April Fools' for Aussies: GPS football

CANBERRA, Australia, April 1 (UPI) -- The arrival of April Fools' Day in Australia was accompanied by fake announcements of a football with GPS and plans to rename a popular cricket ground.

Google Australia issued a hoax news release early Wednesday announcing the gBall, an Australian Rules football outfitted with motion sensors, global positioning system and artificial intelligence, The Times of London reported Wednesday.

"With inbuilt GPS, motion sensor and artificial intelligence capabilities, the gBall has a number of amazing features, including the ability to measure kicks, get kicking tips, notify talent scouts and locate your lost ball on Google Maps," said Alan Noble, Google Australia's head of engineering. "Quite simply, we think it's the killer footy app."

Meanwhile, readers of Australian newspaper the Herald Sun reacted angrily to a hoax report that the popular Melbourne Cricket Ground could be renamed the Mekong Cricket Ground after a Chinese firm.

"Let's just give up this whole country to the Asians and be done with it," a reader using the name "Mister Master" posted on the paper's Web site. "What did our diggers (soldiers) fight and die for in the past wars???? And they still expect us to be patriotic. This country is selling its soul."