Some Really Interesting Web Easter Eggs

Now most of you must be wondering what an Web Easter Egg is, here's what it is in brief:
Occasionally software developers will hide things in their applications that can only be discovered by doing something out of the ordinary, such as clicking on a certain spot or entering a specific series of keystrokes. These hidden codes that give interesting outputs to the user are called Web Easter Eggs.
Now on with some of the interesting ones:

Google Barrel-Roll

This is a recently uncovered Easter Egg, which proves Google still has a sense of humor.


To see this hidden feature, just head to Google.com and search for the phrase "do a barrel roll". Provided your browser is up to date - the latest versions of Chrome, Safari and Firefox should all work - the search results page will literally do a barrel roll.! Searching for "tilt" and "askew" gives similar results. Go ahead and try it out.


Google has been well know for its Easter Eggs and has gone so far as to embed an entire flight simulator in Google Earth.


YouTube Snake Game

Seen here is YouTube's coolest Easter Egg. Every YouTube video published after April 2010 contains a hidden snake game that plays out atop the video at hand. Here's how to activate it.


While playing a video (it also works when paused), hit the up and left arrow keys on your keyboard simultaneously. If you do it just right, a dotted, moving "snake" will appear, along with a "target", a lone dot off to the side. You control the snake's motion with your keyboard's arrow keys. Every time you "eat" (run into) a dot, your snake will grow longer. The object of the game is to eat as many dots as possible without running into your  ever-lengthening snake body. This is very similar to the game Snakes that come pre-installed in most Nokia handsets.

Google Calculator Fun

On google.com, search for "answer to life, the universe, and everything." The first result will be a special Google Calculator answer, 42, which references Douglas Adams' classic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

Also try searching for "number of horns on a unicorn" and "one in a blue moon" for more entertaining Calculator results. Google is riffe with Easter Eggs and hidden pages; you'll see a few more ahead.

Google ASCII Art

ASCII (American Standard Codefor Information Interchange) is the industry-standard method tthat computers use to encode letters and characters. So it follows that ascii art seeks to create graphical art using only combinations of ASCII text characters. It's an ancient and respected art in the realm of wizardly computer nerds.

To celebrate text-based art, Google buried an amusing Easte Egg in their site. If you search for "ASCII art," the Google logo on the left side of the screen will be replaced with a graphical ASCII representation. This new Google logo really is ASCII too - highlight it to see that it's made of text characters.

Facebook Pirate Language

Facebook is well known for hiding fun tidbits throughout its site. In keeping with that playful spirit, Facebook supports two alternate English sets that are sure to confuse your friends.

To use these alternate languages, scroll down to the bottom of your Facebook page where it reads "English (US)" (or whichever language you're using). Click on that language link and a menu will pop up with a list of international languages. Click the arrow next to English (US) and select "English (Pirate)" or "(Upside Down)".

The Pirate option changes all of Facebook's label's to Pirate-themed text (as seen above). The upside Down option mirrors all the text from left to right. Note that ' unless they set their default language to "Pirate" as well.

GameSpot Konami Code

Back in the heyday of the 8-bit Nitendo Entertainment System, every kid worth his salt knew the secret "konami code" that gave you 30 extra lives in Contra, a popular NES game made by Konami. Various sites today pay homage to the memorable cheat code (up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,b,a,start) with hedden Easter Eggs.

GameSpot is one such site, and if you perform the Konami code on its main page using the arrow keys on you kyboard while substituting the enter key for "Start", you will be taken to the Contra Hints & Cheats section. Very appropriate.

Secret Google Languages

Similar to the Facebook pirate language trick, Google supports a number of humorous alternative languages like "hacker" (seen here), "Elmer Fudd", "Pirate", "Kiingon" and much more. To access them, visit these URLs:

www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker
www.google.com/intl/xx-elmer
www.google.com/intl/xx-piglatin
www.google.com/intl/xx-pirate
www.google.com/intl/xx-bork
www.google.com/intl/xx-klingon
www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker

There may be more out there that havn't been yet discovered. Knowing Google, I'm almost sure there are many more in stock.




Mini Cooper in Reverse

On the Mini USA website (maker of the Mini Cooper car line), type "reverse" into the search bar in the upper right corner. A gear shift will appear in the lower left, and if you click on it while holding the shift key, the entire site will be "thrown in reverse", as seen in the above picture. To return to normal, hit the gear shift again.






These are just few of the MANY Easter Eggs on the web, i just picked out the interesting ones and posted them here. Should i see more of these interesting Easter Eggs lying around, i'l make sure it'l find its way to this blog.
If you know of any Easter Eggs yourself, feel free to post them in the comments section.