April Fools': Google renames itself 'Topeka'

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Topeka is Google, and now Google is Topeka.

Weeks after the Kansas capital unofficially renamed itself after the Web search giant, the company returned the favor Thursday in the form of an April Fool's Day joke.

Google, at least on its home page, became "Topeka."

The company says it's a response to Topeka's decision to change its name to "Google, Kan." for the month of March. Topeka jokingly changed its name in a bid to persuade Google to choose the city as a test site for its planned super-fast fiber-optic network.

A blog posting by Google CEO Eric Schmidt says the prank shouldn't be mistaken for the company picking Topeka, adding that the re-naming of his company will have no effect on which cities get chosen.