It’s not all algorithms and Ajax in the search engine business; Yahoo’s map team found some time to playfully poke Google while building the latest beta of Yahoo Maps.
Yahoo Maps users playing with the newest beta version of the service may have seen something fishy about one notable listing, as Silicon Valley Sleuth reported.
The business at 1600 Ampitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California, as listed on Yahoo Maps, is that of The Dude’s Fish Store (“Our fish NEVER die!”) instead of Google’s headquarters. A phone number listed for the business goes to a man’s voicemail, and an option to get more assistance sends the caller to the Google front desk.
The “web site” for the fish store has additional links; one to the “bestest page” connects to google.com, while another points to Stanford, the alma mater of both Google’s and Yahoo’s founders.
Though Yahoo has removed the fish store from local listings, a cached copy on Google shows where it was listed in Yahoo local under Toys.
Before the listing was removed from Yahoo Local, it listed the store as carrying “Fish, Pet Hamsters, Gold Fish, Snakes, Spiders.” Languages spoken at the store were German and Russian, the latter probably a nod to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Google was the focus of another tweak by Yahoo, though it probably wasn’t a prank. Users in Australia and New Zealand using Yahoo to search for “google” get back a Yahoo search box within the Inside Yahoo section at the top of the page. “Try the new Yahoo! Search” reads the copy above the search box.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
