April Fools' Day: Keith Olbermann Takes Over GlobalGrind, Conan O'Brien Acquires Mashable

Keith Olbermann has already announced his next move, and it's a bit of a surprise: he's taking over Russell Simmons's hip hop and entertainment site GlobalGrind.com.

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Happy early April Fools' Day.

The newscaster, who was dramatically fired from his post at Current TV on Friday, collaborated with Simmons on a joke announcement on Sunday that teased a new career for the sports and news broadcast staple.

"Mr. Olbermann will bring years of experience to a company that has seen historical growth in traffic and revenue over the past twelve months.  He will resume his duties immediately," the site wrote in a joking press release, with Simmons adding, "It gives me great pleasure that Keith will be joining our team and I know that he will make our company better. I think he has has even agreed to go vegan and do yoga with me on a daily basis. Keith is a genius and he will make GlobalGrind bigger than it has ever been."

Olbermann joined in on, tweeting "I plan extensive coverage of Rihanna's engagement AND Drew Smyly being named 5th starter for Detroit for my boss @UncleRush at @GlobalGrind" and adding, "Also @UncleRush and I will be doing daily James Thurber readings and remixes."

Also spoofing the web with a new job was Conan O’Brien.

Having outsmarted a post-Tonight Show NBC gag order and beginning his public comeback on Twitter, it’s only fitting that the late night favorite grabbed control of the most powerful name in social media news for a day.

The TBS host has partnered with Mashable.com in an April Fools’ Day joke that will see him run the powerful gadgets and web news site. A play on O’Brien’s silly false ego and a lampooning of the niche on which the site concentrates, the project was announced – with only a hint of facetiousness -- at midnight, eastern time.

“I’m sick and tired of scanning the Internet looking for any news about technology: Devices, gadgets, what’s coming up, maybe even a rating system for gadgets that are out there. It doesn’t exist on the web and it’s high time it did,” O’Brien said in a video posted to the site. “I go to the Mashable see the atrocious job they’re doing. So I decided it’s time for me to take it over.”

Mashable’s Twitter icon has also been changed; out is the ubiquitous face of CEO Pete Cashmore, replaced by the very serious stare of a solemn, web-crazed O’Brien.

Google also made a splash, first announcing on Saturday its 8-bit, Nintendo-style version of Google Maps, and then its one-day-only Weather Control, which allows users to virtually control their city’s climate with a few clicks and wishful thoughts.