Google goes nuclear in TechCrunch prank

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April Fools’ is a time-honored (some say tired) tradition in Silicon Valley.

Michael Arrington, never one to pass up a good hoax, decided to celebrate a day early this year with an exclusive blog post alleging that technology powerhouse Google had bought a company so it could design and possibly build small mobile nuclear reactors.

Google enriching uranium? Call in the United Nations!

A Google spokesman got right back to us. ‘We appreciate TechCrunch’s early April Fools’ story but have no comment at this time other than to say that this has nothing to do with our exploration of marshmallows as an alternative energy source. They work for kids; why not for data centers too?’

Google probably has such a good sense of humor because it likes to indulge in pranks, too.

The TechCrunch gags keep coming. This isn’t exactly virgin territory for TechCrunch, either. In 2008, the technology blog got a rise out of its readers when it sued Facebook.

-- Jessica Guynn