{"id":16609,"date":"2011-04-20T09:31:44","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T07:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=16609"},"modified":"2025-07-02T02:01:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T09:01:42","slug":"the-great-software-easter-egg-hunt-web-app-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/the-great-software-easter-egg-hunt-web-app-special\/","title":{"rendered":"The great software Easter egg hunt – web app special!"},"content":{"rendered":"

2008<\/strong> was the year of the Great Software Easter Egg hunt<\/strong><\/a> on OnSoftware, where we rooted out some of the coolest hidden computer program tricks or secrets (known as Easter eggs) ever made.<\/p>\n

But three years is a long time in the tech world, and since then applications have begun moving away from the desktop and into the cloud. It seems that cheeky web app developers are just as keen to hide tasty Easter eggs in modern day online applications, though, just like the wise-cracking software programmers of old.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry though folks, I haven\u2019t lost my knack for sniffing out hidden software secrets, and I\u2019m about to blow the lid on the greatest Easter eggs on the web<\/strong>. Happy Easter!<\/p>\n

Google Tilt<\/h2>\n

A hangover from a Google April Fool\u2019s joke<\/strong><\/a> this year, this little trick works with Android and iPhone devices. Simply type “Tilt<\/strong>” into Google in your mobile browser and you\u2019ll be presented with a strangely skewed search results page.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

Google Reader Ninja<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s a sneaky one to style out Google Reader with a cool Ninja sidebar. Just load up Reader and hit: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A<\/strong>. The older ones among you will notice that this is a classic Konami Nintendo cheat code from the 90s. In fact, there\u2019s even a list of all sites that have unlockable content through the Konami code<\/strong><\/a>. Guess what? You’ll need to enter the Konami code to get into the site!<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

Google Pacman\/Ms Pacman<\/h2>\n

This one\u2019s kind of an Easter egg within an Easter egg. Visit google.com\/pacman<\/strong><\/a> and you\u2019ll be able to play a fully working version of the ghoul-gobbling classic from the Google homepage. Hit the Insert Coin<\/strong> button and Pacman\u2019s sexy sidekick, Ms Pacman will join the game. Control Pacman with the cursor keys and Ms Pacman with the WASD keys.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

Google Recursion<\/h2>\n

The smart-alec programmer who conceived this gem should get credit for one of the most intellectual Easter eggs ever. Type \u201cRecursion<\/strong>\u201d into Google and click the link Did you Mean: Recursion?<\/strong> Classic!<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

Facebook Lens Flares<\/h2>\n

Another trick using that Konami cheat code \u2013 this time on Facebook<\/strong><\/a>. Load up the social media site and hit Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right<\/strong>, then B, A<\/strong> and the Enter<\/strong> key (not the return key). A series of red lens flares will now track the page as you move your cursor.<\/p>\n

\"Facebook<\/p>\n

YouTube Snake Game<\/h2>\n

Fans of the classic Nokia game, Snake<\/strong><\/a>, will love this. Load up a video on YouTube<\/strong><\/a>, then pause it. Hold your fingers down on the left <\/strong>and up <\/strong>cursor keys for a few seconds. A pixel snake will appear over the video. Use the cursor keys to control the game.<\/p>\n

\"Snake<\/p>\n

Ask Jeeves \u2013 not Google<\/h2>\n

Ask Jeeves<\/strong><\/a> has a cheeky way to deal with anyone searching for \u201cGoogle\u201d on its site. Enter the competitor\u2019s name as a keyword and Jeeves will beg you not to leave!<\/p>\n

\"Ask<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon Meow<\/h2>\n

Our last Easter Egg is really pretty geeky. For some odd reason, Amazon\u2019s coders decided to conceal the word \u2018Meow\u2019 in the page code. Click View Source<\/strong> on almost any Amazon<\/strong><\/a> page and you\u2019ll find the famous feline expression hidden in the comments section at the bottom.<\/p>\n

\"Meow\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2008 was the year of the Great Software Easter Egg hunt on OnSoftware, where we rooted out some of the coolest hidden computer program tricks or secrets (known as Easter eggs) ever made. But three years is a long time in the tech world, and since then applications have begun moving away from the desktop … Continue reading “The great software Easter egg hunt – web app special!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2006,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-16609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334313,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16609\/revisions\/334313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16609"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=16609"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=16609"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=16609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}