In a bid to outdo last year's April Fool's Day jokes, a few April Foolin' Around branded fake gags today include:

• Richard Branson's next adventure, Virgin Volcanic, will take the intrepid billionaire to the center of the earth with Tom Hanks;

• in addition to really advanced search and Google TV Click, perennial prankster Google brings its self-driving car to NASCAR racing (above) and, below, announces Morse Code-based Gmail Tap (double your typing speed!) with LL Cool J, plus 8-bit Google Maps for the neglected Nintendo Entertainment System, and more:Continue reading...

Kraft Foods is reaching out to customers via social media with comedy. Its You Gotta LOL web series debuted Monday, with 14 brands participating including Wheat Thins, Oreo, Kool-Aid, Chips Ahoy! and Jell-O. 

Anita Renfroe, the series' star, is a stay-at-home mom and comedian (a SFW version of Roseanne) who Kraft marketers hope will appeal to other moms by speaking of what she knows. 

In a video (above) for Chips Ahoy!, dealing with women’s chocolate obsession, Renfroe zings: “All females have known this intuitively for years because chocolate belongs to the four food groups that females believe in: depression, elation, ovulation and PM-ation.”Continue reading...

BP given 72 hours to come up with contingency plans as its claims process was criticized by U.S. Coast Guard, which today toughened its oversight. [Today's BP Watch]

Apple bans competing ads from the iPhone.

British Airways may see more strikes this summer.

Chips Ahoy among snack foods permitted into Gaza by Israeli troops.

CVS Caremark will stop reimbursing Walgreen prescriptions in the U.S.Continue reading...