Yahoo Map Engineers Prank Google 128
pete314 writes "Yahoo engineers apparently couldn't help themselves, and Yahoo Maps had a great prank on the folks at Google. The beta of the new Yahoo Maps for a short while listed 'The Dude's Fish Store' at 1600 Amphiteatre Parkway in Mountain View, CA. The address is better known as the headquarters for Yahoo's competitor Google." From the post: "The phone number listed is for guy named Ruben Suterwitz (or that's what it sounds like on his voicemail). His voicemail gives the option to get assistance, forwarding callers to the Google front desk. There are several hints pointing to a Google prank. The search engine's co-founder Sergey Brin was born in Russia and both he and his buddy Larry Page were students at Stanford when they founded the company. "
Where the..?? (Score:4, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Where the..?? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Where the..?? (Score:3, Informative)
Also from the website (about section): "We've been around forever and will never get out of business.", "We have all kinds of fish.", "Our fish NEVER die!" (Ballmer related?).
Re:Where the..?? (Score:2, Informative)
http://ca.local.yahoo.biz/thedudesfishstore/chees
now i know what i'll use as wallpaper for the next week
*mmm yummy*
Re:Where the..?? (Score:1)
Re:Where the..?? (Score:4, Informative)
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/25
Re:Where the..?? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Where the..?? (Score:5, Funny)
"Apple? I fucking buried them too!"
*throws chair
Re:Where the..?? (Score:1)
Re:Where the..?? (Score:2)
From the Dude's Fish Store [yahoo.biz]:
What we offer - We have better fish than our competitors.
Pretty cool
What I want to know is (Score:1)
Would have made a bit more sense.
Other than that it just seems a bit mean really.
Innovation! (Score:2, Funny)
(...continues reading his buzzword magazin...)
Yahoo Engineers or Yahooligans? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems to me its easy for anyone to setup a site with Yahoo and it would be easy for Yahoo to use data already in their systems to make their map more complete or even just as a starting point for adding data to the new system. Unless its part of Google's unique business strategy, I doubt their website is hosted by Yahoo and as easily added to the dataset.
Re:Yahoo Engineers or Yahooligans? (Score:5, Interesting)
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:Jdv3LRqIRboJ:l
Scroll down to item number 6.
Re:Yahoo Engineers or Yahooligans? (Score:2)
Re:Yahoo Engineers or Yahooligans? (Score:2)
more like a "ha ha, groan" than a "ROFLCOPTER"
Re:Yahoo Engineers or Yahooligans? (Score:2)
So the way it looked to me (Score:5, Interesting)
But maybe I just didn't look very carefully and I'm an idiot?
Re:So the way it looked to me (Score:1, Funny)
do you post on /. ?
That can't be it (Score:2)
I don't think that is it because the contact info on the fish site [yahoo.biz] doesnt list the Google address. It lists another address (where no business is located). If Yahoo had used the data provided by the fish site, as you are suggesting, then it would have placed the business at 1600 Middlefield Rd, Mountain View, CA, no?
IMHO, TFA is correct, this is a prank by a Yahoo employee.
Re:So the way it looked to me (Score:3, Interesting)
It's the API, Stupid (Score:5, Informative)
Forget about the pranks; it's the new Maps APIs [yahoo.net] that deserve attention. Not only can you create JavaScript/Ajax [yahoo.net] maps like with the Google API, but you can also embed Flash maps in your pages [yahoo.net] or even your own Flash applications [yahoo.net]. And there's a free geocoder [yahoo.net].
Rasmus Lerdorf has a handy tutorial [lerdorf.com] on using this stuff with PHP.
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:2, Informative)
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:2)
Oh, and also aesthetic part of it, a bit. More often than not, things made in Flash look...flashy, but pathetic.
FVM2 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:FVM2 (Score:2)
OTOH things might make problems with "aesthetic" part more visible... ("uhhh...now I could do whole page in flashy Flash, full of effects and it'll be still fast). Yeah, I guess I think in this case that everything that could go bad - will.
Re:FVM2 (Score:1)
Flash is just a tool. You'll find that anyone building a serious application will not design anything "Flashy" in Flash. These applications are the ones you're most likely to *have* to use (and maybe even want to use?).
The other, effects-laden pages are not important and thus easily ignored.
I know hating Flash is the popular opinion to have right now but developers are working hard to make it better. Open-source frameworks are becoming more popular (including the application framework based on Cocoa to
Re:FVM2 (Score:2)
Re:FVM2 (Score:1)
Re:FVM2 (Score:2)
There's more than just a new VM; it also provides an ECMAScript-4 compliant language ("ActionScript 3" in Macromedia-speak), which seems *much* more suitable for real coding work.
(Disclaimer: I work for Macromedia, so I'm not unbiased, but even so, it's pretty cool
Re:FVM2 (Score:2)
I'm personally stuck on linux/ppc right now, and that means that Flash crap is completely fucking useless to me. If Real can manage to provide an up-to-date linux/ppc version, why can't Macromedia release
Re:FVM2 (Score:2)
No, there's no OS X or Linux version yet. The alpha is Windows-only. OS X version is definitely planned, just not ready yet. I don't know what we've announced regarding Linux plans, so I can't comment on that.
Also true that there's no Linux version of Player 8 yet. But as one of the engineers on that team said, they're looking for experienced Linux engineers to help finish the port [kaourantin.net].
Re:FVM2 (Score:2)
FYI, this isn't supported by MACR, but there are instructions on how to use the framework (if not the IDE) on OS X here:
http://robbevan.com/blog/2005/10/23/working-with-
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:2)
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:1)
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:2)
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:2)
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:1)
It hasnt got the wowness of google earth with the satillite outlook and the zooming functionality but it makes up for it definatly in functionality, too bad it doesnt map my country (australia).
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:2)
The more competition the better. We all win in the end.
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:2)
Yahoo! was a piece of cake...straightforward, and I was getting accurate results after about 5 minutes of work.
I tried to figure out Google, but I couldn't. Call me stupid...that's okay. But I just could not get through the entire process successfully. In fact, that is why I went on to use Yahoo!
So to me Yahoo! is a godsend. Just their ease of use elevated them from "why the hell wouldn't I use Google" to, "Wow, it looks like Yahoo! is back in busin
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:2)
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:2)
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:2)
It's funny how Google releases a new version of a toolbar and Slashdot covers it immediately; but Yahoo releases a new API with lots of good stuff and nary a peep at Slashdot Central...
The new API looks awesome. Rasmus has a demo page [lerdorf.com] which shows how you can mash data from different sources onto a very slick map.
Re:It's the API, Stupid (Score:1)
Yahoo toolbar does _not_ interfere with the sites you visit (e.g. not "spyware") too.
I wonder after Opera decision to make browser free with support of making Google default search engine... Google pays to media to make every single re-invention of them news? Such conspiracy theories started to come my mind since I am kind of sick about every single browser
Maps?! How novel! (Score:1)
Re:Maps?! How novel! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, because now they'll just keep competing with each other, each trying to outdo the rest, In the end, the only people who'll benefit from that situation will be the bloody users.
That would suck, wouldn't it?
Re:Maps?! How novel! (Score:2)
I surely hope so. Over here in Netherlands the available online maps are horrible compared to both MS's and Google's. If they would just extend their databases to the rest of the world...
Re:Maps?! How novel! (Score:2)
Re:Maps?! How novel! (Score:2)
Re:Maps?! How novel! (Score:2)
Re:Maps?! How novel! (Score:2, Interesting)
Maps? (Score:1)
Re:Maps?! How novel! (Score:1)
Amphitheater parkway is a dump. (Score:2, Interesting)
Yahoo's place in Sunnyvale used to be nice, not been there for a while though.
The only useful thing Google really does is the valet parking for employees, otherwise, the stock is over priced.
I wonder if 4 years from now we'll be referring to a 'google bubble' ?
Yeah, yeah, there goes my positive karma.
Re:Amphitheater parkway is a dump. (Score:1)
And quotes like these are a one-way ticket to positive karma.
Re:Amphitheater parkway is a dump. (Score:1)
Heh, well, till you said that, anyway - now you're guarunteed at least a 3 or 4 Informative or Insightful.
You'd think they could afford a special panther (Score:4, Funny)
You'd think they could afford a special panther, to take care of the problem.
You know, one that comes with its own soundtrack. Bright pink?
Dead ants! Dead ants! Dead ants dead ants dead ants, dead ants Dead ANNNTS...
Re:You'd think they could afford a special panther (Score:2)
I'm glad Im not drinking coffee this morning. Call me easily amused but that madem e giggle like a small child
Re:You'd think they could afford a special panther (Score:1)
Re:Amphitheater parkway is a dump. (Score:1)
Refreshing to see.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Har de har (Score:2, Funny)
And this makes me trust Yahoo's map how? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:And this makes me trust Yahoo's map how? (Score:1, Funny)
Great.
Re:And this makes me trust Yahoo's map how? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:And this makes me trust Yahoo's map how? (Score:1)
It must be loads of fun for people actually looking for one of the fake details. ("No--look, onna map! She show China just a leetle bit further!" "Sure Christopher, whatever.")
Re:And this makes me trust Yahoo's map how? (Score:2)
Yippers. Those details are usually in obscure parts of the maps, like a fake street at the end of an isolated dead-end road.
The intentional bad information on Yahoo's map goes beyond that, in the name of tweaking a competitor. I wonder what else Yahoo plans to do to play a prank on google, and how will that subsequent bad information affect my usage of
Re:And this makes me trust Yahoo's map how? (Score:2)
Re:And this makes me trust Yahoo's map how? (Score:2)
I'd still rather the Yahoo engineers concentrate on making their servers exhibit at least a modicum of reliability.
Re:And this makes me trust Yahoo's map how? (Score:2)
Then don't buy their stock. You didn't? Then shut up, what do you care?
This doesn't make me feel so bad... (Score:5, Funny)
Blast them! (Score:2)
I still prefer google maps (Score:1)
Re:I still prefer google maps (Score:2)
What I really like is yahoo's traffic speed/accident overlay. Now thats nice!
Re:I still prefer google maps (Score:1)
I'm a minion of the googlopoly... (Score:2)
Re:I'm a minion of the googlopoly... (Score:1)
Google Responds... (Score:3, Funny)
This is why geeks cant get women.. (Score:2)
Why (Score:1)
How is this a prank? (Score:2)
Because it's funny... (Score:3, Insightful)
If yahoo had done this to Google's own maps on the Google site that would have been vandalism not necesarily a prank.
That they went to the trouble of putting up a fake voicemail and other humourous details puts it in the realm of a prank rather than a childish tantrum. Whether you find it funny, that's up to you. There's a thin line between humour and malice, but basically hu
Re:Because it's funny... (Score:2)
Sigh, they didn't airbrush apple off the map. The map was just a few years old, from before the current campus had been built. You could see the construction where it was being prepared for building in the field.
Let's consider another possibility (Score:4, Insightful)
About 2 weeks ago, news stories were circulating regarding how dictionaries and encyclopedias deliberately insert false entries into their compendiums. They do this to catch obvious theft of their information.
There remains the possibility that GOOGLE themselves or another company that keeps map data has inserted their own false information.
Here's a refresher article on the false entries in dictionaries/encyclopedias: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/05
Maybe (Score:2)
the dudes website (Score:1)
Pranks on google maps (Score:1)
"Great" prank? (Score:2)
Google vs. Yahoo (Score:2)
That can also be seen as
Google: I have got your screen shots in my cache now, I will never forget it. Revenge will be mine
Yahoo: nyann nyann nyannn
Does anyone actually... (Score:1)
Re:Does anyone actually... (Score:1)
Hire some better comedy writers (Score:2)
Bad Pranks (Score:2)
Speaking of bad pranks at 1600...
Did anyone else immediately think of Pennsylvania Avenue?
-
prank? (Score:1)
Library or book store (Score:1)
Re:Too obscure. (Score:1)
Re:Too obscure. (Score:2)
Re:Too obscure. (Score:1)