the top but it’s interesting to see that a Yelp review has more value than a Facebook share or a tweet on Twitter. Of course these are not real world numbers but just an estimate based on the data that Backupify has gathered. Although the numbers depicted in the infograph doesn’t provide the “real” value of the social data, this infograph gives us an idea on how important and valuable social data is not only to individuals but also to businesses.

This infograph was created and released before Facebook acquired Instagram so its safe to say that the value of Instagram right now would be higher than the one shown in the infograph.

Here are most of this year’s Google April Fools Day pranks in no particular order:

1. Google Maps 8-bit

An 8-bit version of Google Maps created for the popular classic gaming console – Nintendo Entertainment System or NES. This is my personal favorite this year. I loved the concept and the video was epic, especially the part where the actors had to blow on the game cartridge to make it work. That brought back awesome childhood memories.

2. Canine Staffing Team

Googlers are only allowed to bring their dogs inside the Google campus but only after they pass the same type of rigorous and detailed hiring process as human Googlers go through before they are welcomed to the Googleplex.

3. The YouTube Collection

The YouTube Collection is an at-home experience of YouTube. Have your favorite YouTube videos delivered to your home and watch them offline in DVD format.

4. Google Street Roo

Google announced that they will be deploying more than a thousand big red kangaroos equipped with 360-degree head cameras and use them to capture images for Google Street View.

5. Google Chrome Multitask Mode

Multitaskers rejoice! With Chrome Multitask Mode, you can browse the web with multiple cursors at the same time, enabling you to do more stuff, faster.

6. Google Racing

Google, in partnership with NASCAR develop self-driving vehicles for stock car racing competitions.

7. Gmail Tap

Gmail Tap for Android and iOS utilizes the Morse Code so users type with only two keys instead of the 26 QWERTY keys. With Gmail Tap users can now type without looking and even compose two emails at the same time.

8. Click-to-Teleport Extensions

Click-to-Teleport extensions allow potential customers to instantly teleport to your business location directly from a search ad.

9. Google Fiber

Google Fiber is not a high-speed fiber optic Internet service but a food bar high in dietary fiber.iber

10. Go Ro

Millions of people are using mobile devices every day, but dozens are using rotary phones. Did you know that 100% of people using rotary phones have trouble accessing your website? If you’re ready to prepare for the return of rotary, you’ve come to the right place – it’s time to Go Ro!

11. Google Really Advanced Search

Really Advanced Search allows users to filer search results using categories such as: subtext or innuendo, page font, loanword origin, etc.

12. Jargon-Bot for Google Apps

Jargon-Bot helps users by translating business terms and jargon into plain English in real-time.

13. Google TV Click

With the help of Google’s “Common Gateway Interface” technology, you can now control the actors, settings and overall flow of your favorite movies and TV programs.

14 Google Voice for Pets

Google Voice for Pets allows users to record and listen to audio recordings of their pet dog or cat via a special “Voice Communication Collar”. Another special feature is the built-in a micro-LED emitter that projects a keyboard on the floor, allowing pets to type and send text messages.

15. Analytics Interplanetary Reports

With Google Analytics Interplanetary Reports, users can now get more information on visitor activities from neighboring stars and planets.

16. Piano & Sitar Analytics Playback

Google Analtyics users can now have their website stats played back on piano or sitar.

17. Google Underwater Image Search

Underwater image search experience developed by the folks of Google China.

Which one is your favorite Google April Fools Day prank for 2012?

I checked the suspicious email and at first glance, it looked legit. The email address used was store[at]itunes[dot]com and the message looked like a real iTunes receipt.

I compared it with a real iTunes receipt I previously received and found a few discrepancies:

Fake iTunes Receipt
Sender: iTunes
Email Address: store[at]itunes[dot]com
Billed To: email address
Billed To: “Credit card”

Real iTunes Receipt
Sender: iTunes Store
Email Address: do_not_reply[at]itunes[dot]com
Billed To: email address, full name, billing address (street, state, zip code)
Billed To: Credit card type – MasterCard, VISA, etc. with last 4 digits.

I also checked the email headers of both the real and fake iTunes receipts and saw that the data (Return Path, Received, Received-SPF, Authentication-Results, DKIM-Signature, etc.) didn’t match up. I also noticed that the fake email had these strange characters “•” at the bottom of the email.

The last thing I checked were the links embedded on the email. Btw, I did it by hovering the mouse over the links, not clicking on the links. Below are links and URLs they’re pointing to:

Cancel Order, Report a Problem links – slavodelic[dot]com/pod/check[dot]php

View\Download link – http://cpslex[dot]com/images/download[dot]jpg[dot]exe

Purchase History link – http://cpslex[dot]com/images/history[dot]pdf[dot]exe

As you can see, the URLs were pointing to a PHP page and a couple executable files. With that, it’s safe to say that the fake iTunes receipt email was not just an ordinary spam or phishing email but a malicious email that intended to trick users into installing a trojan horse virus on their computers.

People who send these type of emails use scare tactics to trick users to provide their account names/passwords, click on links, install attachments, etc. If an unsuspecting person got duped into thinking that this was a real iTunes receipt and that person clicked on any of the embedded links, their computer would’ve been compromised. Their personal information could be stolen, credit cards & bank accounts breached and their computer could be used as a “bot” for a botnet.

If you ever come across the same type of email, make sure that you DON’T click on any of the links and/or DON’T download/install any of the attachments. DELETE the email and warn your family and friends about it.

Anybody else got these fake iTunes receipt emails?